Little Hummer Boy

About the Counter Propaganda Carolers

The Counter Propaganda Coalition fought media bias and produced alternative media. The longest-running action of the group has been Counter Propaganda Caroling, which has gone on for several years. Thanks to the initiative of folks like Colleen Rowley, who has been a dedicated anti-war activist for some time now, we have gotten some of our songs filmed and up on YouTube.

Several of them are online. We wrote some new ones for the Republican National Convention - or rather, for the aftermath of those who survived the police state that was the convention.

For more information about the Counterprop Carolers, leave a contact in the comments, or email me (dr dot diogenes at gmail dot com).

Counter Propaganda Carol for the RNC #1

A little ditty for the season, from the survivors of the Republican National Convention.

Pepper Spray
(Silver bells)
with an assist from sueann
note – baton as BAH-ton, not ba-TON

Pepper spray – pepper spray – it’s protest time in our city…
Taser guns… are such fun… Why can’t we keep it this way!

Secret Service, Ramsey County, and the Saint Paul P D
Gung-ho cops with a fondness for violence

Chain link fences, razor wire, and pre-emptive arrests
Soon it will be protest day!

Pepper spray – pepper spray – It’s protest time in our city…
Taser guns… are such fun… Why can’t we keep it this way!

Snipers watching, cameras rolling, just who broke that window?
We don’t care cuz that brings out the tear gas.

Plastic handcuffs, wooden batons, nice new storm trooper suits
Hoo-ray it is protest day!

Pepper spray – pepper spray – it’s protest time in our city…
Taser guns… are such fun… Why can’t we keep it this way!

Minnesota Supreme Court Ruling

The Coleman campaign sues to have some absentee ballots not counted. There are about 1,500 across the state that appear to have been rejected improperly.

Here's the PDF ruling, if I can figure out how to upload it... here's the link, in any case.

More Amanda Palmer

Missed her - she came in and I had a cousin's wedding to go to.

But yes, Amanda Palmer is the roxxors, and Who Killed Amanda Palmer is definitely on my Solstice list.



(and I'm promising myself I'll write more on Coleman this weekend.)

EDIT: Never did write more, but Warner pulled the last upload of that video. Arrogant creeps.

Leeds United ?

OK - this video's the center of controversy; the story is the record label thought that (Dresden Dolls) Amanda Palmer's tummy needed to be edited or digitally trimmed out of this video.

Like whatever! She told them to fuck off and made a big deal of it. And it's the kind of lame male control thing for a singer - as she says,

my favorite quote from that meeting:
“i’m a guy, amanda. i understand what people like.”

to which i reply: where have you been for the last five years?
do you have any idea who i am, what band i’ve been in, what kind of music i write, who my fans are….who didn’t send you the memo that i’m not britney spears? i’m not TRYING to look hungry. i’m trying to look HOT. there’s a difference.

Anyway - this is the biggest amazing female singer thing since last year when I fell for Regina Spektor.

But right now, it's Amanda. Dayum. Someone in one of the comment threads came up with just the right term - fierce. Wow.

Black Friday Pundit Kitchen Version

see Obama pictures

Rolling Stone article on Coleman

This pretty darn funny Rolling Stone article has this lovely quote about Norm and his scandals.

Wouldn't it be something if all that flip-flopping, cross-accusations and idiotic campaign noise had its roots in Norm Coleman taking 75-large and a bunch of Neiman Marcus suits from some Iranian dude with an offshore-drilling supplier? "They didn't pay his wife $75,000 for nothing," says Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "Something is going on here, but we don't know what it is." The Senate Ethics Committee has yet to announce an official investigation into the lawsuits.

Fuck Black Friday

Ok, here it is - a Wal-Mart employee killed in a Black Friday shopping stampede.

NEW YORK - A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday after an "out of control" throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains broke down the doors at a suburban store and knocked him to the ground, police said.

At least four other people, including a woman eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening.

Nassau police said about 2,000 people were gathered outside the store doors at the mall about 20 miles east of Manhattan. The impatient crowd knocked the man to the ground as he opened the doors, leaving a metal portion of the frame crumpled like an accordion.

"This crowd was out of control," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming. He described the scene as "utter chaos."

Dozens of store employees trying to fight their way out to help the man were also getting trampled by the crowd, Fleming said. Witnesses said that even as the worker lay on the ground, shoppers streamed into the store, stepping over him.

So now Black Friday has become Bloody Friday.

This poor employee has become the most direct human sacrifice at the altar of corporate consumerism. This is entirely the fault of the companies who whip people into a shopping frenzy. The mob mentality is encouraged by the stores, who want that level of animal greed. If they didn't want it, they wouldn't let people line up for days, they wouldn't offer limited numbers of items, they wouldn't do the kind of first in line stuff. But they do. So this is what they get.

If you ever wanted to have a reason to participate in Buy Nothing Day, this is it.

I blame Dr. Bitch

As she pointed out, the turtle says some not-safe-for-work stuff. This is pretty fucking funny.



(We love BitchPhD!

Coleman still trying to steal election MN Senate

Norm Coleman is trying his level best to fashion the same judicial coup in the Minnesota Senate election that the Bush Administration successfully used to seize the Presidency in 2000. There's some chance he might succeed.

Here's the executive summary: Coleman evil, local media compromised (Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio), Franken not taking it seriously and needs help. Links at bottom.

Coleman is very canny and gets the propaganda game VERY well. Take this: the initial vote reports uniformly erred in Coleman's favor. The initial reported results, based on 3 AM call-ins from far-flung counties, padded Coleman's numbers by 500 votes. Coleman, being clever and manipulative, has turned that on it's head and is on the rampage about why the 'Democratic Secretary of State's Office' keeps giving Franken more votes. The reason? Because the first numbers were wrong. How were they wrong, Norm? They were skewed in Coleman's favor. Why is that, Norm?

The direct attacks on manifestly-biased Democratic FARMER LABOR! (note the social-democratic third party) Secretary of State Mark Ritchie have begun. Tim Pawlenty is got his sly digs in on one hand and is pretending to play off that he's above it on the other.

There is an attempt by the right wing media to say Minnesota 2008 is like Florida 2000. This is also turned on it's head - in Florida in 2000 Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush and their friends disenfranchised poor and black voters by the double handful, arranged Republican staffer riots, and succeeded in narrowing the discussion to the point where the Supreme Court could appoint Bush. So what I hear when they push that is 'I would like to steal Minnesota like we did there, please?'

Nate at 538 gives Franken a reluctant 'leans Franken' on the recount. Minnesota's voting apparatus is top-notch, with fully auditable paper trails and transparency. (earlier post)

Coleman has declared victory. Twice. The right-wing bloggers are uniformly pushing. My visit to Franken headquarters today (where I shared my 'Coleman sure turns things on his head, fight hard for this' thought) ended in a not-at-all reassuring 'Don't worry, we have some great people on this.' Right! As one of the commenters (Norsecats) on a Pandagon thread says,

Franken was not a strong candidate. I live in MN, and I do not know of many people who were really enthusiastic about Franken’s candidacy. Coleman started the mud-throwing, but Franken was throwing it thick and nasty as well. Just as an example: the Mpls. StarTribune put out a voters’ guide. Franken’s summary of his views spent half his time attacking Coleman.
I think Coleman is loathsome, but if you can’t draw more than 42% of the vote in a wave year, when the presidential candidate carried Minnesota with more than 55% of the vote, you are a weak candidate."

I'm by no means unbiased here. Norm Coleman is a dangerous wanker, one of the few political figures I actually hate. He was my hometown mayor, he's in a sham marriage and talks about family values, and his hypocritical stands are matched by canny triangulation.

He's engaged in a full court press. With Alaska gone D, and Georgia close, this might be THE filibuster breaker. The Star Tribune, the onetime liberal Minneapolis daily, is drinking Normade, and Minnesota Public Radio, the most aristocratic of public radio stations, is pushing RNC lines.

Please call the Franken campaign and get them to wake up. Call MPR and write the Star Tribune. Maybe this will work out, but the Right is putting more pressure on the Secretary of State's office than the other side. Minnesota has a good process that should be run. If Coleman gets it clean, well then we kick him around for 6 more years, but if he succeeds in sending it to the courts it will be a good sign that we've got a bunch more corruption to cleanse from the system.

Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers movie discursion

I’m a huge Tolkein fan; the trilogy is definitely a sacred text in my life. The Peter Jackson film series was something I had a lot of hopes for – and largely those hopes were realized. The story isn’t Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, it’s Jackson’s take on it. Since Tolkien’s books are huge (Tolkien was a big fan of one of the longest poems in existence) I didn’t expect 100% following of the text. Jackson is a fan, and he did a fine version and one far better than I thought Hollywood was capable of.

BUT – sometimes he goes off the text for no good reason that I can discern. I happened to be doing some work-work, and put on the Two Towers to play in the background. Bad idea. Not only did I cease doing work and watching the movie, I decided I needed to write about it as well.

Of the things Jackson did do that piss me off, a bunch of them are in this movie. First of all – he makes the good guys less good, and the bad guys three times worse than they already are. So it’s a less optimistic movie than the books were; given the time it was made (the depths of the Bush Regime) perhaps that makes sense. Nevertheless, he’s constantly pushing people into being petty, vindictive, jealous, weak, selfish, batshit crazy in ways that Tolkien didn’t.

Arwen, Aragorn, Faramir, and Frodo all get the treatment.

Arwen Undomiel has the choice of Elves who love Men; to either stay with Aragorn or to go over the sea. In the books, it was indeed a grave choice and a hard one; but the frame was that Elrond would give the hand of his daughter only to the man who was king of Gondor and Arnor combined. The challenge was for Aragorn, and the decision point was Elrond. In the film, Elrond tells Aragorn to leave her. Aragorn tells Arwen that she’s too good for him, she says she isn’t. Aragorn tells Eowyn, who’s practically lubricating for him, that Arwen has left Middle Earth and is sailing over the sea, but he remains faithful to her. Arwen, under pressure from her father, bends and leaves; and then decides not to and throws aside her peeps for the rough and ready King of All the World.

Faramir, second son of Denethor (and younger brother of Boromir, who did fail the moral test) has this gigantic Freudian complex slathered on his character. In a lengthy flashback we get a ton of off-book detail. (And I give Jackson some slack here – the added scenes were not part of the initial release’s narrative flow, so adding the content either requires crappy devices like flashbacks, or shooting a bunch more film. I assume some of the clunkiness has to do with extending the version, but a bunch of it is in the source, which buried information all over the place. The scene where Eowyn and Aragorn are talking about his age, and his status as a Dunedein is really funny and cute. And was never in the book.) Like this load of mean stench; Denethor’s learned about the meeting in Rivendell and sends Boromir to steal the ring. Boromir is not sure but follows Daddy’s wishes. Daddy Denethor also has a hate-woody for Faramir (never explained) and disses him publicly at all times. (Denethor, overall, got the worst treatment at Jackson’s hands, I think.)

Aragorn doesn’t have a moral dilemma – he just gets literally pushed of a cliff of Jackson’s imagination and is throught dead until he comes back to help lead the defense to save the day. Sheesh! It’s dangerous enough, but Jackson (probably with the complicity of Viggo, who jizzed all over this role and totally method-acted it.) decided that we needed a bunch of Swords and Sorcery Cowboy moments with the not-dead cliff fallen Strider getting the kiss of life from his spooky witch girlfriend (And his horse) and having all these Clint Eastwood Down Under moments. I mean, making the Worgs big riding hyenas – yeah, that was cool. Deciding you needed another OMGZ DANGER!!!11!! moment for your lead buff hero (the heroic hero not the tragic hero) is like pointless. And took time from some solid plotline that Tolkien put in there.

Anyway – Faramir has a much more dramatic swordspoint – so you have the ring! moment with the hobbits, and then he decides to send them to Daddy, and then they go to Osgiliath, which is cool, but then under fire Faramir sends them across the river. (For which he gets royally screwed by Daddy anyway in the last movie, sending him out for a way-stupid Charge of the Light Brigade into orc pikes. If the Men of Gondor have such an inflexible command structure that you can tell people to commit suicide and they gleefully do, maybe they deserved to get wiped out. I mean, cavalry without any backing infantry? Who do they think they are, Rohan?)

I know I said Frodo gets it too, but I ran into the stumbling block of the Battle of Helms Deep, where you get great glory of war quote lines like “If this is their end, I would have them make such an end as be worthy of remembrance.” (Theoden) and then there’s some awful ‘wee ones going to war’ stuff. "Farmers, farriers, stableboys. These are not warriors." (Legolas) OMGZ! "Where is the horse and the rider, where is the horn that is blowing - they have passd like rain on the mountains like wind on the meadow. The days have come down on the west behinds the hills into shadow. How did it come to this?" which is more Theoden and could come out of the mouth of some right-wing Classics professor standing at the gates of Princeton and bemoaning the Obama victory parade going by outside.

So I stopped watching, since I was getting too pissed off. But Frodo basically turns his back on Sam, breaking the perfect relationship they have between them, for Gollem's sake. Sam, the disgruntled bottom, weeps after Master and then saves his kiester in yet-another dangerous homoerotic puncturing of Frodo by the nasty spider. But that's another post.

(Oh yeah - the Ents - they were starting to back out too. I hadn't gotten to the point where Pippen riles them up into it, but that's another character gooped with the 'less good' slime.)

Two great things that go great together!

Link above is courtesy of imageshack. Image courtesy of VelvetElvis in my gaming guild.

Fascism, Palin, and Right-Wing Paramilitaries: a glimpse of the near future

Power gives up nothing without a demand.

Demands come in several forms; lawyers, money, and guns.

Lawyers implies that there is equity before a judicial system, where both actors have power and agree to settle that power in court.

Money is then used to influence things more.

Guns are used if money doesn't work.

The Bush cabal used lawyers to reach the presidency, and money and the power of people with money to retain it.

They have are losing the ability to use the lawyers and they no longer have the money. So they will turn to guns.

The American economic pyramid has stretched farther and farther beyond our borders since we ran out of frontier. Getting the Indians taken care of, we turned outside - Cuba, the Phillipenes, Mexico. World War One carried us further, and at the end of World War Two we 'inherited' the British power base.

Economic pyramids work by exploiting those at the base for the good of those at the top.

The Klan was used at a couple of points in American history by the ruling factions to keep various people (blacks, immigrants, labor) down. It grew from the Southern Democrats - who were the party the former ruling class of the South as Lincoln, the Republican, was the former party of the North. They freaked out about the black man having power - and here comes the violence!

As Central America became even more firmly embedded into our economic pyramid - and as the really grueling oppression was offshored along with jobs - right wing paramilitaries were used (and are used, Colombia being a major case in point) to keep people in check.

So now, we're experiencing the collapsing of our economic empire. South America is full of countries that have slipped the leash - Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, to a certain extent Brazil and Chile.

The folks who are now leaving the White House include the very thugs - Negroponte, Reich - who were part of the Reganite evil.

The RNC is an example of how they are willing to import the tactics of control (Iraq) into the US. The Klan is an example of how they use street level violence to control society.

The whole Jim Crow/lynching system was a part of that keeping people down.
David Duke is claiming that the government is no longer the purview of white people (hmmm, how many Senators? How many reps?) and that whites need to regain control of 'their' government.

Now that they have lost it, they will be using violence here.

The current crop of folks are seen in Jesus Camp, in white supremacists, in 'spiritual warfare' and imprecatory prayer situations.

Since the Bush cabal has been chased out of congressional and Presidential power, they will rely on the power they have. This will mean mystery right wing money going to these harsh outsider Armageddon Christ Army types.

This will mean more violence - because these guys play for keeps.

(Thanks to White Trash Academic for the assist!)

Housecleaning

I see I have to separate my labels with commas. This will require going into the backlog to change them. Oh, boy! Bookkeeping!

Coleman trying to steal the election

The signs are that Norm Coleman will fight hard and dirty to try to win his re-election in Minnesota.

The Republicans are attacking the Secretary of State.

They have 'ballot watchers' across the state.

There have been preliminary attempts to disenfranchise - a lost lawsuit in Hennepin County that nevertheless may have influenced the County to not count certain votes.

If they get away with this I will be so fucking pissed at Franken.

More later.

Norm Coleman is a dangerous wanker.

I've been asked what I think of who will win the Coleman - Franken race; and while I'm trying to seduce a certain working class scholar into co-writing a longer more detailed post, I can write this one easy.

I think it leans Franken, and by God I hate Norm Coleman.

I am very judicious about who I hate. I didn't hate Bush, although he was awful. I didn't hate Cheney, although he came close, but it was more of a despising. Hate is something that is active, that you feed. And Norm, Norm I hate.

It began in the early 90s, when Norm was the conservative Democratic mayor of Saint Paul. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul are both pretty Democratic - sorry, VERY Democratic. So if you're the fundamentalist free-market business community, you find yourself some nice pliable folks who claim that they are Democrats and get them elected. (This means you sell out the religious right but that's fine. The marketeers will sell out anyone.) This included people like Jackie Cherryholmes and to a certain extent Sharon Sayles Belton in Minneapolis, and people like Norm Coleman in Saint Paul. You can tell if you have a faux-Democrat if they defend the interests of 'the downtown business community'. So Norm decided that the first thing he would do, to show he knew the game, and knew who had the power, was prove his 'conservative' bonafides by picking on his employee unions.

AFSCME Clerical and Technical for the city - got into huge fights with them, played hardball. Norm was a 'no tax' Democrat (why do they exist?) and so the city was being starved and the unions had to go. And then, when our little workplace organized itself into AFSCME? Norm was not our friend. And when Arne Carlson, who was for gay rights and was for legalized abortion, but was still a marketeer, decided to contract out our work to Fargo, Norm stood by. Yeah, that was 150 good paying jobs leaving downtown Saint Paul, but so what. Norm was much more into getting his corporate buddies (Lawson Software) big subsidies for their offices.

Norm's clever. He pitched Saint Paul for the Twins baseball stadium. And then he switched and got state money for a hockey stadium. Smart.

It's sad. Norm, of course, was the former roadie for Ten Years After at Woodstock. Oh - you didn't know that? Yep, that was our Norm. Head of the SDS, a longhaired antiwar conniving ambitious amoral misogynistic hippie. Who went to work for the lame-ass Skip Humphrey (Son of Hubert. No charisma, dumber, way less of a leader.) as an Assistant Attorney General. Liberal Democrat. Then moved centrist, then ran for Mayor. Then 9/11 happened, and that changed everything. Norm switched parties! Then won as an incumbent Republican, and then... ...then Norm had someone call Tim Pawlenty and tell him not to run for

Norm the partyswitcher. The fact that he's cast like 10 votes in the last 6 years that weren't party line, and the fact that he used to be a Democrat, makes him a centrist somehow.

He is, actually. Norm Coleman is dedicated to a center point: himself and his political career. Norm loves the power, and he'll do or say just about anything to get it. He is IMMENSELY hypocritical. He filed an 11th hour baloney lawsuit against Franken, which he's done before (Sue 'em in the last days before the election! Throws mud in their eye!) and then someone does the same to him - someone NOT the Franken campaign - and Norm launches into an apocalyptic fit! "This is an eleventh hour phoney political stunt by the Franken Campaign. And they're attacking my wife!"

Attacking his wife. THAT he said with a straight face. There was a rumor that she had been greenscreened into one of his commercials, which was believable because Norm and his wife do not share their lives with each other. Personally, I think it's a huge sham, they're both fucking around, and Norm has a terrible reputation with women for being grabby and pushy. I read someone who was in an acting class with Norm's wife never knew she was the Senator's wife - because she never mentioned it. Odd.

Three other stories (available on request): how to piss Norm off, Norm and Paul Wellstone, Norm and Dick Cheney.

Guy Fawkes Night

Remember remember the 5th of November,
The Gunpowder, Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.

Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

Things that worry me...

Listening to the BBC - I am worried about the phrase 'raising expectations' that the neoliberals on the BBC financial service are mentioning. I worry because they want us to think about 'decreasing expectations.'

Krugman on the Bailout

Wege over at Norwegianity used to talk about how the NYT would hide things, and made a point of reprinting in full. They go behind a login nowadays, after a bit.

Paul Krugman, Sept 20, 2008

No deal

I hate to say this, but looking at the plan as leaked, I have to say no deal. Not unless Treasury explains, very clearly, why this is supposed to work, other than through having taxpayers pay premium prices for lousy assets.

As I posted earlier today, it seems all too likely that a “fair price” for mortgage-related assets will still leave much of the financial sector in trouble. And there’s nothing at all in the draft that says what happens next; although I do notice that there’s nothing in the plan requiring Treasury to pay a fair market price. So is the plan to pay premium prices to the most troubled institutions? Or is the hope that restoring liquidity will magically make the problem go away?

Here’s the thing: historically, financial system rescues have involved seizing the troubled institutions and guaranteeing their debts; only after that did the government try to repackage and sell their assets. The feds took over S&Ls first, protecting their depositors, then transferred their bad assets to the RTC. The Swedes took over troubled banks, again protecting their depositors, before transferring their assets to their equivalent institutions.

The Treasury plan, by contrast, looks like an attempt to restore confidence in the financial system — that is, convince creditors of troubled institutions that everything’s OK — simply by buying assets off these institutions. This will only work if the prices Treasury pays are much higher than current market prices; that, in turn, can only be true either if this is mainly a liquidity problem — which seems doubtful — or if Treasury is going to be paying a huge premium, in effect throwing taxpayers’ money at the financial world.

And there’s no quid pro quo here — nothing that gives taxpayers a stake in the upside, nothing that ensures that the money is used to stabilize the system rather than reward the undeserving.

I hope I’m wrong about this. But let me say it again: Treasury needs to explain why this is supposed to work — not try to panic Congress into giving it a blank check. Otherwise, no deal.

Starhawk on the bridge

Pagan activist Starhawk's last day report (excerpt, read the whole thing on her site.)

The march heads up the street alongside the Capitol lawn, and then tries to turn across one of the bridges leading into downtown. The police move in, and block us.

There's a tense crowd of people on the bridge and filling the intersection. Around us are police in full riot gear and gas masks. There's also a group of bike cops, looking slightly underdressed in shorts and gas masks. They've brought in the Minnesota specials-a line of snowplows across the bridge. On them are perched black-masked cops in heavy leathers holding thick-muzzled rifles that shoot rubber bullets.

The energy is unfocused. Nobody knows quit what to do. It could all fall apart, in a moment, with the cops attacking the crowd, or it could remain a standoff for a long time. I am softly drumming, not quite sure what to do, when a young, African American woman with long
urls and a ring in her lip comes up and says, "Do you know how to sing, 'Aint' Gonna Study War No More?"

I shift the beat, we begin singing, and soon gather a small chorus that forms around us. A tiny, round, young black woman in spectacles
steps in front. She has a large voice, and she takes over as lead singer. The chorus grows and a space opens up in the center of the intersection, that is soon filled with riders on bikes, circling around and around, counterclockwise. A young man turns a cartwheel. A clown on stilts appears, out of nowhere, and joins the ride. Suddenly, it's a circus in the street. The mood shifts and becomes almost festive.

My own mood has shifted, too. I've been practicing a more Buddhist-style meditation lately, just watching my breath in odd moments and being present to what's happening. I'm doing that now, breathing and drumming with the bikes and the song and the riot cops, and for no rational reason whatsoever I feel a surge of pure joy.

Two of the cyclists are punk kids covered with patches and graphics that I've seen at spokescouncil. One of them is named Maggot, and I've seen him sitting with his head down, mumbling his comments which always make sense. Now he's on a bike, his head up, smiling.

The young woman in front of me turns and taps my elbow. "Let's sing, 'We Shall Overcome'", she says.

I drum and the others join hands and sing.

"We shall overcome, we shall overcome, We shall over come, someday…"

There's some piece of magic at work here. The circling bikes remind me of our dragon-clad cyclists from the ritual that began this week. Now, after all the pain and the ugliness, the tension and the snatch squads and the media lies, after all the arguments and conversations about violence and nonviolence and tactics and accountability, after the splits between Obama and Hillary and the fruitless arguments about which is more crucial, gender or race, it seems deeply and oddly wonderful to be asked by two young black women to sing the old Civil Rights songs of the sixties here in the face of the riot cops. As if something is truly welling up from the earth, some spirit that knows and values rage but persists in remembering the power in acting out of love.

It's a spell. For just one moment, in one place, we sing in spite of our fear, and the violence abates.

And now, the spell of fear and hatred. And the courage of the woman who faced it.

Welcome to nihilix!

I've been checking my hit counts, and more people are coming here, so now I have to re-introduce the blog or something. (I know White Trash Academic has fallen under my lurid spell... grin)

I've changed comment moderation to just block comments on old posts. I got some marketing spam and so switched to 'all mod' but fuck that. Please comment, though!

If I'm doing something that's a group project, like work on a list, I'll try my best to get the changes up on the blog.

I think I'm gonna be blogging again, dealing at least with this RNC stuff. And that means my WoW guild will be missing me! Oh well.

And again, thanks to M. LeBlanc, Ding, Sybil, and especially Dr. B for the use of their microphone.

Post RNC Stress Disorder

I had a bit of a crash day - a kinda tough work discussion, followed by a in-the-office alone day, and big waves of weary came over me.

There's a lot of people suffering post RNC stress disorder. I had a friend who was collared, tasered, tackled, tasered some more, and is facing felony charges. I saw him Saturday - four days after all this happened, two days after his release from jail - and he was a wreck. Big guy, pagan, quiet, powerful, a definite masculine energy; not the type of guy to cry in front of you. I saw him cry like five times.

We went to the intersection where it happened - he'd been targeted because he brought my three-stick Heart of the Beast puppet to the Poor People's March. The sticks were 'too big' and the cops started paying attention to him. He put the puppet back in, but he'd been marked.

"I was talking to the officer on the horse, at the edge of the crowd, when they held their hands up in the air with one or two fingers up. I started to think it was a bad place to be"

They grabbed him, dragged him back, tasered him three times with shootin' tasers, and tasered him on the ground. He lost awareness and only when he began shouting "I am not resisting" did they stop.

Anyway - there was a plan to do a healing, a processing. We went down to the intersection, watched. There was a music festival in the park - the lowertown community decided they wanted to purge the police state energy as well. So salsa music was playing.

About eight or nine of us danced around the intersection, chalked things up. He moved into the places where he was hurt- walking throught the intersection. The police were at the corner, and left (they've been amazingly out of sight for the last few days) and that was good. Chalk came out, the street got decorated. The most amazing healing chant was sung.

Sunday he came over, we talked, cooked, talked, ate. Every so often his eyes would fill, and he'd go off, sometimes with his sweetie. He couldn't make decisions.

Sounds to me like he was suffering PTSD. And he has reason to.

Today I had a bit of my own P-RNC-SD - sadness and lethargy. And a lot of work to get back to!!

The Truth about Police State on a Stick; Stage Two

Hey folks!

I'm assuming there are some folks there. The hit counts are up, but unless you leave comments, I don't know if you're a bot or whatever. This is kinda like doing pirate radio - there are no nielsons, unless you get a call you never know... except blogs have hit counts. OK, not so much like pirate radio.

This is the list of themes as added to at BitchPhD. Thanks to all four of them for the opportunity to blog there, by the way.

So this is the big list that was came up with by folks there. Now we need to re arrange them and look for themes. Thanks to unhappy student and joanna and white trash academic and taddyporter and TA

Massaging the list, I see - abusive corrupt use of power - torture and pain - conspiracy of silence and lies - need for context. How about you?


If anyone posts, I'll add to the list. And anyone who wants to try and rearrange the list, great! It's the top level of a bulleted list with a few subs. There's lots more subs too.

• The Twin Cities became a police state for four days
• There were numerous unprovoked attacks by officers
• Sheriff Fletcher in trouble and possibly crooked and that motivated his behavior
  
• The police criminalized radical dissent, particularly with regards to anarchists
• Sub: Felony charges will impair their democratic rights
• Sub: Arrest records will follow people
  
• The important role of journalists society was not respected
  
• The RNC brought the methods of Iraq to Saint Paul
• Sub: The convention center security was like the Green Zone
• Sub: People who were in jail were hooded and abused like Abu Ghraib
• Sub: Overwhelming use of superior weaponry was the first choice of response
• The police were comical in their use of force
• Amnesty International says that human rights were likely violated
• ron paul had a mostly ignored totally peaceful action across town
• most charges are dismissed, most detainments not charged
• people detained were requred to give info to get away , getting on FBI database
• the corporate media buried the story
• the corporate media's coverage of the protest was all cops vs robbers, ignoring the antiwar message
• the police did to others what they do to communities of color all the time (drug war, etc)
  

Three other points made by people:

• Earth activists - pagans, environmentalists - need to know that the reason this police state matters to you is that you - supposedly - care about the earth
• That Saint Paul was taken over by a 'fascist Brigadoon' that showed up and then disappeared
• That someone needs to re-write the lyrics to 'Springtime for Hitler' to 'Springtime for Fletcher'

What needs to be said about the RNC police state?

Once upon a time, I had a fling with academics, although I did not climb the same august peaks as Dr. B. My seven year postgraduate career did produce a Masters in Linguistics. My big paper was on political metaphor, particularly George Lakoff's Moral Politics.

I've been trying to wrap my brain about the story that I think needs telling based on my experience with the protest movement. I'm not talking a thematic analysis of the images the RNC wanted you to see. In other words, I'm on Zinn's mission of working on history from the other side. Let me know what resonates with you.

The values espoused by the protesters, particularly the pagan cluster (who are doing the most interesting semiotic work, I think) are abundance and common wealth, interconnectedness of everything, and fun. Rebellion and resistance to injustice are others on the anti-authoritarian left.

The values of the Republicans are out of Lakoff's book - strong hand, justice delivered, hierarchy of god above man above planet. A harsh response to disobedience is to be expected; violence is sadly necessary. They were asking for it, doing what they did. The glittery side is glitzy, the ugly side is very ugly.

I also came up with a list of thing I would want to include in any good story about the convention.

• The Twin Cities became a police state for four days
• There were numerous unprovoked attacks by officers
• Sheriff Fletcher in trouble and possibly crooked and that motivated his behavior
  
• The police criminalized radical dissent, particularly with regards to anarchists
• The important role of journalists society was not respected
  
• The RNC brought the methods of Iraq to Saint Paul
• The police were comical in their use of force
• Amnesty International says that human rights were likely violated

Let me know what should be on this short list, what stuck with you, and what should be off of it.

Amnesty International: RNC Force Disproportionate

PRESS STATEMENT
For immediate release:
Friday, September 5, 2008
Contact: AIUSA media office
202-544-0200 x302

Use of Force Against RNC Protesters “Disproportionate,” Charges Amnesty
International

[London]--Amnesty International is concerned by allegations of excessive use of force and mass arrests by police at demonstrations in St. Paul, Minnesota during the Republican National Convention (RNC) from September 1-4, 2008. The human rights organization is calling on the city and county authorities to ensure that all allegations of ill-treatment and other abuses are impartially investigated, with a review of police tactics and weapons in the policing of demonstrations.

The organization’s concerns arise from media reports, video and photographic images which appear to show police officers deploying unnecessary and disproportionate use of non-lethal weapons on non-violent protestors marching through the streets or congregating outside the arena where the Convention was being held.

Amnesty International urges that an inquiry be carried out promptly, that its findings and recommendations be made public in a timely manner. If the force used is found to have been excessive and to have contravened the principles of necessity and proportionality, then those involved should be disciplined, measures put in place and training given to ensure future policing operations conform to international standards.

Police are reported to have fired rubber bullets and used batons, pepper spray, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades on peaceful demonstrators and journalists. Amnesty International has also received unconfirmed reports that some of those arrested during the demonstrations may have been ill-treated while held at Ramsey county jail.

Amnesty International is also concerned at reports that several journalists who were covering the RNC were arbitrarily arrested while filming and reporting on the demonstrations. They include host of independent news program Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman, and two of the program’s producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who were both allegedly subjected to violence during their arrest. A photographer for the Associated Press (AP) and other journalists were also arrested while covering the demonstrations.

Kouddous described his arrest to media, “…two or three police officers tackled me. They threw me violently against a wall. Then they threw me to the ground. I was kicked in the chest several times. A police officer ground his knee into my back…I was also, the entire time, telling them, ‘I’m media. I’m press….,’ but…that didn’t seem to matter at all.”

Amnesty International recognizes the challenges involved in policing large scale demonstrations and that some protestors may have been involved in acts of violence or obstruction. However, some of the police actions appear to have breached United Nations (U.N.) standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials. These stipulate, among other things, that force should be used only as a last resort, in proportion to the threat posed, and should be designed to minimize damage or injury. Some of the treatment also appears to have contravened U.S. laws and guidelines on the use of force. The U.N. standards also stress that everyone is allowed to participate in lawful and peaceful assemblies, in accordance with the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information, please contact the AIUSA media office at 202-544-0200 x302 or visit our website at www.amnestyusa.org.

# # #

RNC: From the inside of the Xcel. Practically liveblogging.

Ohh, this was a night.

I made it into the Bowl tonight - the nosebleed row at the top of the Xcel in the press section. I had press credentials through the radio station.

About halfway into it, I started writing this post. Here's what I scribbled in my little 'reporters have to have notebooks' notebook.

There is a scary vibe in this convention...

I've seen Imperial Troopers in their ninja turtle armor, I've seen teargas, and the Bean Bag Buggy.

The cadaverous face of Ramsey County Sheriff Fletcher, the glints on the dark pebbles that are Senator McCain's eyes...

In between the security gate and the TSA magnetron, at about 8 PM, I saw them.

Two, three, four men who were not the ones you saw at podiums, behind Fox News desks. The man who's pure evil. Hard men. Men who say 'flip the switch' or 'push the button' or 'pull that lever.' When they were younger, they might have done it themselves.

They are the hidden men, not even the grey eminences. The fixers. The do-ers. "That one, now!"

Now the convention is booing Obama. Perfunctory, and unenthusiastically. Oh, line about immigrants being Americans too. Pro forma applause.

The crowd boos, the crowd cheers the war. Rudy Giuliani move them to froth - Lindsay Graham moves them to scorn.

It's an... evil triumphalism. It's the party of Jupiter Maximus, with Mammon on the one side and thuggish Ares on the other. A party where the leaders are feted till they puke, where the powerful pushing down the weak, those declared 'entarte' or unclean - is not only allowed, not only encouraged, but considered a sacrament.

He's against public money. He says he's against foreign aid - and the rousing cheer, the triumphal roar that he got when he said that surprised even the candidate.

The speech is flat in delivery, the crowd, partisans all, know what to do. There are spaces - seats unfilled in the auditorium.

Iran, Russia, the fears!!

The reptiloids. Those men I referred to earlier were preditors on the body politic. They chattered like velociraptors.



Tomorrow - Cleaning up the cop poop. 200 more arrests.

Sheriff Fletcher's Favorite Toy

This is too silly to be true. But it is. Lookit what they bought for the RNC! A toy teargas cannon ATV! The GasBuggy!

Imagine taking THAT up to an ATV race! Eat hot chemical irritant, leroy!

And the level of national guard is supposed to be getting worse, too. The Admiral is coming to town, after all. What, he wasn't an admiral?

EDIT: It was a bean bag buggy, not a gas buggy.

Walking downtown in Saint Paul, which is open for business.

Awesome post on Twin Cities Indymedia, read the whole thing there.

The Right To Be Here

I'm not an anarchist. At least I wasn't one of the kids running around the Xcel Energy Center in black handkerchiefs during the St Paul RNC. Nor did I store my urine in a bucket for a week to throw on delegates, and I didn't break any windows either. But, I was one of the people detained by police on Monday. One of my co-workers even saw me on the Channel 11 news, zip-tied like a hog, being led away walking backwards by two riot police. I'm assuming that he knew me well enough to reason I wasn't there with violent intent, but asked nonetheless why I went to downtown St Paul that day. I thought about it for a second, but couldn't give a good answer to why I’m now in an FBI database. "I wanted to take pictures” and "I wanted to see it for myself" was what I managed. Then he asked why I was arrested. I had a much clearer answer for that.

An Upwelling of Earth Wisdom

Karl Rove is a black wizard. He manipulates visions of fear, and death, and he sends these visions into your head. He and his ilk, with their information distribution networks, are casting a magical spell, a black magical propaganda spell against us.

Starhawk is a permaculture witch. She, along with a lot of other people, has an organic sloppy goofy kind vision of supple strength and languid living and a fierce determination to put out the fires already. From the heart, the Zapatistas say - from the left and from below. Coming from the left, but from below- the underleft. We have our information distribution networks, as well.

The spell the witches cast for this particular convention, in opposition to the spell cast by Karl Rove and his ilk, was that of an upwelling of earth wisdom.

Gaia also came to the table with an upwelling of pissed off water and air. The hurricane, in one sense, was a Deus Ex Machina, giving the despised occupant of the White House an excuse to not show up, much to the relief of Karl Rove and his ilk. George is damaged goods, a brand that has reached the end of it's shelflife and is headed to the collectors market. Pro baseball ownership, perhaps, until the protests at all his away games drive him to the speakers circuit. Unfortunately, the hurricane reminded people of Katrina, which might remind them of corpses lying rotting in the streets of a major American city for days on end, which was the keystone event to push the Bush 43 brand totally over the edge.

Air, water, and earth rising up to extinguish the fire that is killing the planet.

The war of visions - dark fear or cheery permaculture - is helped by the militarization of the state. Because, frankly, it looks like crap, with all those suits of armor out there. Our town has been invaded by these evil suits of armor, which, like Spiderman's evil black suit, takes cops (some of whom are thumpers already) and hides them and closes their hearts up and instills this faceless freedom to thwack the shit out of the bad guys. So the same arrogant bully vibe that permeated Iraq is driving the police responses in Saint Paul.

But enough of that trip. What we have is red white and blue puppies in the street. We have wave after wave of people who care deeply about the fire that needs so desperately to be put out. And with the winds blowing in the Gulf, we have a convention that's taking on water. The addition of a goofy sidekick, the evil most popular girl in high school with her surface evangelical credentials (she didn't deliver for them as Governor) and name after name dropping off the list... Giuliani's in, no he's not. The speaker order shows up late. The hall is empty empty.

The liberal and progressive blogosphere is, of course, the bulwark of the underleft's ability to spin against the cable and broadcast tv systems of Karl Rove and his ilk. The convention is supposed to get the Republicans news cycles. The show of force is intended to show us street scum who's boss, once and for all. It's not supposed to become the Teenage Ninja Turtles, comically slapsticking their way across the Twin Cities.

So yes, police state, yes Karl Rove and your ilk, you can slap people around, but they keep on springing up over and over. Aren't there a whole bunch of them? 2,000 rock and roll kids took off down the streets tonight after Rage got kicked offstage. (There is video of this, I hear.) Probably 1500 of them wouldn't have come out without the music, but when you got them there, riled them up, and asked - you wanna go for a walk downtown? they said YEAH.

This town's political dynamic will be changed by this, probably for the better. One council member, Dave Thune, has spoken against it in Saint Paul, two in Minneapolis, but Mayor Coleman stands behind the actions, the cops claim they're standing tall (although Ramsey County Sheriff Fletcher isn't crowing about much now.)

Getting back to the spell Rove and Ilk wanted to cast, that would be the hypnotically intoned JOHNNN MC CAIIIINNNNN.... FOR PRESSSIDENTTT... Particularly given the exceedingly well-cast spell over in the Obama camp, which was as glitzy as fuck and slicker than shit and made you cry three times and sign a check AND a volunteer form. They really needed to slam dunk this one.

But they didn't, and they won't. Because they're nominating the Also-Ran, and they know it, and the lobbyists know it, and some of the media know it. It's getting to the point (comically creepy) where they almost don't seem like they're even trying. Sarah Palin?

There's a ton of links that I need to add to this post, but it's way late and I have to work tomorrow. And here's some links I did save!

Twin Cities Indymedia kickin' some serious ass!

Garrison Keillor rips them a new Powerhorn Biscuit Hole

Indymedia podcast about crashing the hot lobbyist afterparty and ruining their fun

Really funny cartoon of an interview with two kids who got peppersprayed and are, like, talking about it. By Bateman.

Announcement that the seed that was planted by the Free State is starting to bloom. (Camp Coldwater soveriginity claim by Dakota.)

Amy Goodman Tells Her Story

Lies, big lies (and radicalizing moments)

There's a GREAT picture of some kid dressed in black throwing something into a store window. Clearly the violent protesters are violent and doing violence.

And three broken Macy's windows, two broken police car windows, and two popped tires are plenty of reason to deploy batons, pepperspray, pepper balls (like paintballs but with pepperspray), tear gas, flash-grenades, and at least 200 arrests, including Democracy Now host Amy Goodman. At least they didn't use the tasers. But they did pepperspray a girl trying to hand a cop a daisy.

Sigh... it's been a long day in Saint Paul. I got my press pass and didn't make in into the convention center, but that's OK because there really wasn't much going on inside.

My sweetie works at a church where they gave out water all day. There was a guy with a red-white-and blue doggie. He was fabulous. So was the dog. The permit march brought at least ten thousand out. After the permit march, the direct action crew tried to blockade delegates, even though the convention was a party for a no-show, to nominate the also-ran.

Of note are the attempts (largely successful) to blame police violence on the protesters, the attempt (somewhat successful) to create 'good' and 'bad' protesters*, the arrest of Goodman, and the wonderful day where lots of people gave time and bodies to try to make this world a little better place.

I love these protest kids. I get their politics (agree with some of them), and love their energy and courage. Check this amazing Minnesota Independent story about being 'embedded with the anarchists' and don't believe anything CNN tells you.



Here's a quote from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which used to have a liberal editorial board but news reporting has been conservative for some time... check this out...

The peaceful mood really started to change after 1:30 p.m., when several groups broke off and began resisting police.

What this means is these groups broke off and tried to walk down other streets. The police then pushed these groups around. The agency of 'began resisting police' clearly is with the protesters, while the actual use of force was by the police. The suspect resisted my baton with his head, your honor.

A lot of progressives in this city are being radicalized right now. Actually seeing the hordes of jackbooted, armored, visored police in their spiffy new matching riot gear in their hometown does that to a person.


*This from Stauber and Rampton's book, Toxic Sludge is Good For You...

The public relations industry . . . carefully cultivates activists who can be coopted into working against the goals of their movement. This strategy has been outlined in detail by Ronald Duchin, senior vice-president of PR spy firm Mongoven, Biscoe and Duchin [MBD]. . . In a 1991 speech to the National Cattlemen's Association, he described how MBD works to divide and conquer activist movements. Activists, he explained, fall into four distinct categories: 'radicals,' 'opportunists,' 'idealists,' and 'realists,.' He outlined a three-step strategy: (1) isolate the radicals; (2) 'cultivate' the idealists and 'educate' them into becoming realists; then (3) coopt the realists into agreeing with industry.

According to Duchin, radical activists 'want to change the system; have underlying socio/political motives' and see multinational corporations as 'inherently evil. . . These organizations do not trust the . . . federal state and local governments to protect them and to safeguard the environment. They believe, rather, that individuals and local groups should have direct power over industry. . .

Duchin defines opportunists as people who engage in activism seeking 'visibility, power, followers and, perhaps, even employment. . .The key to dealing with opportunists is to provide them with at least the perception of partial victory. . . If your industry can successfully bring about these relationships, the credibility of the radicals will be lost and opportunists can be counted on to share in the final policy solution.' (pp. 66-67)

Second thoughts, officer?

At the end of the day, a long day, a hot day, this picture sticks with me. Credit to "intrepid photojournalist Tony Webster"

It's off of Twin Cities Indymedia, and the young woman on the left is Megan Wilson. She's seventeen and lives on a big green bus and her house was just arrested.

The big green bus is the "Skills for the New Millennium Tour and Earth Activist Training Permaculture Demonstration Bus", or the Permibus. Two adults, Megan, three dogs, three chickens. There's details in other places.

Megan's having a hard time of it. She knows it's a war for the health of the planet, she's not surprised. And I think she'll be fine. But seeing your life towed away does bring tears to your eyes. The other woman in the picture loves her deeply, and her gaze is on the next few things that need to be taken care of. And the officer behind them wonders why he'd been told that these were the bad people.

Prayers for all of us - activist girls who'd rather be playing with the kids, mothers who are doing what they need to for their families, people who passionately want to change systems, and people who are caught in the systems that so need changing.

Another day

Another report from video pirate the Stimulator

Twin Cities: Criminalize dissent, privatize public space, militarize police response

It's gratifying, somewhat, to find people from Glenn Greenwald at Salon to several bloggers at Firedoglake blogging about the creepy police state tactics that are going on here in the Twin Cities on the eve of the Republican National Convention, aka "The Also-Rans."

A series of raids has swept across the city (the Uptake has a google map showing the raids) and they all follow the same pattern - a generic warrant (pdf) (sometimes shown or read before the raid, sometimes not), police with guns drawn (sometimes handguns, sometimes assault rifles), lengthy times when people sit around in handcuffs, and then the police go away, generally without making arrests. Then the city code people come by and try to board up the house since there are code violations, like a busted back door. You know, the one that the police just kicked in.

The mantra seems to be - criminalize dissent (particularly 'radical' or 'anarchist' dissent), privatize public spaces (the extensive 'security zone' that is around the convention center) and militarize law enforcement. The raids have generally been coordinated by the Ramsey County Sheriff's office (Saint Paul is in Ramsey County), which is under the aegis of Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.

While it's generally hard to determine, Sheriff Fletcher almost certainly sits on the Joint Terrorism Task Force in the Twin Cities area - that inter-agency department that includes police at all levels - federal (the FBI), state, county and city. This explains why the Minneapolis raids were led by Ramsey County, despite the fact that Minneapolis is in Hennepin County.

Now is the time for Sheriff Fletcher to get before the cameras to talk about the buckets of urine these dangerous anarchists were collecting, or the Anarchist Cookbooks or the old tires (for burning). That's because two members of his elite task force were just convicted of stealing thousands of dollars of drug money. As firedoglake's Phoenix Woman puts it

Bob Fletcher is the sheriff of Ramsey County. Bob Fletcher is a Republican from the formerly lily-white St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, which has for decades had an uneasy relationship with its southern neighbor. Bob Fletcher is also on the verge of losing his job, as a long-standing FBI corruption probe that has already taken out two of his buddies is drawing its net around him; he may well feel that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain by using extralegal methods to please his RNC pals.

Excellent time to beat up on some smelly, urine-caching anarcho-hippies!

While I will try to provide you further coverage, I would recommend the following sites for keeping track of things. While we have two corporate papers (the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press) both tend to take the 'stenographers for the police' route, although the inherent disgust that the Twin Cities has for Republicans means that there are City Council members who will go on record saying how insane all this is. These two towns aren't perfect, but they are pretty liberal.

The main reason I might not be able to blog - I'll be working for KFAI 90.3/106.7 FM, the community radio station in town. Unfortunately, our coverage starts on Monday! So listen to the 6 PM news for my stories on the faith beat.

Police target protesters with preemptive raids in Saint Paul and Minneapolis: media sources

There are several fundamental constitutional issues that are being played out on the streets of Minneapolis and Saint Paul in these days before the scheduled convening of the Republican National Convention. They include the free speech rights of the delegate as well as the rights of those who wish to "petition their government for redress of grievances."

Those last have been undergoing a campaign of suppression by the police. What has happened is an militarization of the Twin Cities. Police powers have been expanded and are being used.

Two days out from the convention, roads are closed and raids are occurring. For months, protesters from a number of different political tendencies and points of view have been organizing. Particularly targeted are the anti-authoritarian RNC Welcoming Committee. The lead agency in these raids appears to be the Ramsey County Sheriff's department, led by Bob Fletcher.

Sheriff Fletcher, a former Republican city council member, is following a hard-line, law-and-order playbook that includes a series of raids and selective arrests.

There are a number of sources who are covering these actions. These are the best, if you are looking for journalism that does not begin (and sometimes end) with official police statements.

Twin Cities Indymedia
An explicitly activist media center, the Independent Media Centers were formed to give alternative media types a central location at protests like this.

www.twinicites.indymedia.org

The Minnesota Independent

MNIndy (Mindy?) is one of a network of independent media sites, run by the nonprofit Center for Independent Media (not the Independent Media Center. See above.)

www.minnesotaindependent.com

Twin Cities Daily Planet

The Daily Planet is a 'group blog' of Twin Cities alternative, ethnic, and neighborhood media, which also does independent reporting on it's own.

www.tcdailyplanet.net

Also look for these resources -

The Stimulator is a video activist who is producing short clips. Salty language, salty politics.

www.submedia.tv

The legal collective for the activists - Cold Snap - is using a twitter channel.

twitter.com/coldsnaplegal

Use these channels to back up the reporting you see in other areas.

Forgot the Uptake!

The Uptake

Progressive street video bloggers.

theuptake.org

Why did the police attack protesters in Denver?

It looks like this blog is now filtering coverage. Get your finest artesian filtered by Nihilix media here!

The first is during the Tuesday police action. It's not clear exactly what's going on.



The second is some pretty well spoken radical activists defending their American rights of free speech.

Where's the real power in DC?

Obama, the Presidency, the Senate, the House; part of the power structure but by no means all of it.

This little film clip hypes a book that I haven't read, by Thomas Frank, who wrote "What's the Matter with Kansas," which I hear is good but haven't read. He tells us where the real power is. It's been privatized.




Hat tip to Pandagon for posting this.

The UnConvention and these cool signs.

Signs from the UnConvention here in Saint Paul

Getting ready for the RNC

This is AWESOME. Check the race/gender/solidarity moments. The mohawked anarchist kid. The black girl is the one who gets the idea. Cool as all get out. Hat tip The Field.

The first day of the New Year of the Space Age

After a hundred years, people began to refer to the Space Age, and the day when the first of the clever apes from the planet below set his post-prehensile paw on his planet's satellite was widely regarded to be the beginning of that Age. (Even though that tribe retreated soon after)

Wikipedia from the Future: Why July 20th is so cool!

And from Wikipedia of Today

The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. It was the fifth human spaceflight of Project Apollo and the third human voyage to the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.

NCMR2008: Organizing Locally at the Grassroots

(Audio of the presentation available here)

If the Faith Based Organizing panel was up my alley, this panel was in the big broad street that led right to my door. Panel participant Nancy Doyle Brown, representing the Twin Cities Media Alliance was someone I’d worked with on several events, panel facilitator Steve Macek who was working with the Chicago Media Action and I knew each other from left-wing third party politics days, and I’d met Tracy Rosenberg of the Media Alliance several years before. New to me was the work of the Media Mobilization Project, which was represented not by Todd Wolfson but by Nijmie Dzurinko and I’d long been a fan of the kill-your-TV Reclaim the Media, represented by Karen Toering.

Since I only went to two panels, I’m not sure how this was replicated across the convention, but while the faith based panel had three men and one woman, this panel had one guy (the facilitator) and four women – and at least two of them were women of color. So if this represented the people who are in the trenches doing real organizing, the movement is clearly not another white liberal male phenomenon. (Although many of the people in my faith-based community organizing group – the volunteer leaders – are women and it’s my perception that by and large the bulk of work in social justice work gets done by women. No great secret. Another post.)

The Media Mobilization Project is doing groundbreaking work in Philadelphia. They were described as the descendants of Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s March and Philly Indymedia; their central tenets are that “1) issues of media democracy, justice and reform cannot be detached from larger socio-economic questions, and 2) new participatory media tools offer the possibility of fusing otherwise fragmented struggles for justice.” The representative, Nijmie Dzurinko, is the director of the Philadelphia Student Union, which is organizing in West Philadelphia high schools. The campaigns bring new media into standard grassroots organizing; their YouTube channel has clips like this of taxi drivers organizing with each other around the central taxi authority.

Tracy’s Media Alliance has been doing good grassroots work for a good long time – thirty years. They’re from the West Coast, out of the Bay Area. They are the fiscal agent for groups like the SF Bay Area Indymedia, the anarchist-run A-Infos Radio Project, what looks like radio pirates San Francisco Liberation Radio. They’re somewhere in the traditional non-profit realm (as far as I can tell) but don’t seem to have problems working with the more grassroots/radical elements.

Reclaim the Media out of Seattle is going strong doing their work on the barricades side of grassroots activism. They have no paid staff, and have worked on media policy, supporting community media, and media literacy.

The Twin Cities Media Alliance, like several organizations in the Twin Cities, was assisted by the takeover and subsequent shelling of the Star Tribune. Several of the principles there came out of the paper as it was shedding employees. They have succeeded in putting together the great community media portal, the Twin Cities Daily Planet, which brings local ethnic, neighborhood, and activist press together in one site (as well as doing some original reporting.)

Chicago Media Action has done a number of things including challenging FCC licenses of our unresponsive corporate media outlets, working on cable contracts for public access channels, net neutrality, etc.

This panel was a 10 of 10, in my mind, even with the technological issues with Steve’s recalcitrant laptop. This is how new media makes a difference; these were the stories of how local people were holding their local corporate media accountable.

(Crossposted at Bitch PhD.)

NCMR2008: Faith Based Community Organizing and Media Reform

A little reporting from the National Conference on Media Reform

I got to the first of the panels I attended, Faith-Based Community Organizing and Media Reform, a little late, so missed out on why some of the listed folks weren’t there. Attending were Rev. Ben Guess from the United Church of Christ (a cute gay preacher in jeans, a white shirt, and a top-of-the-ear piercing), Rev. Romal Tune in suit with kerchief (the muted/flashy black minister outfit), local organizer Vic Rosenthal (imagine a Jewish Garrison Keillor) and Kathy Partridge, an energetic and competent Unitarian head of a feisty faith foundation.

The program promised to:

(highlight) the successes of the faith community in social justice organizing, while looking ahead to how media justice organizers and faith organizers can reinforce each other's message. The media is often a barrier to social justice organizing, but working together, the two sectors can further strengthen their communities.

Media reformers and faith based organizers are in the early stages of getting to know each other. They United Church of Christ has been involved in communication as a justice issue for a while; they got a royal corporate media smackdown when NBC and CBS refused to run some of their commercials in 2004. Saying the commercials were ‘too controversial’, they were denied access to our privatized airwaves. (The real controversy – the UCC were calling out the biased churches of the cultural Right for being closed to whole sectors of society)

The UCCs rock pretty hard. They give grants for churches that are part of their radio ministry, so long as they

• Communicate God’s radical acceptance and extravagant welcome;
• Reach out to the alienated, the excluded, the spiritually homeless, the questioning;
• Make a home for all in the life of their congregations.

A lot of the panel was the explanation of what faith-based community organizing WAS, and less how the two are getting together. Romal Tune and Vic Rosenthal gave their perspectives – Romal from that of black churches, and Vic told the story about the immigration raid on the big kosher meat plant in Iowa. They spoke more about how the media is not your friend, if you care about workers, or black folk, or immigrants.

A big part of the narrative of this convention – which was also the case at the first convention in Madison, which I also attended – was about whether the ‘reform movement’ was broad enough for everyone, if it focused too much on legislative solutions and electoral politics and not enough on poor people, black people, and those who need a bigger dose of media justice. This panel seemed to be laying the table for a discussion around just those issues in the context of faith based organizing. Here’s what it is, media movement. Where are we going to be able to move together? What can we do?

My media plus organizer dream would be the creation by the faith communities of the left of a communications infrastructure like the right-wing churches have, particularly radio and cable. With a possible political sea change in the wind, maybe the low power FM licenses will be available again, and we can see gay pastors from welcoming churches rubbing radio elbows with black preachers and anti-poverty advocates on new neighborhood stations.

(Crossposted at Bitch PhD)

Forever and a day

Since I've posted. But I notice that the hits are coming up which is likely because my comments on The Field and other places list my webpage.

This is, sadly, a non-updated blog. It's got some great rants on it, and thanks for reading it, and thanks for clicking through here.

I have a dream, that someday I'll start blogging again. My World of Warcraft guild will probably be missing me.

Solidarity!

Rev. Wright and Barack Obama

I've been taking part in a discussion thread at the Field, where Al Giordono's been making some great posts. He's more half time but the discussion follows his viewpoints.

This is my comment about Rev. Wright.

I think that I’ve not heard a real black radical on the news for a long time.

I think it’s great that he’s been able to grab Moyers, National Press and the NAACP to make three speeches on black liberation theology.

Look - the Right uses it’s fringe to get things done. The racist southern neofederacy folks like David Duke say the worst stuff, and then Pat Buchanan takes the same platform, chops off two points, and there it is - David Dukes’ platform as the acceptable right wing of the Republican party.

Wheras the Left piles on their fringe. No no you can’t use them as a wedge… you can’t use them to seem moderate against - they actually try to take out this stuff.

If Wright can push the dialog left, well then great. If Obama the politican would rather run from the center, and might have to move left to placate the base whipped up by Wright, great. The Republican fundametals are SO CRAPPY this year that it’s a perfect time to get some populist movement.

Take Wright’s position - that an attack on him is an attack on the Black church - and don’t just say ‘not so’, ask yourself if it is an attack on the church? Remember that one of the things that Black folk in America don’t get to do is be righteously angry. So if they attack Wright for being ‘angry black man’ then they ARE denying a fact professed by the black church.

If you haven’t already, turn off the corporate media in your life. Don’t watch two hours a day of cable news. Make a few phone calls.

President 2008 - Romney

I've been reading the New York Times, since they backed off registration and crap. And the Star Trib online suxxors so bad.

Anyway - now I get why people get so pissed off at the NYT.

Let's take this frontpage bullet:

Challenges and Miscalculations Dogged Romney From the Start
By MICHAEL LUO 9:57 PM ET

Mitt Romney spent more than $35 million of his own money trying to get himself elected, but his campaign faced challenges from the start, some beyond his control.

Now, I'm not even gonna follow the link, because it's right here - the horserace. The fake story. The big lie.

Mitt Romney, or any politician, is not simply competing in a skill event. They represent archetypes, images, sometimes issues.

Mitt Romney was campaigning as the empty suit frontman for the ruling mob. Mitt was saying to the neo-theo-cons and their corporate masters that he would parrot their logic, and that he was 100% on board this whole corporate america proto-fascist endless war trip that the Bush regime is on. His pitch - I'm rich, I've got name recognition. I'm a made man on Wall Street, and I look good on TV and will do whatever you want me to.

No wonder it didn't catch on.

Some other bad analysis was saying that it was just some kind of luck that Huckabee and Paul caught on.

Idiots: the reason Huck caught on was he's a true believer and the Christian Dominionist wing of the Republican Party coalesced around him. This was after the other Evangelicals left and
they decided that the Mormon was weird. And they clearly saw his soul, which is a Franklin Planner and a blackberry tied to his bank account, didn't have enough Fear of the Lord. So Huckabee has what they call a political base.

As does Ron Paul. The first red flag I had on Paul was the amount of support he gets from Stormfront, the white racist web group. I went through a "Paul was OK" phase, back when I thought he was just a Libertarian. (I went through a Libertarian phase, too - right before I graduated from high school.) But then the Stormfront support (link it yourself, eww) filled in the next part - he's one of those Christian Identity/Michigan Militia Libertarians. And then I read what he says about immigrants, and the whole proto-fascist thing came clearly into view.

But that's just his core and some of his money. His base is other white Libertarians, and young white suburban kids who think Bush and the war suck. Which is pretty much white Libertarians. So not all of them are fascist, but ask them what they think of race and decide for yourself.

Anyway - sorry to have been gone so long. I should get RSS up. Anyway - just remember that most everything you see on TV is a lie, and think for yourself.

Martin Luther King Day 2008

Visit Harper's for the amazing picture to go with this amazing poem:

O, sweep of stars over Harlem streets,
O, little breath of oblivion that is night.
A city building
To a mother’s song.
A city dreaming
To a lullaby.
Reach up your hand, dark boy, and take a star.
Out of the little breath of oblivion
That is night,
Take just
One star.

–Langston Hughes, Stars (1921) in The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, p. 85.