music because it's wednesday

If you haven't heard The Books yet, give this a listen, then acquire their album The Lemon of Pink. In this video, a f***ing impressive solo by Paul de Jong begins at around 3:05. It may just make you fall in undying love with this quirky duo from New York.

"a Crumbulated Genesis"

I share Naomi Seidman's enthusiasm for R. Crumb's new illustrations of Genesis.  It may be the most delightful and, in its own way, profound release of the year.  Seidman writes:

For those of us who were reasonably familiar with both the Bible and underground comix, the experience was not of being introduced either to a new artist or to an ancient literary work but rather of their unexpected juxtaposition: Where Genesis and Crumb had until now occupied distinct areas of the brain or psyche (the academy versus the comic book store? The cerebrum versus the reptilian cortex? The superego versus the id?), they now coexisted on the cramped quarters of a single page. There are some peculiar pleasures in the union of these realms, in a biblicized Crumb, a Crumbulated Genesis.

I've included instructional pictures in this post--for future potential idiots

Not sure whether to put this in the Hate Crimes Department, the News of the Stupid Department, or refuse to categorize it altogether due to its profound absurdity. In Florida, A Marine reservist has been charged with attacking a Greek Orthodox priest whom said reservist believed was a terrorist. A terrorist dressed in religious garb. With no weapons. Asking for help.

"When officers returned to his apartment for an additional interview, his lawyer was present and he was uncooperative, they said."


Thanks to Meg, who runs Wyoming News Underground, for bringing this to my attention, although I am also irritated that she did, because now all day long, instead of celebrating the anniversary of the Marine Corps in honor of my father, I will think about this intellectually-challenged reservist.

I mean...

                                                        This is a Greek Orthodox priest...

                                                    ...and these are your typical Al Qaeda terrorists...

My favorite, well-understated part of the article (and the real clincher as to why this guy is deserving of a Darwin award even though he didn't die): "Bruce also told police he heard Marakis yell, 'Allahu akbar!' — Arabic for 'God is great,' according to Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. Marakis, however, does not speak Arabic, McElroy said. He speaks Greek."

Same-Sex Unions (not marriage) Win in Washington: why would you oppose this?

The narrowness of today's vote in Washington state, approving Refendum 71 and same-sex partnerships, presents a very good opportunity to call out conservative groups who are opposed to even "marriage-lite" as uncompromising and extreme. This will further harden such groups but separate them from the more "moderate" position that supports civil unions but opposes "marriage."

It's yet another instance in which those who scream about us uncompromising radicals are themselves unwilling to compromise, even in a way that will grant basic, stripped-down, second-class civil rights.

What do we do with "hate lyrics" from good artists?

For those who are unfamiliar with the context of the conversation, I don't have time to re-trace its entire history. But the specific discussion --a Facebook discussion-- concerns what to make of artists (we've specifically discussed Immortal Technique) whose otherwise impressive lyrical catalogues contain hateful slurs against marginalized groups.

There seem to be two debates happening here: One has to do with how we should interpret and engage lyrics we find objectionable in artists we otherwise like. I like that debate. The other is whether we should defend an artist's right to hate queers (or by extension other groups different than them, particularly minority or marginalized groups). I don't want to participate in that debate. On the "fragmented communities good/bad" debate I've pretty much made up my mind and will sail with those who have made up their mind a similar way; my looming life changes reflect this commitment.

I am also beginning to think that in order to be intellectually honest about this, I need to disregard my like or dislike for particular artists and just "study the phenomenon."

The foundational question, and we can dance around it all we want, but we wouldn't even be talking about this if there weren't this foundational question: Given that we have decided, as progressives, to reject _normative homophobia_ and the moral and political positions that subordinate homosexuality, do/does the artist(s) in question cultivate that normative/political/moral subordination?

Given that foundational question, I would ask three additional questions in regard to particular artists deploying homophobic lyrics: Has there been any media/alternative media commentary about this? Is there a case to be made for irony or some other alternative interpretation? Is it consistent with the artists' other relevant lyrics?

Finally, if an artist offers up a personal interpretation of their lyrics, we should in some sense privilege that interpretation, but as we know, it's not decisive; there is room to weigh the artist's intent with other considerations.

The answers generated by these questions won't always be definitive or final. Interpretation, as we know, doesn't have a final end point and some would perceive these questions as being too certainty-seeking. But as has been clear from the outset of this conversation, I am not demanding people stop listening to artists whose lyrics marginalize.

PS: I like Steve Greaves' review of IT here, because it both respects and questions.  Sometimes you'll go to those lengths when you recognize an artist's brilliance and are appalled by their ignorance. 

Sunday morning thoughts

My friends inspire me. Their cleverness, and their nuanced synthesis of faith and cynicism, remind me to be honest. Each of my friends has taught me something. They each carry a spark of the universe of reason. Today, I am thankful for them.

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A lamentation from a British friend for the return of UK troops from Iraq and Afghanistan yielded a good conversation this morning, during which I said: "It's not that I don't care about the people of Iraq or Afghanistan--I'm teaching for a week in Kurdistan in December--It's that what we've engaged there in the last seven years hasn't helped anyone--not them, and certainly not the families and communities of U.S., British and other soldiers. People on both sides need to demand a better system, a new way of thinking, and an end to these destructive policies of rich, destructive old men."

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This is, by official Stannardian declaration, FUNNY AS HELL!!!

Hey, Ben Nelson!

Ben Nelson, Democrat from Nebraska, on whether he'll join the Republicans in a filibuster against reform legislation that includes a public insurance option with an opt-out provision for states (radical, ain't it?):

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), another public option foe, wouldn't commit when asked last week. "I believe in playing chess, but that's about three moves ahead of me, and I'm not prepared to make those moves until I see some other moves in between," he told HuffPost.

Hey Nelson, here's a concept for you: Maybe the life, health, and security of the citizens you work for isn't a f***ing chess game.

"I use silly, insensitive metaphors!"

Line of the Week

A great opening line, from Steven Wishnia today at Alternet; aspiring journalists take note:

"More members of Congress have publicly questioned whether President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii than have endorsed legalizing marijuana."

Well done sir.

The Highest Ranking Drug Smuggler on the CIA Payroll Is...

By now you may have read this.

Keep in mind that the drug trade in Afghanistan fuels the insurgency in Afghanistan. Viewed from some angles, that insurgency may have a right to exist and be insurgent, and I'm not calling out "Law and Order" or anything. Just saying that this is an example of how utterly ass backwards the foreign policy of the ruling class can be--and that it's going on right now. This isn't a history class where we learn how the U.S. stumbled and overplayed and got its ass kicked in Vietnam, or a story about George H.W. Bush's directorship of the CIA. This is now. Our tax dollars are propping up a drug-smuggling gangster, the brother of the Afghan president now.

excellent reading on LDS-Skouson-Beck

"For me as a Mormon, Glenn Beck’s invitation to return to childish things forces me to confront anew the unsavory aspects of my religion’s past, and all the things we Latter-day Saints are now attempting to heal."

This post, written by a creative writing instructor at BYU and cross-posted at Kos, Street Prophets and TPM Cafe, through a solid, enlightening narrative testimony (and testimony is important to Mormons), offers a context for the Cleon Skouson-Glenn Beck connection. I think it also calls on my LDS friends to renounce Beck, although such a message is derivative and soft advice, rather than the kind of screed I would probably write.

Reading and discussing this post would be a great use of your time. If enough people are interested, I'd gladly facilitate a podcast conversation on it.

Why did Beck’s infantile sneer matter? Because Beck is a Mormon. Because his mocking presence in the small town of Marshall, Missouri meant he was sticking his tongue out at patrons in every library in the nation. Because the city of Provo, Utah — where I still live and now teach — sometimes invites him to be part of our Freedom Festival and host our "Stadium of Fire," as though his ultra right, self-assured conviction and his simplistic view of contemporary issues comprise a worthy résumé. Because he is a disciple of W. Cleon Skousen, whose conspiracy theories resulted in students spying on each other and on their professors at BYU and fomented terror and suspicion throughout Provo — even at Provo High — and created a climate which made Darius fear for his family’s life. Because Beck has said such race-baiting things as, "This president has exposed himself as a guy ... who has
a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture" (July 28). (What on earth does he mean by "white culture"? Is it in the tradition of the Coen Brothers’ white supremacists in O brother Where Art Thou?: "We have gathered here to preserve our hallowed culture and heritage...") Because on Fox News he loops a tape of Reverend Jeremiah Wright saying "Not God bless America...", as though it were something new and newsworthy, and as though Wright had never said anything else. And because people think he represents me and even Darius, inasmuch as we all call ourselves Latter-day Saints.

property thought for the day

The power over the production and distribution of material things is the power over life and death. Property rights, however, are derivative. Individual sovereignty doesn't so much arise spontaneously from God, but emerges, derives, from the breakdown of divine, feudal, and finally aristocratic sovereignty. A man's home is his castle--just like the castles of the sovereigns of old. As property itself is considered the province of princes in feudal relations, the use of force --and in the larger sense, in myriad other ways, the control over life and death--is also the exclusive province of the prince. Market relations render both man's castle and his ability to use force contingent on his share of, and role in, production and distribution.

The Madisons and the Riot Act, part one

Elliott and Elena Madison are in trouble, and if you're an anti-capitalist activist in particular, their trouble is your trouble--because police presence at economic summit demonstrations, WTO conferences, and sites of confrontation between capital and the anti-capitalist movement are always heavy-handed (there's a reason for this, folks). For starters, Elliott "was arrested on September 24 at a motel room for allegedly listening to a police scanner and relaying information on Twitter to help protesters avoid heavily-armed cops -- an activity the State Department lauded when it happened in Iran."

It got worse. And more surreal. An interstate rioting law?

Prosecutors revealed yesterday that Elliott Madison, 41, and his wife, Elena, 39, are under investigation for allegedly violating a little-used interstate rioting law. FBI anti-terror agents raided the couple's Jackson Heights home on Oct. 1 and seized riot gear, including a dozen gas masks, fireworks, books, photographs and electronic equipment.

I assume it's this interstate clause of the Federal Riot Act. When does a demonstration become a riot? Rhetorically, when the state has an interest in disrupting it. I am contacting Martin Stolar, the Madisons' attorney, who, in his motion to throw out the search, said

In this day and age, federally authorized agents entered the private home of a writer and urban planner and seized their books and writings. The warrant's vagueness and lack of specificity encouraged the agents to use their own discretion and their own views of the political universe to seize, or not to seize, items which they thought were evidence of a violation of the federal anti-riot statute. The law and the Constitution do not allow this. If there really is a grand jury investigation with possible future prosecution under [a federal anti-rioting law], the use of this statute as applied to demonstrations, demonstrators, and their supporters has profound 1st Amendment implications.

A nod to an "Examiner" -- Milwaukee Progressive Examiner Jerome McCollom -- who while disagreeing with the tactics and possibly even the message, nevertheless recognizes how an injury to one is an injury to all.

An individual, Elliott Madison, who used twitter to inform fellow protestors of police movements during the arrest has been arrested. Weren't we in the US (rightly) praising Iranian protestors who used twitter in Tehran when their rights were violated? The "rationale" of this arrest is that he was interfering in prosecutions. But that rationale assumes that those who are engaged in exercising their fundamental free speech rights are guilty of some crime. That is and should not be the mentality of a law enforcement arm in a free nation.

Are Progessives Overconfident? Shared Sacrifice Nightly

Are Progessives Overconfident? Shared Sacrifice Nightly

Join us tonight at 8PM mountain time!

Hmm? Interesting.

Iran denies secret nuclear talks with Israel: official

Israeli media reported earlier in the day that an IAEC representative met with a senior Iranian official last month in Cairo to discuss nuclear-free issue in the Middle East. Meirav Zafary-Odiz, director of policy and arms control for IAEC, and Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), met several times in Cairo at the end of September, with the representatives from other countries joining in, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported. The newspaper referred it as "the first direct meeting between official representatives of the two states" since 1979.

inconceivable!!!

Another terror plot foiled without torture? How is that possible?