Makeshift Memorials and Memory
Thursday, July 2, 2009
by guest blogger Cara Finnegan
The U. S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. is closed today in the wake of the shooting yesterday that killed security guard Stephen T. Johns, who leaves behind a wife and young son. This photo captures well how layered collective memory can be: a poignant, makeshift memorial left at a place formally (and fiercely) dedicated to remembering the very worst effects of human hatred. The presence of security guards in the background only heightens the sense of tragedy and vulnerability.
After the shooting, Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a statement that said in part, "It is deeply disturbing that one of America's most powerful symbols of the memory of the Holocaust was selected as the site of the attack just days after President Obama accompanied Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel to the Buchenwald death camp." Indeed, it is hard not to wonder if the incredibly human, moving, and yes, empathic images of Obama and Wiesel were what set this guy off.
(image: TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Makeshift Memorials and Memory
[Source: Good Times Society]
Makeshift Memorials and Memory
[Source: Murder News]
Makeshift Memorials and Memory
posted by 88956 @ 7:45 AM,
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Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
They're not the "yo-ho-ho" kind of pirates, nor the much scarier "taking-ships-hostage-with-rocket-launchers" pirates. But Sweden's Pirate Party won a seat in the European Parliament in yesterday's election, winning 7% of their country's vote. This could mean the start of a meanful debate regarding copyright and it's application to modern web technology.
There is little doubt that the current system of copyright protection is broken. It has criminalized an entire generation in the similar way to the War on Drugs (although the resource expenditures and incarceration rates are incomparable). In this country, it has been most prominently seen in the RIAA's lawsuits against the downloaders of illegal music--from college students to mothers and grandfathers. In Sweden, a case against bittorrent site The Pirate Bay found its four co-founders convicted of copyright infringement with potential punishment up to a year in prison and $3.8 million in fines. The case, which was Twittered from the courtroom by one of the defendants, is actually being credited as a catalyst in yesterday's victory.
As a music media professional, I am torn by the debate on illegal downloading. On the one hand, I have watched the magazine industry decimated by the effects of downloading, aggregating and other online practices that the most conservative would deem 'infringement." At the same time, the record labels which once supported my particular strand of coverage have had it even worse, with sales plummeting and, along with it, ad dollars to support music media. I have little doubt that my professional career would have been on much stronger footing in the '90s, before the web's widespread usage.
At the same time, I am a long time music downloader who has used pirated media for both my personal pleasure as well as achieving some professional tasks, i.e. -- sending MP3s to reviewers rather going through the time consuming process of requesting promotional CDs (technically breaking the letter of copyright law in the process.) I am also a DJ who must actively use online music blogs to stay competitive by acquiring the newest songs long before they are available for commercial release. I've not yet graduated to film downloading, but my DVD player just died and the pricing on cables to connect my computer to my HDTV are very cheap indeed.
I don't have the solution to striking a balance between content consumers and producers. But I pray someone figures it out before I lose my job and I can't pay my broadband bill. Having proponents of open access such as the Pirate Party in seats of power might at least change the tone of the current discussion. Here's hoping that change turns out for the better.
More on Pirates
Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
[Source: Good Times Society]
Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
[Source: Broadcasting News]
Joshua Glazer: Pirates Gain Seat in EU Parliament
posted by 88956 @ 6:58 AM,
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Chandra Wilson, Jim Parsons to Announce Emmy Nominations
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Dr. Bailey and Dr. Cooper are teaming up for the Emmys. Grey's Anatomy star Chandra Wilson and The Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons will announce the nominations for the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.
The duo will be joined by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Chairman-CEO John Shaffner for the 8:30 am/ET reveal on July 16.
Wilson has received ...
Other Links From TVGuide.com
Chandra Wilson, Jim Parsons to Announce Emmy Nominations
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Chandra Wilson, Jim Parsons to Announce Emmy Nominations
[Source: News 2]
Chandra Wilson, Jim Parsons to Announce Emmy Nominations
[Source: Boston News]
Chandra Wilson, Jim Parsons to Announce Emmy Nominations
[Source: State News]
Chandra Wilson, Jim Parsons to Announce Emmy Nominations
[Source: Wb News]
Chandra Wilson, Jim Parsons to Announce Emmy Nominations
posted by 88956 @ 6:42 AM,
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Will the Killing of George Tiller Have an Effect on Public Opinion Regarding Abortion?
PrintEmailPDF Just last week, Denver Post and Reason.com columnist David Harsanyi asked, "Is The Abortion Debate Changing?" Based on a recent Gallup Poll, which found that a majority of Americans considered themselves "pro-life" for the first time since the question started being asked in 1995, Harsanyi suggested "that Americans are getting past the politics and into the morality of the issue" after decades of legalized abortion. And, he argued, the morality of abortion is a lot more complicated than most pro- or anti-abortion slogans let on.
Earlier today, in response to killing of Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller, Jacob Sullum asked why anti-abortion activists rushed to condemn the death of a man who by their own accounts was slaughtering innocents. Jacob understands why the activists might say that, but argues that it's really a tactical response: That they need to distance themselves from murderous extremists.
So what do Reason readers think? Will the killing of George Tiller push more Americans to identify as pro-life? Or will it push voters in the other direction? Does it matter that Tiller was known for doing late-term abortions, which are statistically rare but gruesome?
You go back to that Gallup Poll and one thing sticks out on the basic question of whether abortion should be legal under some circumstances: Since 1976, the percentage answering yes has been around 50 percent or higher (there are a few years where it dipped into the high 40s). That is, it's been pretty stable at or around a majority number.
And the percentage of people saying abortion should be illegal under all circumstances has rarely cracked the 20 percent figure (though it has again in recent years). Similarly, the percentage saying abortion should be legal under all circumstances, which peaked at 34 percent in the early 1990s, has always been a minority position (which currently stands at 22 percent and has been dropping lately).
I suspect that as abortion becomes rarer (as Reason's Ron Bailey pointed out in 2006, abortion has been getting rarer since the 1990s and also occurs earlier in pregnancies than before), it's quite possible that the either/or positions might change, but that their movement will have little effect on the middle position of abortion staying legal under some circumstances. Even those, such as Harsanyi, who is plainly troubled by the logic of abortion, generally concede that prohibition would cause more problems than it would fix ("I also believe a government ban on abortion would only criminalize the procedure and do little to mitigate the number of abortions.").
Back in 2003, on the occasion of Roe v. Wade's 30th anniversary, I argued that regarding abortion the country had reached a consensus that
has little to do with morality per se, much less with enforcing a single standard of morality. It's about a workable, pragmatic compromise that allows people to live their lives on their own terms and peaceably argue for their point of view....
This isn't to say that the debate about abortion is "over"-or that laws governing the specifics of abortion won't continue to change over time in ways that bother ardent pro-lifers and pro-choicers alike. But taking a longer view, it does seem as if the extremes of the abortion debate - extremes that included incendiary language (including calls for the murder of abortion providers) - have largely subsided in the wake of a widely accepted consensus. Part of this is surely due to the massive increases in reproduction technologies that allow women far more control over all aspects of their bodies (even as some of those technologies challenge conventional definitions of human life).
That isn't an outcome that is particularly satisfying to activists on either side of the issue or to people who want something approaching rational analysis in public policy. But it's still where we're at and it's unlikely the Tiller case will do much to move things one way or the other. The one thing that would likely change it would be if there was a massive shift toward later-term abortions, which seems unlikely based on long-term trendlines and technological innovations.
Will the Killing of George Tiller Have an Effect on Public Opinion Regarding Abortion?
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Will the Killing of George Tiller Have an Effect on Public Opinion Regarding Abortion?
[Source: Media News]
Will the Killing of George Tiller Have an Effect on Public Opinion Regarding Abortion?
[Source: News Argus]
Will the Killing of George Tiller Have an Effect on Public Opinion Regarding Abortion?
[Source: Boston News]
Will the Killing of George Tiller Have an Effect on Public Opinion Regarding Abortion?
[Source: World News]
Will the Killing of George Tiller Have an Effect on Public Opinion Regarding Abortion?
[Source: News Argus]
Will the Killing of George Tiller Have an Effect on Public Opinion Regarding Abortion?
posted by 88956 @ 3:58 AM,
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Lobbyists Warned to Stay Away from GOP Meeting
Top aides to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) called a "last-minute, pre-emptive" strike "with a group of prominent Democratic lobbyists, warning them to advise their clients not to attend a meeting with Senate Republicans set for Thursday," Roll Call reports.
Recounted one lobbyist: "They said, 'Republicans are having this meeting and you need to let all of your clients know if they have someone there, that will be viewed as a hostile act... Going to the Republican meeting will say, 'I'm interested in working with Republicans to stop health care reform.'"
Lobbyists Warned to Stay Away from GOP Meeting
[Source: Good Times Society]
Lobbyists Warned to Stay Away from GOP Meeting
posted by 88956 @ 2:36 AM,
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Will Neil Patrick Put on a Show at the Tonys? Plus Dr. Horrible and Kumar Sequel Scoop
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Neil Patrick Harris fans hoping to see their fave be a cut-up as host of Sunday's Tony Awards (airing at 8 pm/ET, on CBS) will probably get some satisfaction. But those wanting to see the How I Met Your Mother star cut a rug or break out into song might come up empty.
"They have an opening planned that is bigger than they have ever had in Tony history. But I don't think I'm going to be involved in it," Harris shared in a press conference call.
Instead, Harris says he will take a cue from Hugh Jackman ...
Other Links From TVGuide.com
Will Neil Patrick Put on a Show at the Tonys? Plus Dr. Horrible and Kumar Sequel Scoop
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Will Neil Patrick Put on a Show at the Tonys? Plus Dr. Horrible and Kumar Sequel Scoop
[Source: Wb News]
Will Neil Patrick Put on a Show at the Tonys? Plus Dr. Horrible and Kumar Sequel Scoop
[Source: Abc 7 News]
Will Neil Patrick Put on a Show at the Tonys? Plus Dr. Horrible and Kumar Sequel Scoop
[Source: October News]
Will Neil Patrick Put on a Show at the Tonys? Plus Dr. Horrible and Kumar Sequel Scoop
[Source: Cbs News]
Will Neil Patrick Put on a Show at the Tonys? Plus Dr. Horrible and Kumar Sequel Scoop
posted by 88956 @ 2:11 AM,
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