connecting*the*dots

Steve Gilliard passed away today after a long recovery battle following open heart surgery.

If you weren’t a reader of The News Blog, let me give you a sense of Steve’s voice.

He wasn’t a fucking apologist.

Steve took a concrete position on practically every issue that came across his desk, and more often than not he was spot on, bulldozing double-talk, bullshit policy and spin across the board.

I never met Steve in person, yet it feels like I lost a close friend today.

You’ll be missed, Steve.

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Keith Robinson dropping science and experiences on the crowd last week at the C37Words production, Poetry GSO Slam, in Greensboro, NC.

If you felt that as much as I did in person, I’ll leave it up to you to transcribe the lyrics in the comment field.

A few years old now, but as powerful as ever:

The reporter didn’t correct himself, forgetting to mention that the wall that Banksy addressed actually divides Palestine from itself *not* just Israel from Palestine.

In any event, Banksy went to town with his unique style:

(originally uploaded by FREEPAL)

(originally uploaded by FREEPAL)

(originally uploaded by the walker cleavelands)

He followed up the street art with a more traditional painting of Jesus & Mary unable to get to Bethlehem because of the Israeli wall:

(originally uploaded by FredR)

Classic.

(originally uploaded by Luna Park)

I am not angry; I am anger.
I am not dangerous; I am danger.
I am abominable stress, eliotic, relentless.
I’m a breath of vengeance.
I’m a death sentence.
I’m forsaking repentance,
to the beast in his hench men.

Armed forces and policemen
that survived off of oils and prisons until there cup runneth over with lost souls.
That wear over-sized caps like blind-folds
Shiny necklaces like lassoes
Draggin’ them into black-holes
And I may have to holla out to Fidel Castro
To get my other brothers outta Guantanimo

And the innocence on death row?
It’s probably in the same proportion to criminals in black robes
That smack gavels
That crack domes
That smack gavels
That smash homes

Justice is somewhere between reading sad poems and 40 oz of gasoline crashing through windows
It is between plans and action
It is between writing letters to congressmen and clocking the captain
It is between raising legal defense funds and putting a gun to the bailiff and taking the judge captive
It is between prayer and fasting
Between burning and blasting
Freedom is between the mind and the soul
Between the lock and the load
Between the zeal of the young and the patience of the old
Freedom is between a finger and the trigger
It is between the page and the pen
It is between the grenade and the pin
Between righteous and keeping one in the chamber

So what can they do with a cat with a heart like Turner
A mind like Douglass
A mouth like Malcolm
And a voice like Chris?!

That is why I am not dangerous; I am danger
I am not angry, I am anger
I am abominable, stress, Eliotic relentless
I’m a death sentence
For the beast and his henchmen
Politicians and big businessmen
I’m a teenage Palestinian
Opening fire at an Israeli checkpoint, point blank, check-mate, now what?!
I’m a rape victim with a gun cocked to his cock, cock BANG! Bangkok! Now what?!
I am sitting Bull with Colonel Custard’s scalp in my hands
I am Sincay with a slave trader’s blood on my hands
I am Jonathan Jackson and a gun to my man
I am David with a slingshot and a rock
And if David lived today, he’d have a Molotov cocktail and a Glock
So down with Goliath, I say down with Goliath

But we must learn, know, write, read
We must kick, bite, yell, scream
We must pray, fast, live, dream, fight, kill and die free!

UPDATE: Thanks to StaceyZ for a handful of transcription corrections.

An impressive and eloquent artist.

Chuck Hagel may be late to the table on his position against the Iraq war, but he’s damn sure speaking from his soul and showing true leadership.

I have to admit, I was pretty cynical about his dissent in 2005 regarding American’s rights to openly criticize both the war and this president. Who knows, his tenor could still be a political ploy… but I’m leaning towards the position of highly doubting it.

Rock on, sir.

Mr. Sun:

Joe - We are in the umpteenth chapter of Jerry’s historical look at the Wray case. Along the way, we’ve made day trips to November 3, 1979 and had a very smelly sleepover in the News & Record’s dirty laundry room. Every week, people are pouring over this historical detail. You have even been excerpting it. As usual, there is all this amazing interest and energy around placing blame and confirming preconceived notions about race in Greensboro. You see identity group politics. I see other things. The river rolls on. When it comes to discussing the TRC report, or anything that requires people to let go of their judgments and take a leap of faith together, the interest stops dead cold. All of the sudden, it’s a “waste of time,” “part of the past,” “a crock,” — too “backwards looking.” Clearly, it’s not the direction that’s the problem. It’s the focus. People are loving the look backwards as long as what they see is familiar. I don’t know who is right or wrong in the Wray case. I don’t even understand the question. I would just like to see people on both sides of the divide divert even a fraction of the energy they currently devote to meticulously footnoting their own particular shade of racial bitterness. This feels like a late-career Tyson fight to me — all this competitive hype, but when it’s all over there is no clear winner and it all feels like a setup for the rematch which you know is coming and you’ll have to pay for it.

(originally uploaded by -Kerryn-)

Fun Fact: “Hell” is a pizza chain in New Zealand.

(originally uploaded by slight clutter)

From the handling of Katrina to the Sean Bell shooting, it’s a safe bet to say that if Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today, he’d still be a busy man. Now, what if he were here and once again dipped into the part of his ministry that really scared the FBI and US government — his take on US foreign policy?

What do you think his perspective would be on the Iraq occupation? Personally speaking, I don’t think he’d acquiesce to it fitting neatly within the context of the War on Terror.

From “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” a speech delivered on April 4th, 1967 at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City… with a few alterations:

I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Iraq. The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” That time has come for us in relation to Iraq.

The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation’s history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movement well and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.

Over the past two years, as I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart, as I have called for radical departures from the destruction of Iraq, many persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my path. At the heart of their concerns this query has often loomed large and loud: Why are you speaking about war, Dr. King? Why are you joining the voices of dissent? Peace and civil rights don’t mix, they say. Aren’t you hurting the cause of your people, they ask? And when I hear them, though I often understand the source of their concern, I am nevertheless greatly saddened, for such questions mean that the inquirers have not really known me, my commitment or my calling. Indeed, their questions suggest that they do not know the world in which they live.

In the light of such tragic misunderstandings, I deem it of signal importance to try to state clearly, and I trust concisely, why I believe that the path from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church — the church in Montgomery, Alabama, where I began my pastorate — leads clearly to this sanctuary tonight.

I come to this platform tonight to make a passionate plea to my beloved nation. This speech is not addressed to Baghdad or to the insurgents. It is not addressed to Iran or to Syria.

Nor is it an attempt to overlook the ambiguity of the total situation and the need for a collective solution to the tragedy of Iraq. Neither is it an attempt to make the Sadr loyalists or the Sunni insurgents paragons of virtue, nor to overlook the role they can play in a successful resolution of the problem. While they both may have justifiable reason to be suspicious of the good faith of the United States, life and history give eloquent testimony to the fact that conflicts are never resolved without trustful give and take on both sides.

Tonight, however, I wish not to speak with Baghdad and the insurgents, but rather to my fellow Americans, who, with me, bear the greatest responsibility in ending a conflict that has exacted a heavy price on both continents.

[…]

Listen to the complete, original speech.

(via Twang Nation)

Stephen Colbert delivered his show the other night at the White House Correspondent Dinner. Being that he has already captured the admiration and imagination of the 18 - 34 demographic, I think it’s safe to say that with this speech, Colbert is giving Pappa Bear O’Reilly a run for his money in the numbed, geriatric demographic.

My favorite moment:

Most of all, I believe in this president. Now I know there are some polls out there saying that this man has a 32% approval rating, but guys like us, we don’t pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in “reality.”

And reality has a well known liberal bias.

So Mr. President, please, please, pay no attention to the people that say that the glass is half-full.

32% means the glass… heh… (looking directly at the president) it’s important to set up your jokes properly, sir. Sir, pay no attention to the people that say that the glass is half-empty.

Because, 32% means it’s two-thirds empty… There’s still some liquid in that glass is my point… But I wouldn’t drink it… The last third is usually backwash, okay…

Unbelievably unflappable.

UPDATE: The mainstream media isn’t covering this event at all. Chris Durang:

…Stephen Colbert was the star attraction at the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night, and his performance was thrilling or insulting or uncomfortable, depending on your point of view. Apparently, according to Editor and Publisher.com, President and Mrs. Bush looked very uncomfortable, and quickly left right afterward.

But the mainstream media is apparently ignoring this part of the evening, and instead is covering the early entertainment where Bush and a look-alike imitator do a “he says this, he’s really thinking this” routine. Moderately amusing, but very mild.

This, by the way, is the same Washington event where Bush previously charmed many (and horrified others) by pretending to have trouble finding Weapons of Mass Destruction (after we’d started to realize they weren’t in Iraq), and wandered the room looking under tables. Really cute, huh? They should send videos of that to the families of soldiers killed…

Al Franken is a fucking warrior for the truth — from his dedication to battle the system’s misinformation on Air America to walking into classrooms, teaching our youth to be aware of the snakes in the media by using long division.

Literally.

In one brilliant scene, he exposed Brit Hume’s bullshit statistics regarding the safety in Iraq compared to the yearly homicide death count in California, by simply dividing the death tolls by taking the populations of each territory. .002745 is not greater than .25 (my figures might be off).

Talk about proving why math matters to kids.

Nick Doob & Chris Hegedus’ God Spoke is an amazingly revealing peek into Franken’s life and social periphery. His devotion to family and friends (from his father and wife to Paul Wellstone) is a revealing exploration of his character, providing a glimpse into his inspiration to both participate and live in a fair, democratic Republic.

And of course, the guy is simply funny as hell. One of the greatest moments of the movie came when he and Ann Coulter engaged in a debate, on stage, before a live audience. The moderator asked Ann who she would choose to be if she could be anyone throughout history. Her response? Twofold: Sen. McCarthy because of his ability to expose Democrats as communists and FDR, so she could revoke The New Deal.

Hsss’s from the Austin audience filled the theater.

Al’s choice? Hitler, so he could revoke the holocaust, WWII, etc. In-the-moment fucking brilliance that brought down the house I tell you.

He’s running in 2008 for a Senate seat in Minnesota. I can’t wait to see his first debate (if his opponent doesn’t duck and hide that is). Keep on keeping on Al, and don’t ever change to win an election.

We need more people like you willing to take politics back to the people while staying real.

A snippet:

[…] “The founders of our country faced dire threats. If they failed in their endeavors, they would have been hung as traitors. The very existence of our country was at risk.

Yet, in the teeth of those dangers, they insisted on establishing the Bill of Rights.

Is our Congress today in more danger than were their predecessors when the British army was marching on the Capitol? Is the world more dangerous than when we faced an ideological enemy with tens of thousands of missiles poised to be launched against us and annihilate our country at a moment’s notice? Is America in more danger now than when we faced worldwide fascism on the march-when our fathers fought and won two World Wars simultaneously?” […]