April 2009
18 posts
The Bigots’ Last Hurrah - (NYT - Frank Rich) →
“As the polls attest, the majority of Americans who support civil unions for gay couples has been steadily growing. Younger voters are fine with marriage. Generational changeover will seal the deal. Crunching all the numbers, the poll maven Nate Silver sees same-sex marriage achieving majority support ‘at some point in the 2010s.’”
4/20, dude. Backing up millions of stoners, even... →
(from CARPE DIEM):
The Economist (1989): Drug prohibition cruelly compounds the problems it was meant to solve. So end it. Legalise, control, discourage: those are the weapons for U.S. Drug Czar Bill Bennett’s war.
The Economist (2009): Next week ministers from around the world gather in Vienna to set international drug policy for the next decade. Like first-world-war generals, many will...
John Waters on the Origins of Teabagging. - Boing... →
Ha! This article follows through on the ironic association that I also made when I heard of the recent right-wing ‘teabaggings’: the line, “Teabag ‘im Larry!” at a gay strip club in John Waters’ Buffalo 66.
Tax Day Is Met With Tea Parties - (only one of... →
Some conservative groups and TV channels organized anti-tax protests today. Apparently they are unaware that the redistribution of wealth is legitimate when that wealth was acquired through the unjust means of America’s racist, capitalist institutions. I like that the NYT ends its story on these protests with one that I can support:
“The only organization in Boston re-enacting the...
A Video Prank at Domino’s Damages Its Brand -... →
It’s surprising that some funny, disgusting viral videos can hurt a corporation’s image, while others can help (e.g., Keith’s SFW porn-viral for Diesel). The secret: good production values. If only Domino’s had gotten Keith to direct that video (“pour an absurd amount of nasal fluid on that pizza, stat!”). But also, the different receptions of these two...
Mike Davis: Obama at Manassas (from New Left... →
An insightful, political-geographic analysis of Obama’s election (and its failure to create an ideological critical-realignment for America) by Mike Davis (my favorite political scientist/geographer/historian/urban theorist, etc. who used to be a truck-driver). In summary:
“Even the most preliminary analysis of the 2008 presidential vote reveals new alliances and shifting loyalties...
My neighborhood's 'walk score' is only 'somewhat... →
Find out your neighborhood and city’s walk score here. Damn, Minneapolis does not make the top 40 most walkable cities in the US.
"Their crisis, our challenge" - by David Harvey →
Check out this insightful analysis of the economic crisis by the foremost expert on theories of crisis, the geographer David Harvey. Also, see his blog for great essays, interviews, and a full ‘reading group’ series on Marx’s Capital. And read his essay on “The Right to the City” from the New Left Review…
“We live in an era when ideals of human rights...
"watch your mouth or I'm gonna knock you out" →
My new favorite alt-country song: Brent Amaker and the Rodeo’s “Knock You Out”
Police Arrest 19 at New School Building - The New... →
Bannerdrop on top of the occupied building. (picture from NYT). See a video of cops pepper spraying and beating students here and see a news video on the event here at NY1.
Read first-hand accounts of the re-occupation by the occupiers themselves and their reply to the university president at http://reoccupied.wordpress.com.
From the rooftop, the occupiers read the Situationist manifesto,...
With Advocates’ Help, Squatters Call Foreclosures... →
The housing liberation movement is one of the most inspirational, constructively-revolutionary responses to the crisis. In the Twin Cities, the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign (in coalition with ACORN) has been fighting foreclosures by protesting the sheriff’s office for “a moratorium on local home evictions and foreclosures” (source) and moving homeless families into 13...
Human Strike After Human Strike -- The Tarnac 9 →
The Tarnac 9 are a group of French anarcho-autonomists who have been imprisoned by the French government on charges of terrorism.
On November 11th 2008, French Anti-Terrorism Police arrested around twenty people, mostly in Tarnac, a small village in the Corrèze region of central France. Nine were subsequently accused of “criminal association for the purposes of terrorist activity”...
Re-booting Communism Or Slavoj Zizek and the End... →
Incisive critique of the recent conference, “On the Idea of Communism,” (by Aditya Nigam on kafila.org ). His replies to comments are especially interesting, such as his explanation of his statement, “Does the radicalism of the white liberal have anything to offer to the non-white?”. See his follow-up on the rest of the conference here. (Thanks to Jecca for the link).
Map of Hennepin County Foreclosures 2009 →
A powerful example of counter-cartography made by the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, a grassroots group fighting for the rights of people to keep their homes.
Sue Sturgis: Fooling with Disaster? -- Startling... →
Growing up in York, PA, in the shadow of Three Mile Island, I always heard rumors about negative health effects from the 1979 disaster. This article seems to confirm some of those suspicions by pointing to evidence that far more radiation was released than the government ever admitted.
Jury Says Professor Ward Churchill Was Wrongly... →
This is a major victory for academic freedom, who has been a victim of political persecution. Join the Ward Churchill Solidarity Network here, which “is dedicated to resisting the silencing of political dissent, repression of indigenous struggles and attacks on academic freedom.”