Karl Rove, Scott McClellan and the (belatedly) Free Press Day 7

rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb072605.rm
The press seems to be getting more classy in probing about Rove; one question was couched as a request for a comment on Bill Clinton's saying that Rove's political machine "have gotten away with murder", for example.

BTW, questions about a recess appointment for John Bolton are coming up now.

For the complete series, see: http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/07/karl-rove-scott-mcclellan-and_22.html

Karl Rove, Scott McClellan and the (belatedly) Free Press Day 6

rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb072505.rm
The Rove issue seems to have become a part of the background noise, with journalists wondering if Rove was in this or that meeting.

The Indian gentleman goes back to saying that it is an insult to the Prime Minister of India (not to mention the country) for other members of the White House Press corps to ask questions about scandals.

For the complete series, see: http://ifaqeer.blogspot.com/2005/07/karl-rove-scott-mcclellan-and_22.html

Is Urdu Ready for the Information Superhighway?

July's cover story in Spider magazine (the Dawn Group's Internet Magazine) is titled "Sifting Scripts: Is Urdu ready for the information superhighway?".

Details and links are on the "Urdu ke Naam" blog:

http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/2005/07/is-urdu-ready-for-information.html
[Main blog at: http://urdu-ke-naam.blogspot.com/ ]

The cover package includes a story on the Urdu blogosphere by yours truly:

http://www.spider.tm/jul2005/cstory2.html

On Slavery...

Someone on a list I am on recently posted a very succint and, in my humble opinion, well-rounded analysis of the phenomenon of slavery, especially in the context of the last few centuries:

There were white slaves in the Americas too of course, usually political rebels. People have developed a warped view as if Europeans invented slavery some time after they conquered the Amerias, where the reverse is true, Europeans were the first to abolish savery, though meantime they had added a racist twist to it. But conditions for ordinary workers in the Middle Ages and often much later were little different from slaves and there were regular owned slaves as well. Not very many because people were too poor compared to Roman times where if you were rich you didn't pay your doctor or schoolteacher, you bought them. Another thing people don't realise is that many of the Northern American states abolished slavery long after Independence, for instance New York was 1828 and the racist clash between ex-slaves and immigrants was central to the 'Gangs of New York' kind of situation. What Americans called slaves, Russians called serfs but the actual difference is negligible.
[I only know the person as "live@surrealist".]

Biking to Alaska...

No, not me! Just thought I would post a shout-out to a childhood friend who is:

http://wasi.xzyler.com/Index.html

Karl Rove, Scott McClellan and the (belatedly) Free Press

NOTE: This is one of a series of "live" entries on this blog that I will update as we go. Please check back often. I will post entry at "the top" of the blog notifying when this entry is updated.
All links are to the CSPAN archives.

Day 1, 7/11
rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb071105_mcclellan.rm
Which includes, Scotty Mack cutting off a journalist trying to get him to reply to a question in a robust dicussion of Karl Rove, turns to ye olde "indian" journalist who asks, to summarize, "How far can we go now in pursuit of Usama Bin Laden? Because Usama Bin Laden in in Pakistan."
Who's the old guy? Was he being sarcastic?

Day 2, 7/12
rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb071205.rm

Day 3, 7/13
rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb071305.rm
[Video not working too well right now]

Day 4? (7/18)
rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb071805.rm
A lot of references are made to the "press availability of Pres. Bush with Prime Minister Singh of India earlier in the day rtsp://video.c-span.org/15days/e071805_india.rm)
The Indian gentleman finally engages with the issue of the day--in a way--when he asks if it isn't an insult to an foreign leader when American reporters go off on tangents during joint availabilities...

Day 5 (7/21)
[link to be added]
Interestingly, even in responding to questions about London (and the new bombings today), McClellan repeatedly refers to "fight the terrorists in Iraq, so we don't have to fight them at home". Huh? London is not part of "at home" of the allies? I wonder how Tony Blair would feel about that.

Day 6 (7/25)
rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb072505.rm

The Rove issue seems to have become a part of the background noise, with journalists wondering if Rove was in this or that meeting.
The Indian gentleman goes back to saying that it is an insult to the Prime Minister of India (not to mention the country) for other members of the White House Press corps to ask questions about scandals.

Day 7 (7/26)
rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb072605.rm
The press seems to be getting more classy in probing about Rove; one question was couched as a request for a comment on Bill Clinton's saying that Rove's political machine "have gotten away with murder", for example.

BTW, questions about a recess appointment for John Bolton are coming up now.

Day 8 (7/27)
rtsp://video.c-span.org/60days/whpb072705.rm
The Karl Rove issue seems to have become part of the background (Helen Hunt's voice can be heard asking a question about it), but the press does seem to have become a little more daring over all. Or is it because we are not paying attention?

London 07/21/05

Listening to the statement by Tony Blair (press availability with PM Howard of Australia) and the calming tone of his voice is amazing--conveying in itself a determination not to let the incidents disrupt the flow of things, or his temperament. Interesting. Makes me wonder if any other nation--the US, Pakistan...--could react like that.

Barbara Boxer: We lost our focus

One of the most honest comments I have heard in a while:

"9/11 shook us. And we lost our focus. We didn't regain our focus for quite a while....the day I got my legs back was the Tom DeLay got up and said we don't have the right to question the President on his domestic policies in a time of war."

(Speech to the Commonwealth Club, July 8, 2005. Full audio available at: http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/05/05-07boxer-audio.html)

John Edwards: "We need a domestic intelligence operation"

rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/rwh/rwh041005.rm

MIddle East Peace

Just heard "Big Ed" Schultz on Air America Radio the phrase "Middle East Peace" in the context of bringing an end to the violence in Iraq. How words and phrases evolve!

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Big Ed Schultz - Middle East Peace