black-box voting vs closed minds

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing has an eye-opening post about a source-code leak at Sequoia, a company that makes electronic vote-rigging voting machines used in the US. His information comes from the Election Defense Alliance, whose goal is to "review and improve voting system technology and operations". They've set up a Wiki for easier examination: Sequoia Study.

Apparently the code doesn't show a definitive smoking gun, but it might point to areas of questions and concerns. Isn't that what we could expect? In any complex and controversial investigation, evidence is generally found in bits and pieces which, taken together, present a picture from which logical inferences are drawn. If people are waiting for a signed confession - "I, Dick Cheney, planned, authorized and paid for the results of the 2004 election" - then they'll never be satisfied. Which may be their intention.

What I found most interesting at the BoingBoing post were the comments. I'm amazed that intelligent people are still writing off US election fraud with that convenient, catch-all slur: conspiracy theory. As if conspiracies don't exist. As if we shouldn't concern ourselves with trivialities like fair elections. As if asking why private, for-profit companies should own proprietary code that counts votes with no independent oversight is to be a paranoid Luddite living in a Montana cabin or an internet geek living in mommy's basement. Or, as one commenter suggests, is it that a Democrat in the White House makes it all okay?

A huge percentage of the comments take Doctorow to task for what they see as a sensational headline, not borne out by the story. Perhaps that's a fair criticism and the headline is an unnecessary bit of sensationalism. Or perhaps readers should understand that headlines are eye-catching devices, and articles say what they say. Or perhaps people shouldn't obsess on a headline, especially in light of Doctorow's impressive body of work, but it's easier to take pot-shots at a headline than to think about rigged US elections. Or the headline was convenient for diversionary tactics, and if the headline wasn't there, diversion-trolls would find something else to pick on.

But commenters dismissing the possibility of US election fraud! That I find simply mind-boggling. They must realize that Doctorow, and indeed the EDA, is not implying that this one scrap of information is definitive evidence. Is it wilful ignorance? Knee-jerk denial? Simple disagree-with-everything trolling?

These sample comments don't reflect the general tone of the comments on this piece; it was much more negative. I just found these interesting.

Anonymous | October 21, 2009 1:45 AM

Please tell me somebody's going to get the death penalty over this.

pelrun | October 21, 2009 1:49 AM

Careful about jumping to conclusions here - "influence the logical flow of the election" just means there appears to be code for the election machine in the SQL statements (against federal laws prohibiting interpreted code). As yet there isn't any evidence of vote rigging.

Anonymous | October 21, 2009 2:22 AM

WHY THE FUCK ARE WE ALLOWING CLOSED SOURCE MACHINES TO DETERMINE THE LEADER OF OUR COUNTRY?

I'm sorry, but what. the. fuck.

Every minutae of the process should be wide open to public scrutiny. It should be put into law that any machine that is directly used to determine our president should not have an ounce of closed source code in it.

yish | October 21, 2009 2:28 AM

Are you listening, Karzai? We told you you should go for mechanised voting. but no, you wanted hand counting. now look where that got you!

siliconsunset | October 21, 2009 6:58 AM

Story about Yahoo! hiring strippers... 58 posts.

Story about the machines that effect the leaders of our government... 5 posts.

And we wonder why these things are allowed to happen? No one really seems to care!

Anonymous | October 21, 2009 7:50 AM

"The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything." -Joseph Stalin

Chrs | October 21, 2009 7:52 AM

Looking forward to actual analysis of this code. I appreciate the heads up that it's out there.

TheNewModern | October 21, 2009 8:10 AM

Please remember Occam's Razor. "Election-rigging" is a far cry from the evidence here or elsewhere.

Personally, with the birthers, truthers, and anti-vaxxers, I've grown extremely weary of conspiracy thinking. I don't want to see more of it at this wonderful website.

Anonymous | October 21, 2009 12:35 PM

If you look at the way elections are done, the voting machine's don't get the say, the electoral college does. For the conspiracy theorists out there, isn't that conspiracy enough, and for the sheep. Gov't's have been rigging elections since it became profitable, like when taxes were invented (you know way before everything else, and if you read douglas adams i believe they've been around since before the dawn of man ;) lol). [There's much more, but I won't subject you to it. I had trouble getting past "machine's".]

Thebes | October 21, 2009 3:42 PM

Love all the vote-theft apologists... Yes, go back to sleep, its all a "conspiracy theory" and at least "our man" in in the Whitehouse now so its cool.

AirPillo | October 21, 2009 5:19 PM

Please don't be so sensationalist and conclusive with headlines.

News is a living, breathing thing. I can think of several times lately where further evidence in the case you are mentioning with a very bold headline has surfaced and made that headline factually false.

I know you're too busy a person to carefully redact and edit every post that infers things that turn out to be wrong... so perhaps just be more careful with hyperbole?

Genuinely outraging news is easy to water down when it comes from a source who has a problem with attaching emphatics and outrage and hyperbole to things which turn out to be quite benign. That's the sort of road that leads to tabloid-style writing.

Anonymous | October 21, 2009 5:58 PM

I would think the question mark in the headline would be enough for people to conclude that maybe Cory was not stating a fact, but I guess that's too subtle for all the budding journalists here. Cut him some slack or go away.

A sensationalist headline with a question mark! Horrors! This can't possibly be true! After all, machines don't fix elections, people do.

Thanks to James for the heads-up on the post.

senator franken kicks more butt

Here's Al Franken again, this time on medical bankruptcies. For Canadians who are unfamiliar with that term - since it doesn't exist here - this refers to people who exhaust all their credit and savings, and are forced to declare bankruptcy, in order to pay their medical bills.

Franken is making a point we all know well, but he's just so much fun to watch. Plus I'm finishing a story and writing a paper, and of course working all weekend, so I need fallbacks like this.

And a related note that's been sitting in my inbox for too long: in eight states, plus Washington DC, getting beaten by your partner is a pre-existing condition - a legal reason to deny insurance coverage. This jumped out at me from the HuffPo story: "During the last health care reform push, in 1993 and 1994, the industry similarly promised to end discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions." Just ask the insurance companies nicely. I'm sure they'll reform themselves. That's generally the way things work, right?

Thanks to James for sending both.

And in case you missed the Senator kicking the butts of rapist-protectors: here.

ignorance abroad

To visitors from Little Green Footballs:

Just because you personally don't know any Americans who have moved to Canada, doesn't mean it isn't being done. In 2006, 11,000 USians emigrated to Canada, and that number continues to increase.

Please note that my partner and I applied to emigrate to Canada in 2003. We didn't care who won the fraudulent 2004 "election". We'd had enough. It takes about two years to go through the Canadian immigration process, thus we moved in 2005.

Through this blog, I hear from dozens - by now, hundreds - of Americans asking advice on how to come to Canada. Sadly, I also hear from so many Americans who desperately want to come to Canada, but don't meet the requirements.

Stay in the US if you like, but don't assume everyone else is. Many people think a country with high-quality health care and equal rights for all is a better place.

supporters of rodney watson speak out

Three letters to the Vancouver Sun in support of Rodney Watson, who is living in sanctuary in a Vancouver church.

Rodney Watson, a U.S. citizen, came to Canada because he didn't want to be punished for choosing not to hurt anyone. He was sent to Iraq as a cook and ended up looking for explosives. He didn't want to find out what he'd be ordered to do next.

Watson is a real refugee. Parliament has twice voted to affirm that war resisters are welcome in Canada. Canadians affirm in opinion polls that war resisters should be allowed to remain here. Our government needs to give Watson refugee status and stop harassing him.

Ian Weniger, Vancouver

*

The churches are more and more taking the lead in harbouring war resisters before the Conservative government forcibly deports them, despite the express wishes of the majority of Canadians and the will of Parliament. Have churches found a way to stop the government? Don't hold your breath. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is busy looking for a way to get his way, and churches may be his next victims.

Janet Hudgins, Vancouver

*

There will come a time when those who choose to refuse to fight in the immoral and misguided war in Iraq will be hailed as brave heroes.

The fighting in Iraq does nothing for Americans' safety. Its beginning was political and bogus. Key people in the U.S. government had called for the invasion of Iraq in the early 1990s, maybe earlier. The 9/11 attacks gave these people their excuse, even though it was well known that the bombers were Saudi Arabians and Saddam Hussein hadn't been involved.

I ask that my voice be counted with those of others who feel Watson should be allowed to stay in Canada. Historically, general Canadian support is there for providing sanctuary for war resisters. Remember Vietnam?

Vennie Yancy, Fairfax, Calif.

Your letters make a difference. The Conservatives are watching. Let them know how Canadians feel.

war criminals at large in montreal

From Canadian Press, in Metro.

As George W. Bush cracked jokes with a business crowd inside a hotel ballroom Thursday, hundreds of people outside the building cheered while he was being burned in effigy.

Police in riot gear and others on horseback held back a crowd of hundreds, including many people who tossed shoes at Montreal's historic Queen Elizabeth Hotel in a demonstration of disdain for the man speaking inside.

Protesters who tried forcing their way through the line of shield-and baton-carrying police were wrestled to the ground and arrested.

Montreal police said several officers were hit by flying objects, but none were injured. Five people were arrested for mischief and disturbing the peace.

Ironically, this demonstration took place outside the same hotel where John Lennon's antiwar anthem "Give Peace a Chance" was recorded in 1969.

Chants of "George Bush terrorist" echoed in the street as protesters lashed out at the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal for rolling out the red carpet for him.

Some of the 300 protesters said he should have been arrested and charged with war crimes instead.

Inside the hotel, nearly 1,000 spectators paid as much as $400 to hear Bush speak during the latest stop on his Canadian tour.

He got a standing ovation when he first took the podium to address the eager audience.

"I believe in free speech - except not today," he quipped, drawing laughs and a huge applause.

Many in the highly supportive crowd guffawed at most of Bush's jokes. The first 10 minutes of his 37-minute speech could have been mistaken for a standup routine.

In his first visit to Montreal, the former U.S. president warmed up his audience by referring to local hockey legends Maurice and Henri Richard.

"I was an avid sports fan (growing up) and I actually knew who the Rocket and the Pocket Rocket were," Bush recalled of his childhood days in the "deserts of west Texas."

Other cracks were more of the self-deprecating kind.

"Look, I hope you can understand me - I can't understand you," Bush joked through his thick Texas accent.

"As you might remember, during my presidency some of my critics made it clear that English was not my long suit." [More here.]

the art of resistance

Click here to see a painting of war resisters Kim Rivera, Josh Key, Robin Long and Rodney Watson. Beautiful work - thanks to Gerry Condon for sending the link.

rodney watson in his own words

This is war resister Rodney Watson, now living in sanctuary in a church in Vancouver.

Some coverage about Watson and the church: Macleans, CBC, Vancouver Province, Vancouver Sun.

How you can help:

Write a letter in support of Rodney to your local paper. The Council of Canadians has a great tool to find addresses. Your best shot at getting a letter published is to keep it under 200 words. But even if your letter doesn't run, it helps other letters get published.

Donate if you can; no amount is too small (or too large!). Whether or not you can donate, circulate the link to support our fundraising campaign for legal defence of war resisters facing deportation. Donate here.

Contact your MP. Ask her or him to support Bill C-440, which will give the weight of law to two motions already passed in the House of Commons.

my absence and the start of movie season

I hate not being able to blog every day. All day, I have that nagging feeling that I've forgotten to do something, a loose end that hasn't been properly tied.

I have one week between papers for school, and I'm trying to use the time to write something for myself, and for the Campaign. I'll soon find out if this is a realistic goal or if I'm crazy.

Allan is transcribing someone's IRB hearing, and I'm assisting with that, too. It's a bit crazy.

But I insist on carving out a little down-time. It's the only way.

So after a few annoying delays, Movie Season is finally underway here. We began with "Doubt". Everyone told me how great Meryl Streep was and how great PSH was, and of course that is true. But the real star of this movie is John Patrick Shanley, who wrote the play, wrote the screenplay and directed the movie. Streep and Hoffman are amazing, but their roles are so complex and so subtle; they had so much to work with. It's as fine a piece of writing as you'll ever see on screen.

Doubt was running on Broadway as were leaving New York. Several theatre friends of mine urged me to see it, but I never did. Coincidentally, it originated at Manhattan Theatre Club, where I worked a few lifetimes ago.

now more than ever

statement from war resisters support campaign on situation of rodney watson

From the War Resisters Support Campaign:

Subject: Statement regarding the situation of Iraq War resister Rodney Watson

October 19, 2009

VANCOUVER—The War Resisters Support Campaign is a network of volunteers working together to provide assistance to members of the U.S. military seeking refuge in Canada as a result of their opposition to the illegal war in Iraq. Groups exist in many centres across the country and include a wide diversity of age and origin including many former U.S. citizens welcomed to our country during the Vietnam era.

The Campaign was initiated following the arrival of Jeremy Hinzman in 2004, the first of the new generation of conscientious resisters. Our work has focused primarily on assisting these young men and women in the legal aspect of their search for refuge in Canada, and in lobbying for a provision to be enacted that would ensure that U.S. Iraq War resisters are allowed to remain in Canada rather than face imprisonment or forced participation in an illegal war.

The War Resisters Support Campaign works within the Canadian legal and political systems. We also work in consultation with, and respect for, each individual resister with regard to their wishes and choices. With respect to Rodney Watson's decision to request and accept sanctuary from the congregation of the First United Church we are appreciative of the church members' courageous moral stance.

We are also in agreement that this choice, by both Rodney and the church, is consistent with Canadian traditions and values of peaceful resistance to unjust decisions by government. We reiterate that through two majority votes, Parliament has called on the Government of Canada to stop the deportation of these war resisters. This reflects the majority view in this country as expressed in public opinion polls. Yet the Government of Canada has chosen to ignore both Parliament's direction and the will of Canadians.

It would be unconscionable to deport Rodney Watson, separating him from his Canadian fiancée and son, after Canadians and their political representatives have spoken so clearly. The punishment faced by resisters who have already been forced back to the U.S. by the Conservative minority government has been exceptionally harsh because they spoke out against the war – a war that Canada chose not to participate in. This is the fate that certainly awaits Rodney if he is forced back to the U.S. against his will.

We call on all Canadians who agree with Rodney's decision not to participate in the Iraq War, to support the stand that he and the First United Church have taken. Write, email, phone or personally contact your Member of Parliament and urge them to call on the Government of Canada to respect the will of Parliament and end the threat of deportation against Rodney Watson.

We urge Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to halt all efforts to deport Rodney Watson and all of the other resisters who are facing persecution if forced back into the United States.

breaking news: rodney watson becomes first iraq war resister to enter sanctuary

There was a media conference in Vancouver today, revealing the whereabouts of US war resister Rodney Watson. From the Ottawa Citizen.

U.S. army deserter Rodney Watson has become the first fugitive from service in Iraq to enter church sanctuary in Canada.

Monday morning, the 31-year-old told reporters he has been living in refuge at the First United Church in Vancouver since Sept. 18.

"I don't believe it will be just for me to be deported," said Watson, flanked by church ministers and supporters. Watson lost his refugee claim on Sept. 11, and was expecting to be deported back to the U.S., where he faces jail for refusing to do a second tour of duty in Iraq.

The main reason Watson wants to stay is to be with his 10-month-old son and fiancee, who live in Vancouver. Watson said his son is currently in foster care, but wouldn't say why. He said he plans to get married and settle in B.C.

Ric Matthews, minister with the First United Church, said Watson has an apartment at the church, and is fed on-site. Watson cannot leave the grounds of the church.

Matthews said the church agreed to let Watson take refuge because it doesn't support the Iraq War, or the way the U.S. military treated Watson — who signed up to be a military cook, but was ordered to find explosives.

"We expect the authorities will continue to respect this place as a place of sanctuary," he said.

Sarah Bjorknas of the War Resisters Support Campaign Vancouver said three out of the five military deserters who have been deported from Canada since 2008 have been jailed.

A statement by Vancouver NDP MP Libby Davies said she'll continue to ask the Tory government to honour two non-binding votes in Parliament to allow army deserters to seek asylum in Canada.

"The government has chosen to ignore the will of the majority view of Canadians," said Bjorknas.

This man can stay in Canada legally. Canadians can make this happen. Tell your MP to support Bill C-440!

local menu at canyon creek

Last week, Allan and I went out for dinner for his birthday, and he picked Canyon Creek as his restaurant of choice.

We discovered this local chain last year when craving steak, but not wanting to drop a ton of money on a high-end steakhouse. The food is good - not amazingly great, but quite good - and the atmosphere is subdued. We've tried Outback a few times before we found this place, but your red-meat craving has to be pretty strong to counteract the cloying, theme-park atmosphere. Canyon Creek is going for classy, as opposed to hilarious.

Good food, good service, a traditional steakhouse menu with some other more modern touches, and very affordable for this kind of food - definitely a nice treat for us while we're on a tight budget. And this time, something extra: a local menu.

Canyon Creek is featuring an Ontario-grown-and-produced fall menu, highlighted separately from the standard menu, and emphasized by the server. You can see a pdf of the menu here. Local products include mushrooms, potatoes, cranberries, a variety of autumn vegetables, chicken, beef, fish, and of course, Ontario wine.

I was so pleased to see this in a chain restaurant! It really shows how local eating has pierced the public consciousness, and this can go a long way to further that. I don't know if they also have a local, seasonal menu in the spring or summer, since in the warmer months, we're grilling our Ontario-raised beef on our patio.

Canyon Creek definitely fills a niche in the mid-price chain-restaurant market. While we were there, there were four or five tables full of an after-work, men-only crowd, with their ties loosened and their Blackberries on the table, several female-friend pairs, and a few tables of families with well-behaved children. It's not loud or bright or kitschy, the food is good, and it's a very good value. I recommend it for GTA omnivores.

ontario public library week

It's Ontario Public Library Week. The Mississauga Library System E-news tells me:

This annual fall event focuses on promoting public libraries in Ontario. A strong library system is the foundation of a strong community. With more than 1,100 service points throughout the province, public library members make 66 million visits to local libraries across Ontario each year. And now virtually every library branch provides access to electronic information through the Internet.

You know, I'm really excited about being a librarian one day. How that's going to work with being a writer, I don't know. That's a topic for another day, a post I'm trying to write, on which I probably won't be able to concentrate until winter break. My list of Things To Do Over Winter Break is becoming unrealistically long, considering I'll also be in dire need of down-time. [I repeat: a topic for another day.]

James sent me this, via BoingBoing.

It's from a PATRIOT Act protest t-shirt. The Latin translates as:

We know what you read, and we're not saying.

That's something I'm excited about, too: being part of a profession that actively stands up for privacy and intellectual freedom. In the US, librarians are on the forefront of resistance to government surveillance of citizens' research and reading materials; the ALA has been fighting the so-called PATRIOT Act since its inception. [In case you thought the PATRIOT Act was history: think again.] The piece most near and dear to librarians' heart is Section 215, but the whole thing needs to be - and probably won't be - drastically overhauled scrapped.

Erica Olsen of Library Avengers explains "why you should fall to your knees and worship a librarian":

Ok, sure. We've all got our little preconceived notions about what librarians are and what they do. Many people think of them as diminutive civil servants, scuttling about "Sssh-ing" people and stamping things. Well, think again buster.

Librarians have degrees. They go to graduate school for Information Science and become masters of data systems and human/computer interaction. Librarians can catalogue anything from an onion to a dog's ear. They could catalogue you. Librarians wield unfathomable power. With a flip of the wrist they can hide your dissertation behind piles of old Field and Stream magazines. They can find data for your term paper that you never knew existed. They may even point you toward new and appropriate subject headings.

People become librarians because they know too much. Their knowledge extends beyond mere categories. They cannot be confined to disciplines. Librarians are all-knowing and all-seeing. They bring order to chaos. They bring wisdom and culture to the
masses. They preserve every aspect of human knowledge. Librarians rule. And they will kick the crap out of anyone who says otherwise.

watch senator franken cut through bullshit and stand up for justice

This is a beautiful thing. Thank you, Jamie Leigh Jones. Thank you, Al Franken.

Please watch.

The Jamie Leigh Foundation

let them stay reason # 5: because iraq is an environmental disaster

The sixth of a ten-part series: top ten reasons why US Iraq War Resisters should be allowed to stay in Canada.

Reason # 5: from Rex Wyler, ecologist, author and Vietnam War resister.

Reason # 6 from Naomi Klein, award-winning author, filmmaker, activist, Canadian. Daughter of war resister.

Reason # 7 from Olivia Chow, Member of Parliament.

Reason # 8 from Bill King, musician, producer, Vietnam war deserter.

Reason # 9 from Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians.

Reason # 10 from Alex Neve of Amnesty International.

Here's 85,000 more reasons. The Iraqi government has released its first official death toll report. It says 85,000 Iraqis were killed from 2004 to 2008.

Other ongoing sources for civilian death tolls: Iraq Body Count, invasion of Iraq casualties on Wikipedia.

supporters of u.s. war resisters confront harper in toronto public library

Stephen Harper, there is no escape. Even at an invitation-only function - on taxpayer-supported, public property - we are there to remind you.

Tell your MP: Support Bill C-440!

"a bill that will let iraq war resisters live here is long overdue"

From the Hamilton Spectator.

Canada as haven for war resisters; We should not be U.S. 'enforcement agent' for those who won't fight in Iraq

by Ed Corrigan

Members of Parliament Gerard Kennedy and Bill Siksay introduced a private member's bill last month in support of Iraq War resisters. Bill C-440 would make binding on our government very specific directions -- to immediately stop the deportation of Iraq War resisters and to allow them to apply for permanent resident status from within Canada.

Since then, conservative pundits have likened veterans of the Iraq War who have refused to participate in atrocities on Iraqi civilians, and conscientious objectors who cannot morally let themselves kill another human being, to anti-abortion extremists who shoot doctors. Some have even suggested the bill should be contorted to include sanctuary for the criminally indicted U.S. financiers that caused the current recession.

For any rational Canadian, these comparisons are ludicrous at best. Along with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's spokesperson's hyperbole about "rapists and murderers," they are part of a campaign by the Harper minority to distract from, distort and deny the reality that Bill C-440 responds to a demand by the majority of Canadians in every part of the country, reflected in a similar motion that has already been debated and passed twice in Parliament.

Nonetheless, these criticisms have been levelled and they deserve a response.

The term "conscientious objector" doesn't refer to anyone who objects to anything for any random reason; conscientious objector specifically and only means a member or former member of the military holding certain sincerely held beliefs.

The bill only covers soldiers who refused to participate in wars not sanctioned by the United Nations. Iraq is such a war.

There are good reasons why the majority of Canadians, including Conservative voters, supports these U.S. soldiers who are opposing the Iraq War.

Please read the essay here, and send supportive letters to letters@thespec.com.

louisiana judge refuses to marry interracial couples

Good to know racism is dead in the Obama era! This is worth reading just for the laughs. I've bolded some particularly funny bits. From AP via HuffPo:

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."

If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said. "I try to treat everyone equally," he said.

. . .

"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. She said the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 "that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."

That last bit is particularly amusing. Or not.

happy birthday redsock

Happy Birthday to my best friend! He's no longer Pedro age, now he's Lyndon age.

in which i turn a corner

I've just completed week five of my first term of graduate school, and I feel as if I've turned a corner. I no longer feel like I'm living someone else's life.

* * * *

My debate went really well, much better than I could have anticipated. That had as much to do with my opponents as anything else. They both read from prepared statements, barely looking up or addressing the room. In their concluding remarks, instead of responding to points raised during the class discussion, they read another prepared statement. They were full of citations and academic jargon, but short on real-life application, and wholly without engagement or passion.

But even without that contrast, I felt good. I had a good command of my material, I moved smoothly from point to point, I was able to amend my statement to address new points raised in the discussion.

In the pre-debate poll, the class was split: 15 agreed with the statement "copyright is obsolete", 11 opposed, and five were on the fence. After the debate, 11 people agreed, one person was on the fence and 19 opposed. So I had a modest win in those terms, too.

This "win" was a bit more impressive. There are two open-source activists in the class, who came fully prepared to argue against copyright. What my debate opponents lacked in practical application and passion, these two young women supplied. It was really four against one.

I am thrilled to get this over with! And I actually now see the value in the debate format. It does stimulate valuable discussion that the other class lacks. It connects the theoretical concepts to their practical application in our lives. I still dislike the format, but now I can just relax and participate for the rest of the term. Whew!

* * * *

I also got my first paper back: a B. It's only the first paper of my first term, so it's possible my grades will improve as I go along. However, I've decided that if they don't, if I go through grad school as a B student, that will be fine.

I'm unwilling to - absolutely, firmly, will not - put any more time into classes than I'm doing right now. So if that means getting Bs, Bs it will be. As or Bs, I'll graduate, I'll get my Masters degree, and I'll start a new career.

I was mostly an A student in university, and that was before the days of grade inflation. I worked hard for those As - the first time I had ever worked at school in my life - and I enjoyed it. But that was long ago, a different person with different goals, needs, priorities. If the same amount of reading and writing now yields As, that will be fine. If it yields Bs, I'm fine with it.

* * * *

And lastly, but perhaps most importantly, I feel comfortable with my classmates now. I feel a part of things - as much as I want to, anyway. This reminds me that some of my feelings of outsider-ness are my own doing. I have a tendency to move through worlds without being fully part of them. But I'm friendly with a few classmates, I feel comfortable chatting a bit before and after class, and the whole experience is becoming integrated for me.

Next week I'm going to try to attend a Campaign meeting, and see if I can add that back in. I really miss it, but I'm not sure my energy level will permit it.

In the coming weeks, I may be even more absent from wmtc than I have been. I have another paper to write, and when that's done, I want to write an essay, for here and elsewhere. I have a little break between papers and I'd like to see if I can still write.

"he only raped one little girl"

Calvin Trillin: "What Whoopi Goldberg ('Not a Rape-Rape'), Harvey Weinstein ('So-Called Crime') et al. Are Saying in Their Outrage Over the Arrest of Roman Polanski".

Many thanks to JohnGoldfine for sending.

interview with war resister skyler james

AutoStraddle - "News, Entertainment and Girl-on-Girl Culture" - has an excellent interview with war resister Skyler James.

Skyler James grew up believing that joining the military "was the best thing you could do to make your parents and your country proud." Now 21, James was denied the DADT discharge she expected and wants you to know the true story of her appeal to Canada for asylum.

When Private Bethany Smith, now known as Skyler James, 21, was outed as a lesbian by her comrades, she expected her "Don't Ask Don't Tell" discharge to follow shortly afterwards. It didn't. Instead, James, who was 19 at the time, was told they'd "deal with the paperwork" following her next turn in Afghanistan. In the ensuing time, James endured so much harassment and persecution in the US Army that she went AWOL and fled for Canada, where she wants to stay and is seeking refugee status.

Read the interview here.

movie season, way too soon

I didn't think movie season would begin before the ALCS! This morning I'm still cursing and sulking about the Red Sox. Seriously, you have no idea how difficult it is to write this post as anything but an incoherent string of profanities.

Moving on...

Last night I reactivated my Zip account. Zip still is but a pale imitation of Netflix, but it's also still the best of my options. And this is my annual post where you tell me what movies you loved over the last six months or so.

Baseball season started just as Waltz With Bashir and Slumdog Millionaire came out, so those are first and second on my Ziplist right now.

I'm behind one Futurama movie, and I have to check if any of our favourite filmmakers came out with anything new: Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, John Sayles, Walter Salles, Woody Allen... others.

Food Inc is due out on DVD soon. Other titles I saved from last year: Sugar, Tulpan, One Week, Adventureland, Stone of Destiny, Anvil. Allan's been adding to the list all winter, so most of it will be a surprise.

For what I like, or perhaps to compare your list to mine, here are the "we movie to canada awards": the movies I liked best for 2008, and the two previous years.

i hate baseball

Dear Everyone I Told I Would Be Busy Watching Baseball In October:

I will now have plenty of time.

The Red Sox were down two games in a five-game series to start the day. We knew - we absolutely knew - they would come back to win. They have done it so many times before, against better teams than this.

The Sox took an early lead, added to it, and held it with ease. Posting in our gamethread, I was all set to type (referring to Game 4), "IF NECESSARY??? IT'S NECESSARY, BABY!!!"

Then, in a repeat performance of the JoS1 game in July, Jonathan Papelbon, our once-reliable closer, allowed two runners to score in the eighth. Our lead was down to one run, but we would have still won the game.

Then in the ninth, needing only one more strike for the Red Sox to win, Paps allowed three more runs.

The Angels move on to the ALCS.

And I start movie season.

Go Dodgers.

shministim letter 2009-10

I've blogged before about the shministim, Israeli youth who are refusing to participate in the Palestinian occupation. What I didn't know is that the word shministim is Hebrew for twelth graders - high school seniors - the age at which Israelis are required to serve in the military. In a sense, the name shministim equates war resistance with coming of age.

This year's crop of shministim has a new public letter. You can sign to show your support. An excerpt:

Out of sense of responsibility and concern for the two nations that live in this country, we cannot stand idle. We were born into a reality of occupation, and many of our generation see this as a "natural" state. In Israeli society it is a matter of fact that at 18, every young man and woman partakes in military service. However, we cannot ignore the truth - the occupation is an extreme situation, violent, racist, inhuman, illegal, non democratic, and immoral, that is life threatening for both nations. We that have been brought up on values of liberty, justice, righteousness and peace cannot accept it.

Our objection to becoming soldiers of the occupation stems from our loyalty to our values and to the society surrounding us, and it is part of our ongoing struggle for peace and equality, a struggle whose Jewish-Arab nature proves that peace and co-existence is possible. This is our way, and we are willing to pay the price.

Sign here.

Also: Why We Refuse.

the red menace

I hope by now you've all seen the sarcastic piece from SF Gate making the obvious point that public libraries are hotbeds of radical socialism.

For far too long, this menace has undermined the very foundations of our economy. While companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble struggle valiantly each day to sell books, these communistic cabals known as libraries undercut the hard work of good corporate citizens by letting people read their books for free. How is the private sector supposed to compete with free? And just what does this public option give us? People can spend hours and hours in these dens of socialism without having to buy so much as a cappuccino. Furthermore, not only can anyone read books for free in the library, they can take them home, too. They get a simple card that can be used at any library in town. No checking on the previous condition of books they've read. No literacy test. Nothing. Yet, do these libertines of literature let you choose any book you want, anytime you want it? No. Have you ever tried to get the latest best-seller at a public library? They put you on a waiting list for that, my friend. And if you do ask these government apparatchiks a question about a book, they start talking your ear off, and pretty soon they're telling you what to read.

But have you thought about that other red menace, the US Congress? "Socialized Medicine is Good Enough for Congress," from Matthew Yglesias:

What's noteworthy here isn't just the existence of the perk, it's the specific form. Congress could have voted itself higher salaries. Or better travel benefits. Or larger appropriations so the congressional cafeterias can serve better food. But or just more generous health insurance. But what they wanted here was socialized medicine — health care that's not only financed by the state but directly provided by government employees. This kind of state-provided health care is basically universal in the UK, it accounts for an important chunk of the health care in Sweden, and it's what we give to our veterans in the United States. But most members of congress claim regard it as a horrifying prospect. And yet in practice they appear to like it just fine.

Thanks to Joe Grav.

you call this legal? new oklahoma forced-pregnancy law

It's not the first time this has come up, and it won't stand up in court, but this time it actually got passed into law. See JJ on Oklahoma's attempt to intimidate women into self-induced abortions.

I'm reminded of Margaret Wente's characterization of "Except for a few backwaters in the United States...". That's some swamp you got there.

fear less. live more.

Marge Simpson on the cover of Playboy is getting a lot of attention, but here's something even hotter.

Sarah Reinertsen, an amputee athlete, is one of six athletes featured - nude - on different covers of ESPN Magazine's "Body Issue". See Sarah's cover here.

I wrote about Sarah a long time ago for Sports Illustrated for Kids, and blogged about her disability pride. Many people know her from "The Amazing Race," which I've never seen.

Here's her website. "Fear Less. Live More." I like it.

why are my tax dollars being used to prop up canwest?

The CBC and the National Post newspaper have announced a deal to share sports and financial coverage across their media platforms.

Effective immediately, CBC.ca will feature financial stories and podcasts from the Financial Post while nationalpost.com will include daily stories from CBC Sports.

The print version of the paper will also periodically include CBC Sports material, the two organizations said in a joint statement issued Thursday afternoon.

Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president of CBC English Services, described the deal as "an attractive arrangement for both organizations.

"As Canada's national public broadcaster, we have an unsurpassed reputation in the field of sports reporting, which will be available to more Canadians through the Post's readership. CBC.ca's financial news content will be enhanced by one of Canada's most trusted and respected sources of business news," he said in a statement.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"This partnership builds on key strengths of two great news organizations," said National Post president and CEO Paul Godfrey. "Together, we will provide Canadians the best in business and sports news."

"An attractive arrangement for both organizations"? As a CBC "shareholder" - i.e., taxpayer - I disagree! Why are my tax dollars being used to prop up this right-wing media rag? And why wasn't the public consulted?

Here's another laugher: ""This partnership builds on key strengths of two great news organizations". CBC can't be two great news organizations, can it? Who's the other one?

the price of the olympics? free speech

I used to love the Olympics. Now I see the Games for the corrupt, nationalistic, sycophantic, hypocritical, corporate boondoggle that they have become. I love celebrating human achievement and athleticism, but this is not how to do it.

Note how in this story, those of us who value freedom of expression and the right to dissent are referred to as "civil libertarians".

A proposed B.C. law would allow municipal officials to enter homes to seize unauthorized and possibly anti-Olympic signs on short notice, civil libertarians say.

Violators could be fined up to $10,000 a day and jailed up to six months, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said Friday.

The proposed law was introduced Thursday as a bill to amend the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act.

The government said in a statement that the changes will "provide the municipalities of Vancouver, Richmond and Whistler with temporary enforcement powers to enable them to swiftly remove illegal signs and graffiti during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games."

"The legislation does not change the existing scope of authority to regulate signs and graffiti. Rather, it provides, on a temporary basis, a faster way of removing signs and graffiti that violate municipal bylaws during the short period the Games are underway."

Bill Bennett, the minister of community and rural development, said that given the short duration of the Olympics, the cities of Richmond, Whistler, and Vancouver must be able to enforce their own bylaws quickly.

"That to me seems like a reasonable thing to do when you've got the Olympic games lasting 20-odd days," Bennett said.

"You've got the potential for some businesses to try and exploit the games logo without having paid for the rights to do that. I think its a reasonable thing for communities to want to remove those kinds of signs, and to remove them before then end of the Olympic Games."

Civil rights group concerned

But that explanation didn't sit well with civil liberties advocates, who said that if the law passes, municipalities would need to enact their own bylaws to take advantage of their new powers, and that the new powers go further than the government suggests, particularly in Vancouver.

The city passed the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games bylaw in June to restrict the distribution and exhibition of unapproved advertising material and signs in any Olympic area during the Games.

City officials have said the law is intended to clamp down on so-called ambush marketing, and it includes an exception for celebratory signs, which are defined as those that celebrate the 2010 Winter Games and create or add to the festive atmosphere.


. . .
Court challenge launched

Earlier this week, the association helped two anti-Olympics activists launch a legal challenge of Vancouver's 2010 Olympics bylaw in B.C. Supreme Court, claiming it was an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson says he's still studying the issue.

"Certainly, groups such as civil liberties have the right to challenge the laws, the bylaws that are made, so we'll respect that process and hopefully it makes those laws stronger and more reasonable," Robertson said.

The association is suspicious of the timing of the provincial bill's introduction so close to the Olympic games, which have been planned for years.

"We've seen them timing things so that they don't put in place laws that are special to the Olympics until the last minute," Holmes said. "And part of that leads to the suspicion that they've done it in a calculated and deliberate way, to remove the ability of the courts, and people who might want to take it to court, to have their rights protected."

Anti-Olympic activists involved in the legal challenge have also said they and their family and friends are being subject to unreasonable harassment and surveillance by the Olympic security unit.

stunned and appalled, but there is precedent (updated)

I've rarely been more surprised than I was to learn that US President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The award would be more fitting if Obama actually took a few major steps towards ending either of the current US wars of aggression. Or one major step. Or one step.

Then again, Henry Kissinger was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, the award that caused Tom Lehrer to famously say, "It was at that moment that satire died. There was nothing more to say after that."

I don't know if a famous quote will emerge from this year's award, but it again tarnishes the Nobel Peace Prize.

One might hope Obama would feel an obligation to live up the potential of the Prize. But it's perhaps better to hope for Santa Claus.

Update. Please see comments for important links, plus the presidential precedent.

ankle update and info

I'm posting this because it may be useful to anyone searching for information related to ankle injuries.

A while back, a kind reader (a former librarian) sent me a story on exercises to improve balance and strengthen the ankle. Another reader kindly offered to lend me an ankle brace that she wore after surgery. I posted about it here.

Yesterday I had a physio appointment for my ongoing repetitive-stress injury (neck, shoulder, upper back, chest muscles, collar bone), and I thought I'd ask her about my ankle. She suggested I continue doing my shoulder and neck exercises on my own, and we spend the session on the ankle.

The most important thing I learned is that those balance exercises aren't intended for a recently injured ankle. If the ankle is still painful and swollen, you don't do any weight-bearing exercises. I'm not suggesting the helpful reader said otherwise, but I was all gung-ho to begin.

The physiotherapist gave me some very subtle but difficult exercises to strengthen the muscles, things like crunching a towel with your toes, and pretending to write the alphabet with your big toe.

She also nixed the idea of a brace, as she doesn't want to immobilize the joint. The elastic-support sock that I'm already wearing is the way to go.

This therapist is amazing. Doing manual manipulation, she uses such subtle motions, I hardly feel a thing, but the results are dramatic. I wish I could afford to go more often.

al franken, hero for justice

I hope you've all heard about this by now, but just in case...

Remember Jamie Leigh Jones? Jones was gang-raped by Halliburton/KBR coworkers in Iraq. The company colluded with their federal-government funders to cover up the incident. I've blogged about Jones several times; links to background below.

From Think Progress:

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR "if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." Speaking on the Senate floor yesterday, Franken said:

"The constitution gives everybody the right to due process of law... And today, defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts do deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court.... The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen."

. . .

On the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) spoke against the amendment, calling it "a political attack directed at Halliburton." Franken responded, "This amendment does not single out a single contractor. This amendment would defund any contractor that refuses to give a victim of rape their day in court."

In the end, Franken won the debate. His amendment passed by a 68-30 vote, earning the support of 10 Republican senators including that of newly-minted Florida Sen. George LeMieux. "He did what a senator should do, which was he was working it," LeMieux said in praise of Franken. "He was working for his amendment."

Appearing with Franken after the vote, an elated Jones expressed her deep appreciation. "It means the world to me," she said of the amendment's passage. "It means that every tear shed to go public and repeat my story over and over again to make a difference for other women was worth it."

Now I'm going to do something I haven't done since leaving the US: send a US senator a thank you note. Al Franken is a hero for justice.

Think Progress has video of his speech from the Senate: go here.

Background on Jamie Leigh Jones from this blog:

those pesky rape kits, they're always disappearing: the incident and initial cover-up.

more on jamie leigh jones's struggle for justice: DoD and DoJ response.

u.s. dod will not investigate kbr gang-rape case: DoD says "who cares".

jamie leigh jones and at least 38 others: Jones has set up a foundation to help others in the same situation; at least 38 women have come forward through her efforts. More than two years after the Jones's assault, no criminal charges have been brought.

state of the planet: women in war, rape as a weapon: whether soldiers, employees or members of an invaded population, women in war are targets, rape is the weapon of choice.

a step towards justice for jamie leigh jones: A judge rules that her case will be ruled in public court, rather than the closed arbitration hearings that Halliburton and KBR insist on.

war resisters legal defense is back!

We're now using ChipIn, which appears to be safe and reliable. They don't charge a fee, and the Campaign can collect all money we raise, whether or not we meet our goal.

Please give and circulate widely. Thank you!

You can click here, or go to resisters.chipin.com.

october starts tonight

The baseball post-season started yesterday, and tonight the Red Sox begin their division series against the Angels, a team located somewhere in Southern California. (Precisely where changes annually.)

It's been a roller-coaster of a season for our Sox; I'll be watching every post-season game with my heart pounding. And of course, with my Joy of Sox friends.

The first challenge, for me, is the west-coast start time. This is the one time of year when I make a pot of coffee at night.

why activism matters

Documents released today show that the Conservative government has taken more of an interest in Omar Khadr than they publicly admit. This detail from the CBC story jumped out at me.

Nolke [a member of the Foreign Affairs department] also took special interest in a flurry of public correspondence in February 2008, asking a colleague: "Of the 262 letters on Omar Khadr, how many were pro (eg. 'child soldier,' 'bring him back') and how many were con ('keep the terrorist at GTMO')?"

This is proof of why we should speak out, especially if we believe our view is held by the majority. It may feel like we're hitting a brick wall, but our opinions are being noticed. Omar Khadr is not back in Canada yet, but without all the people speaking out on his behalf, he might never be.

This private recognition by the government is not the only reason to raise our voices in protest. I believe we should stand for justice no matter who is listening. As Gandhi said, "You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result." But those results may be - probably are - cumulative. And invisible for a long time.

Another detail from the CBC story:

The Canadian Press obtained hundreds of pages of heavily censored records about the Khadr case from the Foreign Affairs Department. It took a complaint to the federal information commissioner to dislodge the files, initially requested in early May 2008.

You may recall the War Resisters Support Campaign has had a similar experience.

Keep those cards and letters coming, folks. Speak loudly, speak often. Don't give up.

"can i pet him?"

The incomparable Improv Everywhere had 2,000 people walk invisible dogs.

Thanks to imp strump.

somebody throw me a line

There is so much to read, so many papers to write. I'm having trouble keeping up, and compared to many of my classmates, I seem to be way ahead. Everyone is drowning.

Everyone's annoyed, too. The four courses in the "core curriculum" have a huge amount of overlap, and most of it is so theoretical. It's getting on our nerves. I'm not worried, as many people are, that we won't be prepared for our chosen professions. It's just difficult to stay engaged.

It seems that most students have given up on trying to get all the reading done. I may have to go that route, but I don't like the idea. I've already gone from reading carefully to reading quickly to skimming. I don't want to skip articles altogether.

But it's not just the readings I'm skimming. I feel like I'm skimming everything in my life. I prefer to do fewer things and focus more, rather than spread myself too thin. But I'm loathe to cut out anything else.

periodic table of visualization methods

Something I was introduced to today: A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods.

Hover over boxes for different ways to help groups of people visualize, discuss, process and decide. Some of them are very creative.

And of course the whole thing is visualized using another method. The chart was created by Ralph Lengler and Martin Eppler, of Visual Literacy.

ssod

Search string of the day:

desperately want to leave the u.s.

I know how you feel. Best of luck.

more from the police state

It's a good thing people keep track of this stuff and post it online. Or else how would we ever know this was going on?

On October 1st, 2009, at 6:00am, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (a union of local police departments and the FBI), kicked out the front door to our home—an anarchist collective house in Queens, NY, affectionately known as Tortuga. The first crashes of the battering ram were quickly followed by more upstairs, as the police broke in on 3 sleeping people, destroying bedroom doors that were unlocked.

Three more people, awoken by the most unpleasant means of bounding footsteps, splintering wood, and shouting voices, waited in the basement—their turn at drawn guns and blinding lights came quickly.

We put our hands out where they could see them. They ordered us out of bed. They wouldn't let us dress, but they did put a random assortment of clothes on some people. We were handcuffed, and although the upstairs and downstairs groups were kept separate initially, we were soon all together, sitting in the living room, positioned like dolls on the couches and chairs. We were in handcuffs for several hours, and we were helpless as our little bird, a Finch we had rescued and were rehabilitating, flew out the open door to certain death, after his cage had been battered by the cops in their zeal to open the upstairs bedroom doors by force. We shouted at them, but they stood there and watched.

And they stood and watched us for hours and hours and hours. 16 hours to be precise, 16 hours of the NYPD and FBI traipsing through our house, confiscating our lives in a fishing expedition related to the G20 protests of September 24th and 25th. The search warrant, when we were finally allowed to read it, mentioned violation of federal rioting laws and was vague enough to allow the entire house to be searched. They kept repeating that we were not arrested, that we were free to go. But being free meant being watched by the FBI, monitored while using the bathroom, not allowed to make phone calls for hours or to observe them ransacking our rooms. Being free meant they took two of us away on bullshit summonses, and even though this was our house, where we lived, if we left, we could not re-enter.

Many thanks to Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing, and to James for sending.

I confess I had never heard of SteamPunk before this. It sounds like an interesting movement, but it hardly makes any difference. They aren't terrorists. They aren't a security threat. Protest is supposed to be legal in the United States. It's supposed to be a constitutionally protected right.

m.p. gerard kenney responds to national post

The National Post, predictably, has been running editorials opposing Bill C-440, which would allow US war resisters to stay in Canada. Today Gerard Kennedy, who put forth the bill, replies.

Have the years since the Vietnam War really made us that much more timid as a people?

A generation ago, Canada accepted thousands of "draft-dodgers" and also thousands of resisters who left active military service in the United States because of that conflict.

Today, the Canadian government of the day resorts to smears and innuendo to stifle even a debate on our reaction to the 200-300 American service people from the Iraq War who are looking for asylum in Canada, with official spokespersons throwing around vile words like rapists and terrorists. It is sad, the Harper government doesn't have the courage of its convictions to debate the issue openly on its merits but sadder still if Canadians don't insist on such a debate.

The facts of my private member's bill, Bill C-440, are plain: It would create grounds for humanitarian consideration for permanent residence in Canada. The narrow grounds would be a finding of genuine moral or conscientious objection to leave the armed services in a war not sanctioned by the United Nations (such as the Iraq War), and subject to compulsion by way of return to service or stop-loss (a controversial U. S. measure that forced military personnel back into war zones even after their service was concluded). All the other protections to screen out unwelcome elements remain in place; anyone who has a prior criminal record would not be considered (eliminating the rapist canard raised by the Harper government). National security or human rights concerns, or even considerations of health, finances or inadmissible family members, would also all still be criteria used to screen people.

The purpose of my bill is clear: to let a Canadian sensibility prevail with respect to the U. S. service people who were in a moral quandary because of the Iraq War. The House of Commons has already pronounced in favour of Iraq War resisters on two occasions. The Harper government, however, has poisoned the fairness of tribunal hearings with public pronouncements calling people "cowards" and "illegitimate claimants" by the same minister who hires and fires the officials who hear the claims.

I have been impressed by the sense of honour that is evident when I meet Iraq war resisters in my riding and across the country, and the significant sacrifices they have made in leaving their country of birth and the U. S. armed services they had served, some for decades. Similarly, I have been impressed with the selfless character of the hard-working all-volunteer support group of Canadians who have taken up their cause. I contrast these qualities with the reprehensible tactics of the officials from the Harper government. The damage is not to war resisters but to all Canadians who from time to time should join the discussion of who we collectively welcome to become Canadians and why.

I encourage all Canadians to be neither fooled nor intimidated by the Harper government's attempted manipulations and join the debate on whichever side they choose but in the spirit of open discussion in which this bill is intended.

comments are not functioning

Blogger comment moderation isn't working. Comments are being held in moderation, but we can't see them or put them through - since yesterday afternoon.

Very annoying!

in which i take a day off

Guess what I did today? I took a day off!

This was the first day I haven't done any work for school since I started. It's the beginning of Week 4 and I was feeling very put-upon. I felt like autumn - by far my favourite season - would pass me by while I was toiling away over "Critical Theory in Information Infrastructure". It was time for a hike.

Allan, Cody, Tala and I went to Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area, one of the parks in the Halton region, a little west and north of us. Last year we hiked at Hilton Falls, also in Halton. It was so nearby, relatively speaking, that I wanted to check out some of the others.

Rattlesnake Point is on the Niagara Escarpment, which gives it beautiful views. It's a popular spot for rock climbing and caving. We walked along the ridge line, a pleasant stroll in the quiet of the woods, my favourite decompressor.

I had heard of the "historic village of Campbellville," so we were hoping for a pub. But the historic Campbellvillians must drive a ways for a pint, because all we found was a luncheonette kind of place. We saw some lovely old homes, though - a beautiful change from the suburban sameness of Mississauga - and Milton, for that matter, which is gobbling up the farmland all around the Halton Conservation Areas.

We were only gone for a few hours, but it was so refreshing.

Click for better views. You might be able to spy Lake Ontario in the distance.

blogger's back, but fundable is no more

Everyone who emailed or left comments telling me Fundable was down was right. You can access the page, but the donation function has been disabled.

Anyone who already gave through the Fundable site, your credit card or PayPal account should not be charged. If it is, let me know!

Hold on to your money, folks. We'll soon have a new way for you to contribute.

the national post needs a fact checker

Here's a first for me: a letter in the National Post. (Non-Canadian readers: imagine the Wall Street Journal without the talent.)

The Post ran a nauseating column against Bill C-440 - the latest in a series. Here's my reply. The sentence in brackets was cut; apparently snark only flies in one direction.

I'm loathe to link to the original column, but if you have a strong stomach, search the Post site for "give me your stoned".

[Lorne Gunter may know how to be clever and sarcastic, but he clearly does not know how to check the facts.]

During the Vietnam War, Canada accepted both "draft dodgers" and soldiers who had volunteered. Of the approximately 50,000 Americans who came to Canada during that era, it is estimated that around 10,000 were volunteers. When those soldiers saw what was happening in Vietnam, they decided to follow their consciences rather than the law.

At that time, no distinction was made between conscripts and volunteers. Canada welcomed them, as Canada should welcome their present-day counterparts now. No one should spend one day in prison because they refuse to participate in an illegal and immoral war against a civilian population.

Canada was once a "refuge from militarism," to quote Pierre Trudeau -- and should be again.

Laura Kaminker
Mississauga, Ont.

While I'm on the subject, I'll make another bid for letters to newspapers in support of C-440. It's an important piece of increased visibility. If you believe US war resisters should be allowed to stay in Canada, perhaps you will take a few minutes and tell your local newspaper just that. C-440 facts here (pdf).

information debate: copyright is obsolete

Both of my classes this term have a lecture component, in a large auditorium, and a small-class "tutorial" for discussion. I find it very annoying, since for two classes I have to be in the classroom on four separate occasions.

One of my tutorials is structured as a series of debates. From a list of topics, we each chose a proposition, and signed up to argue for or against. We meet with our debate partner to prepare, then engage in a formal debate for the class. Our own debate, plus participation in the rest of the debates, constitutes 15% of our grade for the course.

Most people seriously dislike this format, and wish the profs had decided on a discussion format instead. But I find it very interesting why most people feel this way: because they dread speaking in front of the class.

I understand that the fear of public speaking is widespread, but it's difficult for me to see speaking to a class of 20 people as public speaking. I'm fortunate that I conquered my fear of public speaking by doing it, repeatedly - and often baring very personal feelings to a large audience. So chatting in front of a class is not a big deal for me. But I see I am in the minority there!

The debate topics are drawn loosely from the week's reading. Some examples: "The internet is inherently ungovernable," "Information wants to be free," "'One Laptop per Child' is a neo-colonial Trojan horse," "We live in a surveillance society, "You have zero privacy anyway, get over it".

I've signed up for "Copyright is obsolete".

Turns out I'm lucky. One person switched to a different tutorial, so there are only three of us, rather than two teams of two. The professor said that two- or three-people groups should decide for themselves how they want to structure their debate, and our three-person team decided we will all debate both for and against. I like this!

I don't know if this will fly, but I'd like to open up comments to this topic. "Copyright is obsolete". For or against, and why?

the dumb country i am from

Paul Krugman: Party of Beavis and Butt-head. Follow the link to TPM to see the adolescent behaviour that passes as political discourse in that country.

Canadians love to say our Parliamentarians are acting like children. But at least they're Canadian children.

heroes for the planet strike again in alberta

These people are awesome! This is Greenpeace's third big public action in Alberta in three weeks.

Greenpeace Canada, by the way, supports war resisters. When you remember why the US invaded Iraq, it's not difficult to make the connection.

Story: Global CTV, CBC, Globe and Mail.

the police state i am from

Did you see this?

G20 protesters blasted by sonic cannon

Only a few hundreds protesters took to the streets of Pittsburgh to mark the opening day of the G20 summit of world leaders, but the police were taking no chances.

Sonic weapons or long-range acoustic devices have been used by the US military overseas, notably against Somali pirates and Iraqi insurgents.

But US security forces turned the piercing sound on their own citizens to widespread outrage. Pittsburgh officials said that it was the first time the "sound cannon" had been used publicly.

Video here and here.

This has been sitting in my inbox for a few days, sent to me by James. I think it's pretty horrifying, and I planned to post it.

Then late last night after work, mindlessly flipping channels looking for some "fall asleep" TV, I caught Jon Stewart skewering it on The Daily Show. ("Dudes, they're anarchists, they'll be downloading that for their ring tone!") So I thought, I guess everyone knows about this already, and I missed it.

But after doing a few searches this morning, I think it's more likely everyone but Jon Stewart missed it.

It was reported by The Guardian in the UK - that's linked in the blog post above - and the same post post made its way into BoingBoing, fortunately. Progressive and protest sites wrote about it, specialized websites (law enforcement, prison, technology) picked it up, and a few wingnuts cackled about protesters getting what they deserved. Local Pittsburgh media reported on it, which is often how we find out about these things (thank you, internet).

BoingBoing linked to this New York Times story, but the story doesn't seem to come up in any search. (Does it for you?)

I found nothing on CNN. For CNN to report that protesters were hit with sonic cannons would mean that (a) CNN would have to acknowledge that there are protests, and (b) they'd have to acknowledge those protesters are not always granted their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Much safer to stick to celebrity gossip and Where The White Women At.

Just another day in the police state.

bff

Watch this lovely story of friendship and love.

banned books week

September 26 to October 3 is Banned Books Week, which celebrates the freedom to read.

Freedom to read is intimately related to one of our most basic and important freedoms: intellectual freedom. The freedom to think and express our thoughts - without religious, governmental, societal, familial or any other type of barriers or constraints - is a human right. And it's a human right that is constantly abridged or attacked somewhere on this planet.

In the US, the top ten books that were banned or challenged in 2008, are listed here. You can also click on the top ten list going back to 2001, along with lists by title, author and such.

The American Library Association has a map of book challenges reported in the US in 2008, organized geographically, although it also says 70-80 percent of challenges are never reported. In case you have some skewed notion of where intellectual freedom is threatened in the United States, click here and wait for it to load.

I'm sorry I didn't mention this sooner, but blame you-know-what. In honour of Banned Books Week, I'm going to read something by Francesca Lia Block, a young-adult author whose honest portrayals of teenage sexuality frequently land her work on the List. And whose excellent writing and well-published status make me jealous.

welcome back ardi

A fossilized skeleton of an early human ancestor has been found in Ethiopa. The discovery - nicknamed "Ardi" for Ardipithecus ramidus - is one million years older than the previously oldest found skeleton, the one known as Lucy. From National Geographic:

Scientists today announced the discovery of the oldest fossil skeleton of a human ancestor. The find reveals that our forebears underwent a previously unknown stage of evolution more than a million years before Lucy, the iconic early human ancestor specimen that walked the Earth 3.2 million years ago.

The centerpiece of a treasure trove of new fossils, the skeleton—assigned to a species called Ardipithecus ramidus—belonged to a small-brained, 110-pound (50-kilogram) female nicknamed "Ardi."

The fossil puts to rest the notion, popular since Darwin's time, that a chimpanzee-like missing link — resembling something between humans and today's apes — would eventually be found at the root of the human family tree. Indeed, the new evidence suggests that the study of chimpanzee anatomy and behavior—long used to infer the nature of the earliest human ancestors—is largely irrelevant to understanding our beginnings.

(Interactive time line: how the Ardipithecus ramidus discovery changes human evolutionary theory.)

Ardi instead shows an unexpected mix of advanced characteristics and of primitive traits seen in much older apes that were unlike chimps or gorillas (interactive: Ardi's key features). As such, the skeleton offers a window on what the last common ancestor of humans and living apes might have been like.

Announced at joint press conferences in Washington, D.C., and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the analysis of the Ardipithecus ramidus bones will be published in a collection of papers tomorrow in a special edition of the journal Science, along with an avalanche of supporting materials published online.

"This find is far more important than Lucy," said Alan Walker, a paleontologist from Pennsylvania State University who was not part of the research. "It shows that the last common ancestor with chimps didn't look like a chimp, or a human, or some funny thing in between." (Related: "Oldest Homo Sapiens Fossils Found, Experts Say" [June 11, 2003].)

Ardi Surrounded by Family

The Ardipithecus ramidus fossils were discovered in Ethiopia's harsh Afar desert at a site called Aramis in the Middle Awash region, just 46 miles (74 kilometers) from where Lucy's species, Australopithecus afarensis, was found in 1974. Radiometric dating of two layers of volcanic ash that tightly sandwiched the fossil deposits revealed that Ardi lived 4.4 million years ago.

Older hominid fossils have been uncovered, including a skull from Chad at least six million years old and some more fragmentary, slightly younger remains from Kenya and nearby in the Middle Awash.

While important, however, none of those earlier fossils are nearly as revealing as the newly announced remains, which in addition to Ardi's partial skeleton include bones representing at least 36 other individuals.

"All of a sudden you've got fingers and toes and arms and legs and heads and teeth," said Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, who co-directed the work with Berhane Asfaw, a paleoanthropologist and former director of the National Museum of Ethiopia, and Giday WoldeGabriel, a geologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

"That allows you to do something you can't do with isolated specimens," White said. "It allows you to do biology."

That National Geographic story has lots more, plus excellent links. This short video from CBC News is also good.

Some years ago, I read and blogged briefly about Origins Reconsidered (here, and again here), written by Richard Leakey, son of pioneering paleontologists Mary and Louis Leakey, with science writer Roger Lewin.

I loved thinking about these early hominids as our ancestors - remembering that every human on this earth shares a common link, all of us one species. We share much more than that, of course. We share all the human emotions and desires, we share this planet, we share all our incredible human capacities, for better and worse. But I found something very profound, almost spiritual, in contemplating the fact that every single one of us, every human that has ever inhabited this planet, is part of the same huge family tree.

I saw this story on "The National" last night, which brings me to something else I appreciated: the story was reported with no mention of so-called controversy or other so-called theories. I know those kooks exist in Canada, but CBC doesn't put on them on the news unless it's a story about "creationists". In the US, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a TV news outlet that doesn't include ignorant wackos in their story on this, or at least incorrectly emphasize that evolution is a "theory," misusing the word.

wtf fundable?!

Go to the Fundable home page! Wow!

If you made a donation to the War Resisters Support Campaign through our Fundable page, we're assuming that the whole thing will just disappear and no one will be charged. If that's not the case, I'll be the first to know, as I was the first donation. If anything fishy happens, we'll take action at that time.

And meanwhile, the Campaign needs money! We have to figure that out, too.

This is crazy!

october 7: canada out of afghanistan

October 7, 2009 is the 8-year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. Eight years! And for what?

This is a war that can't be won. Indeed, no one can even define what winning would look like. (Except perhaps turning Afghanistan into a US colony.)

Last week, when General Stanley McChrystal's assessment on the situation in Afghanistan was leaked to The Washington Post, there were no great surprises, just some very telling conclusions.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan warns in an urgent, confidential assessment of the war that he needs more forces within the next year and bluntly states that without them, the eight-year conflict "will likely result in failure," according to a copy of the 66-page document obtained by The Washington Post.

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says emphatically: "Failure to gain the initiative and reverse insurgent momentum in the near-term (next 12 months) -- while Afghan security capacity matures -- risks an outcome where defeating the insurgency is no longer possible."

. . .

But he repeatedly warns that without more forces and the rapid implementation of a genuine counterinsurgency strategy, defeat is likely. McChrystal describes an Afghan government riddled with corruption and an international force undermined by tactics that alienate civilians.

This calls to mind the definition of insanity that's often (although perhaps falsely) attributed to Albert Einstein: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. War's not working? Then we need more war!

Another telling admission appears a bit later in the WaPo story.

The assessment offers an unsparing critique of the failings of the Afghan government, contending that official corruption is as much of a threat as the insurgency to the mission of the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, as the U.S.-led NATO coalition is widely known.

"The weakness of state institutions, malign actions of power-brokers, widespread corruption and abuse of power by various officials, and ISAF's own errors, have given Afghans little reason to support their government," McChrystal says.

. . . .

McChrystal is equally critical of the command he has led since June 15. The key weakness of ISAF, he says, is that it is not aggressively defending the Afghan population. "Pre-occupied with protection of our own forces, we have operated in a manner that distances us -- physically and psychologically -- from the people we seek to protect. . . . The insurgents cannot defeat us militarily; but we can defeat ourselves."

McChrystal continues: "Afghan social, political, economic, and cultural affairs are complex and poorly understood. ISAF does not sufficiently appreciate the dynamics in local communities, nor how the insurgency, corruption, incompetent officials, power-brokers, and criminality all combine to affect the Afghan population."

Afghan social, political, economic, and cultural affairs are complex and poorly understood.

This speaks volumes - huge, doorstop tomes - about US foreign policy. The people the US has designated as enemies are actually not two-dimensional cartoons called Terrorists (or Communists, depending on the era). Go figure. They have their own history, their own culture, their own multiplicities of perspectives. And the US doesn't understand them. But the US must control them, because it's in their interest to do so.

Even the passive-voice phrasing - "are complex and poorly understood" - is illuminating. It's not "ISAF forces do not understand..." or "our command does not understand". No admission, no agency. Simply "...are poorly understood".

Unfortunately for the US, these "complex and poorly understood" cultures - be they Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan - are no more keen on being invaded and occupied than the US would be.

The solution, for McChrystal, is clear: more of the same.

But war is what McChrystal does. Without war, there is no commanding general. Is it surprising that he wants more war?

The US is deeply invested in its war machine, economically and psychologically. The country's identity is largely bound up in war. And as the empire continues to spiral downward, that cannot and will not change.

Canada, however, does not have to follow suit.

On October 7, peace activists across Canada will be organizing, calling for an end to this country's involvement. Calling for peace.

In Toronto, the Toronto Coaltion to Stop the War will be gathering for a candlelight vigil in front of the US Embassy. We'll be handing out leaflets to focus public attention on this seemingly endless war that cannot be won. Join us!

From TCSTW:

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

At 5pm, join us for mass leafleting at the intersection of University Avenue and Queen Street West, where we'll distribute postcards and fact sheets about Afghanistan, produced by the Canadian Peace Alliance.

Then at 7pm, join us for a candlelight vigil just up the street, on the east side of University Avenue, opposite the US Consulate. Join us to remember all those who have died in the war, Afghans and soldiers alike, and to renew our call to end the war and bring the troops home now.

MASS LEAFLETING
5pm to 7pm (join us whenever you have time)
Meet at northwest corner of University Avenue and Queen Street West
TTC: Osgoode

* All materials provided. *

CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
7pm to 8pm
United States Consulate
360 University Avenue
East side of University, south of Armoury
TTC: Osgoode

* Please bring banners and placards. Candles and candle-holders will be provided.*

For more information, and to download materials for any Canadian organizing, see: Canadian Peace Alliance, October 7.