Thursday, February 24, 2011
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Chaffetz bill would require government to resell shell casings
Joe Pyrah - Daily Herald
For four days in March, gun owners across the country were up in arms about a Department of Defense decision to not resell its spent brass casings.
The DOD sells more than 100 million used casings a year -- in .223 and .308 variants -- to businesses such as Georgia Arms, near Atlanta, which in turn reloads the cartridges and sells them to the public.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz says the decision not to resell was made intentionally by the Obama administration, and he plans to introduce legislation to ensure it doesn't happen again.
It was "a concerted effort by this administration to short the supply" of ammunition, said the 3rd District Republican who views it as back-door gun control.
Georgia Arms co-owner Larry Haynie agrees. He said he was told by government officials that it was a clerical error.
"Hell no," he said when asked if he believed that. "That's just the government catch-all right there."
There is a press release from the Defense Logistics Agency four days after it was initially stated that the casings would be destroyed instead of resold. The DLA is in charge of handling the spent cartridges, including determining their impact on national security.
It reads in part: "Upon review, the Defense Logistics Agency has determined the cartridge cases could be appropriately placed in a category of government property allowing for their release for sale."
Haynie says it was the uproar that caused the change, not a question of national security.
"The American system still works," he said.
Chaffetz wants to make sure the river of empty brass continues to flow from the DOD into private hands. The legislation will read: "The Secretary of Defense may not implement any policy that would prevent or place undue restriction on the continued sale of intact spent military brass ammunition casings to domestic manufacturers of small arms ammunition."
The ammunition market seems to be doing a fine job of keeping prices high all by itself.
"Since Obama was elected, they've just run away," Haynie said, because of fears of gun control legislation. The last time sales were this high was when Bill Clinton was president and talking about an assault weapons ban.
"He's armed up America way more than Clinton ever thought about doing."
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Sunday, April 12, 2009
Monday, April 06, 2009
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Reprinted From AP
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Wednesday, 01 April 2009
G-20 protesters break into Royal Bank of Scotland
Raphael G. Satter - The Associated Press
LONDON — G-20 protesters clashed with riot police in central London on Wednesday, breaking into the heavily guarded Royal Bank of Scotland and smashing its windows. Nearly two dozen people were arrested.
Some 4,000 anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists and others clogged the streets of London's financial district for what demonstrators branded "Financial Fool's Day." The protests were called ahead of Thursday's Group of 20 summit of world leaders, who hope to take concrete steps to resolve the global financial crisis that has lashed nations and workers worldwide.
Protesters also tried to storm the Bank of England and pelted police with eggs and fruit. A battered effigy of a banker in a bowler's hat hung on a traffic light near the Bank of England.
While most of the protesters were peaceful, a violent mob wearing balaclavas broke into the RBS building and stole keyboards that were used to break windows. Other protesters spray-painted graffiti on the RBS building, writing "class war" and "thieves."
Riot police batted back protesters carrying banners that read "Abolish Money."
Protesters focused the Royal Bank of Scotland because it was bailed out by the British government after a series of disastrous deals brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. Still, its former chief executive Fred Goodwin — aged 50 — managed to walk off with a tidy annual pension of 703,000 pounds ($1.2 million) — just as unemployment in Britain is at 2 million and rising.
"Every job I apply for there's already 150 people who have also applied," said protester Nathan Dean, 35, who lost his information technology job three weeks ago. "I have had to sign on to the dole (welfare) for the first time in my life. You end up having to pay your mortgage on your credit card and you fall into debt twice over."
The protests in London's financial district — known as "The City" — came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama held a news conference at Britain's Foreign Office elsewhere in the capital.
"Clearly, everybody has the right to protest and to make their views known, but people also have the right to go about their daily lives without fear of violence or unnecessary disruption," said Michael Ellam, Brown's spokesman.
At least one police officer was injured when a printer and other office equipment was thrown out of the RBS window. Hundreds cheered as a blue office chair was used to smash one of the blacked-out branch windows.
Two men — one was wearing a suit — exchanged punches in the financial district before police intervened.
Of the nearly two dozen people arrested, offenses included disorderly behavior, illegally wearing a police uniform, carrying knives and assault. Another person was arrested for drug possession.
"The greed that is driving people is tearing us apart," said Steve Lamont, 45, flanked by his family and protesters who were banging on bells, playing drums and blowing whistles.
Bankers have been lambasted as being greedy and blamed for the recession that is making jobless ranks soar. Protesters waved banners reading "Banks are evil," ''Eat the bankers," and "0% interest in others."
London equity analyst Viktor Gusman, 53, said he understood the protesters' anger ahead of the G-20 summit but said it didn't put him off working in finance. Some bankers went to work in casual wear Wednesday for fear they could be targeted.
"This is what I do," he said, taking a cigarette break a block down from a police barricade in central London. "I'm supporting my wife and mother and I don't know that it hurts anyone."
Some financial workers leaned out office windows, taunting the demonstrators and waving 10 pound notes at them.
Police helicopters hovered above as a separate protest — climate change and anti-war — started near Trafalgar Square.
"It seems like everything is in a mess," said protester Steve Johnson, 49, an unemployed construction worker.
One protester dressed as the Easter bunny managed to hop through the police cordon but was stopped before he could reach the Bank of England. Another black-clad demonstrator waved a fake light saber at officers.
More protests are planned in London for the G-20 meeting on Thursday.
Still, the protests Wednesday were minor compared to those during a World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999, where some 50,000 people turned out and several hundred people were arrested.
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La Vie Boheme
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Why Ryan?
Honesty:
It's what "art" lacks, these last days...
May this Movie inspire in all of us... what it takes to get there.
La Vie Boheme
Thursday, September 11, 2008
NO ONE IS GOING TO TAKE ME ALIVE!!
Muse... What more needs saying?
Okay. A lot.
However,I am under the gun here.
I have to maintain a state of low key, non threatening, invis-ABLE-ity...
Patience, Groove Heads...
In the meantime... in between time... Rock on Muse. Rock on Porcupine Tree.
La Vie Boheme
Monday, December 17, 2007
Pre-Marshal Law Chem Strategem
(At least it isn't just me tired of being abused... )
I'll be back soon to explain my absence, and update ya'll on what's what...
La Vie Boheme
Viva La Revolution
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Song: Stand Or Fall
Crying parents tell their children
If you survive don't do as we did
A son exclaims there'll be nothing to do to
Her daughter says she'll be dead with you
While foreign affairs are screwing us rotten
Line morale has hit rock bottom
Dying embers stand forgotten
Talks of peace were being trodden
Stand or fall state your peace tonight
Stand or fall state your peace tonight
Is this the value of our existence
Should we proclaim with such persistence
Our destiny relies on conscience
Red or blue what's the difference
Stand or fall state your peace tonight
Stand or fall state your peace tonight
An empty face reflects extinction
Ugly scars divide the nation
Desecrate the population
There will be no exaltation
Its the euro theatre
Its the euro theatre
Its the euro theatre
Stand or fall state your peace tonight
Stand or fall state your peace tonight
Its the euro theatre
Its the euro theatre
Its the euro theatre
Its the euro theatre
Friday, November 16, 2007
Tits Up For Knocked Up!!
Ok... I honestly thought I would hate this film... What an IDIOT I can be sometimes... I am not sure why i was so judgmental...
(I was this sure I would hate 40 Year Old Virgin, too... yet I ended up liking that movie greatly...)
Knocked Up, I Love... This movie had everything for me... Romance, great dialog, realism (including believable stoner banter, and not inane stereotyping )...
a family film for the modern family... I am not exaggerating when I say... This is currently my favorite movie!
Good Work Everybody.
Oh, and THANK YOU for making this film!
It Rocks!
La Vie Boheme
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Pakistan's courts in lockdown
- Story Highlights
- Pakistan police, lawyers clash in Islamabad on Tuesday
- An estimated one out of four attorneys are in nation's jails
- Police sources: Cash bonuses given for beating lawyers
- Cell phone service in Islamabad fails on Tuesday
LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- Baton-wielding police fought with lawyers outside courthouses in Islamabad and Lahore again Tuesday, arresting dozens more as they enforced Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's crackdown on judicial activism.
With one in four lawyers now jailed and many judges detained in their homes, surrounded by soldiers, Pakistan's judicial system is in lockdown three days after Musharraf suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto left Karachi for Islamabad Tuesday for meetings with other opposition leaders about how to respond to Musharraf's declaration.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry -- fired by Musharraf Saturday -- in a phone call to a gathering of lawyers urged them to go to "every corner of Pakistan and give the message that this is the time to sacrifice."
Musharraf's declaration noted a "visible ascendancy in the activities of extremists and incidents of terrorist attacks" and it blamed a judiciary that was "at cross purposes" with his government's efforts "to control this menace."
Opposition leaders, however, suggested the judicial activism Musharraf was really targeting was an expected Supreme Court ruling that would bar him from another term as Pakistan's president.
About 3,000 Pakistani lawyers, rounded up since Saturday, sit in jails across the country with no courts operating to which they can seek release. Pakistan has an estimated 12,000 lawyers. 
Police earned cash bonuses for beating and arresting hundreds of lawyers Monday who had gathered outside of Lahore's courthouse, police sources said.
Any lawyer who attempts to enter the Lahore or Islamabad courthouse Tuesday was immediately arrested, witnesses said. Some were grabbed by police as they walked toward the court, sources said.
Chief Justice Chaudhry, speaking by phone to lawyers gathered in Islamabad Tuesday, told them to carry the message of sacrifice.
"Don't be afraid of anything," Chaudhry said. "God will help us and the day will come when you'll see the constitution supreme and no dictatorship for a long time."
Chaudhry's remarks were interrupted when Islamabad's cell phone system suddenly died. There has been no way to confirm the disruption was planned by police.
Chaudhry has been unable to leave his home since it was surrounded by soldiers Saturday night. His house arrest prevents Chaudhry from participating in rallies with lawyers, something he did last March when he was previously sacked by Musharraf.
Chaudhry, who was reinstated to the court in July, has led key rulings that have weakened Musharraf's grip on power -- including lifting the exile imposed on opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a 1999 bloodless coup. When Sharif attempted to return to Pakistan last month he was immediately ordered back into exile.
Musharraf defends actions
Despite Tuesday's arrests, the day has so far been less eventful than Monday when Pakistani security forces used tear gas and batons on lawyers and journalists demonstrating against Musharraf's declaration.
Despite strong pressure from the United States, Britain and other countries to reverse his decision, Musharraf has been unresponsive and unapologetic, according to diplomatic officials who met Monday with the president to deliver their concerns, particularly about "heavy-handed" measures taken in Lahore.
According to a press release from Musharraf: "The president assured the diplomats that efforts were being made in a phased manner to move toward complete democracy."
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported that Musharraf told the diplomats that he took the action he did because certain decisions by the judiciary "created impediments in the fight against terrorism."
He also said the media "in some cases seemed to be helping the cause of extremists and terrorists by showing the gory scenes of suicide bombings that encouraged these elements to carry on with their heinous acts," according to the APP.
Government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, and opposition leaders say Musharraf took the action days before a Supreme Court ruling that would have nullified the October presidential results.
Musharraf garnered a vast majority of the votes in the election, which the opposition had boycotted. Opposition attorneys had asked the court to rule on their contention that the Pakistani constitution forbids a sitting military leader from running for president.
Musharraf, who is the Pakistani army's chief of staff as well as president, had promised to relinquish his ties to the military before taking the oath of office for a third time on November 15.
Washington and London are reviewing their aid packages to Pakistan in light of the state of emergency, which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called "highly regrettable."
But a senior U.S. administration official said that the issue of aid is "a card that has to be played fairly carefully" and that the White House wanted to see what transpires in Pakistan over the next few days before making any kind of decision.
"President Musharraf is the leader of his country -- but, in our judgment, he's made a mistake," the official said.
"The question is: What do you do when someone makes that mistake that is a close ally? You know, do you cut him off, hit him with sanctions, walk out the door? Or do you try and see if you can work them to get them back on track?"
"And the president's guidance to us is see if we can work with them to get back on track."
CNN's Mohsin Naqvi in Lahore contributed to this report.
---------
Keep our eyes open...
La Vie Boheme
Thursday, November 01, 2007
The Mantra
Om Mani Padme Hum
The Mani mantra is the most widely used of all Buddhist mantras, and open to anyone who feels inspired to practice it -- it does not require prior initiation by a lama (meditation master).
The six syllables of the mantra, as it is often pronounced by Tibetans -- Om Mani Padme Hum -- are here written in the Tibetan alphabet:
Reading from left to right the syllables are:
Om (ohm)
Ma (mah)
Ni (nee)
Pad (pahd)
Me (may)
Hum (hum)
The vowel in the syllable Hu (is pronounced as in the English word 'book'. The final consonant in that syllable is often pronounced 'ng' as in 'song' -- Om Mani Padme Hung.
There is one further complication: The syllable Pad is pronounced Pe (peh) by many Tibetans: Om Mani Peme Hung.
---
The mantra originated in India; as it moved from India into Tibet, the pronunciation changed because some of the sounds in the Indian Sanskrit language were hard for Tibetans to pronounce.
Sanskrit
form
Om Mani Padma Hum
(mantra of Avalokiteshvara)
Tibetan
form
Om Mani Peme Hung
(mantra of Chenrezig)
---
The True Sound of Truth
An old story speaks about a similar problem. A devoted meditator, after years concentrating on a particular mantra, had attained enough insight to begin teaching.
The student's humility was far from perfect, but the teachers at the monastery were not worried.
A few years of successful teaching left the meditator with no thoughts about learning from anyone; but upon hearing about a famous hermit living nearby, the opportunity was too exciting to be passed up.
The hermit lived alone on an island at the middle of a lake, so the meditator hired a man with a boat to row across to the island.
The meditator was very respectful of the old hermit.
As they shared some tea made with herbs the meditator asked him about his spiritual practice.
The old man said he had no spiritual practice, except for a mantra which he repeated all the time to himself.
The meditator was pleased; the hermit was using the same mantra he used himself -- however, when the hermit spoke the mantra aloud, the meditator was horrified!
"What's wrong?" asked the hermit.
"I don't know what to say. I'm afraid you've wasted your whole life! You are pronouncing the mantra incorrectly!"
"Oh, Dear! That is terrible. How should I say it?"
The meditator gave the correct pronunciation, and the old hermit was very grateful, asking to be left alone so he could get started right away.
On the way back across the lake the meditator, now confirmed as an accomplished teacher, was pondering the sad fate of the hermit.
"It's so fortunate that I came along. At least he will have a little time to practice correctly before he dies," thought the meditator.
Just then, the meditator noticed that the boatman was looking quite shocked, and turned to see the hermit standing respectfully, on the water, next to the boat.
"Excuse me, please. I hate to bother you, but I've forgotten the correct pronunciation again. Would you please repeat it for me?" Said the hermit.
"You obviously don't need it," stammered the meditator... but the old man persisted in his polite request until the meditator relented and told him again the way he thought the mantra should be pronounced.
The old hermit was saying the mantra very carefully, slowly, over and over, as he walked across the surface of the water back to the island.
From Dharma Haven
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La Vie Boheme
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Mother, Pray For Us...
(This had to bug "The Quiet One" a bit, I am sure...)
Since he is no longer in bodied to set it strait, I thought I'd do a little on-line research on Kali to see what I could find... this of course, led me to looking at other Goddesses, and I have compiled, from the best of what I have found, info on three Goddesses, we in americA know little about...
Please hit the links, and make sure dig as deep as you can... after all, the Truth is about be revealed (once and for ALL), and readers of Groove Damage, should be, at least somewhat, prepared for what has been written, hidden, and restored... (and, in Latter-days, hidden again, by the media savvy politico-power mongers, rubbing elbows with Evil's host).
The following has been edited by me, and emphasis is mine, (but all the links are there to check my work by).
So, i ask ye... Who is this 'Goddess'?
------------
"...She is the divine creatrix who has manifested these dancing forms of consciousness as an adoration for Her beloved, the eternal formless Supreme Being - God the Father.
In truth these two timeless lovers are not two. Rather, they are inseparably bound to play out their cosmic dance of love for all eternity..."
#1- Kali
"Kali comes from the Sanskrit root word Kal which means time.
There is nothing that escapes the all-consuming march of time.
In Tibetan Buddhism Her counterpart is male with the name Kala.
Mother Kali is the most misunderstood of the Hindu goddesses.
The Encyclopedia Britannica is grossly mistaken in the following quote: "Kali; Major Hindu goddess whose iconography, cult, and mythology commonly associate her with death, sexuality, violence, and, paradoxically in some of her later historical appearances, motherly love."
It is partly correct to say Kali is a goddess of death but She brings the death of the ego as the illusory self-centered view of reality.
Nowhere in the Hindu stories is She seen killing anything but demons,
nor is She associated specifically with the process of human dying like the Hindu god Yama (who really is the god of death).
It is true that both Kali and Shiva are said to inhabit cremation grounds and devotees often go to these places to meditate.
This is not to worship death but rather it is to overcome
the I-am-the-body idea, by reinforcing the awareness that, the body is a temporary condition.
Shiva and Kali are said to inhabit these places because it is our attachment to the body that gives rise to the ego.
Shiva and Kali grant liberation by removing the illusion of the ego.
Thus we are the eternal, I AM, and not the body.
This is underscored by the scene of the cremation grounds.
Of all the forms of Devi, She is the most compassionate because She provides moksha; or liberation to Her children.
She is the counterpart of Shiva the destroyer. They are the destroyers of unreality. The ego sees Mother Kali and trembles with fear because the ego sees in Her its own eventual demise.
A person who is attached to his or her ego will not be receptive to Mother Kali and she will appear in a fearsome form.
A mature soul who engages in spiritual practice to remove the illusion of the ego sees Mother Kali as very sweet, affectionate, and overflowing with incomprehensible love for Her children.
Ma Kali wears a garland of skulls and a skirt of dismembered arms because the ego arises out of identification with the body.
In truth we are beings of spirit and not flesh. So liberation can only proceed when our attachment to the body ends.
Thus, the garland and skirt are trophies worn by Her to symbolize having liberated Her children from attachment to the limited body.
She holds a sword and a freshly severed head dripping blood.
As the story goes, this represents a great battle in which she destroyed the demon Raktabija.
Her black skin represents the womb of the quantum un-manifest from which all of creation arises, and into which, all of creation will eventually dissolve.
She is depicted as standing on Shiva who lays beneath Her with white skin (in contrast to Her black or sometimes dark blue skin). He has a blissful detached look.
Shiva represents pure formless awareness sat-chit-ananda (being-consciousness-bliss), while She represents "form" eternally supported by the substratum of pure awareness.
By not understanding the story behind Mother Kali it is easy to misinterpret Her iconography.
In the same way, one could say that Christianity is a religion of death, destruction, and cannibalism... in which the practitioners drink the blood of Jesus and eat his flesh.
Of course, we know this is not the proper understanding of the communion ritual.
Attaching the idea of sexuality to Mother Kali has no basis in Her at all.
There is nothing that associates Her with sexuality in the Hindu stories. In fact it is just the opposite.
She is one of the few Goddesses who is celibate, practicing austerity and renunciation!
The notion that She is the goddess of death, sex and violence is simply utter nonsense. When we study the life of the great saint Ramakrishna or the great poet saint Ramprasad (both famous Kali worshippers), or listen to the traditional Hindu devotional songs to Kali, there is no hint of this death-sex-violence notion.
This can also be confirmed by going to any of the Hindu websites such as www.hindunet.com and reading about Mother Kali.
Also recommended is the book, Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar, by Elizabeth Harding.
Also there is a beautiful and genuine Kali temple in Laguna Beach, California and it may be visited on-line at www.kalimandir.org. Kali is the goddess of enlightenment or liberation."
The Picture of Kali[The following is Reprinted from the Kali Temple web site]
Name: Kali is so called because She devours Kala (time), and then resumes Her own dark formlessness.
She is the embodiment of three gunas (qualities of nature): She creates with Her sattva guna (quality of goodness and purity), preserves with rajas (passion and activity), and destroys with tamas (ignorance and inertia).
Complexion: Her complexion is deep blue, like the sky. As the sky is limitless, so is She. From a distance one sees the ocean water as blue, but it is colorless and transparent when examined closely.
Crescent above the forehead: She is the giver of liberation.
Earrings: Images of two little babies hang from Her ears; this means that She favors childlike devotees.
Smiling face: She is ever-blissful.
Tongue: Kali's white teeth symbolize, sattva or serenity; Her red tongue, rajas, symbolizes activity; and
Her drunkenness, tamas or inertia.
(The meaning:) tamas can be conquered by rajas, and rajas by sattva.
Full breast: She is the nourisher of all beings.
Terrible form: She is the mother of the universe as well as the destroyer. When a mother spanks her child, it does not mean that she is cruel; she disciplines her child for its own good.
Necklace: It consist of fifty skulls that represent the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, the origin of sound.
She is Shabda Brahman (Sound-Brahman), or Logos-the source of creation.
Two right arms: The upper right arm grants fearlessness, and the lower right arm offers boons. She protects Her children from danger, and She fulfills their desires.
Two left arms: She holds a sword with the upper left arm and a severed head with the lower. She can cut human bondage with the sword of knowledge, and She imparts wisdom to the head, the receptacle of supreme wisdom.
Naked form: She is called digambari, "clad in space." She is infinite, so no finite dress can cover Her.
Waist: Kali's waist is encircled with a girdle of severed human arms that represent action. All human actions, and their results, go to the Divine Mother. At the end of a cycle all souls merge with Kali; during creation they again evolve with their respective karmas.
Shiva is under Her feet: Shiva and Shakti are always together. He is the changeless aspect of the Supreme, and She the apparently changing aspect of the same. Shiva is pure cosmic consciousness, and Kali is cosmic energy.
No creation is possible without their union. Shiva cannot manifest without the power of Kali, and Kali cannot function without the consciousness of Shiva.
Dakshina Kali and Vama Kali: If Her right foot is forward, She is Dakshina Kali (benign form); and if Her left foot is forward, Vama Kali (terrible form).
--------------------
#2- Isis
"The Goddess Isis originated in Egypt.
Inscribed on Her temple is the phrase, "I, Isis, am all that has been, that is or shall be; no mortal man hath ever me unveiled."
By the period of the Roman Empire, she had become the most prominent deity of the Mediterranean basin.
She was a formidable contender with the newly founded Christian religion and Her worship continued well into the 6th century AD until persecution pushed Her into the shadows of religiosity.
In Egyptian She is named Aset, (or Eset), She is one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt.
Her name is the Greek form of an ancient Egyptian word that is perhaps associated with a word for "throne."
Little is known of Isis' early cult.
In the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350-c. 2100 BC), she is the mourner for her murdered husband, the god Osiris.In her role as the wife of Osiris, she discovered and reunited the pieces of her dead husband's body, was the chief mourner at his funeral, and through her magical power, brought him back to life.
Isis hid her son, Horus, from Seth, the murderer of Osiris, until Horus was fully grown and could avenge his father. She defended the child against many attacks from snakes and scorpions.
But because Isis was also Seth's sister, she wavered during the eventual battle between Horus and Seth, and in one episode, Isis pitied Seth and was beheaded by Horus during their struggle.Despite Her variable temperament, She and Horus were regarded by the Egyptians as the perfect mother and son.
The shelter She afforded her child gave Her the character of a goddess of protection.
However, Her chief aspect was that of a great magician, whose power transcended that of all other deities.
Several narratives tell of Her magical prowess, with which She could even outwit the creator god Atum.
She was invoked on behalf of the sick, and, with the goddesses Nephthys, Neith, and Selket, she protected the dead.
She became associated with various other goddesses who had similar functions, and thus Her nature became increasingly diverse.
In particular, the goddess Hathor and Isis became similar in many respects.
In the astral interpretation of the gods, Isis was equated with the dog star Sothis (Sirius).
Isis was represented as a woman with the hieroglyphic sign of the throne on her head, either sitting on a throne, alone or holding the child Horus, or kneeling before a coffin.
Occasionally She was shown with a cow's head.
As mourner, She was a principal deity in all rites connected with the dead; as magician, She cured the sick and brought the dead to life; and, as mother, She was herself a life-giver.
The cult of Isis spread throughout Egypt. In Akhmim she received special attention as the "mother" of the fertility god, Min.
She had important temples throughout Egypt and Nubia.
By Greco-Roman times She was dominant among Egyptian goddesses, and she received acclaim from Egyptians and Greeks for Her many names and aspects.
Several temples were dedicated to Her in Alexandria, where She became the "patroness of seafarers."
From Alexandria Her cult was brought to all the shores of the Mediterranean, including Greece and Rome.
In Hellenistic times the mysteries of Isis and Osiris developed; these were comparable to other Greek mystery cults."
---
(Check out a list of Symbology for Isis from Goddess Gift)
-----------------------------------
#3- Minerva
"In Roman religion, Minerva is the goddess of handicrafts, the professions, the arts,and, later, war;
She was commonly identified with the Greek Athena.
Some scholars believe that Her cult was that of Athena introduced at Rome from Etruria. This is reinforced by the fact that Minerva was one of the Capitoline triad, in association with Jupiter and Juno.
Her shrine on the Aventine in Rome was a meeting place for guilds of craftsmen,
including at one time dramatic poets and actors.
Her worship as a goddess of war encroached upon that of Mars.
The erection of a temple to Minerva, by Pompey, out of the spoils of his Eastern conquests, shows that by then She had been identified with the Greek Athena Nike, bestower of victory.
Under the emperor Domitian, who, claimed her special protection, the worship of Minerva attained its greatest vogue in Rome."
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So there you have it Beloved... very interesting, yet, leaving ME wanting to know more, more, more, on these and the other Goddesses throughout antiquity...
Study!
La Vie Boheme!!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Psalm 91 (The Message)
1-13You who sit down in the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow,
Say this: "God, you're my refuge.
I trust in you and I'm safe!"
That's right—he rescues you from hidden traps,
shields you from deadly hazards.
His huge outstretched arms protect you—
under them you're perfectly safe;
his arms fend off all harm.
Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,
not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around,
drop like flies right and left,
no harm will even graze you.
You'll stand untouched, watch it all from a distance,
watch the wicked turn into corpses.
Yes, because God's your refuge,
the High God your very own home,
Evil can't get close to you,
harm can't get through the door.
He ordered his angels
to guard you wherever you go.
If you stumble, they'll catch you;
their job is to keep you from falling.
You'll walk unharmed among lions and snakes,
and kick young lions and serpents from the path.
14-16 "If you'll hold on to me for dear life," says God,
"I'll get you out of any trouble.
I'll give you the best of care
if you'll only get to know and trust me.
Call me and I'll answer, be at your side in bad times;
I'll rescue you, then throw you a party.
I'll give you a long life,
give you a long drink of salvation!"
--vivalarevoluuuujia--La Vie Boheme
2 part culture study
‘Dixie Chicking’: Post-9/11 Blacklisting in the Entertainment Industry
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YahooPosted on Oct 25, 2007
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| AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh |
Still singing: Dixie Chicks (from left) Emily Robison, Natalie Maines and Martie Maguire perform on “Good Morning America” on May 26, 2006. |
Ed Rampell
The HUAC/McCarthy era and Hollywood blacklist may be over, but the not-so-grand inquisitors are still among us. On March 31, 2007, activist/actor Mike Farrell, who co-starred in TV’s “M*A*S*H” and co-founded Artists United to Win Without War, told Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting’s “CounterSpin” radio program, “There’s a price to be paid for speaking out, and some have paid a fairly serious price.” Around that same time, at a March 24, 2007 anti-war Oakland town meeting called by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, actor Sean Penn stated, “we are encouraged to self-censor any words that might be perceived as inflammatory—if our belief is that this war should stop today. We cower as you point fingers telling us to ‘support our troops.’”
There are other examples of creative people suffering the consequences of their outspokenness since 9/11, but none are as compelling as the saga of the Dixie Chicks, the top-selling “girl group” of all time. Indeed, the red, white and bluegrass band’s name became a verb meaning censoring and punishing dissenters: “Dixie Chicking.” The Chicks’ story was turned into a documentary by two-time Academy Award-winner Barbara Kopple (1976’s “Harlan County USA” and 1990’s “American Dream") and Cecilia Peck. Cecilia’s father, Gregory Peck, won the Oscar for portraying the screen’s archetypal fighting liberal, Atticus Finch, in 1962’s anti-racist “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and produced the 1972 anti-Vietnam-War film “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine,” about the Berrigan brothers’ anti-draft activities. (In August 2007, Tim Robbins’ L.A.-based Actors Gang troupe presented a reading of the “Catonsville Nine” drama as a fundraiser.)
“Shut Up & Sing” was presented on March 23, 2007 at L.A.’s Pacific Design Center as part of the West Hollywood Women’s Leadership Conference, along with a post-screening panel discussion moderated by radio host Stephanie Miller that included Cecilia Peck and Natalie Maines. During the Dixie Chicks’ 2003 “Top of the World” tour, it was Maines who set-off the firestorm on the eve of “shock and awe” when she told British concert-goers: “Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”
As “Shut Up and Sing” demonstrated, all hell broke loose after Maines’ on-stage comment made the media rounds. The Chicks lost most of their airtime on right-leaning country western radio; CD and concert ticket sales plummeted. Egged on by reactionary FreeRepublic.com bloggers and DJs, ex-fans destroyed Chicks CDs en masse during the ensuing “Dixie Chicks Destruction” campaign. Concerts were picketed by red-baiters who called the Chicks “traitors” and “communists,” although the group’s fans were divided, and some remained loyal. Worst of all, bomb-sniffing dogs and metal detectors were deployed at Dixie Chicks concerts. Under heavy security, the Texas trio confronted a 2003 death threat at a Dallas performance, after a letter threatened to shoot Maines in the same city where JFK had been gunned down 40 years earlier. For his part, President Bush appeared to egg on the Chicks’ persecutors, saying: “They shouldn’t have their feelings hurt just because some people don’t want to buy their records.”
Sixty years after the beginning of the Hollywood blacklist, “Shut Up & Sing” raises the issue of modern-day censorhip. Onscreen, Maines reacts to the group’s loss of airtime, angrily demanding to know, “How is [this] not a boycott? They haven’t been playing our music for a few weeks.” Paul Beane, general manager of the Lubbock, Texas radio station KRBL, declared, “We’re not going to play them any more. It’d simply be financial suicide.” At a 2004 Senate hearing, in one of his finer moments, Senator John McCain mocked Clear Channel’s denial that the media conglomerate is ordering its radio stations to ban the Chicks from its corporate airwaves.
(In 2004, CNN quoted Howard Stern as saying that the San Antonio, Texas-based Clear Channel is “very tied to the Bush administration.” In the CNN report, Stern says,” Clear Channel for years has been defending me ... I criticize Bush and then I’m fired ... They acted out of politics.")
During the panel following the March 2007 “Shut Up and Sing” screening, Stephanie Miller, host of the nationally-syndicated “Stephanie Miller Show,” noted that, ironically, Clear Channel was a co-sponsor of the screening. Despite Clear Channel’s apparent support of that event, Miller said, “There’s a concerted effort to shut down progressive talk. [Conservative] Christians are buying radio stations.” Miller, whose father was Barry Goldwater’s Republican running mate in 1964, claimed that progressive stations were even being taken off the air in markets where they were number one in the ratings. Ed Schultz, whose nationally syndicated program is also heard on Air America, similarly complained of blacklisting in Ohio markets.
“Freedom of Speech is Not Free”
Onscreen, and in the “Shut Up and SIng” panel discussion, Natalie Maines displayed her defiant spirit, which was also evident on December 15, 2003. At the height of the backlash against progressive artists, the Dixie Chicks attended the annual Bill of Rights Dinner presented by the American Civil Liberties Union’s Southern California chapter in Beverly Hills. The function celebrated the 212th birthday of the 10 Amendments and honored Chicks manager Simon Renshaw (and that other “Dixie Chick,” fellow Texan Molly Ivins).
Asked which of the 10 Amendments was their favorite, Maines, Emily Robison, and manager Simon Renshaw all proclaimed the First. Renshaw added: “You know! The big one! The whole, like, speech thing one! ... The right to bare big mouths.” If they must choose between 10 platinum albums or the First Amendment, Robison preferred: “Freedom of speech. That’s ... really easy to answer. It was hard for us to be made an example of this year—but sometimes you’ve got to be the one ... We still want to stand up for what we believe is right.”
How is it that Americans pride themselves on living in a free country where people can speak their minds, but if they express dissent they’re often punished? “That’s the new system here,” Renshaw responded. “Certain people in the country have figured out that the best way of actually curtailing freedom of speech is to make sure people understand freedom of speech is no longer free, and there’s consequences to exercising free speech. What we saw in 2003, when people spoke out, there was a very well organized, vociferous group that immediately went after them and attempted to harm their well-being. Certainly, the Dixie Chicks saw death threats as a result of what they said,” Renshaw said.
Maines added: “After Sept. 11th, we felt lots of vulnerability, and wanted somebody to lead and save us. The country’s been in a strange state ... so try not to get too discouraged about everything that occurred. Things like that should always be a reminder, that we haven’t necessarily come as far as we think we have, and we have to constantly be checking ourselves. A mother of a military guy wrote us saying, ‘Freedom’s not something you can write on a wall. It’s something you live.’ So I feel proud that I use my freedoms, and don’t just claim on a daily basis to have freedom.”
Expressing admiration for the ACLU, Maines noted, “Standing up for the underdog sometimes is not politically correct.” When the tongue-in-cheeky Maines presented the award to Renshaw, she poked fun at those questioning her patriotism: “Lots of people will be surprised to hear I was here tonight, because they were waiting for me to get out of that hole with Saddam.”
Maines added, “Another power the federal government refuses to limit [is] the power of the corporate media. Not the media’s right to speak, but the media’s obligation to let other people speak. I don’t want to mention any names, but freedom of speech requires a clear channel to communications ... We have to all get active and challenge our government, or ... the Bill of Rights will just be something from history we learn about in school.”
During his acceptance speech, Renshaw mocked “George the Second,” contending: “Certainly, 2003 ... [was] the year America was deceived into a war, and part of that deception was putting on notice any dissenting voice to ensure they understood freedom of speech is not free. The concept of ‘shut up and sing’ was born ... It’s now possible to be ‘Dixie Chicked’ ... There are many well-organized groups of right thinking citizens who will work selflessly to make sure that those who dare to speak up and dissent are suitably ‘Dixie Chicked.’ They make their views known from the safety and anonymity of the Internet and radio talk shows ... They’re determined to ensure that we understand freedom of speech is not free.”
Renshaw continued: “Especially you—Hollywood. You music and movie celebrities… are all on notice: Shut up and sing—or act or whatever. But shut up! I also learned we can count on America’s liberal media—yeah, right! Instead of asking the questions and encouraging debate, our new media conglomerates issue corporate fatwas on those to be ‘Dixie Chicked.’ Music networks can ban your music, talk shows can vilify your personality, what remains of this country’s so-called news media trivializes it all into neat 30 second sound bytes ... You may have freedom of speech, but our media now seems to be designed we’ll never be heard… A well-known German TV personality… told us: ‘In my country, our media would never allow this to happen again.’”
Finally, Renshaw concluded: “I’d like to thank the Dixie Chicks [for] the way they handled themselves through a lousy time ... and for having the strength to say ‘no,’ and for their insistence on always doing the right thing ... Freedom of speech is only important if it’s exercised. Celebrities should not shut up and sing: They should stand up and shout, and we must support them.”
“Stand Up and Shout”
In a similar spirit, during his March 24, 2007 speech, Sean Penn declared: “Well, you and the smarmy pundits in your pocket, those who bathe in the moisture of your soiled and bloodstained underwear, can take that noise and shove it. We will be snowed no more. Let’s make this crystal clear. We do support our troops in our stand, while you exploit them and their families. The verdict is in. You lied, connived, and exploited your own countrymen and most of all, our troops ... you Misters Bush and Cheney; you Ms. Rice, are villainously and criminally obscene people. ...”
Their courage and creativity sustained dissident artists, as the tide of public opinion eventually began to turn. In 2004, Penn and co-star Tim Robbins won Oscars for “Mystic River,” a film about child-killing and abuse, directed by Clint Eastwood, who went on to helm the anti-war-themed 2007 Best Picture nominee “Letters From Iwo Jima.” And the Dixie Chicks swept 2007’s Grammys, as their single “Not Ready To Make Nice” expressed the band’s fighting spirit. These awards are affirmations for contrarian performers in industries subject to popular and commercial whims.
Likewise, in the decades following their censure, some blacklist-era artists also made comebacks. Dalton Trumbo wrote numerous movies, including “Spartacus,” directing and writing the 1971 pacifist picture “Johnny Got His Gun,” which won the Jury Grand Prize at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. Ring Lardner won a screenwriting Oscar for 1970’s antiwar comedy “M*A*S*H,” as did Waldo Salt for 1969’s “Midnight Cowboy,” which also won the Best Director and Best Picture Academy Awards. Salt was also co-nominated for 1974’s “Serpico” and co-won another Oscar for 1978’s anti-Vietnam War drama. “Coming Home,” starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. Abraham Polonsky’s “Tell Them Willie Boy is Here” (1969) was a gritty look at indigenous Americans’ plight.
The Committee for the First Amendment ‘47/’07 was formed this year, not just to commemorate the Hollywood Ten and the blacklist or to seek redress for past grievances. Rather, the main reason for its creation was to remind people about a previous era of repression in order to shine a light on contemporary censorship against dissenting artists so that another blacklist—and a new brand of McCarthyism—never comes to pass. The following is a list of several artists and media figures who have paid the price for dissenting since September 11th, 2001.
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| AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh |
Still singing: Dixie Chicks (from left) Emily Robison, Natalie Maines and Martie Maguire perform on “Good Morning America” on May 26, 2006. |
Ed Rampell
(Page 2)
“Watch What You Say”: The Post-9/11 Dixie Chicked:
* Like truth, comedian Bill Maher was an early casualty of war. Discussing 9/11’s skyjackers on the September 17, 2001 episode of “Politically Incorrect,” Maher stated, “We have been the cowards lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly. Stupid maybe, but not cowardly.” Maher’s remarks prompted Bush’s then-spokesman Ari Fleischer to warn: “Watch what you say.” The Disney-owned ABC network cancelled Maher’s show in June 2002.
* Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Phillip Noyce’s adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel “The Quiet American,” starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser, was reportedly shelved because it critiqued U.S. foreign policy in 1950s Vietnam. According to the Toronto Sun, Miramax (then part of Disney) “abandoned it because ... Harvey Weinstein did not like the politics.” Caine, a two-time Oscar winner knighted by Queen Elizabeth, was forced to plead for the release of the film, which finally opened in November 2002.
* In February 2003, Sean Penn sued producer Steve Bing for $10 million for allegedly firing the actor from a film because of Penn’s 2002 Washington Post anti-war ad and trip to Baghdad. Bing counter-sued.
* After the Dixie Chicks’ frontwoman Natalie Maines said at a March 2003 concert in London, “[W]e’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas,” the Chicks, who were once the top-selling all-girl group ever, went on to lose airtime on country western radio stations owned by Clear Channel and other corporations, and CD and concert ticket sales plummeted. Egged on by reactionary bloggers and DJs, anti-"DXC" listeners destroyed Dixie Chicks’ CDs during “Dixie Chicks Destruction” events.
* In 2003, Actor David Clennon was targeted by a right-wing Internet campaign to fire him from CBS’ CIA series “The Agency” for comparing Bush’s America to Nazi Germany.
* Conservatives attempted to impeach “acting president” Martin Sheen from NBC’s “The West Wing” and his Visa and American Express endorsements.
* Also in 2003, Right-wingers lobbied MCI to drop activist actor Danny Glover as its spokesman.
* As the Iraq war loomed, the peace sign Amanda Bynes flashed was removed from ads for 2003’s “What a Girl Wants.”
* After Michael Moore said, “Shame on you, Mr. Bush,” at the March 23, 2003 Academy Awards ceremony, a right-wing, “pro-family” group published the address of Moore’s house in rural Michigan, according to Moore, who said, “They published a photo of it. My home was vandalized. There have been attempts to do various things. Harvey and Bob [Weinstein] have to pay for 24/7 security for me. It’s a rotten way to live.”
* Madonna reportedly self-censored her April 2003 “American Life” music video.
* On April 6, 2003, CBS fired Ed Gernon after the producer of the 2003 miniseries “Hitler: The Rise of Evil” told TV Guide that the series’ story “basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunge the whole world into war. I can’t think of a better time to examine this history than now.” The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, denounced “Hitler: The Rise of Evil” as “a sign of Hollywood’s anti-Americanism.” Fox News commentator and “Bush Country” author John Podhoretz called the docudrama “an act of slander against the president” in his NY Post column.
* In 2003, the Cooperstown, N.Y., Baseball Hall of Fame cancelled a 15th anniversary “Bull Durham” commemoration because of the anti-war politics of its stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. On April 15, 2003, Robbins told Washington’s National Press Club, “A history teacher tells [my] 11-year-old ... nephew [that] Sarandon is endangering the troops by her opposition to the war. Another teacher ... asks our niece if we are coming to the school play. ‘They’re not welcome here,’ said the molder of young minds ... A friend listen[s] to the radio down South as the talk radio host calls for the murder of a prominent antiwar activist. Death threats have appeared on other prominent antiwar activists’ doorsteps ... Relatives of ours have received threatening e-mails and phone calls. And my 13-year-old boy ... has recently been embarrassed and humiliated by a sadistic creep who writes—or, rather, scratches his column with his fingernails in dirt. Susan and I have been listed as traitors, as supporters of Saddam ... by the Aussie gossip rags masquerading as newspapers, and by their ‘fair and balanced’ electronic media cousins, 19th Century Fox.”
* At a September 2003 fundraiser for presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, actor Ed Begley Jr. said, “There’s a boycott list on the Internet for all the people who spoke out against the war, to write letters to studios telling them you don’t want to see shows featuring Jamie Cromwell, [myself], Ed Asner, Tim Robbins ... Janeane Garofalo [took] a big hit. They’ve suffered financially, can’t get work now. They’ve been blackballed. People don’t want to hire them ... Janeane gets so much hate mail ... I didn’t work from when that boycott list happened until just a few weeks ago ... I’ve never only worked three days in nine months since ... 1967.” Reactionary websites, including celiberal.com and boycott-hollywood.net, urged boycotts of activist actors.
* Conservatives reportedly pressured CBS to edit and reschedule the less-than-laudatory miniseries “The Reagans” from its original November 2003 CBS broadcast date to 2004 on the cable TV channel Showtime, which—like CBS—is owned by Viacom but has fewer viewers.
* The FCC proposed a $495,000 fine against six Clear Channel stations airing Howard Stern’s radio show on April 8, 2004. The shock jock responded, “This is a follow-up to the McCarthy-type ‘witch-hunt’ of the administration and the activities of this group of presidential appointees in the FCC, led by ‘Colin Powell Jr.’ [FCC Chairman Michael Powell] ... They… are… imposing their opinions and rights to tell us all who and what we may listen to and watch and how we should think ... It is pretty shocking that governmental interference into our rights and free speech takes place in the U.S. It’s hard to reconcile this with the ‘land of the free’ and the ‘home of the brave.’ I’m sure what’s next is the removal of ‘dirty pictures’ like the 20th century German exhibit in a New York City Museum and the erotic literature in our libraries; they too will fall into their category of ‘evil’ as well.”
* In May 2004, Disney reneged on its distribution deal for Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11”, momentarily leaving the Cannes Palme d’Or winner in limbo until Lionsgate released it.
* After Linda Ronstadt praised “Fahrenheit 9/11” during her July 17, 2004 concert at Las Vegas’ Aladdin resort, fans grew irate; she was escorted by security guards off the property and banned from performing there again.
* CBS News producer Mary Mapes was fired, and Dan Rather eventually forced out, after their September 8, 2004 “60 Minutes II” election-year report challenged George W. Bush’s Vietnam War service record. The expose presented compelling evidence that strings had been pulled to get Bush out of going to ‘Nam, and into the Texas Air National Guard’s “Champagne Unit” instead.
* On Sept. 21, 2004, a Washington-bound passenger jet bearing British musician Cat Stevens—who had long before converted to Islam and had re-recorded his 1970’s “Peace Train” hit to protest the Iraq war—was diverted to Maine after U.S. authorities matched his name with a no-fly list. Homeland Security denied Stevens admission to the U.S.
* Following a successful 2005 run on the London stage, on March 22, 2006 the premiere of the pro-Palestinian rights play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop was postponed. The drama was based on the titular 23-year-old American peace activist, who was crushed and killed on March 16, 2003 by an Israeli military bulldozer as she attempted to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian pharmacist’s home in Gaza. The play finally debuted at Greenwich Village’s Minetta Lane Theatre in October 2006.
* On September 15, 2006, Bill Maher claimed that CBS News withdrew its offer for the comic to appear in the short-lived “Free Speech” segment on Katie Couric’s “CBS Evening News” program after Maher—an atheist—chose religion as his proposed topic.
* In October 2006, right-winger Florian Sokolowski sent left-leaning talk show host Stephanie Miller a letter declaring: “As with Cindy Sheehan, the best thing that could happen to you would be seeing some wonderful activist sticking an AK-47 up your glory holes and sending you into eternity.”
* By early 2007, the Clear Channel-owned radio station WTPG-AM changed its liberal talk show format, dropping programs including the nationally-syndicated Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz shows, although the Columbus, Ohio station had reportedly tripled its ratings. Miller, Schultz and Air America programs were replaced by right-wing shows hosted by Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham. Miller alleges, “There’s a concerted effort to shut down progressive talk. [Conservative] Christians are buying radio stations.” In the April 6, 2007 edition of the Los Angeles Times, Schultz claimed his program’s move to the evening on Clear Channel-owned KTLK-AM in Los Angeles “has nothing to do with ratings or sales.” “Big Eddie”—whom Talkers Magazine called America’s leading “progressive talk” host—alleged that Air America “wrote [KTLK] a check” to put a host with lower Arbitron ratings in Schultz’s afternoon time slot.
* Folk singer Joan Baez, who had performed at numerous anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, was forbidden from participating in John Cougar Mellencamp’s April 27, 2007 Walter Reed Hospital concert for wounded troops.
* On the fourth anniversary of the start of the U.S. military’s “shock and awe” campaign in Iraq, CNN’s White House correspondent Ed Henry sparred with Bush’s press secretary over what the “recipe for success” in Iraq is. During the March 19, 2007 briefing, Tony Snow told Henry to “zip it.”
* On May 2, 2007 the U.S. Treasury Department notified Michael Moore that he was being investigated for violating the U.S. trade embargo’s travel restrictions to Cuba by taking ailing 9/11 rescue workers for treatment there as part of “SiCKO.” In case U.S. authorities tried to seize it, Moore hid a copy of his health care documentary in an overseas safe house. After “SiCKO” opened on June 29, Moore was grilled by many mainstream media outlets with the kind of zeal the corporate press had failed to exhibit during the lead up to the Iraq war.
* On May 9, 2007, retired Major General John Baptiste, former commander of the First Infantry in Iraq, appeared in an anti-war TV ad—and was quickly fired as a CBS news consultant.
* Following a May 23, 2007 on-the-air confrontation with her conservative co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Rosie O’Donnell quit ABC’s “The View” before her contract expired. The outspoken O’Donnell called Hasselbeck “cowardly” for not defending her when “Republican pundits” accused Rosie of equating American troops with “terrorists.”
* On June 25, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against former Alaska high school student Joseph Frederick, who had unfurled a “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” banner seen on national TV during the Olympic relay. Frederick contended that subsequent reprisals by school administrators violated his First Amendment rights. This was the high court’s first ruling on student free speech rights in 20 years.
* The Interior Department and Republican Senators James Inhofe and Mitch McConnell reportedly blocked the U.S. portion of the anti-global-warming Live Earth telecast from taking place at Washington’s National Mall. The July 7, 2007 global concert and environmental fundraiser was co-presented by Al Gore, whose documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” won an Oscar.
* In a front page story, the August 21, 2007 L.A. Times reported that the Israeli Defense Force is blacklisting celebrities and performers who have evaded the draft or not completed their service, barring them from entertaining at military functions and venues and on its media outlets.
* When Sally Field attempted to make an anti-war statement during her acceptance speech on the September 16, 2007 Emmy awards ceremony televised live on FOX TV, network censors cut the audio and video. What the censored actress said was,"Let’s face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamned wars in the first place.”
* Former CBS news anchor Dan Rather filed a $70 million wrongful termination lawsuit against CBS on September 19, 2007, alleging that, in the aftermath of the “60 Minutes II” report charging that Bush had ducked military service, CBS had made Rather a “scapegoat” in order to “pacify” the White House. Rather told the L.A. Times that “any money he collects will go to nonprofit groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists.”
* The U.S. Senate passed a resolution condemning a MoveOn.org ad by a 72-25 vote on September 20, 2007. MoveOn’s full-page ad in The New York Times was headlined and sub-headed: “General Petraeus or General Betray Us? Cooking the books for the White House.” Apparently the 22 Democratic senators who voted with the majority agreed with Bush, who attacked MoveOn’s ad as “disgusting.”
On October 26, the precise 60th anniversary of the Committee for the First Amendment’s first “Hollywood Fights Back!” broadcast, contemporary talents, along with blacklist survivors and their relatives, will reenact the original 1947 radio program. Performers scheduled to participate include: former SAG President Ed Asner, Norma Barzman, Larry Gelbart, Isabelle Gunning (ACLU/SC President), Marsha Hunt, Camryn Manheim, Ramona Ripston, Christopher Trumbo, James Whitmore, and Becca Wilson. The event, presented by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, will take place at L.A.’s Skirball Center. For more information call: (213)977-9500, Ext. 227.Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
How green is my plasma?
Photostat
Asher Moses
October 24, 2007 - 12:48PM
Page 1 of 2
* Your new TV may soon be a consumer relic
Advertisement
Consumers, instead of waiting for government action, will force television makers to develop more energy efficient flat screens by voting with their wallets, says the chief executive of a green comparison shopping site.
Comparison.com.au, which helps shoppers compare TVs based on their price and technical specifications, this week added a new feature allowing users to sort TV models by their energy efficiency rating and the amount they cost to run per annum.
The annual power cost savings earned by upgrading to a greener TV are rarely more than a few hundred dollars, according to the site's measurements, but CEO Robin Jowett said protecting the environment alone was enough of an incentive.
"People are becoming much more conscious of the environment and of the impact of these complex electrical items they're putting in their homes," he said.
"What we're trying to do here is help the consumer vote with their wallet and guide the manufacturers about how they can improve their products and the impact they have on the environment."
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FastForward Blog: Are TV green credentials important?
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The Federal Government is considering imposing tough mandatory energy requirements on TV manufacturers following the release of a number of government-commissioned reports, which found TV power consumption was increasing at an alarming rate as consumers upgraded from low-power cathode-ray TVs to energy-guzzling plasma and LCD behemoths.
They found TVs would soon rival fridges, heaters and air-conditioners as a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from households.
The latest report, prepared for the Australian Greenhouse Office by consulting firm Digital CEnergy, recommended the implementation of a star-based energy rating scheme similar to that mandated for most consumer whitegoods from 1992.
The report stated that star rating stickers on TVs would encourage consumers to think about energy consumption before buying. Manufacturers would then be under pressure to develop more energy efficient TVs, it found.
A spokeswoman for Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: "The Government is currently negotiating with industry on a voluntary labelling scheme for all TVs to provide consumers with information on the relative energy efficiency of different TV products."
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