October 26, 2011 · 3:47 pm

Google, the government and privacy

US law enforcement agents request more information from Google than any other nation in the world.  Why bother to build a China-style firewall when you can just snoop on google searches to find naughty citizens?

Between January and June 2011, U.S. law enforcement agents made 5,950 requests for data about Google users. That was not only by far the highest reported total — India was second with 1,739 — it was a 29% increase over the previous 6 month period. So our government not only demands more information from Google than anyone else in the world, they’re continuing to ramp up these demands.

via U.S. Continues to Blow Away the Field in Demanding Information from Google » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union.

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October 25, 2011 · 3:26 pm

Propaganda of big soda

Thanks to consumerist.com for the alterered billboard image.

I gave up soda-type beverages a couple of years ago.  I certainly enjoyed the carbonated, caffeinated little cans of wonder, but somehow I knew that they weren’t good for me.  As a scholar of propaganda, I’m amazed at how similar the large soda manufacturing companies are to the large tobacco manufacturing companies.

The comparison is mostly that they seek to change audiences minds without letting them know that they have a vested interested in selling more soda. I’m not the only one who noticed this comparison.  Kelly Brownell writes the following in Time Magazine:

The soda industry funds scientists who reliably produce research showing no link between SSB consumption and health. The tobacco industry bought favor from community and national organizations by giving large donations. In an ironic twist, Coca Cola and PepsiCo are corporate sponsors of the American Dietetic Association.

The soda industry hit a new low this year. In 2010, Philadelphia’s mayor and health commissioner had both supported an SSB tax and came within one vote of having the tax passed by the city council. In 2011, when the mayor made it clear he would reintroduce the tax, the industry created an organization called Foundation for a Healthy America, which gave a gift of $10 million to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for research and prevention of childhood obesity. Would the hospital accept money from a tobacco company to study anti-smoking programs? The hospital tried to give some of the money to the city to run obesity programs through city health centers, but the mayor refused on the grounds it was funded by the beverage industry.

via Kelly Brownell on the Dirty Tactics of Soda Companies | TIME Ideas | TIME.com.

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October 24, 2011 · 3:34 pm

Doorknockers on unpacking white privilege

If you aren’t reading the brilliant and insightful blog doorknockers — go catch up.  I was struck this morning by Kristia’s essay inviting a deeper understanding of  the go-to-tool-for-reflection Peggy McIntosh’s essay “Unpacking the backpack of white privilege.”  This article has been THE explanation of injustice to people with power for like 20 years.  And it doesn’t really get at the full power of language and inequality.

I’ve always felt like McIntosh points to a kind of Annunciation frame of justice.  If a person with power can announce that they know how they are privileged then they’re off the hook. Thanks to Doorknockers for some broadening of this discussion.

It should be clear by now that this is not at all intended as a bashing of Peggy McIntosh, but it is very much a critique of academics and schools that maintain at best a lightweight analysis of power. They do this primarily by letting one article by one White woman dominate conversations about privilege, as opposed to hosting a larger, deeper analysis of systems of power in our society. They do this by keeping the numbers of brown-skinned faculty and students low. They do this by rewarding brown-skinned students who agree to shut up in racist, heterosexist classes. They do this by not teaching about privilege, power, and oppression through the very writing, oratory, panel interviews, and reflection of parents and children who work minimum-wage, who are of color, who are political and religious minorities.

via Doorknockers: Unpacking the Invisible Purse: A response to years of Peggy McIntosh-based analysis.

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October 23, 2011 · 5:20 pm

#Occupy wall street brings attention to police violence

Officer Michael Daragjati had no idea that the FBI was listening to his phone calls. Otherwise he would probably not have described his arrest and detention of an innocent black New Yorker in the manner he did.

Daragjati boasted to a woman friend that, while on patrol in Staten Island, he had “fried another nigger”. It was “no big deal”, he added. The FBI, which had been investigating another matter, then tried to work out what had happened.

According to court documents released in New York, Daragjati and his partner had randomly stopped and frisked a black man who had become angry and asked for Daragjati’s name and badge number. Daragjati, 32, and with eight years on the force, had no reason to stop the man, and had found nothing illegal. But he arrested him and fabricated an account of him resisting arrest. The man, now referred to in papers only as John Doe because of fears for his safety, spent two nights in jail. He had merely been walking alone through the neighbourhood.

via Police brutality charges sweep across the US | World news | The Observer.

The rest of the article has a sad roundup of recent police violence abuses in the United States.  Good for visibility discussion and CHANGE.

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October 22, 2011 · 6:24 pm

Co-op music: Thes One & People under the stairs

My office is in the basement.  One of my fellow underground dwellers put up a poster for an old horror movie called “People under the stairs.”  We get a lot of leverage out of that joke. I’ve threatened to bring in a slightly more upbeat poster from the rap group People Under the Stairs.

Speaking of the musical People Under the Stairs, I’ve always felt a resonance with these dudes.  They make good music, they have fun and seem genuinely interested in innovation.  Here is one half of PUTS, Thes One on his newest musical vision.

And the fact of matter was that everyone around me did have material that was ready for release and there were no record labels left to come around and pick it up. So, I said what we should do is treat it like a co-op. Like if you’re a bunch of farmers — you share your materials, you share your tractors, this that or whatever, and when one person’s crop is ready, they bring money into the co-op. And then while their crop is growing, the other person’s is ready and they bring money. And that’s kind of how we’re treating it. The money that the record is bringing in right now is gonna help pay for the pressing of the next record and so on and so forth, and we’ll be all in it together.

via Thes One Discusses Aging In Hip Hop, Highlighter’s HD Release And Piecelock 70 [Part 1] | KevinNottingham.com | The Underground Hip Hop Authority | Hip Hop Music, Videos & Reviews.

Check out Highlighter — the new People Under the Stairs record.  Recorded and released in out-of-control high definition.

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October 22, 2011 · 4:24 pm

Stockholder resistance inside Murdoch’s media empire

I have always been inspired by the story of Sister Daly — a Catholic nun who purchased stock shares in General Electric and then went to each stockholders meeting to propose more ethical and just business practices. Her practice is now widely used to pressure corporations.

One of the biggest struggles for social justice is reaching those who have the ability to change things.  Stockholders get access to C.E.O.s which in itself gives a platform for direct critique of corporate business practices.

But it is just as easy for corporate heads to circumvent and even exclude critical stockholder voices.   Many of the boards of directors have now stacked agendas and some have even changed internal policy to avoid the embarrassment of a nun holding the microphone asking about PCBs in the Hudson, or holding up photos of kids killed by U.S. made missiles.

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, recently assailed for hacking, lying and exploiting people to get stories or crush adversaries, faced a tough stockholder meeting yesterday.

Those attending included Edward Mason, secretary of the ethical investment advisory group of the Church of England, which owns about $6m worth of News Corp shares. “There needs to be decisive action in terms of holding people to account,” he said before the event, noting that it was the first time his group had attended a company annual meeting. At the meeting, Murdoch criticised the church’s investment track record, describing it as “not that great”.

Julie Tanner, assistant director of Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS), which represents more than 1,000 Catholic institutions worldwide, was the first at the meeting to question Murdoch’s track record, saying that the “extraordinary scandals” in the UK required corporate overhaul.

via Murdoch warned of ‘Mulcaire 2’ at News Corp shareholder meeting | Media | guardian.co.uk.

I am appreciative of some discussion of how a massive multinational news corporation would deal with internal criticism, especially from some people who have more than a token bit of stock.

I know it seems strange at times, but this is actually where a lot of big shifting changes happen.  The global protests against apartheid in South Africa are a pretty good example.  The sudden divestment of large universities who were facing  informed student/staff/faculty protest campaigns was key a contributing factor to the end of apartheid.

Don’t get me wrong.  My money is still on the autocratic media barons who at this moment have hired some smart staff to flip this whole conversation.

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October 21, 2011 · 8:36 pm

Juxtaposition: legal immunity for soldiers in Iraq and South Korea

Artifact 1: US soldiers in Iraq and immunity from prosecution

One of the sticking points in the negotiations with Iraq was a US demand that American forces remaining in the country after December would enjoy the same immunity from prosecution as they do now. The Iraqi government, conscious of public anger over many controversial incidents involving US troops and defence contractors over the last decade, refused.

via Iraq rejects US request to maintain bases after troop withdrawal | World news | guardian.co.uk.

Artifact 2: US soldiers in South Korea and immunity from prosecution

Still, attitudes toward the 28,500 U.S. servicemen and women stationed in South Korea have deteriorated. Many residents call for the South Korean government to end its diplomatic agreement that allows for the U.S. troop presence, claiming that they’re more afraid of the U.S. military peacekeepers than the North Korean regime they are supposed to be protected them from.

Seoul dance clubs once frequented by U.S. military now bar admission to American soldiers after concern expressed by female patrons, according to local press reports here. South Korea also created a task force to seek revisions to the Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, that governs the legal status of U.S. troops in South Korea and elsewhere.

Activists here say that the SOFA, signed in 1965 and amended in 1995 and 2001, is unjust because it goes too far in protecting U.S. soldiers. Many want the police here to be given more legal jurisdiction to investigate sex crimes involving American soldiers.

via Alleged rapes by U.S. soldiers ratchet up anger in South Korea – latimes.com.

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October 20, 2011 · 3:59 pm

Politics are confusing especially if you are a Kurd

Kurds in northern Iraq/Kurdistan helped the United States to invade Iraq.  Kurds made it clear, that their enemies included both Sadaam Hussein and the government of Turkey.  I wonder how many Turks were killed with United States made ammunition?

The Turkish offensive across the Iraqi border included helicopter gunships, ground commandos and fighter jets, authorities said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan canceled a foreign trip and labeled the operation a legal “hot pursuit” of terrorists operating out of Iraq’s Kurdish region. The overnight attacks were blamed on the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, which has long used mountain bases in rugged northern Iraq to stage guerrilla-style attacks into Turkey, Erdogan said.

The PKK, which seeks what it calls equal rights for Turkey’s Kurdish minority, and Ankara have been locked in a decades-long struggle that has left tens of thousands dead and has recently heated up anew. Public anger in Turkey about the escalating violence has been mounting, putting pressure on Erdogan and other leaders for a robust response.

via Turkey pushes into Iraq after Kurd militant raids kill 24 troops – latimes.com.

Lets put this in context.  I suggest you learn from David Rovic’s folk song: “Good Kurds, Bad Kurds.”

Lyrics:

Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurdish people
Killed thousands in a single day
And twelve long years later
Uncle Sam said “you can’t treat your Kurds this way
“And furthermore all Kurds are freedom fighters
“Who’s resist this Iraqi tyranny
“And Uncle Sam will give them guns and maybe sometimes ammunition
“So the brave Kurds can fight until they’re free”

Meanwhile in southeastern Turkey
The Turkish Army had a unique plan
We’ll go in and burn down three thousand villages
Get rid of what they call Kurdistan
Well some of these pesky Kurds decided
That they would rather fight instead of die
So Uncle Sam said, “You are terrorists
“Because Turkey is our ally”

Geopolitics is confusing
In fact, it can be quite absurd
Especially if you value your freedom
You live in Turkey and you are a Kurd

Yes, when Iraqi Kurds are massacred
We say this is genocide
OK, we armed the Army through the eighties
But now we proudly take the Kurdish side
But in Turkey it’s an internal matter
And for us to get involved would be wrong
So we’ll sell some tanks and ‘copters to Ankara
And hope these poor folks can get along

Yes, geopolitics is confusing
And you can’t take the Yankees at their word
At least that’s distinctly how it looks
If you live in Turkey and you’re a Kurd

So when they talk about American interests
And it somehow seems that they’re not yours
Going all over the world
Bombing countries and starting up wars
You’d better leave it to the experts
Go on back to your Playstations
‘Cause our foreign policy only makes sense
To CEO’s of multinational corporations

‘Cause geopolitics is confusing
And if you feel like you’re not being heard
Just imagine how much worse it could be
If you lived in Turkey and you were a Kurd

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October 20, 2011 · 5:27 am

No honor in police violence

With all due respect to Marine Sergent Shamar Thomas there is no honor in killing Iraqis either.  But at the moment I suspect that would be a reasonable discussion at #occupy wallstreet.

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October 19, 2011 · 6:09 pm

Anika – yang yang

I went to see Anika last night.  The show was quite enjoyable.  The Nico comparison is obvious, but the backing band sounds slightly more hip (keyboards) than the VU (guitar).

I really enjoyed the set, and the highlight for me was their tune “Yang yang.”  Yoko Ono cover FYI.

Also playing were the Starving Weirdos, Humboldt’s best particulate-noise band.   I enjoyed the first tune a lot — with a whiny feedback loop that seemed to be at the core of the song.  Only to find out that it was unintentional.  Whoops.  But that tells you a lot about the Starving Weirdos — the experience, acoustics and responses are part of the music itself.

 

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