Archaeology in Central Park: Digging Up the Remains of an African-American Village

Before there was Central Park, there was Seneca Village, largely African-American.

I knew there were displaced communities, but did not know that!

Turns out, they've dug up some artifacts, and they will be looking them over now that the digging's done.

There's a great deal more about this village here, courtesy of Columbia University. Learn something new today.

Iceland's 'Open-source Constitution' Handed In

Islandia map by Abraham Ortelius ca 1590

A committee of 25 put its proposals on-line. They the People responded with comments and suggestions.

The committee waded through the suggestions, responded, and then put forth the results of this unique diaolgue. They've now handed in the final draft to Iceland's parliament, called the Althingi - a name I can't even read without chuckling.

Iceland’s constitution was barely adapted from Denmark’s when the island nation gained independence from the Scandinavian kingdom in 1944.

"Since then, a holistic re-examination of the constitution has always been on the agenda, but always halted because of political infighting in the parliament," committee member Eirikur Bergmann, a political science professor at Iceland’s Bifroest Unioversity who also tweeted his way through the committee’s work, told AFP.

But after Iceland’s economic collapse in 2008, which triggered massive social movements, pressure mounted for a revamp of the constitution and for the process to be led by ordinary citizens, he said.

Now, a few months back, could Congress have taken the same approach to this manufactured debt crisis? Could it do this with other needed programs? Yes. It should be happening now to answer the many real crises we face.

The fact that they're still playing ping pong with the economy lets you know that they don't want anything approaching functionality in legislating. That would not allow for all the behind-the-curtains dirty dealing.

Go Iceland!

Bachmann Took Half a Mil in Fed Home Loans From Programs She Despises!

The Washington Post has it:

Just a few weeks before Bachmann called for dismantling the programs during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, she and her husband signed for a $417,000 home loan to help finance their move to a 5,200-square-foot golf-course home, public records show. Experts who examined the loan documents for The Washington Post say that they are confident the loan was backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Okay, it's shy of half a million, but still. I guess the devil made her do it, or an alternate personality signed off on the paperwork. I'm sure her campaign war room is hard at work on an excuse. Here's my bet:

"She was unfortunately forced to use this program, as no other was available, blah blah blah...," even though she got some other funding at the same time. Or: "I didn't know where this was coming from, since it went through the bank, etc."

She has an excuse factory cranking them out day and night lately.

Gigantic Solar Tower for Arizona

Twice the height of the Empire State Building. Able to power 150,000 homes. Heck, why not build 200 of the things while they're at it.

If this lives up to its billing, why bother with more nuclear power plants?

Washington Post Understatement of the Year: Possible Conflict of Interest at the Fed

Read it and steam.

Phone Hacking: What Did Piers Morgan Know/Do?

Nice little morsel commenting on a paragraph from Piers Morgan's book, based on his diaries:

Apparently if you don’t change the standard security code that every phone comes with, then anyone can call your number and, if you don’t answer, tap in the standard four digit code to hear all your messages. I’ll change mine just in case, but it makes me wonder how many public figures and celebrities are aware of this little trick.

Then on Monday, July 18, 2001, he goes on his own show on CNN and defends our dear Rupert:

I just cannot accept — although there is this huge witch hunt going on to bring him down personally — I don’t accept that he himself would be party to illegal activity."

Well, well, well.

He was editor of the Daily Mirror, and may have picked up the scoop of the year in 2002, based on phone hacking.

That last is not confirmed officially, but with Rebekah Brooks' computer somehow lost in the trash and other developments, it's sounding like the botched cover-up is failing badly.

I'm betting there will be another round of auditions for the new Larry King, as if that story didn't bore everyone enough the first time around.

Prohibition is Back in Minnesota

Not fully, but the beer is running out in some bars. Star-Trib:

Of the roughly 10,000 establishments that sell liquor in Minnesota, most of those who needed to renew their buyer purchasing cards managed to do so before the July 1 shutdown started. About 300 were caught with cards that expired on June 30 and no way to renew the permits.

I guess this becomes a rolling drought, as these licenses come up for renewal.

Prohibition hasn't exactly returned, but partially so.

Time for enterprising Minnesotans to stockpile for the coming Alcoholypse.

Bachmann Clinic Overdrive

The Bachmanns' clinic promises to turn over your drives!

Story plus undercover videotape via Nightline.

Looks like the denial that they "pray the gay away" is nonsense.

Murdock Paper Tried to Listen to 9/11 Victims' Phone Recordings

Or maybe The News of the World did pull it off by other means. It did just as bad in the home country. One article in the UK Mirror tabloid, not terribly well confirmed, yet.

From the story:

A source said: “This investigator is used by a lot of journalists in America and he recently told me that he was asked to hack into the 9/11 victims’ private phone data. He said that the journalists asked him to access records showing the calls that had been made to and from the mobile phones belonging to the victims and their ­relatives.

“His presumption was that they wanted the information so they could hack into the ­relevant voicemails, just like it has been shown they have done in the UK. The PI said he had to turn the job down. He knew how insensitive such research would be, and how bad it would look.

There's a lot of talk about the Murdock empire crumbling, but it's this and the other instances of deep creepiness that are setting people's teeth on edge.

Murdock has spilled a lot of ink and unleashed a storm of photons lecturing me on what's right and moral (anything ultraconservative), what not to do (there's a long list), and what I'm supposed to believe to be patriotic. (Ahem, Congressional citizenship, anyone?)

It may be tempting to enjoy watching him fall on his face, but the gritty, dirty, low reality of this scandal should be taken on its own merits. It's all seedy and disgusting.

Good Alternet Piece on the Meaning of the WH's Social Security Trial Balloon

Here, following up on the Social Security drama of the past couple of days, is the Alternet article that seems to attempt to answer the questions I asked yesterday.

Joshua Holland's article posits three possibilities of why the admin floated this, and then backpedalled without entirely taking cuts off the table. It is not a reassuring scenario.

If the urge is to look tougher and meaner than the opponent in order to score points (with whom?), then they've succeeded. At what cost, though? The destruction of the party?

I just cannot fathom the goal here, and I do see a skating away from principles and promises that have been stated again and again.

The article provides write-back links for Congress, etc.

Obama Steps on Third Rail Without a Parachute

Oh yes he did! Unless there's a denial of the plain wording of the Washington Post article by Lori Montgomery:

“Obviously, there will be some Democrats who don’t believe we need to do entitlement reform. But there seems to be some hunger to do something of some significance,” said a Democratic official familiar with the administration’s thinking. “These moments come along at most once a decade. And it would be a real mistake if we let it pass us by.”

Rather than roughly $2 trillion in savings, the White House is now seeking a plan that would slash more than $4 trillion from annual budget deficits over the next decade . . .

Privately, some congressional Democrats were alarmed by the president’s proposal, which could include adjusting the measure of inflation used to determine Social Security payouts.

Stephen Ohlemacher via AP seems to confirm this:

One option includes a new inflation measure for Social Security that could produce savings close to $200 billion through a combination of reduced benefits and higher taxes, White House officials said Thursday.

 Low- and middle-income families could be hit.

The proposal would represent a reversal for Obama. In contrast to his pledge to target tax increases at the wealthy, high-income families would largely be spared from tax increases that would result from changing the way inflation is measured.

Looks like it's time for some magic book-cooking to will away that pesky inflation. Reversal? I've seen milder reversals in skateboard championships.

At which Nancy Pelosi goes mildly ballistic:

“You want to take a look at Social Security then look at it on its own table, but do not consider Social Security a piggy bank for giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in our country.”

I don't know what else you'd call what's described above but that! But we've had clues for a year and a half that this has been Obama's intention all along, all the while saying the opposite over and over again. I don't know if this outrage is truly outrage, or just a bit of a dust-up so we'll think the Dems give a damn. Why is there a Democratic Party at all at this point, when all they can seem to accomplish is Stealth Republicanism(TM)?

Dominique Stauss-Kahn Off the Hook?

Looks like it. I don't know what happened, but the prosecutors say the maid admitted lying to a grand jury. That's a big no-no. Oddly, this official reason bears little relationship to the Times story of her fading credibility.

I only know the verdict in the U.S. court of public opinion will be that, once again, there seem to be two sets of rules. There are, indeed, but that may not apply here, where the entire case rests on witness credibility. Why, oh why, didn't she just tell the story as it happened?

I think the only testimony we'll get will be on some newsy talky interview, with the woman giving an exclusive framed by dim lighting. Let the network bidding begin.