Way to go, Al

On Tuesday, new Senator Al Franken introduced an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill (a typically underhanded move to pass unpalatable legislation that wouldn’t fly on its own, but in this case, related and appropriate) that would punish contractors if they "restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court."

This long-overdue amendment was in response to the gang rape of Jamie Leigh Jones by her KBR co-workers in 2005 while she was working in Baghdad. After her horrific ordeal, Jones was, under the orders of KBR, confined by armed guards to a shipping container containing only a bed, and denied food, water, and medical treatment for at least 24 hours. In addition, she was warned that if she left Iraq for (desperately needed) medical attention, she would lose her job.

Ironically, (sadly, almost unbearably, sickeningly) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.

Of course, some Republicans weren't pleased with Franken's attempt at justice, because, you know, anti-gang rape = anti-business. Jeff Sessions (R-Dickweed) called Franken’s effort a "political attack directed at Halliburton." The amendment, to anyone who's head resides outside of their rectal cavity, applies to all organizations.

Jones expressed her appreciation to Franken after the vote. “It means the world to me,” she said. “It means that every tear shed to go public and repeat my story over and over again to make a difference for other women was worth it.”

It’s sad enough to see so many elected representatives vote against the public good on issues like health care reform to ensure their corporate gravy train keeps rolling, but opposing this legislation goes a step further by signaling an acceptance of workplace assault and denial of corporate responsibility. Luckily, 68 senators did the right thing and the bill passed. The following is a list of senators who voted against it, and therefore, are proponents of brutal sexual assault.

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

Ulterior Motives

Juan Cole, in his blog Informed Comment, has had a thread of commentaries in the last few weeks which have really helped ground the Israeli vilification of Iran for me. For the sake of explanation, I've changed the timeline of his original posts. First, here are some statistics he posted from Globalfirepower.com:

Population Israel: 7.2 mn. Iran: 70 mn.
Wars launched on neighbors: Israel: 1956, 1967, 1982, 2006, 2008-9 Iran: 0
Nuclear Warheads Israel: ~200 Iran: 0
Military Budgets: Israel: $13.4 bn. Iran: $7.4 bn.
Per capita military expenditure: Israel: $1,805 Iran: $105
Total Aircraft Israel: 1,220 Iran: 84
Active Military and Reserve Personnel Israel: ~600,000 Iran: 875,000
Total land-based weapons: Israel: 14,200 Iran: 5,499

Now, why would a country with an estimated 200 operational nuclear warheads (and the capacity to create many, many more, be worried about a neighbor that is racked with its own internal crises (double-digit inflation (28% in 2008), civil unrest over failed subsidies programs, and due to a lack of refining capacity, has to import gasoline, despite having the 4th largest oil reserves in the world). And, although Iran's active military and reserve personnel outnumber Israel's, Israel has the second most advanced and well-armed military in the world (thanks, in part, to your tax dollars - $3 billion a year, no strings attached), for which Iran's "mangy" army is no great challenge, according to Cole.

Here's where things get interesting. Haggai Ram, professor of Middle East studies at Ben Gurion University in Negev, Israel, and guest blogger on Informed Comment, theorizes that Israel's hyping of the threat posed by Iran is a smokescreen, allowing Israel to break previous agreements and flaunt international laws by continuing to build settlements in the occupied territories. In the words of Israel’s incumbent Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, "What [do] you think is the first most strategic threat to Israel," Lieberman responded: "Iran, Iran, Iran… As long as there’s no solution to the Iranian problem we will deal with neither the settlements nor the settlers... Only after we will have taken care of... Iran it will become possible to talk about... the problem in Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights."

There are only two things the Obama administration can do to stop Israel from thumbing their nose at the U.S. and the rest of the international community. First, tie aid directly to stopping settlement construction and dismantling current illegal settlements. Second, declare that on January 1, 2011, the United States will recognize Palestine as an independent, sovereign nation. These things, alone or in combination, are the only things that will stop Israel from committing more war crimes against the Palestinian people and stop disrupting their lives with so called, "natural expansion".

The fact is, the U.S. has acquiesced to the Israeli leadership and lobbying groups to the point that Israel doesn't have to do anything it doesn't want to. They have the U.S. under their thumbs, and I'm doubtful that we'll grow the stones and really deal with the issue before Israel has completed its goal of wiping the Palestinian people off the map.

Great speech, but...

I don’t understand why the President had to address the nation to explain the healthcare plan floating through congress because “people are frustrated because they don’t understand what’s being proposed.” What? Anyone who has read a newspaper, blog, watched TV, or listened to NPR in the last three months knows the basics of the Democrat’s proposal. Look, here it is in a tweet. [1. Have health ins? Like it? Keep it/stop getting scrwd by ins co. 2. No ins + no $? Govt ins. 4 cheap/$0 3. No ins + $? Req. like car ins.] There you go. The problem is, the country still seems to be run by obstructionist, lying (Obama’s word) politicians (read: Republican’ts) who were voted in by this segment of the population:



Seriously, the ability to tell fact from fiction should be a prerequisite to vote. This guy’s waiting for the big, black U.N. helicopters to swoop in and take his guns and kidneys to give them to Obama’s secret Muslim brothers and sisters in Kenya.

For a split second there, I thought as a country, we had moved past this policy of fear. Death panels? Really? Obama compared to Hitler? Really? Socialism, Fascism, Communism? Really? Do you even know what these terms mean? And for Rep. Joe Wilson (R) Douchebag, you yell at the President in the middle of an televised address to Congress, “You lie!” Really? Where do you think you are, a Sarah Palin rally? (I’ll bet you wish you were). Obama said he was going to call out people who spread misinformation about his healthcare plan. He should have called out this Turrets-stricken frat boy, stopped the speech, made him stand up, and said "OK everyone, whose side are you on, his? or those who can rationally discuss one of the most important pieces of legislation in the last forty years?

Regrettably, until the Democrats grow a collective pair and shout down these false accusations, we’re stuck with the birthers, deathers, and their ilk.

Meet Robert Reich,

Secretary of Labor under President Clinton. I’ve listened to Mr. Reich on NPR and frequently read his blog at (http://robertreich.blogspot.com/), and he’s long been an advocate of reigning in corporate influence and income inequality through sensible government policy. Not surprisingly, he is also an advocate of the dreaded health insurance ‘private option’. Check it out and pass it on to your less informed friends...

The Health Care Debate

as described on the back of a napkin...

Healthcare Napkins All

View more documents from Dan Roam.

Net Neutrality and Fake Grassroots Organizations

I follow media policy and one of the issues that comes up over and over is Net Neutrality. Big telecom companies are doing everything they can to control the internet so they can charge you more money and limit access to small internet developers who then turn into thriving companies they have to compete with. These companies try over and over to push through legislation and regulation that would limit free and open access to the internet and as you can imagine, each time they try to do it their is an enormous public outcry.
Now they're putting together their own fake grassroots organizations to combat the will of the people (something like political astroturf). Check out the widget below to see what some of the biggest media companies have done and are doing to mess with your internet. Click on the puppeteer hands for information.

Go get 'em Barney!

One of the coolest things I have ever seen,,,

And the healthcare debate rages on...

Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children’s Healthcare

Don't let Oklahoma hit you in the ass on the way out!

Waltz with Bashir, the Academy Award nominated film from Israel, tells the story of Ari, a former Israeli Army soldier who fought in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. When an old friend tells Ari about his nightmares, Ari realizes he can’t remember anything about his own time in the war. The film follows Ari as he interviews his old friends and comrades to try and fill in the gaps. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, and now its director of animation Yoni Goodman has released a short film titled Closed Zone about the effects of Israel's Gaza blockade on Palestinians. Enjoy.

In case you missed it...

I wanted to watch President Obama's speech to the joint session of Congress last Tuesday, but I missed it. Fortunately, I got to watch the highlights online. Check it out if you missed it too.

38 Cute Animals, 1 Cool Screens, 8 Different Uses

The good folks behind http://bacolicio.us/ have created a way to add bacon to any website you desire. Just put their url in front of an address to add a crispy strip to its front page. For example, check out the Cume enhanced with the crack cocaine of meats!

Please Don't Divorce Me

On March 5th, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments in order to decide whether or not to forcibly divorce the 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year.


"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

You can sign a letter to the state Supreme Court asking them not to do this here.

Getting Political Again

I have to admit, I burned out a little. After the election of President Obama (hooray!), and then the Prop. 8 debacle (boo!!!) I just didn't want to think about it for a while. I was fairly active on the Obama campaign, making several small donations, staying up to date on the day to day news, posting an occasional blog entry or twitter post that might boost support, etc... But I've been reluctant to throw the same sort of support to the post-election Obama machine. I'm getting the emails, but they've been going largely unread.
But, I'm starting to come out of my post-election stupor and I'm hoping you will too (if you are similarly affected). I think one of the reasons I'm feeling the need to re-engage is not just the particulars of the battle over the various economic stimulus plans (like what even are they?) but in something more fundamental. Something that the Obama campaign addressed, namely the nature of our political culture.
I think many of us get sick to our stomachs when we think about the political culture of this country over the past twenty years. What the Obama campaign tried to do was to move us out of the usual mud-slinging, party-centric bunker mentality of us vs. them. I think to some extent, (though not perfectly) he succeeded. Doing the same thing in Washington will prove much harder I imagine, but my hope is that we can move beyond this hyper-polarized ideological culture toward one that is both more practical and more civil.
It's apparent to me that politicians are not going to do it on their own (at least not the ones that have been well-served by employing these culture war tactics to get elected... which is a huge majority of them). What it's going to take is a highly informed and highly engaged group of citizens to build this new political culture. We are called upon at this moment, with a small window opened up by the election of President Obama, to demand that our representatives work together to make sensible policy, to engage each other respectfully, and to disagree with civility.
We also need to turn our backs on the crap opinion political spinfotainment--even the stuff that's on "our side." The pundits cannot be a substitute for our voice.
I urge you to bookmark the email contact forms of your Senators and Congressmen, both federal and state. Write them a short note to let them know that you expect more from them than the usual party-line ideological nonsense. Then keep using those bookmarks. Stay informed and write them often.
Let's build a political culture that will serve us well through the necessary governmental reforms of the next twenty years.

Did you support California's Proposition 8?

No? Well here is the official list (from Debra Bowen, California Secretary of State) of people who did.

Boss' Hog

One Superbowl highlight that won't soon be forgotten, Bruce Springsteen really giving it to his fans!

Back to Sundance for one final review

Most of you probably know John Krasinski as the loveable Jim Halpert on the American version of The Office. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is Krasinski’s screenwriting and directorial debut, in which he adapts David Foster Wallace’s 1999 collection of short stories into a sometimes funny, sometimes intense story of one woman’s attempts to understand the underlying motives of men’s behavior. Sara is a doctoral candidate in anthropology who, after her boyfriend Ryan (Krasinski) leaves her for another woman, focuses her anthropological dissertation on discovering what makes men act the way they do. She does this by conducting a series of one-on-one interviews, in which her subjects reveal a more complicated set of motives for their behavior than she had expected. The story is told mostly through nonlinear flashbacks, which tend to convolute the message, but was overall very interesting and well acted. That is, until the last scene, in which Sara demands that Ryan elaborate on his reasons for leaving her. Krasinski’s diatribe sounds as if he is reading directly from one of Wallace’s stories, word for word. It’s an entirely unrealistic conversation that sounds like a bad stump speech. I would have had an overall positive impression of this film, but this last scene really ruined the whole thing. Honestly, Krasinski’s performance was so bad, I don’t think I’ll even watch The Office in the same way from now on.

Back to reality…

As the number of (mostly civilian) casualties rises in the aftermath of the Israeli aggression in the already ravaged Gaza Strip, personal stories of those affected by Israel’s brutality are emerging. On Democracy Now! this morning, Amer Shurrab tells the heart-wrenching story of how his two brothers were killed in an example of the Israeli Army’s indiscriminate killing of civilians in their ruthless invasion of Gaza. I urge you to listen to this segment if you want to gain a better perspective of what happened on the ground.

Also, as Israel denies the use of white phosphorous (a war crime if used in dense civilian populations), the U.N. has released pictures of the white phosphorous bombing of one of their Relief and Works Agency compounds, killing two Palestinian boys ages five and seven. Israel has said they will perform an internal investigation to determine if their forces used white phosphorous illegally and if war crimes were perpetrated. I’m no fortune teller, but I can, with certainty, tell you the results of these internal investigations. The Israeli Army will be exonerated, and what’s more, the real investigations of international human rights organizations will be ignored by Israel like so many U.N. resolutions.

Links! And a comical film review!

As you may have noticed, I’ve added some links to the blog, and I encourage our other contributors to do the same. McSweeney’s is a place for writers to exorcise their satiric demons; The Huffington Post, well, it’s The Huffington Post; Fuck You Penguin is a blog that tells cute animals what is what; Democracy Now! is the premiere independent news site on the web (I recommend daily listening); Crossfit is a kick ass daily work out that will put you in the best shape of your life if you follow it with some regularity; and, while last on the list, first in my heart, Wise Ax (you know you want to read it!)

Now on to the Sundance movie review of the day. At first, I was going to write about Afghan Star, but you can already find an excellent review and trailer at Wise Ax. I will, however, take this opportunity to review the short film that preceded it called Theresa’s Story. Some of you may have read my review of My Surfing Lucifer at the end of Saturday’s rant, in which I now feel I spoke too soon when I said it was, “the worst thing that has ever graced the big screen.” Teresa’s Story - now this “film” is not only a steaming pile of wasted resources, it seems like its sole purpose is to annoy. Watching it was like having an epileptic orangutan shave away at my soul with a cheese grater. The entire “film” (it hurts me to even use that word, because it denotes at least an attempt to create something artistic or socially redeeming) consists of a split screen of a child sitting on a staircase telling an obnoxiously overlapping, incoherent story punctuated by random, shrill screams and shouts. It’s basically an intensive case study of everything a child should NOT do, unless they want to get smacked upside the head by an attentive parent. My only solace after seeing this is hopefully, this is the filmmaker’s child, and that he or she will be tortured by this little “artist” until the day they die.

Slovenia is shaped like chicken

The film Big River Man follows Martin Strel in his quest to swim the length of the Amazon river. Strel, however, is far from what you would picture as an endurance athlete. Infamous in his native Slovenia, Strel is 53 years old, overweight (5-foot-9, 253 pounds), and drinks two bottles of wine a day. His previous accomplishments include swimming the Mississippi, the Danube, and the Yangtze, all to bring attention to the world’s polluted waterways. During his swims, Strel has encountered deadly rapids and whirlpools, water predators, and toxic pollution and bacteria (including floating corpses in the Yangtze). Strel’s latest adventure is led by his son, who serves as Strel’s manager, logistician, promoter, and as the swimmer himself in interviews with Western media. Strel’s chosen navigator is a young, American friend of his, whose river navigating skills are limited to finding fishing holes in his native Wisconsin. Over the course of 66 days, history's longest, most perilous swim takes its toll on Strel mentally as well as physically as the filmmakers deftly draw the audience into the world of these colorful characters and their extraordinary expedition.

Sundance review #2

The Glass House

The title of the movie references a center in Tehran started by Marjaneh Halati, an Iranian expatriate schooled in London. Marjaneh returned to Iran to start the center, whose social workers, teachers, and staff psychologist teach young, lower class Iranian women the skills they need to enter the work force and become independent. The movie follows a handful of the girls through their eighteen months of training, probing into their private lives as well as their time at the center.

Sussan, beaten by her temporary husband and raped by her older brother, finds it hard to accept the concept of self reliance, and believes security can only come from being wed. Sixteen year old Mitra works to break away from her existence as cook and maid to her verbally and physically abusive father and brother through her writing. Nazila is fiercely independent, finding an outlet in writing rap songs and recording them in an underground studio (women singing in public is illegal in Iran).

Overall, The Glass House is a fascinating look into Iran’s fiercely patriarchal social structure and the traditional place that women hold in this Islamic theocracy. Check out the trailer below.

Let’s talk about movie theater etiquette.

A wide variety of people attend the Sundance Film Festival (including yours truly and Mrs. Libertine). While many are movie fans, anxious to take advantage of the opportunity to see documentaries and feature films that they may otherwise never get a chance to see, it seems that some come merely to annoy the general Sundance populous. For those people, I have put together a short list of movie etiquette.

1. Even if you think you’re more important than everyone else standing in line in front of you, it is still considered a common courtesy to say, “Pardon me” or “Excuse me” when you blithely push others aside in order to tell the ticket taker that you have to get into the screening (and attempt to push past them as well, forcing them to chase after you, thus, leaving the rest of us peasants waiting even longer).

2. The same applies when, after the tickets are taken and people are moving in an orderly fashion into the theater, you push past those in front of you, only to stop dead in your tracks, bottlenecking the entire procession, while having some sort of extended discussion with their girlfriend about where you should sit. Those who know me know that I am no xenophobe (or Euracist?); however, I would like to take this opportunity to say the following: HEY EUROPEANS! LEARN SOME FUCKING MANNERS! Every year you I’m-so-cool-and-important-I-wear-my-sunglasses-inside douchebags think you own the fucking place and butt in line in front of me or throw your $3000 ski coat on my lap if I’m sitting next to you while yammering to each other for the entire fucking movie. If I spoke your language I would tell you to SHUTTEN DER FUCKEN UPPEN!, because you don’t seem to respond to the more subtle REALLY!?! stare. Let’s move on.

3. If the movie starts at 3:15, and for whatever reason you get there when the movie is just about to start and the theater is pretty much full (for example, you’re last in the wait list line, or you’ve never been to one o’ them picture shows in a big fancy movie theater so you don’t know you have to get there before the movie actually starts to get a seat), the fact is, YOU’LL HAVE TO SIT IN A CRAPPY SEAT! and/or split from your companion and find single seats! So, in the interest of saving other moviegoers some time and frustration, here’s what to do: (1) If the uber-patient Sundance volunteers tell you that the only seats are in the front section and stand blocking the access to the upper section to emphasize the point, don’t walk to the other side of the theater and spend five minutes wandering around the upper section looking for a seat, because the volunteer ALREADY SAID THERE WEREN’T ANY SEATS UP THERE! So guess what – YOU HAVE TO SIT IN A CRAPPY SEAT! Accept your fate. If you wanted to get a good seat, you would have planned ahead like the rest of us. (2) If you have to separate from you movie going companion because there are only single seats left, don’t sit down and immediately start asking the people around you if they would like to trade seats with your wife/husband/girlfriend (or whoever would go to the movies with an over bearing, uncouth motherfucker like yourself). This breeds animosity among those who were, again, forward thinking enough to get to the theater on time. And (3), just because you have put your Blackberry on silent mode, doesn’t mean it’s any less distracting when you are sitting in front of me, constantly text messaging for the entire movie. News flash – YOU ARE NOT THAT FUCKING IMPORTANT! GET OVER YOURSELF YOU POMPOUS, SELF-CENTERED JAGG-OFF! I HOPE YOUR FUCKING THUMBS FALL OFF SO YOU’RE NO LONGER ABLE TO HOLD A FORK AND FEED YOURSELF AND SLOWLY STARVE TO DEATH! And when that happens, I shall text you and say LOL! UR 1 S2PD FKR! CNT W8 TILL UR DED!

OK, now onto the first movie review, more to come.

The first short we saw at Sundance yesterday was called, “My Surfing Lucifer”, and let me just say, this could possibly be the worst thing that has ever graced the big screen. This abbreviated look at an upcoming documentary about Bunker Spreckels, a teenage surfing phenom turned millionaire Los Angeles party boy who died at age 27 in 1977, is like a poorly thought out Hunter S. Thompson vignette. In it we get to see Bunker surfing, smoking, big game hunting, parading around in tight jeans, and yes, urinating (full frontal, now that's art!). The score (if you could call it that) is straight from a bad 1950's sci-fi movie, and the psychedelic video effects are just pointless. Really, crap is too kind a word. It was directed by experimental filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and let me just say, Mr. Anger should experiment instead with mixing bleach and ammonia and save the rest of us from anymore of his cinematic disasters.

Barak Obama on the Inauguration

In this short video, Obama outlines some of the inaugural events to take place next week and how you can get involved. My favorite is that you can text 'open' to 56333 for news, transportation updates, and way to participate in the inauguration.