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Archive: August, 2010
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| Courtesy of the Pennsylvania House |
| Rep. Mark Cohen |
Yes, it's cool and all that state Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia) introduced a bill back in April '09 to legalize medical marijuana. (It's cool, as well, that state Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery) introduced a matching bill in the Senate this May.) But both bills are stalled in committee ⦠and what chance do they have of ever getting out, in this conservative bizarro old-people land known as Pennsylvania?
More than you might think, it turns out. According to a recent Franklin & Marshall poll, 80 percent of voters favor medical marijuana. 80 percent! Do you know how many people in Pennsylvania are old as shit? That's a lot of old people saying medical marijuana is OK by them. Pretty encouraging.
Terry Madonna and Berwood Yost, of F&M, call this proportion "striking."
"Just about every demographic group supports the use of medical marijuana, but the likelihood of supporting it is higher among women than men, among liberals and moderates than conservatives, and among those who do not consider themselves born-again Christians," wrote Madonna and Yost in a press release.
Even more interesting: Although four in five Pennsylvanians support medical weed, only one in three — or 33 percent — support complete legalization. Still, that's up from 22 percent two years ago.
[...] POLL: 80% of Keystoners back medical marijuana… Comments are closed, but you can leave a trackback: Trackback URL. . [...]
[...] Good News: Pennsylvanians like pot (so long as it's medicinal … [...]
[...] Good News: Pennsylvanians like pot (so long as it’s medicinal) :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: ... [...]
As you Cloggers are well aware, I've been obsessing a bit this week over the major parties' bullying tactics toward their minor party competitors — and more than a bit perturbed by the fact that Pa. law makes those bullying tactics not only possible, but almost assuredly successful. Sure, if I was part of the Sestak campaign, and worried about a spoiler in a close election, maybe I would have done the same thing. But that doesn't make it morally right, particularly for someone who purports to represent the Democratic Party. Competition, it seems is for pussies. (I come from a state, after all, where ballot access is something of a free-for-all. During the 2008 presidential election, for instance, there were 13 minor party candidates on the ballot; it didn't hurt anything.)
This morning I chatted with Mel Packer, the former Green Party candidate for Senate. First impression, based on a 20-minute conversation: He's a hell of a nice guy, completely sincere and not one of those third-party candidates who runs vanity campaigns.
âIf you're going to run at all, youre aware youre going to be challenged,â he says. âIf you don't walk in with a whole lot more [petitions] than what you need, you're not going to be able to stop them from challenging you — and they might challenge you anyway.â
State law required about 19,000. His campaign filed about 20,500, he says: âIf you don't get 30,000, you're going to be in trouble. At least 10 to 20 percent [are bad].â It's not so much a problem of fraud, but of human error, he says: People say they're registered when they're not, people move and don't update their registration info, and so on. Moreover, he says, the Sestak campaign had a process server send him a binder that included the findings of a handwriting expert (!) they paid to analyze some 700 petitions. The Sestak folks also challenged petitions where people signed in the space assigned for printed signatures (and vice versa), and people who write in their neighborhood instead of a zip code or city of residence.
âAs you know, they have challenged every single candidate. Will not have any third parties in any of the statewide races.â If he lost, after all, he'd have to pay Sestak's expenses — including the handwriting expert — probably $80,000. âWho can afford that? I can't afford that.â
He continues: âIf you run, one of the things you hope to do is gain ballot status. If you can gain 2 percent, I think, they put [your party] on [the ballot] automatically the next time. You at least get ballot status. The other reason you do it is, you know third parties don't win, but you hope they gain status.â There's also the principle of the thing, he adds: âThis is what I've done my whole life because I believe in human justice and peace. Someone has to speak out on these issues.â
And no, Packer, 65, doesn't like the notion that he's a spoiler: âSpoilers — look at the policies of the two parties. We are in a lot of trouble. There's no recovery coming except for the rich. ⦠We're in a load of shit here, man. ⦠It's an arrogant assumption of their part. Half the electorate stays home. It was reinforced out there collecting signatures. You hear that over and over again, âThey're all the same.â They can see what's coming down, man. It's a plain out corrupt system.â
A lifelong activist, Packer says he'll continue doing what he's done the last four decades — working on issues of âhuman justice and peace,â including drilling in the Marcellus Shale. âMy thing has always been about getting up every morning and saying, I've got to do the right thing, trying to make the world a better place. ⦠I do what any peace and justice activist does. I'll go to my grave doing that — what a life.â
Not that it matters now, but you can check out his platform here.
Folks, let me clarify a couple of things in this most recent article by Jeffrey Billman, and (by the way) I've really been enjoying his articles and his righteous indignation over this corrupt system that enslaves us all. First, I think we should avoid terms like "it's for pussies" as it is insulting to women and implies that women are weaker, etc and the use of that term should be ended and put to rest forever. Second, Jeffrey did a great job of catching some of our terrific conversation and included snippets, but just in case some of them seem weird out of context, let me add a brief explanation. Regarding the notion of 3rd party candidates being spoilers and "arrogant assumption". That refers to the assumption on the part of Sestak and his supporters that progressives will, when denied their first choice, automatically go for the lesser of two evils, meaning evil Sestak over evil Toomey in this case. WRONG!!! Many will just abstain and I don't blame them. That's what I do. I'm not going to compromise myself that way. I respect myself too much and hope you do as well. I'm not wasting MY vote on something I don't want. Third, regarding legal costs of $80,000 if I defended the Sestak challenge. That number is based on the judgement awarded AGAINST Green Party candidates Romanelli and Nader in the past and still hanging over their heads. I have no way of knowing what my costs would be until I got hit with them after fighting Sestak, but I can't afford to even try. Fourth, "We're in a load of shit here, man." Correct quote. Read the papers every day, listen to the news, the "recovery" is bringing record home repossessions, highest new unemployment claims since 11/09 at 500,000 last month, about 25 million out of work, 40 some million of us on food stamps and growing, yet continuing wars without end and now into Yemen and Pakistan. If that isn't a "load of shit", then I'm the tooth fairy. Finally, regarding the rest of my life fighting for peace and justice and "I'll go to my grave doing that-what a life". I hope you all understood the unspoken words at the end of that are "It's great", and I mean it, I love doing what I do and have tremendous admiration for those who do it even more. We all owe them a great debt. Thanks to all for your support, thanks to Jeffrey for the great articles and being willing to speak truth to power. We should all do that every day of our lives. We CAN make the world a better place of all of us, and you should never doubt it. Solidarity Mel Packer
I, another reader, was just about to comment on the problems of the "pussies" reference but of course I didn't have to, Mel.
I respect a person willing to stand up for his rights. I also respect a person who recognizes reality. One cannot put their own fortunes on the line in a hopeless cause. Still, the system stinks. If Packer was still on the ballot, I would vote for him, even though my libertarian philosophy would probably be diametrically opposed to his. My proposal: Independant candidates must be allowed access to the ballot. Next election, let all independents gather signatures for each other in one massive campaign. In that way we will all be represented on the ballot.
1- Those who block alternative candidates from the ballot reveal their inadequacy...that they know they can't beat the alternative candidates with ideas. 2- If the ballot blockers believe a significant number of voters prefer the alternative candidates' platforms, they could take up those platform proposals themselves. 3- Ballot blockers are not just denying rights to one candidate, they are denying rights to innumerable voters. 4- It's the "Democrat" party...which is no more democratic than the United Arab Emirates. 5- The push for Proportionate Representation, where minority interests have representation, seems to have faded. But, isn't the wealthy and powerful Corporate Sector the minority? They have disproportionate majority representation. Backwards land. All who approve of this.....? 6- "Third-party" (i.e. second party to the Bizness-Uber-Alles Party) candidates at this point need to go for some unprecedented push for Write-In Votes. Give out little pencils engraved with "Write In....." (whatever name), and the address of a web site. The Pencil can become an icon for this movement...t-shirt designs, jewelry, tattoos (if one is of that mind), and even ...uh...impromptu murals. Green parties can do green pencils.
I agree with John's #6. We can write him in! I'll bring my own pencil to my polling location -- even though it's one of those fancy no-receipt weird computer ballot boxes that look like they came from the late 1980s -- as a symbol that I'm from now on going to let my yes be a yes. I'm done with choices based on fear, or settling for second-best. That's not a life.
Days after Team Sestak forced Green Party candidate Mel Packer out of November's election (a post on my interview with Packer will come later today), the Libertarians announced that their three statewide candidates will end their campaigns as well.
HARRISBURG - All three Libertarian Party nominees for statewide office in Pennsylvania abandoned their bids to get on the fall ballot Wednesday, leaving no third-party opposition to the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor and the Senate.
Filing papers to withdraw were York lawyer Marakay Rogers, running for governor; Douglas M. Jamison, an engineer from Washington County running for Senate; and Kat Valleley, a Bucks County homemaker seeking to become lieutenant governor. The action came after nearly two days of intensive scrutiny of their petition signatures.
Commonwealth Court Judge P. Kevin Brobson canceled a planned Monday hearing and directed elections officials to strike the Libertarians' names as candidates in the Nov. 2 election.
Marc Antony Arrigo, a Philadelphia lawyer representing the three, said they conceded that the challenge filed by a group of Republican voters would leave them with fewer than the 19,082 signatures required for third-party candidates for statewide office.
â¦
On Monday, self-proclaimed tea party candidate John Krupa withdrew his petition to run for governor.
Packer was a great get.
Republicans are only trying to reduce confusion on the ballots come November, and I think they've succeeded. I'll be writing in all three bullied L candidates.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Matthew Petrillo, Philly News Now. Philly News Now said: Aw. Penguins at the Philadelphia Zoo chasing a butterfly.: by patrick.rapa for The Clog, 2010. | Permalink | Add... http://bit.ly/d6ixzk [...]
He posted the following in the Clog comments, but I think they warrant their own post. I'll try to get in touch with him tomorrow, and with the Sestak camp for comments as to his Packer's factual representations, and update as warranted:
Jeffrey, great article. ⦠It's true, I had to withdraw. Faced with the knowledge that we only had about 1000 extra signatures above the minimum and the most basic human errors alone would probably would be about 10%, it would have been worthless and possibly break me financially if they sued for legal costs. Heck, I might have had to apply for a job with the City Paper!!
It's amazing how much Sestak spent (but don't worry, we probably paid for it). They even handed over copies of 710 petitions to hand-writing experts!! Give me a break, Joe, this isn't CSI!
Seriously, once again, democracy is denied to the voters of PA, thwarted by corporate cash funneled through corporate candidates. Take heart in the fact that elections are just one small part of the struggle to build the movement for peace and justice and in that, I believe we made some progress. My campaign was an uncompromising stand for an end to a system that has failed the people of this nation, continues wars without end, and continues to increase human suffering both here and abroad. We remain a nation run by thieves, a corrupt government in which our legislators are simply hired guns for those who presently run the world and continue to exploit it for their own gains. We found thousands who agree and there are thousands more who will continue to stay home rather than vote for corruption. Good for them. The lesser of two evils is STILL evil and must be opposed every day in every way. Remember, we'll all do better when we ALL do better. It's that simple.
Mel Packer, former PA Green Party candidate for US Senate
[...] the rest of this great post here Comments (0) Posted in Liberal Candidates [...]
[...] the rest of this great post here Comments (0) Posted in Election Candidate [...]
Thanks to the upcoming World Basketball Festival, we now get a âUSAâ Air Jordan 2010 Team. It seems as if more people like the Air Jordan 2010 Team than the original Air Jordan 2010 because of the windowless side panels. I'm not one of those people who likes the team better; I think the original Nike Shoes 2010 Shoes looks much better.Since this jordan Shoes Team is made for the USA team, the colorway should be clear. White can be seen on the side panels, toe, shoe laces, tongue, part of the midsole and the entire outsole. Navy blue covers the toe, heel, inner lining and above the midsole. Red accents appear on the tongue, toe, heel, lace panels and the midsole. The sneaker is constructed of perforated white leather with larger perforations placed on the side panels.
[...] you Cloggers are well aware, I’ve been obsessing a bit this week over the major parties’ bullying tactics toward their minor party competitors — [...]
Yes, this goddamn mosque faux-controversy is still making headlines. But let's move beyond the "issue" itself, because the "issue" is verifiably idiotic. Rather, let's talk motives.
A guy from the Washington Examiner, Gene Healy, argues that the right-wing rabble is being played by the Republican establishment. It's an interesting argument:
All this posturing is getting tiresome. The "mosque" controversy isn't about property rights or religious freedom. It's a bogus issue seized by the GOP establishment to distract the rank-and-file from the party's reluctance to shrink government.
From all the caterwauling, you'd think the Park51 group planned to fashion a mock Kaaba out of trade center ashes and mount it atop the wreckage. But you can't see Ground Zero from the Park51 site -- it's separated by two canyonlike city blocks, occupying the former site of a Burlington Coat Factory. "Hallowed ground," indeed.
â¦
You don't need to buy amateur theologian George W. Bush's line that Islam is "a religion of peace" to recognize that the Park51 controversy is a red herring. With Muslims making up 0.8 percent of the U.S. population, dhimmitude seems a more remote threat than national bankruptcy.
In a recent (pre-campaign?) appearance in Des Moines, Iowa, Newt Gingrich denounced Obama's "secular socialist machine," but, when asked, he declined to specify federal programs he would cut.
You see, cutting government is hard, and often unpopular. No surprise, then, that Boehner would rather play urban planner than embrace Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's "road map" for shrinking middle-class entitlements.
Faced with difficult choices, the alleged party of small government always retreats to the lazy politics of Kulturkampf. Hey, that guy's a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU! Ask me about my flag-burning amendment!
John Cornyn, R-Texas, head of GOP efforts to take back the Senate this fall, plans to make the Park51 "mosque" a major campaign issue. It's all too typical: Feed the rubes conservative identity politics, and, with luck, they'll be too distracted to notice you've grafted a Republican "K Street Project" atop the same old edifice of Big Government.
The establishment Right wants to play the Tea Party movement for suckers. It remains to be seen whether they'll play along.
Which brings us to Will Wilkinson, a fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute,who counters thusly:
I don't find this believable. This idiotic foofaraw could be a distraction only if the GOP rank-and-file actually cared more about the size of government than the cultural politics of American identity. But they don't. It's not even close. American conservatism is a movement consumed by protecting and asserting a certain fabricated conception of the traditional American way of life against imaginary enemies.
â¦
I approve of what Gene's trying to do here rhetorically, but the fact is that complaining about Muslims and keeping holy the memory of 9/11 and Ground Zero — the legitimizing altar of aggressive American imperialism — is a direct manifestation of contemporary conservatism's essence. If it's not the twitchily bellicose identity politics of self-righteous middle-class white Americans, it's a distraction. Gene graciously lets the rank-and-file off the hook by blaming all this tiresome dim-witted chest-thumping on âthe GOP establishment.â But I'm afraid in this case the establishment is just nervously along for the ride.
I lean toward Wilkinson's interpretation, based on the political and cognitive science research I've seen. Namely, modern conservatism, especially movement conservatism, is predominantly oriented with authoritarian values and the preservation of the existing social order, which is, let's face it, largely favorable to relatively well-to-do white folks (hence the undercurrent of racism in the Tea Party), who figure that since they made it, seemingly without government help, so can everybody else, and if they can't, that's too bad. The antipathy toward "big government" is, as Wilkinson alludes to, really just a manifestation of this broader perspective. So — and to boil several books on the subject down to a sentence — the movement conservatives' obsession with Park51 is part and parcel of their supposed opposition to small government. It all comes from the same cognitive source (really, read Lakoff's books; he explains it much better than I can).
But Healy is right, too, at least to some degree: For the hapless, anti-intellectual GOP establishment, which is attempting to grab power despite the vacuity of its ideas, the scary Muslims certainly presents a good rallying cry two months before the elections, and plays on the fear of and loathing toward Barack Obama that many conservatives possess, as well as the sense that âtheirâ country is changing, and not to their benefit, which is why they want it back.
In both cases, I think there's an overestimation of the difference between the conservative elite and the rabble — the assumption being that the elites know better, but they're either using this issue to gain power (Healy) or being dragged along with the current (Wilkinson). Certainly, in the case of charlatans like Gingrich and opportunists like Pawlenty, they're right. My sense, though, is that the establishment has been so co-opted by the rabble, either because they're dependent on them to energize campaigns (Cornyn, Boehner), or because they've been thrust into the spotlight by these groups (Palin, DeMint, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, etc.) and really believe this shit.
So maybe it's not an either/or. Maybe it's both.
Your thoughts?
Howard Dean is now AGAINST the mosque http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/18/dean ...in addition to Harry Reid, most NY liberals, and the 9/11 families.
Mosque controversy gets even crazier: Michael Bloomberg accuses Nancy Pelosi of being Un-American! "Is Nancy Pelosi Un-American? Mayor Michael Bloomberg's bombshell accusation against the House speaker" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575437541772521952.html?mod=asia_opinion
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG ACCUSES NANCY PELOSI OF BEING UN-AMERICAN The Associated Press reported last month: "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate a mosque that is planned for construction near where the World Trade Center once stood." The Washington Post's reporter Greg Sargent swung into action and obtained these comments from Nancy Pelosi's office: "I support the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that 'We agree with the ADL that there is a need for transparency about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center.' . . ." Therefore, since Nancy Pelosi wants transparency about the mosque funding, but Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate the mosque, Bloomberg is accusing Pelosi of being un-American!!!!!
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG ACCUSES NANCY PELOSI OF BEING UN-AMERICAN The Associated Press reported last month: âNew York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate a mosque that is planned for construction near where the World Trade Center once stood.â The Washington Post's reporter Greg Sargent swung into action and obtained these comments from Nancy Pelosi's office: âI support the statement made by the Interfaith Alliance that âWe agree with the ADL that there is a need for transparency about who is funding the effort to build this Islamic center. At the same time, we should also ask who is funding the attacks against the construction of the center.' . . .â Therefore, since Nancy Pelosi wants transparency about the mosque funding, but Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate the mosque, Bloomberg is accusing Pelosi of being un-American!!!!!
Thanks to the upcoming World Basketball Festival, we now get a âUSAâ Air Jordan 2010 Team. It seems as if more people like the Air Jordan 2010 Team than the original Air Jordan 2010 because of the windowless side panels. I'm not one of those people who likes the team better; I think the original Nike Shoes 2010 Shoes looks much better.Since this jordan Shoes Team is made for the USA team, the colorway should be clear. White can be seen on the side panels, toe, shoe laces, tongue, part of the midsole and the entire outsole. Navy blue covers the toe, heel, inner lining and above the midsole. Red accents appear on the tongue, toe, heel, lace panels and the midsole. The sneaker is constructed of perforated white leather with larger perforations placed on the side panels.
"...modern conservatism, especially movement conservatism, is predominantly oriented with authoritarian values and the preservation of the existing social order, which is, let's face it, largely favorable to relatively well-to-do white folks (hence the undercurrent of racism in the Tea Party), who figure that since they made it, seemingly without government help, so can everybody else, and if they can't, that's too bad." Sort of, not really. The GOP is a coalition of different interests like the democratic party. Generally, the GOP is dominated by the cultural conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and national security conservatives...depending on the times, the emphasis may be more significant in one area relative to the others.
Billman - if it is such a faux controversy, why is the former DNC chairman, Howard Dean, and Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, against the ground zero mosque?
People believe all kinds of horseshit, apparently. http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/19/obama_muslim_poll
John â so you're saying Howard Dean and Harry Reid are horse s h i t believers? That's very mean-spirited and insensitive.
STOP THE MOSQUE! http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=mjGJPPRD3u0&vq=medium
[...] else gives a shit what he thinks — to weigh in on this not-mosque at not-Ground Zero nontroversy we and everyone else have been following for a little while. And, as always seems to happen with Santorum, a guy [...]
[...] Jeffrey Billman пиÑеÑ: Namely, modern conservatism, especially movement conservatism, is predominantly oriented with authoritarian values and the preservation of the existing social order, which is, let’s face it, largely favorable to relatively well-to-do white folks ….. LGBTQ, Mind/Body, Museums/Exhibits, Music, Classical, Folk/World, Jazz/Blues, Rock/Pop, Open Mic, Karaoke, Performance, Performing Arts, Cabaret, Dance, Opera, Theater, Readings/Book Signings, Repertory Film, Shopping/Style … [...]
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What to say? The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has said it all:
A Monroeville drilling company could tap natural gas beneath 15 cemeteries in Allegheny and Washington counties under a lease signed by the Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the association's director said Tuesday.
The association leased nearly 1,060 acres of cemetery land in 2008 to Huntley & Huntley Inc., including the 200-acre Calvary Cemetery in Hazelwood, which City Councilman Doug Shields called "ground zero" in the debate over whether natural gas drilling should be permitted in Pittsburgh
In case you missed that last phrase: "the debate over whether natural gas drilling should be permitted in Pittsburgh," â it is, in fact a debate and a distinct possibility: Pittsburgh, unlike Philadelphia, is located on top of the Marcellus Shale and the drilling industry is moving in quickly to begin drilling within city limits.
[...] Catholic cemetaries lease lots for gas drilling :: The Clog :: Blog Archive :: Staff Blog :: Philade... [...]
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| Courtesy of Eric Ascalon | |
| BEFORE (left) and AFTER (right) | |
If any of you Tyler or UArts grads secures a job with the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg or the city of Harrisburg's Department of Parks, Recreation & Enrichment, think twice before dropping your gallery gig to erect the next great piece of public art. Once you've completed your sculpture or painting or meta-performance art piece about performance art pieces for the city, you may return years later to find that your name has been erased from your work, and, even worse, the whole project has been âdrastically alteredâ without your permission to the point of âmutilationâ and âbastardization.â
At least, that's what David Ascalon, an artist from Tel Aviv, claims happened to him. In a lawsuit filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Ascalon says that the Federation commissioned him to create a Holocaust memorial on public property (which is maintained by the Parks Dept.) that did not âprettify the landscapeâ but instead was âcommitted to developing a truth-telling monument.â
In other words, the death of 6 million Jews was horrifying, so let's make sure the memorial isn't all puppies and rainbows, eh?
Ascalon complied. His memorial depicted a serpentine made of Cor-ten steel — a purposefully rusty, ugly material to represent the âoppression, decay and miseryâ under the Nazi regime — wrapping itself around the Star of David, conversely constructed out of shiny, flawless stainless steel to represent the goodness and permanence of the Jewish people. A âtear-filled ceremonyâ on July 17, 1994, fêted the creation of the Holocaust memorial, and the Patriot News gushed that, âa lot of symbolism is featured in the monument. ⦠The rusting barbed wire that wraps around the core represents the fences around Nazi death camps.â According to Ascalon, the memorial was so popular that it made it into Yumiko Mochizuki's book Public Art: A World's Eye View, which chronicles the greatest public visual art.
Fast-forward to 2007, when Ascalon says he found that his name had âbeen completely excised and grinded off of the memorialâ without his permission and replaced with this: âRestored by David Grindle 2006.â
Additionally, Ascalon claims that Grindle switched out the serpent's Cor-ten material for stainless steel, which doesn't sound like that big of a deal, until you consider that stainless steel was supposed to represent the Jews' tenacity, not the er ⦠Nazis'.
âThe modification of the sculpture has changed it so that now the same shiny stainless steel that represents the enduring Jewish people is also used to depict the Nazi regime and atrocities of the Holocaust,â reads the lawsuit. âThis alteration is abhorrent.â
Oy vey. Did we mention that several of Ascalon's relatives, including cousins, uncles and two grandparents, were killed in the Holocaust?
Ascalon is demanding an injunction, as well as actual and statutory damages, in his suit against the Parks Dept., the Jewish Federation and Grindle.
None of the three defendants have returned our calls.
Holy shit! I'd love to know which moron (or cadre of morons) was behind that decision, and hear the explanation! Thanks. Please keep us posted.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper, Philly News Now. Philly News Now said: The âbastardizationâ of public art in Harrisburg: Courtesy of Eric Ascalon BEFORE (left) and AFTER (right) If an... http://bit.ly/adgTGI [...]
Once again a visual artist's work has been disrespected by a local government body. These avoidable incidents are bound to be repeated unless the respectability of artists and their work becomes a part of everyday conversation in households across the U.S. A similar case invoking the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 or VARA is winding its way through the court. Chapman Kelley vs. Chicago Park District will have been in the Seventh Circuit Court's lap for a year on September 10. That day will mark the first anniversary since oral argument (promising to Kelley, we are told) was heard in Chicago about the destruction of his 66,000 sq.ft. public artwork "Chicago Wildflower Works" (1984-2004), which was deemed by the court to be either a painting or sculpture. A landmark appellate decision is imminent. Another important VARA case still in progress on the east coast is the installation artist Christoph Buchel case involving the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. The integrity of Buchel's "Training Ground for Democracy" is the focus of that dispute. David Ascalon is to be commended for standing up for his moral and personality rights as set forth in VARA. The artistic community will be better off as a result of his bold action. John Viramontes - Council for Artists Rights
This is a punch in the stomach to all public artists (or any artist for that matter). It is testament that artists' rights are not well understood and that the role of public art is often taken for granted. Thank you for sharing this. Jennifer Corio - Cobalt Designworks
[...] this week, the Clog told you about how artist David Ascalon, in a recently filed lawsuit, says that a piece of public art he created — a Holocaust memorial in Harrisburg — was "drastically [...]
[...] August, we told you about the artist David Ascalon and what he called the "bastardization" of a public sculpture in Harrisburg: In a lawsuit filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, [...]
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| Courtesy of the Village Voice |
For a country (ostensibly) built upon religious tolerance and freedom, the hullabaloo surrounding the construction of a community center with an Islamic prayer space in a long-vacant building that once housed a Burlington Coat Factory several blocks from where the World Trade Center towers stood — which, in lower Manhattan, is basically is a world away — one of those things that makes you want to just throw your hands in the air and say — as my late, wonderfully curmudgeonly grandfather would — âPeople are no damn good.â
Goddammit, aren't we better than this? Don't we understand that the politicians championing this non-issue are, in fact, preying on our fears, ignorances and bigotries?
That this thing has gained currency, that race-baiting (yet supposedly mainstream) politicians like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin have been allowed to beat their chest and rile up the reasonless passions of their bases with lies and fact-less insinuations, that a president's intonation that the First Amendment is a cherished American tradition became a political liability (at least among the pundit class), that the fact that the blatant religious bigotry plays right into our enemy's hands and undermines what the values that make us better than them has been all but ignored — I'm beginning to wonder, is this the sacking of our Rome?
Probably not. In all likelihood, this thing will get built and the rabble will refocus its attention on American Idol or whatever until the next Fox News trumpeted faux-scandal emerges. But still: aren't we better than this?
Anyway. I would like to direct your attention to The Village Voice's post on why, really, you shouldn't give a shit about the so-called Cordoba House.
What's more offensive: Having a....
- "Ground Zero Burger King."
- Memorial that's never happened because of hyper-capitalist conflicts.
- Bunch of tacky souvenir tables.
- Bunch of tacky souvenir tables that profit off of cheap, China-made 9-11 memorabilia.
- Bunch of tacky souvenir tables that profit off of cheap, China-made 9-11 memorabilia when they're not selling fake Rolexes to the same Americans coming to New York, buying from them, going home, and telling New Yorkers where to put our Mosques.
or an Islamic Cultural Center with a 9/11 Memorial (more than what's actually been put to paper for an official 9/11 Memorial) two and a half blocks away?
Reminder: Muslims were victims of 9/11, too. Sorry, but it's true. And one was an NYPD cadet.
Maybe we'll care what you have to say when you stop bothering us for directions in the subway on how to get to Ground Zero so you can go there and buy some dumb, tacky knickknack you can take home and give to friends to let them know that you spent money on a shake-a-snow where a few thousand people died. Maybe then. But probably not. Shut up, go away, and also, stop lying, or at least tell your politicians to stop lying. It might help you recognize the truth, which is that you're wrong, and you're attacking vital American freedoms by going against this Mosque. The truth is that you're terrorists in you're own right. You are striking against America by going against this mosque. You are, in effect, almost as bad as the ones who killed people on 9/11. Okay, not quite, not really, but kind of, because you're fighting against what 9/11 victims died for: religious freedom, which terrorists don't have and don't want anyone else to have.
But now you have a map to see how wrong you are, okay? Now: Fuck you. Fuck you and shut up, you assholes. Shut up and leave New York alone.
Also, this clip is worth 12 minutes of your life. (For the record, I'm not the biggest fan of Olbermann or cable news in general — I don't have cable, actually — but it's worth a viewing because, well, he's right.)
It's not sad to watch right-wingers try to score points off this thing: that's what they do, it's expected. It's sad that hate and fear have become so ingrained our our politics.
Aren't we better than this?
UPDATED: Daily Show goodness:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Mosque-Erade | ||||
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When Harry Reid and most New York liberals oppose the GROUND ZERO MOSQUE, you know it's more unpopular than universal health care and death panels. If the ground zero mosque gets built by the Imam that thinks Osama was made in the USA and 9/11 was America's fault, with the secret muslim money, I hope that guy from Fox News Red Eye gets investors to build that gay bar for gay muslim men next door! http://www.mediaite.com/tv/greg-gutfeld-outlines-his-islamic-gay-bar-plans-on-last-nights-red-eye/
"...because you're fighting against what 9/11 victims died for: religious freedom, which terrorists don't have and don't want anyone else to have." No one is arguing that we should take away the freedom of religion, and no one is arguing that they don't have the right to build the mosque there...therefore the thesis of the Village Voice article is completely flawed. Should a sex offender rehab center be built next to or even near a day care or preschool? Are we being insensitive, intolerant and bigoted by saying we don't sex offenders in the vicinity of preschoolers? Are we fighting against the personal freedoms of the sex offenders by not allowing them to be near children?
I would like to know where Code Pink and the National Organization for Women are on the mosque. After all, the Imam that will be running the mosque wants America to be sharia compliant --- which means women get stoned for adultery, they can't drive cars, and they get to be beaten senseless and abused by their husbands.
"Ground Zero Mosque". "Death Panels". You ask "aren't we better than this?" In this era of sound byte politics and cable news analogies that make absolutely no sense at all (sex offenders and preschools??? Really???) sadly, we are not.
Rush Limbaugh, the leader of the Republican Party, who is now calling the Ground Zero Mosque the "Hamasque" (as in a mosque sponsored by Hamas), brings up a great point about the Dubai Ports deal a few years back. Rush claims he supported the Dubai Ports deal while Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton were against it. If it is OK to build the mosque at ground zero, why not re-open the ports deal and allow Dubai to buy some ports? It makes a lot of sense.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Anna Fogel, Philly News Now. Philly News Now said: MUST READ: When ignorance and demagoguery meet: The not-mosque at not-Ground Zero: VILLAGE VOICE For a country... http://bit.ly/cv14KD [...]
On Aug. 9, Democrat Joe Sestak filed a challenge to the petitions collected by would-be Green Party rival/spoiler Mel Packer, under the theory that enough of Packer's petitions were in some way defective so as to place him below the threshold Pennsylvania has established for ballot access (this year, about 19,000 ballots), Sestak's campaign confirms. And over the weekend, campaign lawyer Manly Parks told me, the two sides reached an agreement: Packer is off the November ballot.
Lesson: Bullying works.
As we've previously reported, Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation that requires minor party or independent candidates — folks with no money, usually — to pay off their rivals' lawyer bills if their petition are successfully challenged. And in this case, that law worked to Sestak's advantage: The threat of paying tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees was enough to get Packer to bail out, on the condition that each side pays its own litigation costs.
More on this in the paper this week. I will update if I can get a comment from Packer, who has not yet conceded, at least on his website.
QUICK UPDATE: Haven't heard back from Packer, but scoping out his website, I came across this post from Aug. 10, in which he all by admits the likelihood of defeat:
On August 9, shortly before State offices in Harrisburg closed, Joe Sestak, Democratic Party candidate for US Senate in PA, filed a formal challenge to my election petitions for that same office. This was not unexpected and given the absurd requirements that third-party candidates must meet to attain ballot status, his challenge will likely be successful and I will lose my already state-certified ballot status for that position.
Let me be very frank about this action. Joe Sestak is a moral and political coward, who is unwilling to let the voters of PA decide for themselves which candidates they support based on their political platforms and positions. By using technicalities to keep 3rd party candidates off the ballot, he demonstrates his continued support for the corrupt and undemocratic system that so many voters have learned to distrust and in which they have no faith.
A candidate for office who is unwilling to face his opponents in the open market of political ideas becomes exposed as a fraud in his willingness to subvert democracy solely to maintain the entrenched powers.
Joe Sestak shows all of us that we are not only fighting a corrupt economic system that rewards the rich and punishes workers, but a similarly corrupt political system that serves at the will of those who have bankrupted our nation, forced millions into long-term if not permanent employment, wages endless wars that only benefit the corporate powers, and now seeks to decrease much of our social safety net at a time when we are most in need of increases instead.
My candidacy for US Senate is a clear departure from the politics of old, a clear challenge to the system that has failed most of our citizens, and a clear choice that voters should be allowed to make in a democratic society.
I call on Joe Sestak to immediately withdraw his challenge to my candidacy for the US Senate and to demonstrate his willingness to debate our ideas openly in front of the voters of PA. I welcome such a challenge and he should do likewise.
Anything less means he knows that his positions cannot stand in open debate and also shows the voters that he is on the sides of corporate power and against restoring power to the people of the State of PA.
- Mel Packer, Green Party candidate for US Senate in PA.
Lesson: Valid signatures work.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper, Philly News Now. Philly News Now said: Breaking: Sestak successfully bullies Green Party candidate off the ballot.: On Aug. 9, Democrat Joe Sestak filed ... http://bit.ly/cB0fIZ [...]
Alex, is that a joke?
Wow! And they didn't even need to bring in Bill Clinton!
Mel Packer would make a splendid US Senator.He is not owned by any corporation or the eternal war policy and war contractor machine.Aside from Sen Ferlo there is no anti-war Democrat in our neck of the woods.The democratic party has abandoned progressive ideas---depending entirely on the lesser of two evil theory. As long progressives give their votes to Democrats every two years,there is no incentive for any systemic change outside of both parties; representing a society fashioned on representing the top 2% and butchering innocents with drones.
Lesson: screwing honest Pennsylvania voters by invalidating their signatures on meaningless technicalities works. I was supporting Sestak, I donated to Sestak, I was even campaigning for Sestak. But Sestak lost my vote by doing this. As a progressive I can no longer support a bully. I am writing in MEL PACKER. If we get Toomey, who cares. They're all bullies, and the "little people" of Pennsylvania are screwed no matter which one wins.
[...] might even have a decent platform in spots. But you know what? He’s still kind of an asshole. Sestak just used an arcane PA law to bully Green Party candidate Mel Packer off of that ballot. In the parlance of Sestak, âThis is what democracy looks like — a win for the people over the [...]
Fuck democrats. I'm starting to entertain the idea of voting specifically AGAINST them whenever I can for this shit they pull. Fucking worthless party. Liberals have no one to vote for any more.
Appreciated this article telling it like it is. Greens get screwed every time they try to run. Excellent candidates, A/H democrats. What is good about the upcomming election is that 6 Pennsylvanian candidates did get on the ballot because they had enough signatures (although still each a rediculous amount) 1 for US Congress, Ed Bortz, Pittsburgh; 5 for State legislature: Hugh Giordano, Philly; Jay Sweeney, Wyoming County; Rex D'Agostino, Lehigh County; Ed Bonsell, Montgomery County; Charles (Skip) Moyer, Bucks County. Please support them.
The 2-party system is one system, the corporate interest system. It's like the NFL - some places are AFC, some are NFC, but they're all in the same league playing the same game by the same rules for the same (OK, sometimes different) big bucks. As Kevin Phillps said, the Democratic party is, after all, history's second most rabidly capitalist party. Rabid capitalism brought us our current recession.
And don't forget that Sen. Al Frankin supports this bully. Let Al know who he is supporting. info@alfranken.com
[...] A rather one-sided account from a Philadelphia daily accuses PA Senate candidate Joe Sestak of “bullying” the Green Party candidate out of the race through ballot challenges. Needless to say, I’m not a huge fan of the hurdles third parties have to clear to make the ballot, but it would be nice to hear a more objective version of the story. posted in: Main Comments (0) [...]
[...] the rest of this great post here Comments (0) Posted in Liberal Candidates [...]
Yesterday I wrote a check for Sestak on the "lesser of two evils" premise. Reading about how he bullied Mel Packer out of the Senate race sickens me. I feel like a political 'ho. I signed that petition for Mel to run because I want to live in a democracy. Without the Greens, I am convinced we are under the rule of capitalism, not democracy.
It's pretty sad that Pennsylvanians have chosen such an awful form of democracy. The Greens deserve to be on the ballot just as any other political party. However Al Franken, though he disses the Greens in public and in his books, supports getting them on the ballot. When Minnesota Green Party ballot petitioners approached him in 2006, he signed each one. There is hope when hard-core Democrats actually support democracy, rather than undermining it.
Jeffrey, great article. Call me up, I'm in the phone book. 412.243.4545 It's true, I had to withdraw. Faced with the knowledge that we only had about 1000 extra signatures above the minimum and the most basic human errors alone would probably would be about 10%, it would have been worthless and possibly break me financially if they sued for legal costs. Heck, I might have had to apply for a job with the City Paper!! It's amazing how much Sestak spent (but don't worry, we probably paid for it). They even handed over copies of 710 petitions to hand-writing experts!! Give me a break, Joe, this isn't CSI ! Seriously, once again, democracy is denied to the voters of PA, thwarted by corporate cash funneled through corporate candidates. Take heart in the fact that elections are just one small part of the struggle to build the movement for peace and justice and in that, I believe we made some progress. My campaign was an uncompromising stand for an end to a system that has failed the people of this nation, continues wars without end, and continues to increase human suffering both here and abroad. We remain a nation run by thieves, a corrupt government in which our legislators are simply hired guns for those who presently run the world and continue to exploit it for their own gains. We found thousands who agree and there are thousands more who will continue to stay home rather than vote for corruption. Good for them. The lesser of two evils is STILL evil and must be opposed every day in every way. Remember, we'll all do better when we ALL do better. It's that simple. Mel Packer, former PA Green Party candidate for US Senate
[...] camp for comments as to his Packer's factual representations, and update as warranted: Jeffrey, great article. ⦠It's true, I had to withdraw. Faced with the knowledge that we only had about 1000 extra [...]
Is it too late for a "STOP HOLD" on that check to Packer?
[...] after Team Sestak forced Green Party candidate Mel Packer out of November's election (a post on my interview with Packer will come later today), the Libertarians announced that their [...]
[...] you Cloggers are well aware, I've been obsessing a bit this week over the major parties' bullying tactics toward their minor party competitors — [...]
[...] you Cloggers are well aware, I’ve been obsessing a bit this week over the major parties’ bullying tactics toward their minor party competitors [...]
Alex, education works. Go back to high school and read a few books before you comment on something. The signatures collected by the Greens and Libertarians were valid, but the Democrats and Republicans will challenge anything and everything. Stop being a slave- loser
It's amazing. There is no real information about Mel Packer on the internet anywhere except that he is a physician's assistant. Was he a real candidate? Could his candidacy have been a ploy by the republicans /libertarians to dilute the democratic vote?
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