Golden Week

Golden week is sort of like the Japanese version of Spring Break - so I'll up north visiting the in-laws for a bit. In the meantime - enjoy.



Chaplin saved the best part for last of course - this speech at the end of the movie written by John Steinbeck is still just as relevant now as then, maybe even more so.

In praise of virtual communities

A lot of stuff has been written about the role of so-called virtual communities on the internet and their role in our new technology-enhanced world of online everything and electronic communication and globalized yadda yadda yadda. Well, most of what you've read, like most of everything, is likely crap - but let me tell you from experience - there is nothing "virtual" about online communities, they are as real as any other. 

I know by writing about this on a blog I'm probably already preaching to the choir, but in my 15 or so years on the internet, I've been part of more than a couple online groups from the old-time BBS type to the "cutting-edge" worlds of Second Life-MyBook-FaceSpace etc etc. 

Just because the people involved are pixels on your computer screen doesn't make them any less real. I have good friends I've made through different online venues, none of whom I've met in the flesh, though we have exchanged innumerable letters, gifts and confidences. 

When I first got on the internet 15 years ago, I used to post a lot to the alt.Callahans message boards, in its day one of the busiest non-pornographic spots on the internet. You know what the key precept there was? Shared pain is lessened, shared joy increased (aka Spider's Law) and dammit, that precept was very much in evidence in the discussions. Sure, there were arguments and even flame wars and mean things occasionally said, but by and large the people there  genuinely gave a damn about each other and uplifted one another's spirits, and mostly made each other laugh a lot.

I used to spend a bit of time on the BBC's excellent Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy boards too (see blogroll), and have a few friends from that time and virtual space I still stay vaguely in touch with, a few of whom still read this blog. And then, of course, there are all of you who read this blog and leave your comments, and the people who are part of Progressive Bloggers and now those who listen to the podcast and email or comment - and I'm grateful for the connections I've made in that way too. 

But when it comes to community, let me tell you - Second Life really does have the edge over other forums. 

I've been hanging out with these folks for a couple of years now, and a nicer, more well-meaning bunch you will not find. We get together in various combinations and at various locations a few times a week. Sometimes, like at my Sunday night parties at the Red Zeppelin--my little virtual tree fort clubhouse in Second Life--it's just for laughs and conversation. Other times, such as the annual virtual Netroots Nation convention,  it's for political activism. Even when we are just hanging out having a good time, we've done good things - a couple of months ago we raised a couple of hundred bucks for relief in Haiti, and we often pass the virtual hat to send flowers to friends in the hospital or help out other causes.

Today was a prime example of the latter type of gathering. One of the groups I've gotten involved with in Second Life (and a major inspiration for the Maple Leaf Revolution podcast) is Virtually Speaking,  a sort of progressive talk show done in real time in Second Life as well as being recorded as a podcast.

Say what you want about SL being a bunch of nerds who spend too much time online or who are too wrapped up in their fantasy world  -- and yeah, there are those people there too -- but I just spent 90 minutes as part of a discussion by two U.S. military lawyers who are doing their damnedest to get innocent people freed from Guantanamo Bay. I even got to ask them some questions. 

That cartoon lady on the right is my good pal Seattle Tammy aka Bookem Streeter from Washington state, who sells me books at Jackson Street Books and does occasional writing at Daily Kos and Jesus' General. She met Lt. Col Barry Wingard and Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Bogucki through a twitter group and email network that she joined that was set up by a blogger and the mother of one of these fine men. Wingard and Bogucki are the military lawyers I mentioned earlier who are working their asses off to uphold the best ideals of the United States and the rule of law. You can, and should, read more about them and their efforts here and here. You can, and should, listen to the discussion here. 

I'm very proud of Tammy for putting this event together and very proud of the community that took part - - it was one of the most compelling onlne discussions of any kind I've been a part of. And Virtually Speaking does this kind of thing a couple of times a week with different guests. Not all of them are as compelling as these to JAG lawyers, but it's a pretty impressive list just the same.

My point is that such a forum could not have taken place in any other non-commercial medium - we had a real time discussion with people from Texas to Tokyo to Timbuktu, with the potential for people to call in with questions or simply type them in on the screen for the panelists to read and respond to. The audience of about 50 could both question the panel and discuss their answers among ourselves. And then we all went to our favorite club and danced (to music provided by Tammy' husband, my pal Seattle Dan aka Dano Bookmite) while we talked about the earlier discussion. Say what you want about the nerdiness of me hanging out with my "cartoon friends", but you try that with Meet the Press.

A force for good in our time - A new spiritual hero of the moment

Louise Arbour, former Canadian Supreme Court Justice, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is now running a private NGO, the International Crisis Group.

While the International Crisis Group is not a boots-on-the-ground aid group in terms of directly delivering food or medical aid to crisis-stricken areas, it is instrumental is getting governments to do the right thing by providing impartial analysis and sound advice to those in the corridors of power.
In the recent Maple Syrup Revolution podcast, Lindsay Stewart and I talked briefly about the damage done to Canada international reputation over the last few years by Harper Government. It is thanks to the fine work of people like Louise Arbour and Steven Lewis and our past dedication to international peacekeeping missions that give Canada any international credibility at all. 
In a recent inteview with the Toronto Star she claims that of her many public incarnations this will be the last. I think that is unfortunate because there is one more incarnation I'd like to see her in, that of leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada  -- since she doesn't seem anymore impressed with the current government than I am:

“Is Canada punching below its weight?” she says. “Is it punching at all?”

Ottawa, Arbour argues, is “largely absent on the international scene. It’s very difficult to capture any kind of message, position or form of engagement these days.”

And she adds, “when I was prosecutor in 1996, it mattered what Canada thought. On issues of justice and ethics, it mattered what the Canadian position was. There was a sense that you would get an honest, well-thought-out approach. Not just a raw pursuit of ideological or national interest.”

Check out this 2008 interview from CBC radio's As It Happens.
And a tip of the hat to Estaban in Olde Berlin for the suggestion.

No work and all play makes Rev. Paperboy seek an outlet

Taaaa Daaaaaaa!

The Maple Syrup Revolution is ON!

Step right up and listen to our all-new, all-Canadian, 100% handmade, all-natural, organic, executive version, deluxe PODCAST - Satisfation guaranteed or triple your money back!

You can get the podcast here (and eventually at the iTunes store) or at the Maple Syrup Revolution blog.



P.S. All credit for the name goes to Skdadl at POGGE, who coined the phrase.

The new standard in shamelessness

In trying to defend the indefensible, a common neocon tactic is to go on the offensive with ad homenin attacks on the media carrying the story or on the source of the story. Sometimes this means villifying the victim, as the government of Canada has done with Abousfian Abdelrazik and Omar Khadr, sometimes this means trying to destroy the messenger as with the "revelation" that the investigator who uncovered the evidence that gives weight to the accusations against Helena Geurgis (whatever they are) has huge debts.
As dishonest a tactic as this is, it is generally accepted that it is part of the political spin game and will be attempted with varying degrees of shameless obviousness.
Even given all that, having a convicted fraud artist write - from jail no less - an attack on a news organization that  has long been considered the gold standard in journalistic credibility in order to defend the raping of altar boys and the popularity of hate merchants while at the same time blaming the press for the fall of Vietnam and attempting to rehabilitate the reputation of Richard Milhous Nixon -- well, that sets a new low in shamelessness and hypocrisy.
Well played, National Post. I'm sure a sinecure can be found for you at the National Review or someother wingnut welfare agency, or even within Lord Tubby's empire itself, when the magic hand of the marketplace finally gives your "newspaper" the finger.

Hat tip to Jim Dandy Goodness for reading the National Toast so that I don't have to.

Documents? What Documents?

Oh! You mean these documents?

Chrolavicius sensed something was amiss when she independently obtained records related to Benatta's case through the Access to Information Act that had not come out through the court process.

Still, the government said in a submission to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that additional documents and information "simply do not exist."

It said the allegation that the Crown's search for documents had been deficient was based largely on speculation, intuition, guesswork and erroneous assumption.

In December, the court ordered the government to come up with a more complete list of documents, saying the original was "deficient in form and substance."

Initially the government said 113 relevant documents existed, but it now acknowledges 972 items.

Gee, it's as if lower level civil servants were following the example set by those at the top or something.

Sunday songs and cinema

Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in "This Gun for Hire"

the future's so bright i gotta wear shades

Today's little ray of sunshine comes courtesy of Noam Chomsky

Love is all around

they should bring this show back -- with new theme music!



Truly, one of the funniest things ever on television.

Support the troops

I had a whole big outraged, shocked-but-not-surprised, how-evil-have-we-become? kind of a post planned about this, but then I read what the Medium Lobster had to say, and decided it had all been said and better.
Just remember, all good Germans supported the troops in the late 30's and early 40's too.

This week at the Red Zeppelin -- "I Was A Fugitive From A Chain Gang"




best line: "I steal!"

damn, that was good curry

Dealing with the bullshit

Attention University of Ottawa students: This is how you handle a public speech by a member of the conservative noise machine. Rather than give them an excuse to cancel and whinge about "being silenced" by mean liberals and "having their right to free speech violated" because they cancelled their own speech, lie low and get inside for the actual speech. Then call them on their lies.

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove was heckled and ultimately forced off stage at a book signing in Beverly Hills by protesters who called him a "war criminal" and told him that he'd "ruined the country."

And speaking of how to deal with bullshit - go here and throw a few bucks toward the family of  Matthew Snyder, a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq whose funeral was picketed by the people who put the mental in fundamentalist, the Westboro Baptist Church. Snyder's family sued the Phelps clan for intentional infliction of emotional pain etc etc and won the first round, but after a successful appeal by the church, have been ordered to pay about $16,000 in court costs.

Also, as of today I no longer work for the ministry of truth Daily Yomiuri, so there you can now look forward to a lot more Japanese news and commentary on Japanese media here. Those fond of word game and puzzles may search out my farewell message buried in this.

the party of fiscal responsibility

and family values

RNC spent $2,000 on lesbian-themed voyeur nightclub in Hollywood

As the Republican Party criticizes the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress of spending astronomical amounts of money, a new report released shows the Republican National Committee spent outlandish sums of money on lavish things.

Washington, United States - According to records filed with the Federal Election Commission, the Republican National Committee spent $1,946 at a West Hollywood lesbian-themed nightclub that features topless dancers in bondage outfits, reports the Washington Post. The expenditure at the voyeur club was listed as “meals.”

The documents further show that the RNC spent more than $80,000 on private jet travel in February and $13,000 for limousines, while the GOP’s main political committee spent nearly $75,000 on posh hotels: $9,000 for the Beverly Hills Hotel; $6,600 for the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons; $15,000 at the W Hotel in Washington and more than $43,000 at its midwinter meeting in Hawaii, which does not include airfare.

Really, what more needs to be said? Why does anyone listen to a word these hypocritical douchebags say?

Movie of the week

Now showing at the Red Zeppelin: Robert Mitchum in "Night of the Hunter"

join us in Second Life at 6 pm (Pacific) for music from Radio Woodshed, followed by the movie at 7 pm

A new spiritual hero of the moment

Dr. Strangelove has long been one of my favorite films and I always like Sterling Hayden as Gen. Jack T. Ripper, but there was a lot more to Hayden than I ever suspected.



Driftglass posted a few bit of an amazing conversation between Tom Snyder and Sterling Hayden and it piqued my interest in a guy I've always thought was a good actor. I looked into his biography and damn, what an interesting guy. He ran away to the sea at 15, sailed and eventually skippered square-riggers and eventually ended up in Hollywood before the war, joined the marines and ended up running guns into Yugoslavia with the OSS in the war, joined and quit the commmunist party, named names for McCarthy and considers it the most shameful thing he ever did, became both a writer and fan of marijuana late in life. Say what you like about him, the guy was definitely an original. Having listened to these interviews, I now have a fantasy of traveling across the United States in Hayden's train car with him, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Ruth Gordon, Ingrid Bergman, Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, Thomas Pynchon, Hunter Thompson and a couple of cases of good scotch.

Check out the first series of interviews on the Tomorrow Show here, the second one here and the third one here.

Not for sissies

Everyone likes to think that their favorite sport is the most demanding and produces the best athletes, but for the ultimate combination of physical conditioning, strength, skill and courage, I challenge anyone to top the hockey player.
Sure, soccer players can run full tilt for 90 minutes and need great skill to handle the ball. Yes, football linebackers are strong as bulls and can sprint like a deer. I know, I know -- hitting a curve ball is one of the most difficult things there is. NHL goalies do their best to hit a fast curveball with their bodies about 30 times a game. And while they may be in good shape, I have no time for the boohooing and theatrics of soccer players who bump into each other, or occasionally collide mid-air. And don't talk to me about the long term wear and tear on the bodies of the armoured behemoths in the front lines of the NFL, how often to they get hit with a stick by someone going in excess of 30 kph?. You want tough? Meet the Montreal Canadiens' Travis Moen.

Moen took a skate blade in the face on Monday night, resulting in between 40 and 50 stitches, but, as the Montreal Gazette tells us: "Moen had hoped to play in Wednesday’s game in Buffalo, but doctors didn’t want his injury subjected to the altitude pressures of flying. It was just the sixth game the durable forward had missed in his past 320 in Montreal, San Jose and Anaheim."

As Moen himself said in the article (emphasis mine): “I was unlucky to get hit, but lucky that it missed the eye – fortunate enough that nothing serious happened. I was fortunate that (the skate) missed my eye and I just got some stitches. I’m definitely happy that was the outcome.”


Rugby players take a pounding. Marathon runners have incredible endurance. Driving Nascar or Formula  One cars means knowing that if someone else makes a mistake you could end up trapped in a pile of burning, twisted metal. I acknowledge all that. I'll go one better and specify that all athletic endevours carry some risk of catastrophic injury- think of Joe Thiesman getting his leg snapped or Jessica Dube nearly getting her nose cut off in a figure skating accident. But name me one other sport where getting 50 stitches in the face is just another day at the office.
Moen is fully expected to be back on the ice tonight.

In the words of Warren Zevon: "Take care of your teeth, that might work for you, but what's a Canadian farm boy to do?"

Glass houses, petards and Brownshirt Annie

Now

"Free speech in Canada leaves much to be desired" Ann Coulter after event cancellation

Shorter Ann Coulter: "boo hoo, Canadians are mean and stupid and won't let me talk shit to them, that's why I'm glad there's a National Post."

Then

"They're always accusing us of repressing their speech," she said. "I say let's do it. Let's repress them."

She later added, "Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the First Amendment."

(Hat tip to Dr. Dawg)

While I think pulling a fire alarm for any reason other than a fire is criminal, what Coulter does is not so far from shouting "fire" in crowded theatre.  What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, Ann, turnabout being fair play and all that. And you guys, please stop staring at her Adam's apple! (warning: Links something that is so very, very wrong and NSFW)

Censorship or the Free Market speaking?

As much as I dislike Ann Coulter, I do respect her right to say just about any stupid thing that comes into the space between her ears. I don't think the University of Ottawa should have invited her in the first place, but I'm not sure how I feel about her speech having to be cancelled due to "security concerns."
I'd rather have seen her be allowed to speak, and then roundly booed and mocked by those in attendance.
One thing is for certain though, and that is that she, and Ezra Levant and the rest of the para-fascist shriekosphere will be milking this for all it is worth.

Run over by the Mack truck of history

I'm puzzled as to how Canadian Immigration Authorities can justify allowing a hatemonger like Ann Coulter into the country while barring British MP George Galloway, scholar and former radical  William Ayers and trying to keep out journalists who might say mean things about the big burning stick festival in Vancouver.

But then, I suppose such people are not going to bring teh laffs like Brownshirt Annie:

During the Q & A a 17 year old female Muslim student quoted Ann Coulter's statement encouraging 1) the US to invade the Islamic nations, kill their leaders and convert their citizens to Christianity; and 2) for Muslims to be banned from airplanes, and that if they need to fly they should take their magic carpets. The girl asked if 1) she should be forced to convert, and 2) given that she doesn't have a magic carpet, what should she do if she needs to fly somewhere. Coulter didn't much address the first question, but addressed the second one by telling her to take a camel! (not that camels fly but, you get the drift).

Laugh? Ha, I almost started!

Stay KKKlassy conservatives!

Ann was introduced in London by fellow wingnut trougher and longtime media whore Ezra Levant. And apparently Kathy "12 feet of nasty packed in a five foot box" Shaidle was also there to try to claw her way onto the gravy train and spreading her usual sunshine.


What these half-bright hate peddlars and their "moran" fans fail to realize is that history has completely passed them by. They and their morally and intellectually bankrupt ideology are flavor-of-the-moment relics from the last decade and anyone with any sense at all has long since moved on. All their outrageous statements and publicity stunts aimed at getting them back in the limelight will fail, because after 20 years of their screaming "wolf" and predicting doom if they weren't given the keys to the kingdom even conservatives are now realizing they've been had.

And speaking of cheap and obvious publicity stunts, apparently Coulter is planning to launch a complaint with the Human Rights Commission over a letter she received prior to speaking at the Univeristy of Ottawa.

"...a senior University of Ottawa administrator has warned her to use "restraint, respect and consideration" when speaking at the school.
Francois Houle, vice-president academic and provost, advised Coulter, who holds a law degree, to review Canada's hate speech and defamation laws before giving her talk at the university.
In an e-mail sent to Coulter on Friday, a copy of which has been obtained by the National Post, Houle wrote: "Our domestic laws, both provincial and federal, delineate freedom of expression (or "free speech") in a manner that is somewhat different than the approach taken in the United States. I therefore encourage you to educate yourself, if need be, as to what is acceptable in Canada and to do so before your planned visit here."

He continued: "Promoting hatred against any identifiable group would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges."

After also mentioning defamation law, the provost wrote: "I therefore ask you, while you are a guest on our campus, to weigh your words with respect and civility in mind."

Shorter: "We both know you like to shoot your mouth off and we have laws against hate speech up here, and every liberal in the country will be waiting to pounce, so please don't drag the univerisity into a lawsuit by saying something actionable, mmmkay?"

And Coulter's response?

"Now that the provost has instructed me on the criminal speech laws he apparently believes I have a proclivity (to break), despite knowing nothing about my speech, I see that he is guilty of promoting hatred against an identifiable group: conservatives," Coulter wrote in an e-mail to the Ottawa Citizen Monday...

Shorter: "You Canuckistani socialists aren't the boss of me! I'll say whatever hateful thing I want!"

Obviously, Ezra has had a word with Ann about the publicity value to be had in getting to speak in front of the Human Rights Commission, no matter how obviously stupid your case, something he has considerable experience with.

Seriously, there ought to some kind of fine levied for wasting the commission's time with this kind of bullshit.