connecting*the*dots

Artist: Roger Waters
Song: The Tide Is Turning

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I used to think the world was flat
Rarely threw my hat into the crowd
I felt I had used up my quota of yearning
Used to look in on the children at night
In the glow of their Donald Duck light
And frighten myself with the thought of my little ones burning
But oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning

Satellite buzzing through the endless night
Exclusive to moonshots and world little fights
Jesus Christ imagine what it must be earning
Who is the strongest, who is the best
Who holds the aces, the East or the West
This is the crap our children are learning
But oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning

Now the satellite’s confused
‘Cos on Saturday night
The airwaves were full of compassion and light
And his silicon heart warmed
To the sight of a billion candles burning
Oo, oo, oo, the tide is turning
Oo, oo, oo, the tide is turning
the tide is turning Billy

I’m not saying that the battle is won
But on Saturday night all those kids in the sun
Wrested technology’s sword from the hand of the War Lords
Oh, oh, oh, the tide is turning
The tide is turning Sylvester

The tide is turning.

Bruce Burch, Mental Floss (feed | page)
Why? I met Bruce last week at one of the screenings for Greensboro’s Child. We chatted long enough for me to know he’s a like-minded progressive soul. His site (and radio show) is good local / national fodder.

David Hoggard, Hogg’s Blog (feed | page)
Why? I’ve stumbled across David’s blog a few times since I’ve been down here, and he’s really solid with his perspectives. I met him at last week’s screening as well.

John Robinson, The Editor’s Log (feed | page)
Why? JR is the Managing Editor of the News & Record, the local newspaper. His blog is a useful resource in understanding the goings on within the paper.

Lex Alexander, The Lex Files (feed | page)
Why? Lex and I have talked shop in person on more than one occasion. He’s the Citizen Journalism Dude at the News & Record, and a really personable guy.

Chris Nolan, Spot-On (feed | page)
Why? Ed Cone pointed to a story she wrote earlier today and I liked what I read. Simple enough. I’ll consider her on a trial run.

Talk To Action (feed | page)
Why? Ben Hwang tipped me off to a post there earlier today about a religious right video game. I skimmed through a number of other posts and found the diverse perspectives to be quite interesting.

Radio Open Source (feed | page)
Why? I met Christopher Lydon at Beyond Broadcast two weeks back and we chatted for a minute about The People, Yes. I don’t know how I missed stumbling across his site until now. Really interesting posts and podcasts…

Someone please explain to me how I went from razzing my NYC neighbors about owning dogs just last year, to hanging out at a dog park the size of a football field with a bunch of slobbering, noisy mutts… and my own puppy.

No need, I’m digging it.

Video shot from my Treo 650 (Sprint, as long as this phone lasts me a few more years, I’m officially happy)

Jonathan Hutson, Talk To Action
The Purpose Driven Life Takers

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission — to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is “to conduct physical and spiritual warfare”; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.

[…]

This game immerses children in present-day New York City — 500 square blocks, stretching from Wall Street to Chinatown, Greenwich Village, the United Nations headquarters, and Harlem. The game rewards children for how effectively they role play the killing of those who resist becoming a born again Christian. The game also offers players the opportunity to switch sides and fight for the army of the AntiChrist, releasing cloven-hoofed demons who feast on conservative Christians and their panicked proselytes (who taste a lot like Christian).

Is this paramilitary mission simulator for children anything other than prejudice and bigotry using religion as an organizing tool to get people in a violent frame of mind? The dialogue includes people saying, “Praise the Lord,” as they blow infidels away.

The designers intend this game to become the first dominionist warrior game to break through in the popular culture due to its violent scenarios and realistic graphics, lighting, and sound effects. Its creators expect it to earn a rating of T for Teen. How violent is that? That’s the rating shared by Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory, a top selling game in which high-tech gadgets and high-powered weapons - frag grenades, shotguns, assault rifles, and submachine guns — are used to terminate enemies with extreme prejudice.

Could such a violent, dominionist Christian video game really break through to the popular culture? Well, it is based on a series of books that have already set sales records - the blockbuster Left Behind series of 14 novels by writer Jerry B. Jenkins and his visionary collaborator, retired Southern Baptist minister Tim LaHaye. “We hope teenagers like the game,” Mr. LaHaye told the Los Angeles Times. “Our real goal is to have no one left behind.”

[…]

Freedom of speech and anti-censorship laws exist in this nation to protect our ability to hold civil discourse — even when it’s in the form of twisted, violent, crusading game narratives aimed at our children and marketed through the tenticles of the mega-church.

The redeeming factor behind the development of this specific game, is that the motive of the religous right is on display for the world to see. Too often their hatred becomes cloaked in motive numbing rhetoric — placating tales of Jesus’ love for all humanity as long as humanity devotes itself to Jesus. Over the past 20 years, such rhetoric has masked their intent, allowing them to gain a strong, political foothold in America — specifically with moderate Christians.

So when the religous right’s arrogance is responsible for removing their own metaphorical hoods, we need to gaze into their hateful, soulless eyes and take detailed notes.

The “Up In Arms” Crowd

It’s interesting to note that historically, church groups have been the most active in denouncing hip-hop music and video games for their violent content, arguing that they influence kids to become violent, misogynistic, or even worse, question authority.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces is scheduled to release in October 2006, just four months away. Where are these vocal groups now? Is “bling” and “bitch” rhetoric more deserving of protest than marketing to children a programmed, interactive virtual reality for cleansing non-Christian people from the face of the earth?

Hillary Clinton railed hard against the Hot Coffee mod, a locked, sex scene found in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (a scene that only a slight percentage of geeks even knew existed) in a move that smelled of pandering to the family values crowd. Where is her outrage?

It’ll be interesting to see how long Left Behind: Eternal Forces flies under the radar of both the church and Hillary Clinton.

It’ll actually be quite telling…

That great statement was captured in the front room of the elsewhere artist collaborative, right next door to The Scene on South Elm.

I just started going through some of their writings… interesting stuff. From organizational thoughts 2:

[…]

Politics is inherently artful and art is a manipulation of medium. To combine art and politics is to make the medium people and the property medium. Elsewhere’s political notion of collaboration is the balance of individual and community, where the individual is given full rights to application of the common property so long as use of such property is not distructive[1] to the community. The individual is the depleater[2], abuser, and the one to be feared, thus the community must protect itself from abuse. Abuse is about individual disregarding the needs of other individuals and disregarding the community needs as defined by the individual perception. However, in the jumbled state that this iterates, the individuals are disregarding and subjecting the environment by their ill perceptions of its maximus[3] capability. A fully applied concept does not insure that the individuals will produce great art as individuals, but a community governed by a thoughtful populace, an informed and informing populace, is partaking in the conceptual framework that directs the space. If there is constant flux in conceptual ideology issued by well-expressed discussion and submission of idea then everyone is participating in collaborative art.

[…]

I’m diggin’ my new neighborhood.

(from Nas)

Michael Duffy, TIME
The Shame Of Kilo Company

[…]

But one morning last November, some members of Kilo Company apparently didn’t attempt to distinguish between enemies and innocents. Instead, they seem to have gone on the worst rampage by U.S. service members in the Iraq war, killing as many as 24 civilians in cold blood. The details of what happened in Haditha were first disclosed in March by TIME’s Tim McGirk and Aparisim Ghosh, and their reporting prompted the military to launch an inquiry into the civilian deaths. The darkest suspicions about the killings were confirmed last week, when members of Congress who were briefed on the two ongoing military investigations disclosed that at least some members of a Marine unit may soon be charged in connection with the deaths of the Iraqis — and that the charges may include murder, which carries the death penalty. “This was a small number of Marines who fired directly on civilians and killed them,” said Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and former Marine who was briefed two weeks ago by Marine Corps officials. “This is going to be an ugly story.”

[…]

At what point do we, as a nation, realize that our occupation of Iraq is only breeding more violent insurgents and future terrorists? And if this story is true, can you blame them for wanting revenge?

On a weekend where we remember the brave men and women who have served and/or died to protect what we know and love as America, I wonder… are we still that same America? Have we ever been?

In 1997, at the age of 93, my grandmother — Reva Patrick Coon — asked me to design the cover for her first book.

Ties & Tales is her personal story of Dunsmuir, California — the place she’s called home since the early 1920’s. While much of the content focuses on our family, the book also provides interesting context to mainstream American history.

w00t!

The closing is in just over a month. A big shout to Ed for introducing me to the neighborhood and walking me through.

I hearby declare you… a bunch of dead plants.

————

Ed Cone, News & Record, 10/9/05
Council members speak on Truth and Reconciliation hearings

[…]

Tom Phillips did not consider attending the hearings. “My attending would not matter,” he said. He will read the report. “If we as a council think it is worthwhile, we’ll consider it. If I disagree with the final conclusions, I’ll be called names. They say we’re racists — when are people going to ask black council members why they always vote together?” He said Nelson Johnson’s involvement compromised the project (a danger I pointed to as early as 2003); that he understood that the commission was independent of Johnson; and that he wanted to know where the money Johnson raised for the project had gone.

[…]

To be fair to Tom Phillips, these quotes were from last year, only a handful of months following the city council’s vote to not endorse the investigation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

I mean, who was the idiot that placed upstanding, community politicians in a position to stand up and be counted on such an important issue to the community?

Let me step back for a moment…

Who am I to argue with another person’s sense of duty to community? I mean, the 6 of 9 members that voted against endorsing the TRC must have been serving the perspective of their immediate neighbors, right?

You know, I’m betting that Phillips has taken the time since last October to communicate to his constituency the importance of this moment in Greensboro’s continued attempts to heal open wounds and move forward as one community. If not, well, I’m positive that time has provided him with a stronger, more personal perspective on the issues that face this community-at-large.

So let’s fast-forward from 7.5 months ago to yesterday, the day following the culmination of the 2 year-long TRC investigation. Tom Phillips was once again contacted by local media, this time with an opportunity to address the culmination of the commission’s investigation and their final report.

Frank Mickens, WFMY News 2, 5/26/06
City Council Members Respond To Truth And Reconciliation Commission Report

Greensboro, NC — An independent panel says the the city of Greensboro needs to make up for mistakes it made after the Klan-Nazi shootings.

The commission’s report says city police didn’t do its job to protect the five union protesters who were shot and killed by a group of klansmen and Nazis. And it says city eroded race relations and the public trust by establishing curfews in Morningside Homes and distancing itself from what happened.

The commission wants the city to apologize. But council members don’t agree that’s a good idea. Council member Tom Phillips appeared indifferent to the report. Reached by phone he said quote, ” I could care less what they report has to say. At some point I plant to take a look at it.”

[…]

Time can erode the profiled face of a mountain, but not the position of this man.

What a rock.

UPDATE: According to Tom, the context of Tom’s quote wasn’t provided by the WFMY reporter:

Frank Mickens didn’t quite tell the whole story. I was sitting on my balcony looking at the ocean when Frank called on my cell phone (I’m changing my number). I told him I was on vacation and I couldn’t care less…….. I taken my last call from Mr. Mickens

Brush clearing, vacationing politicians everywhere feel you, Tom.

UPDATE II: Fox News reports Toms reaction when asked about a city/GPD apology for not protecting permit holders on 11/3:

Council member Tom Phillips, who said he has read most of the executive summary, said he doesn’t support an apology.

“We’ve got more important things to do,” he said.

UPDATE III: Ed Cone reports that Tom Phillips won’t come to a city council discussion in July regarding the TRC report. Tom’s words:

Ed, I recommended that council members review the recommendations in the report and if they believed that any on them should be adopted, they should bring them up at a council meeting where they can be discussed and voted up or down. I know how this group discussion will turn out and I don’t have the time or desire for another lecture from Goldie Wells. Tom

The TRC report is the culmination of a two-year process, attempting to address the ongoing issues stemming from 11/3/79 — issues that effect this community, both as a whole and especially specific communities divided along lines of class and race. Find tthe time, Tom, and be a good representative of the entire Greensboro community and join the discussion.

UPDATE IV: Tom’s foot-in-mouth syndrome continues:

“It occurs to me that we may not be going back far enough in this whole process of finding the root causes of what happened that day.�

“The reason the CWP was able to establish itself was because they were trying to improve working conditions and pay at local mills. A lot of people were getting very rich off the labor of the poor and there were those who saw that as a real injustice. If those mills had been treating their employees right, then the CWP wouldn’t have formed. Without the CWP, it is very likely that confrontation would never have happened. So if apologies are due, maybe the first ones should come from the mill owners and their descendents. If reparations are due, surely there are some trust funds around that could be tapped for that purpose.�

That last line is a killer of good faith and credibility.

Tom Phillips would never offer a serious analysis of the times — the stage of Greensboro’s labor situation and the workings of the CWP — as that would validate the CWP beyond a group of extremist rebel-rousers. Instead, he offers the analysis as a lede to dig a local, public figure (Ed Cone, related to the ownership of Cone Mills), alluding to Ed’s suggestion of an alterior route of apology to jumpstart the reconciliation process.

Congrats, Tom, you continue to do the city proud.

Follow the story at greensboroschild.com

Apparently, the paper reported a 9pm showing of the documentary tonight, so Dale and Lowell at The Scene on South Elm are obliging.

Showtimes are for both 7pm and 9pm and tickets are only $3. As he did last night, Andy will be there to field Q&A after each screening.

If you’re busy trying to digest the 400 page Truth and Reconciliation Commision report, come on out and see the documentary. The film didn’t win Best Researched Documentary at the 2002 Chicago Film Festival for nothing.

The first paragraph of the Executive Summary:

The Commission finds that on the morning of Nov. 3, 1979, members of the Klan/Nazi caravan headed for Greensboro with malicious intent. At a minimum, they planned to disrupt the parade and assault the demonstrators (by throwing eggs), violating the marchers constitutional rights to free speech and assembly. Further, we believe there is sufficient evidence to conclude that they intended to provoke a violent confrontation and that this was broadly understood among those present in the multiple planning discussions. Those who left their cars to engage in violence did so willingly. More importantly, Klan and Nazi members have admitted since the event that they intentionally came prepared to use deadly force in order to be victorious in any violence that occurred.

[…]

Much more to come, as the final report is to be released next week in the morning.

I’m posting this from the screening of Greensboro’s Child. The Q&A after the 7pm screening was very intense. Not in a bad way either. Each person in the audience had a unique perspective and questions that furthered the conversation.

Come on down tomorrow night, 7pm, The Scene on South Elm, and check it out for yourself.

Q&A video to come soon…

Two down…

Lay, Skilling Convicted in Enron Collapse
by Kristen Hays

Former Enron Corp. chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were convicted Thursday of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud in one of the biggest business scandals in U.S. history.

The verdict put the blame for the demise of what was once the nation’s seventh-largest company squarely on its top two executives. It came in the sixth day of deliberations following a trial that lasted nearly four months.

Lay was also convicted of bank fraud and making false statements to banks in a separate trial related to his personal banking.

Lay was convicted on all six counts against him in the trial with Skilling. Skilling was convicted on 19 of the 28 counts against him, including one count of insider trading, and acquitted on the remaining nine.

“You have reflected on this evidence for the last few days and reached a very thorough verdict, and I thank you,” U.S. District Judge Sim Lake told jurors.

He set sentencing for Sept. 11.

[…]

What a fitting sentencing date for two men that played such a major role in the collapse of our economy post-Microsoft hearings, 9/11 and the dotcom crash.

These guys ruined so many people’s lives, they had better not receive a soft-sentence. They may not have murdered anyone, but they do deserve general population in Rikers.

(h/t DeWitt)

The time to resign would be right now.

Pelosi move triggers revolt
by Josephine Hearn

[…]

Jefferson has been the subject of a wide-ranging bribery investigation by the Department of Justice. Pelosi’s call for his ouster came several days after a newly filed court document offered more details on Jefferson’s alleged acceptance of $100,000 from an FBI informant in a sting operation. Days after that purported exchange, the document said, the FBI found $90,000 in Jefferson’s freezer.

The search of his Capitol Hill office has prompted a storm of criticism from congressional leaders from both parties, including Pelosi, who charged that the executive branch had overstepped the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers.

Yesterday’s CBC meeting with Jefferson was well-attended, drawing nearly all of the caucus’s heavyweights — Ways and Means ranking Democrat Charles Rangel (N.Y.), Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat John Conyers (Mich.) and Democratic Caucus Chairman James Clyburn (S.C.).

Most lawmakers would not comment afterwards, but a CBC aide summed up some members’ frustration, saying, “Congresswoman Pelosi, by preemption without any legal justification, has now created a new precedent for how members are going to be treated. Unfortunately, she’s chosen to single out an African-American for this honor.�

Then the aide added an electoral threat, saying, “The African-American community, which overwhelmingly backs the Democratic Party, will not take this lightly. I hope she enjoys being minority leader.�

[…]

Dude got caught on tape accepting a bribe, the feds then found $90k in his freezer and the numbers on the bills exactly matched the bribe money.

What’s he trying to pull, an Eddie Murphy, “It wasn’t me” act?

The CBC’s reputation has never been good. Whether such a rep is deserving or not, their position in this matter isn’t going to help them at all. What a bunch of schmucks.

UPDATE: zefrank’s position on this mess is actually quite enlightening. Yes, he does think, so I don’t have to.

The film is also playing tomorrow night at 7pm. Go to the official site for more information.

Come on out and support a local filmmaker… my brother.

Up until March 2003, I had never listened to The Dixie Chicks beyond catching them in passing while flipping channels or stations. Their passionate stance against the war in Iraq and George Bush grabbed my attention, and eventually changed my attitude towards their approach to songwriting.

From Steve Gilliard at The News Blog:

[…]

The Dixie Chicks, after being attacked so harshly in 2003, simply said fuck it, fuck Toby Keith and the rest of these assholes. We have more fans than this, we can reach a wider audience than this and that’s where we’re going. They aren’t going to cut their hair and sing about longing for women, but they’re going to pop music and change their career.

[…]

I’m not a pop music fan per se, but this tune, “I’m Not Ready To Make Nice,” has the kind of raw emotion that I just can’t pass up.

Consider me a convert.

Jordan is distributing paperwork for signatures today, so The People, Yes should be well on it’s way to NC non-profit status. The federal process comes next, and believe me, that’s where Jordan will earn his pro-bono dinners and drinks. ;-)

Many thanks to the inital Board members who are joining me to try to shape this idea into a reality:

            

Once we’re more involved with the community and actually begin fundraising, I’ll most likely add a few more people to the mix… definitely one active participant from the homeless community itself.

Until then, I’m looking forward to working with this fine group of technologists, bloggers and community activists to get this puppy singing.

Stay tuned.

3… 2… 1… “I just proposed to you”

*Snap!*

More stupidity can be found over at flickr…

Artist: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Song: 88 Seconds In Greensboro

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88 Seconds
Is all it takes
88 Seconds
Don’t make mistakes
We’ve seen you
We can see you
In red and blue
In black and white
Under crystal skies
In full daylight
You know it
God you know it
88 seconds
Is all it takes
In 88 seconds
We don’t make mistakes
We know you
Oh, yes we have known you
Times are changing
But not in our street
Once we played there
Like the good times
You know it
God, you know it
They’re heading for
a shallow grave
With a big black cross
by a tall white house
to a place down south
We won’t forget
To be stabbed in the back
by a man they met
In 88 seconds
In Greensboro
In 88 seconds
In Greensboro
88 seconds
In Greensboro
is all we take

Three years in the making, G’ma’s memoirs are finally ready for the printer. And after a few attempts, I finally finished the book jacket this past weekend.

Now I’ve got to give her a call and ask permission to release the book as a blog…

UPDATE: I received the sweetest voice-mail message from G’ma today. I think she likes the book cover. ;-)

UPDATE II: G’ma gave me her blessings to publish her memoirs as a blog. The book is over 200 pages long, so I’ll probably convert each of her chapters into separate posts. Here’s a sample from chapter 1:

1 .. IN THE GARDEN

In 1732, the first of the Patrick’s left North Antrim, Ireland, and sailed to the United States where they settled in Kentucky, later moving to Indiana where they became grain farmers.

The McKinney’s, Irish with just a wee bit of Scotch (for flavouring, no doubt) emigrated to Minnesota and later Wisconsin.

My father, Thomas McVey Patrick, curly brown hair and snappy blue eyes, was an adventurer. He forsook the security of the rich farm life in Indiana at age twenty. Mounting his horse and taking only his knapsack, revolver and a very few good supplies, he waved farewell to his family and rode off. After six or seven months he arrived in Seattle, Washington.

[…]