by matttbastard
Apparently at least one American has difficulty participating in the National Conversation About Race without resorting to racial slurs.
h/t Melissa
Month: March 2008
Quote of the Day: Undeniable Logic
by matttbastard
You know, I actually get the perplexity about why those of us defending [Senator Clinton’s] right to keep campaigning don’t concede that it’s “obvious” she can’t win and should drop out, and about why we don’t see the “undeniable logic” that, even though Obama might not be able to win outright, either, he’s closer than she is. I really do get the bewilderment. I do.
And I don’t know if I can properly explain why that “obvious” conclusion and “undeniable logic” don’t appeal to or persuade us, but here’s the thing: Lots of us are women who have been told “You can’t” for much of our lives, or had seemingly unnavigable barriers put in our way by people who didn’t want us to succeed. Lots of us are women who, had we played by The Rules, wouldn’t have gotten where we are—because The Rules are designed so that we fail. The odds have been against us our whole lives; everything we’ve ever done has been in defiance of the distinct likelihood—and expectation—that we would settle for less than we wanted.
Our routes have been nontraditional, our strategies neither obvious nor logical by traditional standards. By design, and by necessity.
What if we’d all taken our boobs and gone home, when someone who saw the perfect logic of it told us to…?
Melissa McEwan, Take Your Boobs and Go Home Watch
Popcorn Sunday: The Fog of War
by matttbastard
This is an amazing film that opens the door into what was really going on when the Kennedy Administration handled the Cuban Missile Crisis… as well as how Vietnam policy dramatically changed once Kennedy was no longer in office. Robert McNamara gives us 11 lessons that America needs to learn so that we don’t make the same mistakes twice.
A Superficial Antidote to Maxim’s Mindless Misogyny
by matttbastard
Perhaps it won’t heal SJP’s pain, but The Boston Phoenix’s annual 100 Most Unsexiest Men of the Year list does offer some choice smackdowns on a number of decidedly ineligible dickheads (most of whom have likely read Maxim at least once in their lives–solely for the articles, of course).
Re: aging glam metal reality show reject Bret Michaels:
Once accustomed to sloppy seconds, Michaels is now just sloppy: lumpy and oily, headband wound tight to cloak oddly shaped ears and rat’s-nest hair extensions. He resembles Goldie Hawn on steroids, or maybe a swollen bear cub tangled up in a camper’s leftover potty bandana.
And former Fox News blowhard John Gibson:
They say after age 40, you get the face you deserve. And Gibson’s— smirking mouth of yellowy, Chiclet-sized teeth; sallow skin; beady eyes framed by unstylish glasses; hair a cross between that of a televangelist’s and Eraserhead’s — is the perfect match for his twisted personality. It’s not that the Fox News host is conservative; it’s that he’s a prick.
Giggity.
h/t Roxanne
Update: Ok, is it that difficult to spread the sweet, sweet schadenfreude without resorting to cheap shots re: weight and gender identity? Sheesh.
PSA: CanWest SLAPPs Free Speech
by matttbastard
SERIOUSLY FREE SPEECH COMMITTEE.
Don’t Let Canwest SLAPP* Briemberg and YOU !
Imagine you go to a public meeting on the Middle East; you see a humorous parody of the local daily, pick up a few copies and hand them out. Six months later you are served with a writ of summons that charges you with producing the parody, that threatens to cost you tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, that takes up hundreds of hours of your time and aims to prevent you from expressing your opinions in future. Impossible? A Kafkaesque fantasy? This is what is happening to Mordecai Briemberg in Vancouver today and we need your help to stop it.
In early June, 2007, a parody of The Vancouver Sun newspaper was produced and copies distributed. The parody, a slim four-page edition, coincided with the 40th year of the continuous Israeli occupation of territories it conquered in the 1967 war. The parody focused on the biased media coverage of Israel/Palestine in The Vancouver Sun.
What happened?
Mordecai Briemberg attended a meeting at the Vancouver Public Library to commemorate the event and to oppose the continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. At the end of the meeting, on a table, was a pile of tabloid sheets- one sheet, four sides, which parodied The Vancouver Sun — Vancouver’s leading daily and a Canwest publication. We cannot show you the parody without risking being sued ourselves, although we can send you the text of what was in it. So the chill begins.
The banner at the top of the front page dates the issue as “Occupation Day, June 2007”. In place of the usual “Seriously Westcoast since 1912” appears “Seriously Zionist since 2001”, the first full year of Canwest ownership. The parody has a lead article by “P. Rupa Ghanda” titled “Celebrating 40 Years of Civilizing The West Bank” Another article by “Cyn Sorsheep is titled “Study Shows Truth Biased Against Israel”. In these and other articles, including mock ads, there are criticisms of Israeli policies in occupied Palestine and a critique of the Canwest media’s pro Israel policies. On the inside page there is a box with the headline- “Who Produced This Vancouver Sun Parody and Why?” It attributes the authorship of the tabloid to the “Palestine Media Collective, a group of direct action media critics concerned about mainstream media coverage of the situation in the Middle East”. It includes a list of “Some Alternative Media Sources on the Middle East”. It is cleverly done, although it is not a very challenging exercise in media analysis to realize this is not the ‘real’ Vancouver Sun, any more than the “Jean Chrétien” or “Stephen Harper” heard on CBC’s Air Farce were or are the Prime Minister.
There is a long and honourable history of satire and parody as a tool of political criticism and comment from Hogarth and Daumier in the 19th century to Rick Mercer and Stephen Colbert.
Mordecai was amused by the parody, picked up a handful of copies from a table and distributed them at a bus stop near his home. That was the sole extent of his involvement.
Legal SuitThe Canwest suit lists a print shop and Mordecai as named defendants, and then pads the list out with six unnamed defendants: John Doe #1, John Doe #2, John Doe #3, and Jane Doe #1, Jane Doe #2, Jane Doe #3. While ostensibly centering on a commercial violation of trade mark, the charges read like a political attack. They assert that Mordecai and the six John/Jane Doe defendants have been involved in “anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian media activities”, and have written or spoken “harshly critical of the State of Israel and of the plaintiff and anyone who publishes articles or views which the defendants perceive to be contrary to their own views”. In Canwest’s Writ of Summons Mordecai’s name is repeatedly linked to Canada Palestine Support Network, a group that is not even alleged to have anything to do with the parody. They demand a sweeping variety of remedies including an injunction restraining the defendants from “publishing injurious falsehoods by way of newspapers or other publications, on the internet or otherwise”.
Is Canwest to be the arbiter of “falsehood”? Imagine the implications of that for the Charter right to free speech. Galileo had a similar problem with the Pope on the question of whether the sun revolved around the earth or vice versa.
Answering the accusation of being involved with the creation of the parody, Mordecai responds- “I have always been proud to publish anything I have to say under my own name, and to hold myself accountable for my words, ideas and actions. But, I had nothing to do with the conception, creation, production and financing of this satire and have no idea who did”. The lawyer for Canwest has confirmed in writing that they have no documents whatsoever showing Mordecai Briemberg’s involvement in any of the allegations made against him. Yet Canwest still refuses to drop their suit! So… for the act of picking up and distributing a handful of parodied copies of the Vancouver Sun, lying on a table at a public meeting, Mordecai has been taken to court by a media giant with unlimited financial resources and a big time grudge against any criticism of Israel.
Why Mordecai Briemberg?
Mordecai Briemberg is a long time activist in peace and social justice causes. His activism goes back to the early sixties when he joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament as a student in the UK on a Rhodes scholarship. Continuing this anti-nuclear work, he was a public part of the international campaign to free the Israeli nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu and contributed to the creation of a professional theatrical production about him. He has a long involvement with anti-racism work: in Canada combating racism against first nations peoples and immigrants, internationally against apartheid in South Africa. And this includes combating the racism of Israeli state policies and practices against Palestinians.
Mordecai has written for magazines and papers, published research, spoken at union conventions, churches, peace forums, universities and colleges, been interviewed on television and radio, interviewed others on radio, organized demonstrations, organized public meetings for, among many others, internationally renowned Palestinians like the poet Mahmoud Darwish and the intellectual activist Dr. Naseer Aruri, Jewish-Israelis like the late Professor Israel Shahak, chairman of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights and Michel Warshawsky founder of the Alternative Information Center. In short, Mordecai has been a prominent, vocal and effective voice in the intense debate about how to achieve peace and justice for Palestinians and Jews in historic Palestine. That is why they are going after him!
Who is CANWEST?
Canwest is the largest media conglomerate in Canada. What they don’t own is a shorter list than what they do. They describe themselves as “Canada’s largest publisher of paid English-language paid English-language daily newspapers with an estimated weekly readership of 4.8 million people. Our papers include the National Post, ten major-market dailies and several community newspapers.” They own the Global television network, the History, Food and Showcase channels and through various shareholdings are involved with many more outlets in every medium. If you read or watch the news, chances are just about certain, you read or watch Canwest news. In Vancouver, where this case is based, they own about seventy percent of the news outlets- from dailies to weeklies to television.
The company is owned by the Asper family of Winnipeg. Founder Israel (Izzy) Asper died a few years ago and the company is now in the hands of his son Leonard. Father and son were/are passionate Zionists and make sure that what they own echoes what they think. In an interview in the Jerusalem Post in August of 2003, Izzy Asper stated: “In all our newspapers…we have a very pro-Israel position…we are the strongest supporter of Israel in Canada”. For more about these folks and their political views you can look for The Asper Nation- a book by Marc Edge, published by New Star Books or The Tyee on line issue of Nov, 23, 2007- “The Asper Slam on News Media,” one of three Tyee excerpts from Marc Edge’s book.
Why should I care?
If you believe in freedom of expression on any topic and have ever expressed a view contrary to the status quo you should care a whole bunch. This is what has been called a *SLAPP suit- Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. The concept and acronym were coined in the eighties to describe a tactic used by the rich and powerful, governments or corporations, to bully critics and shut down public discussion by threatening dissidents with legal costs and broad prohibitions against speaking out.
If they can bully Mordecai, they can bully you! Whatever the subject, whatever you say, Canwest’s actions set a dangerous precedent for any and all who express an opinion someone with money disagrees with. Canadian troops in Afghanistan? Environmental issues? Aboriginal rights? Tasers in the hands of the police? You name it; they can sue you. They may not win but it will cost you plenty in time, money and the stress of wondering if that article or speech will land you in a whole mess of trouble. Its intent is to bully those who don’t own media conglomerates and have legions of lawyers on retainer, i.e. YOU!
What can I do?
• Don’t let Canwest intimidate you into silence. Get this document, electronically and in hardcopy, out to as many people as you can, in all walks of life, so that those who share a commitment to defend, maintain, and use the democratic right of free speech know of this case.
• Sign our statement demanding Canwest drop its legal suit against Mordecai Briemberg and stop its harassment. Circulate the petition far and wide, amongst friends and coworkers. Encourage others to do likewise. You can sign-up on line at info@seriouslyfreespeech.ca .
• Write letters to Canwest and mail them c/o their lawyer: David Church, Church & Company, 900-1040 West Georgia Street, Vancouver British Columbia, V6C 3H4, Canada. Please copy Seriously Free Speech Committee with your letters.
• Join the Seriously Free Speech Committee if you live in greater Vancouver.
Contact us at:
Seriously Free Speech Committee,
PO Box 57112,
RPO East Hastings Street,
Vancouver, B.C.,
V5K 5G6
Email: info@seriouslyfreespeech.ca
Website: www.seriouslyfreespeech.ca
• Contribute financially to help defray the unavoidable legal costs. Make donations payable to: “Seriously Free Speech Committee” and mail them to the address noted above.Where can I find out more?
We have a dossier on the case which includes the text of the parody, the writ, background materials on Canwest and the Aspers, etc. We will be happy to send it to you in either electronic or hard copy. This and more information will be posted on our web site noted above.In solidarity,
Brian Campbell and Jef Keighley
Co-Chairs, Seriously Free Speech Committee———————————————————————————————————-
Who is the Seriously Free Speech Committee?
The Seriously Free Speech Committee (SFSC) has been formed specifically to counter a politically motivated campaign by the Canwest media group to punish and silence Mordecai Briemberg because of his long-time public advocacy for what he believes to be the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The founding core of the SFCC are individuals within Greater Vancouver involved in progressive political work both domestically and internationally The SFSC does not advocate for any particular analysis of the contentious issues concerning Israeli and Palestinian rights and practices; nor are we proposing some single, specific resolution of this humanly costly conflict. Rather the committee unites around a commitment to advocate for open and public discussion of these issues. When a broad spectrum of perspectives and information are made available for consideration — free of harassment, intimidation or censorship — people at large can reflect on these and draw their own conclusions. The SFSC recognizes that monopolization of media ownership in our society is antithetical to the expression and sharing of diverse opinions. The Seriously Free Speech Committee welcomes all who broadly agree with our aims and perspective to support and join this work to achieve success.
Re: the Rise of the Right (Major League Asshole Edition)
by matttbastard
Dubya and Deadeye’s favourite political correspondent, Adam Clymer, talks about his new book, Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch: The Panama Canal Treaties and the Rise of the Right.
Say It Ain’t So
by matttbastard
Seriously, over the past several weeks I could feel the Gravelmentum building up within the ranks of the Democratic grass roots. If only he’d waited till the convention. The superdelegates may have come to their senses and chosen the *ahem* most experienced candidate, the only one who had a chance of beating McCain at shuffleboard, the only white male Democrat left in the race!
Now we’ll never know what might have been.
Sigh.
The Southern Surge
by matttbastard
According to senior sources, the offensive [in Basra] was launched three months before [Lieutenant-General Mohan al-Furayji, the Iraqi commander leading the battle against the Mehdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr] had wanted it to, and despite him warning that going in too early would result in the fighting spreading to other Shia strongholds. It was not the first time the general had been at odds with the Baghdad government. Mr Maliki had considered removing him from his post four weeks ago, but desisted after lobbying by the British.
British commanders were unaware of the operation until just before it began, although the Iraqi government’s national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, had spent half an hour discussing the plan with General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, on Saturday evening. This was followed by Mr Maliki ordering two extra Iraqi infantry battalions to Basra that night.
[…]
Last week, Lt-Gen Mohan was in Baghdad, putting forward his case for establishing security in Basra before taking on the Shia militias. As well as additional resources and securing the Iranian border, it would have involved Mr Maliki announcing a weapons amnesty for the militias in June, possibly lasting as long as six weeks, as opposed to the 72 hours given when the offensive began on Tuesday.
As Laura Rozen noted this past Tuesday, al-Furayji announced the impending southern operation last wee, although he kept the timing vague (“soon”). Apparently his preferred schedule was stepped up against his wishes. One can’t help but wonder if the timing is somehow related to the next Crocker/Petraeus report, scheduled to be presented to Congress April 8-9.
Cernig also observes the following:
“The security situation is worsening.” Well, if retired General Jack Keane, one of the architects and chief propagandists for the Surge, says it’s so, then it must be.
Indeed, one would think. Of course, one should never reflexively discount positive White House spin (unless one is secretly rooting for the terrorists):
The Bush administration hailed an Iraqi offensive against Shiite militiamen in the southern city of Basra as a ``bold decision” that shows the country’s security forces are capable of combating terrorists.
[…]
“This is what we have been wanting to see the Iraqis do,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters in Washington yesterday. “This is one of the first times that they’ve had such an entrenched battle and we’ll be there to support them if they need it.”
The fighting is a test for Iraqi forces, who took over responsibility for security in Basra from the U.K. military in December. Iraq’s ability to tackle extremists will influence the pace at which the U.S. withdraws its forces from the country, as the conflict enters its sixth year.
Despite the feigned optimism re: Iraqi forces coming from Washington, Keane believes the Brits should hold off their planned withdrawal from Basra until the security situation stabilizes. However, according to David Axe, the likelihood of UK troops playing a significant future role in the region isn’t great–and the US knows it:
With no forward bases, no intelligence apparatus in the city of Basra, less nimble equipment and no political will to suffer a single additional casualty in Iraq, the roughly 3,000 Brits remaining in the country can do little but wait out the current fighting.
Which means any Western intervention in Basra…will have to be mostly manned by U.S. forces. Specifically, U.S. Marines, according to one AFP report.
There were signs that U.S. planners were preparing for this eventuality months ago. Despite steady cuts to British forces at Basra air station, construction continued on new facilities, including dining halls capable of feeding thousands of troops. British soldiers openly speculated that the new buildings were for the Yanks who might one day replace them in southern Iraq.
In other words, expect a heavy US troop presence in Iraq for the near future (ie, at least the rest of ’08).
Quote of the Day: Paradise Lost
by matttbastard
There’s an old saying. You can never go home again. In a sense, I have always beleived it to mean that “home” will never be the same as you remember it. Home is the time in which you live. This is our time.
We have pretty much fucked up the environment, along with the generations that came before. There are some who want to regress the social advances we have made.
They want to return to a time where wimmens “knew their place” (dictated by men, of course) and have no control over thier own bodies. Where we shut down immigration to only those they “approve” of. The rich would get richer, while the middle class dissapears and the poor become poorer and more beholden to those who have complete power over them. Where they own all of us.
Its pretty obvious just by reading history that no matter how much control the Church has exerted over people, people pretty much still do what people will do.
Who wants to go back there with them?
– pale, You can never go home again
RTWDT (Read The Whole Damn Thing) rules apply.
bastard.logic 