Resources for March 3, 2014

Law and Disorder podcast episodes:

"David Vivar and Laura Raymond -- The Drug War: Policing and U.S. Militarism at Home and Abroad; Kazembe Balagune -- Imagine: Living In A Socialist U.S.A"

"Marty Stolar -- Jury Trial Begins for Occupy Wall Street’s Cecily McMillan; Jody Kent Lavy -- Fair Sentencing Of Youth Campaign."


Roos, Jerome. "Venezuela: it’s the opposition that’s anti-democratic." ROAR (February 21, 2014)

Hedges, Inez. "Amnesiac memory: Hiroshima/Nagasaki in Japanese film." Jump Cut #55 (Fall 2013)

Cho, Violet. "Thauk gya paw hee thwi deh thwi (Blood’s Oath to Beautiful Flower) — drama of insurgency in a Burmese Pwo Karen Film." Jump Cut #55 (Fall 2013)

Musgrave, Beth. "Citing new same-sex marriage ruling, Fayette judge allows step mother to adopt her wife's son." Lexington Herald-Leader (February 28, 2014)

Davies, Andrew and Penny Woolcock. "Gang Culture: On Screen and In Print." London School of Economics and Political Science (Literary Festival 2014: Recorded on 27 February 2014 in Wolfson Theatre, New Academic Building.)

Hudson, David. "Alain Resnais, 1922 -2014." Keyframe (March 2, 2014)

Gillepsie, Alex, Philip Horne and Sandra Jovchelovitch. "Literary Festival 2014: More Tales from the Two James(es)." The London School of Economics and Political Science (February 23, 2014) ["... readings from the work of William and Henry James to explore the links between psychology and fiction."]


Merriam-Webster's Word-of-the-Day

decoct \dih-KAHKT\

verb 1 : to extract the flavor of by boiling; 2 : boil down, concentrate

The author has tried to decoct the positions the players in this complex situation have taken into two camps: those who are for the changes and those who are against them.

"Witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is far better known as a bottled astringent than a native shrub. Its medicinal uses date back to the Native Americans, who taught Europeans how to identify the plant and decoct its leaves and stems into the now-familiar tonic." — From an article by David Taft in the New York Times, December 1, 2013

"Decoct" boils down to a simple Latin origin: the word "decoquere," from "de-," meaning "down" or "away," and "coquere," meaning "to cook" or "to ripen." "Decoct" itself is quite rare. Its related noun "decoction," which refers to either an extract obtained by decocting or the act or process of decocting, is slightly more common but still much less recognizable than some other members of the "coquere" family, among them "biscuit," "biscotti," "cook," and "kitchen." Other "coquere" descendants include "concoct" ("to prepare by combining raw materials" or "to devise or fabricate"), "concoction" ("something concocted"), and "precocious" ("exceptionally early in development or occurrence" or "exhibiting mature qualities at an unusually early age").

Resources for February 28, 2014

Takei, George. "George Takei on Arizona’s Anti-Gay Bill, Life in a Japanese Internment Camp & Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu." Democracy Now (February 27, 2014)

Naureckas, Jim. "News From Venezuela–but Where Is It Coming From?" FAIR (February 22, 2014)

Greenwald, Glenn. "How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations." The Intercept (February 24, 2014)

Hasemeyer, David and Lisa Song. "Big Oil and Bad Air: Report Exposes Link Between Fracking and Toxic Air Emissions in Texas." Democracy Now (February 27, 2014)

Ackerman, Spencer and James Ball. "GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide." The Guardian (February 27, 2014)


Shoe by Wesley Houp

As a child, my old man
found a shoe with a foot in it
that had belonged to Sam Waldrop
some years before, but now
it was sort of finders-keepers,
and it would amaze any kid
how many odd-shaped bones
make a foot, like turtle bones,
so he’d be reluctant to share
such a discovery, let alone
give it back, without making
all the proper inspections.

What is a foot but a secret
of twenty-some-odd strange turns,
a message of spur and mishap
in a patent leather bottle.

When the train struck Sam,
he came apart at the seams.
He’d been sleeping, drunk,
on High Bridge, and his shoe,
it turned out, came to rest
atop the southernmost pier,
isolated from the rest of the world
by the river’s deep current
and people’s reluctance
to go looking for a drunk’s foot.

But the shoe was loyal beyond
the call of shoes, beyond
his stride, beyond even the body
as a cohesive unit, like a sarcophagus
full of callused history.
What, then, of a man’s comings
and goings, worn by pressures
from every conceivable direction,
carried in a vessel mail-ordered from Sears?


Cromwell, David. "Bias Towards Power *Is* Corporate Media ‘Objectivity’: Journalism, Floods And Climate Silence." Media Lens (February 13, 2014)

Blackford, Linda B. "Proposed state budget would divert $76 million away from cash-strapped student aid programs." Lexington Herald-Leader (February 25, 2014)

Lovan, Dylan. "Funding after evolution debate spurs ark project." Lexington Herald-Leader (February 27, 2014)

Resources for February 27, 2014

Democracy Now Headlines for February 25, 2014



Crespo, Glenn and Larry Hildes. "Inside the Army Spy Ring & Attempted Entrapment of Peace Activists, Iraq Vets, Anarchists." Democracy Now (February 25, 2014)

Seth, Leila. "India: You’re Criminal If Gay." The New York Review of Books (March 20, 2014)

Mitchell, Jerry and Dawn Porter. "Spies of Mississippi: New Film on the State-Sponsored Campaign to Defeat the Civil Rights Movement." and "PART 2: Interview with "Spies of Mississippi" Director and Reporter Jerry Mitchell." Democracy Now (February 25, 2014)

Elliot, Natalie. "Tutwiler Women’s Prison Is a Hothouse of Sexual Violence." Vice (February 25, 2014)

Poenaru, Florin. "To Make Sense of Ukraine, We Need to Bring the Class Back In." LeftEast (February 24, 2014)

"Arizona governor vetoes religious freedom bill." PBS (February 26, 2014)

The Lives of Others (Germany: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) [Ongoing Dialogic Cinephilia archive]


Democracy Now Headlines for February 26, 2014


Chandler, Bill, et al. "Chokwe Lumumba: Remembering "America’s Most Revolutionary Mayor" Democracy Now (February 26, 2014)

Michael Ratner: Lawyer/Civil Liberties/Human Rights/President of Center for Constitutional Rights

Biographies/Archives/Organizations/Podcasts:

Wikipedia: Michael Ratner

Center for Constitutional Rights

The Guardian: Michael Ratner

@justleft

The Real News: The Ratner Report

Law and Disorder Radio

IMDB: Michael Ratner Filmography

Democracy Now: Michael Ratner


Resources by/featuring/about Michael Ratner:

Assange, Julian and Michael Ratner. "Julian Assange on Being Placed on NSA 'Manhunting' List & Secret Targeting of WikiLeaks Supporters." Democracy Now (February 18, 2014)

Goodman, Melvyn and Michael Ratner. "Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama’s Intelligence Transition Team." Democracy Now (November 17, 2008)

Griffin, Ben and Michael Ratner. "Ecuador Grants Julian Assange Asylum; U.S. Seen as "Hidden Hand" Behind U.K. Threat to Raid Embassy." Democracy Now (August 16, 2012)

Radack, Jesselyn and Michael Ratner. "Spying on Lawyers: Snowden Documents Show NSA Ally Targeted U.S. Law Firm." Democracy Now (February 18, 2014)

Ratner, Michael. "Edward Snowden isn't the only truth teller who deserves clemency: Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Jeremy Hammond deserve the same public outrage and support as Snowden." The Guardian (January 15, 2014)

---. "Exposed: U.S. May Have Designated Julian Assange and WikiLeaks an 'Enemy of the State'." Democracy Now (September 27, 2012)

---. "Obama’s national security state: Michael Ratner interviewed by Anthony Arnove." International Socialist Review #74 (November 2010)

---. "On Detainee Abuse Reports." Counterspin (December 19, 2008)

---. "Speech on Bradley Manning in Washington DC." Law and Disorder Radio (The event was held at All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington DC, December 2012)

---. "Ten Years after 9/11: War, Operation American Condor (Guantanamo), Civil Liberties and Hope." Law and Disorder Radio (July 25, 2011)

---. "WikiLeaks Attorney on Manning Guilty Verdict: Blowing Whistle on U.S. War Crimes is Not Espionage." Democracy Now (July 30, 2013)

Resources for February 25, 2014

Carlin, Dan. "Blueprint for Armageddon II." Hardcore History #51 (January 30, 2014) [The Great Powers all come out swinging in the first round of the worst war the planet has ever seen. Millions of men in dozens of armies vie in the most deadly and complex opening moves of any conflict in world history.]


Wesley Houp's description of the Tennessee Duck River region:

No sooner than it reaches Manchester, the first of a handful of towns nestled along its banks, the Barren Fork veers to the southwest, dropping dramatically over the Fort Payne Formation (the hard layer of chert undergirding the softer, less consolidated limestone) at Blue Hole and Big Falls. Here, the Little Duck River falls precipitously in from the east, and the two streams form a natural moat around the mysterious, 2,000 year-old Native American ceremonial structure known as Old Stone Fort. As Edward Luther notes in Our Restless Earth: The Geologic Regions of Tennessee, the ancient structure, consisting of heavy stonewalls covered with earth and circumscribing a 50-acre plateau, immediately suggests a defensive fortification, thus its modern name, Old Stone Fort. But more recent hypotheses suggest the structure served more benign purposes as a sort of celestial observatory. The structure’s once-colossal entryway arch, evidenced today by only two overgrown pedestal mounds, aligns with the sun during the summer solstice. Whatever its function might have been, archeologists are fairly certain of its builders. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal excavated from the site points to the McFarland culture, natives who occupied the upper Duck during the Middle Woodland Period between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. Construction probably began some time in the first century A.D., but after 400 years of continuous habitation along the Duck River, the McFarland peoples mysteriously gave way to the Owl Hollow Culture, who concluded construction of Old Stone Fort around 550 A.D. For reasons that are unclear, by 600 A.D. they, too, abandoned the area.

"It was my job to report what those in power were doing or thinking . . . That is all someone in my sort of job can do." -- BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson (2014)

"My own concern is primarily the terror and violence carried out by my own state, for two reasons. For one thing, because it happens to be the larger component of international violence. But also for a much more important reason than that; namely, I can do something about it. So even if the U.S. was responsible for 2 percent of the violence in the world instead of the majority of it, it would be that 2 percent I would be primarily responsible for. And that is a simple ethical judgment. That is, the ethical value of one’s actions depends on their anticipated and predictable consequences. It is very easy to denounce the atrocities of someone else. That has about as much ethical value as denouncing atrocities that took place in the 18th century." -- Noam Chomsky(2012)

Merriam-Webster Word-of-the-Day

solatium \soh-LAY-shee-um\

noun: a compensation (as money) given as solace for suffering, loss, or injured feelings

The judge ordered the company to pay a solatium to each of the unjustly fired workers.

"The amount of cash a politician was required by tradition to dispense regularly in the form of wedding gifts and funeral solatiums for people in his ever-expanding constituency was now, by itself, enough to bankrupt most wealthy men." — From Robert Whiting's 1999 book Tokyo Underworld : The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan

In legal circles, a solatium is a payment made to a victim as compensation for injured feelings or emotional pain and suffering (such as the trauma following the wrongful death of a relative), as distinct from payment for physical injury or for damaged property. Like many legal terms, "solatium," which first appeared in English in the early 19th century, is a product of Latin, where the word means "solace." The Latin noun is related to the verb "solari," which means "to console" and from which we get our words "solace" and "console."


Kocher, Greg. "Experts encourage Jessamine community to protect its rare plants, animals." Lexington Herald-Leader (February 23, 2014)

Latin Radical podcast: "CISPES observers at Salvadoran Elections 2014"

Recommended: current issue #92 of Cineaction on Politics & Cinema

"Noam Chomsky (Linguist/Political Economy/Historian/Philosopher/Cognitive Scientist)" [Ongoing Dialogic archive]

"Michael Ratner: Lawyer/Civil Liberties/Human Rights/President of Center for Constitutional Rights" [Ongoing Dialogic archive]

Resources for February 23, 2014

The Host (South Korea: Bong Joon-Ho, 2006) Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)


Merriam-Websters' Word-of-the-Day

teem \TEEM\

verb 1 : to become filled to overflowing; 2 : to be present in large quantity

EXAMPLES

By mid-morning the theme park will already be teeming with visitors.

"Dispensing with the last installment's cumbersome mythology, this one gets back to basics, dumping the hero on a desert planet teeming with lethal critters and determined bounty hunters." — From a movie review by Tom Russo in The Boston Globe, January 12, 2014

The verb "teem" and the noun "team" are not just homophones, they are also etymological kin. "Teem" is derived from Old English "tīman" or "tæman," which originally meant "to bring forth offspring" or "to become pregnant" and which is related to the ancestor of "team," the Old English noun "tēam," meaning "offspring, lineage, or group of draft animals." "Team" can still be used to refer to a brood of young animals, especially pigs or ducks, but both "teem" and "team" have otherwise largely left their offspring-related senses behind.


Rothrock, Kevin. "Pro-Maidan Video Goes Viral Thanks to Pavel Durov, Russia's Zuckerberg." Global Voices (February 22, 2014)

Bohdanova, Tetyana. "#EuroMaidan Medic Shot in Neck Lives to Tweet: 'I Am Alive!'” Global Voices (February 22, 2014)

In The Nation an audio commentary by Charles Grodin: "How to Offend Corporations by Just Doing Your Job" ["What happens when the media is either owned by big corporations or reliant on those corporations for advertising dollars? Unobstructed, honest commentary tends to be the first casualty."]

Chutkan, Robynne. "The Future of Probiotics." The Atlantic (December 12, 2013) ["Hippocrates said that all disease begins in the gut. A gastroenterologist's predictions on how new treatments will begin there, too."]

Ford, Matt. "A Dictator's Guide to Urban Design." The Atlantic (February 21, 2014)

Walker, Shaun. "Ukraine's former PM rallies protesters after Yanukovych flees Kiev: Yulia Tymoshenko addresses crowd in Kiev after release from prison, as MPs vote to impeach Viktor Yanukovych." The Guardian (February 22, 2014)

Proyect, Louis. "The gangster billionaire behind Ukraine’s president." The Unrepentent Marxist (February 19, 2014)

Resources for February 21, 2014

Horton, Scott. "The Torture Doctors." Harpers (November 4, 2013) [An expert panel concludes that the Pentagon and the CIA ordered physicians to violate the Hippocratic Oath.]

Kilkenny, Allison. "The Poster Boy For Unending War." The Smirking Chimp (February 20, 2014)

Sovyn, Olena. "#Euromaidan Protests Spread Throughout Ukraine After Explosion of Violence." Global Voices (February 20, 2014)

"Protests in Venezuela." Global Voices (Ongoing archive: 2014)

Carlin, Dan. "Blueprint for Armageddon I." Hardcore History #50 (October 29, 2013)

Hudson, David. "Zero Dark Thirty and the CIA." Keyframe (May 8, 2013)

"Zero Dark Thirty (USA: Kathryn Bigelow, 2012)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

Benton, Michael Dean. "Introduction and Discussion of The Battle of Algiers." Dialogic Cinephilia (February 20, 2014)

The Battle of Algiers (Italy/Algeria: Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966)." Dialogic Cinephilia (Ongoing Archive)

Democracy Now Headlines for February 20, 2014


Chen, Stephen. "A New Cold War? Ukraine Violence Escalates, Leaked Tape Suggests U.S. Was Plotting Coup." Democracy Now (February 20, 2014)


Merriam-Webster's Word-of-the-Day
small beer \SMAWL-BEER\

noun 1 : weak or inferior beer; 2 : something of small importance : trivial

The money we spend on cable is small beer compared to the mortgage payment we have to come up with every month.

"The main drink was 'small beer', which had a low alcohol content—just enough to preserve it—and was drunk by almost everyone, from children to old men, instead of water." — From an article by Alex Fensome in The Dominion Post (New Zealand), January 13, 2014


"Small beer" dates from Shakespeare's day. The Bard didn't coin it (he would have been just a child in 1568, the date of the first documented instance of "small beer"), but he did put the term to good use. In Henry VI, Part 2, for example, the rebel Jack Cade declares that, when he becomes king, he will "make it felony to drink small beer." In Othello, Desdemona asks Iago to describe a "deserving woman." Iago responds by listing praises for ten lines, only to conclude that such a woman would be suited "to suckle fools, and chronicle small beer"; in other words, to raise babies and keep track of insignificant household expenses. Desdemona quickly retorts, declaring Iago's assertion a "most lame and impotent conclusion."

Resources for February 20, 2014

Lee, Kevin. "Finding Freedom the Second Time Around: The Politics of Before Sunset." Senses of Cinema (October 2004)

Carlin, Dan. "Neutral Nets & Reform Bets." Common Sense #268 (January 20, 2014) ["President Obama floats some reform ideas for the gathering of data by the NSA and a judge strikes a blow against Net Neutrality. Dan has a few long-winded thoughts on both these subjects."]




serendipity \sair-un-DIP-uh-tee\

noun : the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also : an instance of this

EXAMPLES

We found the restaurant by pure serendipity, rather than careful research, but it turned out to be the best deal in town.

"Many young people today have never had the experience of getting lost.… They have not experienced the pleasure of wandering while lost and discovering by serendipity interesting new places." — From an op-ed by Katie Davis and Howard Gardner in the Seattle Times, January 7, 2014

In the mid-1700s, English author Horace Walpole stumbled upon an interesting tidbit of information while researching a coat of arms. In a letter to his friend Horace Mann he wrote: "This discovery indeed is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word, which as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavor to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called 'The Three Princes of Serendip': as their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of…." Walpole's memory of the tale (which, as it turns out, was not quite accurate) gave "serendipity" the meaning it retains to this day.


Democracy Now headlines for February 19, 2014:



Cox, Laverne and CeCe McDonald. "'Black Trans Bodies Are Under Attack': Freed Activist CeCe McDonald, Actress Laverne Cox Speak Out." Democracy Now (February 19, 2014)

Sustainable World Coalition. Sustainable World Sourcebook. Berkeley, CA: New Society Publishers, 2010.

Feldman, Karen. "Walter Benjamin and his 'Artwork' essay." Entitled Opinions (July 3, 2013) [They are discussing Benjamin's 1936 essay: "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

Anti-Oedipus was lobbed into the fray like an intellectual cluster bomb -- it had multiple targets, from the primacy of the signifier in linguistics to the dependency on lack in psychoanalysis, but its primary objective was (as Michel Foucault astutely points out in his highly influential preface to the English translation) to caution us against the fascist inside, the desire to seize power for oneself. The principle thesis of Anti-Oedipus, around which its many conceptual inventions turn, is that revolution is not primarily or even necessarily a matter of taking power. Insofar as taking power means preserving all the old institutions and ideas in which power is invested it could even be said that revolutions of this type are actually counter-revolutionary in purpose and intent because they change nothing essential. By the same token, Deleuze and Guattari were concerned about the allure of power, its apparent ability to drive us to desire to be placed under its yoke. The most important political question, as far as Deleuze and Guattari are concerned, is how it is possible for desire to act against its interest. (Buchanan, Ian. Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus. NY: Continuum, 2008: 21.)

Benton, Michael Dean. "Notes on Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophernia." Dialogic (February 20, 2014)

HUM 221: Contemporary Peace & Conflict Studies (Spring 2015)

[Gathering resources -- suggestions welcome]


Hedges, Chris. War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. NY: Random House, 2003.

Klein, Naomi. Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. NY: Metropolitan Books, 2007.

Solnit, Rebecca. A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster. NY: Viking, 2009.

Resources for February 18, 2014

Mador, Chase. "The Over-Policing of America: Police Overkill Has Entered the DNA of Social Policy." TomDispatch (December 8, 2013)

Copps, Michael. "Former FCC Commissioner Warns About Comcast-Time Warner Merger, "Mindless" Media Consolidation." Democracy Now (February 17, 2014)





Assange, Julian and Michael Ratner. "Julian Assange on Being Placed on NSA "Manhunting" List & Secret Targeting of WikiLeaks Supporters." Democracy Now (February 18, 2014)

Radack, Jesselyn. "Attorney for Edward Snowden Interrogated at U.K. Airport, Placed on 'Inhibited Persons List'" Democracy Now (February 18, 2014)

Radack, Jesselyn and Michael Ratner. "Spying on Lawyers: Snowden Documents Show NSA Ally Targeted U.S. Law Firm." Democracy Now (February 18, 2014)

Greenhouse, Steven. "Republican-Funded, Anti-Labor Campaign Succeeds in Tennessee As Volkswagen Workers Reject UAW Union." Democracy Now (February 18, 2014)

Mirrlees, Tanner. "How to Read Iron Man: The Economics, Geopolitics and Ideology of an Imperial Film Commodity." Cineaction #92 (2014)

Carlin, Dan. "The Challenges of Living Dangerously." Common Sense #269 (February 5, 2014) ["The death of actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman has Dan contemplating how society might better handle the vagaries of human nature if we would be honest about what human beings often want."]

Resources for February 17, 2014

Cocozza, Paula. "Oppressed Majority: the film about a world run by women that went viral." The Guardian (February 11, 2014)

Wade, Lisa. "U.S. Rare in the Spending of More Money on the Education of Rich Children." Sociological Images (December 8, 2013)

Marks, Ben. "Trailing Angela Davis, from FBI Flyers to 'Radical Chic' Art." Collector's Weekly (July 3, 2013)

Huffington Post: "Texas Sports Anchor Dal Hansen Delivers Jaw-Dropping Speech On Gay NFL Players"











IndieWire: "The 15 Best Documentaries Of 2013"


Merriam-Webster's Word-of-the-Day

probity \PROH-buh-tee\

noun : adherence to the highest principles and ideals : uprightness

EXAMPLES

The tale of young George Washington's refusal to tell a lie after cutting down his father's cherry tree was told to us as grade schoolers to illustrate his probity.

"The Senate has confirmed Jeh Johnson, once the Pentagon's top lawyer, to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Johnson brings a sharp legal mind and reputation for probity to the job." — From an editorial in The New York Times, December 26, 2013

"Probity" and its synonyms "honesty," "honor," and "integrity" all mean uprightness of character or action, with some slight differences in emphasis. "Honesty" implies a refusal to lie or deceive in any way. "Honor" suggests an active or anxious regard for the standards of one's profession, calling, or position. "Integrity" implies trustworthiness and incorruptibility to a degree that one is incapable of being false to a trust, responsibility, or pledge. "Probity," which descends from Latin "probus," meaning "honest," implies tried and proven honesty or integrity.


Jessleyn Radack for Daily Kos: "Clapper's Spin Unravels in Congressional Testimony: Cannot Keep His Story Straight on Snowden"

Resources for February 15, 2014

Merriam-Webster Word-of-the-Day
crepitateAudio \KREP-uh-tayt\

DEFINITION

verb: to make a crackling sound : to make a series of short, sharp noises

EXAMPLES

Most of the tiny town's residents had something to contribute to the bonfire, and it burned brightly and crepitated loudly late into the night.

"A familiar synthetic beat starts the disc…. The band slowly fills in around the pulse, wind blowing through tunnels, factories moaning, yawning infrastructure, broken, creaking. Embers of some final blast crepitating." — From a music review by David King in Metroland, October 17, 2013

"Crepitate" comes from the Latin word "crepitare," meaning "to crackle." It has been used with this meaning since the late 1820s, but it had a previous life: about 200 years prior it was used to mean "to break wind." That meaning is now obsolete, and the word has no embarrassing remnants. In addition to its general use as a synonym of "crackle," "crepitate" also has a specific medical meaning—"to produce or experience crepitation." "Crepitation" here refers to a grating or crackling sound or sensation, such as that produced by the fractured ends of a bone moving against each other.


Ham, Julie. "Can Immigration Officers Predict Trafficking by Looking at Women’s Underwear?" Border Criminologies (September 12, 2013)

Democracy Now: "Debate: Was Snowden Justified? Former NSA Counsel Stewart Baker vs. Whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg."

Musgrave, Beth. "Council members want more details about financing for Rupp Arena renovation." Lexington Herald-Leader (February 14, 2014)

Three Oscar Nominated Documentaries:

Rowley, Rick and Jeremy Scahill. "Dirty Wars: Jeremy Scahill and Rick Rowley’s New Film Exposes Hidden Truths of Covert U.S. Warfare." Democracy Now (January 22, 2013)

Oppenheimer, Joshua. "The Act of Killing: New Film Shows U.S.-Backed Indonesian Death Squad Leaders Re-enacting Massacres." Democracy Now (July 19, 2013)

Noujaim, Jehane. "The Square: Jehane Noujaim’s New Film Captures Egypt’s Ongoing Revolution After Mubarak’s Fall." Democracy Now (January 25, 2014)

The Square (Egypt/USA: Jehane Noujaim, 2013) [Ongoing archive of resources on Dialogic Cinephilia)

Resources for February 13, 2014

Ahmed, Nafeez, Keith Allen and Sibel Edmonds. "Unlawful Killing (Secrets of the UK and US Establishments)." Unwelcome Guests #680 (February 8, 2014)

Democracy Now reports:

"Death By Metadata: Jeremy Scahill & Glenn Greenwald Reveal NSA Role in Assassinations Overseas"

"Report: Obama Administration Considers Assassinating Another American Overseas"

"Defying Threats to Journalism, Jeremy Scahill & Glenn Greenwald Launch New Venture, The Intercept"





Juzwiak, Rich. "Watch Creationists Talking About Creationism." Gawker (February 11, 2014)





Amato, Peter. All Opinions are Not Equal: Critical Reasoning Theory & Practice. (Drexel University: 2014)

Dobson, Teresa M. and Tammy Iftody. "Consciousness and Complexity in Waking Life" Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education 6.1 (2009)

Jones, Kent. "To Live or Clarify the Moment: Rick Linklater’s Waking Life." Senses of Cinema (March 2002)

Resources for February 11, 2014

Benton, Michael Dean. "Exploring the Nature and Causes of Violence in Film." Uprooting Criminology (February 10, 2014)

Morley, David and Bill Schwarz. "Stuart Hall obituary: Influential cultural theorist, campaigner and founding editor of the New Left Review." The Guardian (February 10, 2014)

In The Guardian: "Washington state to suspend death penalty by governor's moratorium: ‘There are too many flaws in this system,’ Governor Jay Inslee says as he announces stay on capital punishment."





Adams, Tim. "Jazz Fan, Hipster and a Leftwing Hero; The Remarkable Journey of Stuart Hall." The Observer (August 18, 2013)

Check out Glenn Greenwald's, Laura Poitras' and Jermey Scahill's new online publication The Intercept: here is the "about" description:

"The Intercept, a publication of First Look Media, was created by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Jeremy Scahill. It has a two-fold mission: one short-term, the other long-term. Our short-term mission is to provide a platform to report on the documents previously provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Although we are still building our infrastructure and larger vision, we are launching now because we believe we have a vital obligation to this ongoing and evolving story, to these documents, and to the public. Our NSA coverage will be comprehensive, innovative and multi-faceted. We have a team of experienced editors and journalists devoted to the story. We will use all forms of digital media for our reporting. In addition, we will publish primary source documents on which our reporting is based. We will also invite outside experts with area knowledge to contribute to our reporting, and provide a platform for commentary and reader engagement. Our long-term mission is to produce fearless, adversarial journalism across a wide range of issues. The editorial independence of our journalists will be guaranteed. They will be encouraged to pursue their passions, cultivate a unique voice, and publish stories without regard to whom they might anger or alienate. We believe the prime value of journalism is its power to impose transparency, and thus accountability, on the most powerful governmental and corporate bodies, and our journalists will be provided the full resources and support required to do this. While our initial focus will be the critical work surrounding the NSA story, we are excited by the opportunity to grow with our readers into the broader and more comprehensive news outlet that the The Intercept will become.

Blackburn, Robin. "Stuart Hall, February 3rd, 1932-to February 10th, 2014: An Obituary." Verso Books (February 10, 2014)

Stu Johnson for WEKU podcasts an interview: "Mayoral Candidate Danny Mayer to Focus Beyond Downtown Lexington"

Stuart Hall (1932 - 2014)

Stuart Hall was a major part of my intellectual development and an exemplary role model as an educator. He will be missed, but more importantly, he will be remembered in the works/lives of those he inspired. This will be an ongoing archive of materials by/about Stuart Hall. I welcome suggestions of materials to include in this archive.


Adams, Tim. "Jazz Fan, Hipster and a Leftwing Hero; The Remarkable Journey of Stuart Hall." The Observer (August 18, 2013)

Blackburn, Robin. "Stuart Hall, February 3rd, 1932-to February 10th, 2014: An Obituary." Verso Books (February 10, 2014)

Hall, Stuart. "The Neoliberal Revolution." Soundings # 48 (Summer 2011): 9-28.

Morley, David and Bill Schwarz. "Stuart Hall obituary: Influential cultural theorist, campaigner and founding editor of the New Left Review." The Guardian (February 10, 2014)

Today We Fight Back

Resources for February 9, 2014

Mooney, Chris. "Why Bill Nye Won the Creationism Debate Last Night." Mother Jones (February 5, 2014)

Harvard University Press provides a video and articles on Thomas Piketty's new book Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Eco, Umberto. "Senses of Semantics." Harvard University Press Blog (January 24, 2014)








Krul, Matthijs. "Mandela and Socialism." The Northstar (December 9, 2013)

Allen, Woody. "Woody Allen Speaks Out." The New York Times (February 9, 2014)





Blake Farmer for NPR: "Tennessee Weighs The Cost Of A Free College Education"

Scott Neumann for NPR: "French Court Orders Google To Display Notice On Its Search Page"

Resources for February 5, 2014

The Louisville Courier-Journal shares this video clip: "Evolution vs. creationism | Bill Nye the Science Guy takes on Creation Museum founder"





McElwee, Sean and Abigail Salvatore. "New Atheism’s big mistake: Debating creationists solves nothing: Fundamentalism isn't really about the Bible; it's about politics. So attacking religion doesn't fix the problem." Salon (February 1, 2014)

"List of Edward Snowden's NSA Revelations." Peace Action Wisconsin (2014)

Seriously bummed to find out this was Smiley & West's last podcast, but it was a good retrospective of past shows and a great final interview with Noam Chomsky

Smells Like Human Spirit podcasts:

"Episode 122: Jenny Blake talks Life After College" - "Jenny Blake is a blogger, life coach, public speaker and author of ‘Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want’. Jenny has been featured in the Wallstreet Journal, Forbes.com, and the US News and World Report (among other places) for her work that aims to help young people ‘wake up, live big and love the journey.’ In 2011, she decided to leave her job at Google after 5 years to move to New York City and pursue her passion of being an entrepreneur full-time. In this episode of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast, Jenny looks back on the hard work that led to her early professional success, her subsequent burnout in her mid-twenties, and ultimately the decision to leave Google and ‘go it alone’. Other topics of discussion include society’s obsession with wealth, the definition of success, and how college graduates can position themselves to pursue their true passion.

"Episode 123: The Good Fight, with Ben Wikler" - "Ben Wikler, host of ‘The Good Fight’, joins Guy Evans for Episode 123 of Smells Like Human Spirit. Ben has a long history of involvement in political activism, particularly with several very important online activist communities. Topics of discussion in this interview include his politically active upbringing, the blend of comedy and politics present in his work, and why ‘the corporation’ has become the dominant social institution of our age."

"Episode 127: John and Molly Knefel (Radio Dispatch) on Guantanamo Bay, Occupy’s Legacy, and more" - "John and Molly Knefel, the brother and sister duo that co-host Radio Dispatch, join Guy Evans for Episode 127 of the Smells Like Human Spirit Podcast. Originally from Iowa, John and Molly now reside in Brooklyn, NY and aim to cover the most important and under-reported stories of the day with their show, which has gained quite an impressive following since its inception in 2010. Topics of discussion in this episode include Guantanamo Bay, Occupy’s legacy, the juvenile justice system in the U.S., and much more."

Barrett, Paul M. "Academic Fraud for College Jocks Reaches Across the Country." Business Week (January 8, 2014)

Bonanno, Mike and Andrew Boyd. "Principle: The Real Action is Your Target’s Reaction." Beautiful Trouble (2014)

All BCTC campuses are closed February 3 because of the weather!

Stay warm and enjoy your day :)

Danny Mayer for Mayor: Lexington-Fayette Urban County

[Dialogic would like to make this clear that we are simply disseminating this message from Danny Mayer in his independent campaign for LFUCG Mayor, a campaign which we support]

Lexington-Fayette Urban County,

I am a professor at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, a fourteen year resident of the northside, a former publisher of the media conglomerate North of Center, a father, and an avid hiker and paddler of area streets and waters. (I'm also a 2007 graduate of UK, where I received my PhD in American Literature.)

My campaign will focus on “the whole horse”--creating diverse and functional live/work/play communities that extend well beyond Main Street and that do not unfairly commit the city's citizenry to paying off high cost/low reward inner urban developments. My campaign will be more committed to relevant local class ideas than pay-big world class projects. How do we spur development in the neighborhoods in which we live? How might we culturally and economically connect our citizens in ways that do not require of them to travel downtown for art, culture, food, and jobs?

Here are some articles from North of Center that might highlight my thinking on some topics. I recognize that I have been depicted in media stories, incorrectly, as running a “small scale” or “limited” or “subordinate” campaign. I hope these writings show that my candidacy is a serious one and that it grows out of many years of thinking and researching and writing on this area.

Thanks,

Danny Mayer, candidate for Mayor of Fayette Urban County

What I'm for:

(1) #FreeLextran is a project that I developed and presented to the city council in September, to no response. After being turned down by one council member, I have been able to secure help from 1st District Representative Chris Ford on the project. In two weeks, we'll meet with Rocky Burke (LexTran), Jim Clark (LexArts), Jeff Fugate (Lex. DDA), and Denise Brown (one of the proposed muralists from the project) to discuss possibilities for the project's phase 1 implementation.

(2) The Free LexTran project is a newer, though smaller, extension of my interest in creating county-wide access to economic growth, healthy living, cultural activity, and public transportation. A larger-scale example would be my entry in the Mayer's Challenge, which I submitted to Jim Gray.

(3) Small-scale project: Who doesn't love a parade? "Parade County, USA"

No to Rupp:

(4) "A matter of value," written in Feb 2012, lays out why I think Rupp is a bad value in more abstract terms.

(5) "Rupp will be an expensive opportunity," written at the end of 2011, lists a number of arguments against the project that are more specific and "numbers based."

(6) "What we'd do: $2.5 million from LFUCG," lays out alternate plans for spending the city's (thus far) $2.5 million investment in the Rupp Opportunity Zone.

County observations:

(7) Here's my take on where I see city money/power going (city and horse country), and where it doesn't go (the neighborhoods where we live): "Propping up Main Street."

(8) "Austerity comes to Lexington," written in June 2011, places Jim Gray's budget discussions within the context of national and global austerity debates. I'd note that while the LFUCG budget has increased since he proposed his 2011 budget, few of the "safety net" type of city agencies have seen their budgets increase from 2011 levels.

(9) City development focus areas are intertwined with gentrification. Here's the most recent writing of mine on that: "Some paragraphs on northside gentrification."

Personal:

(10) I'm an avid paddler of area waters. Here's one of a series I helped write of Kentucky River trips: "Frankfort stinks like shit."

(11) I'm the grandson of an artist, union man, WWII vet, and orphan: "Old man gets older."

(12) I'm married and 2.5 year old daughter. "May Day Kid attends first protest"

Danny Mayer

For more info or to contact:

mayer.danny@gmail.com

Resources for January 28, 2014

"From Jennifer Seibel, the director of Miss Representation, comes an exploration of American masculinity"

Crowther, Alicia. "Amnesty International Campaign Shows Last Meals of Wrongly Executed" The Lived Prison (February 23, 2013)

Adam Mordecai for Upworthy: "9 Out Of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact: Wealth Inequality in America."

Fisher, Mark. "Exiting the Vampire Castle." The North Star (November 22, 2013)





Fakhoury, Hanni. "The U.S. Crackdown on Hackers Is Our New War on Drugs" Wired (January 23, 2014)





Wolchover, Natalie. "A New Physics Theory of Life" Quanta (January 22, 2014)





Marshall, Peter. Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism. Oakland, CA: PM Press, 2010.

Resources for January 27, 2014

Snag Films has a wide selection of free documentaries available to watch online

Medium Cool (USA: Haskell Wexler, 1969)

Negro, Lisa. "Service is My Art." Smells Like Human Spirit #119 (January 14, 2014) ["Lisa Nigro is founder of Inspiration Corporation, an organization that helps people who are affected by homelessness and poverty to improve their lives and increase self-sufficiency. While working as a police officer in Chicago during the late-eighties, she began began to hand out meals to people on the streets of the city’s Uptown neighborhood. Since then, the initiative has evolved to serve 3,000 individuals a year by providing a variety of services including meals, housing, employment preparation, and vocational training. In 2010, Mrs. Nigro received the Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest public service awards, and recently started another initiative called Transform U. "]

Khalek, Rania. "On Objectivity in Journalism, Mainstream Vs. Independent Media, the School-to-Prison Pipeline, and more." Smells Like Human Spirit #118 (January 13, 2014) ["Rania Khalek is an independent journalist living in the Washington, D.C. area whose work aims to cover the plight of the underclass and marginalized. She runs the website ‘dispatches from the Underclass’, which can be found at RaniaKhalek.com, and boasts an impressive resume of features at The Nation, Al Jazeera America, and Citizen Radio, just to name a few. In this episode ... Rania makes her case for why objectivity is not possible in journalism, examines the positive aspects and limitations of independent media, and discusses the disturbing national trend of children being ‘funneled’ from public schools to the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Other topics include Nelson Mandela, the NSA, and more.]

Matthew Phillips for Business Week: "Goldman: Corporate Profits Grew Five Times Faster Than Wages in 2013"

Holland, Joshua. "Bumbling, Blame and Bankruptcy in Wake of West Virginia Chemical Spill." Moyers and Co. (January 24, 2014)

Peck, Adam. "There Has Been an Average of One School Shooting Every Other School Day so far This Year." Moyers and Co. (January 23, 2014)

Bernays, Anne. "Edward Bernays’ daughter Anne discusses life with the ‘Father of PR’." Smells Like Human Spirit #120 (January 15, 2014)

Mistich, Dave. "Appalshop's 'Chemical Valley'." West Virginia Public Broadcasting (January 24, 2014)

Resources for January 25, 2014

Bryan Merchant for Motherboard: "Maybe the Most Orwellian Text Message a Government's Ever Sent"





Unwelcome Guests podcasts:

Dave Neal, at al.: Episode #20 - "Tactics of Resistance and Repression (Discussion on non-violence and Property Destruction, Police Brutality)"

Bruderhof Radio, Chris Sturr, Michael Parenti, RNC demonstrators: Episode #21 - "Crime Pays (Profits and Social Control)"

Metanoia Films has the remastered version of Scott Noble's PsyWar online

The Power Principle: Corporate Empire and the Rise of the National Security State (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2013: Part 1: Empire, 95 mins; Part II: Propaganda, 98 mins; Part III: Apocalypse, 70 mins)

Paul Waldman for The American Prospect: "Why Republicans Keep Calling Women Sluts: They just can't help themselves, and here's why."

Mill, Frederick B. "Venezuela and the Battle Against Transgenic Seeds." Revolución Alimentaria (December 7, 2013)

Mr.Death "The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter" (UK/USA: Errol Morris, 1999: 91 mins) [To watch the documentary online]


The Marriage of Maria Braun (West Germany: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979: 120 mins)

Propaganda (Key Concept)

"Astroturf." Sourcewatch (May 26, 2012)

"Astroturf Blogging." Sourcewatch (December 11, 2011)

"Category: Astroturf." Sourcewatch (No Date: Ongoing Archive of Links To Reports)

Atkinson, Michael. "Archival Trouble: The fiction-free science fiction of Adam Curtis" Moving Image Source (February 16, 2012)

Ball, Norman. "The Power of Auteurs and the Last Man Standing: Adam Curtis' Documentary Nightmares." Bright Lights Film Journal #78 (November 2012)

Bender, Stephen. "Propaganda, Public Relations, and the Not So New Dark Age." LIP (Winter 2006)

Benton, Michael Dean. "Astroturf and Front Group Research: The Center for Union Facts." Dialogic Cinephilia (January 20, 2014)

---. "The Many-Headed Hydra." Politics and Culture (August 10, 2010)

---. "Monsanto (Multinational Agricultural Biotechnology Corporation): Peace and Conflict Studies Archive." Dialogic (January 25, 2014)

---. "Response to a Message About the Threat of Islamo-Fascism." Dialogic (October 1, 2008)

Bernays, Edward L. "Manipulating Public Opinion." American Journal of Sociology 33.6 (May 1928): 958-971.

---. "Molding Public Opinion." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (May 1935): 82-87.

---. Propaganda. NY: Horace Liveright, 1928.

The Century of the Self (BBC Documentary: Adam Curtis, 2002)

Cho, Violet. "Thauk gya paw hee thwi deh thwi (Blood’s Oath to Beautiful Flower) — drama of insurgency in a Burmese Pwo Karen Film." Jump Cut #55 (Fall 2013)

Chomsky, Noam. Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda." NY: Seven Stories Press, 1997. [Excerpts from key sections of the 2nd Edition]

---. Powers and Prospects: Reflections on Human Nature and the Social Order. London: Pluto Press, 1996.

---. "Propaganda American Style." Propaganda Review (Winter 1987/1988)

Chomsky, Noam and Edward Herman. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. NY: Pantheon Books, 2002.

Cull, Nicholas J., David Culbert and David Welch. Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia 1500 - Present. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003.

"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 1)." Smells Like Human Spirit #60 (April 12, 2013)

"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 2)." Smells Like Human Spirit #63 (April 20, 2013)

"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 3)." Smells Like Human Spirit #64 (April 26, 2013)

"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 4)." Smells Like Human Spirit #67 (May 3, 2013)

"Deconstructing Edward Bernay's Propaganda (Part 5)." Smells Like Human Spirit #70 (May 10, 2013)

Dyer, Gwynne, Mark Crispin Miller and David Robb. "Producing Killers and Selling Wars (Why Any Mother's Son will Do)" Unwelcome Guests #513 (August 21, 2010)

Foster, John Bellamy and Robert McChesney. "The Internet’s Unholy Marriage to Capitalism." Monthly Review 62.10 (March 2011)

Graeber, David. Debt: The First 5,000 Years." NY: Melville House, 2011.

Graeber, David and Richard Wolff. "The Vast Machine to Perpetuate Hopelessness (Marxian Class Analysis 1)." Unwelcome Guests #624 (October 6, 2012)

Greenwald, Glenn. "AP believes it found evidence of Iran's work on nuclear weapons: A primitive graph provided by 'a country critical of Iran's atomic program' indicts the news outlet more than Tehran." The Guardian (November 28, 2012)

---. "How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations." Intercept (February 24, 2014)

Human Resources: Social Engineering in the 20th Century. (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2010: 119 mins)

Lippmann, Walter. Public Opinion. NY: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1922.

McChesney, Robert W. and John Nichols. "The Bull Market: Political Advertising." Monthly Review (April 1, 2012)

Miller, Mark Crispin. "Propaganda 101: How Do You Manufacture Consent?" History Counts (July 4, 2010)

Mirrlees, Tanner. "How to Read Iron Man: The Economics, Geopolitics and Ideology of an Imperial Film Commodity." Cineaction #92 (2014)

Pilger, John. "Power, Illusion, and America's Last Taboo." Dandelion Salad (September 2, 2009)

---. The War You Don't See. (UK: 2010, 97 mins)

Popova, Maria. "Obey: How the Rise of Mass Propaganda Killed Populism." Brain Pickings (February 6, 2013)

The Power Principle: Corporate Empire and the Rise of the National Security State (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2013: Part 1: Empire, 95 mins; Part II: Propaganda, 98 mins; Part III: Apocalypse, 70 mins)

PsyWar (Metanoia Films: Scott Noble, 2010: 98 mins)

Rampton, Sheldon. "Books on Propaganda." PR Watch (July 7, 2009)

"Resources for Studying Propaganda." Sourcewatch(ongoing archive)

Ritter, Scott, John Stauber, Pepi Leistyna, Loretta Alper, and Tom Scott. "Stupefying the Group Mind (Managing the Class War with PR and TV)." Unwelcome Guests #301 (April 8, 2006)

Roos, Jerome. "Venezuela: it’s the opposition that’s anti-democratic." ROAR (February 21, 2014)

Roszak, Theodore. "Politics of Information and the Fate of the Earth." Progressive Librarian (Winter/Spring 1993): 3-14.

Rushkoff, Douglas. "They Say." Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say (Penguin, 1999)

Trotter, Wilfred. Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War. 2nd Edition. London: T.F. Unwin Ltd., 1922.

Wall, Richard. "Who's Afraid of Noam Chomsky?" Lew Rockwell (2004)

Wilson, Michael S. "Noam Chomsky — ‘Everyday Anarchist’: The Modern Success Interview" Modern Success (August 20, 2013)

Re-opening Dialogic

I perceive a need for it