connecting*the*dots

(originally uploaded by BombDog)

(originally uploaded by Jeremy Dennis)

I want to make it very clear where I stand on the issue of the RMA report hitting the internet this yesterday morning.

The RMA needed to be released into the public domain.

Because this document was originally leaked from within city management, the cat has been out of the bag for a long time now, hiding in the engine chassis of many parked cars around town… cars with media powered megaphones.

Once that happened, there was no way for the city to professionally manage whatever issues existed within the GPD behind closed doors.

With all the conflicting commentary and positions in local papers and blogs following the original leak (such as The N&R, The Rhino, Guarino, Hoggard, The Troublemaker and Ed Cone) over the past God knows how many months, there really was no way for any resident of Greensboro (including me) to follow the numerous threads, form an informed opinion on any discrete level and ultimately, trust both city managers and the police department.

So, was I was receptive to obtain a copy of the report the other day and read for myself the details behind what drove the city to lock David Wray out of his office?

Abso-fucking-lutely.

I was also amped for it’s public consumption in the near future, because I had heard through the grapevine just a few days ago that a local print publisher had planned to print it… on this Thursday (whether that was true or not, who knows for sure).

Now here’s where the big ol’ but! of my perspective contradicts my previous position.

Greensboro101 is not an individually run web site

For Roch to allow the file to be available in the interface for an extended period of time after it was uploaded anonymously to 101 without notifying his editorial board, I do feel it was an irresponsible move in regards to his unpaid advisers.

Again, let me be perfectly clear: I completely support this document being available to all Greensboro citizens, especially after it has been used by a select few in town (media and residents) to construct their message since the original leak… but, to allow it on 101 signifies that everyone associated with 101 backs that decision.

Obviously, Ben, Sue, Jay and Cara Michele did not support that decision.

So while it is Roch’s right to keep the provided file available to the public, he in turn must take full responsibility for his decision.

And as far as I can tell — by speaking with three quarters of the resigning party — they’re fine to leave the actions of this day as an editorial decision, pure and simple, and go their separate ways. From what I gather, Roch feels the same.

Case closed. (UPDATE: Or is it?)

The 101 Of My Relationship To 101

When I first moved to town last year, Roch and I rapped a bit about the potential of Greensboro101 at one of my first Blogsboro Meetups. After having a few beers downtown later that week, Roch asked me if I’d like to serve on an advisory board, touting Ed Cone and Jay Rosen as members.

Interested in the potential of 101 and having met neither Ed or Jay at the time (both of whom I respected very much), I agreed.

Later that week, I provided Roch with a bio to publish and assist him in his conversations with potential investors.

Since that conversation sometime last fall, Roch and I have not spoken once about the future of 101.

Zero.

Nada.

Being that I don’t agree with the way that he proceeded in this manner — even though I do support his decision to keep the file available — I’ve asked Roch to remove me from our imaginary relationship. I’m not quite sure he understands my position, but that’s fine.

I have much more important things to focus on.

UPDATE: In the comments, Ed denies ever being an advisor to 101. I apologize to both Ed and Jay for even mentioning them if that is truly the case.

UPDATE II: Roch sets Ben straight regarding the business advisory board we thought we were a part of by allowing our resumes to be presented to potential investors:

This “business� advisory board that Sean and Ben “resigned� from was never empanelled and never convened.

Forgive me if I don’t tow the party line completely, but this Chief Wray controversy doesn’t quite feel as open and shut and David suggests — but not as you might think I mean.

After reading the RMA report, I do believe the city had no choice but to fire Wray, as he undoubtedly lied to his superiors, but the sheer amount of managerial issues raised by officers and employees once the investigation began seems to cut across Wray’s deception and his alleged actions into the disturbing territory of GPD management across the board.

(cartoon by Anthony Piraino)

The following quote is from page five in the overview (Section I) of the RMA report:

[…] The City Manager was approached by a contingent of minority police officers who complained of disparate treatment citing the Hinson matter as one of several examples. Officers complained that there was a “secret police” unit that focused on investigating black GPD officers. They also referenced a “black book” that was rumored to contain the photographs of black police officers that was used by the “secret police unit” for alleged inappropriate purposes. Additionally, law enforcement officers representing all ranks, races and genders came forward with complaints regarding the management of the GPD and concerns of mistreatment. […]

If you read that previous line as I did — “the management of the GPD” — it insinuates that there were issues in the GPD deeper than David Wray; he might have given the directions for tactical assignments and the such, but he didn’t manage them to fruition or carry them out by himself.

So while I’d love to close the book on this controversy and feel like the cancer has been removed — once and for all — from my local police department, I can’t. And I also can’t help but to think that the City Managers and Chief Wray agreed to go separate ways, because if they didn’t, the proverbial shit was lining up in droves to hit the proverbial fan… and everyone involved in the face.

Yesterday, after reading the RMA for himself, Ed Cone pointed to John Hammer’s editorial statement on January 26th as an indication of Hammer’s prescience, but the last paragraph of that statement just isn’t sitting well with me:

[…] According to Occam’s Razon, the simplest answer is usually the correct one. In this case the simplest answer is that Wray was, for whatever reason, not honest in his dealings with his boss, City Manager Mitchell Johnson. Any other explanation involves huge coincidences and for people to do things that don’t make any sense.

This report really needs to be released to the public.

UPDATE: The report has been uploaded to Greensboro101.

Next: I’ll read Jerry Bledsoe’s narrative and compare factual assertions.

David has finished reading the “Risk Management Associates” report; I’m pausing to go listen to live music at The Flying Anvil (btw, I didn’t get the report from David).

Tomorrow morning, first and foremost, I plan on completely digesting the entire report. I then plan on reading Jerry Bledsoe’s narrative of events in detail and the numerous reports from The Troublemaker.

And then, as Chief Wray is so eloquently quoted on page 5:

Click to see larger version

I’ll “connect the dots” myself.

Artist: The Disposable Heroes of HipHoprisy
Song: Television, the Drug Of A Nation

==========

One Nation under God has turned into
One Nation under the influence of one drug

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., I.T. satellite links our United States of unconciousness
Apathetic, therapeutic and extremely addictive,
the methadone metronome pumping out 150 channels
24 hours a day
You can flip through all of them
And still there’s nothing worth watching

T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent of our Nation reads books daily
why most people think Central America means Kansas
Socialism means unAmerican
and Apartheid is a new headache remedy

Absorbed in its world it’s so hard to find us
It shapes our minds the most
Maybe the mother of our Nation should remind us
that we’re sitting to close to. . .

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is the stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods are chased by Grecian Formula’d bald eagles

T.V. is mechanized politic’s remote control over the masses
co-sponsered by environmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special

It’s the perpetuation of the two party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
Where sound bite politics are served to the fastfood culture

Where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words that come out of it
Race baiting is the way to get selected
Willie Horton or Will he not get elected on . . .

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is it the reflector or the director?
Does it imitate us or do we imitate it?
Because a child watches 1500 murders before he’s twelve years old
and we wonder how we’ve created a Jason generation
that learns to laugh rather than abhor the horror

T.V. is the place where armchair generals and quarterbacks
can experience first hand the excitement of video warfare
as the theme song is sung in the background

Sugar sweet sitcoms that leave us with a bad actor taste
while pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars
You saw the video
You heard the soundtrack
Well now go buy the soft drink
Well, the only cola that I support
would be a union C.O.L.A. (Cost of Living Allowance)

On television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Back again, “New and Improved”,
we return to our irregularly programmed schedule
hidden cleverly between heavy breasted beer and car commericals

CNN, ESPN, ABC, TNT… but mostly B.S.
Where oxymoronic language like “virtually spotless”
“fresh frozen” “light yet filling” and “military intelligence”
have become standard

T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined
like “recession” to “necessary downturn”
“crude oil” on a beach to “mousse”
“Civilian death” to “collateral damages”
and being killed by your own Army is now called “friendly fire”

T.V. is the place where the pursuit of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia
Where toothpaste and cars have become sex objects
Where imagination is sucked out of children by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse that would create a cripple

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

(originally uploaded by Bog_King)

ZDNet.uk
Chuck D lays down the law on DRM
by David Meyer

Digital rights management (DRM) has its benefits, but should not overly restrict users, according to musician and mobile entrepreneur Chuck D.

The rapper, who was a founding member of hip hop group Public Enemy and now runs a content service, told delegates at the Mobile Content World conference in London that he had always looked at technology as “something you can apply to a better world if you stay on top of it and don’t let it stay on top of you”.

“[Napster founder] Shawn Fanning revolutionised the way we get music — he doesn’t get the respect he deserves even today,” said Chuck D on Tuesday.

He said he does “believe in some sort of DRM” but pointed out that MP3 was the most popular compression format because it does not limit how the customer can use the file once bought.

“You’ve got artists who are just starting out who are understanding that DRM is a way of life,” Chuck D said, adding that musicians “understand it doesn’t have to be the Pirates of Penzance as it was”, a reference to the free-for-all early days of Napster and similar P2P engines.

The issue of DRM has become increasingly contentious with the growth of new media distribution services. Some see it as a way to protect the intellectual property of content creators, while others see it as unnecessary infringement by distributors on the rights of the consumer.

Speaking to ZDNet UK after his presentation, Chuck D described the current situation with DRM as “just a lot of fucked-up shit“.

[…]

Until the bottom-feeding leetches of the RIAA are kicked out of the music industry, artists and consumers are going to be screwed by DRM.

(via Pete)

the show with zefrank: 10-04-06

Fox News knows exactly what they’re doing.

(originally uploaded by ConjugalVisitor)

McClatchy Washington Bureau
Rumsfeld, Ashcroft received warning of al Qaida attack before 9/11
By Jonathan S. Landay, Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The State Department’s disclosure Monday that the pair was briefed within a week after then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was told about the threat on July 10, 2001, raised new questions about what the Bush administration did in response, and about why so many officials have claimed they never received or don’t remember the warning.

One official who helped to prepare the briefing, which included a PowerPoint presentation, described it as a “10 on a scale of 1 to 10″ that “connected the dots” in earlier intelligence reports to present a stark warning that al-Qaida, which had already killed Americans in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and East Africa, was poised to strike again.

Former CIA Director George Tenet gave the independent Sept. 11, 2001, commission the same briefing on Jan. 28, 2004, but the commission made no mention of the warning in its 428-page final report. According to three former senior intelligence officials, Tenet testified to commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste and to Philip Zelikow, the panel’s executive director and the principal author of its report, who’s now Rice’s top adviser.

[…]

And people called Clinton’s interview with Chris Wallace “crazed?” Sounds much more like it was a factual explosion.

(originally uploaded by TJOY)

If so, man, does that guy have a set of balls on him; he plays God and then quotes a reference to God’s will to back his devilish actions?

Forget a comma — that’s !^&*$%.

Ever feel like you’re simply a target of corporate consumerism? One battery of millions powering accelerated growth? A soul without a say? Disconnected from other people?

Watch this and smile.

(via Dave)

(via listics)

(originally uploaded by Scoobymoo)

Steve | 09.29.06 - 11:52 am

I’d have to say, I once thought terrorists were just religious nuts trying to get their 40 virgins. I thought 9/11 was a cowardly, yet simplistic attack.

Today, I realize how sophisticated crashing unarmed civilian airplanes into buildings really was. That single move has our country perilously close to destruction. Why hasn’t Al Queda attacked again? Because they don’t need to. We’ll do far more damage to ourselves than some cult of nuts with AK47s ever will.

We have played right into their hands. Knowing how badly we needed to go into Iraq, and being able to foresee (unlike us) the costly aftermath, they were able to bank on us depleting our treasury. Of course, this means more cuts to social programs and schools, ensuring we will be weak in the future. Then we really go the extra mile to appease them and take away our own rights to show them just how tough we are.

We now have secret prisons and full government control of our personal lives with no court oversight. The mere mention of terrorism and you can disappear forever with no trial. Hell, who needs evidence when you have torture. With torture, it’s only a matter of time before you get whatever confession you like.

Welcome to Cold War USSR. Goverment control, fear, economy being drained to support the military, secret prisons, the works. Being the ones to set the demise of the Soviet Union in motion, you’d think we’d see this coming. I guess not. I am now convinced Al Queda did.

The top scientific minds and universities in the world are here in the US. The most advanced country in the world being beaten down by a bunch of pink unicorn zealots. How embarrassing. They aimed to make us destroy our own country out of fear. They have been more effective than I had ever imagined.

The only element of Steve’s comment that I don’t particularily agree with is his position on social programs and schools. If it wasn’t Iraq, we would’ve figured out another way to send the majority of our taxes into the military industrial complex. You know, gotta keep making the widgets.

Well, maybe not quite at this clip.

But that’s where we stand, all because 19 men — neither boogymen nor fascists, but men — armed with box cutters, simply outfoxed our minimum wage airport security defenses 5 years ago and murdered 3,000 people in the most spectacular fashion possible.

We respond not by going after the chief conspirator of the mass homicide, instead we initiate “Shock and Awe” in a pre-planned pissing contest, create a killing field in Iraq and alter the most important elements of our DNA as Americans in the guise to protect us from people who would destroy all that we stand for as Americans.

The irony sickens me.

(originally uploaded by squacco)

Steve Gilliard:

[…]

“The torture bill is a cruel joke, so riddle with flaws, so unconstitutional, it won’t survive the District Court — which is the calculation Dems in tight races made.

[…]

We cannot give them a pass. We cannot just say that’s the GOP. Because if some Democrats played politics, it is the Republicans who betrayed the constitution. It is far too easy to write off their duty to the nation based on politics. Oh, well, they’re wingnuts. No, they are elected to defend the constitution, not the Republican party. And in that, they have betrayed this country and it’s ideals.”

[…]

And Republicans, somehow, will find a way to use those very same Democratic votes in campaign ads next month against Democrats.

Politics is a no win game; the dice are always loaded.

With that being reality, here’s a clue for Democrats: as the opposition party, your role is to oppose (especially in this case), not to straddle the line of insanity in order to gather the just-right-of-moderate votes.

God forbid if the Judiciary is rigged and this unconstitutional, un-American garbage goes through…

(photo by ethanz)

Be sure to read the story behind the image.

(originally uploaded by anotherview)

Times Herald-Record
We came, we saw, we made enemies
By Nicole Belle

[…]

Short version: Iraq wasn’t a terrorist threat when we attacked it; it is now because we did attack and botched the job so badly that terrorists are dying to go there and learn how to kill Americans anywhere. So the world is safe from Saddam (who was never a threat) but more vulnerable to terrorism, which (back to the beginning) was on the ropes in the early days in Afghanistan.

* * *

This NIC report, revealed this week in stories in The New York Times and Washington Post, is devastating to the Bush administration argument for continuing the fight in Iraq. John Negroponte, Bush’s national intelligence director and the boss of all 16 intelligence agencies, cautions not to form conclusions based solely on these news reports. There’s more to the assessment, he says, and many more judgments than the one linking the war to more terrorism. He says to do that would be a distortion.

Fine. Then release the 30-page National Intelligence Estimate for all Americans to read. Have congressional committees black out the really classified data, if necessary. But let us know what our intelligence agencies say firsthand, not what Bush decides to tell us they said. We’ve been here before, and there are now 2,600-plus reasons to doubt what the president says.

[…]

Someone, anyone, come up with a scenario for me where invading Iraq wouldn’t have created a similar state of affairs.

Take your time…

Now, it probably would’ve helped if we had taken this operation seriously and created a reconstruction plan before trucking into Iraq, but as Donald Rumsfeld so eloquently stated in the pre-war planning stages, “the American public will not back us if they think we are going over there for a long war.”

The result of such rhetoric, you ask?

Rumsfeld intimidated his planners out of creating any plans for reconstruction following the capture of Saddam — you know, these last 3 years come December.

Now we have jihadists and near enemy soldiers training and killing in the sandbox of our creation, using Iraqi citizens as pawns, targets and propaganda to rile up even more anti-American fury across the middle-east and the world.

But I digress…

Here are my three top reasons for why Iraq has become a hotbed of terrorist activity:

1. The Project For The New American Century
   If PNAC is the neoconservative playbook, this administration is an all-pro team for its execution. If I stumbled across this direct and coded language for the invasion of Iraq (and anywhere else for that matter) just ten days into the Iraq invasion, I’m betting that this document has been used by a few terrorists to up their enrollment prior to 9/11. And as soon as the invasion of Iraq was a sure bet, I’m guessing it became a major recruitment tool. The only reason I can come up with as to why (potential) leaders of this nation would publicize a document such as PNAC, is that they wanted the reality we now find ourselves knee-deep within and they needed their own recruitment stake-in-the-ground.
2. Poverty, Chaos And Fear: A Perfect Storm For Revenge
   If a child is killed in Iraq nowadays, we’re ultimately held responsible by his/her family. If a child’s father is killed, that child will most likely grow up with a propensity towards revenge. If a child’s uncle’s wedding is wiped out with a car bomb… well, you get the picture.
3. Let’s Talk About Sects, Baby
   Compare how much you know about, say, the Shia/Sunni relationship today with what you knew in 2003. You probably didn’t even know the names of any Islamic sects back then, right? And now I hope you realize that there is more internal conflict within Islam itself than with the West in general. Now realize that our government absolutely understood the issues between these sects — from their religous differences to their standing within the entire middle-east region to how they would respond to the overthrow of Saddam. I’m not cynical; if you believe we went in there without a clue, you’re only kidding yourself.

What are yours?

Now we’re talking. A couple hundred more good moves and I’ll start to cut President Bush some slack.

(I’m not holding my breath)

(originally uploaded by .beauty.obscured.)