BLACK-BROWN TENSIONS IN LA

DAVEY D, FNV NEWSLETTER - For those of you reading this who live outside of Los Angeles you should note the that folks are on edge cause of increasing racial tension between blacks and Mexicans. Over the past month there have been a few brawls at local high schools which were widely reported on the news down here.

Now the tensions have been inflamed by a letter that has been circulating around the city claiming that in retaliation for some beef between black and latino gangs, 500 black kids wearing white t-shirts would be targeted and killed by Mexican gangs on Cinco de Mayo which is today. For the most part, the letter appears to be a hoax. Folks who work closely with the gangs down here have not heard of any craziness jumping off, but because the letter has been so widely circulated, it has led to some town hall meetings and increased police presence on all the high school campuses down here. A lot of parents are refusing to let their kids come to school...read on

GuardianUK: (h/t Gregory)

Tension between British and American commanders in southern Afghanistan erupted into the open yesterday as a senior UK military officer said he had asked the US to withdraw its special forces from a volatile area that was crucial in the battle against the Taliban.

British and Nato defence officials have consistently expressed concern about US tactics, notably air strikes, which kill civilians, sabotaging the battle for "hearts and minds" and infuriating Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president.

The coalition of the "We're willing, but not with you here"? Why does there seem to be so much more common sense and thoughtfulness on the part of British military tactics? I'd like to see our brass adopt some of the British forces' techniques. Sadly, this is likely the only guideline they will likely imitate:

Sweeping new guidelines barring military personnel from speaking about their service publicly have been quietly introduced by the Ministry of Defence, the Guardian has learned.

Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defence.

HAVE A COOL YULE! Santa Claus done came and went...Christmas comes but one cartoon at a time...I'm going to shove coal so far up your stocking, you'll be coughing up diamonds!...Celebrate Christmas the old-fashioned way: Defy Authority!...A special Christmas Box ...When a child is born in Bethlehem...A Christmas Blessing...

AGITPROP: Holiday Weekend Wingnut Roundup

The Democratic Daily: In yesterday's WaPo, John Kerry Kerry eloquently makes the case that he would “rather explain a change of position any day than look a parent in the eye and tell them that their son or daughter had to die so that a broken policy could live.”

Prairie Weather: The Italian "security expert," Mario Scaramella, who met with Litvinenko, the former KBG agent who was murdered in London, has been arrested. 

TPMCafe: Take a look at the 2000 GOP foreign policy platform, and reread the litany of indictments BushCo had issued with respect to Clinton’s foreign policy. Sure makes for interesting reading.

Orcinus: E.J. Dionne talks about the role of journalists, accountability, and the tension between old and new media

Atrios has an excerpt of the article.

"By contrast, the Bush administration -- in seeking to restore what Cheney, a Nixon administration veteran, has called "the legitimate authority of the presidency" -- threatens to overturn the Framers' healthy tension in favor of presidential absolutism. Armed with legal findings by his attorney general (and personal lawyer) Alberto Gonzales, the Bush White House has declared that the president's powers as commander in chief in wartime are limitless. No previous wartime president has come close to making so grandiose a claim."

You can read it here also.

"More than a dozen states are considering new laws to protect health workers who do not want to provide care that conflicts with their personal beliefs, a surge of legislation that reflects the intensifying tension between asserting individual religious values and defending patients' rights. About half of the proposals would shield pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and "morning-after" pills because they believe the drugs cause abortions. But many are far broader measures that would shelter a doctor, nurse, aide, technician or other employee who objects to any therapy....read on"

I agree with Cole's opinion that: "There is little room for nuance in my opinion on this. If your religious beliefs interfere with your job providing any and all desired or required care for a patient, you have several options- change your job, change your religion, suck it up and hope yours is a forgiving God."

These people are a danger to our health care system.

Joe was on with Couric yesterday and gave his opinion on the tension in the White House over possible indictments.

Download | play -WMP (demo sent the video)

Download | play -QT

On Cheney:

Joe: In middle America, voters would call that a lie. He told Tim Russert something that was not the truth. Why is that important? It's important because you're talking about two thousand Americans killed in Iraq.

Josh has an interview with Carville: "What Carville did say was that the tension seemed entirely to do with Ed Henry, not with him, as many others have pointed out. And I've also learned that when the copy of Who's Who was sitting there on the table, Henry apparently had it bookmarked with a Post-It note to right about where you'd expect to find Wilson's entry."

It goes quite nicely with the video I posted earlier on June 29th with Henry and Novak. I really think this is the link that pushed Novak into freaking out. He definitely did not want to get grilled by Henry on how he got her name and from the last interview he did with him, Bob knew that Henry would not lob him spitballs.

J.Lo gets dissed

Monday Night Funnies

This is an oldie but a goodie: Nov. 12, 2002

(Hat Tip Rich who sent the video and dug up the article)

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith had something fairly egglike on his face last week when he launched into what should have been a straightforward item about tension between Jennifer Lopez and her old Bronx neighbors.

Download | play -WMP

J.Lo's new song 'Jenny From the Block' is all about Lopez's roots, about how she's still a neighborhood gal at heart," Shepherd declared innocently enough, before veering horribly off his teleprompted script. "But folks from that street in New York, the Bronx section, sound more likely to give her a curb job than a blow job!"

Oops!