The fliers aren’t the only thing weighted with rocks

From the The Santa Fe New Mexican

A group considered one of the country’s largest factions of white separatists has brought its anti-immigration message to New Mexicans in recent days with a literature drop that hit some of the state’s cities, including Santa Fe.

Fliers from the West Virginia-based National Alliance tell residents “non-whites are turning America into a Third World slum. They come for welfare or to take our jobs. They bring crime. Let’s send them home now!”

Printed on yellow paper and placed in plastic bags weighted by rocks, they were left in driveways Sunday and Monday in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Las Cruces and other cities.

Emergency, fire restrictions declared

News report from The Albuquerque Tribune Tuesday afternoon.

Three of New Mexico’s five national forests have imposed Level One fire restrictions, and Gov. Bill Richardson has declared a state of emergency as the state’s fire season blazed to a roaring start.

The lightning-sparked Peppin Fire in the Capitan Mountains destroyed at least one summer cabin as it continued to race across about 20,000 acres of rugged territory in the Lincoln National Forest today.

Westerners know all about the dangers of fire this year. This is posted to emphasize the seriousness of the situation for NewMexiKen’s readers in other parts of the U.S., and in 39 other countries (so far in May).

The rest of the story

It appears there is more to the Rio Rancho High School poetry story than reported here yesterday.

First, at The Volokh Conspiracy Eugene Volokh (May 23) has the rebuttal from the school and details from the student involved, who’s pretty agitated that her poem has been published on the Internet (and changed) without her approval.

At The Agitator, Radley Balko (May 20) discussed the case. This is where Volokh learned of it, and it was among the comments here that Volokh learned of the rebuttal.

David Neiwert has a long discussion as part of an essay on Facism at Orcinus (May 22).

And there are a number of comments, including those of Patrick Nielsen Hayden, at Electrolite (May 23).

The actual happenings took place last year; the lawsuit against the district was filed September 15. The newspaper column that re-heated the controversy was published in The Daytona Beach News-Journal ten days ago. It was written by a friend of the teacher.

New information on Trojan War

Who knew? Troy was in England.

Although the Iliad was written in ancient Greek, the war was not waged by Greeks and not caused by the abduction of Helen. The real cause was access to tin in Britain, a precious metal which was essential for the production of bronze.

During the second millenium BC, the tales of the greatest war of prehistory were orally transmitted by Sea Peoples migrating from western Europe to the Mediterranean. This is why traces of the war could not be found near Hissarlik in Turkey, the site previously believed to be that of Homer’s Troy.

This work clearly demonstrates that the Iliad, however poetic, is based on real historical events in the Bronze Age.

Read more.

Important data

From Cicadaville.com

What do Cicadas eat?
Human children are the primary source of nutrition for Cicadas.

Are Cicadas poisonous?
Yes, Cicadas have a deadly venom that is injected through a small bone like tube known as the “Cicada deadly venom tube”. The venom can kill a human being instantly. In 1987, the last time the Cicadas emerged in the United States, over 7 million people died from Cicada injections. Many people escaped but most perished.

How do Cicadas mate?
The female cicada injects her eggs under the skin of a small human child. The cicada pupae then grow inside the child until they reach maturity. Unless you protect your children they may become host to thousands of deadly Cicada pupae. The government calls this Chicken Pox. See how to protect your children.

With minor surgery and a little makeup can a large Cicada be made to resemble Ryan Seacrest?
Yes, there are many documented cases of Cicadas being successfully altered to look like Ryan Seacrest.

Yellowstone-area grizzly count dips

News report from The Billings Gazette

Observations of female grizzlies with cubs – an important indication about how well the overall population is faring – dropped from 52 in 2002 to 38 last year, according to the grizzly study team’s annual report. More than likely, that drop is tied to a poor food year in 2002 and a slight reproductive increase in recent years that left few females available to breed and show off their offspring in 2003, Schwartz said.

NewMexiKen is amused to think, what if the bears were in charge and humans were the object of their observations?

National Parks fast falling into disrepair

The Christian Science Monitor has a report on the state of the national parks. Nothing new, but still worthwhile. The article lists these particular problems (from the National Parks Conservation Association):

• Hikers cannot reach backcountry cabins at Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State because necessary bridges and trails need repair.

• Large sections of a historic lighthouse and Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas National Park in South Florida are unsafe.

• The visitor center at the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii is sinking.

• Yosemite National Park needs more than $40 million for backlogged projects, including trail and campground maintenance, sewer system replacement, and electrical upgrades.

• Ancient stone structures are collapsing at Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico.

• At Yellowstone, 150 miles of roads have not been repaired in years, and many of the park’s several hundred buildings are in poor condition.

So long, Adriana

Eric Alterman has two interesting analyses of The Sopranos from his correspondents. The first by Eric Rauchway last Thursday. The second by Ron Kampeas today. In both cases scroll down to find the Sopranos item.

Alterman himself adds this at the end of the Kampeas analysis:

I have always felt that Carmela is, morally speaking, the least defensible person on the series. Everyone else faces up to the consequences of their behavior to one degree or another. Only she considers herself pure, while sharing in the benefits of her ill-gotten gains.

Kerry 320, Bush 218

The Wall Street Journal Online has the latest Zogby poll in interactive form. It shows Kerry ahead in all but four of the 17 battleground states.

In New Mexico Kerry leads 48.4% to 43.3%, with Nader at 2.9%.

Link via Kos.

Update: According to CBS it’s Kerry 49%, Bush 41% nationwide.

Was there a Trojan war?

From Archaeology, the director of the excavations at Troy sums up:

According to the archaeological and historical findings of the past decade especially, it is now more likely than not that there were several armed conflicts in and around Troy at the end of the Late Bronze Age. At present we do not know whether all or some of these conflicts were distilled in later memory into the “Trojan War” or whether among them there was an especially memorable, single “Trojan War.” However, everything currently suggests that Homer should be taken seriously, that his story of a military conflict between Greeks and the inhabitants of Troy is based on a memory of historical events–whatever these may have been. If someone came up to me at the excavation one day and expressed his or her belief that the Trojan War did indeed happen here, my response as an archaeologist working at Troy would be: Why not?

The election

With his approval rating sinking and more than $100 million in ads seemingly ineffective, it’s a good thing for Bush he’s got the Diebold vote locked up.

Land of the free

From Democratic Underground’s The Top Ten Conservative Idiots (No. 157) (link via TBogg):

Bill Nevins was recently fired from the largest public high school in New Mexico. Why? Because he foolishly decided to help organize a school poetry club. Yeah, yeah, I know that organizing a school poetry club wasn’t always a criminal offense in freedom-loving America, but remember – we’re now living in the Century of the Wingnut. See, it turns out that one of Bill Nevins’ students wrote a poem that criticized the war in Iraq and the Bush administration, which, in the Century of the Wingnut, is a crime apparently comparable to ritual Satanic child abuse. When Rio Rancho’s military liaison officer heard the poem he complained to Principal Gary Tripp, who promptly suspended Bill Nevins and then fired him. The complaint? “Disrespectful speech.” That’s right – there were no obscenities nor incitements to violence in the poem, it was simply “disrespectful.” But that’s not all – Tripp then went on to ban the poetry club and classes in poetry. He also ordered the student’s mother – who happens to be a teacher at Rio Rancho – to destroy her daughter’s poetry. The mother refused, and now her job has been threatened too. But that’s not all either! Tripp discovered that some art students had created satirical posters in class which criticized George W. Bush and promptly had the posters torn down, then refused to renew the contracts of art teachers who refused to participate in the destruction. Finally, at a school event Tripp apparently read a poem of his own which instructed those who disagreed with him to “Shut your faces.” I do hope Gary Tripp’s students have learned a valuable lesson from this incident – there’s absolutely no place for dissent (or critical thinking) in the Century of the Wingnut. Heck, let’s go shoot some poets! Who’s with me?

Honest Abe

Since so many wingnuts want to paint objections to the disaster in Iraq as unpatriotic, it’s time to remember that anti-war traitor A. Lincoln, congressman from Illinois, who in December 1847, sponsored a resolution requiring President Polk to provide the House with “all the facts which go to establish whether the particular spot of soil on which the blood of our citizens was so shed, was, or was not, our own soil.”

According to David Herbert Donald in Lincoln (1995):

In the manner of a prosecuting attorney, he demanded that the President inform the Congress whether that spot had ever been part of Texas and whether its inhabitants had ever “submitted themselves to the government or laws of Texas, …by consent, or by compulsion, either by accepting office, or voting at elections, or paying taxes, or serving on juries, or…in any other way. ” Lincoln clearly intended to show that the American army had begun the war by making an unprovoked attack on a Mexican settlement, despite the fact that “Genl. Taylor had, more than once, intimated to the War Department that…no such movement was necessary to the defence or protection of Texas.”

Thanks to Political Animal for the reminder.

Speak now or forever hold your peace

In light of the media’s seeming need to give two sides to every gay wedding story, Romensko correspondent Constantine von Hoffman has a good suggestion.

All wedding stories — whether hetero, homo or metro-sexual — should include dissenting voices. Whether it’s the jilted spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend or just random family members/acquaintances who think couple X is a bad idea, this would more than enliven an otherwise dull story under the name of “fair and balanced” coverage. It would also make these stories “must reads” for all involved and fun for everyone else, too. Just think about the day-after follow up stories! Papers could start selling ad space on those pages to divorce lawyers, so that would expand the news hole by providing another revenue stream! By God, editorial will finally go hand-in-hand with the business side, as balanced journalism can start pointing to exactly how much money it is contributing to the papers’ bottom line. This could be print’s answer to Reality TV! Woo HOO!!!

We’ll take Manhattan

Legend and a number of historical accounts have it that on this date in 1626, Manhattan Island was purchased from the Canarsee Delawares by the Dutchman Peter Minuit. Most accounts state that Dutch beads were part of the deal.

The only known document specifically relating to the acquisition was written in Amsterdam late in 1626 as a report to the board of the West India Company. It said, in part:

They [the crew and passengers of a returning ship] report that our people are in good heart and live in peace there; the women have also borne some children there. They have purchased the Island Manhattes from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders; ’tis 11,000 morgens (about 22,00[0] acres) in size.

[60 guilders has been estimated as worth from $24 to $300. Manhattan is actually about 15,000 acres, not 22,000.]

The late bead historian Peter Francis argued in his prize-winning 1986 article “The Beads That Did Not Buy Manhattan Island” that, because this contemporary report does not mention beads, we cannot assume that beads were part of the transaction. According to Francis, beads were added to the story by Martha J. Lamb in her History of the City of New York (1877). It was only from then on that Dutch beads became part of the story. [And, as a result, making the Delawares seem even more ignorant in light of Manhattan’s growing importance and wealth.]

NewMexiKen however, wonders whether “for the value of 60 guilders” does not imply trade goods rather than coin. What use would Dutch money have been to the Delawares? And, if the transaction was strictly for money, why not report “for 60 guilders” rather than the vague “for the value of 60 guilders”? Trade goods were used in the purchase of Staten Island in August 1626 according to a copy of the deed – “Some Diffies, Kittles, Axes, Hoes, Wampum, Drilling Awls, Jew’s Harps, and diverse other wares” [Diffies are cloth]. What does “Wampum” mean in this Dutch account if not beads? [The word “Wampum” comes from the Narragansett word for white shell beads.]

More than likely the Delawares assumed they were “leasing” the use of the land. Permanent title would not have occurred to them. And $24 to $300 for a lease (whether in cash or goods) would not have been unattractive.

As the result of war, the Dutch traded New Amsterdam to the English in 1667 for what is now Suriname (Dutch Guyana).

What happened to probable cause?

When police responded to a complaint about a drunken house party in the wealthy suburb of Rye, N.Y., the 50 high school students inside responded by locking the doors and going on with the party for three hours. Many of them were the children of attorneys, and they knew that police couldn’t enter without a search warrant. “It was a scene with parents knocking on the windows, saying, ‘You’ll never drive again,’” one mother said. When the kids finally emerged, police found beer cans and liquor bottles in every room.

Source: The Week Newsletter

More Dylan

One would hope that everyone has some classic Dylan albums, but if not, Essential Bob Dylan has, as its name implies, 30 significant tracks, from “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1963) to “Things Have Changed” (the 2000 Oscar winner).

Robert Allen Zimmerman…

was born in Duluth, Minnesota, on this date 63 years ago. That’s Bob Dylan, of course.

From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Bob Dylan is the pre-eminent poet/lyricist and songwriter of his time. He re-energized the folk-music genre, brought a new lyrical depth to rock and roll when he went electric, and bridged the worlds of rock and country by recording in Nashville. As much as he’s played the role of renegade throughout his career, Dylan has also kept the rock and roll community mindful of its roots by returning often to them. With his songs, Dylan has provided a running commentary on a restless age. His biting, imagistic and often cryptic lyrics served to capture and define the mood of a generation. For this, he’s been elevated to the role of spokesmen – and yet the elusive and reclusive Dylan won’t even admit to being a poet. “I don’t call myself a poet because I don’t like the word,” he has said.

From the All Music Guide entry by Stephen Thomas Erlewine:

Bob Dylan’s influence on popular music is incalculable. As a songwriter, he pioneered several different schools of pop songwriting, from confessional singer/songwriter to winding, hallucinatory, stream-of-conscious narratives. As a vocalist, he broke down the notions that in order to perform, a singer had to have a conventionally good voice, thereby redefining the role of vocalist in popular music. As a musician, he sparked several genres of pop music, including electrified folk-rock and country-rock. And that just touches on the tip of his achievements. Dylan’s force was evident during his height of popularity in the ’60s — the Beatles’ shift toward introspective songwriting in the mid-’60s never would have happened without him — but his influence echoed throughout several subsequent generations. Many of his songs became popular standards, and his best albums were undisputed classics of the rock & roll canon. Dylan’s influence throughout folk music was equally powerful, and he marks a pivotal turning point in its 20th century evolution, signifying when the genre moved away from traditional songs and toward personal songwriting. Even when his sales declined in the ’80s and ’90s, Dylan’s presence was calculable.