Mayor-for-Life Bloomberg’s NYPD arrests French bagpipe players at OWS six-month celebration in Zuccotti Park. Also, police violence against the non-violent

New York Observer via Naked Capitalism ..

The N.Y.P.D. was holding back regarding Occupy Wall Street protest actions on Saturday night until they put the smackdown on a band of European bagpipe players in nothing flat. The pipers showed around 11 p.m. and began playing for the assembly, but within 5 to 10 minutes they had been arrested, resulting in a sharp rise in tension in the crowd

NYPD/Bloomberg: "those damn bagpipes were the last straw" - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, March 18, 2012

Doonesbury: Shaming Wand

Here's the "I thee rape" strip from the past week's Doonesbury featuring the 10 Inch Shaming Wand. Other highlights: "do your parents know you're a slut" and "a middle aged male legislator will be with you in a moment" .. click 'prev/next' to read the whole series - mab
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, March 17, 2012

NYT (6): National News

Were Occupy protesters surveilled?; As SCOTUS prepares to hear Health Act, any decision will define the court; Public transit use, an economic indicator, up in 2011; Schuller family breaks all ties with megachurch it founded; Treading lightly around a Doonesbury cartoon; It's Ishtar redux, as Disney prepares to take $100+ million bath on "John Carter"
Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, March 12, 2012

NYT (2): National News

Seeing huge opening, Obama plans big effort to court women; A new book on Obama's handling of the economic crisis.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, March 11, 2012

NYT (7): National News

Shenanigans continue over Al-Awlaki memo; Fed appeals court strikes down parts of noxious Alabama immigration law; Outrage as Mississippi Supreme Court upholds Barbour pardons; With economy getting better, Obama no longer toxic for other Dems; Brown is jealous of Warren's "star" support; With SCOTUS decision imminent, Obama moves to shape debate over health care law; Did Apple collude with publishers to raise price of e-books?
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, March 9, 2012

NYT (11): National News

Holder defends killing of U.S. citizens re terrorism; No slam-dunk for Romney, as Santorum remains strong; Kucinich loses gerrymandered seat to Kaptur; G-8 mtg moved to Camp David; Cato Institute battles its benefactor; TP cries foul over IRS scrunity of NFP status; SCOTUS looks to address broader question re human rights cases against corps; Fukushima witnesses to "testify" at Indian Pt. forum; Limbaugh "spins" ad boycott; Stanford found guilty of $7 billion Ponzi scheme; Ralph McQuarrie, artist who brought Star Wars to life, dies.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Wednesday, March 7, 2012

David Frum: HBO’s ‘Game Change’ Charts Sarah Palin’s Revenge – Print View – The Daily Beast

Posted by Michael Butler, Monday, March 5, 2012

NYT (3): National News

Justice Dept. seeks to sue FL over voting procedures; Dolan tells Catholics to "get political"; A new book on how Fox News became a "propaganda machine."
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, March 4, 2012

An extraordinary testament from Iran’s most persecuted filmmaker – Our Picks: Movies – Salon.com

Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, March 2, 2012

NYT (4): National News

Obama again seeks end of oil/gas subisidies; Obama gets boost as Senate rejects contraception bill; House passes earmark for controversial "bridge to somewhere"; A new documentary on the Great Recession.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, March 2, 2012

How Pop Culture Influences Political Expectations – Bill Moyers

Posted by Michael Butler, Sunday, February 26, 2012

NYT (3): National News

The supposed "wall" between SuperPACs and campaigns is as porous as Swiss cheese; More problems with NYC teacher ratings; A book on "the gay writers who changed America."
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, February 26, 2012

Adbusters: The Shadow Industry

excerpt from a short story by Australian born novelist and two time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey ..

Yesterday I drove in from the airport past shadow factory after shadow factory, large faceless buildings gleaming in the sun, their secrets guarded by ex-policemen with Alsatian dogs. The shadow factories have huge chimneys that reach far into the sky, chimneys which billow forth smoke of different, brilliant colors .. There are a few who say the smoke is dangerous because of carcinogenic chemicals used in the manufacture of shadows. Others point to the advantages of the smoke: the beautifully colored patterns in the clouds which serve as a reminder of the happiness to be obtained from a fully realized shadow .. Others say the clouds now contain the dreadful beauty of the apocalypse

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, February 26, 2012

National Catholic Reporter: ‘Act of Valor’ is more propaganda than honest film

'act of valor' is a new Hollywood action movie that could easily have been made by leni riefenstahl, with real navy seals going after those evil terrorists .. here's NCR review by Sr. Rose Pacatte ..

"Captain Duncan Smith, [an] active duty U.S. Navy SEAL, was one of the key players in developing Act of Valor. "..This is the first film to begin as a Naval Special Warfare project" [he said] .. Act of Valor has excellent production values, fine cinematography and eye-grabbing, nerve-racking action sequences .. I understand the film, but I didn't like it because it felt like a snow job to me, a recruitment movie .. impeccably timed violence .. blasting its beautiful savagery onto the screen .. [the movie] is a propaganda film, pure and simple. At the premiere in Hollywood on Feb. 13, a team of Navy SEALs parachuted onto the red carpet at the Arclight theater on Sunset Boulevard.

David Sirota also wrote about this film at Salon .. i saw a trailer for 'valor' when i went to see 'Safe House', Denzel's new flick where he plays a rogue CIA officer fed up with US imperialism - 'Safe House' is the #1 box office film right now after 3 weeks in theaters - 'valor' opened yesterday and got terrible reviews (28% on the Rotten Tomato meter) .. strange days - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, February 25, 2012

Truthdig – Déjà Pooh

Posted by Michael Butler, Tuesday, February 21, 2012

NYT (6): Int’l Affairs

In largely sympbolic move, Iran stops oil shipments to Britain and France; Some in Congress want Syria go the way of Libya; Israeli raid on Iran would be highly complex undertaking; Reversing course, Egypt's interim gov't accepts IMF loan; Merkel agrees to back opposition candidate for prez; And then there were three - EMI may be split between Sony and Universal.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, February 20, 2012

NYT (5): National News

Will Obama nod to the 99 percent, and engage in a bit of deliberate class warfare?; Yet another unintended consequence of climate change - no ice fishing; Scientists fret over particulates in the air - and in our lungs; NYC's Dolan becomes a cardinal; A book on the Obama marriage.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, February 19, 2012

NYT (3): Int’l Affairs

Amid ongoing violence, "normal" protests continue in Syria; Space junk threatens both man and machine; A memoir by one of the leaders of the Arab Spring.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, February 19, 2012

NYT (4): National News

Congress to auction public airwaves; Judge grants temporary reprieve re holding religious services in NYC public schools; Are the incessant GOP debates finally over?; Amanda Knox gets $4 million book deal.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, February 17, 2012

NYT (8): National News

CA audit uncovers "extensive" legal and other violations in foreclosures; Will contraception become the "wedge" culture issue in the election?; Conservative pundits not warming to Romney; Leak exposes concerted effort to undermine climate change science; DC puts kibosh on online gambling; 40 years on, re-assessing Arcosanti; Wallenda gets okay to walk across Niagara Falls; and a novel about the Watergate episode.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, February 16, 2012

NYT (2): National News

NYPD's iris scan requirement is challenged; "Burning Man" regulars burning up over ticket lottery.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Monday, February 13, 2012

NYT (4): National News

Occupy Movement 2.0; Bishops reject Obama compromise on contraception; Tax on pot becoming lifeline for some cities and states; A book on "the state of White America."
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, February 12, 2012

NYT (2): National News

Obama "tweaks" contraceptive rule for faith-based community; "Phantom" reaches historic milestone - it's 10,000th performance.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, February 11, 2012

Funny Cartoon Tweeted by Anonymous re CIA Story

From xkcd.com
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Saturday, February 11, 2012

Phil Rockstroh: A Journey To The End Of Empire, It Is Always Darkest Right Before It Goes Completely Black

Rockstroh ..

a poetic view of existence insists that one embrace the sorrow that comes at the end of things. The times have bestowed on us a shuffle to the graveside of our culture, and, we, like members of a New Orleans-style, second line, funeral procession, must allow our hearts to be saturated by sorrowful songs. Yet when the service is complete, the march away from the boneyard should shake the air with the ebullient noise borne of insistent brass .. In this way, we are nourished by the ineffable, whereby unseen components of consciousness provide us the strength to carry the weight of darkness. Therefore, to those who demand this of poets: that all ideas, notions, flights of imagination, revelries, swoons of intuition, Rabelaisian rancor, metaphysical overreach, unnerving apprehensions, and inspired misapprehensions be tamed, rendered practical, and only considered fit to be broached in reputable company when these things bring "concrete" answers to polite dialog--I ask you this, if the defining aspects of our existence were constructed of concrete, would not the world be made of the material of a prison? Moreover, is this not the building material and psychic criteria comprising the neoliberal paradigm? Is it any wonder that the concept of freedom is under siege?

a beautiful essay - mab .. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, February 5, 2012