“Tepco Are Negligent Murderers - Salon”

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Tepco Are Negligent Murderers - Salon Posted: From the Wall Street Journal: The plant's operator—Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco—considered using seawater from the nearby coast to cool one of its six reactors at least as early as last Saturday morning, the day after the quake struck. But it didn't do so until that evening, after the prime minister ordered it following an explosion at the facility. Tepco didn't begin using seawater at other reactors until Sunday. Tepco was reluctant to use seawater because it worried about hurting its long-term investment in the complex, say people involved with the efforts. Seawater, which can render a nuclear reactor permanently inoperable, now is at the center of efforts to keep the plant under control. Tepco "hesitated because it tried to protect its assets," said Akira Omoto, a former Tepco executive and a member of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission. Tepco prevented a measure which might have arrested this horrible situation earlier. We don't know if it would have stopped the current slow-motion disaster, but we'll never know if it wouldn't, either. But because of a corporation's wish to protect its property, how many are dying now and will die in days, months, years to come? How much cumulative damage will be done to Japan, and eastern Russia, and Korea, and China alone, not to mention the effect of those rads being vomited in a steady stream into our atmosphere? A little uranium twinkling in every lung. All because of a company's negligence, even leaving aside how we don't learn the lesson of not doing things we don't know how to fix when they go wrong. Things that, when they go wrong, go wrong all the way. Because of money. Because of profit. Not yours. The profit of the corporations, the legal fictions we have given the powers of God and the legal standing of human beings. But none of the same liability. Indeed, the whole purpose of corporations is evasion of individual liability. But it seems you cannot have your cake and eat it too. That has started to break down of late, with the Supreme Court's surprisingly intelligent decision(dissented by Thomas and Scalia, of course) against AT & T, declaring that the corporation did not have the same right to privacy as an individual does. There's a next logical step, though. Because corporations murder. They destroy lives, property, and resources. Before this, there was BP and the Gulf. Oil companies, for decades. Union Carbide in Bhopal. R.J. Reynolds and others. All engaged in irresponsible behavior that cost the lives of millions. That's not even including corporations such as ITT, DeBeers, or United Fruit that actively killed people and overthrew nations and governments. Some have paid fines. Occasionally executives have gone to jail. But mostly, the corporations remain and find new ways to commit the same crimes. And they usually don't really have to fix what they destroyed, or pay for it. The paying is usually left to the victims. Why should they have all the advantages of an individual with none of the responsibilities to the human race? Bad enough we can never hold God to account. But to actually create and tolerate such a malign force within our own world, created by our own laws, which protect it as it murders us? It seems to me that in some way, should a corporation commit murder and mass destruction, it should be imprisoned, even executed, as any individual might, as well. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

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“Can fantasy ever tell the truth? - The Guardian”

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Can fantasy ever tell the truth? - The Guardian Posted: China Miéville's fictions 'riff on the nature of fantasy itself'. Photograph: Chris Close There is nothing wrong with escaping reality now and again. Like a well brewed ale, or a good malt whisky, a finely crafted escapist fantasy can be a thing of joy and beauty. But while the occasional tipple can be a good thing, most of us recognise that a bottle of Jameson's a night is unhealthy for body, mind and soul. An unfiltered diet of escapist fantasy blockbusters can be similarly unhealthy. As master anti-fantasist M John Harrison expresses it in his essay The Profession of Science Fiction while discussing the appeal of fantasy to young children terrified by adult life, "Many fantasy and SF readers are living out a prolonged childhood in which they retain that terror and erect – in collusion with professional writers who themselves often began as teenage daydreamers – powerful defences against it." For many literary readers it is this suspicion of escapism that deters them from fantasy. Literary fiction is rooted in the idea of engaging with reality as it is, of facing all the pains and pleasures of life and examining them in detail. Iris Murdoch described great writing as having "a conception of truth, a lack of illusion, an ability to overcome selfish obsessions" and as being the work of a "free, unfettered, uncorrupted imagination." Bad writing for Murdoch, and for the generation of literary writers surrounding her, could be defined as "the soft, messy, self-indulgent work of an enslaved fantasy". Kevin Brockmeier's The Illumination is not soft, messy or self-indulgent. But it is fantastic. The novel charts a jagged course through the lives of its six protagonists in a world transfigured in one fantastic way. Wounds of all kinds, from cuts and bruises to amputated limbs, have begun to emanate light. The narrative offers no explanation for the phenomenon of illumination, and its consequences are not explored in any depth beyond its profound impact on the characters of the story. It is a fantastical device which helps Brockmeier arrive at the kind of hard truths literary fiction so admires. China Miéville's fiction is no less truthful, but far more extravagantly fantastic. Miéville's early Bas-Lag trilogy reworked the familiar trope of the fantasy city, but New Crobuzon owes more to Dickensian London and M John Harrison's Viriconium than it does to Tolkien's Gondor. Miéville's upcoming Embassytown is generating considerable excitement as his most sophisticated work to date. The Embassytown of the title is a human colony on an alien planet inhabited by the Hosts. The Host language is so alien that it can only be spoken by genetically engineered Ambassadors, and uses human colonists as living similes for complex ideas. The game with Miéville's fiction is to unpick the complex, many layered metaphors he twists from the fantasy he is creating. In Embassytown Miéville continues to explore socialist ideology and the power of language to control and enslave. It is hard to escape, however, the sneaking suspicion that Miéville is riffing on the nature of fantasy itself and the complex relationship between the pusher of fantasy and their adoring, addicted audience. Catherynne M Valente is the author of perhaps the most baroque and stylish fantasy being written today. Valente's novel Palimpsest also explores a fantasy city, an other-worldly, phantasmagorical metropolis that can only be reached by travellers from our reality through sleep. Visitors to Palimpsest are tattooed with unique maps of the city, and must then seek one another out to continue their explorations of that place. Valente's latest novel Deathless reworks the Slavic fairytale of Koschei the Deathless, returning Valente to her ongoing fascination with folk and fairytales. Valente describes her own work, along with other writers including Ekaterina Sedia and Theodora Goss, as "mythpunk" fiction that combines fantasy, folktale and myth with postmodern techniques, non-linear storytelling and academic critique. The results are fantasy that begins to capture the highly subjective truths of contemporary reality. As an escapist experience, fantasy has fallen in to disregard with writers and readers who seek to understand the often difficult and painful truths of real life. But writers such as Brockmeier, Miéville and Valente are returning to fantasy for the many ways it can unlock truth. Perhaps it is a consequence of living in an era of such radical change, but the fantastic seems once again to play a part in expressing the truth of our time. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

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“The Confederate flag and free speech: It's long past time to stop mythologizing our ancestry - Oregonian” plus 1 more

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The Confederate flag and free speech: It's long past time to stop mythologizing our ancestry - Oregonian Posted: Published: Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 7:00 AM By Jeffrey Fuller After reading about Ken Webber, the Medford school bus driver who was fired for refusing to remove a Confederate battle flag, which he called an expression of his "redneck" identity, from the antenna of his truck while parked at a local school, I was reminded of my own upbringing in Missouri near the home of the notorious Confederate guerrilla and outlaw Jesse James.  Coming of age in an area where Southern sympathies still exist, where Jesse James is still celebrated (even I, a liberal historian, struggle not to brag about the nearness of my roots to this legendary and murderous man), and where the "Dukes of Hazard" just made sense, I've often found contradictions in the realities and fictions surrounding the South and an understanding of who we are as individuals. The brief background information about Webber in The Oregonian brought two specific issues to mind: The first issue is the fact that there is no Confederate heritage without hate. The belief that the Confederate flag stands for "heritage not hate" is one steeped in mythology, in a dishonest reading of the South's stated intentions, and in the addition of ideas that simply did not exist until after the war was concluded and Reconstruction was in full swing. The state of South Carolina's declaration of secession spelled out the South's cause quite succinctly. The writers attest that states have the right to secede first and foremost, and in this the myth is born. The right to secede equaled a war for state's rights. The rest of the declaration goes on to assert that the United States' refusal to uphold the Fugitive Slave Act and the "election of a man ... whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery" made it impossible for South Carolina to continue as a member of "the Union heretofore existing between this State and the other States of North America." All of the rights they find abused fall under the guise of slavery. In fact, the right to secede and the rights supposedly abused by the federal government concerning slavery are the only rights mentioned in the cause of so-called heritage preservation. The second issue is the overlaying of the term "redneck" onto a noted symbol of hate. The etymology of the word stems from the sunburned necks of America's farmers. Where I grew up, redneck was generally a term one earned through hard labor and long days in the field. It was a badge of honor one wore on his skin, not because he tattooed it on himself but because nature saw fit to brand him with its mark. It was a celebration for the group that represented the nation's heartland and life blood. It was not a term that anyone who adopted the style could claim. Driving a pickup, wearing a mesh-backed cap and listening to country music were not enough. There was pride in who they were, but to wave a flag would have been too ego-driven and grounds for ridicule. Why is it that some Americans, especially in the case of the Confederate flag, must continue to ignore our past and mythologize it as something worthwhile and grand? Ken Webber, and many others around the nation, not only fly this statement of hatred ignorantly but take it a step further and fly it with bellicose defiance, unintentionally ridiculing a time-honored faction of American livelihood.  We should take a page from Germany's bravery in admitting our historical prejudice rather than pretending it was something else. The Germans labeled the swastika as a symbol of hatred and bigotry. The Nazis built the autobahn and pulled Germany out of its economic calamity, yet no one ignores the Holocaust because of these triumphs. So why cannot Americans acknowledge the Confederacy's intent to dominate in all aspects the lives of a people based on the color of their skin, to brutalize them, rape them, whip them, brand them, take their children and work them into their graves? That is the real history of slavery, the real history of Southern secession, and the real history of the Confederate flag. It is time we admit our past failures and bigotry, and stop mythologizing our ancestry as something grand when it was anything but. Jeffrey Fuller lives in North Portland. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

Comprehensive concert and comedy calendar for the week starting 3/4 - New Haven Register Posted: Billy Ray Cyrus, MGM Grand Premiere Ballroom, Foxwoods Resort Casino, Route 2, Mashantucket, 800-200-2882. The Lee Boys, Fairfield Theatre Co.'s StageOne. Tartan Terrors with Ask Your Father, The Ridgefield Playhouse. Tera Melos with Marnie Stern, Fugue, Heirloom Arts Theatre . The Original Saturday Night Dance Party, Toad's Place. The Rock 106.9 WCCC Presents: Monster Energy Outbreak Tour featuring Rev Theory with Pop Evil, The Black Cloud Collective, Aranda, Crossing Rubicon, Abyss, Death On Arrival, The Awakening, Full On Wolf, Webster Theater. Saturday Afternoon Jazz Jam with Dave Dana and Brian Buster (early), Cafe Nine. The Manchurians with The Reducers (late), Cafe Nine. Battle Of The Bands - Preliminary Round featuring Torndown with Forging Utopia, The Circuit, Fear the Masses, Casting Call, That's The Problem, The Space. Lou Pella with Doc Baker's Traveling Musicological Extravaganza, The Outer Space. David Cassidy, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Freeplay (cover band), Daniel Street. MDIII, Georgetown Saloon. Red Cadwallader, Sage American Grill & Oyster Bar. Sharp Drezzed Man, C.J. Sparrow Pub & Eatery. Black Rock Rocks Mardi Gras party, Acoustic Cafe. The Jazz Guild (early), Two Boots. Mike Freeman's ZonaVibe (late), Two Boots. Groovetime, J. Roo's Restaurant. Livingston Taylor, Infinity Hall. The Jerrod Cattey Trio, Olde School Saloon. Joe Fonda Jazz Trio, Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts & Cultural Center. Airborne Jazz Band, Bin 100, 100 Lansdale Ave., Milford; 203-882-1400. Out of Thin Air, New Deal Steakplace. Heavy Breath with We Were Skeletons, Chauncey Gardiner, My Fictions, The Cookie Jar, New Haven, private house party; GO, http://thectsound.com/yabb/index.php?topic=1932.0. Testing For Echo with Free Grizzly Bear Rides, Root In Stereo, Fools On Sunday, Chance, Dun Bin Had, Amity Teen Center, 10 Selden St., Woodbridge; 203-298-9735. SUNDAY Luther with Communipaw, Alive In Love, Heirloom Arts Theatre. Open Blues Jam with Travis Moody Band, Cafe Nine. High School Open Mic, The Space. Valli Sings Valli, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Local band showcase featuring After Autumn with Ruthie Shultz, Steve Mallon, Sandoval Band, Daniel Street. Kids karaoke, Georgetown Saloon. Bill Fluker and Friends, SoCo's Bar & Restaurant, 50 Fitch St., New Haven, 203-764-2662. MONDAY Etana & Gyptian with Jungle Man, Toad's Place. A Night of Smooth Jazz with Rohn Lawrence & Friends, In Lilly's Pad, Toad's Place. Beatnik 2000 #561, Cafe Nine. Eric Stepanian, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun casino. "Anything Goes" open mic with J Cherry, Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts & Cultural Center. Jim Oblon, The Owl Shop, 268 College St., New Haven; 203-624-3250. TUESDAY Furthur, Toyota Presents the Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford; 203-265-1501. Tab Benoit with Otis and the Hurricanes, Fairfield Theatre Co.'s StageOne. The Wolfe Tones, Toad's Place. Pussy Magnet, Cafe Nine. Young Dubliners, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Acoustic Open mic with Marc Huberman, Georgetown Saloon. Open mic night, Acoustic Cafe. Shaka and the Soulshakers, Two Boots. Karaoke with Andy, Olde School Saloon. Open Mic Night Hosted By Seth Adam Trio, Stella Blues, 204 Crown St., New Haven, 203-752-9764. UltraRadio.com Open Mic @ Kelly's, Kelly's Restaurant & Bar, 196 Crown St., New Haven; 203-776-1111. Greg Sherrod Band, The Owl Shop. WEDNESDAY The Protomen with Mile Marker Zero, Heirloom Arts Theatre. Local hip-hop showcase featuring Booslick with Kode Red, Mayo Giovanni, Cash Time Industries, Killa Ben, Tallent, Dublin, The Ingredients, Toad's Place. Ron Anthony, The Outer Space. Dr. K's Motown Revue, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Local band showcase featuring Risk All In Life, Mouth On Tailpipe, Attack Memphis, Daniel Street. Cajun Roadhouse Wednesdays live music with DJ E-Bomb, Two Boots. Karaoke, J. Roo's Restaurant. Tab Benoit, Infinity Hall. All-request music party, Olde School Saloon. Airborne Jazz Band, Cafe Goodfellas. George Lesiw Trio, The Owl Shop. Manic Productions Presents: Fang Island, BAR, 254 Crown Street, New Haven, 203-495-8924. THURSDAY Raul Malo Solo with Seth Walker, Fairfield Theatre Co.'s StageOne. Evergreen Terrace with Lower Than Atlantis, Too Tall Grizzly, Like Beasts, Heirloom Arts Theatre. The Blasters, Cafe Nine. Burn Lexington with Loyalty Among Thieves, Hope to Live, Systems and Skylines, The Space. Rehab, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Open mic jam with Artie Tobia, Georgetown Saloon. Ken Safety's Open Mic, C.J. Sparrow Pub & Eatery. Brian Dolzani and Melissa Mulligan, Acoustic Cafe. Thirsty Thursdays + Karaoke, Two Boots. Jace Everett, Infinity Hall. Airborne Jazz Band, Angry Olive Italian Bistro & Restaurant, 1625 Silas Deane Highway, Rocky Hill; 860-257-8402. Make Do And Mend, Balance And Composure, Baby Grand, University of New Haven German Club, UNH, 300 Boston Post Road, West Haven; no phone. By Entertainment Staff / @nhregbuzz FRIDAY Bon Jovi, Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville; 800-745-3000. Connected: Friday Night: Massive, Fairfield Theatre Co.'s StageOne, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield, 203-259-1036. Jesse Cook with Marc Huberman, The Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge, Ridgefield; 203-438-5795. Ovlov with Yes Please, Big East, Heirloom Arts Theatre, 155 Main St., Danbury: 203-796-0000. Johnny Winter with Remember September, Cobalt Rhythm Kings, Toad's Place, 300 York St., New Haven, 203-624-8623. Manic Productions and The Arc Agency Present: My Heart To Joy with Transit, Pianos Become The Teeth, The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die, Fugue, In Lilly's Pad, Toad's Place, 300 York St., New Haven, 203-624-8623. Stay with A Sunset Tragedy (CD Release), Stateside, Call Me Anything, Young Hollywood, The Sophmore Beat, Webster Theater Underground, 31 Webster St., Hartford; 860-246-8001. Happy hour (early), Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven; 203-789-8281. Jesse Malin & the St. Marks Social with The Black Noise Scam, Christian Marrone (late), Cafe Nine. Battle Of The Bands - Preliminary Round featuring Do Not Engage with Lakshmi, Speak In Verse, At Long Last, 3Under Par, The Space, 295 Treadwell St., Building H, Hamden, 203-288-6400. Mon Monarch, The Outer Space, 295 Treadwell St., Building H, Hamden, 203-288-6400. Robert Cray, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun casino, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville, 1-800-745-3000. Unzipped (cover band), Daniel Street, 21 Daniel St., Milford; 203-877-4446. Chewy & The Grateful Friends, Georgetown Saloon, 8 Main St., Georgetown, 203-544-8003. Jeff Fuller & Friends, Sage American Grill & Oyster Bar, 100 S. Water St., New Haven; 203-787-3466. Benjy Michaels, C.J. Sparrow Pub & Eatery, 908 S. Main St., (Route 10) Cheshire; 203-272-8204. The Jam Stampede, Acoustic Cafe, 2926 Fairfield Ave. (Route 130), Bridgeport, 203-335-3655. Solistic with String Theorie, Two Boots, 281 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport; 203-331-1377. Denovo, J. Roo's Restaurant, 249 State St., North Haven, 203-281-5411. River City Slim & The Zydeco Hogs Mardi Gras Party, Infinity Hall, Route 44, 20 Greenwoods Road, Norfolk, 866-666-6306. Chewy & The Grateful Friends, Olde School Saloon and Bistro, 418 State St., New Haven; 203-772-0544. George Schuller Trio, Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts & Cultural Center, 605 Main St., Middletown; 860-347-4957. Airborne Jazz Band, Cafe Goodfellas, 758 State St., New Haven; 203-785-8722. Stand Up Comedy Night, The Funky Monkey Cafe & Gallery, 130 Elm St., Watch Factory Shoppes, Cheshire; 203-439-9161. JJ Diamond, New Deal Steakplace, 704 Boston Post Road, Westbrook; 860-399-01015. UltraRadio.com Happy Hour with Steve Gregory, Anna Liffey's, 17 Whitney Ave., New Haven; 203-773-1776. CT Folk presents Tim Grimm with Michael Smith, First Presbyterian Church, 704 Whitney Ave., New Haven; 203-562-5664. SATURDAY Freestyle Extravaganza VI, Mohegan Sun Arena. Billy Ray Cyrus, MGM Grand Premiere Ballroom, Foxwoods Resort Casino, Route 2, Mashantucket, 800-200-2882. The Lee Boys, Fairfield Theatre Co.'s StageOne. Tartan Terrors with Ask Your Father, The Ridgefield Playhouse. Tera Melos with Marnie Stern, Fugue, Heirloom Arts Theatre . The Original Saturday Night Dance Party, Toad's Place. The Rock 106.9 WCCC Presents: Monster Energy Outbreak Tour featuring Rev Theory with Pop Evil, The Black Cloud Collective, Aranda, Crossing Rubicon, Abyss, Death On Arrival, The Awakening, Full On Wolf, Webster Theater. Saturday Afternoon Jazz Jam with Dave Dana and Brian Buster (early), Cafe Nine. The Manchurians with The Reducers (late), Cafe Nine. Battle Of The Bands - Preliminary Round featuring Torndown with Forging Utopia, The Circuit, Fear the Masses, Casting Call, That's The Problem, The Space. Lou Pella with Doc Baker's Traveling Musicological Extravaganza, The Outer Space. David Cassidy, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Freeplay (cover band), Daniel Street. MDIII, Georgetown Saloon. Red Cadwallader, Sage American Grill & Oyster Bar. Sharp Drezzed Man, C.J. Sparrow Pub & Eatery. Black Rock Rocks Mardi Gras party, Acoustic Cafe. The Jazz Guild (early), Two Boots. Mike Freeman's ZonaVibe (late), Two Boots. Groovetime, J. Roo's Restaurant. Livingston Taylor, Infinity Hall. The Jerrod Cattey Trio, Olde School Saloon. Joe Fonda Jazz Trio, Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts & Cultural Center. Airborne Jazz Band, Bin 100, 100 Lansdale Ave., Milford; 203-882-1400. Out of Thin Air, New Deal Steakplace. Heavy Breath with We Were Skeletons, Chauncey Gardiner, My Fictions, The Cookie Jar, New Haven, private house party; GO, http://thectsound.com/yabb/index.php?topic=1932.0. Testing For Echo with Free Grizzly Bear Rides, Root In Stereo, Fools On Sunday, Chance, Dun Bin Had, Amity Teen Center, 10 Selden St., Woodbridge; 203-298-9735. SUNDAY Luther with Communipaw, Alive In Love, Heirloom Arts Theatre. Open Blues Jam with Travis Moody Band, Cafe Nine. High School Open Mic, The Space. Valli Sings Valli, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Local band showcase featuring After Autumn with Ruthie Shultz, Steve Mallon, Sandoval Band, Daniel Street. Kids karaoke, Georgetown Saloon. Bill Fluker and Friends, SoCo's Bar & Restaurant, 50 Fitch St., New Haven, 203-764-2662. MONDAY Etana & Gyptian with Jungle Man, Toad's Place. A Night of Smooth Jazz with Rohn Lawrence & Friends, In Lilly's Pad, Toad's Place. Beatnik 2000 #561, Cafe Nine. Eric Stepanian, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun casino. "Anything Goes" open mic with J Cherry, Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts & Cultural Center. Jim Oblon, The Owl Shop, 268 College St., New Haven; 203-624-3250. TUESDAY Furthur, Toyota Presents the Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford; 203-265-1501. Tab Benoit with Otis and the Hurricanes, Fairfield Theatre Co.'s StageOne. The Wolfe Tones, Toad's Place. Pussy Magnet, Cafe Nine. Young Dubliners, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Acoustic Open mic with Marc Huberman, Georgetown Saloon. Open mic night, Acoustic Cafe. Shaka and the Soulshakers, Two Boots. Karaoke with Andy, Olde School Saloon. Open Mic Night Hosted By Seth Adam Trio, Stella Blues, 204 Crown St., New Haven, 203-752-9764. UltraRadio.com Open Mic @ Kelly's, Kelly's Restaurant & Bar, 196 Crown St., New Haven; 203-776-1111. Greg Sherrod Band, The Owl Shop. WEDNESDAY The Protomen with Mile Marker Zero, Heirloom Arts Theatre. Local hip-hop showcase featuring Booslick with Kode Red, Mayo Giovanni, Cash Time Industries, Killa Ben, Tallent, Dublin, The Ingredients, Toad's Place. Ron Anthony, The Outer Space. Dr. K's Motown Revue, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Local band showcase featuring Risk All In Life, Mouth On Tailpipe, Attack Memphis, Daniel Street. Cajun Roadhouse Wednesdays live music with DJ E-Bomb, Two Boots. Karaoke, J. Roo's Restaurant. Tab Benoit, Infinity Hall. All-request music party, Olde School Saloon. Airborne Jazz Band, Cafe Goodfellas. George Lesiw Trio, The Owl Shop. Manic Productions Presents: Fang Island, BAR, 254 Crown Street, New Haven, 203-495-8924. THURSDAY Raul Malo Solo with Seth Walker, Fairfield Theatre Co.'s StageOne. Evergreen Terrace with Lower Than Atlantis, Too Tall Grizzly, Like Beasts, Heirloom Arts Theatre. The Blasters, Cafe Nine. Burn Lexington with Loyalty Among Thieves, Hope to Live, Systems and Skylines, The Space. Rehab, Wolf Den, Mohegan Sun. Open mic jam with Artie Tobia, Georgetown Saloon. Ken Safety's Open Mic, C.J. Sparrow Pub & Eatery. Brian Dolzani and Melissa Mulligan, Acoustic Cafe. Thirsty Thursdays + Karaoke, Two Boots. Jace Everett, Infinity Hall. Airborne Jazz Band, Angry Olive Italian Bistro & Restaurant, 1625 Silas Deane Highway, Rocky Hill; 860-257-8402. Make Do And Mend, Balance And Composure, Baby Grand, University of New Haven German Club, UNH, 300 Boston Post Road, West Haven; no phone. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

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“Muslim American groups, not Rep. Pete King, are the ones fomenting hysteria with hearings on tap - New York Daily News”

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Muslim American groups, not Rep. Pete King, are the ones fomenting hysteria with hearings on tap - New York Daily News Posted: Opinions – Guest Contributor Miller for News Headlines about Rep. Peter King producing 'panic' in the rank-and-file Muslim community are nonsense, writes Steven Emerson. Never in my entire career in Washington have I encountered the hype and scare tactics of those opposing the hearings into Islamic radicalization by Rep. Pete King. A classic example was a headline on MSNBC.com: "Inquiry by congressional committee looks like inquisition to many Muslims." The line of attack is now familiar: If King (R-L.I.) were truly interested in violent extremism, his hearings would focus on a wide range of groups that wreak havoc on America, including neo-Nazis and others; by focusing solely on Muslim extremism, the argument goes, he is betraying his bias. This is utterly ridiculous. Our organization, the Investigative Project on Terrorism, recently did an analysis of all terrorism convictions based on statistics released by the Justice Department. These stats show that more than 80% of all convictions tied to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism since 9/11 involve defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda. Though Muslims represent less than 1% of the American population, they constitute defendants in 186 of the 228 cases the Justice Department lists. The figures confirm that there is a disproportionate problem of Islamic militancy and terrorism among the American Muslim population. This is not to say that, on a percentage basis, American Muslims tend to be violent or extremist. To the contrary. Those involved in terrorism are a tiny sliver of the overall Muslim American population. But one ought to be able to focus on a very real problem - homegrown terrorism fueled by Muslim extremism - without being accused of painting the entire U.S. Muslim population with a broad brush. Emotions run high at Times Square rally on Sunday. (Lono for News) The real underlying story here is how the self-anointed leadership of the Muslim community - groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim American Society - are the ones responsible for instilling panic into the Muslim community by suggesting that these hearings will lead to "hate crimes" against Muslims. That canard has been used by these groups for years in their attempts to intimidate the media, commentators and critics of radical Islam from truly analyzing the role of these groups and others in radicalizing their constituents in the American Muslim community. The documents showing the creation of these groups with the assistance of the Muslim Brotherhood were introduced into evidence in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development several years ago. At the trial, the Council on American-Islamic Relations was described by an FBI expert as a front for Hamas, and was also listed, together with the Islamic Society of North America, as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation indictments. Groups such as these routinely play the "Islamophobia" card, and get attention for doing so in the mainstream media, in order to silence criticism of Islamic radicalism. In fact, these very same groups, just like the Obama administration, categorically refuse to even use the term "radical Islam" in order to excise the term from the American vernacular. Critics have taken issue with King's focus on one religious minority. But, in fact, in previous years, Congress has held numerous hearings into various ethnic subcultures that have spawned illegalities - including the Italian mob, Hispanic drug cartels, black and white prison gangs, white racists and neo-Nazis. Headlines about King producing "panic" in the rank-and-file Muslim community are nonsense. The only panic is that being strategically fomented by groups with an interest in spreading fear. They, together with their mainstream media friends, have falsely alleged that: one, there is a war against Islam by the United States, and two, the FBI is secretly instigating Islamic terrorism by use of informants. These are dangerous fictions. Steven Emerson is executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

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“An Interview With Mark Alpert, Author of The Omega Theory - Seattle Post Intelligencer” plus 1 more

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An Interview With Mark Alpert, Author of The Omega Theory - Seattle Post Intelligencer Posted: Saturday, March 12, 2011 Last updated 12:21 a.m. PT The Omega Theory caught my attention for two reasons. First, its main plot revolves around a theory of Albert Einstein's, who I consider one of the most fascinating people in American history. Second, it has a character who is autistic and I've long been intrigued by -- and do professional work with -- people who are autistic. 'My only concern was that the book would be so plot-heavy as to have empty characters, one of my gripes I've made before about The DaVinci Code. Fortunately, that's not the case - the characters are interesting, his portrayal of someone with autism matches that of "some" people with autism (as the saying goes "if you've met one person with autism then you've met one person with autism," meaning not all are alike) and the book is a good thriller. Consider checking it out. Thanks to Mary A Summers for suggesting some great questions for this interview. And now for the interview... Should readers start with your first book, Final Theory, or is it  OK for them - like me - to start with the second? Also, what is the status of the movie version of your first book? A sequel needs to satisfy two audiences, the people who read the first book and the people who are coming to the story cold. When I wrote my first novel, Final Theory, I wasn't thinking of it as the beginning of a series. Before Final Theory, I wrote four novels that didn't get published, and I had no idea whether this one would sell either, much less become the first book in a series. But I liked the characters I created, so when I got the contract to write two more science thrillers I thought it would be an interesting challenge to continue the story in a second book. I knew I had to re-introduce the hero, David Swift, in the sequel, so at the start of The Omega Theory I show him giving a speech at the Physicists for Peace conference. He's become a peace activist because of the events of the first book, but it's not essential to know exactly what those events were. I figured that most readers would be inclined to sympathize with a peace activist. Everyone says they're for peace, but very few people actually do something about it. My film agent sold the rights to Final Theory to a Los Angeles production company called Radar Pictures. Last year Nicolas Cage was attached to star in the film and the production company re-optioned the rights. But selling the rights to a book and getting a star attached doesn't always mean that the movie will actually get made. I'm not involved in the process and I know almost nothing about it. Still, it's nice to dream. Final Theory would make a great movie. And so would The Omega Theory. How has your background as a journalist and editor helped you as a novelist? What have been the high and low points as a writer (both journalism and fiction)? Working in journalism is great training for a budding novelist, because the basic mandate of a newspaper or magazine story is the same as that of a novel: The story has to be clear, and it has to be interesting. In both journalism and fiction, you learn how to convey a story through the judicious use of telling details. And the process of getting good quotes is similar to writing good dialogue. I couldn't have written Final Theory if I hadn't worked as an editor at Scientific American for ten years. And much of the cool technology in The Omega Theory is based on the stories I edited for the magazine. The high points in journalism for me were the many interviews I did with famous and infamous people – Carl Sagan, Edward Teller (I interviewed him for a cover story in Popular Mechanics), George Wallace (I covered his last year as governor of Alabama when I was a reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser), George W. Bush (I interviewed him for Fortune in 1989, after he became a part-owner of the Texas Rangers thanks to his father's rich friends). The low points were the big stories I missed because I just wasn't observant or aggressive enough. In fiction, the low points were all the rejections I got for my first four novels. But ever since we sold Final Theory, the experience has been one long high point. I work with autistic teens and adults so I was intrigued by the autistic character, Michael. Did you do much research on autism? Do you know people with it? Why did you decide to have the character be autistic? Incidentally the best book I've read about autism is The Horseboy. I interviewed the Horseboy's dad here, and I liked Temple Grandin's movie about autism, which I talked about here. I became fascinated with autism after editing a story about it for Scientific American about ten years ago. It's a very mysterious disorder. It often runs in families, and scientists have identified certain genetic variations that make people more susceptible to it, but researchers believe there are also environmental triggers, although they haven't positively identified any yet. (They can rule out some things, though. Very convincing studies have shown that vaccines aren't the culprit. More likely, it's something that affects the fetus, because the earliest signs of autism appear just a few months after birth.) The disorder has also shed light on the workings of the brain, showing how empathy and imitation are part of neural development. I don't know anyone with autism, but I'm a big fan of Temple Grandin's books. In The Omega Theory, I decided to narrate several of the chapters from the point of view of Michael, the autistic teenager who has phenomenal mathematical skills. Before I started writing those chapters I reread Temple Grandin's books thoroughly, trying to get her voice inside my head. I wanted Michael to speak in a similar voice, very precise and logical. I'm happy with the way those chapters turned out. I think they're the best part of the book. The publicity material accompanying this book describes you as the literary heir to Michael Crichton. How do you feel about that label and comparison? I loved Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain. I also loved The Terminal Man and Jurassic Park. (And of course the movie Westworld, which Crichton wrote and directed — brilliant!) I wasn't as fond of his later books and I heartily disagreed with Crichton's stance on global warming, but it's still a great thrill to be compared with him. He inspired so many people to become interested in science, and I hope I can do the same. Can you talk about how you decided to include Einstein's theories -- not to mention an Einstein relative -- as plots in these books? Several years ago I edited a story about Albert Einstein for a special issue of Scientific American. The issue commemorated the 100th anniversary of Einstein's miracle year — 1905 — when he published the papers that laid the foundations for the two main branches of 20th-century physics, relativity and quantum theory. But I became more interested in the second half of Einstein's career, from the 1920s to the 1950s, when he struggled to develop a unified field theory that would incorporate both of these branches and explain all the forces of Nature, from gravity to electromagnetism to the nuclear forces. Despite 30 years of effort, none of Einstein's attempts to devise a unified theory proved successful, and most of his contemporaries saw his quest as a tragic waste of time. It wasn't until the 1970s and 1980s that physicists revived the effort and formulated what is now known as a string theory, which is the leading contender for a unified theory, although it remains very much unproved (and the recent experiments at the Large Hadron Collider have so far yielded no evidence to support the hypothesis). I've always loved to construct "What if?" scenarios, and one of them occurred to me while I was thinking about Einstein: What if he really did discover the unified field theory, but decided to keep it secret because he saw that it would enable the development of weapons even worse than the atom bomb? This became the premise of Final Theory, my first novel. In The Omega Theory, I take the premise a little further by considering why the universe follows mathematical laws in the first place. Einstein often speculated on this question, and his writings on the subject have a somewhat mystical bent — he took it for granted that the universe has an underlying order, a plan perhaps conceived by some kind of divine intelligence (sometimes he called it "the Old One," sometimes simply "God" or "the Lord," although this may have been simply a turn of phrase rather than evidence that Einstein truly believed in a divine being). In recent decades some theorists have proposed that the laws of physics function like a computer program. Quantum mechanics, for example, regulates the interactions between particles in much the same way that software guides the computation of batches of data. According to this view, the entire universe is a kind of natural computer that's been running ever since the Big Bang, following a program that could've emerged from chaos without divine intervention. A particular set of computational rules could've become the laws of our universe simply because they were more robust than any of the alternatives. This idea made me think of another "What if?" scenario: If the universe is really a computer, what could make it crash? This became the premise of The Omega Theory. The more I read about Einstein, the more I marvel at what a complex character he was. Twenty-five years ago historians learned through a batch of newly discovered letters that Einstein and his first wife Mileva Maric had a daughter before they were married. Because of the scandal, Mileva went back to her native Serbia for the birth. The daughter, named Lieserl, is mentioned several times in the letters between Einstein and Mileva, but then she disappears from the correspondence. Historians don't know what happened to the baby. So this is another element I decided to incorporate into my thrillers, a previously unknown descendant of Einstein who has inherited the physicist's genius. Do you think the knowledge and progression of science throughout the years is related to the ancient stories of the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrews? If so, how? The peoples of the ancient Middle East were wonderful observers of the sky, since the movements of the heavenly bodies were so important for their agriculture and religious ceremonies. But they didn't practice science as we know it today. They philosophized about things such as the states of matter, but it was more guesswork than scientific method, and their guesses were wrong just as often as they were right. It wasn't until the Renaissance that natural philosophers recognized the importance of using experiments to test their theories. That's when science was really born. Regarding parallel universes: Do you think our brains act somewhat like a hologram, creating our own reality in which every person moves in, out, and intertwined? There is SO much of the brain we don't know about There's a lot of debate among physicists about whether objective reality actually exists. The problem is that the laws of quantum mechanics assign a special role to the "observer" of a subatomic particle; before the particle is observed, it's spread across space in a wave-like probability cloud, but once it's observed it "collapses" to a specific location. That's one of the reasons why Einstein hated quantum mechanics; it made no sense to him that the mere act of observation could change the physical nature of the particle. And yet the laws of quantum mechanics have been verified again and again to incredible accuracy. Some physicists have proposed alternative explanations, notably the many-worlds hypothesis of Hugh Everett, which postulates that at the moment of observation there is a bifurcation into many parallel universes, each with the particle in a different position. But the observer still plays a special role in this scenario. We may just have to accept the fact that the universe is odder than anyone can imagine. What are your thoughts regarding the "Holy Land" area? Do you think in pre-ancient history, man had more knowledge of science than we do today? If so, how did they get such knowledge? The science fiction of alien visitation only in pre-ancient times? As I mentioned, the ancients didn't really practice science. They made guesses about their world, and most of them turned out to be wrong. And there's no compelling evidence of alien visitation at any time in earth's history. I visited Israel about 20 years ago and had a wonderful time there, especially in Jerusalem. Some of the scenes in The Omega Theory are set in Israel; in particular, there's a fun chase through the tunnels underneath Jerusalem's Old City. I don't feel comfortable writing about a place unless I've been there. I visited the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan in 2008 because I knew the plot of The Omega Theory would involve a secret military camp on the border between Turkmenistan and Iran. It was a little difficult getting a visa for Turkmenistan — the country's government is a nasty dictatorship that treats its people terribly. But I saw some amazing things there — the Burning Gas Crater of Darvaza, the cliffs of Yangykala, the geothermal lake inside the enormous cavern of Kow Ata — and I put them all into the novel. Science fiction eventually crosses over to true science. In your opinion, what science-fictions should be heeded? The old adage is true: We have to be careful about what we wish for, because we just might get it. Humanity wanted a limitless source of energy, and it got the atom bomb and nuclear waste. I'm not saying we should stop doing science; that would be insane. But as a species, we have to stop acting like brutal children. We've developed some very dangerous toys, so we need to learn the rules of civilized behavior. As Einstein recognized, what we really need is a world government, some kind of supranational organization that would restrain the worst of our nationalist and tribal impulses. What's it like to get praised by such authors as Walter Isaacson, author of the great book about Einstein, (I interviewed him here) and James Rollins? I love Walter Isaacson's biography of Einstein. It's a truly wonderful and entertaining book. And I also love Jim Rollins's Sigma Force series of science adventures. It's great to get blurbs from authors you admire! What are you working on next? I'm glad you asked! I just handed in the first draft of my third book. It's not another sequel; in the third book I created a whole new set of characters. And instead of focusing on physics, the new thriller is all about the brain-machine interface, the amazing new devices that are melding living things with microprocessors. The hero, for example, has an advanced prosthesis, a mechanical arm that's directly connected to his nervous system. (The Pentagon is funding the development of such devices, in part to help all the maimed soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.) The hero battles swarms of cyborg insects that have been implanted with tiny computer chips and antennas. (The Pentagon's working on this, too.) And other characters view the world with the help of retinal implants that feed video images to their optic nerves. (Again, this is a real technology.) I had a blast writing the book. There's no title yet, but it should be published sometime next year. View the original article on blogcritics.org This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

Adventures in Filmmaking: A report from Fusion - AfterEllen.com Posted: I have a recurring dream. In this dream, I am a writer trying to write the perfect lesbian film. I type and type but nothing seems to make sense. Should I write about the past? My first love? My first cat? My first feminist book club? My first bar fight? It's been 20 years now and all I have are questions and more questions. What type of lesbian am I? Am I the right type of lesbian? Why did I get all those strange haircuts? These are the first words of my feature documentary, Hooters!, a film about lesbian culture and cinema. (It's also a comedy.) I know it sounds weird to have a dream sequence in a documentary but I not only put my point of view in my films, I literally put myself in them as well. And, despite sounding egotistical and narcissistic, it allows me to own my opinions and tell stories the way I want to. It's also cheap therapy. Allow me to introduce myself: I'm Anna Margarita Albelo — also known as La Chocha — and I'm a filmmaker. I like to make documentaries, fictions, spoofs, art videos, news segments — pretty much everything except porno. I'll touch upon why at a later date. For now, I've been asked to share with you my adventures in filmmaking, exploring the who, what, where, and whys of how myself and others make stuff. Every character needs a back story. At 40, I am what they call a "mid-career filmmaker." I graduated from Florida State University in 1993 from Media Production and Film. It was an exciting time because it was the beginnings of the "home video" making explosion that let us make whatever stupid or brilliant idea into a "movie." No pitching, no writing, no budgets: Just you and maybe some friends, getting together to make something. I became adept at what the Riot Girls had called the "do it yourself" movement and still create with that philosophy today. I moved to France right out of college (my childhood wish) and managed to live and work there for 16 years as a freelance artist with no full-time job. Now, I'm back in Los Angeles and I'm here to make some movies. I am, as they say, living the dream! As a Cuban-American filmmaker, I had the immense honor of participating in this year's Fusion Festival in Los Angeles with my feature documentary, Hooters! The Making of Older, Wiser, Lesbian Cinema.Though it was only my first Fusion Festival, it has definitely been one of the most exciting experiences of my filmmaking career. What? You never heard of Fusion? Or you have heard of it but don't know what it really is? Let's correct that right now! If you live in Los Angeles (but really anywhere around the world) and are interested in issues concerning gay, lesbian, queer, trans, and everything in between, Outfest, the gay and lesbian film festival of Los Angeles is on top of your list. This huge, multi-faceted, non-profit organization is on its 29th year and has, over time, developed several programs to diversify its efforts in nurturing, showcasing and protecting LGBT voices. Along with the Outfest Film Festival in July — a huge 10 day program of films, videos, performances, panels, and all-types of special events, the non-profit has also created The Legacy Project for LGBT film preservation in association with UCLA, and Fusion: The Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival. Now in its eighth year, Fusion is the only multicultural LGBT film festival of its kind and a true testament to Outfest's dedication to help under-represented voices get heard, seen, and talked about in our community. The festival includes short films, feature films, panels, workshops, and parties that highlight and celebrate the diversity of the LGBT community. This year's program featured a sing-a-long with The Wiz (starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross), A Thousand Clouds of Peace (a legacy project gem from Mexico), a multi-ethnic shorts program, and a conversation with writer/director Dee Rees and producer Nekisa Cooper centered around their Sundance-opening film, Pariah (developed from their award-winning short of the same name). Fusion also presents an Achievement Award acknowledging the career of an outstanding filmmaker of color. Last year's recipient was Wilson Cruz. This year it was British filmmaker Rikki Beadle-Blair. Fusion screened Rikki's recent feature film, FIT, a charming high school film that takes an exuberant and funny look at gay and straight love among the new millennials which is, by the way, distributed to every school in the UK. Now that's a real impact! This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

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“Muslim American groups, not Rep. Pete King, are the ones fomenting hysteria with hearings on tap - New York Daily News” plus 1 more

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Muslim American groups, not Rep. Pete King, are the ones fomenting hysteria with hearings on tap - New York Daily News Posted: Opinions – Guest Contributor Miller for News Headlines about Rep. Peter King producing 'panic' in the rank-and-file Muslim community are nonsense, writes Steven Emerson. Never in my entire career in Washington have I encountered the hype and scare tactics of those opposing the hearings into Islamic radicalization by Rep. Pete King. A classic example was a headline on MSNBC.com: "Inquiry by congressional committee looks like inquisition to many Muslims." The line of attack is now familiar: If King (R-L.I.) were truly interested in violent extremism, his hearings would focus on a wide range of groups that wreak havoc on America, including neo-Nazis and others; by focusing solely on Muslim extremism, the argument goes, he is betraying his bias. This is utterly ridiculous. Our organization, the Investigative Project on Terrorism, recently did an analysis of all terrorism convictions based on statistics released by the Justice Department. These stats show that more than 80% of all convictions tied to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism since 9/11 involve defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda. Though Muslims represent less than 1% of the American population, they constitute defendants in 186 of the 228 cases the Justice Department lists. The figures confirm that there is a disproportionate problem of Islamic militancy and terrorism among the American Muslim population. This is not to say that, on a percentage basis, American Muslims tend to be violent or extremist. To the contrary. Those involved in terrorism are a tiny sliver of the overall Muslim American population. But one ought to be able to focus on a very real problem - homegrown terrorism fueled by Muslim extremism - without being accused of painting the entire U.S. Muslim population with a broad brush. Emotions run high at Times Square rally on Sunday. (Lono for News) The real underlying story here is how the self-anointed leadership of the Muslim community - groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim American Society - are the ones responsible for instilling panic into the Muslim community by suggesting that these hearings will lead to "hate crimes" against Muslims. That canard has been used by these groups for years in their attempts to intimidate the media, commentators and critics of radical Islam from truly analyzing the role of these groups and others in radicalizing their constituents in the American Muslim community. The documents showing the creation of these groups with the assistance of the Muslim Brotherhood were introduced into evidence in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development several years ago. At the trial, the Council on American-Islamic Relations was described by an FBI expert as a front for Hamas, and was also listed, together with the Islamic Society of North America, as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation indictments. Groups such as these routinely play the "Islamophobia" card, and get attention for doing so in the mainstream media, in order to silence criticism of Islamic radicalism. In fact, these very same groups, just like the Obama administration, categorically refuse to even use the term "radical Islam" in order to excise the term from the American vernacular. Critics have taken issue with King's focus on one religious minority. But, in fact, in previous years, Congress has held numerous hearings into various ethnic subcultures that have spawned illegalities - including the Italian mob, Hispanic drug cartels, black and white prison gangs, white racists and neo-Nazis. Headlines about King producing "panic" in the rank-and-file Muslim community are nonsense. The only panic is that being strategically fomented by groups with an interest in spreading fear. They, together with their mainstream media friends, have falsely alleged that: one, there is a war against Islam by the United States, and two, the FBI is secretly instigating Islamic terrorism by use of informants. These are dangerous fictions. Steven Emerson is executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

Myth, Politics and the Erosion of The American Dream - Huffingtonpost.com Posted: There has been much myth making during the latest political cycle. Public figures like Sarah Palin, Mick Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, John Boehner and Michelle Bachman, among many others, have suggested both directly and indirectly that the United States is "broke," that global warming is a scientific fiction, that President Obama's health care reform legislation is an example of socialism, or that President Obama is a Muslim who was born outside the United States, which explains his "foreign" ideas. Perhaps the most damaging political myth is one that was created during the Reagan Presidency: that big government is responsible for our domestic problems. The narrative of this political myth suggests strongly that all of our social and economic problems would "melt into the air" if we outsource public responsibilities to the private sector and return the republic to its long lost diet of low taxes and limited government. None of these claims stand up to even minimal scrutiny. No reasonable person thinks that the United Stares is "broke." Climate scientists say that global warming is inconclusively fact -- not fiction. President Obama's complex health legislation bears no resemblance to more centralized medical systems that you find in European nations like France, Germany and Italy. President Obama is a Christian not a Muslim, who spent the great bulk of his formative years in Hawaii. Rather than bringing us unimaginable prosperity, a decade of lower taxes and more limited government regulation triggered the greatest economic downturn since The Great Depression. In practice, the mantra of limited government and lower taxes has provided political cover for an unprecedented redistribution of wealth from the middle class to the super-rich. According to a 2009 study in the International Journal of Development, J.B. Davies and his colleagues found that 1 percent of the US population controls 50 percent of the national wealth. If you look at the data in this and other studies of wealth distribution, it is clear that people in the bottom 60 percent bracket of income (the middle, lower-middle and working classes) control only a minimal amount of our wealth -- perhaps 5 percent. These disturbing statistics suggest a strong erosion of the middle class and an unchecked movement toward plutocracy. Despite these scientifically validated facts, millions of Americans, who continue to believe in these mythical fictions, repeatedly vote against their interests. How can that be? I think some of the misplaced persistence can be traced to the power of myth. To paraphrase the words of the late Clifford Geertz, one of the great anthropologists of the 20th century, myths are stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Powerful narratives based upon fiction -- not fact -- myths shape our perception of the world. They create frameworks for our behavior. They are impervious to logical or factual critique. As such, myths are powerful political tools that the powers-that-be have long used in their attempt to control social behavior. Education is the mortal enemy of political myth-makers who want to shape your thoughts and chart your behavior -- all to meet the end of further income redistribution. Consider the latest budget proposals in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the state where I teach anthropology at a public university. Citing the mythic benefits of lower taxes and limited government, Governor Tom Corbett, a Republican, wants to slash the public higher education budget by 50 percent. Such a cut would simply decimate public higher education in Pennsylvania. What does that mean? In addition to staff layoffs, and program cuts, it means that our students, many of whom come from lower-middle class and working class families, would face an estimated 28 percent increase in tuition. Put another way, it means that if Governor Corbett has his way, scores of my students, no longer able to pay for their education, would have to drop out of school. Let me make this scenario more personal. As I said in a previous post, many of my students are the first members of their families to attend college. Seekers of The American Dream, most of them have to work one of two jobs to pay for what has been a reasonable tuition at our state universities. To make ends meet, my best students often have work 20 to 30 hours a week at convenience stores or restaurants. Despite their time-consuming and energy-depleting economic routines, they come to class, read what I assign, turn in first-rate essays and score well on my exams. They never complain about their economic struggles. Their grit, which inspires me deeply, is a beacon of hope for the future. The shortsighted draconian budget of Governor Tom Corbett, which is based upon faulty economic principles, will dash the future hopes of my hard working students most of whom come from families of working people, many of whom, believing in the mythic mantra of lower taxes and limited government, might have voted for Governor Corbett. The choice is a stark one. We can cave in to the likes Governor Corbett and become increasingly uninformed and pliant citizens who control less and less of the wealth in a nation of faded dreams, or we can speak truth to power, invest seriously in education and secure a more egalitarian and robust future. Which choice will you make? Follow Paul Stoller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stol1 This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Comment Is Free But Freedom Is Slavery - An Exchange With The Guardian's Economics Editor.

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