BBC reports reliable allegations of prisoner mistreatment at the U.S. detention center at Bagram air base in Afghanistan from 2002-2008. The indicia of reliability seem high – interviews with 27 released prisoners, who are not facing any charges; each interviewed in isolation from the others; similar reports of “physical abuse, the use of stress positions, excessive heat or cold, unbearably loud noise, being forced to remove clothes in front of female soldiers.”
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From Abu Ghraib to Bagram?
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Tim Pawlenty, Through the Looking Glass
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty told Alice in Lewis Carrol’s Through the Looking Glass, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.'” In a similar manner, Governor Pawlenty casts himself as a heroic defender of education, promising no cuts to K-12 funding, while at the same time making “shifts” in funding that, in fact, will decrease the total amount that all schools have to spend on education.
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H1N1 – here already (6/26/09 update)
Update, 6/29/09: BBC reports “The number of confirmed swine flu cases in England has jumped by nearly 20% in a single day, latest figures show. The Health Protection Agency statistics show that 535 new cases were confirmed on Friday, bringing the total to 3,364.” Closer to home, KARE 11 reports that Wisconsin is leading the nation in reported swine flu cases, hitting 4251 confirmed or probable cases of H1N1 this week.
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Poem for Bagua – Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria
Thursday, June 18, 2009 – Reposted at the poet’s request
For The Homeland (A Poem for Bagua)
by Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria
With my hands I write these words for the homeland
Today my heart stopped
My blood spilled
On land that will be given
To oil companies that will rape it
Brand it, and sell it with my name on it
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News Day: Reading the job numbers – carefully / Slash and burn the cities / Eviction, filesharing / Get out of town
Reading the numbers – carefully AP today picks up on the crucial bit of analysis reported right here yesterday: Lower numbers of people receiving unemployment benefits is NOT good news. It simply means that more workers have been unemployed for so long that they have exhausted their benefits.
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News Day: MN unemployment up to 8.2 percent / Foreclosures dip / Preventing the NEXT economic meltdown – or not / more
MN unemployment up to 8.2 percent Minnesota’s unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent in May, up from 8.0 percent in April but still below the national rate of 9.4%, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. DEED’s press release this morning led with the announcement that MN employers had cut only 1,600 jobs in May, the smallest number since October. Total job losses in May were more than 10,000, but that number was offset by some job gains, including 7,100 in the leisure and hospitality industries and 900 in construction.
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Making and taking the news, from Iran to AP and MPR
Two examples from today’s headlines illustrate important issues in the heated debates about what journalism is, could be, and should be.
1) Iran and Twitter and Facebook and all of that — Of course, much of our information is coming from these social media, new media and non-traditional sources, but how do we know what is accurate? What tools can we use to sort through a mountain of reports that includes, by my last count, dozens of tweets per minute on just one hashtag, #iranelections.
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News Day: Online in Iran / Unallotment strikes deep / St. Paul: Schools, students, tears / PFC case to jury /
Online in Iran Everybody in the media world is buzzing and tweeting about the online revolution in Iran. Yesterday The Atlantic “reported” the story by posting an apparently unmoderated and unanalyzed Twitter feed. Jon Stewart skewered CNN for its breathless reporting, also long on direct quotes from Facebook and Twitter and short on verification (after all, it’s CNN) and analysis. The Iranian government ordered all foreign journalists to stay inside their homes or offices and report only from official sources or telephone interviews. NPR reports that the government is doing its worst to stop social media reporting:
The Revolutionary Guards, an elite body answering to the supreme leader, says Iranian Web sites and bloggers must remove any materials that “create tension” or face legal action. …
They’ve also slowed the speed of Internet access to a crawl, making the spread of video much tougher….Twitter has served as a vehicle for mobilizing protesters as well as getting out the news — but people who log onto the site couldn’t possibly keep up with all the Iran-related postings, nor can they fully sort out firsthand witnesses from posers or government provocateurs. But the Twitter updates — up to 140 characters — provide insight into plans for future rallies, strategies for avoiding censors, and links to photos and videos of new developments such as clashes with police.
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News Day: The Ax-Man cometh / SPPS stumbling out of the starting gate / Charter schools / Somali teens / Iran protests
The Ax-Man cometh Gov. Tim Pawlenty will announce unallotment targets – or something like that – at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the PiPress. This isn’t the actual unallotment, but rather an announcement of his plan. In theory, he’s still open to hearing other voices, but given T-Paw’s record on listening to people who disagree with him on budget issues, that’s not likely to move him off target. The likely targets? Local government, health care, higher ed, and fancy footwork with funding shifts for K-12 education.
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News Day: Unemployment up, crime down / Play it again / Iran elections / more
Crime falling with economy The common wisdom is that crime rises during economic recessions, but the common wisdom is wrong, reports Eric Ostermeier at the University of Minnesota. Comparing crime rates and unemployment figures every April for ten years shows no correlation between crime rates and unemployment. In fact, “the crime rate of 4.3 incidents per 1,000 residents in April 2009 is the lowest April crime rate in Minneapolis this decade. After peaking at a rate of 6.0 incidents per 1,000 residents in April 2006, the crime rate has fallen in each of the subsequent three years – to a rate of 5.7 in April 2007, 5.2 in April 2008, and 4.3 in April 2009. ”
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Mary Turck