Another net bruhaha

Former President Clinton meets with a bunch of Democrat-friendly bloggers in Harlem. A picture is posted. Guess what? Let's meet in Harlem with a bucnh of white people. One of the bloggers who attended is questioned about it. Said blogger goes on the offensive against the blogger who questions him.

Some good posts about it:

the internet, racism and women of color by the Brownfemipower.

Bill Clinton Lunches With Whites. Also, Firedoglake sucks. by Ampersand.

Sometimes It's The Best You Can Do by Bint.

On being Electra or why the Democratic Party continues to suck by Black Amazon.

Diversity in the Blogosphere by Pam’s House Blend.

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I can't saying anything better than these posters have, except that, man the Democratic Party really really sucks at PR. I've been doing political work for over 20 years in one of the whitest states in the nation, and I can't remember the last time I participated in an all-white forum. It's just a stupid thing to do. If it looks like you're going to an all-white event, the thing to do is cancel the event. At the very least, don't take pictures.

The discussion is, however, a good way to view all the different ways we white people react badly to charges of racism and how easy it is to focus on ourselves rather than the issue. I hope to hell someone is listening.

Draft number 2

Not sure of the place as yet. Plus got some suggestions from the committee.

More flyers

Not as busy as usual, but here are a couple of flyers I've done recently.

Jackson Pollock

Turn your internet browser into a Jackson Pollock painting. Got to the web site, move your cursor around. click the mouse to change colors. Have fun!

Activism

On Labor Day, I participated in a rally in St. Paul of a couple of thousand people supporting Immigrant Rights -- both legal and illegal. The rally was a wonderful event.

Last Saturday, I attended a forum on the history of Lebanon and the Israeli occupation that began in 1982 and has yet to end.

Today I went to an anti-war rally on the anniversary of 9/11.

Yet I feel as if I am taking a vacation from activism. The trip to Boston and the focus on typesetting and printing has kept me wrapped up in thoughts and activities on the creative side of my life. The activism has significantly decreased as a result.

I've also read a lot of books lately without blogging about them. None of them were particularly good although all of them were on somebody's recommended list.

My youngest daughter turns 24 on Saturday. Does that make me old?

Nah!

Epiphany

I had to work late tonight because a particular project had to go to the printer, no deadlines allowed. So I hung around waiting for the final OKs from everyone involved. And I mentioned my recent run in with the evil bicylicst that has left me battered and bruised.

And I realized what a tremendous benefit I have been to a complete stranger. After all, this bicyclist could have been seriously injured by running into an innocent pedestrian walking on the green light. Instead, she had the benefit of falling on top of my pleasantly plump body, thus protecting herself from the harshness of pavement.

See? I can be an unwitting benefit for complete strangers. How fulfilling!

Boom!

So there I was walking across the street in front of my workplace on the green light and "walk" sign and the next thing I know, I'm flat on the pavement with a bicycle and a woman on top of me.

Apparently, this twit was so intent on crossing on the red that she didn't bother to see if there was a pedestrian in her path. As far as I can tell, her HEAD hit my head first and then the rest of her came tumbling down on top of me. Several strangers helped me up and to the curb. I was basically in shock. And TwitWoman .... loser that she is ... took off! Hit and run with bicycle!

Apparently, I have a very hard head. I stepped into a nearby Starbucks where I got an icepack for my head and the bruise on my leg. Then I sat waiting for my bus for a half and hour and went home.

Ravenhub was here when I got home and immediately began pampering me. He made me call the nurseline so now I know what symptoms to watch for in case I have a concussion.

Who's the President? Abraham Lincoln!

I can't take painkillers -- it would mask the headache that would be a warning of a concussion. So I'm achy and cranky. What a lovely combination! And very pissed.

Lost Access

I think Blogger has finally upgraded enough and my computer at home has NOT been updated enough so that I no longer can access blogger from home. Thus the lack of posts.

Today I am at work, continuing to work on my Mom's multi-volume book. We're planning on self-publishing this fall. It's a ton of work, but it's good work. I have so much grunt work to do on it, that I haven't had a chance to think creatively. Fortunately I have a good friend with experience in book design who is willing to take a look at it and help spark some ideas. I'm really looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, I'm just formatting, paginated, laying out the illustrations and checking line endings through the first 100 or so pages of copy. Good for me.

There's a ton of things I've been meaning to post about and I'll try to list a few:

Blackademic has a great post critiquing the new "I am African" campaign by the Keep a Child Alive campaign.

Also, check out her post about the Sorry Ass Baby Dadies website in which she questions whether blaming is effective. Of course, many commenters discussed WHO they blamed whether than whether blaming was worthwhile. Nubian should get some award for commenters ignoring what she's actually saying. She's a wonderful writer, so there must be something else going on there. Hmmm.....

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Now I have to confess to a really odd habit I've gotten into lately. There have been extremely long, involved, multi-site discussions in the feminist blogosphere over the last few weeks and months. I often get into them late in the game and I find myself reading every one of the 600 plus comments, trying to get my mind around all the opposition and anger going on.

There have been discussions of blowjobs and of high heels and of pro-sex versus anti-sex feminists and pro-porn and anti-porn feminists.

The latest one has the interesting feature in that a relatively unknown blogger, Random Bird. I first noticed it via BitchLab who directed me Pandagon's post which is as good as any place to start.

An odd thing that occurred in that debate, which is now at 335 comments, is a dust-up that occurred betwen two of the commenters, KH and Delphyne based on a quote about, of all things, Willy Loman.

First, my love of Willy Loman and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is off the charts. I am continually reminded by the "attentionn must be paid" speach by Linda Loman, that even the lowest among us are important:

I don't say he's a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person. You called him crazy... no, a lot of people think he's lost his... balance. But you don't have to be very smart to know what his trouble is. The man is exhausted. A small man can be just as exhausted as a great man.

But, back to the discussion at Pandagon. Apparently KH used this line in a discussion:

"more Willy Lomans have died slowly in front of their customers than all the hookers in the world"

Delphyne proceded to use this quote as proof that KH was fundamentally flawed and that was the ONLY possible interpretation of that quote. KH proceeded to put the quote in context and to explain her reasoning.

But Delphyne was relentless. KH was wrong because of that quote, the quote could only mean what Delphyne decided it meant and no one could disuade Delphyne from explaining the point of view of KH, least of all KH herself.

Bi-zarre. But familiar. I used to be part of an internet community in which I was known for various harsh viewpoints. But at some point it was decided that I believed X and my whole goal was to be Anti-Z Nothing I could do would change that false belief of me or my goals. It got so that if I even dared to comment in certain places, it was assumed I was there to attack someone or something. I had ceased to be a person and had become an Enemy and every word I wrote was suspect.

Seeing the same thing occur from the outside, I have to wonder what the hell people like Delphyne think they are doing? Do you really think I'm going to believe you have a better interpretation of somebody's point of view than the person herself? Even if you convince one or two people, what kind of morons have you now got lined up as friends? And how long before they do the same to you?

That was my final conclusion about my old hangouts. If people were going to take someone else's word for what I believed, then what was the point?

So here are a couple of feminist places I've been hanging out lately and enjoying. I don't agree with everything said there, but I like the way the discussions are handled:

Bitch Lab "where lefties and feminists have dirty minds, too".

Fetch Me My Axe by BelleDame who also posts at BitchLab.

Woman of Color Blog by Brownfemipower.

Blackademic by Nubian.

I'll be back when I get a chance!

Home

I flew back from Boston on Monday and have been tied up in work and recovery every since.

First, I need to mention what an amazing thing the world of typography is. Over the past week I have met many wonderful, intelligent, thoughtful and generous people. Typography is a weird combination of working class craft combined with aesthetic vision. It has the mystery of the old-time guild system combined with the solidarity of working class unionism. I have yet to meet a typographer who isn't interested in helping others to achieve their goals. Sometimes I am amazed that I somehow happened upon this craft and thereby have the privilege to meet and interact with such wonderful people.

If I can give even half of what has been given to me, I will be happy.

In that spirit, let me introduce you to Susan Vass. Today, she is a comedienne working as a successful speaker at all kinds of events. But when I met her, she was a typesetter. I was working at Graphtronics, a subsidiary company of Dahl & Curry, for something like $5 an hour. The Typesetters Union sent Susan in to see if she could stir up some organizing activity. She was the one who informed me that union scale for people with my skills was $13 an hour. Inspired by her agitating, I walked into my supervisor's office and demanded a raise. And I got it.

It is things like this that make a profound difference. Never doubt that you can change someone else's life for the better. Susan did so for me. I've done my best to pass it on.

Boston

How odd to be in a wonderful new city, but so impressed by the conference that I'm spending most of my time inside learning more and more. Opening ceremonies begin in a moment.

Later!

Boston

Tomorrow I fly to Boston for work. Blogging will resume when I return.

Literal Biblical Horrors

Every time I hear someone ranting about violence in the Koran, I wonder whethery they've ever actually read the Bible! Artist Dread Scott has an exhibit that makes it quite clear:



Literal Biblical Horror is a phantasm that envisions the punishment and death repeatedly called for in the bible and which would be mandated by a literal and fundamentalist application of it. It consists of 11 hooded bound and covered representations of people embedded in the ground up to their waists, piles of rocks, and bibles on lecterns. The bibles and figures will weather and age over time. Each bible is open to a passage prescribing for death for violation of its codes or laws.

For example:

For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him. Leviticus 20: 9

Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, "Naboth has cursed both God and the king." So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. 1 Kings 21:13

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.-

Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
Psalms 137:8-9

The passages are highlighted in blood.

The work is installed at Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, Minnesota

Updated flyers

Going to a demonstration against the U.S./Israel attack on Lebanon today so I updated the fall actions flyers. See them here:





As always, anyone who wants to use portions of these flyers for their own events is more than welcome!

Selective Memory

A great article from FAIR about how coverage of the current bombing of Lebanon by Syria is framed:

Down the Memory Hole
Israeli contribution to conflict is forgotten by leading papers

7/28/06

In the wake of the most serious outbreak of Israeli/Arab violence in years, three leading U.S. papers—the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times—have each strongly editorialized that Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon were solely responsible for sparking violence, and that the Israeli military response was predictable and unavoidable. These editorials ignored recent events that indicate a much more complicated situation.

Beginning with the Israeli attack on Gaza, a New York Times editorial (6/29/06) headlined "Hamas Provokes a Fight" declared that "the responsibility for this latest escalation rests squarely with Hamas," and that "an Israeli military response was inevitable." The paper (7/15/06) was similarly sure in its assignment of blame after the fighting spread to Lebanon: "It is important to be clear about not only who is responsible for the latest outbreak, but who stands to gain most from its continued escalation. Both questions have the same answer: Hamas and Hezbollah."

The Washington Post (7/14/06) agreed, writing that "Hezbollah and its backers have instigated the current fighting and should be held responsible for the consequences." The L.A. Times (7/14/06) likewise wrote that "in both cases Israel was provoked." Three days and scores of civilian deaths later, the Times (7/17/06) was even more direct: "Make no mistake about it: Responsibility for the escalating carnage in Lebanon and northern Israel lies with one side...and that is Hezbollah."

As FAIR noted in a recent Action Alert (7/19/06), the portrayal of Israel as the innocent victim in the Gaza conflict is hard to square with the death toll in the months leading up to the current crisis; between September 2005 and June 2006, 144 Palestinians in Gaza were killed by Israeli forces, according to a list compiled by the Israeli human rights group B'tselem; 29 of those killed were children. During the same period, no Israelis were killed as a result of violence from Gaza.

In a July 21 CounterPunch column, Alexander Cockburn highlighted some of the violent incidents that have dropped out of the media’s collective memory:

Let's go on a brief excursion into pre-history. I’m talking about June 20, 2006, when Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile at a car in an attempted extrajudicial assassination attempt on a road between Jabalya and Gaza City. The missile missed the car. Instead it killed three Palestinian children and wounded 15.

Back we go again to June 13, 2006. Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a van in another attempted extrajudicial assassination. The successive barrages killed nine innocent Palestinians.

Now we're really in the dark ages, reaching far, far back to June 9, 2006, when Israel shelled a beach in Beit Lahiya killing eight civilians and injuring 32.

That's just a brief trip down Memory Lane, and we trip over the bodies of twenty dead and forty-seven wounded, all of them Palestinians, most of them women and children.

On June 24, the day before Hamas' cross-border raid, Israel made an incursion of its own, capturing two Palestinians that it said were members of Hamas (something Hamas denied—L.A. Times, 6/25/06). This incident received far less coverage in U.S. media than the subsequent seizure of the Israeli soldier; the few papers that covered it mostly dismissed it in a one-paragraph brief (e.g., Chicago Tribune, 6/25/06), while the Israeli taken prisoner got front-page headlines all over the world. It's likely that most Gazans don’t share U.S. news outlets' apparent sense that captured Israelis are far more interesting or important than captured Palestinians.

The situation in Lebanon is also more complicated than its portrayal in U.S. media, with the roots of the current crisis extending well before the July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. A major incident fueling the latest cycle of violence was a May 26, 2006 car bombing in Sidon, Lebanon, that killed a senior official of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group allied with Hezbollah. Lebanon later arrested a suspect, Mahmoud Rafeh, whom Lebanese authorities claimed had confessed to carrying out the assassination on behalf of Mossad (London Times, 6/17/06).

Israel denied involvement with the bombing, but even some Israelis are skeptical. "If it turns out this operation was effectively carried out by Mossad or another Israeli secret service," wrote Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s top-selling daily (6/16/06; cited in AFP, 6/16/06), "an outsider from the intelligence world should be appointed to know whether it was worth it and whether it lays groups open to risk."

In Lebanon, Israel's culpability was taken as a given. "The Israelis, in hitting Islamic Jihad, knew they would get Hezbollah involved too," Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a professor at Beirut’s Lebanese American University, told the New York Times (5/29/06). "The Israelis had to be aware that if they assassinated this guy they would get a response."

And, indeed, on May 28, Lebanese militants in Hezbollah-controlled territory fired Katyusha rockets at a military vehicle and a military base inside Israel. Israel responded with airstrikes against Palestinian camps deep inside Lebanon, which in turn were met by Hezbollah rocket and mortar attacks on more Israeli military bases, which prompted further Israeli airstrikes and "a steady artillery barrage at suspected Hezbollah positions" (New York Times, 5/29/06). Gen. Udi Adam, the commander of Israel’s northern forces, boasted that "our response was the harshest and most severe since the withdrawal" of Israeli troops from Lebanon in 2000 (Chicago Tribune, 5/29/06).

This intense fighting was the prelude to the all-out warfare that began on July 12, portrayed in U.S. media as beginning with an attack out of the blue by Hezbollah. While Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers may have reignited the smoldering conflict, the Israeli air campaign that followed was not a spontaneous reaction to aggression but a well-planned operation that was years in the making.

"Of all of Israel’s wars since 1948, this was the one for which Israel was most prepared," Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, told the San Francisco Chronicle (7/21/05). "By 2004, the military campaign scheduled to last about three weeks that we’re seeing now had already been blocked out and, in the last year or two, it’s been simulated and rehearsed across the board." The Chronicle reported that a "senior Israeli army officer" has been giving PowerPoint presentations for more than a year to "U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks" outlining the coming war with Lebanon, explaining that a combination of air and ground forces would target Hezbollah and "transportation and communication arteries."

Which raises a question: If journalists have been told by Israel for more than a year that a war was coming, why are they pretending that it all started on July 12? By truncating the cause-and-effect timelines of both the Gaza and Lebanon conflicts, editorial boards at major U.S. dailies gravely oversimplify the decidedly more complex nature of the facts on the ground.

Fun Stuff

787 pieces of Clip art humans in a loop

Anti-Abortion article cites the Onion

Preserved comments for above article

Harry Potter fan from hell Ms Scribe

Nerd Baby Alphabet

Go, read, learn.

I've just been googling for some good blogs on the war Israel is raging against Lebanon. I can't vouch for all of these, but check them out yourselves. If anyone has suggestions for great feminist blogging from Lebanon or by Lebanese women, I'd love the links!

Moorish Girl

Dove's Eye View

Left i on the news

Lenin's Tomb

Beirut Update

Witnessing Again beautiful art and commentary!

Go, read, learn.

I've just been googling for some good blogs on the war Israel is raging against Lebanon. I can't vouch for all of these, but check them out yourselves. If anyone has suggestions for great feminist blogging from Lebanon or by Lebanese women, I'd love the links!

Moorish Girl

Dove's Eye View

Left i on the news

Lenin's Tomb

Beirut Update

Witnessing Again beautiful art and commentary!

Go, read, learn.

I've just been googling for some good blogs on the war Israel is raging against Lebanon. I can't vouch for all of these, but check them out yourselves. If anyone has suggestions for great feminist blogging from Lebanon or by Lebanese women, I'd love the links!

Moorish Girl

Dove's Eye View

Left i on the news

Lenin's Tomb

Beirut Update

Witnessing Again beautiful art and commentary!

Flyer to hand out at today's demo

Fall Actions flyer