billmon: Give it a Rest

I see from a stroll around the blogosphere that the conservatives aren’t the only ones playing the blame game and sharpening the attack lines. And I just got an email from some allegedly left-wing son of bitch chortling about imperial chickens coming home to roost and Michael Collins raising a toast in hell.

To which, all I can say is: What the fuck is wrong with you people??

Thirty seven innocents are dead, hundreds more are wounded, a city is paralyzed, and you’re acting like this is the spin room at the last presidential debate — or your own private revenge fantasy.

It’s almost as bad as the columnist for the Guardian who blithely referred to America in the wake of 9/11 as a “bully with a bloody nose” — smugly oblivious to the fact that the blood in question was the blood of more than 3,000 innocent human beings.

There will be plenty of time later to argue whether London does or does not demonstrate the failure of the flypaper strategy, whether the Rovians did or did not deliberately blew the cover on a British counterterrorism operation, and whether the right-wing media is or is not milking today’s attack for political gain.

But right now I gotta agree with Kevin Drum: Just for today — or what’s left of it — can’t we drop the politics and the armchair quarterbacking and treat this like the terrible human tragedy that is? Just this once?

Burningbird – Stop

Now is not the time to point to each other, almost in joy, because, to paraphrase, “we’re covering the story better than the BBC.

Now is not the time to bring up the incriminations of why this happened and use it as fodder and ammunition in this stupid oneupmanship that characterizes too many of the popular web sites.

Write on our shared sorrow for the people in London. Or write on flowers and trips to Maine and life in general, because life is good. Life is good. But not this. Don’t use this event to promote weblogging.

You’re right, and I know I’m guilty of this myself.

Howard at Philly Future keys us into whats going on around town and our regional web.

I’d just like to wish you a happy – and thoughtful July 4th.

Howard has shared news that Albert Yee has been credentialed with a press pass and will be blogging for Philly Future on Saturday! We are honored to have his terrific writing and photography on board.

We are taking a huge step Saturday and are taking a distributed approach to covering Live 8. Not only will Albert be posting to Philly Future, but he will be posting photos to his Flickr account, many of which we will highlight from its RSS feed.

In addition, our own Philly Future Philadelphia Live8 page will be pulling in Technorati’s “Live8 Philly” tagged posts and other “Live8” tagged photos from Flickr.

Highlights, as chosen by our editors, and new posts written directly for Philly Future by our site’s community, will be seen throughout the day.

Please read my post on this and Live 8 as a whole at Philly Future and share your feedback. And make sure to read Albert’s initial thoughts as he is about to take an adventure – covering the news as it happens.

The House OKed a Flag Burning Ban Amendment?

That the Supreme Court ruled: Your house can be taken against your will – legally?

That Cable Companies don’t need to share their lines? (hey – unlike the telcos – from what I understand cable put these up without subsidies – but don’t listen to me – I work for a cable company).

That p2p companies that induce copyright infringement are breaking the law? (this sounds bad but maybe it’s not)

And that religious displays in certain contexts on government ground are illegal?

Neither did I without reading it on the web.

For some different views and thoughts on these matters, read Dan Gillmor.

A Couch Tom Cruise Won’t Jump On

…”You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do.”

Cruise looked like a man possessed — or at least in need of an Ativan — leaning insistently forward in his chair, hammering Lauer when the host suggested that some people were actually, you know, helped when doctors prescribed psychiatric drugs. Lauer sparred with Cruise specifically over whether it made sense for Brooke Shields to have sought therapy and taken antidepressants for postpartum depression — a decision that Cruise had previously criticized.

…As a top-level celebrity believer in Scientology, Cruise has been steeped in the lingo and policies of the late church founder, L. Ron Hubbard. (Hearing Cruise use a term like “ideal scene” during his exchange with Lauer would perk up the ears of anyone who’s been in Scientology’s orbit before.)

Hubbard launched his self-help movement in the 1950s with a book called “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health,” and from early on, he battled with psychologists and psychiatrists. Indeed, Hubbard once wrote in an internal policy statement: “Our war has been forced to become to take over absolutely the field of mental healing on this planet in all forms.”

BTW, Katie Holmes has a Scientology minder who is following her as she promotes “Batman Begins”.

And Scarlett Johansson was turned down for a role in MI:3 after she doesn’t embrace the “religion”.

Way, way more in a related thread at Metafilter.

Ok.. I’m turning tabloid.

Whiskey Bar: Negotiating With Terrorists

No nation can negotiate with terrorists. For there is no way to make peace with those whose only goal is death.

George W. Bush
Remarks to Reporters
April 4, 2002

After weeks of delicate negotiation . . . a small group of insurgent commanders apparently came face to face with four American officials seeking to establish a dialogue with the men they regard as their enemies. The talks on June 3 were followed by a second encounter 10 days later, according to an Iraqi who said that he had attended both meetings . . . further talks are planned in the hope of negotiating an eventual breakthrough that might reduce the violence in Iraq.

The Sunday Times of London
US ‘in talks with Iraq rebels’
June 26, 2005

Wow. So our administration is now making a distinction between “insurgents” and “terrorists”? So “insurgents” who car bomb innocent civilians aren’t terrorists?

Wow.

At PartyGaming, Everything’s Wild – New York Times

A giant in the online gambling business, PartyGaming is an often-overlooked megasurvivor from the dot-com crash of the late 1990’s. As hundreds of profitless commercial sites disappeared into the digital ether, PartyGaming’s popular gambling sites – like PartyPoker.com – soared, with revenues and profits growing exponentially year after year.

This week, the company will go public in what is expected to be the largest offering in years on the London Stock Exchange, one that will make billionaires out of its ragtag assortment of founders and major stockholders – including a California lawyer who earned her first fortune in online pornography and phone-sex lines. All told, as much as $9 billion is expected to be raised, with all of the cash going to private shareholders selling portions of their stakes.

But there will be no Wall Street investment houses lapping up fees in the giant deal, no victory dances in the offices of American corporate lawyers. That is because PartyGaming, based in Gibraltar, has no assets in the United States, and its officers or directors could risk being served with a civil suit – or an arrest warrant – if they came to the United States on business.

The reason? The Justice Department and numerous state attorneys general maintain that providing the opportunity for online gambling is against the law in the United States – and PartyGaming does it anyway. Indeed, of its $600 million in revenue and $350 million in profit in 2004, almost 90 percent came from the wallets and bank accounts of American gamblers.

To justify this, PartyGaming walks a very thin line. Providing online gambling is not illegal per se in the United States, the company argues – federal prosecutors just say it is. The company has already received an e-mail message from the Louisiana attorney general demanding that it cease providing online gambling in that state; PartyGaming simply ignored the communication and waited for additional action that never came.