randomWalks

The Secret Service in Durham, NC are investigating a poster (critical of Bush’s Texas executions) on a teenager’s wall, according to the Independent Weekly.

Wild WP joint on Freemasonry.

originally posted by xowie

At her best, which was often, Kael was so brilliantly persuasive on her own terms that she could seem right — right for Pauline Kael — even when wrong by your own standards or, indeed, nearly everyone else's.

originally posted by xowie

Father Mychal Judge, The Firemen’s Friar.

originally posted by xowie

Stamp Backlash Worries Muslims (washingtonpost.com) - Xenophobic philatelists eschew the recently introduced Eid Mubarak postal stamp.

Playing With Fire, for Pesos

Except for the diesel fuel that drips down his chin, the jug of fuel he totes around and the wand of fire he brandishes, Sanchez acts much of the day like a friendly traffic officer, waving pedestrians across his corner of Insurgentes Avenue and Thomas Edison. Although a few passersby hesitate before stepping into the crosswalk where Sanchez is preparing his act, most walk right by without a second glance. He’s far from the only fire-eater in town.

sprawling over four acres north of Cincinnati, Jungle Jim’s is the endpoint of a global network of farmers, suppliers, producers and distributors. Each day, the gates of its loading docks roll open to take in a universe far beyond La Choy and Old El Paso – 110,000 products, fresh and canned, boxed and frozen, shipped in from all over.

“What are we having for dinner?”

“I don’t have anything for you on that at this point in time."

“Well, didn’t you go to the store?"

“I’m not going to discuss tactics, techniques or procedures."

“Well, did you, like, go to the store or not?"

“We have achieved our objectives."

“Did you get the frozen pizza?"

“I’m not going to tell you what those objectives are.”

When Laura Bush delivers her terse radio address on Saturday, November 17, she says nothing of deposed kings or the place of women among Afghanistan’s new government. She does not mention the resolution submitted to Congress by New York Democrat Louise Slaughter and Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen urging that women be leaders in any new government. She does not mention RAWA, and she does not promise the women of Afghanistan that the Northern Alliance will not be permitted to oppress them. She speaks as though women’s liberation is a fait accompli.

originally posted by xowie

America’s hyperreal war on terrorism by Anis Shivani

The best way to understand “America’s new war” is as a convenient legitimizing rubric to extend American economic and military power abroad, and to complete the repressive domestic agenda already set in motion during the post-cold war years in the guise of the “war on drugs.”

In both instances, corporate globalization’s increasingly intolerant attitude toward dissent of any kind is implicated. This is not so much a war against “terrorism,” but a pre-emptive strike against domestic and international opposition to the hegemony of transnational capital in the early years of the twenty-first century. (…)

This is the postmodern form of repression, where terror-originating from the state is completely unlocalized, and it penetrates to the very core of the potential dissenter’s heart and mind, and allows no possible refuge from the panoptical sights of the police state. (…)

In effect, the anti-terrorism legislation of 2001 is analogous to Hitler’s 1933 Enabling Act, converting the hithertofore soft American totalitarian state into a hard one, making explicit by writ of law what was already occurring in terms of supression of free speech, dissent against the corporate global order, and massive inequalities in access to power and justice. The usurpation of the voters' will in the 2000 election was a test-run: since this judicial coup engendered no noticeable dissent among the intelligentsia, press, and common people, the stage was set for an all-out assault on the remaining liberties of the people. (…)

Racial profiling of Arab and Muslim Americans has been endorsed by even liberal Senators. Anti-globalization activists wonder if their shop has been closed for good. The distinctive element of this wave of repression is that it is accompanied by soft talk. The president and his surrogates will continue to make the correct multicultural noises about acceptance of difference, even advocacy of a Palestinian state should that be necessary to buy the short-term allegiance of recalcitrant Muslim states, but the words will be as hollow as the administration’s “compassionate conservative” ideology. As more than $2 trillion was handed out to the richest Americans in a “tax cut” designed to starve the federal government of resources for public spending, the compassionate part of this policy relied on the armies of compassion to rally ordinary people to public service and on so-called faith-based initiatives to handle the welfare discards. (…)

The war on terrorism signifies not a return to multilateralism, as some have suggested, but an escalation of the unilateralist position already taken by conservatives during the first eight months of this administration. “You’re either with us or against us.” Is that multilateralism? The US is only seeking a thin cover for its avowed military and economic goals (including assertion of hegemony in the key, oil-rich Central Asian region), but it is not multilateralism by any means.

The recount report from the national media consortium, using data painstakingly gathered by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), at a cost of almost a million dollars, was finally released. The data provide strong support for reform, as the data demonstrate (among many other things) that:

• our current voting system has class, racial, and disability biases;
• punch card balloting must be eliminated;
• ’second-chance’ technology, which cuts down on overvotes, needs to be available at the precinct level, everywhere;
• provisional voting should be a universal right;
• ballot design should be taken out of the hands of local officials, who may be partisan, incompetent, or just bad designers;
• hand recounts are justified, to ascertain the will of the people;
• voting rights should be restored to felons who have served their time;
• poll workers need (and deserve!) more training; and
• voter education should be a serious and well-funded public obligation.

originally posted by xowie

• Thanks to evil-doers, Eleanor Smeal is hangin' at the White House.
• Feminist Majority Foundation just bought Ms. magazine.
• Interview with Mandy Carter.

originally posted by xowie

The trouble with Harry.

originally posted by xowie

Epic Macy Gray interview.

originally posted by xowie

originally posted by xowie

Leonid viewing info

From the AP:

Astronomers expect this year's Leonid meteor shower to peak during a half-hour period around 5 a.m. EST on Sunday, when as many as 70 meteors a minute could streak across the sky. If the weather is clear, the shower should be visible from all North American locations.

To best view the shower, head to a dark location far from city lights. The meteors should be visible across the sky, appearing to radiate from the east, in the direction of the constellation Leo that gives the shower its name.

Only a lawn chair, warm clothes and the naked eye are required. Binoculars or telescopes are not necessary.

Many astronomy clubs and observatories plan to hold meteor shower-gazing parties.

The most famous depiction of the 1833 leonids was actually produced in 1889 for Bible Readings for the Home Circle.

During the three hours of its continuance, the day of judgment was believed to be only waiting for sunrise, and, long after the shower had ceased, the morbid and superstitious still were impressed with the idea that the final day was at least only a week ahead. Impromptu meetings for prayer were held in many places, and many other scenes of religious devotion, or terror, or abandonment of worldly affairs, transpired, under the influence of fear occasioned by so sudden and awful a display.

Over the centuries, the Leonids have been unpredictable. Even though the Earth passes through the comet's orbit every year, the intensity of the shower depends on the density of the dust stream at that point.

Decades can pass and the Leonids can be anemic, scientists say. Some years, though, most recently in 1966, the shower can be extraordinary, Chester said. Tomorrow's should be, too.

"This is the best shot you're going to have," he said. "If you don't do it now, you're never going to get the opportunity in your lifetime again."

It isn't enough for your heart to break, because everybody's heart is broken now.

Judith’s hotlist for the week.

originally posted by xowie

‘Your job is to say, ‘Fuck you, God! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!’ Because nobody else is going to say it. Our politicians aren’t going to say it. Nobody but the writer is going to say it. There’s time in history when it’s time to praise God, but now is not the time. Now is the time for us to say, ‘Fuck you! I don’t care who your daddy was. Fuck you!’ And get back to our job of writing.’

originally posted by xowie

It says here they are going to bury me in private. Babbs says there's been thousands of e-mails and he wants me to thank you all for writing. Meanwhile, I've still lots of forms to fill out and they're looking for a bigger halo but durned if I'm going to play that harp. I'm holding out for the thunder machine. See you around. — Kesey

I’m feeling an incredible affinity for this job lately -- three day work week, ambling around the city, looking at people in shop windows, dogs, trees, going into everyone’s apartments and seeing how they live, handling thick piles of cash, feeling like a general bad ass.

The kids over at MetaFilter are agitating to start a book club. I’ll be surprised if it happens on mefi proper, as that doesn’t seem to be the way creator Matt Haughey wants to go with mefi, but I’ll be equally surprised if it doesn’t happen somewhere. Mefi has already spun off several projects and communities, and I think there are many more waiting to be born.

If you’re coming from MetaFilter, welcome and make yourself at home. If you want to join in the discussion just email us.

Niem has constructed an ACME Novelty Toy Gallery, assembling the intricate paper designs included in Chris Ware’s ACME books and taking copious loving pictures. This is wonderful.

I’m going to buy some TextAd impressions at MetaFilter, and I need help coming up with a short (50 characters or less) description of randomWalks. Any ideas?

Krazy Kat Archive – “George Herriman’s Krazy Kat (1911), a comic drama of love and rejection in the manner of a surreal commedia dell’arte, proved a hit with intellectuals because of its wit and advanced style.” Via The Blacklist.

A visit to the Brautigan Library by Jessamyn West.

The Working Writer by Susan Wiggs

When I was in graduate school I took a course from B.F. Skinner, the famous behavior scientist, who taught us the importance of PRDs in self-motivation. He suggested rewarding increments of work with single kernels of popcorn. The true artist substitutes M&Ms for popcorn because really, how motivating is dry popcorn, anyway?