I love both of these guys. After hearing them meet each other on the radio this morning, it's obvious that they love each other, too. And they both clearly have a deep love for making America a better place while also being entertaining and cool people.
Daraka Larimore-Hall -- a colleague in UCSB's Sociology Department, a leading Santa Barbara activist who helped make our Living Wage ordinance a reality, and a man who is in rock-solid shape -- was interviewed on The Al Franken Show this morning, live from downtown Santa Barbara.
Listen for yourself and hear Daraka practice for his next appearance on a much more important radio show.
Yes, the most observant Important Readers have noticed a new feature here at The Most Important Blog... Ever. And that is a list of articles that I have deemed important enough to read for myself, but not quite important enough to merit a full blog post.
So that you can see what I'm reading at the moment, these articles appear over on the right. They're constantly updated throughout the day, so you always have a reason to come back to the Important Blog. To bask in what Erik is reading. Enjoy.
If you'd like, you can subscribe to the feed of Important Articles here.
So that you can see what I'm reading at the moment, these articles appear over on the right. They're constantly updated throughout the day, so you always have a reason to come back to the Important Blog. To bask in what Erik is reading. Enjoy.
If you'd like, you can subscribe to the feed of Important Articles here.
It's election day in Israel. We'll have more to say after the results are in, but allow me to offer you a quick prediction. Conventional wisdom and the polls suggest that the new, centrist party -- Kadima -- has the election all but locked up. I wouldn't be too surprised if Likud -- Israel's version of Hamas -- made a strong showing.
I predicted a Likud win right after Sharon dropped out of the race, and I'll stick to it. Hopefully I'm wrong (first time for everything).
See you with more analysis as the results come in. If you're an Israeli, go vote!
UPDATE: March 28, 12:00 --Polls just closed. Early indications are that I am thankfully wrong about Likud :
| 21:59 | Channel 2 exit poll: Kadima 32 seats, Labor 22, Likud 11 (Ch 2) |
 | |
| 21:59 | Channel 1 exit poll: Kadima 29 seats, Labor 22, Yisrael Beiteinu 14 (Ch 1) |
| |
| 21:58 | Channel 10 exit poll: Kadima 31 seats, Labor 20, Likud 12 (Ch 10) |
I went to the largest protest march I've seen in a very long time on Saturday here in Santa Barbara. There were at least 1,000 people, energized and excited, in the rain.
Of course you've seen the photos from Los Angeles. And today there are more student protests in California. And in Detroit, thousands of people are marching right now. There were similar protests in cities across the country over the weekend, involving millions.
The protests involve a bill which passed the US House of Representatives last week, HR 4337. This bill, scheduled to be debated in the Senate today, would make it a crime to help a person living and working in the United States without documents. It would make living in the US without documents a felony. And it would make millions of hardworking, decent people into criminals.
What struck me the most about the rally here in Santa Barbara was the lack of elected officials and Democratic party leaders. The only elected official I saw was Das Williams, a city councilman, who spoke to the crowd. I didn't see any Democratic party officials trying to use the opportunity to speak to a crowd of energized and ready-to-vote people. That's a shame.
What isn't a shame, though, is the growing grassroots current of people dedicated to protecting immigrant rights. It's not a coincidence that I'm writing a seminar paper right now about immigration law. The changes to immigration law in the US in the past 10 years have been striking. Militarizing the border was just the beginning. HR 4337 would be the latest in a long line of racially charged, blatantly anti-American legislation.
Call your senators right now to express your opinion. In California, Senator Feinstein's number is 415 393-0707.
As you know, we here at the Most Important Blog... Ever are all about keeping you updated with the latest breaking and most important news. Here we go:
- Turns out manliness is coming back into fashion. You're welcome.
- And even Harvard guys are getting in on the act.
- Cops in Texas are looking for drunks in all the right places.
- Who says women don't like video games?
General Motors, the world's largest automaker and until recently the largest private employer in the US, will offer each and every one of its workers in the US an option to quit -- with a bonus -- right now.
In other words, they're ready for every single US employee to stop working. Is this scaring anyone else?
As reported in Newsweek, a huge study (of more than 60,000 students) out of Duke University shows that cheating is totally, like, getting more common, and stuff.
Apparently, on most college campuses, some 70% of students admit to cheating. Cheating on tests and written assignments has become so commonplace that some professors are not assigning papers any longer because plagiarism is so out of control. Standardized tests like the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) have been compromized by sophisticated cheating methods including cell phone cameras, web site bulletin boards, and other ridiculously easy techniques.
Personally, after grading several hundred papers over the past two years, I've caught about 5 students in blatent plagiarism. My favorites are the students who, without blinking, copy book reviews directly from Amazon.com and pass them off as their own work. Amazon is the most obvious place to look. Give me a break.
Here's the thing, though. I think the whole system of citations is fast becoming outdated and might already by obselete. Why do we need a works cited page in an era when you can just search Google and find nearly any piece of written material? Do we really need to put the author's name first, with a period after the year of publication and all that other shit? Furthermore, how can you possibly be expected to cite everything when it's clear that someone, somewhere has written just about everything you can think of?
I think our students can only partially be blamed for thinking the current system of academic citations is quaint, at best. We need to realize that we're in the 21st century and adjust.
Apparently, on most college campuses, some 70% of students admit to cheating. Cheating on tests and written assignments has become so commonplace that some professors are not assigning papers any longer because plagiarism is so out of control. Standardized tests like the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) have been compromized by sophisticated cheating methods including cell phone cameras, web site bulletin boards, and other ridiculously easy techniques.
Personally, after grading several hundred papers over the past two years, I've caught about 5 students in blatent plagiarism. My favorites are the students who, without blinking, copy book reviews directly from Amazon.com and pass them off as their own work. Amazon is the most obvious place to look. Give me a break.
Here's the thing, though. I think the whole system of citations is fast becoming outdated and might already by obselete. Why do we need a works cited page in an era when you can just search Google and find nearly any piece of written material? Do we really need to put the author's name first, with a period after the year of publication and all that other shit? Furthermore, how can you possibly be expected to cite everything when it's clear that someone, somewhere has written just about everything you can think of?
I think our students can only partially be blamed for thinking the current system of academic citations is quaint, at best. We need to realize that we're in the 21st century and adjust.
You know, it's good to see consistency in the way the Bush White House runs its business.
In the past, the Bush Administration was all about selling policy with catchy words. "Clearer Skies." "No Child Left Behind." "Eduring Freedom." "No Blow Jobs in the Oval Office."
Of course, as anyone who hasn't drunk the kool-aid realizes by now, most of these policies did exactly the opposite of what their billing promised. But credit where credit is due: to our knowledge, Bush has not been blown in the Oval Office.
So it's particularly exciting to watch the Bushies wrestle with the latest potential word problem: civil war.
The worst-case scenario for Iraq -- the one predicted by Bush Sr. when he decided not to take Baghdad -- was that Iraq would descend into civil war. And just yesterday, former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi meekly said,
It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is.
Whoa. That's the last thing the Bushies want to hear. An expert of no less authority than the former Prime Minister saying that Iraq has fallen into the worst case scenario. Today, true to form, the Bushie word police were on the job:
Bush: "We're implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq," Bush said Sunday. "And a victory in Iraq will make this country more secure and will help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come."
Cheney: "Clearly there is an attempt under way by the terrorists, by Zarqawi and others, to foment civil war."
Nice work, Dick, putting the Bushie's preferred term for the situation in Iraq in there: "terrorism." It's not civil war in Iraq, see, just because Sunnis and Shiites have organized militias which are killing each other, it's just that Iraq has a small problem with "terrorists."
Look, whether there's a civil war which rises to meet the formal definition doesn't really matter. The point is, as most of us on the left predicted it would be, Bush's Iraq policy has been a dismal failure. Three years after the war started, the situation in Iraq is just as bad now as it was under Saddam -- possibly it's much worse. So the Iraqis are worse off. Has the war made us safer here in America? No, we're worse off. Is the region better off? Not when Turkey, Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia are all concerned about spillover effects of the Iraqi civil war.
For all of their fancy slogans, the Republicans are pretty terrible at running the country. And I'd gladly allow Bush to get blown in the Oval Office if it meant that nearly 2,500 American soldiers didn't have to die for a failed policy. Bring the troops home.
And now for a new semi-regular feature on the Important Blog -- your Important News Roundup! This is everything you need to know to have interesting things to say at the water cooler. Or, if you prefer, in the locker room. Also useful post-coitus. Enjoy.
- The Lions will be in the Super Bowl next year now that Harrington is gone.
- Canadians prefer TV to sex.
- Pregnancy is a constant struggle between woman and unborn child according to some guy
- When asked to describe President Bush in one word, the most common response in March 2006 was "incompetent." In July 2005, it was "honest." Also important to note: "ass" ranks in the top 10.
- Mission accomplished.
The Israeli army stormed a Palestinian prison in the West Bank city of Jericho today, using tanks, bulldozers, helicopters and plenty of soldiers to force their way in. Jericho has been relatively calm in recent months, in part because of its distance from the Israeli border. But that's all over now.
The reason this is huge news, however, is that the US and UK agreed (along with the Palestinians and Israel) in 2002 to monitor the conditions at the prison -- in large part to guarantee that the Israelis wouldn't do what they have done today. Just before the Israeli raid, the US and UK monitors slipped out.
The cooperation of the US and UK with the brutal Israeli assault has sparked widespread anger in Palestinian areas against Americans and Europeans in ways we haven't seen before. This is bad news, not only for the Palestinians, but for us here in America -- and the Israelis -- as well.
Many Americans have questioned whether Israel has acted to increase the threat of terrorism against the United States. Today's unprovoked and violent raid on Jericho is an example of actions that put American citizens at unneeded risk. The Israelis raided the prison in Jericho searching for Ahmed Saadat -- a man suspected of organizing an assassination of an Israeli minister (an assassination that was itself in response to the Israeli assassination of Saadat's predecessor).
The PA and Palestinians "on the street" are furious at the US right now. That is a bad situation for everyone. If the US and PA have even more of a falling out, the little remaining aid from the US to Palestinians will dry up. We'll have to see how the latest Israeli outrage plays out.
I was really hoping to avoid posting on Israel and Palestine this week. That's for messing that up, too, IDF.
The reason this is huge news, however, is that the US and UK agreed (along with the Palestinians and Israel) in 2002 to monitor the conditions at the prison -- in large part to guarantee that the Israelis wouldn't do what they have done today. Just before the Israeli raid, the US and UK monitors slipped out.
The cooperation of the US and UK with the brutal Israeli assault has sparked widespread anger in Palestinian areas against Americans and Europeans in ways we haven't seen before. This is bad news, not only for the Palestinians, but for us here in America -- and the Israelis -- as well.
Many Americans have questioned whether Israel has acted to increase the threat of terrorism against the United States. Today's unprovoked and violent raid on Jericho is an example of actions that put American citizens at unneeded risk. The Israelis raided the prison in Jericho searching for Ahmed Saadat -- a man suspected of organizing an assassination of an Israeli minister (an assassination that was itself in response to the Israeli assassination of Saadat's predecessor).
The PA and Palestinians "on the street" are furious at the US right now. That is a bad situation for everyone. If the US and PA have even more of a falling out, the little remaining aid from the US to Palestinians will dry up. We'll have to see how the latest Israeli outrage plays out.
I was really hoping to avoid posting on Israel and Palestine this week. That's for messing that up, too, IDF.
Everyone knows I'm a huge supporter of my home town. But come on, this is pretty sad.
Billed as a major expose, The Detroit News published an article today about revised horsepower ratings in several bestselling auto brands. A new, more accurate test for horsepower caused Japanese automakers like Honda and Toyota to lower their published horsepower ratings by up to -- gasp -- 20 points.
Anyone who knows the first thing about cars knows that 20 horsepower is pretty much meaningless. It's pretty hard to tell the difference between a car with 210 horsepower and one with a mere 190. And we're all looking at another statistic these days when buying a car, anyway -- MPG.
We can do better than this. This is grasping at straws for some kind of edge on the Japanese carmakers. How about we build better, more efficient cars instead of pointing at a whopping 20 point drop in horsepower?
Billed as a major expose, The Detroit News published an article today about revised horsepower ratings in several bestselling auto brands. A new, more accurate test for horsepower caused Japanese automakers like Honda and Toyota to lower their published horsepower ratings by up to -- gasp -- 20 points.
Anyone who knows the first thing about cars knows that 20 horsepower is pretty much meaningless. It's pretty hard to tell the difference between a car with 210 horsepower and one with a mere 190. And we're all looking at another statistic these days when buying a car, anyway -- MPG.
We can do better than this. This is grasping at straws for some kind of edge on the Japanese carmakers. How about we build better, more efficient cars instead of pointing at a whopping 20 point drop in horsepower?
Sunrise on a new day in Santa Barbara
We did it!After five years of diligent, democratic, passionate, and sophisticated campaigning by progressives here in Santa Barbara, the Santa Barbara City Council gave final approval to a living wage ordinence that will provide for a more just, sustainable, and humane future.
The News-Press has an article about the council vote last night, but it does not adequately describe the sophisticated, democratic, passionate, and ultimately successful campaign waged for five years by Santa Barbara activists to bring about last night's victory.
The law is not perfect (for example, my wages will not be affected despite my best selfish lobbying), but this represents an amazing landmark in Santa Barbara toward a progressive, more sustainable, and more just future.
Thank you and big congratulations to everyone, particularly the good friend of the Important Blog Daraka Larimore-Hall, who worked tirelessly to make this happen.
The Most Important Podcast... Ever features fan and hate mail from Important Listeners this week. Go check it out!
The Israeli army continued its nearly daily killings in dramatic fashion today in Gaza City. An Israeli warplane fired missles at a car traveling in the city, killing two suspected militants without a trial and without warning. Two bystanders were also killed in the attack, including an eight-year-old boy.
The major US newsmedia websites that we monitored in the Media Project all have no headline about this attack, nor have they mentioned the almost daily killing of Palestinians by Israelis in the last few weeks. The Israeli army appears to have escalated its offensive, killing dozens since the first of the year.
The major US newsmedia websites that we monitored in the Media Project all have no headline about this attack, nor have they mentioned the almost daily killing of Palestinians by Israelis in the last few weeks. The Israeli army appears to have escalated its offensive, killing dozens since the first of the year.
College loan debts are soaring, and the Congress has done more to make it worse for students in the decade that Rebpulicans have controlled it.
Blogging will be pretty light for a bit here, as I'm off to LA for most of tomorrow. See you all for the Important Podcast and more on Tuesday.
Blogging will be pretty light for a bit here, as I'm off to LA for most of tomorrow. See you all for the Important Podcast and more on Tuesday.
This is everyone's favorite word about the Middle East these days. Sectarian violence has taken Iraq into the abyss. The elected Iraqi Prime Minister cancelled meetings with leaders from other political parties -- or more accurately ethnic and religous-based interest groups. The Iraqi government is less and less in control and Iraq is starting to look more like Afghanistan every day.
And this just in -- apparently a Jewish Israeli carried out a firebomb attack on the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel. The attacker is currently barricaded inside the basilica, revered by Christians as the spot where Mary learned from the angel Gabriel that she was to give birth to Jesus. A large mob of protestors has emerged and is actively protesting the attack.
This is really off the wall, because usually the greatest tension in Nazareth -- which is one of the mostly Palestinian Arab towns inside Israel near the Sea of Galilee -- is between Christian and Muslim residents. Recently, a plan to build a large mosque near the Basilica of the Annunication has been a point of controversy in the city. There are few Jewish Israelis living in Nazareth, and today's attacker apparently came all the way up from Jerusalem to carry out the assault.
Ha'aretz newspaper in Jerusalem reports that the attacker is known to have a "mental illness," and he allegedly carried out the attack with help from his Chrisitan wife? Not sure what's going on here. We'll have to wait and see after a full investigation.
In any case, there was an attack on the Isareli Arab community. This latest violence directed against the Israeli Arab community (about 1 in 5 Israelis identifies as Arab) comes less than a year after an Israeli soldier opened fire on a busload of Israeli Arabs near the Sea of Galilee, killing four. The Israeli Arab community, which has a long history of "second-class citizen" status in Israel, is subject to constant discrimination and violence from the non-Arab majority.
By coincidence, Ha'aretz newspaper reported today on another aspect of the Israeli government's treatment of Arab citizens. Ha'aretz details the Israeli army's systematic expulsion of Bedouin citizens (a traditionally nomadic Arab ethnic group) from the Negev desert.
UPDATE 1:30PM: AP reports that authorities have removed the attackers from the basilica and tear gas was used to disperse the crowd of protestors. The basilica suffered damage including blackened walls but no apparent structural damage in the attack. Several people were injured in the incident, including the attackers who met resistence from worshippers in the basilica when they started throwing gas canisters and firecrackers around.
The Israeli government is stressing that the two main attackers -- an Israeli Jewish man and Chrisitan woman who are married -- have a history of mental disorders. The couple are known to have planned to carry out attacks on churches in Israel (see update below for more info), according to Israeli officials. Why they weren't closely monitored or under arrest for plotting terror attacks is unknown. Whether this "mental illness" is legitimate or a cover for a Israeli nationalist movement is unknown as well. We'll have to wait and see what further investigations turn up. Stay with the Important Blog for more information, because apparently CNN.com isn't interested in covering this story. (CNN has no headline about this story on its front page, as of this writing.)
UPDATE: 2:23PM
The alleged attacker has been identified by Ha'aretz as Haim Eliyahu Havivi. Police say that this man has actually made attempts to attack churches in the past, notably the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Isareli Arab MK's are demanding to know why this man hadn't been arrested after displaying clear intentions to attack Israel's Chrisitian community.
CNN still has no headline about this story on its front page.
And this just in -- apparently a Jewish Israeli carried out a firebomb attack on the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel. The attacker is currently barricaded inside the basilica, revered by Christians as the spot where Mary learned from the angel Gabriel that she was to give birth to Jesus. A large mob of protestors has emerged and is actively protesting the attack.
This is really off the wall, because usually the greatest tension in Nazareth -- which is one of the mostly Palestinian Arab towns inside Israel near the Sea of Galilee -- is between Christian and Muslim residents. Recently, a plan to build a large mosque near the Basilica of the Annunication has been a point of controversy in the city. There are few Jewish Israelis living in Nazareth, and today's attacker apparently came all the way up from Jerusalem to carry out the assault.
Ha'aretz newspaper in Jerusalem reports that the attacker is known to have a "mental illness," and he allegedly carried out the attack with help from his Chrisitan wife? Not sure what's going on here. We'll have to wait and see after a full investigation.
In any case, there was an attack on the Isareli Arab community. This latest violence directed against the Israeli Arab community (about 1 in 5 Israelis identifies as Arab) comes less than a year after an Israeli soldier opened fire on a busload of Israeli Arabs near the Sea of Galilee, killing four. The Israeli Arab community, which has a long history of "second-class citizen" status in Israel, is subject to constant discrimination and violence from the non-Arab majority.
By coincidence, Ha'aretz newspaper reported today on another aspect of the Israeli government's treatment of Arab citizens. Ha'aretz details the Israeli army's systematic expulsion of Bedouin citizens (a traditionally nomadic Arab ethnic group) from the Negev desert.
UPDATE 1:30PM: AP reports that authorities have removed the attackers from the basilica and tear gas was used to disperse the crowd of protestors. The basilica suffered damage including blackened walls but no apparent structural damage in the attack. Several people were injured in the incident, including the attackers who met resistence from worshippers in the basilica when they started throwing gas canisters and firecrackers around.
The Israeli government is stressing that the two main attackers -- an Israeli Jewish man and Chrisitan woman who are married -- have a history of mental disorders. The couple are known to have planned to carry out attacks on churches in Israel (see update below for more info), according to Israeli officials. Why they weren't closely monitored or under arrest for plotting terror attacks is unknown. Whether this "mental illness" is legitimate or a cover for a Israeli nationalist movement is unknown as well. We'll have to wait and see what further investigations turn up. Stay with the Important Blog for more information, because apparently CNN.com isn't interested in covering this story. (CNN has no headline about this story on its front page, as of this writing.)
UPDATE: 2:23PM
The alleged attacker has been identified by Ha'aretz as Haim Eliyahu Havivi. Police say that this man has actually made attempts to attack churches in the past, notably the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Isareli Arab MK's are demanding to know why this man hadn't been arrested after displaying clear intentions to attack Israel's Chrisitian community.
CNN still has no headline about this story on its front page.
