Recently DailyKos founder, Markos Moulitas was interviewed on NBC's Meet The Press with Tim Russert. Kos, as he's called, was asked by Russert about the liberal blogger convention being held out in Las Vegas, which is where Kos was videoconferencing with Russert from. Kos said,

Well, you know, there's this perception of bloggers as being these anti-social people, typing away at keyboards in their parents’ basement. And I think what we’ve seen is that actually the people who read these blogs are a real cross section of the Democratic Party, a real cross section of America. We have all age groups represented; we have blue collar, white collar.

I worry that hearing and seeing this type of report may come across as great news for the average white American Left thinking person because hearing the exact same thing makes black folks nervous. Why? I often hear old school white leftists talk about how the internet isn't serious and how what happens there really doesn't matter. Have you seen Tim Russert interviewing any Leninist/Marxist groups lately? I haven't. Kos and other liberal bloggers of similiar popularity, are serious forces. So when I hear Kos say that a group of Democrats with little to no black faces is a 'real cross section of America', I worry. There are a lot of white, political internet users that listen to what folks like Kos have to say. And while he does seem to overall have the right intentions, he's shockingly sophomoric in his total political worldview.

The scary thing is that unless something changes in regards to access to the internet for all people, it's guys and gals like him that will soon be running the show in what remains of the American Left.

Video of the entire Meet The Press interview here.

Over the weekend six people were killed in New Orleans. Five of the six were teens who died in what CNN is reporting as a shootout. As usual, it is being reported that N.O. investigators believe the incident was drug-related. Who knows? All of these type incidents involving young people are at least initially believed to be drug-related. Especially if the teens are non-white. All instances of violence and death should disturb us. There is an additional component in this situation.

Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana's governor have decided that this weekend's violence is justificatioon for martial law in New Orleans as 300 national guard troops have been deployed with Governor Kathleen Blanco declaring,

the situation is urgent...I'm going to do all I can to stop it.

I agree with the governor that the situation is urgent. But what is the situation, exactly? Gun violence among teens isn't unique to New Orleans. There is a precedent for this type of behavior. A lens through which to view this and other incidents like it. The mayor and governor obviously view it as I might view a scenario of two rabid dogs fighting in my front yard. The dogs obviously can't be reasoned with. They're dogs. They can't be aided in any way. The only solution is to call animal control. Which is what Nagin done in his call to the governor requesting National Guard deployment in an urban area for civilian policing. Both Nagin and Blanco obviously see no economic dimension to this type of violence. Only a political one (their images) and a social one in which the good people of New Orleans must be protected from the animals perpetrating senseless violence.

Aside from what should be the obvious racial and class implications of this declaration of martial law, there is still another frightening dimension: the increasingly acceptable police state. Not that the police state is anything new to people of color, especially Af-Amers but I believe we have reached a new plateau when the military troops, trained for war, can so casually be deployed into domestic civilian areas.

With the deployment of military soldiers and their armament to New Orleans we inch toward the domestic equivalent of the situation in Iraq where US national guard troops walk the civilian streets of Iraq with body armor and automatic rifles, policing the civilian population of the cities of Iraq.

The Associated Press with very little fanfare blithely reports that military troops are being deployed to the poor areas of New Orleans. They include the requisite calls for safety and security in their article presenting the reader with the implication that a martial law situation is popular with the general population.

"If we don't have wind knocking us down, we have shooters knocking us down, and that's unacceptable," said City Council President Oliver Thomas.

and from LaToya Cantrell, President of the Broadmoor Improvement Association,

It's long overdue. Neighborhoods should not have been left alone to begin with. Pulling out was a mistake.

I agree that help has been long overdue but there are many types of help and this is, of course the last resort. Except not really. We know that this option, the military option, when it comes to poor people and people of color especially, is generally the first option. At least it is the first option that is enacted in earnest. There is no mention in the article of seriously dissenting voices. No quotes from poor folks living in the neighborhoods that the National Guard will be deploying to. They might not be as enthusiastic about M-16s being toted on the corner. By black street thugs or white soldiers and SWAT teams.

But that can't be mentioned and those opinions obviously aren't important so I'll shut up now.