33 Dead at Virginia Tech

The recent attack at Virginia Tech has struck me in my core. As someone who works at a University, I have always felt that it would be exceptionally easy to terrorize our nation by targeting a college or university campus. In academia we have open campuses. It's easy for anyone to walk onto most campuses and to do pretty much anything. It's part of our pedagogical culture. We hold this idea that the halls of learning should be available and welcoming. So this recent attack at Virginia Tech was particularly horrifying for me. As a college professor, I am frequently frustrated and annoyed with my students, but they are still my students. I am in a role that forces me to fell protective of them and I cannot help but experience great sorrow at the deaths of the 33 young adults at Virginia Tech. Perhaps this will also signify a loss of innocence in the ivory tower, as we are forced realized that we are not set apart as we once were, that we are not an inviolate and protected castle on a hill. Maybe we will bunker down and move away from our earlier conception of our mission, and begin keep people off our campuses. Or perhaps we will shake our heads and say the right things and move on to business as usual.

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"Kurt is up in Heaven now."

Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday at 84. It's one of those things that happens when an author dies. Having read so much of his work, a girl feels that she knows an author a little bit when she doesn't know him at all. One respects a talent like his and a point of view like his and anyone with pretensions of authorship like mine wonders if she could have a little of what he had. I have always like books that made a person think and written in a style that was clear concise and yet lyrical. A pessimist, a humanist, a realist-- a voice that we have needed In These Times:

From a Rolling Stone Interview: "I've given up on it ... It won't happen. ... The Army kept me on because I could type, so I was typing other people's discharges and stuff. And my feeling was, 'Please, I've done everything I was supposed to do. Can I go home now?' That's what I feel right now. I've written books. Lots of them. Please, I've done everything I'm supposed to do. Can I go home now?"

And from that recent tempest in a tea cup in the Australian: "They [suicide bombers] are dying for their own self-respect. It's a terrible thing to deprive someone of their self-respect. It's [like] your culture is nothing, your race is nothing, you're nothing ... It is sweet and noble - sweet and honourable I guess it is - to die for what you believe in."

Kurt Vonegut, (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007)

The Simulation has Ended

Jean Baudrillard has died. This author of Simulacra and Simulation has long been one of my favorite postmodernists. But, since I have long found it difficult to remember which of the French postmodernists were alive and which were dead, I may have already included him within the ranks of the dead French guys in my conversations with students. It seems, however, that now with Baudrillard passing and joining the ranks of Bordieu, Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard all the big names are dead, perhaps this will cause relief in the hearts of literature graduate students everywhere. Perhaps not, since their syllabi will still include these names and they will still have ot read all the texts of the dead French guys.

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Is She or Isn't She?

Is it to early to write an obit for the most disfunctional Battlestar Galactica character, Starbuck? With the gender reassignment and the failed romance with her fellow pilot Apollo, Starbuck of the new series has become quite a crack up, and not in a funny way. It seems that Starbuck launched her ship into a planet and shuffled off her mortal coil, and according to the wired blog,

it was possibly the stupidest and most pointless death imaginable for a
kickass pilot and awesome pivotal character. Delving into Starbuck's
childhood abuse and turning it into a flimsy excuse for a sudden mental
breakdown made no sense whatsoever. And what about the whole Leoben
paint-sex scene, coupled with his puppy-eyed sympathy as she remembers
her dead mom? As they say in Australia: yucko.

All true,but I for one am not terribly sorry to see her go. One would like to believe that her absence will bring some dynamic revelation (like she's one of those mysterious other cylons) to the show or some mojo, but it is TV and the TV Gods do manage, to bring those dead characters back when one least expects it. One can only hope that in this case it will not be for a while.

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Anna Nicole Smith (1967-2007)

I had been rooting for Anna Nicole for some time. She seemed to be a woman who realized what her true gifts were and used them to great success. We all should be so wise. I had followed her case as it marched its way into the Supreme Court and was genuinely pleased to see the Court rule in her favor. I was saddened by the sudden death of her son and had truly wished her well. When I first heard of her death yesterday, I experienced the same shock when I read of her son's death. Young, vibrant and seemingly healthy people should not just fall quietly into death.

Jack Williamson, 1908-2006

Jack Williamson, the last man standing of classic science fiction and science fiction grand master has died.

Betty Williamson said her uncle would often say "I have lived a wonderful life, and I will die with no regrets."

We should all be so lucky.

Ed Bradley, 1941-2006

A lot has been said about Ed Bradley in recent days, but I will add a few words. I always thought that Ed Bradley was cool. He had that handsome newscaster look, but he did not seem to slick or manufactured. And on those occasions when he gave a full toothed smile or big laugh, one could see the wide gap between his teeth.He was one of those presences on television that made me believe it when my grandfather told me I could be anything that I wanted.

Election 2006: See Ya, Santorum

Was he the creepiest senator in the senate? I am not sure, but my oh my is it good to see him go! Thanks to Dan Savage, atrios and all the folks in Pennsylvania for sending him back to the rock he climbed out from under.

Election 2006: So Long Jim Ryun

I respected Jim Ryun a lot as a runner,not so much as a congressman. So his defeat in Kansas was both sweet and unexpected. I hope that there are a lot of investigations on the hill this year.

From the Lawrence Journal World:

“A lot of churches in this area aren’t going to be very happy about this,” Weeks said. “Ryun resonated with people with strong church ties. To them, Boyda’s victory will be a slap in the face by the liberals and academics — a case of not sticking to the agenda we need to stick to.”

Death Be Not Proud

Lieutenant Emily J.T. Perez (1983-2006)

Mahmoudiya

I have been thinking about this story for a while. I have nothing new to say about it, but was particularly struck when I discovered that the young victim and I shared a birthday.

The Fish Story

I know that we are all thrilled that the president of the United States still finds time to relax and go fishing, but as reported on Tapped the DCCC puts it in persepctive:

HEH. I'm not much in the habit of regurgitating DCCC press releases, but this quote from Rahm Emanuel is too funny not to pass on:



Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Congressman Rahm Emanuel, today released the following statement on President Bush’s “best moment in office”:
“Five years after President Bush said he would find Osama bin Laden, we’re all glad to hear that all he’s caught is an apparently harmless fish,” said Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.



An apt point of comparison, considering that bin Laden is still at large.

May Day Virtual Sit In

Join May Day Virtual Sit-In! All Day Long.

Bodies On-line and Bodies in the Street Together.

NO ILLEGAL BORDERS! NO ILLEGAL LAWS!

CLICK HERE*CLIQUEN AQUI

The Electronic Disturbance Theater and the borderlands Hacklab call for a virtual strike in solidarity with the May 1st General Strike /Walkout / Boycott in the US and actions for Freedom of Movement taking place all over Europe on May 1st, 2006.

Information control is a critical part of the control of people's movement and the information dissemination engines such as CNN are used to propagate racist propaganda from the mouths of Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo and Sensenbrenner every day. Racists like the Minutemen, with known ties to neo-Nazi groups, have become an everyday fixture in the US media landscape. With this virtual strike, we will join the millions marching in the US, Mexico and Europe in slowing down the economy by slowing down the information systems.

On this day without an immigrant, we will also have a day without Lou Dobbs, Semsenbrenner and the Minutemen in cyberspace. Join us in making this a reality.

This virtual strike is also made in solidarity with La Otra Campana of the Zapatistas, who are marching to the US consulate in Mexico City as part of their campaign to overthrow the evil governments of the world by building community power from below and from the left.

May 1st has been celebrated for more than a century as International Workers Day, commemorating the struggle for the eight hour workday in the US and the state murder of anarchist labor organizers in Chicago in 1887. The militant labor movement in Chicago was largely due to the influence of radical immigrants. Today we reclaim May Day as a day for migrant people everywhere.

Against HR4437 and for amnesty for all! For a world free of deportations and detention centers! For Freedom of Movement and the Right to Stay! For a world free of borders! For a world free of racist immigration controls! For a world free of neo-liberalism and capitalism! For a world where many worlds fit!

Join the Virtual Sit-In, May 1st, 2006 and help make the massive mayday
strike/walkout/boycott be felt throughout cyberspace.

Not Going Away

I admit I have not been much of a fan of Stephen Colbert and the Colbert report, perhaps because his parody cuts too close to the real for me, but after watching the replay of his speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, I may have to take another look. He has provided one of the the most honest crticisms of the current sate of affairs that I have seen in a long time. With the objects of his ridicule as his audience, his jokes received few laughs and have gotten even less mention in the real media. I suppose that what happens now is that we all go back to business as usual, grimacing and trying to pretend that nothing is wrong-- don't worry about the elephant in the room, or the sinking shup that we seem to be on-- at least the fake news continues to stand for something.

Remembering the Nuclear Past

As the founder of Greenpeace argues for the increased use of nuclear energy and the description of plans for possible tactical nuclear strikes in Iran, seem to have fallen off the map, we might reflect on the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, 20 years ago.

Happy Flying

As if airline travel were not onerous enough as it is the airlines have more in store for all of us happy customers. I know that gas prices and operating costs are going up, but this is absurd.

One Day, That Economy Ticket May Buy You a Place to Stand

The airlines have come up with a new answer to an old question: How many passengers can be squeezed into economy class?

A lot more, it turns out, especially if an idea still in the early stage should catch on: standing-room-only "seats."

Airbus has been quietly pitching the standing-room-only option to Asian carriers, though none have agreed to it yet. Passengers in the standing section would be propped against a padded backboard, held in place with a harness, according to experts who have seen a proposal.

Worst President Ever

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history...

History may ultimately hold Bush in the greatest contempt for expanding the powers of the presidency beyond the limits laid down by the U.S. Constitution. There has always been a tension over the constitutional roles of the three branches of the federal government. The Framers intended as much, as part of the system of checks and balances they expected would minimize tyranny.

from Rolling Stone

The New World Order

Freedom of Information

After more than four years we learn the names of some of the individuals disappeared by the United States Government. A freedom of information request from AP convinces the Penagon to relase the first list of names of the Guantanamo detainees.

The Sport of the Future Has Arrived

I wake up to what seems like a normal day and then listening to morning edition I hear about "Chess Boxing." Somehow the combination of a sport that is about landing blows to the head and body of one's oponent and a game that is supposed to be sublimely tactical seems hard to beleive, but yet...