Monday, April 28, 2014
Resources for April 28, 2014
Business Insider: "6 Corporations Control 90% of the Media in America"
Mayer for Mayor comments on the Business Lexington article "HUD to Provide Lexington a Loan Guarantee for 21c Hotel Project.": "As a writing teacher, I bristle when places like art hotel 21C receive $6 million in federal loans earmarked for low income economic development. Leaders seem to have no shame in assuming that the Main Street project of billionaire bourbon heiress Laura Lee Brown represents 'a powerful public investment tool to drive economic development in underserved areas.' Main Street is underserved? Have we re-defined this word? This isn't a semantic question--it enabled 21C to receive over 60% of this city's lending capacity for creating low-income jobs. Keep that in mind when you hear city leaders bemoan the need to create good-paying jobs. When it comes to jobs for low-income residents, our brain trust went with house maid--and it accomplished this by giving billionaire Louisvillians a special $6 million loan at reduced rates."
"There are two parts to the human dilemma. One is the belief that the end justifies the means. That push-button philosophy, that deliberate deafness to suffering has become the monster in the war machine. The other is the betrayal of the human spirit. The assertion of dogma closes the mind and turns a nation, a civilization into a regiment of ghosts — obedient ghosts, or tortured ghosts." -- Jacob Bronowski, Ascent of Man (1973)
“This is the only story of mine whose moral I know. I don’t think it’s a marvelous moral; I simply happen to know what it is: We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” -- Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night (1961)
Dorr, Gary, et al. "Cowboy Indian Alliance Protests Keystone XL Pipeline in D.C. After Latest Obama Admin Delay." Democracy Now (April 28, 2014)
Johnsen, Gregory D. "60 Words And A War Without End: The Untold Story Of The Most Dangerous Sentence In U.S. History." Buzzfeed (January 16, 2014)
Ross, Julianne. "17 Lies We Need to Stop Teaching Girls About Sex." PolicyMic (April 25, 2014)
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Resources for April 24, 2014
XKCD:
ACLU: The Department of Justice announced expanded criteria for clemency applicants during a press conference today. According to the DOJ, thousands more will now be able to ask the President to commute or pardon their sentence.
Dialogic Cinephilia archives:
April 23, 2014
April 24, 2014
Zander, Ben. "'Rite of Spring' Revival." Radio Open Source (April 22, 2014)
Jameison, Dave. "Fast Food CEOs Make 1,000 Times More Than Their Typical Workers: Report." Huffington Post (April 22, 2014)
Giroux, Henry A. "Neoliberalism, Democracy and the University as a Public Sphere." Truthout (April 22, 2014)
Dialogic Peace & Conflict Studies archive: Scott Horton (Lawyer -- Human Rights, Emerging Markets and International Law)
Sharma, Akhil. "On Family Life." Radio Open Source (April 23, 2014)["We’re in conversation with the writer that so many other writers are talking about, the Indian-born New Yorker, Akhil Sharma. His novel is Family Life, a faithful recounting in fiction of a horrific swimming-pool accident that did catastrophic brain damage to his gifted older brother and smashed his family’s immigrant adventure. But our conversation, like the book itself, is also about how writers are made, how agony becomes art, how memory wants be nudged forward. Akhil Sharma is telling us he chiseled 7,000 pages in draft to barely 200 pages in hardcover. It was a project, he says, that was full of love more than sadness, that was designed to be useful to his parents and others, and to move like a rocket. The conversation jumped from writing to life and back again, from Hemingway to Chekhov and Proust and the devices of storytelling and fiction. And we found that we were high on each other almost before we began."]
Merriam-Webster's Word-of-the-Day:
fissiparous \fih-SIP-uh-rus\
adjective 1 : tending to break up into parts; 2 : creating disunity or dissension : divisive
EXAMPLES
The election for class president had a fissiparous effect on the school as students took sides for their favorite candidate.
"In Calvinism: A History, D.G. Hart … shows how Protestantism's fissiparous nature has allowed it to adapt and, in some instances, transmogrify to fit local and personal needs." — From a book review by Michael P. Orsi in the Washington Times (Washington D.C.), December 12, 2013
When it first entered English in the 19th century, "fissiparous" was concerned with reproduction. In biology, a fissiparous organism is one that produces new individuals by fission; that is, by dividing into separate parts, each of which becomes a unique organism. (Most strains of bacteria do this.) Both "fissiparous" and "fission" trace back to Latin "findere" ("to split"). The second part of "fissiparous" is rooted in Latin "parere" ("to give birth to" or "to produce"). Other "parere" offspring refer to other forms of reproduction, including "oviparous" ("producing eggs that hatch outside the body") and "viviparous" ("producing living young instead of eggs"). By the end of the 19th century "fissiparous" had acquired a figurative meaning, describing something that breaks into parts or causes something else to break into parts.
ACLU: The Department of Justice announced expanded criteria for clemency applicants during a press conference today. According to the DOJ, thousands more will now be able to ask the President to commute or pardon their sentence.
Dialogic Cinephilia archives:
April 23, 2014
April 24, 2014
Zander, Ben. "'Rite of Spring' Revival." Radio Open Source (April 22, 2014)
Jameison, Dave. "Fast Food CEOs Make 1,000 Times More Than Their Typical Workers: Report." Huffington Post (April 22, 2014)
Giroux, Henry A. "Neoliberalism, Democracy and the University as a Public Sphere." Truthout (April 22, 2014)
Dialogic Peace & Conflict Studies archive: Scott Horton (Lawyer -- Human Rights, Emerging Markets and International Law)
Sharma, Akhil. "On Family Life." Radio Open Source (April 23, 2014)["We’re in conversation with the writer that so many other writers are talking about, the Indian-born New Yorker, Akhil Sharma. His novel is Family Life, a faithful recounting in fiction of a horrific swimming-pool accident that did catastrophic brain damage to his gifted older brother and smashed his family’s immigrant adventure. But our conversation, like the book itself, is also about how writers are made, how agony becomes art, how memory wants be nudged forward. Akhil Sharma is telling us he chiseled 7,000 pages in draft to barely 200 pages in hardcover. It was a project, he says, that was full of love more than sadness, that was designed to be useful to his parents and others, and to move like a rocket. The conversation jumped from writing to life and back again, from Hemingway to Chekhov and Proust and the devices of storytelling and fiction. And we found that we were high on each other almost before we began."]
Merriam-Webster's Word-of-the-Day:
fissiparous \fih-SIP-uh-rus\
adjective 1 : tending to break up into parts; 2 : creating disunity or dissension : divisive
EXAMPLES
The election for class president had a fissiparous effect on the school as students took sides for their favorite candidate.
"In Calvinism: A History, D.G. Hart … shows how Protestantism's fissiparous nature has allowed it to adapt and, in some instances, transmogrify to fit local and personal needs." — From a book review by Michael P. Orsi in the Washington Times (Washington D.C.), December 12, 2013
When it first entered English in the 19th century, "fissiparous" was concerned with reproduction. In biology, a fissiparous organism is one that produces new individuals by fission; that is, by dividing into separate parts, each of which becomes a unique organism. (Most strains of bacteria do this.) Both "fissiparous" and "fission" trace back to Latin "findere" ("to split"). The second part of "fissiparous" is rooted in Latin "parere" ("to give birth to" or "to produce"). Other "parere" offspring refer to other forms of reproduction, including "oviparous" ("producing eggs that hatch outside the body") and "viviparous" ("producing living young instead of eggs"). By the end of the 19th century "fissiparous" had acquired a figurative meaning, describing something that breaks into parts or causes something else to break into parts.
Scott Horton (Lawyer -- Human Rights, Emerging Markets and International Law)
Biographies/Archives/Organizations:
Wikipedia: Scott Horton
No Comment (Scott Horton's Blog on Harper's)
Columbia Law School: Scott Horton
The Nation Institute: Scott Horton
The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law: Scott Horton
Resources by/about/featuring Scott Horton:
Horton, Scott. "7 Letter Word." On the Media (April 24, 2009) ["While some in the media wondered if Obama flip-flopped when it comes to prosecuting Bush Administration officials who authorized torture, the White House tried to get its media message straight ... all without actually using the T-word. Columbia University law professor and Harper's Magazine contributing editor Scott Horton explains why the Administration, and some members of the media, are backing away from "torture.""]
---. "FCC Launches Probe of Alabama TV Station Accused of Censoring a 60 Minutes Expose on the GOP’s Prosecution of Alabama’s Imprisoned Former Gov. Don Siegelman." Democracy Now (March 6, 2008)
---. "Gonzales Resignation Puts Torture, Guantanamo Back on Center Stage in Washington." Democracy Now (August 28, 2007)
---. "Politicizing the Judiciary." Harper's (June 28, 2012)
---. "Secret Federal FISA Court Advocate of National Security State." Law and Disorder Radio (July 15, 2013)
---. "A Setback For Obama’s War On Whistleblowers." Law and Disorder Radio (August 15, 2011)
---. "The Torture Doctors." No Comment (November 4, 2013) ["An expert panel concludes that the Pentagon and the CIA ordered physicians to violate the Hippocratic Oath"]
---. "The Woman Who Could Nail Bush: Are the Worst of the Torture Memos Still to Come?" Alternet (March 29, 2009)
Rizzo, John and Scott Horton. "A Debate on Torture: Legal Architect of CIA Secret Prisons, Rendition vs. Human Rights Attorney." Democracy Now (March 28, 2014)
Wikipedia: Scott Horton
No Comment (Scott Horton's Blog on Harper's)
Columbia Law School: Scott Horton
The Nation Institute: Scott Horton
The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law: Scott Horton
Resources by/about/featuring Scott Horton:
Horton, Scott. "7 Letter Word." On the Media (April 24, 2009) ["While some in the media wondered if Obama flip-flopped when it comes to prosecuting Bush Administration officials who authorized torture, the White House tried to get its media message straight ... all without actually using the T-word. Columbia University law professor and Harper's Magazine contributing editor Scott Horton explains why the Administration, and some members of the media, are backing away from "torture.""]
---. "FCC Launches Probe of Alabama TV Station Accused of Censoring a 60 Minutes Expose on the GOP’s Prosecution of Alabama’s Imprisoned Former Gov. Don Siegelman." Democracy Now (March 6, 2008)
---. "Gonzales Resignation Puts Torture, Guantanamo Back on Center Stage in Washington." Democracy Now (August 28, 2007)
---. "Politicizing the Judiciary." Harper's (June 28, 2012)
---. "Secret Federal FISA Court Advocate of National Security State." Law and Disorder Radio (July 15, 2013)
---. "A Setback For Obama’s War On Whistleblowers." Law and Disorder Radio (August 15, 2011)
---. "The Torture Doctors." No Comment (November 4, 2013) ["An expert panel concludes that the Pentagon and the CIA ordered physicians to violate the Hippocratic Oath"]
---. "The Woman Who Could Nail Bush: Are the Worst of the Torture Memos Still to Come?" Alternet (March 29, 2009)
Rizzo, John and Scott Horton. "A Debate on Torture: Legal Architect of CIA Secret Prisons, Rendition vs. Human Rights Attorney." Democracy Now (March 28, 2014)
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Resources for April 23, 2014
Benton, Michael Dean. "Increase the Minimum Wage." Mayer for Mayor (April 21, 2014)
"60 Words." Radiolab (April 18, 2014) ["This hour we pull apart one sentence, written in the hours after September 11th, 2001, that has led to the longest war in U.S. history. We examine how just 60 words of legal language have blurred the line between war and peace. In the hours after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a lawyer sat down in front of a computer and started writing a legal justification for taking action against those responsible. The language that he drafted and that President George W. Bush signed into law - called the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) - has at its heart one single sentence, 60 words long. Over the last decade, those 60 words have become the legal foundation for the "war on terror." In this collaboration with BuzzFeed, reporter Gregory Johnsen tells us the story of how this has come to be one of the most important, confusing, troubling sentences of the past 12 years. We go into the meetings that took place in the chaotic days just after 9/11, speak with Congresswoman Barbara Lee and former Congressman Ron Dellums about the vote on the AUMF. We hear from former White House and State Department lawyers John Bellinger & Harold Koh. We learn how this legal language unleashed Guantanamo, Navy Seal raids and drone strikes. And we speak with journalist Daniel Klaidman, legal expert Benjamin Wittes and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine about how these words came to be interpreted, and what they mean for the future of war and peace."]
"Straight Outta Chevy Chase." Radiolab (April 1, 2014) ["Over the past 40 years, hip-hop music has gone from underground phenomenon to global commodity. But as The New Yorker's Andrew Marantz explains, massive commercial success is a tightrope walk for any genre of popular music, and especially one built on authenticity and “realness.” Hip-hop constantly runs the risk of becoming a watered-down imitation of its former self - just, you know, pop music. Andrew introduces us to Peter Rosenberg, a guy who takes this doomsday scenario very seriously. Peter is a DJ at Hot 97, New York City’s iconic hip-hop station, and a vocal booster of what he calls “real” hip-hop. But as a Jewish fellow from suburban Maryland, he's also the first to admit that he's an unlikely arbiter for what is and what isn't hip-hop. With the help of Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest and NPR's Frannie Kelley, we explore the strange ways that hip-hop deals with that age-old question: are you in or are you out?"]
Blackford, Linda. "University of Kentucky students protest plan to privatize dining services." Lexington Herald-Leader (April 21, 2014)
"Kill 'em All." Radiolab (March 25, 2014) ["Ever since there have been humans, mosquitoes have been biting us, and we’ve been trying to kill them. And, for the most part, the mosquitoes have been winning. Today there are over 3000 species on pretty much every corner of Earth. Mosquito-borne diseases kill around 1 million people a year (most of them children) and make more than 500 million people sick. But thanks to Hadyn Perry and his team of scientists, that might be about to change. Producer Andy Mills talks with author Sonia Shah about the difficulties of sharing a planet with mosquitoes and with science writer David Quammen about the risks of getting rid of them."]
Democracy Now Headlines for April 22, 2014:
Kitchell, Mark. "Earth Day Special: Fierce Green Fire Documentary Explores Environmental Movement’s Global Rise." Democracy Now (April 22, 2014)
Merriam-Webster Word-of-the-Day
oneiric \oh-NYE-rik\
adjective: of or relating to dreams : dreamy
EXAMPLES
The paintings, filled with fantastical imagery conjured by the artist's imagination, have a compellingly oneiric quality.
"Most of the actors here are double and triple cast, and if they barely differentiate among their roles, that just adds to the oneiric effect." — From a theater review by Jeffrey Gantz in The Boston Globe, March 12, 2012
The notion of using the Greek noun "oneiros" (meaning "dream") to form the English adjective "oneiric" wasn't dreamed up until the mid-19th century. But back in the early 1600s, linguistic dreamers came up with a few "oneiros" spin-offs, giving English "oneirocriticism," "oneirocritical," and "oneirocritic" (each referring to dream interpreters or interpretation). The surge in "oneiros" derivatives at that time may have been fueled by the interest then among English-speaking scholars in Oneirocritica, a book about dream interpretation by 2nd-century Greek soothsayer Artemidorus Daldianus.
"60 Words." Radiolab (April 18, 2014) ["This hour we pull apart one sentence, written in the hours after September 11th, 2001, that has led to the longest war in U.S. history. We examine how just 60 words of legal language have blurred the line between war and peace. In the hours after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a lawyer sat down in front of a computer and started writing a legal justification for taking action against those responsible. The language that he drafted and that President George W. Bush signed into law - called the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) - has at its heart one single sentence, 60 words long. Over the last decade, those 60 words have become the legal foundation for the "war on terror." In this collaboration with BuzzFeed, reporter Gregory Johnsen tells us the story of how this has come to be one of the most important, confusing, troubling sentences of the past 12 years. We go into the meetings that took place in the chaotic days just after 9/11, speak with Congresswoman Barbara Lee and former Congressman Ron Dellums about the vote on the AUMF. We hear from former White House and State Department lawyers John Bellinger & Harold Koh. We learn how this legal language unleashed Guantanamo, Navy Seal raids and drone strikes. And we speak with journalist Daniel Klaidman, legal expert Benjamin Wittes and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine about how these words came to be interpreted, and what they mean for the future of war and peace."]
"Straight Outta Chevy Chase." Radiolab (April 1, 2014) ["Over the past 40 years, hip-hop music has gone from underground phenomenon to global commodity. But as The New Yorker's Andrew Marantz explains, massive commercial success is a tightrope walk for any genre of popular music, and especially one built on authenticity and “realness.” Hip-hop constantly runs the risk of becoming a watered-down imitation of its former self - just, you know, pop music. Andrew introduces us to Peter Rosenberg, a guy who takes this doomsday scenario very seriously. Peter is a DJ at Hot 97, New York City’s iconic hip-hop station, and a vocal booster of what he calls “real” hip-hop. But as a Jewish fellow from suburban Maryland, he's also the first to admit that he's an unlikely arbiter for what is and what isn't hip-hop. With the help of Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest and NPR's Frannie Kelley, we explore the strange ways that hip-hop deals with that age-old question: are you in or are you out?"]
Blackford, Linda. "University of Kentucky students protest plan to privatize dining services." Lexington Herald-Leader (April 21, 2014)
"Kill 'em All." Radiolab (March 25, 2014) ["Ever since there have been humans, mosquitoes have been biting us, and we’ve been trying to kill them. And, for the most part, the mosquitoes have been winning. Today there are over 3000 species on pretty much every corner of Earth. Mosquito-borne diseases kill around 1 million people a year (most of them children) and make more than 500 million people sick. But thanks to Hadyn Perry and his team of scientists, that might be about to change. Producer Andy Mills talks with author Sonia Shah about the difficulties of sharing a planet with mosquitoes and with science writer David Quammen about the risks of getting rid of them."]
Democracy Now Headlines for April 22, 2014:
Kitchell, Mark. "Earth Day Special: Fierce Green Fire Documentary Explores Environmental Movement’s Global Rise." Democracy Now (April 22, 2014)
Merriam-Webster Word-of-the-Day
oneiric \oh-NYE-rik\
adjective: of or relating to dreams : dreamy
EXAMPLES
The paintings, filled with fantastical imagery conjured by the artist's imagination, have a compellingly oneiric quality.
"Most of the actors here are double and triple cast, and if they barely differentiate among their roles, that just adds to the oneiric effect." — From a theater review by Jeffrey Gantz in The Boston Globe, March 12, 2012
The notion of using the Greek noun "oneiros" (meaning "dream") to form the English adjective "oneiric" wasn't dreamed up until the mid-19th century. But back in the early 1600s, linguistic dreamers came up with a few "oneiros" spin-offs, giving English "oneirocriticism," "oneirocritical," and "oneirocritic" (each referring to dream interpreters or interpretation). The surge in "oneiros" derivatives at that time may have been fueled by the interest then among English-speaking scholars in Oneirocritica, a book about dream interpretation by 2nd-century Greek soothsayer Artemidorus Daldianus.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Resources for April 19, 2014
Hudson, David. "Gabriel García Márquez, 1927 – 2014." Keyframe (April 17, 2014)
Wallace, Gregory. "Oklahoma bans local minimum wage hikes." CNN Money (April 15, 2014)
Gross, Daniel. "Radical Fast Food Joint Doubles Down on High Wages." The Daily Beast (September 9, 2013)
"Walmart on Tax Day: How Taxpayers Subsidize America’s Biggest Employer and Richest Family." Americans for Tax Fairness (April 2014)
Zornberg, Avivah. "The Transformation of Pharaoh, Moses, and God." On Being (April 10, 2014) ["With a master of midrash as our guide, we walk through the Exodus story at the heart of Passover. It's not the simple narrative you've watched at the movies or learned in Sunday school. Neither Moses or Pharaoh, nor the oppressed Israelites or even God, are as they seem. As Avivah Zornberg reveals, Exodus is a cargo of hidden stories — telling the messy, strange, redemptive truth of us as we are, and life as it is."]
"How U.S. Taxpayers Subsidize the Nation's Wealthiest Family." Jobs with Justice (April 14, 2014)
Jones, Ann. "How US Wars Came Home With the Troops: Up Close, Personal and Bloody." Truthout (April 17, 2014)
Courtney, Oliver. " One Percent of Environmentalists Killings Lead to Convictions: Global Witness report co-author Oliver Courtney discusses the alarming number of murders in South America and how governments and corporations work in unison to subvert indigenous rights." Real Network News (April 17, 2014)
Crabapple, Molly. "George Bush's Paintings Aren't Funny: But they are fascinating." Politico (April 13, 2014)
Pangburn, D.J. "These Short Online Psychedelic Courses Will Bend Your Mind." Motherboard (April 16, 2014)
Glaser, April. "Electronic Frontier Foundation is Expanding into Student and Community Organizing, and We Need Your Help." Electronic Frontier Foundation (April 9, 2014)
Wallace, Gregory. "Oklahoma bans local minimum wage hikes." CNN Money (April 15, 2014)
Gross, Daniel. "Radical Fast Food Joint Doubles Down on High Wages." The Daily Beast (September 9, 2013)
"Walmart on Tax Day: How Taxpayers Subsidize America’s Biggest Employer and Richest Family." Americans for Tax Fairness (April 2014)
Zornberg, Avivah. "The Transformation of Pharaoh, Moses, and God." On Being (April 10, 2014) ["With a master of midrash as our guide, we walk through the Exodus story at the heart of Passover. It's not the simple narrative you've watched at the movies or learned in Sunday school. Neither Moses or Pharaoh, nor the oppressed Israelites or even God, are as they seem. As Avivah Zornberg reveals, Exodus is a cargo of hidden stories — telling the messy, strange, redemptive truth of us as we are, and life as it is."]
"How U.S. Taxpayers Subsidize the Nation's Wealthiest Family." Jobs with Justice (April 14, 2014)
Jones, Ann. "How US Wars Came Home With the Troops: Up Close, Personal and Bloody." Truthout (April 17, 2014)
Courtney, Oliver. " One Percent of Environmentalists Killings Lead to Convictions: Global Witness report co-author Oliver Courtney discusses the alarming number of murders in South America and how governments and corporations work in unison to subvert indigenous rights." Real Network News (April 17, 2014)
Crabapple, Molly. "George Bush's Paintings Aren't Funny: But they are fascinating." Politico (April 13, 2014)
Pangburn, D.J. "These Short Online Psychedelic Courses Will Bend Your Mind." Motherboard (April 16, 2014)
Glaser, April. "Electronic Frontier Foundation is Expanding into Student and Community Organizing, and We Need Your Help." Electronic Frontier Foundation (April 9, 2014)
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Resources for April 17, 2014
Popova, Maria. "Famous Advice on Writing: The Collected Wisdom of Great Writers." Brain Pickings (May 3, 2013)
Jayaraman, Saru. "All Work and No Pay." Bill Moyers and Co. (April 4, 2014) ["Did you know the federal minimum wage for millions of restaurant workers is $2.13 an hour? Advocate Saru Jayaraman says that’s not only unfair but unsafe."]
Dialogic archive: Laura Poitras: Documentary Filmmaker and Producer
Ravitch, Diane. "Public Schools for Sale." Moyers & Co. (March 28, 2014)
Taibbi, Matt. "Who Goes to Jail? Matt Taibbi on American Injustice Gap from Wall Street to Main Street." Democracy Now (April 15, 2014)
Center for Constitutional Rights: News on the torture accountability front -- Spain’s National Court is continuing its investigation into the alleged torture of men formerly detained at Guantánamo prison by U.S. officials, despite recent legislative restrictions stating that Spanish courts can only investigate human rights violations committed abroad if the suspects are present in Spain. In an order issued yesterday, Judge Pablo Ruz ruled that Spain’s obligations under international law to investigate any credible allegation of torture took precedence over the new restrictions, and renewed his request for information from the Obama Administration regarding any U.S.-based investigations into torture allegations.
Dialogic Cinephilia: Resources for April 17, 2014
""This Award is for Snowden": Greenwald, Poitras Accept Polk Honor for Exposing NSA Surveillance." Democracy Now (April 14, 2014)
Kumar, Deepa. "Media Stokes Our Terrorism Mindset." The New York Times (April 16, 2014)
Isay, David. "The Everyday Art of Listening." On Being (April 17, 2014)
Jayaraman, Saru. "All Work and No Pay." Bill Moyers and Co. (April 4, 2014) ["Did you know the federal minimum wage for millions of restaurant workers is $2.13 an hour? Advocate Saru Jayaraman says that’s not only unfair but unsafe."]
Dialogic archive: Laura Poitras: Documentary Filmmaker and Producer
Ravitch, Diane. "Public Schools for Sale." Moyers & Co. (March 28, 2014)
Taibbi, Matt. "Who Goes to Jail? Matt Taibbi on American Injustice Gap from Wall Street to Main Street." Democracy Now (April 15, 2014)
Center for Constitutional Rights: News on the torture accountability front -- Spain’s National Court is continuing its investigation into the alleged torture of men formerly detained at Guantánamo prison by U.S. officials, despite recent legislative restrictions stating that Spanish courts can only investigate human rights violations committed abroad if the suspects are present in Spain. In an order issued yesterday, Judge Pablo Ruz ruled that Spain’s obligations under international law to investigate any credible allegation of torture took precedence over the new restrictions, and renewed his request for information from the Obama Administration regarding any U.S.-based investigations into torture allegations.
Dialogic Cinephilia: Resources for April 17, 2014
""This Award is for Snowden": Greenwald, Poitras Accept Polk Honor for Exposing NSA Surveillance." Democracy Now (April 14, 2014)
Kumar, Deepa. "Media Stokes Our Terrorism Mindset." The New York Times (April 16, 2014)
Isay, David. "The Everyday Art of Listening." On Being (April 17, 2014)
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Laura Poitras (Documentary Filmmaker and Producer)
Biographies/Archives/Projects:
Wikipedia: Laura Poitras
Praxis Films: Laura Poitras
The Intercept ("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.")
IMDB: Laura Poitras
Salon: Laura Poitras
Zeitgeist Films: Laura Poitras
The Guardian: Laura Poitras
Resources by/about Laura Poitras:
Appelbaum, Jacob and Laura Poitras. "Surveillance Teach-In." Praxis Films (April 20, 2012)
Appelbaum, Jacob, William Binney, and Laura Poitras. "More Secrets on Growing State Surveillance: Exclusive with NSA Whistleblower, Targeted Hacker." Democracy Now (April 23, 2012)
Greenwald, Glenn. "Finally: hear Bradley Manning in his own voice." The Guardian (March 12, 2013)
---. " U.S. filmmaker repeatedly detained at border: Laura Poitras makes award-winning controversial films, and is targeted by the U.S. government as a result." Salon (April 8, 2012)
Greenwald, Glenn and Laura Poitras. "Q&A on Snowden, the Surveillance State & Press Freedom." Democracy Now (April 11, 2014)
Greenwald, Glenn, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras. "Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations." The Guardian (June 9, 2013)
---. "NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans' data with Israel." The Guardian (September 11, 2013)
Leonard, Andrew. "A Pulitzer triumph: Snowden reporting wins journalism’s top prize ." Salon (April 14, 2014)
Maas, Peter. "How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets." The New York Times (August 18, 2013)
Mizer, Brian and Laura Poitras. "The Oath." POV (September 21, 2010)
Poitras, Laura. "An American woman's startling tale of life in Iraq." NOW #241 (October 13, 2006)
---. "Detained in the U.S.: Filmmaker Laura Poitras Held, Questioned Some 40 Times at U.S. Airports." Democracy Now (April 20, 2012)
---. "The Program." The New York Times (August 23, 2012)
---. "Puzzling Over A Jihadi's Journey." Fresh Air (June 2, 2010)
Wikipedia: Laura Poitras
Praxis Films: Laura Poitras
The Intercept ("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.")
IMDB: Laura Poitras
Salon: Laura Poitras
Zeitgeist Films: Laura Poitras
The Guardian: Laura Poitras
Resources by/about Laura Poitras:
Appelbaum, Jacob and Laura Poitras. "Surveillance Teach-In." Praxis Films (April 20, 2012)
Appelbaum, Jacob, William Binney, and Laura Poitras. "More Secrets on Growing State Surveillance: Exclusive with NSA Whistleblower, Targeted Hacker." Democracy Now (April 23, 2012)
Greenwald, Glenn. "Finally: hear Bradley Manning in his own voice." The Guardian (March 12, 2013)
---. " U.S. filmmaker repeatedly detained at border: Laura Poitras makes award-winning controversial films, and is targeted by the U.S. government as a result." Salon (April 8, 2012)
Greenwald, Glenn and Laura Poitras. "Q&A on Snowden, the Surveillance State & Press Freedom." Democracy Now (April 11, 2014)
Greenwald, Glenn, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras. "Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations." The Guardian (June 9, 2013)
---. "NSA shares raw intelligence including Americans' data with Israel." The Guardian (September 11, 2013)
Leonard, Andrew. "A Pulitzer triumph: Snowden reporting wins journalism’s top prize ." Salon (April 14, 2014)
Maas, Peter. "How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets." The New York Times (August 18, 2013)
Mizer, Brian and Laura Poitras. "The Oath." POV (September 21, 2010)
Poitras, Laura. "An American woman's startling tale of life in Iraq." NOW #241 (October 13, 2006)
---. "Detained in the U.S.: Filmmaker Laura Poitras Held, Questioned Some 40 Times at U.S. Airports." Democracy Now (April 20, 2012)
---. "The Program." The New York Times (August 23, 2012)
---. "Puzzling Over A Jihadi's Journey." Fresh Air (June 2, 2010)
Resources for April 15, 2014
Baker, Dean. "The Hedge Fund Managers Tax Break: Because Wall Streeters Want Your Money." Truthout (April 14, 2014)
Harvey, David. "17 Contradictions of Capitalism." London School of Economics and Political Science (April 2, 2014)
Boyd, Andrew and Jonathan Matthew Smucker. "Recapture the Flag." Beautiful Trouble (2014)
As a teacher, I'm not interested in just reproducing class after class of graduates who will get out, become successful, and take their obedient places in the slots that society has prepared for them. What we must do--whether we teach or write or make films--is educate a new generation to do this very modest thing: change the world. (15)
-- Zinn, Howard. "Stories Hollywood Never Tells." The Sun #343 (July 2004): 12-15.
[Michael Benton: This poem goes good with the latest episode of Cosmos I watched last night -- both expand my mind while bringing me down to a perspective that often escapes my notice.]
Spring Cress by Wesley Houp
No pollinator,
no mason,
orchard,
or honeybee,
no wasp,
no fly,
needs more
than two sips
to get to the shallow heart
of a Spring Cress blossom.
They go insatiably
from one flower to the next,
rapt in magnetism
that spurns
vagaries of wind,
sun,
shadow,
each bloom,
pointed with light,
providing scant sweetness,
but each white cross
an infinitesimal portion
to be multiplied by a billion
to comprise the whole
of the world.
Two statements of fact:
A single bee
will kill itself trying
to take in the whole,
one bee
after another
all spring,
but this world
has given up
on death for now.
Dialogic Cinephilia: Resources for April 15, 2014)
Schlosser, Eric. "Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety." Book TV (October 6, 2013) ["Using recently declassified documents, Eric Schlosser details the ease with which an accident can occur when handling nuclear weapons and how little control military leaders and missile designers have over them. He speaks with Lynn Davis, the former U.S. undersecretary for arms control and the director of the RAND corporation's Washington office."]
Fadiman, Dorothy. "Motherhood by Choice Not Chance." Making Contact (March 11, 2014) ["Before it was legal in the United States, some doctors would risk arrest to provide women with access to safe abortions. When that wasn’t possible, some sought abortions from unsafe providers, often with deadly consequences. The Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, and the numbers of people dying after having an abortion dropped, but are we now seeing a return to the past? ... what can the time before abortion was legal tell us about the dangers of restricting access to abortion today? We’ll hear a special radio adaption of “Motherhood by Choice not Chance” a documentary produced and narrated by Dorothy Fadiman.
"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); Glenn Greenwald responded on Twitter: "That'd make an excellent epitaph on the tombstone of modern establishment journalism." (2014)
Harvey, David. "17 Contradictions of Capitalism." London School of Economics and Political Science (April 2, 2014)
Boyd, Andrew and Jonathan Matthew Smucker. "Recapture the Flag." Beautiful Trouble (2014)
As a teacher, I'm not interested in just reproducing class after class of graduates who will get out, become successful, and take their obedient places in the slots that society has prepared for them. What we must do--whether we teach or write or make films--is educate a new generation to do this very modest thing: change the world. (15)
-- Zinn, Howard. "Stories Hollywood Never Tells." The Sun #343 (July 2004): 12-15.
[Michael Benton: This poem goes good with the latest episode of Cosmos I watched last night -- both expand my mind while bringing me down to a perspective that often escapes my notice.]
Spring Cress by Wesley Houp
No pollinator,
no mason,
orchard,
or honeybee,
no wasp,
no fly,
needs more
than two sips
to get to the shallow heart
of a Spring Cress blossom.
They go insatiably
from one flower to the next,
rapt in magnetism
that spurns
vagaries of wind,
sun,
shadow,
each bloom,
pointed with light,
providing scant sweetness,
but each white cross
an infinitesimal portion
to be multiplied by a billion
to comprise the whole
of the world.
Two statements of fact:
A single bee
will kill itself trying
to take in the whole,
one bee
after another
all spring,
but this world
has given up
on death for now.
Dialogic Cinephilia: Resources for April 15, 2014)
Schlosser, Eric. "Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety." Book TV (October 6, 2013) ["Using recently declassified documents, Eric Schlosser details the ease with which an accident can occur when handling nuclear weapons and how little control military leaders and missile designers have over them. He speaks with Lynn Davis, the former U.S. undersecretary for arms control and the director of the RAND corporation's Washington office."]
Fadiman, Dorothy. "Motherhood by Choice Not Chance." Making Contact (March 11, 2014) ["Before it was legal in the United States, some doctors would risk arrest to provide women with access to safe abortions. When that wasn’t possible, some sought abortions from unsafe providers, often with deadly consequences. The Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, and the numbers of people dying after having an abortion dropped, but are we now seeing a return to the past? ... what can the time before abortion was legal tell us about the dangers of restricting access to abortion today? We’ll hear a special radio adaption of “Motherhood by Choice not Chance” a documentary produced and narrated by Dorothy Fadiman.
"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); Glenn Greenwald responded on Twitter: "That'd make an excellent epitaph on the tombstone of modern establishment journalism." (2014)
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Resources for April 12, 2014
Democracy Now Headlines for April 9, 2014:
Roy, Arundhati. "Is India on a Totalitarian Path? Arundhati Roy on Corporatism, Nationalism and World’s Largest Vote." Democracy Now (April 9, 2014)
Dialogic Cinephilia: Resources for April 10, 2014
Zerkel, Mary. "Dollars for Endless War or Investment in a New Era?" Truthout (April 9, 2014)
Gordon, Paul. "Billionaires Score Big Win With McCutcheon Decision." Truthout (April 10, 2014)
\ Merchant, Brian. "93 Harvard Faculty Members Call on the University to Divest from Fossil Fuels." Motherboard (April 10, 2014)
Chatterjee, Partha. "Nationalism, Internationalism and Cosmopolitanism: some lessons from modern Indian history." London School of Economics and Political Science (April 3, 2014)
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