Quaker Ranter
A Weekly Newsletter and Blog from Martin Kelley
Memo to NYTimes: Buena ain’t your region
July 25, 2003
A nine year old in Buena went joyriding in a bright yellow-school bus. Strange enough as that is, what’s even stranger is that the New York Times covered it as a “local” story.
The only thing that surprises me about the incident is that the hijacker isn’t one of my very own next-door neighbor kids (formally known as “the Delinquents”). Sure, why not steal the bus and drive to your friends house?
“He wanted us to all get on,” said Millie, 13, who lives just up the block from the boy. “He let go of the wheel, and was beeping and waving at us. He could have killed somebody.”
No, what’s really bizarre is that this article appears in the New York Times, who placed it in their “New York Region” section. Since when is Buena the New York region? It’s easily a 2 – 1/2 hour drive from Times Square, it’s below the Mason-Dixon line for goodness sake (or to be technically correct, below it’s meridian since the line wasn’t drawn through Jersey). They helpfully tell us that it’s “pronounced BYOO-na” but I would have loved listening in on the phone when the reporter called down for “Bu-EN‑a” as she sure must have. Two weeks ago the Times put the Oaklyn, NJ would-be mass murders in the “New York Region” section too. Do we need to buy a couple of maps for the erstwhile Old Gray Lady? South Jersey just ain’t your region, a fact for which every native I’ve ever met is very happy. Every driver on the roads around Buena were surely muttering “go home shoobie” when your New York plates drove by.
UPDATE: Oh no, even bloggers are taking the Times’ cue that Buena belongs in NYC News!
Feds targeting activists at airports
July 25, 2003
There is now some hard evidence in the charges that the federal agency overseeing airlines has compiled a list that targets and harrasses activists. A Freedom of Information Act request has not turned up the names or who they represent but has discovered that the list itself is 88 pages long.
There have been a number of activists who have experience extra scrutiny and special searches, especially in the San Francisco and Oakland airports. The FOIA case, filed by the Northern California ACLU, is the first to start shedding light on the practice. Dissent is always challenged as unpatriotic in times of war and scandal. Contrary to the opinions of the many cranks who write in to Nonviolence.org, it’s not the military who has ever protected our right to free speech – it’s groups like the ACLU fighting to bring harassment to public attention.
Constituting Mediocrity: the new National Constitution Center
July 25, 2003
It’s obvious that the Center is just a holding pen for big bus trips. It’s not as much a museum or national shrine as it is a highway rest stop. On your left’s the super-sized cafeteria, on your right the store for crappy hats and t‑shirts. And for this we rip up Philadelphia?
Blunt assertions, no evidence, no investigation
July 21, 2003
The Washington Post has an article about the Bush White House’s common practice of making unattributed statements about Iraq without getting CIA feedback. Some of the whoppers include:
Sept 26: Iraq “could launch a biological or chemical attack 45 minutes after the order is given.“Sept 28: “there are al Qaeda terrorists inside Iraq”
Oct 7: “Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda.”
All of these claims were strongly disputed by intelligence experts at the time and only the most die-heart Adminstration-booster would want to claim now that any of them are true.
The 45 minute claim has gotten a thorough rebuking in the U.K.
This is the second time in as many weeks where a Bush quote has suddenly taken me back to the Reagan years. That 45 minute claim just echos in my head of Reagan’s “the Sandinistas are just two days drive from Harlingen, Texas.” They both have that “oh my god, the barbarians are at the door” urgency. Both also posit an arch-enemy that turned out to be a paper tiger when all the propaganda was peeled back. (For the young’ins out there, Reagan responded to the two-drive fear by mining Nicaragua’s harbors, an act which was later declared illegal by the World Court).
Nonviolence.org syndicated
July 20, 2003
A little bit of housekeeping: There have been a few behind-the-scene changes on the Nonviolence.org homepage this weekend. I’ve switched the blogging software over to Moveabletype.
The hard-core blog readers will appreciate that Nonviolence.org now has an syndicated news feed. That means that you can now read the homepage with software like Sharpreader, Newsgator, etc.
even the more-casual readers will appreciate that you can now comment directly on every article. There will be other subtler features added over time. Let me know if there are any problems.
White House smear campaign: Gay and Canadian
July 18, 2003
This would be funny if it weren’t serious. This would be serious if it weren’t pathetic. A few days ago ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman ran a story about low morale among U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. The next day someone in the White House tipped off gossip king Matt Drudge that Kofman was openly gay and (maybe worse) a Canadian. Lapdog Drudge complied with the headline “ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINT STORY IS CANADIAN.” It’s amazing what tidbits the White House thinks are newsworthy. You’d think the milestone that U.S. casulties in Iraq have surpassed those of the 1991 War might just get the President’s attention.
“Have you ever felt like the fall guy?”
July 18, 2003
In strange and sad news, the man who was probably the unnamed “senior official” who first told the BBC that Britain “sexed up” its Iraq weapons dossier has turned up dead in the woods near his home. Dr. David Kelly gave evidence to the UK foreign affairs committee just days ago, where he asked the committee “Have you ever felt like the fall guy?” One member of the committee told the Guardian that “We thought he’d been put up quite deliberately to distract us from the case of the government’s case for war.”
David Kelly has been described as a “soft spoken” man not used to the public glare he’s been under. Reports haven’t even given the cause of death, so conspiracy theories will have to be put on hold. It’s quite possible that this faithful civil servant and scientist finally cracked under the pressure of the media onslaught and took his life. It is a tragedy for his family.