Author: david

  • Will the Hip-Hop Nation Stand Up?

    I think it will. I have been among the eldest citizens for years (though my attention has drifted lately). I have felt it was a unique dialectic of candor that would turn out to be redemptive for the United States. The OG’s (“Original Gangstas”) of my own generation are on tour right now for the…

  • Sorry..couldn’t help it…

    China’s Hu takes Army reins Former President Jiang Zemin resigned his post as head of military Sunday CSM, 9/20/04 “Jiang,…was China’s top ruler until 2002 – when he gave up his post to President Hu….Yet Jiang, still regarded as the most powerful politician,…had retained a firm grip on the Central Military Commission. “Jiang’s half-in, half-out…

  • The Magic Bullets of Baghdad

    Army Defends Baghdad Battle That Left 16 Dead, LA Times, 9/16/04U.S. commanders acknowledged Wednesday that their helicopters fired seven rockets and 30 high-caliber machine-gun rounds onto a crowded Baghdad street this week during a battle that killed 16 Iraqis…Military officials here have adamantly denied Iraqi charges that U.S. forces…fire indiscriminately…[US] soldiers are fighting a guerrilla…

  • Still Fostering Abuse, Publicly, Shamelessly, Even Now

    Rumsfeld Downplays Detainee Mistreatment, AP, 9/10/04 “Amid allegations he fostered a climate that led to the prison abuse scandal, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday that the military’s mistreatment of detainees was not as bad as what terrorists have done. “‘Does it rank up there with chopping someone’s head off on television?’ he asked.…

  • The Right to Bear Arms. EVERYWHERE!

    Increasingly, we are fighting a war to defend the right of American troops to enter Iraqi cities. Per this 9/5/04 NYT article… One by One, Iraqi Cities Become No-Go Zones “In Iraq, the list of places from which American soldiers have either withdrawn or decided to visit only rarely is growing: [Samarra,] Falluja,…Ramadi,…the holy Shiite…

  • Could you just roll that back a little, please?

    I love the abrupt juxtaposition of styles in this AFP article, where the gray grit of war slides suddenly into comfy corporate pastel. I leave it to you to decide where the transition seems to occur. This is an unbroken quote from the article. “Four Turkish nationals have been executed at the hands of hostage-takers…