American Samizdat

Sunday, June 30, 2002. *
Aleksandr Deineka... Parad Krasnoi Armii (The Parade of the Red Army) (Moskva: Molodaia Gvardiia, 1931). From Soviet Children's Picture Books from the Twenties and Thirties. "...The great variety of styles is immediately apparent when leafing through the collection: from sweet traditional drawings to avant-garde and socialist realism."
posted by Andrew at 10:36 AM
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Saturday, June 29, 2002. *
Si Lewen... The Parade - A story in 55 drawings (1957, H. Bittner And Company, New York). Also... A Journey - 72 Drawings by Si Lewen (1980, Philadelphia: The Art Alliance Press, London and Toronto: Associated University Presses). "...Si Lewen's work reflects a world of step-by-step progression of often tragic events and images. For him everything is but a step, a transition to the next stage. All of his work is a part of a procession, a migration, an Odyssey. In A Journey the 'visitor' travels through the nightmare of the concentration camp, where the camp serves as the ultimate expression of the nation state." From The Art of Si Lewen.
posted by Andrew at 9:57 AM
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Friday, June 28, 2002. *
People Power On Tour
The event is entitled "Democracy Rising," a stop on the "People Have the Power Tour." Consumer activist-cum-presidential candidate Ralph Nader organized it. He'll headline the concert/rally, part of his latest stab at finding ways to mobilize huge crowds of disaffected young people who are more likely to attend rock concerts than to canvass voters or picket nukes.

Patti Smith will perform. So will Janeane Garofalo, Jello Biafra and DL Hughley. Nader will speak, as will Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Curry and Hartford Councilwoman Elizabeth Horton Sheff of the Green Party. Similar lineups of national and local stars have joined Nader on 10 other "super-rally" stages since the tour began last year. [more]

posted by Dr. Menlo at 9:59 PM
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posted by Dr. Menlo at 2:29 AM
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It's almost funny watching the politicians fall all over themselves lining up behind the Pledge of Allegiance and against that 9th US Circuit Court of Appeal's ruling that the words "under God" makes the Pledge unconstitutional.
I'm sorry, but the Pledge of Allegiance was just fine WITHOUT those two words.
Those two words were added during the McCarthy/ Cold War era of the 50's, in order to "distinguish" ourselves from the Communists. You know--like, See, we're different, we're better--our government believes in God.
There's no place for God in government. Our government is for the people, by the people, not by God. Our lives are by God. Government is not the end all and be all; if you believe in God, than you know that God's laws are higher than those of government. Separating God from government ensures that we don't live in a God-ordained kingdom, with a God-ordained king, or a God-ordained despot.

Bush: "We need commonsense judges who understand that our rights were derived from God." via DAILY VEXATION

'When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. ' - Benjamin Franklin.
'The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason. ' - Benjamin Franklin.
'I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life I absented myself from Christian assemblies.' - Benjamin Franklin.
'Many a long dispute among divines may be thus abridged: It is so; It is not so. It is so; it is not so.' - Benjamin Franklin.
'Lighthouses are more helpful than churches.' - Benjamin Franklin. via PLEP
posted by cynthia korzekwa at 12:13 AM
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Thursday, June 27, 2002. *
Books: Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy
A good many socially minded Americans have invested some energy working in opposition to one corporation or another. Perhaps it is to curb a potential abuse or bring about some remedy for past harms: to clean up a toxic waste site, to stop a harmful mining operation, or to prevent road building or logging in an old growth forest. If the campaign succeeds there’s good cause for happy, hopeful celebration. Yet, after the immediate elation passes, so many other issues seem to say nothing has really changed. The essential powers granted to corporations that allow them to ravage public lands, to pollute the air, land and water, to privatize and plunder publicly held resources, remain solidly entrenched beyond the control of the people. We spin our wheels, dissipating our common pool of energy battling a host of staggering abuses one by one.

With each new generation, we seem to move further away from the memory that human society created corporations to serve human needs. They were granted specific rights and privileges, for a limited time, corresponding to the purposes for which they were created. In other words, the people defined the existence of corporations, not the other way around. Members of the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD) have authored a collection of essays, manifestos and letters entitled Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy, to revive the lost awareness of the fundamental constitutional authority of “natural persons” over corporate economic enterprises. [more]

posted by Dr. Menlo at 9:57 PM
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Euphemism for Israeli Settlements Confuse Coverage
The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported last month (5/31/02) that at the behest of a Likud party minister, the Israel Broadcasting Authority has banned its editorial departments from using the terms "settlers" or "settlements" on radio and TV.
Somewhere, there sits the men and women who think up the language of what the government of the United States of Hypocrisy and Israel are really doing. Then they basically hand it to the corporate media who repeat it with high-priced sets, mugs and hair. Statisticians, linguists, and evil-writer-types all confer and come up with things like "Tell the public they are attacking us because they are resentful of our freedom. Repeat 'we are a freedom-loving people' every chance you get." If they are the Heritage Foundation, they deliver daily notes to the House and Senate, member by member (and also call up NPR when they are ready to spin; npr, in turn, slobbers all over them like a dog feeding on bacon). They consult Hollywood: Fiction Dept., to solicit advice and also to inject with the party line: CONTROL (and the messages thereof).

The rebel alliance counterspins, and continues to grow. They have the (media) markets; we have the truth. They cannot win, if we keep our brains. What happens next, depends on everything: you.

posted by Dr. Menlo at 8:52 PM
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For Some Religious Groups, Drug Laws Do More Harm Than Drugs Themselves
...a devout Christian, started looking into the research on marijuana and what she found surprised her. She found no evidence to back up the horrible things she had heard about the drug, and when she searched the Bible for any reference to it she found nothing at all. So she began to wonder why some religious leaders seemed to favor stiff penalties for marijuana users. Linkage via Anodyne.
posted by Mike at 7:58 PM
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Raymond Pettibon... No title (Acid got me) (1986, ink on paper). "...Acid got me fired at Disney." From selected Works by Raymond Pettibon at David Zwirner. Also... Raymond Pettibon (January 12 through February 12, 2000). Works from Pettibon's third exhibition at David Zwirner. "...One of the most important artists to emerge from Southern California, Raymond Pettibon's work embraces the full spectrum of American culture from the deviations of marginal youth-culture to art, literature, sports, religion, politics, and sexuality. His early works appeared on album covers for his brother Greg Ginn's band, Black Flag, and in fanzines and photocopied books that he distributed himself."
posted by Andrew at 10:09 AM
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Wednesday, June 26, 2002. *
I blurred at once the chart of trite routine
by splashing paint with one swift motion.
I showed upon a plate of brawny glutin
the slanting cheekbones of the ocean.
Upon the scales of tinny fishes
new lips summoned, though yet mute.
But could you
             play
                    right to the finish
a nocturne on a drainpipe flute?

A vy mogli by? (But Could You?) A visual poem by V. V. Mayakovsky illustrated by the great El Lizzitsky. From Mayakovsky and His Circle.


posted by Andrew at 10:08 AM
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Africa: Western Nations Condemned For Selling Weapons of War
Industrialized nations are fueling conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Asia by their relentless selling of weapons of war, said Amnesty International, one of the largest human rights advocates worldwide.

As the industrialized nations prepare to consider paths to development for Africa, and other world trade and security issues, the London-based human rights organisation pointed out that their weapons selling is undermining their own aspirations to bring peace to Africa, Middle East and Asia by the exportation of massive arms of destruction worth several billion dollars to the regions.

"G-8's proliferating trade in arms and military aid undermines fundamental human rights and sustainable development," Kate Allen of Amnesty UK said.

See also: . . . via Blowback, The Mighty
posted by Dr. Menlo at 1:08 AM
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Grassroots Patriots
In Northampton, Massachusetts--a nineteenth century center of abolition and the longtime home of Sojourner Truth--some 400 citizens attended a town meeting on February 4 to organize a way to protect the residents of the town from the provisions of the USA Patriot Act. Thus was born the Northampton Bill of Rights Defense Committee.
posted by Dr. Menlo at 12:26 AM
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WorldCom Finds $3.8 Billion Error, Fires CFO
WorldCom Inc., the No. 2 U.S. long-distance carrier, on Tuesday said it had fired its chief financial officer after uncovering improper accounting of almost $4 billion in expenses, in the latest financial scandal to rock Corporate America.
posted by Dr. Menlo at 12:16 AM
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Tuesday, June 25, 2002. *

Oil Giant Sues Greenpeace

The oil giant Exxon Mobil is suing Greenpeace for misusing its corporate logo after the environmental pressure group replaced the two "S" letters in Esso with dollar signs.

Exxon, the oil giant that owns the Esso brand, is claiming Greenpeace's "Stop E$$o" campaign is illegal and harmful to the company's reputation.

posted by Dr. Menlo at 11:55 PM
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posted by Dr. Menlo at 11:44 PM
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Solar Cells From Bucky Balls?
One of the more remarkable discoveries of the late 20th century was that nature builds nanostructures in the form of geodesic domes. The prototype molecule of such materials, consisting of 60 carbon atoms arranged in a pattern resembling a soccer ball, was aptly named buckminsterfullerene.  However, it soon became apparent that "buckyballs" were only the first of a huge family of so-called fullerenes having a rich variety of shapes and sizes.
. . . via SynEarth: News for a Synergic Earth, via Sassafrass
posted by Dr. Menlo at 11:25 PM
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Sunday, June 23, 2002. *
Globalization as a Network of Fortresses, by Naomi Klein
Before the end of the month, there will be two major summits: the first, the EU summit in Seville, the other a G8 summit in Kananaskis. A major focus inside and outside each gathering will be renewed attempts by to criminalize human migration from poor countries to richer ones.
They Start with the Physical Hand, Clamping . . . and then it's On to the Brains (already going) . . . while down in every basement it's MemeMaster Mike! (et Mikaela) Brewing their truth virus stew . . .
posted by Dr. Menlo at 9:01 PM
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Saturday, June 22, 2002. *
We Hate War
We Love Sex
Twos or threes
Four or Fives
LSD A dimethylatr
(from We're The Fugs)

The Fugs. "...Named after a Norman Mailer-coined sexual euphemism, The Fugs were easily the most lyrically outrageous band of their era with songs explicitly documenting sex, drugs, and radical politics and were formed in New York in late-1964 as a vehicle for the satirical talents of two beat poets, Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg." From Fuzz Acid & Flowers by Vernon Joynson. A guide to U.S. psych and garage music, 1964-1972.
posted by Andrew at 10:05 AM
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Friday, June 21, 2002. *
The Spies Who Came In From The Art Sale

The most grotesque use of International Art Machine I have ever seen.

posted by Dr. Menlo at 1:31 AM
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UK E n v i r o n m e n t
Environmentalism for real people
posted by Dr. Menlo at 1:17 AM
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Tuesday, June 18, 2002. *
I shall not work to build my death, nor have decisions made by fools on my behalf. From a selection of ten Handouts from Crass Shows.
posted by Andrew at 10:21 AM
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Schablonengraffiti. Stencil graffiti photographed in Hamburg, Germany. 29 shots. Very nice. From Thomas Muller. Paintings, drawings, and photographs. (de)
posted by Andrew at 5:58 AM
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Monday, June 17, 2002. *
Stop ExxonMobil : "ExxonMobil is the world's #1 global warming, human rights, and environmental villain."
posted by Dr. Menlo at 7:59 PM
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Laws can be copywrited?!? (boring link)

Lawrence Lessig interview: The "Dinosaurs" Are Taking Over

Eldred V. Ashcroft - [better summary] - Hot stuff, intellectual property laws really being challenged.
posted by Brad Larcen at 2:23 PM
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posted by Brad Larcen at 2:18 PM
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Saturday, June 15, 2002. *
If John Ashcroft can arrest somebody for planning something--and by planning meaning allegedly not having gotten past the looking-it-up-on-the-internet-stage (no physical materials attained, etc.)--and file them away into military jail whilst simultaneously stripping away their constitutional rights as American Citizens (at first it was just the 'them'--the non-American citizens, and civil liberties groups warned . . . ), and stage and orchestrate the release of this information just so to really get the American public going--that is, AFRAID . . . who's to say it can't happen to you? I mean: in a totally trumped-up way--is what we think.

. . . further FEAR.

Remember, this is the Frog Boil here, as propagated by Bush & Co., and if we look at the direction of things, who's to say that the remaining dissenting voices in America (larger than advertised?) won't get clipped? Filed away?

CHEER FOR BUSH OR FACE ARREST, OSU STUDENT SEZ

To further my potentially future legal (political) case, I plan to append my email with this:

ATTN: ECHELON, CARNIVORE, AND OTHER CURIOUS SOURCES: I, DR. MENLO, DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR TO CURRENTLY BELIEVE--AND DO ESPOUSE BY LIVING--IN THE VALUE OF PEACE. MEANING PHYSICAL . . . PEACE/NO WAR. NO VIOLENCE. NO BLOWING THINGS UP. NO LETTING PEOPLE GO HUNGRY. NO LETTING THE TOP ONE PERCENT OF THE POPULATION OWN NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF EVERYTHING, AND I PLAN TO PROPAGATE THESE MEMES: THRU ART, THRU VERSE, THRU BEAUTY, AND YOUR PROGIT-LESSNESS. NO VIOLENCE. NO WAR. PRO-HUMAN. PRO-BRAIN. PRO-BODY. PRO-TRUTH. ANTI-HELPLESSNESS. GET YOURS NOW-->DRMENLO.COM

posted by Dr. Menlo at 10:43 PM
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EPA Plans Rollback of Clean Air Act
"The White House has fulfilled its promise to industry, abandoning critical provisions of the Clean Air Act in favor of sweeping regulatory changes that will let some of the nation's worst polluters increase their emissions at the expense of air quality and human health," said John Walke, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Hey, what's CLEAN AIR when you can INCREASE CORPORATE PROFIT?! CHOKE, PROLE, CHOKE!!!
posted by Dr. Menlo at 8:07 PM
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Murder, Incorporated
While retailing some of his experiences during the much ballyhooed "Operation Anaconda," [Army Private Matt] Guckenheimer artlessly spilled what was surely meant to be a secret order from his superiors.

"We were told there were no friendly forces," Guckenheimer said. "If there was anybody there, they were the enemy. We were told specifically that if there were women and children to kill them."

Let that sink in for a moment: American soldiers were told to kill women and children. "Specifically." To kill a child. To put a bullet in the brain of, let's say, a two-year old girl. To hold the barrel of a rifle to her tiny temple and pull the trigger. To watch as the tender plate of her skull, the delicate bones of her face, her large bright inquisitive eyes were all obliterated in a burst of red mist. "We were told specifically to kill them." "Women and children." "To kill them."

So that's the kind of warfare being waged by those notorious two cowards, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. When their own generation was on the firing line, in Vietnam, both men ardently supported the war--but disdained to fight in it. For his part, Cheney was too busy with his long bootlicking rise to power: "I had other priorities," he has loftily proclaimed.

Meanwhile, Bush's daddy got his drink-addled little boy a cushy stateside berth in the Texas National Guard--but even then, Junior couldn't stick it. He bugged out for an entire year of his duty--desertion in wartime, a capital offense, if you're not rich and well-connected. Fortunately, his service records for that period were "scrubbed" by General Daniel James, former head of the Texas National Guard, who is now head of the entire nation's Air National Guard -- courtesy of his appointment by a grateful George W. Bush.

Now these two armchair warriors, Bush and Cheney, ensconced safely behind the greatest phalanx of personal protection ever seen in history, are sending out a new generation of young people to kill and die. Like their predecessors in the Vietnam War, they are twisting the faith and idealism of patriotic young soldiers and turning them into instruments of murder.

And the Warbloggers cheer them on! "Go Georgie! Go Dickie! You can do it! Kill Babies! Go Georgie! Go Dickie . . . "
posted by Dr. Menlo at 7:32 PM
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Harboring Terrorists: Our Own List Is Long
Colonel Oliver North gleefully hired Luis Posada Carriles, Bosch's cohort in the airplane bombing and subsequently the organizer of the bombings of Cuba's tourist spots in the 1990s. High US officials like Eliot Abrams who holds the Latin America portfolio at the National Security Council, had regular and friendly dealings with people who mined Nicaragua's harbors and plotted bombings and assassinations.
posted by Dr. Menlo at 7:22 PM
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Americans Tortured by Israel
The Foreign Service Journal’s June issue is publishing an article that condemns Israel’s use of torture against American citizens of Palestinian descent and criticizes the State Department’s 30-year “special relationship” with Israel.

The article describes a number of cases of torture against American citizens. It notes that Israeli and international human rights organizations have long documented Israeli interrogation that “routinely includes torture,” and adds that the Department of State Human Rights report has detailed these abuses for years.

posted by Dr. Menlo at 7:18 PM
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Broadband to the People!
After some tinkering and tests, Meehan discovered his home-brewed antenna was far from ordinary: indeed, it's possible Meehan's humble ravioli can, combined with the know-how of a few hundred community-minded geeks, could dramatically reduce the cost of high-speed Internet access for everyone in San Francisco. In some cases, access might even become free.
posted by Dr. Menlo at 7:06 PM
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Book length Manuscript on September 11, Terror War, and the New Barbarism available free on-line
I've just finished a book-length Manuscript available from my home page on:

September 11, Terror War, and the New Barbarism

By Douglas Kellner
Table of Contents

Preface
1. Theorizing September 11
1.1. Social Theory, Falsification, and the Events of History
1.2 The Bush Administrations, the CIA, and Blowback
1.3 September 11 and Terror War: Has Everything Changed?

2. September 11, the Media and War Fever
2.1 The Terror Spectacle
2.2 Conceptualizing the Event: September 11 and Political Discourse
2.3 War-Mongering, Patriotism, and the Failure of the Media

3. Operation Enduring Freedom and the Proliferation of Terror War
3.1 Osama bin Laden’s Media War
3.2 Operation Infinite War
3.3 All Anthrax, All the Time

4. Month One: Special Operations, Bombing, and Propaganda War
4.1 Hearts and Minds
4.2 Back to Politics

5. Month Two: The Retreat of the Taliban and Afghan Chaos
5.1 The Fall of Mazir-I-Sharif and Kabul
5.2 Tragedy and Fear, Welcome to the Terror Age
5.3 Ironies of the Cold War and the Bush-Bin Laden Connections

6. Collapse of the Taliban
6.1 The Battle for Kunduz and Prison Uprising
6.2 The American Taliban
6.3 A Few Honorable People
6.4 The Fall of Kandahar

7. The Hunt for bin Laden
7.1 At Home with bin Laden
7.2 Omar Under the Gun, Afghans Bombed, and a New President

8. The New Barbarism: World in Turmoil
8.1 Regression, Reaction, and Barbarians Amok
8.2 Prisoners, New U.S. Military Bases, and Proxy War

9. The War at Home: Political Battles and the Enron Scandal
9.1 Family Friends: Bush Administrations and Enron
9.2 Enron, the S&L Scandal, and the Bush Family
9.3 Pretzels, the Enron Collapse, and Bush’s Insider Trading
9.4 Enron in the Public Eye

10. The Afghan Quagmire, the "Axis of Evil," and Dangers of Bush Administration Unilateralism
10.1 "Detainees," "Unlawful Combatants," and the Guantanamo Bay Fiasco
10.2 Afghan and Other Military Interventions
10.3 The "Axis of Evil," Unilateralism Amok, and Bush’s Cock-eyed Imperialism

11. The New Militarism, Lies and Propaganda, and more Afghan Adventures
11.1 The Rise (and Fall?) of the Pentagon Ministry of Truth and the Lies of Bushspeak
11.2 The Battle of Anaconda and Other Afghan Skirmishes
11.3 Waiting for the War on Iraq and Growing Criticism of Bush and Cheney

Conclusion, For Democracy and Against Terrorism and Militarism

References
posted by Douglas at 11:03 AM
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Thursday, June 13, 2002. *
"...the tendency of closed systems to shift stress from point to point without ever resolving the source of the stress."

"No problem can be solved. When a situation becomes a problem it becomes insoluble. Problems are by definition insoluble. No problems can be solved, and all solutions lead to more problems." - William S. Burroughs

Words of wisdom. Maybe we should send Shrub a copy of "Naked Lunch" as well?
posted by Mike at 4:34 PM
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Lester Sterling... Reggae In The Wind. From the album Sterling Silver by Lester Sterling O.D., an original member of the legendary Skatalites. A brilliant alto sax workout. The answer my friend, is Reggae in the Wind.... .mp3 audio (940K) from The Skatalites.
posted by Andrew at 2:48 AM
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The Bush plan to create a super agency that will be responsible for preventing terrorist attacks has been particularly troubling and amusing.....A few years ago, I read “The Tao of Physics.” One idea that has stayed with me over the years is the tendency of closed systems to shift stress from point to point without ever resolving the source of the stress. By responding to and addressing symptoms, the cause of the stressor is not resolved and the stress is shifted to another point in the system. Maybe I should send W a copy. Well, maybe not. It has a lot of words in it and he isn’t that good with them. from ZENDUDE
posted by cynthia korzekwa at 12:53 AM
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Wednesday, June 12, 2002. *

The Dream Change Coalition

Working closely with indigenous people from the Amazon, Andes, Siberia, Guatemala, Himalayas, Southern Africa and other cultures where shapeshifting dreams into reality is an age-old part of life, DCC has helped many people transform themselves and has cleaned up pollution, preserved endangered forests, plants, and animals, and inspired institutions to commit themselves to helping future generations rather than focussing on selfish, short-term objectives. We are people from every continent and every profession.
posted by Dr. Menlo at 2:15 AM
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Tuesday, June 11, 2002. *
posted by Dr. Menlo at 11:01 PM
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"I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down . . . I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime . . . I wear it for the sick and lonely old . . . I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,/'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black."--Johnny Cash

For about 5 years now, I only wear one other color besides black: blue. All of my outer clothes (excepting socks, boxers and t-shirts) are also recycled: via vintage shops and thrifts. What do you wear, and why?

What did Johnny Cash say about his closet?: "It's dark in there."

posted by Dr. Menlo at 10:22 PM
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Sunday, June 09, 2002. *
Visit Palestine. The land of the Bible. From The Palestine Poster Project at Liberation Graphics. "...Liberation Graphics began actively collecting Palestinian posters in 1974 and now houses what many experts believe to be the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of Palestinian-published and Palestinian solidarity poster art."
posted by Andrew at 7:36 AM
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Saturday, June 08, 2002. *
Friday, June 07, 2002. *
Mark Takamichi Miller... 24 Exposures. "...These paintings are derived from a random 1-hour photo packet left for development. I don't know the people in the pictures and they don't know that they are the subjects of the paintings. The photos had been left in the bin over a month. I bought them and took out one of the two sets of prints before returning the second prints and the negatives to the bin."
posted by Andrew at 10:38 AM
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From Sweatshop to Hip-Hop
Jason Morteo understands all of this. He is a 17-year-old Chicano lyricist, beat junkie, and grafitti writer in San Antonio. On Wednesday nights, he can be found at Bruno’s, a local restaurant, battling other mcees in the freestyle competition. ("I would have won first place, except the other dude starting beat-boxing on me.") He has a front row seat for what Levi’s and other clothing companies are trying to do with hip-hop and garment workers.

"For me, I find it so ironic that Levi’s, of all companies, is going to try to make a profit off of hip-hop culture, on top of that Latin hip-hop culture, when there’s so many people here they exploit so much," he says. "And the companies do their best to keep that out of the media."

posted by Dr. Menlo at 2:11 AM
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Some Thoughts on the idea of 'Hacker Culture'
. . . This being said, the points of convergence between the activities of hackers and those of (political) activists are many, and they increase by the day. It is becoming more and more evident that both groups face the same threats, and the same adversaries.
posted by Dr. Menlo at 2:07 AM
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Thursday, June 06, 2002. *
Sometimes I read something that convinces me that I really am a hopeless pinko...

* The complaint: Consolidation has made radio even more cookie-cutter bland, with narrow, unimaginative playlists. Demographic targeting and audience testing eliminate variety, stifle regionalism and foist the least objectionable music on the public.

Failing to recognize that an individual's tastes are broader than a narrow format, stations avoid adventurous artists and diversity. Music's presence is being eroded by gabby DJs and juvenile morning shows.

..."More and more, radio is programmed literally by machine, hurting the limitless potential that makes radio special," Light says. "All the great things about radio, including identity and community, are being devalued. In places that kind of station still exits, people hold onto it with religious fervor."

* The defense: As quirky outposts merged into titanic corporations, radio became a big business beholden to Wall Street's profit standards.

"The stakes are higher," Light says. "One genre is now bigger than the whole industry used to be. It's absurd to think that corporations are going to value artistic merit and innovation. That's not what the game is."

I suppose only a rigid ideologue such as myself can't distinguish between the indictment and the defense...

::USA Today: Hey, Mr. DJ, open the request line via Mediageek
posted by Mr. GluSniffer at 12:36 PM
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Wednesday, June 05, 2002. *
William Gropper... The Little Tailor (1955, Dodd Mead & Company, New York). "...Many years ago, in a sleepy little town called Nochi, which was hidden far away in the darkest end of Europe, there lived a little tailor who made the most beautiful clothes in the world."
posted by Andrew at 10:14 AM
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Tuesday, June 04, 2002. *
A U.S. Air Force colonel who called President Bush "a joke" and accused him of allowing the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to happen because "his presidency was going nowhere," has been suspended and could face a court-martial.

At first glance you might think this is something new, turns out theres a history of this sort of thing.
posted by Mike at 6:13 PM
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Monday, June 03, 2002. *
John Heartfield... Die drei Weisen aus dem Sorgenland (The three magi from the Land of Sorrow. Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung, January 3, 1935, p. 16., rotogravure print, rephotographed montage with typography). From Photomontage by John Heartfield. 23 images from the George Eastman House Still Photograph Archive.
posted by Andrew at 8:36 AM
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CODE TURTLE-BLUE: TERRORISTS MAY APPEAR IN YOUR TOILET. BEFORE GOING, CHECK BOWL FOR DARK, NASTY FACES WHO ARE CRAZY-RELIGIOUS TYPES. ADDITIONAL WARNING FOR TWO-FOR-TERRORIST-WARNING-TUESDAY: CODE BANANA; IN COEXISTING CONDITION WITH AFOREMENTIONED WARNING SOME UNLIKELY FEW WILL ALSO FIND MASALA SMEARED ACROSS THEIR TOOTHBRUSH--THROW AWAY IMMEDIATELY AND GO TO NEAREST FAST FOOD ESTABLISHMENT FOR REAL AMERICAN FOOD, SIMULTANEOUSLY SAVING AMERICA'S ECONOMY!

Coming up next: Grown Men Who Play With Balls--also known as Sports! And the Weather!

. . . All here, on your Favorite Corporate News Network!

posted by Dr. Menlo at 4:47 AM
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Quantum Wormholes Could Carry People

I received this in my email last week from Giovanni (titled "100 Holes"):

For your viewing pleasure
http://www.unutterable.org/holes.html

"Locke implied that a causal theory of perception is incompatible with the perception of holes; since holes are not material they cannot be the source of any causal flow. That we do have the impression of perceiving holes should then be considered a sort of systematic illusion. (Unless one rejects causal accounts of perception.)"
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/holes/


Thanks, Giovanni!

See also: The Invisible Worm . . . it's always nice to see new progressives come up!

posted by Dr. Menlo at 3:27 AM
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posted by Dr. Menlo at 12:53 AM
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Sunday, June 02, 2002. *
The Soviet Message. "...when Stalin's purges claim the reputations and the lives of the once-loyal, Klustis reworks his material, as he does with this photomontage, beginning by hacking two army marshals from Stalin's side. Marshal Yegorov, who remains in the poster, is tortured to death in 1939. Klustis also suffers under Stalin's regime; he is arrested in 1938 and is eventually killed." From The Commissar Vanishes. The Falsification of Photographs in Stalin's Russia.
posted by Andrew at 8:47 AM
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Saturday, June 01, 2002. *
"little bitch"?
posted by Adam Rice at 9:05 AM
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