Women (re)defined by Navy As Males

I saw on a friend's facebook she was a fan of "women (re)defined", it wouldn't let me comment on it's page without becoming a fan which I am not. It is just a silly pro-war misgynomist "re-definition" of women to be like men. Why must women be like men to be powerful? The Military is the perfect example. They see themselves as a non-gendered entity, but really they are the epitome of "male". They are homophobic, violent, and use size to intimidate others and prove their dominance. It isn't a new type of femininity, it is the masculinity of femininity. Or the more extreme reading of it is about how the Military, now which is mostly non-combative positions, finally see that women fit in.

A great website that goes more over it is http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/09/18/navy-women-redefined/

Another arm of this propaganda is targeting Navy Mothers, but not moms who are in the Navy, but rather the mother of soldiers. While it is neat that there would be a support system for mothers going through the pain of having children in combat, from reading through it, it isn't for people with pain, it is simple propaganda used to make parents more pliable to the idea of sending their precious family into war. Mothers against war are a very active group. They make a good argument too. Most people do consult their families before making decisions about joining the Military. To get to the kids, you have to go through the gatekeepers. Those are the schools (mostly public ones that have already attracted minorities and the poor), and parents. Parents would be the best target for propaganda. It seems benign, but it is propaganda.

Most people think of "propaganda" as a bad thing. Defined it means any pursuation that is used to gain power. It has a goal, that may not be in it's immediate intent. It influences behavior or thought. But to think that it is always bad is a fair reading of "propaganda". I have to go to class, but I'll try and write more later.

Hmmm.

Read this later

clipped from milwaukee.bizjournals.com Poll: Wal-Mart symbolizes America best A new poll conducted by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair found that 48 percent of Americans do. Fifteen percent said it was Google, followed by Microsoft Corp. (13 percent), the NFL (6 percent) and Goldman Sachs (3 percent). Americans also said they favor a ban on the use of food stamps to buy high-fat foods (30 percent), while 21 percent favored a fast-food tax. Five percent would like to see scales put in restaurants and 4 percent said there should be a tax credit for liposuction. Speaking of tax credits, 51 percent of Americans said they would support a tax of 50 percent or higher on the incomes of the wealthiest millionaires, but 45 percent said they would not.

Post-Feminism is Girls killing Girls and Boys?

Admittedly three things. 1. I should be doing my Math Homework not writing this. 2. I have not seen "Jennifer's Body", or listened to the radioshow this was on. But I will. I just want to leave some comments about this article that was tweeted my way by PRI (Public Radio International).

My first thought is, Of Course it is post-feminism. Defined, post-feminism is a critique of feminism while really agreeing with it. That is just a quick description. When I heard about "Jennifer's Body" the first thing I thought was, "Peter Podgursky made this movie, I saw chunks of the dialogue in a movie he made for grad school in the previews." But I also was seriously interested because when I hear "Jennifer's Body", I think of the Aerosmith song "Jenny's got a gun" which is also a song I relate to post-feminism. Is revenge justice? Some people think it is, and women getting revenge would be a type of feminism.

I also thought about the song "Jennifer's Body" by Hole. I love the song and it is certainly a feminist song. I think this may be the song that inspired the movie title. Girls are taught (especially with beauty) to think of their body as an object. They are taught not to "give it away". In the video, we see a We also have to deal with the functions if it in objective ways. Girls are expected to show up to school even on days their body is bleeding. They are not supposed to talk about it, and not supposed to let it stop them from being successful. "Found Pieces of Jennifer's body" are the inside things that have fallen out. We are asked to leave the variety of human experiences behind us as we become adults and human experience is defined for us. It is the nature of culture, and necessary for humans to co-exist. But with feminism we take intentional direction to what will and won't be defined for us.

I can see where the writer of this movie was inspired by Heathers, the penultimate angsty girl movie. It was shocking because it was kids killing kids, but girls did it in a much more subversive way. Emasculating the men after they were killed, and reconstructing a social order of feminine power with Veronica's outreach at the end of the movie. Heathers really is my favorite movie of all time.

So for Jennifer's Body to give women the power to kill in an especially brutal way, it is something I relate to. Not the killing, but what kind of power is in our body. Do we use it to kill, or overpower men, overtly leading them to danger, or do we keep to the expected inborn nature of kindness and nurturing women have? Becoming a reproductive woman would be the opposite of the female killing other kids.

I could keep thinking about this all day, but I really have to get back to math homework. Thoughts? Comments?

clipped from www.pri.org Diablo Cody on horror movies and post-feminism Diablo Cody's new movie, "Jennifer's Body," is about a demonic high school cheerleader who devours her male classmates. It's a horror movie with a comedic post-feminist twist. The dynamics of friendship between teenage girls, which was explored in the humorously dark 1980s movie "Heathers," is at the core of "Jennifer's Body." The theme of 'Jennifer's Body,' said Cody, is about the horror of being a teenager, "A person who is under the influence of hormones, and jealousy and society, is by nature combustible and scary and unpredictable, and I think anybody who's ever lived with a teenager knows this to be true. "And Jennifer herself is in a special kind of hell where her self-worth completely revolves around her sexuality and who she is as a body, or a package, so that's how we began the movie."

The Nobodies

Fleas dream of buying themselves a dog, and nobodies dream of escaping poverty: that one magical day good luck will suddenly rain down on them-will rain down in buckets. But good luck doesn't rain down yesterday, today, tomorrow, or ever. Good luck doesn't even fall in a fine drizzle, no matter how hard nobodies summon it, even if their left hand is tickling, or if they begin a new day with their right foot, or start the new year with a change of brooms.
The nobodies:nobody's children, owners of nothing. The nobodies: the no ones, the nobodied, running like rabbits, dying through life, screwed every which way.
Who are not, but could be.
Who don't speak languages, but dialects.
Who don't have religion, but superstitions.
Who don't create art, but handicrafts.
Who don't have culture, but folklore.
Who are not human beings, but human resources.
Who do not have faces, but arms.
Who do not have names, but numbers.
Who do not appear in the histories of the world, but in the police blotter of the local papers.
The nobodies, who are not worth the bullet that kills them.

Eduardo Galeano, "The Nobodies"

What Good is a Right if You Can't Enforce it?

I learned some very cool stuff about "What good is a right if you can't enforce it". on the Sunday class I took through CSTI. CSTI is the Community Strategies Training Initiative, an annual training and leadership conference for non-profits in the West. It is put on by the Western States Center .

In the workshop we began by trying to define a right. We each wrote down about what we thought was a right we had. We came to the conclusion that there are two kinds of rights, inherent-the kind we are born with, and those ways of treating people we have made social contracts with-legal rights. We focus mostly on legal rights that we have agreed upon and are written into the U.S. Constitution, especially the bill of rights.

Rights can be framed as actions that compel the government to act, but also may protect us from the government. For example, the idea of equal marriage. LGBT equality is both working to protect people from the government from being intrusive into who they love, but also wants the government to in action allow personal civil contracts with the people of our choosing. With that contract other privileges will be granted, hence making LGBTQI people more equal with their peers.

We used immigration as the model, but many of the things could also apply to other rights and times when we are unfairly treated by law. Immigrants are a specially vulnerable population because they are not granted the same rights as citizens, but they do have some rights under federal law just for being humans who deserve dignity.

First we have to recognize that immigration law's history was in state law. for the 1st 100 years of this country, states decided upon immigration and had to enforce immigration. Once it was decided that it was a matter of international treaty and covenants that made immigration legal, the federal government began enforcing the policies that congress decided. It is not written into the constitution that the federal government and it's agencies is responsible for immigration law enforcement, but it is defacto the way it is.

There is this wall that is a violation. Before the violation we have our rights intact, after the violation the rights have been tattered, and recourse is necessary for the scale of justice. Even when a reparation has been made, still there is no way to ever go back to before a violation. Community organizers and community education is necessary before and after a violation to prevent more violations, but also as part of repatriations.

For example, before a violation occurs, there is a necessary action of education about what to do if your rights are violated, and even what those constitutional rights are. There is also a need for people to have resources, safety plans, and prepare in case a violation is possible and they are at high risk. Risks can be minimized without compromising life, but there should be a plan. In the case of undocumented immigrants, they should know that they are much more likely to be picked up and disappear (detained) if they ride in a car or drive. For some people this may mean it is a good idea to ride the bus more than have their own car. They should also know that other risks of their rights being violated rise if they live or associate with other undocumented workers. If they engage in illegal activities they are also at higher risk.


it is possible they will for some reason become a target of ICE. If they do know their rights they may not be able to stop what happen, however the important thing is they can prepare.
But even if they minimize their risk, they should prepare with other actions like having a plan. For example, it may be a good idea to save money for a bond if detained. They should also make arrangements for their children and families with a place to go in an emergency. The immigration lawyers suggested that they have set up a power of attorney for someone to care for their family in the case they disappear. They should talk to a couple of lawyers about their situation prior so that they have someone who is their representation which becomes very important if they are detained. And if they are partnered or live with another undocumented person, they should have a safe place to go to if their partner is detained so that their family isn't further dismantled by and ICE arrest or raid.

This lead to the rise of the Immigration Code Enforcement (ICE). All immigration laws are civil laws, not criminal law. Immigrants, although not granted the rights of citizens, are protected under the constitution as being "people", yay for that. And since ICE is a federal agency, it must obey the constitution in it's actions. Under the 4th amendment we have the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The search is of especial important in the way that ICE has gone to arresting people in their homes. Right now, ICE agents will bang on the door and ask if they can "come in". If the person at the door is an adult, and there is reason to believe they live in the home being visited, then they can grant a search of the premises. If the person knows their right, really, there must be a search warrant issued by a judge. It must be a judge because a judge is a third party. They are not law enforcement or a citizen in this case. Education is of special importance here because if the person's whose home is being invaded knows their rights, they would know to ask for a warrent. Even if they know this much about the 4th amendment, then there is the barrier of knowing that ICE warrants are issued by administrative order NOT from a judge. This means a person may give consent under incorrect circumstances. Also it is documented that innocent people who happen to be at home during an ICE home invasion will be physically detained and treated as a criminal threat. children may watch their mothers and fathers treated like violent offenders, and even pregnant women will be handcuffed to chairs as ICE asserts its authority. This invitation into the home to arrest a person, or to rifle through their drawers looking for their documents, or even into closets and around the home, is an unlawful search. The handcuffing of others in the home may be unreasonable seizure, but if a person gives consent they have less legal recourse.

I think a little more of the description of how the ICE program works would be useful here. ICE will decide to do a raid in various ways. Right now, this group of immigrant lawyers in Portland are trying to understand it better. Their are using tools like the Freedom of Information Act, & state laws that give access to better find patterns of what is going on. If you visit the CSTI website, there should be a link to some google docs that people are asked to fill out about where raids are happening. The hope to google map in time and space where raids and arrests are happening so they can better predict them or better protect rights by knowing who is being targeted. People can currently request from the states and IcE past arrest information for people. Check the website examples of the information they are interested in.

ICE is detaining people through raids at workplaces. When a person gets taken by ICE for being undocumented there are different barriers to them getting justices, in this case the 5Th am=amendment, due process. ICE in some ways is very efficient. usually 24-48 hours after an arrest they begin moving the arrested folks to several nation-wide detention centers. For most people in the west, when this happens, the family is sent into crisis, there is no plan, and suddenly the family member is being sent hundreds, or thousands of miles away from where they were taken. This only further traumatizes them and the fear hurts them and keeps them silent and in inaction to regain their rights or assert their rights. Because of the number of people who are taken by ICE recently, sometimes detained people will also be moved into a different legal district then they were detained in. This becomes a special problem with legal representation. Because of the quick move, they may their legal council is out of touch with them, and legal council where they are moved to may not be as available or responsive to their needs in the immediate. This disrupts their right of due process. Also, language barriers plus the pressure by ICE agents, and the lack of council combined create a place where ICE detainees will have their right to due process infringed upon and can end up harming themselves.

This is in the case of an ICE raid. There is also the case of when an individual is detained after a civil infraction. The way that the program works now is that in some places, ICE will deputize some sheriffs and some city police officers. This means they can arrest people for not being documented. In Idaho, this is not the case. In Idaho, what happens is that an officer of the law, no matter a sheriff, State police, or city officer, may pull someone over for an traffic infraction. Because the person can not show documents to who they are, they will be cited for the infraction and the officer has the authority to release them (which normally happens to documented people) or detain them. If the officer decides to detain them, they are transported to a local prison, usually a county prison since few cities have their own jails. At this time, they contact ICE and tell them to "come and get'em". The individual can be held for how ever long the infraction allows, legally. The problem is this thing called an ICE hold. An ICE hold is 48 hours that law enforcement is allowed to hold a person before ICE is required to come and get them. How it works is that people are taken into custody, and in the process of booking for the infraction is when the documentation problem is solidified and ICE is contacted. The other issue with this is that many people are detained on a Thursday or Friday. The 48 hour hold doesn't count weekends, therefore if a person is taken on Thursday, held for the traffic violation, then add 48 hours, this means they may have disappeared from their family for 4 days before even being taken by ICE. During this 48 hour hold, they are being held without charge, also a violation of the 5th amendment rights.

So, what can people do? Well, the Portland group has created a task force that is working on helping. The group does many things. There are 3 barriers to having more legal power to help these people. 1 is the lack of evidence. In cases where Ice shows up and they get into a house and detain innocent people, it becomes a person v. person argument about consent. By people being aware that they do not have to open the door to ICE, they can help by keeping the door shut and ICE will be made to force the door, causing damage, and becoming evidence that a right to search has been violated. The second barrier is that there is no one to complain. Because people are moved so quickly, or because of fear, people are afraid to speak about the experience. A person who is detained and held can help by remembering details about their experience. They will be conscious of the time of their detention by police or ICE, the way they were treated and even the size of the room. and how many people were there. This experience can help better the evidence and help lawyers and families understand what is happening to their family members. With letting people know their rights, and gathering evidence, and with a little legal help to be allowed contact with detainees, we can protect the rights of others, and set standards of treatment of people. Another barrier is the "spin defenses". When we have a group of people whose rights are being infringed upon regularly, there is an enforce by ICE and the proponents of the actions to defend them. One way this has been done is by defining immigrants in the categories of criminals and terrorists. This is an unfair classification. Most immigrants are workers who are in no way terrorists. They may be undocumented, but they are not violent people out to harm other human beings. By explaining to others, and rejecting the language that associates immigrants with criminals and terrorists, immigrants can re-gain their dignity.

There are also other ways to help for citizens like us. The first thing they recommend is teaching immigrant communities what their rights are. Then add the addition of a safety plan, and risk reduction. They have been working with people in the faith community who work with immigrant families to offer some knowledge. This is called self-enforced protection.

The second action the Portland group is working on is a triage for people who are taken. This means that after a raid they try to find out who was taken and make sure the people have some representation. Because of the movement of prisoners, they try and work very fast. They try to file any sort of legal thing they can so that the process can start and they have to file something so that they are recognized as the legal council of a person and have access to help gather the evidence the person has collected. The Portland group, after a raid of a Del Monte fruit canning plant in 2007 put together a coalition. They have watch dogs who keep an eye and ear on ICE to see when they are ramping up for a raid. This group also will document raids when they happen with cameras so that later there is evidence of what happened. They also have a media team who, when a raid happens, can let the television and other news people know that something is happening and people's rights are likely being violated. There is also a legal team files those actions to protect due process. The political action team helps by contacting other allies. They have worked to have help from the consulates of other countries so they can get a list of people who were taken in a raid so that families can be contacted by the direct service team. The direct service team has set up in various churches for family member to get help. They may need food, a safe place to stay, or some money to help with a bond or and emergency. This group is a coalition of the Oregon food bank, emergency housing services of the state, and other charities and members of faith groups. The trauma of a person being detained can be lowered with their support.

New legal defenses will also become stronger as evidence is gathered and there is more information about how things are happening now. Like right now the immigrant defenders are curious what financial incentives are driving the local police working with ICE. What is driving law enforcement to do this. Is it a personal decision, or policy that is driving the actions. They also want to know what the cost is of all these detentions to counties. Some of the ICE time is being reimbursed by counties, but how much? And isn't all of that money a huge waste when it just destroys families and violates the constitutional rights of individuals? They are also working with police to do trainings and having cities pass bills that they will not let their local police detain people for ICE. By partnering with law enforcement, they can teach officers how some of ICE's detention is a constitutional violation, therefore opening up the county or city for legal actions, and most agencies try to minimize the risk of an expensive legal battle if they can help it.

It will take major U.S. immigration policy change to really protect people's rights. Luckily the new immigrant Services person has said they are not likely going to be using raids. But there is still work to be done let undocumented people know their rights and give them the personal security that treats with respect and dignity. All people should be treated with respect and dignity. Theodor Roosevelt said you can judge a society by how it treats it's most vulnerable people.

More Robot Worries

Hmmm, this may be marking of the "Singularity". Beware, they are coming, and now they do all the hard work of being human.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone. Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences. “Something new has taken place in the past five to eight years,” Dr. Horvitz said. “Technologists are replacing religion, and their ideas are resonating in some ways with the same idea of the Rapture.” A physician told him afterward that it was wonderful that the system responded to human emotion. “That’s a great idea,” Dr. Horvitz said he was told. “I have no time for that.”

Bacon is a Wepon of Mass Destruction

I LOVE the anthropology of food. Food is something all people have in common and while being far from a foodie, I like to look at people and their interaction with food. Recently on NPR, I head about the psychology and biology of eating a snicker's bar. You must check it out.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106470909

It is called, "How Tasty Foods Change the Brain". This story talk about the snicker's bar as the perfect food because it mixes protein, sugar, caffeen, and salt. All delicoius things. I think that the example from the "Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction". The McGriddle really is an equally alluring and addictive food. I've never eaten one, myself, but I know others who are highly addicted.

clipped from www.alternet.org The confluence of factory farming, the boom in fast food and manipulation of consumer taste created processed foods that can hook us like drugs. Among my fondest childhood memories is savoring a strip of perfectly cooked bacon that had just been dragged through a puddle of maple syrup. It was an illicit pleasure; varnishing the fatty, salty, smoky bacon with sweet arboreal sap felt taboo. How could such simple ingredients produce such riotous flavors? That was then. Today, you don't need to tax yourself applying syrup to bacon -- McDonald's does it for you with the McGriddle. It conveniently takes an egg, American cheese and pork and nestles it between pancakelike biscuits suffused with genuine fake-maple-syrup flavor.

This Ain't Your Old Man's Weed

This article had some very very interesting points. I guess until it said it, I had not thought much about the difference between decriminalization and legalization issues. I'm in favor of first decriminalization so we can keep people out of prisons and save some money. I strongly support the law enforcement officers' comment about how if a huge number of people are disobeying the law, and yet aren't killing others or destroying property, then maybe we should re-look at this law. It won't happen very soon, but maybe the libertarians in Idaho will look at it.

I guess I've not really thought much about this issue because it doesn't really affect me. Even if it were decriminalized, or legalized, I would still choose not to do it.

Article is worth the read.

clipped from roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com A New York Times article on Sunday discussed the debate over whether more and more potent types of cannabis affect the levels of addiction to the drug. This particular issue has become part of the larger debate over whether marijuana should be legalized or decriminalized. Surveys indicate increasingly positive attitudes in the U.S. for liberalizing marijuana policies. Two ways of doing this are: (1) legalization, which would involve lawful cultivation and sale of marijuana, and (2) decriminalization, which would retain criminal penalties for cultivation and sale while removing them for possession of small amounts. Any law disobeyed by more than 100 million Americans, the number who’ve tried marijuana at least once, is bad public policy. As a 34-year police veteran, I’ve seen how marijuana prohibition breeds disrespect for the law, and contempt for those who enforce it. we’ve halved tobacco consumption through public education — without a single arrest.

White Male History

Note:"White" in this blog is referencing to people with northern European ancestry, and weighted heavily toward Christians. I also wasn't sure about capitalization of "white" so I vary it up a bit.

First I read, then come questions. What is the male equivalent of this "Off the Path" game? Why does a white-male game that teaches a similar moral not get the same attention? Or if it does, why it is often framed as "Christian". These questions come on the back of another racial discussion currently in the news.

Looking at the Sotomayor hearings, I have heard her questioned on her comments framed as "wise Latina" v. "white male". I thought nothing of this as a comparison comment; I was struck that she would dare to comment that white males have an unexamined history. No one likes to be told they live an unconscious life. History has over represented European contributions and at the same time has not really been kind to white males.

White culture has dominated history by claiming to be universal. This is changing with the expansion and appreciation of minority history. I must note that this appreciation is not at competition with the antiquated version of history most of my generation and others was taught. It is complementarity. Again, some people think that pointing out how something is unexamined means it is competition. Not the case.

This still begs the question of why is there not more attention to white male history. This attention would not be a glossing of others' history in an effort to be universal. I would like to see a critical look at white male history intended as white male history. It should also be taught from the perspective that it is not competing with other history, and should be oppressive to others.

I really had this idea click when an archeology professor talked about taking students from Pocatello to Europe to dig up Vikings. In America there is a hostility towards White anthropologists digging up the ancestors of the first Americans. It comes from the destructive habits of the past. Today anthropologists are more conscious in doing no harm to other groups, but still curious about where we are today. For those of us with a northern European history we are away from our biological relatives and so we want to see what is where we are. My professor wanted to take white kids and have them dig up white kids, or even more balanced is first American kids digging up northern Europeans. Scientifically, bringing the diversity of backgrounds is most likely to generate the most innovation.

But I wonder, where is white history. Is it really so much the trees that I cannot see it? I can just imagine the conversation with my 76-year-old dad when we sit down and I ask him to explain what it is to be "White" with me. Geeze, I'd settle if he could explain what it is to be Irish-German-Dutch with a family history of both Mormon and whatever those religions his mom and him tried. As a white male, if he can't explain white male history to me, then I only more understand and appreciate Sotomayor's comments. I can explain my female, lesbian history experience to him so I hope I could make a wiser conscious decision.

clipped from www.npr.org All Things Considered, July 15, 2009 · The classic story of Little Red Riding Hood is a warning to girls about the dangers of strangers — particularly male strangers. The video game The Path begins with a warning, too: When you're going to grandmother's house, it says, best stay on the path. But that warning's a ruse. "In some ways, the girls are all one girl," observes Auriea Harvey, The Path's other co-designer. "Or one girl at different stages of her life. In some ways, this [game] is about the various stages of life a girl has to go through in order to become a woman."

Money and Justice

Yet another Grapes of Wrath Reference...

When I read this, the first thing I thought was..., well, I thought about the NPR story I had just heard on the news. The story was about undocumented workers and their cost to the California budget. The story says "Legislative Analyst Dan Carson says California now spends about $4.6 billion yearly to provide services for — or to incarcerate — illegal immigrants."

Also, there was a story from yesterday that says about California's budget problems that "The prison population has grown from 25,000 to 175,000 since the early 1990s, not because of an increase in crime, Sullivan says, but because of the "tough-on-crime, three-strikes-and-you're-out" laws. But the growing population isn't the only prison-related challenge facing the state."

But then I asked other questions...How did we deal with homelessness in the past? Those Hoovervilles of the past are now not in the country, they are in the city. Has there ever been a solution? Hoovervilles ended when people found jobs in munitions plants. But today, our Hoovervilles are not just filled with unemployed, but the unemployable. In the past families could take more care of the mentally ill. Population growth, and the new industrialization has misplaced so many of our fellow citizens. Housing seems to be the least we could offer, and save money in the process.

On the topic of criminalizing homelessness, there are already problems and pressures in the justice system. Do we really need to argue this is an economic issue? What value is there to framing the justice system issues, like the problems now that put innocent people in jail, into an economic framework? I think justice really is outside of an economic framework, but it is harder to argue with people how human beings should be valued than the economics of the situation. Well, not harder, but they are less likely to listen to the emotional argument. I wonder in the advocacy work being done for those in the system, what styles of talking about justice there are. And are the framings of the issues leading towards change?. I'm not familiar with a lot of it. I took "race, class, and gender' in college so I have some sociology of crime and punishment knowledge. What should I know if I am going to have a conversation with someone who supports 'tough on crime" or, I would say, who is afraid of being victimized...

And what role does the fear of victimization play in the attitude of people when they would oppose changes to the justice system?

I'm very curious and interested in what changes are being suggested and more of the details from law enforcement about how we got to where we are.

I'm familiar with Foucault's Birth of the Modern Prision on the history of how we culturally got to the modern system, but what were the small pieces of evidence (popular fokelore) that are pushing things as they are?

I also have friends who are very good about posting stories need to be told, but I've never found one that is compelling for me to repost...what is it about this in my own attitude/experience that has me not pushing toward a new culture more consciously.

My Blog, My rules, My questions. Something for me to chew on.

clipped from www.npr.org Urban Panning: The 10 Meanest Cities In America? Without further ado, the groups' Top 10 Meanest U.S. Cities are: 1. Los Angeles 2. St. Petersburg, Fla. 3. Orlando, Fla. 4. Atlanta 5. Gainesville, Fla. 6. Kalamazoo, Mich. 7. San Francisco 8. Honolulu 9. Bradenton, Fla. 10. Berkeley, Calif. It's tempting to look at other, less serious ways cities might be ranked among the most mean. Largest number of quick-changing yellow traffic lights, for instance. Or least garbage pickups per month. A great city, Aristotle said a while back, is not to be confused with a populous one. In other words: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses. Just make sure they don't huddle and mass in public places.

Adendum to "Robots' Rights Now!" or Just A Crusafix in a Jar of Pee?

I never thought I would get so much pleasure from these three words...The Summer Movie. If you have read my "Robots' Rights Now!" blog from a few weeks ago, you may understand how I have been personally transformed by Transformers. But after reading this article about Transformers as an art film, I have had a much different experience with the film. Please read this article.

clipped from io9.com Since the days of Un Chien Andalou and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, filmmakers have reached beyond meaning. But with this summer's biggest, loudest movie, Michael Bay takes us all the way inside Caligari's cabinet. And once you enter, you can never emerge again. I saw this movie two days ago, and I'm still living inside it. Things are exploding wherever I look, household appliances are trying to kill me, and bizarre racial stereotypes are shouting at me. this isn't a movie, in the conventional sense. It's an assault on the senses, a barrage of crazy imagery. Bay has put all of this excess of imagery and random ideas at the service of the most pandering movie genre there is: the summer movie. You try in vain to understand how the pieces fit, you stare into the cracks between the narrative strands, until the cracks become chasms and the chasms become an abyss into which you stare until it looks deep into your own soul, and then you go insane. You. Do. Not. Leave. The Cabinet.

My Wo"Man In The Mirror".

I'll add my remarks to this later. I should be getting back to work.

clipped from www.commondreams.org In celebrity culture we destroy what we worship. The commercial exploitation of Michael Jackson’s death was orchestrated by the corporate forces that rendered Jackson insane. Jackson, robbed of his childhood and surrounded by vultures that preyed on his fears and weaknesses, was so consumed by self-loathing he carved his African-American face into an ever changing Caucasian death mask and hid his apparent pedophilia behind a Peter Pan illusion of eternal childhood. The stories we like best are “real life” stories—early fame, wild success and then a long, bizarre and macabre emotional train wreck. O.J Simpson offered a tamer version of the same plot. So does Britney Spears.

What Were They Not Thinking?

Wow. This was the first thing I read this morning and not exactly how I wanted to start the day. Since it is here, it should be commented on.

I have two reactions to this story. The first was, ew! The "ew" feeling is my wrenching but expected feeling of disgust with those making the comments. It is this behavior that has been given a pass by the Free Republic types. Usually the remarks aren't so obviously racist/sexist/homophobic, they have more nuance. In this case, they were obvious. This is why I had a second reaction.

I may be an optimist, but I also thought "at least they DID take them down". It may have taken a day or two to make the right decision, but the site moderator did remove them. This is a sign of progress rather than regression. Those who are wrong, are now becoming more conscious they are wrong. It may not change them to the positive, but it could be one stress that moves them toward the positive later. I was proud that at least some (if only a few) of the bloggers on the Free Republic site did stand up and tell others that the remarks were inappropriate. It has to start somewhere, even if it is like 40 years later then everyone else.

I also have two other thoughts on the topic. One was about how shaded the new racism is. There is sometimes debate upon whether something is or is not racist. My definition of "racist" is when outdated stereotypes are used to infer behavior. "Racism" is when the outdated stereotypes are used to deny equal power to a group. In this example there are a few outdated incorrect stereotypes. Bitasking a comment with a skin color characteristic in the same one as "monkey" is a reference to the eugenic and, what I would call, poorly done physical anthropology of the past. It is a historical reference. Which lead to my second thought, would history lessons reduce racism?

History is not directed at changing behavior like "sensitivity training", "diversity" workshops, and even batterers' treatment models, are. Is describing the history and ordering it so we learn where our unconscious beliefs come from a way that those who still are using outdated stereotypes to be addressed without the immediate defense going up? When we call for particular histories to be told that have been lacking (Black History, Women's History, Gay History, ect...) we aren't just wanting examples of heroes, we are asking for our own lives to be put into context. We are asking for counter examples to the outdated stereotypes. Could it be history that is lacking in education, more than any intercommunication training?

I'm not sure, but I'd like to have the discussion.

And my last thought, real quick before I go get my waffle fix...
This behavior is not unexpected from the Free Republic site. White supremacist groups use sites like these to recruit new members. "Tea Parties" and small libertarian groups, and even small Christian congregations, are being perverted by the bad guys out there. It makes me sick.

clipped from www.vancouversun.com Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative 'Free Republic' blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front. The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds." Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate. Only after significant negative attention from a host of left wing political blogs did the maintainers of the Free Republic site place the thread under review for a second time, before finally pulling it.

Gay Panic Defense

I normally don't do two blog posts a day, and I'm sorry to anyone who came to the blog today expecting my tech blog to be first on the list, but after reading this I really have to say something, or at minimum raise some good questions.

I found this article through some friends on Facebook who I totally respect. However, while the brutality toward gays, and especially Chad Gibson, the 26-year-old Fort Worth resident who was put into a coma during a police raid of a gay bar last week , should be brought to light, this particular article (and a few others I have read on the subject) deflect from one of complications of the story. I understand this is a compelling story for many reasons. One is the brutality by police. Second is the group it was directed to and their historical struggle. Three is the issue of sexual assault. I would like to bring up a few points for discussion about the latter.

The following are excerpts from the article. I suggest reading it, but beware, it is not a news article, it is an opinion piece. For a more objective piece check out "Raid at Club in TX Leaves Man in Coma." The author did however collect relevant quotes from TX newspapers that are important pieces of evidence to their argument. Their emotional reaction is very understandable and I love those gut-reactions because I think they have the most individual truth in them of how the person will treat the situation unconsciously. Consciously, I think we step back and correct our behavior for affectiveness.

clipped from slog.thestranger.com Fort Worth Police Chief: That Faggot Had It Coming The officers who raided the Rainbow Lounge claim that the men in the bar made "advances" on them[.] This is a classic example of the Gay Panic Defense. In the very recent past all a straight man who brutally murdered a gay man had to say was, "He made a pass at me!", and the jury would ignore the evidence and let the murderer off. The Gay Panic Defense doesn't fly in many courts of law these days but it still has currency in the court of public opinion. And the chief of police in Forth Worth, a major U.S. city, is attempting to use the Gay Panic Defense to convince the citizens of Fort Worth to ignore the evidence—to ignore photographic evidence and credible eyewitness accounts—and let his officers off. Gay men don't grope police officers when they enter gay bars

This article brings up a very importance idea, this of the "Gay Panic Defense".
Gay Panic Defense a real problem. This idea that people deserve a "pass" for behavior because it is fair is, well, unfair. An officer was assaulted, so force was excused. But if we extend this analogy does it remain true? Look at the example of the prosecution of Nazi prison guards. Most guards were individuals caught up in bad politics and had a terrible job. Was their murder of Jewish "criminals" (as defined by Germany at that time) a justified reaction? Sometimes reactions are not fair. Being angered at the police isn't about punishing the individuals, it is anger about unjust society. We are trying to create a just society and creating a society that has laws that clearly define unacceptable behavior. In this case we have the excuse that because there was a preceding event, the police's reaction is justified. If the police are allowed to use the "Gay Panic Defense", then why not also accept the "Jewish Panic Defense"...the Jews in Germany did have jobs that Anglo-Saxon Germans would have had, and fear of losing a jobs in a poor economy uas used as a reason for a Nazi prison guard to just do their job. Both are justified because of a preceding events. In the case of the TX officers, they say the bar patrons were groping them.

The NYTimes article reports a more moderate version of the story. The TX Police captain is defending the officers, the people who were there have a different interpretation. I seriously doubt that every officer was groped, and that every bar patron involved in the violence were the ones doing the groping. But I doubt it has never happened before either. However, the author is using their own experience of gay bars to describe the behavior of a very large and diverse group. Basing a the argument on their personal experience is great if they are expressing an opinion, or using it to introduce information with respect to their point of view (as I am about to do), but it doesn't fit into the argument that this author is making; that the behavior of the police is equivalent to a hate crime.

This author's argument that he personally knows that "gay men don't grope police officers when they enter gay bars" brings up a good topic of conversation because I have had a different experience. I don't think my experience is universal at all, but it is my experience.

I have had many times with different men in Idaho had a similar conversation; I know at least a dozen straight men who are LGBT allies and gay men, however they are uncomfortable in Pocatello's gay bar, Charley's. They have been made to feel uncomfortable because of behavior by people that if I saw in any other context would be sexual assault. Their experience was caused by the behavior mostly of men, and a few women, not all of one sexual orientation. I can't claim it is a "gay thing", but these questions are raised because of their location not the sexuality of the participants. These assaults are not always physical, but has been enough that I would say that physical sexual assault is not rare.

Men, and some women, have commented that when they go to Charley's they are touched inappropriately. They may also have comments made to them of a sexual nature, but not just one comment, often it is a lot of them in a row. I wouldn't say every time this happens it would be categorized as sexual assault, but when the victim asks for it to end, and it continues, that moves beyond playful. I have also seen it used as a weapon to discourage people from returning to the bar, both intentionally and unintentionally. And really, any unwanted physical sexual touching is assault, especially when used to make the victim feel less powerful.

So, the question I have are the following:

Does sexual assault get minimized by being in a place where sexuality is expected to be on display, such as a bar, especially a gay bar?

What is an appropriate response to physical sexual assault?

Men in society are traditionally, although unfairly, the creator of the norms of behavior. Is their violent reaction (in this case) the correct one for women to imitate? Is a violent reaction the correct reaction to begin with?

What are women taught and expected to do in the same situation at other bars?
What are women taught and expected to do in non-bar situations?

Why is the sexuality of the perpetrator and victim given more weight then the offensive act in most of the discussions of what happened in Texas?

Why location is given weight to the activity?

Eve Elsner's "My Short Skirt" applies here. If you haven't heard "My Short Skirt" watch this video.

I agree with it's premise that the police uses excessive force and there are some major problems to be addressed about treatment of minorities by police, brought up by this article. I am conscious I have spun this from the first article's intention, but I'd like to have this discussion. Please let me know your thoughts.