....LMB: "Cavalcade of News and Opinion"....

November 09, 2004

US ready to put weapons in space- it is generally accepted among many lefties that the US plans for a space-based missile defense system is really just phase one of an effort to put weapons into outer space. Since the current missile defense systems don't actually work, this seems a pretty reasonable theory.

Unrest Sharply Increasing Through Much Of China- you're not hearing much about this one. The Chinese Communist Party's magazine, which one might expect to be a wee bit biased, has admitted that in 2003 there were an average of 160 "major incidents of civil unrest" every day in the rural parts of the country. And they seem to be on the rise.

Protestors Put Iraq Privatisation on Trial - Naomi Klein to Give Evidence- interesting one. Back in April, two British activists interrupted the "Iraq Procurement Conference," unfurling anti-war banners and lectured the audience about atrocities in Iraq. They were arrested for "aggravated trespass" and intending to disrupt a "lawful activity." The activists are using an unusual defense:

The defence will argue that the meeting was not a lawful event as it was facilitating acts in breach of the Iraq constitution - illegal under the Hague Regulations of 1907 and Geneva Conventions 1949. Britain and the US are signatories to both the Hague Regulations and Geneva Conventions.

As I understand it, if the Conference was illegal, then the activists can go free.

Everything's Not Zen- an article about the corporatization of yoga. You heard me. Yoga.

Republican Election Theft Clearinghouse- pretty much what the headline says. A growing list of links to news articles about suspicious voting events. Maybe they're true, maybe they're not.

Fuck the South- this person is angry. At the South. I love the passion and the humor. I don't agree with all the points, but some nice debunking of common conservative arguments.

Christian Conservatives Must Not Compromise- op-ed from a fervent Christian radio show host. Nice insight into how some Christian fundamentalists actually believe that liberals are Evil, determined to destroy civilization.

They voted for this mess- Daily Kos regular "mg_65" emailed this essay/letter to blogger Steve Gilliard, who then posted it on his site. It begins as a few sad stories about poor American women on the verge of poverty who chose to vote for Bush because of his "values" (or worse, one "because her pastor told her to vote for him"). The letter then morphs into an angry rant against conservatives--the stupid, the common, and the vicious--and the idea of making peace with them. The author argues that these conservatives aren't being tricked into voting against their interests, he claims that they would rather vote to hurt others than to help themselves. It's long and it's angry and it's rambling, but somehow I feel that it's worth reading.

Posted by Jake at 07:16 PM | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I will never go to Yoga Works again. People you should know that there is free yoga in Runyon Canyon at 10:00 most mornings. Or support your local small business yogi. Please.

Posted by: Naomi at November 9, 2004 11:11 PM

Heya Jake. what do you think of this article? http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/05/voting.problems.ap/

Posted by: Brian at November 10, 2004 03:14 PM

Jake...

"We continue to be that shining city set on a hill. And we fully accept the responsibility; we are proud to be the envy of the world."

What a weird, condescending, egocentric statement that is.

"The left bewitches with its potions and elixirs, served daily in its strongholds of academe, Hollywood and old media. It vomits upon the morals, values and traditions we hold sacred: God, family and country."

I dont understand this shit. Where does this kind of thinking come from? I have no problem with Christians and their God, let alone anyone else and their religious belief. Does anyone on "the left" really give a damn what Christians believe? I personally only have a problem when they try to force their beliefs on others, thats all. And for the last part...the sacred belief in country...what does that mean, that our country is more sacred than Canada and Mexico because of the political border that we have between us? Is non-American life less sacred then? What bullshit.

"We are one nation under a God they reject."

Freedom of Religion pretty much takes care of the one nation one god nonsense.

All quotes from Frank Pastore, former major league pitcher, turned Christian talk radio host.

Posted by: ryan a. at November 10, 2004 05:43 PM
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Media News

November 16, 2004

Tales of Media Woe

Senate May Ram Copyright Bill- one of the most depressing stories of the day that didn't involve death or bombs. It's the music and movie industries' wet dream. It criminalizes peer-to-peer software makers, allows the government to file civil lawsuits on behalf of these media industries, and eliminates fair use. Fair use is the idea that I can use a snippet of a copyrighted work for educational, political, or satirical purposes, without getting permission from the copyright-holder first.

And most tellingly, the bill legalizes technology that would automatically skip over "obejctionable content" (i.e. sex and violence) in a DVD, but bans devices that would automatically skip over commericals. This is a blatant, blatant, blatant gift to the movie industry. Fuck the movie industry, fuck the music industry, fuck the Senate.

Music industry aims to send in radio cops- the recording industry says that you're not allowed to record songs off the radio, be it real radio or internet radio. And now they're working on preventing you from recording songs off internet radio through a mixture of law and technological repression (although I imagine their techno-fixes will get hacked pretty quickly).

The shocking truth about the FCC: Censorship by the tyranny of the few- blogger Jeff Jarvis discovers that the recent $1.2 million FCC fine against a sex scene in Fox's "Married By America" TV show was not levied because hundreds of people wrote the FCC and complained. It was not because 159 people wrote in and complained (which is the FCC's current rationale). No, thanks to Jarvis' FOIA request, we find that only 23 people (of the show's several million viewers) wrote in and complained. On top of that, he finds that 21 of those letters were just copy-and-paste email jobs that some people attached their names to. Jarvis then spins this a bit by saying that "only 3" people actually wrote letters to the FCC, which is misleading but technically true. So somewhere between 3 and 23 angry people can determine what you can't see on television. Good to know.

Reuters Union Considers Striking Over Layoffs- will a strike by such a major newswire service impact the rest of the world's media?

Pentagon Starts Work On War Internet- the US military is talking about the creation of a global, wireless, satellite-aided computer network for use in battle. I think I saw a movie about this once...

Conservative host returns to the air after week suspension for using racial slur- Houston radio talk show host (and somtime Rush Limbaugh substitute) Mark Belling referred to Mexican-Americans as "wetbacks" on his show. He was suspended for a couple of weeks, and then submitted a written apology for the racial slur to a local newspaper. But he seems to be using the slur and its surrounding controversy to boost his conservative cred with his listeners.

Stay Tuned for Nudes- Cleveland TV news anchor Sharon Reed aired a story about artist Spencer Tunick, who uses large numbers of naked volunteers in his installations and photographs. The news report will be unique in that it will not blur or black-out the usual naughty bits. The story will air late at night, when it's allegedly okay with the FCC if you broadcast "indecent" material. The author of this article doesn't seem to notice that Reed first claims that this report is a publicity stunt, but then claims it's a protest against FCC repression. I'd like to think it's the latter, but I'm not that much of a sucker.

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Mission: Mongolia

Jake's first attempt at homemade Mongolican barbecue:

Failure.

What went right: correctly guessing several key seasonings- lemon, ginger, soy, garlic, chili.

What went wrong: still missing some ingredients, and possibly had one wrong, rice vinegar. Way too much lemon and chili.

Result: not entirely edible.

Plan for future: try to get people at Great Khan's restaurant to tell me what's in the damn sauce.

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