Category: Politics

Posted on

SIFF, media concentration

I finally got to check out a couple of films from SIFF: Direct Order, about the Anthrax Vaccine, its ties to Gulf War Syndrome and US military denials; and then ‘Unprecendented: The 2002 Presidential Election‘ talked about the many suspicious activities surrounding the Florida recount. The Florida constitution forbids ex-felons from voting. That a disproportionate number of ex-felons are African-American and a high majority would likely vote Democratic, what might have been the outcome of the race if tens of thousands of eligible voters hadn’t been removed?

The FCC voted to loosen media concentration today. More crap, fewer voices. People say the Internet and cable will keep those voices diversified, but if they’re also owned by the same five or six companies, it really makes no difference. Independent viewpoints have a much smaller forum in which to be heard. There’s going to be an abundance of lawsuits, though: media companies say the legislation doesn’t go far enough, while citizen groups and the NRA (!) say it’s gone too far. Congress had even spoken up against this, and spoke up again after the vote had ruled in favor of loosening the restrictions.

Posted on

The thesis presentation

Today was the big day. It’s all about thesis presentations in class. Marshall talked about transitional life programs for parolees – that must be inspiring work. Joe Lucas wowed us with a vibrant reading of an excerpt of his life – it was well acted and well, I had no idea about his past and his addictions. He’s come a long way. I wouldn’t have recognized him then, I suppose. Gerald talked about ‘The Pocket Anger Manager” and the cycles of depression and anger that perpetuate themselves. He has inside his head a vast storehouse of inspirational knowledge. I’m happy to know him, and now that he has a working email address, able to talk to him in the future.Man, I was nervous. I’m not usually nervous in front of a crowd, but then I’m only singing most of the time. I think because it’s a cohort of people I know really well, I know I wouldn’t be able to bullshit any of them. I kept thinking about anything that could go wrong – the Powerbook getting water all over it, the connection to the TV not working, fumbling around, boring people.

It went off without a hitch. At one point I must have been getting Someone’s attention, because thunder rumbled as I was playing a clip from the “What Would Jesus Drive?” campaign. I think people were initially turned off by the politically incorrect nature of the ads, but I needed only to remind them that they weren’t the target demographic – that I was working outside the left’s bubble to accomplish this. I took 40 of the 45 minutes, with 5 minutes for questions – so much for not filling up the time available.

One more day of a weekend class, until this fall. One more paper to turn in. I’m going to miss my cohort.

Posted on

Smoking ban smoked

Wow. They’re tearing down statues of Saddam Hussein. I wonder how this will affect the protest movement. I learned today that the non-smoking ban bill in the State House was killed. Yuck. I hate cigarettes. I can’t wait to sing in San Francisco again, and keep my lungs free.

Posted on

Media blackout

After watching some computer-animated CNN tanks heading towards a bridge in Sim City perspective, I’m imposing a media blackout on myself, except for the BBC and Democracy Now – it’s so easy to get caught up in the coverage. Today, while doing homework, I used C-SPAN as white noise as the House debated the Homeland Security budget. Dennis Kucinich and Nancy Pelosi made some passionate arguments (Dennis went so far as to attempt to add an amendment that would call the troops back home and only pay for the cost of the war so far, about $40 billion!). It’s scary to think how seriously people take Fox News – they’re taking what I believe to be a minority viewpoint in this country and lighting a flame underneath it.

Posted on

The Hours

Tonight I saw “The Hours” with my friend Camille. The movie ties together the stories of three people affected by Virginia Woolf’s “Miss Dallaway”: the author (1910?), a housewife (1951 Los Angeles) and a party host (2001 NYC). A memorable line, as Woolf speaks to her husband about the trap the suburbs are: “If I must choose between Death and Richmond, I choose Death.” I can’t help but wonder that someone feels that way about Schaumburg, IL, or San Jose, CA, right now. While it wasn’t a spectacular movie, I was caught up in its underlying theme: what it means to exist, and what it means to live. It brought back to my mind one of Woolf’s books, “To the Lighthouse”, and the difference between matter (the superficial) and form (the spiritual), and that brought back to life what it means to me to be living, and why schooling and the diversity of opinion and perspective is so important to me right now.They’re doing house-to-house searches for weapons now in Iraq. I wonder how Gore would have handled this? Of course, we probably wouldn’t be at war right now, except with Al-Qaeda.

Posted on

Anytime you have the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, you’re not long for the White House.”

A British fighter plane is down, several American soldiers have been captured, and Turkish troops appear to be moving in to the Kurdish section of Iraq. This isn’t going to be clean like the Bush administration hoped.The Oscars tonight have had a very limited response to war, except for a brief and passionate speech by an actor from the film “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, and Michael Moore’s acceptance speech kicker, which drew applause and boos from the audience for his criticism of Dubya: “Anytime you have the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, you’re not long for the White House”.

Posted on

The jealous boyfriend

This cleanse, the war, and the weather are affecting me in sluggish ways. I went out for pizza and karaoke last night with my brother and his wife. The atmosphere of the bar was really depressing, and offered me new insight to whether this is the best use of my time.Tonight I met a gentleman, and when I use that word, I don’t mean that at all. I would characterize him as extreme-low-self-esteem-and-jealous-boyfriend-man. At a birthday party tonight, I talked to a woman tonight, for the sake of conversation, without realizing I was under the watchful eye of her jealous boyfriend, who let me know rather directly that she was off-limits. He was almost mob-like in his delivery – and waited to tell me later on in the evening because he wasn’t sure if I was gay or not. He asked me if I was, and I honestly thought he was gay – and when I said no, he let me know that she was with him. I still had a great time with everyone else, but the experience reminded me that there are men out there like that, and that there are women who probably don’t know another alternative.

Posted on

Shock and awe

“Shock and Awe” is in effect. CNN is showing images of massive bombardment of Baghdad. Three cities and the peninsula that contains the oil are under coalition (US) control. Turkey is sending soldiers to the Kurdish section of Northern Iraq. The US is warning them not to – did US military advisors really believe this wouldn’t happen? This feels like a domino effect for a worldwide event – the queasy feeling grows. I feel like wanting to hibernate, putting my possessions in storage and traveling. The only thing that keeps me from doing this is the knowledge of having a BA in a month-and-a-half. That, and I’m receiving a lot of freelance work (three new clients this month!).

Posted on

Invasion

We’ve invaded. Northwest Cable News Network (NWCN) has a lot of Pacific Northwest residents calling in to express their opinions – most are from rural areas, and very much for the war. 60% of America believes that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 911, despite the fact that’s been disproven. The network did interview protesters, who offered lucid arguments against the war, reminding the public that they were for the troops, and as such, wanted to bring them home. Queasy feeling in stomach begins. Laura was at an action, got arrested, was released within an hour, and then went back to protest. Seattle had massive protests for a city its size, as well as Portland.

Posted on

Deadline for war

Bush gave the deadline tomorrow for war. Kofi Annan is asking UN personnel to leave – I believe that means the inspectors, too. My fingers are crossed for a major housecleaning in 2004. The only good news I heard was in this morning’s Chronicle, where Nancy Pelosi has asked for Democrats to return to their liberal roots, because “the strategy of moving to the right has failed for the party miserably”. Clinton was criticized for implementing this strategy for the 1996 election. Howard Dean addressed his message to “the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party”.