LAFCO, the Los Angeles Filmmakers’ Cooperative, was started in 2000 when a group of underground filmmakers bought a 1985 Chevy schoolbus on eBay and coverted it into a fully self-sufficient digital studio on wheels. In 2001, three LAFCO filmmakers set out to cross the country to make films with artists, poets, and musicians across America. See all nine parts here.
July 5, 2009
Palin confuses GOP
Republican are just as baffled as everyone else by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s sudden resignation. “If this is geared for her run for the presidency in 2012, it is one of the most politically tone deaf decisions that we’ve seen,” said Stuart Roy, a Republican consultant.
May 29, 2009
White evangelical Protestants: torture “OK.”
From CBS News: A Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey released last week found that those who attend weekly church services are more likely than those who rarely or never attend services to say the use of torture on suspected terrorists is justifiable.
May 22, 2009
A reader comments on two speeches.
President Obama gave a lengthy speech outlining in very specific terms what he intends to do about closing down that atrocity of a terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Immediately after the president’s speech, former vice-president Dick Cheney gave a speech of his own, defending the creation of that prison and arguing how doing away with it will make Americans less safe.
Some years ago I had a student, a corpsman, who took three classes from me. I got to know him fairly well. After the three classes, he was assigned to go to Gitmo and serve as a medic for several months. I told him before he left that based on what had happened at Abu Ghraib, he should be very careful about his conduct and not allow himself to get involved in anything that didn’t rigidly adhere to the military justice code. He knew me well enough to listen closely to what I said to him. I told him to do his duty to the Navy but to not get involved in anything that looked like torture. When he returned several months later, he came to see me in my classroom. He grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously, saying that he was very glad I’d warned him about being careful. He said that on several occasions he was asked to stand-by while various prisoners were waterboarded and other “intensive interrogation techniques” were applied. He said that on at least four occasions he had refused to participate in what he believed was wrongful behavior and each time he was readily excused from the room with no argument from his superiors.
During Cheney’s speech, he went to great lengths to argue that the prisoners at Gitmo have at all times and in all cases been cared for better than most American citizens. He’s LYING! Yes, there was and still is a large medical staff. Yes, many of the Muslim prisoners have been allowed to pray five times a day, with arrows painted on the floor showing them the direction of Mecca. They get an appropriate diet of 6000 calories and many of them are allowed to watch Al Jezeera TV… now. But such amenities have not always been available, nor has the treatment of these “terrorists” always been so gracious. There were things going on down there every bit as despicable as what happened at Abu Ghraib.
Some of you might say, “But these are not American citizens. They’re not entitled to the same justice as our people. They are hardened terrorists, sworn to kill Americans and destroy our way of life.”
Yes, some of them are. But a great many of them were innocent Iraqis who got caught up in the wide sweeps carried out by our military in the early days of the occupation. Many more were not “hardened” terrorists, but merely drivers and others on the periphery of the insurgency in its early stages. Oh yes, they are probably angry and hardened terrorists now, but that’s because they’ve been held for six years in captivity with no legal recourse or voice, and many of them have been tortured many times during that captivity.
Vice-President Cheney was lying throughout most of his speech.
The problem with President Obama’s speech is that it was too complicated for most Americans to understand. It’s so much easier, as it always has been, to grasp the reductionist and simplistic reasoning of fear and greed put forth by the Bush administration, but it’s not right. President Obama argued for the fair disposition of those prisoners remaining at Gitmo under a system of justice administered by the executive branch of government, but with oversight from both the judicial and legislative branches — in other words, according to the rule of law, which is the most basic underpinning of our entire national philosophy. But it’s complex and difficult to understand, so I’m afraid Obama’s efforts failed.
On their most fundamental level, the two speeches typified and symbolized the two currents of social and political thought in America today. On the one hand is Dick Cheney’s brand of fear and violation of law to gain the short-term appearance of security. That’s the easy one to understand. On the other, there’s President Obama’s appeal to the rule of law and the complexity involved. To establish some kind of workable disposition of the detainees at Gitmo will require the work of the best legal minds available in every branch of government. In the long run, though, it will mean that we have remained true to the ideals we hold up to the rest of the world. And that, to me, is more important that the short-term gains of arbitrarily imprisoning men and never giving them a chance to be heard. That’s not what Americans do. If it’s simplicity that’s required, the Cheney-Bush doctrine thrives in the darkness of secrecy, fear, and evil. The Obama policy adheres to our most cherished ideals and is lit for all to see by the lamp of liberty.
April 18, 2009
Terrorist or Patriot?
All the votes have been counted in the Minnesota Senate race between Al Franken and Republican Norm Coleman: Al Franken won. Every time Norm Coleman has demanded new vote counts or challenged “suspected” ballots, the margin of victory for Al has increased. This Coleman character probably threw tantrums every time he lost a game of marbles in grade school.
You would think that losing would be enough for Norm to concede the race, but it isn’t. DC Republicans are encouraging him to drag this election out for as long as possible, and they’re willing to bankroll new court challenges to keep it going. Oh, Republicans in DC know Al Franken won. But for them, it’s worth it to keep shelling out money to block another Democratic vote in support of President Obama.
In other words, Republicans want the elected government to fail. They would rather block attempts to clean up the mess left by the previous administration. They are doing everything they can to sabotage O’s efforts. Sounds to me like something a terrorist would do.
March 24, 2009
Be very afraid…
Congressional Bill H.R. 875 is to “establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.” In fact, it is an attack on organic foods by none other than Monsanto, and was introduced by their whore, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto.
March 17, 2009
Pigs at the trough
Joseph Cassano, head of the AIG Financial Products unit: “It is hard for us, without being flippant, to even see a scenario within any kind of rhyme or reason that would see us losing one dollar in any of those transactions.” Cassano racked up billions of losses while assuring investors it was nearly impossible for his unit to lose.
Before he was finally fired last March, Cassano pocketed $280 million in cash and an additional $34 million in bonuses. Under a “retirement” agreement marked “confidential,” Cassano also got a $1 million-a-month “consulting fee.” AIG subsequently cut off these payments, but Cassano still walked away with more than $315 million while the company staggered under $440 billion in liabilities. Taxpayers had to pour in $170 billion in bailout money. Full story. Also, the 10 most-overpaid CEOs.
March 12, 2009
Beware of petrochemical carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) released a new study that exposes levels of the petrochemical carcinogen 1,4-Dioxane in leading conventional as well as “natural” brands of personal care and household cleaning products. This cancer-causing contaminant is all too frequently found in products directly applied to the skin, but it is not listed on ingredient labels, making it difficult for consumers to avoid potentially dangerous products. To help protect the health of your family and the environment, the OCA’s study results have been put together in a user-friendly printable consumer pocket guide that fits neatly into any wallet.
March 8, 2009
Open Letter to the Republican Traitors
Open Letter to the Republican Traitors (From a Former Republican):
Dear Republican Leaders: The Republican Party has become the party dedicated to sabotaging the American future. You Republicans are the arsonists who burned down our national home. You combined the failed ideologies of the Religious Right, so-called free market deregulation, and the Neoconservative love of war to light a fire that has consumed America. Now you have the nerve to criticize the “architect” America just hired — President Obama — to rebuild from the ashes. You do nothing constructive, just try to hinder the one person willing and able to fix the mess you created. Continue reading…
