Gov. Palin’s E-Mail Hacked

The son of a Tennessee state representative hacked into Gov. Sarah Palin’s Yahoo! e-mail account. What do you think?

Bart McCorkle,
Roofer
“This is outrageous. Clearly it’s the responsibility of the government to infiltrate people’s e-mail accounts, not rogue private citizens.”

Shandra Ferguson,
ESL Teacher
“This makes me sad. I remember a time when nobody knew who Sarah Palin was, much less what sort of spam she had.”

Blake Gruber,
Systems Analyst
“I’m sure it won’t be long before they crack McCain’s elaborate system of cans and strings.”

Today’s video of the day comes from Syracuse University Professor (and Barbershop regular) Boyce Watkins, who recently released his first rap single “When I Rise.” Following in the footsteps of Cornel West, Boyce will be releasing an album soon. Thoughts?

Dear Mets Fans,

First, let me say that I’m writing this letter out of genuine concern and humility. (Yes, I know that humble people don’t draw attention to their own humility. But I digress…)  As a devoted Philadelphia sports fan, I have noticed that your hometown Mets are headed down a very familiar path. For the second consecutive year, you appear to be imploding at the worst possible time. While I cannot (and would not) do anything to save your team from its inevitable demise, I want you to know that I can empathize with your pain. Why? Because we’ve had it worse.

Please rest assured that your current misery is minor league compared to what Philadelphia fans have dealt with over the past two decades. Yes, squandering a 7 game lead in the final 17 games was awful. Yes, watching it happen again this year only validates your suspicion that you’ve somehow incurred the wrath of the baseball gods. (Ask Boston how hard it is to get back on their good side!) But those things pale in comparison to the steady string of disappointments that the Phillies have offered our city since they won their last championship in 1980. From the team’s refusal to pay for quality pitching to Mitch Williams’ series-ending meatball to Joe Carter in the 1993 World Series to the team’s recent penchant for fading out of pennant races, the Philadelphia Phillies have given fans more reasons to cry than your Mets ever could.

Besides, whenever you get too down in the dumps you can always look to your other sports teams for inspiration. Here in Philly, where we hold the ignoble title of “longest 4-sport city without a championship,” we’ve been surrounded by extravagant underachievement in all areas. In addition to the Phillies’ failures, we’ve had to watch the Sixers trade Moses Malone, Charles Barkley, and Allen Iverson, the Flyers refuse to let go of dump and chase hockey for decades, and the Eagles fail to win the big game despite a huge window of opportunity. While you guys haven’t been on easy street –you did, after all, have to watch Isiah Thomas play fantasy basketball for more than four years–  you’ve had multiple championships in other sports to ease your pain.

Now, all of our woes seem to be in the past. The Phillies seem prepped to make another playoff appearance, the Sixers are once again a power in the East, the Flyers have exceeded expectations, and the Eagles are a favorite to win the Super Bowl. So now, you’re on your own. But don’t’ worry, your misery won’t last more than, say, another twenty or thirty more years. Good Luck!

In solidarity,

MLH

Items Off the Table
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
As the national political conventions fade into the fog of our short-term memory, few items seem to have penetrated the made-for-TV presentations.

We remember a few snippets (if we’re lucky), a few disparate images, an emotional impression, perhaps.

I’m willing to bet that few of us remember any meaningful discussion of the real economic problems faced by the U.S.  That’s because none of the major presidential candidates have even the remotest solutions to the economic problems plaguing the country, for both are ardent advocates of globalization — and globalization ain’t the solution — it’s the problem.

For globalization emerged as a tool of U.S. economic power to dominate the world in the post-Cold War era. It was designed to open up foreign markets to U.S. and Western businesses, using the illusion of “free trade” to crowbar into local and national economies.

Chalmers Johnson, in his 2000 book, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of Empire (N.Y.: Owl Books)  puts forth precisely this thesis with clarity and conviction.  He illustrates how much of this could be traced to former president Richard Nixon’s abolition of the post-World War Bretton Woods agreements, which pegged world currencies to the dollar, and the dollar to U.S. gold reserves.  From that day on, economies became free floating, and whole new industry was born — finance capital, or the business of speculating in, and profiting from, the  moneys of others.  Such  a system, especially when wedded with the protectionism that prevailed in East Asia for some 50 years, created havoc around the world, where foreign wealth destabilizes local markets, for the quick buck.

A byproduct of this new globalized economy was the hollowing out of American industries, the loss of manufacturing jobs, and the failure of America’s domestic economy.

Johnson cites the work of City College of New York historian, Judith Stein, for examples of how U.S. industrial policy became a wrecking ball to Black communities both in the South and North, industries abroad was a keystone of U.S. strategic policy, and encouraging steel imports became a tool for maintaining vital alliances.  The nation’s leaders by and large ignored the resulting conflict between Cold War and domestic goals” { p.195}.

While presidential candidates argue over taxes on capital gains, millions of Americans struggle to make ends meet.  Tens of thousands of people have lost their homes, due to lost jobs or foreclosures.

It is a globalized economy for capital, high finance, and speculation, but it can hardly be considered one for working people.  For them, a hundred barriers bloom, making it harder than ever to chase jobs.

Both major candidates are deaf to their plight, and thus are ill-disposed to address it, much less solve it.

–(c) ‘08 maj

[Source: Johnson's Blowback.; Goodman, Peter S., "U.S. and Global Economies Slipping in Unison," New York Times (Sunday), 8/24/08, pp.1, 12.]