Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

Parts one, two and three.

The highlight of the session “Women Confront Globalization” was the screening of a rough cut of the film Poto Mitan - Haitian Women, Pillars of the World Economy, directed by Renee Bergan (she is also the founder of Renegade Pictures) and she co-presented it with anthropologist Mark Schuller of UC Santa Barbara, co-director of the film.

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Well, no one could say Mr. Nader is a shy, retiring type:

Nader was asked if Obama is any different than Democrats he has criticized in the past, considering Obama’s pledge to reject campaign contributions from registered lobbyists.  Read more 

Woohoo!! My DVD arrived today!

Persepolis is the animated film by Marjane Satrapi, relating her coming of age in Iran, starting before the fall of the Shah regime to today.

The film is divided into several segments:  Read more 

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

(Via Le Monde) Today, the Council of Europe launched a campaign against most forms of corporal punishment, including slapping, spanking, hitting, mistreating, humiliating and any other practice that damage the dignity of a child. The campaign will consist in TV ads , the publication of a manual for parents on violence-free parenting as well as materials for parliamentarians of the Council’s 47 member countries.  Read more 

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog

I watched The Devil’s Miner (website) last night for the first time (it was originally from 2005) and what a film this is. The central question of the film is

How do we live in dignity?

Especially when you are 14 years old, living in Potosi, Bolivia, and you work at a mine inCerro Rico, "the mountain that eats men"? The mines there have been exploited for 450 years and are responsible for 8 million dead. Initially, exploited by the Spaniards, the mines were taken over by the Indios (indigenous peoples) and run as cooperatives but it is still as dangerous and it is still drudgery.

The film’s central character is Basilio He is 14 and has been working in the mines since he was ten. He lost his father when he was two, so, now, he is the father in the family, so much so that his little sister, Vanessa, calls him "papa". He works with his little brother Bernardino, who is twelve (also in the mines). The boys go to school for half a day and spend the rest of the time working in the mines.  Read more 

because you did ask …

2007 commemoration of Bloody Sunday at Brown Chapel AME Church, in Selma, Alabama

update: i deleted the photo from this post

Since I have just received my DVD of this great film, I thought I’d re-post the review I wrote at The Global Sociology Blog.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a wonderful and harrowing adaptation of the book of the same name by Jean-Dominique Bauby (“Jean-Do”, as everyone calls him). Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor of the French fashion magazine Elle when, at 43, he had a major stroke that put him in a coma for three weeks. When he finally regained consciousness, he was suffering from a rare condition named “locked-in syndrome”: his mind was intact but he was completely paralyzed, from head to toe.  Read more 

So, I have to confess: I can’t find my Muse. Yes, I’m sick and tired over some RL crap that won’t go away, but it’s deeper than that. And I’m not sure exactly why. I keep driving back the little voice, that is so loud and obnoxious sometimes when I’m doing the standard political surfing. She says, “you know you just don’t care about this shit anymore.”

It may come from the horrible primary bullshit that won’t die. It may come from my inability to find affordable health care. It may come from the crushing burden of caring for those for whom no one else will care for, and which my moral values demand that I do. I guess I’m just not sure. Old Timers: is this normal? In the midst of a “hot” political season like we’re having now? All I seem to want to think about is sex with Jewish grrls and my flowers. I feel guilty, lazy, untalented, stoopid, etc.

I think most of you here grok it, even if you express it differently. HRC wasn’t my choice, but I can share with all of you my many fears about what a BHO admin will really mean, bring, create, destroy, etc. Just as I have disdain for his supporters who can’t call- no, I won’t go there. So where should the energy go, or rather, where is it to be found so I can get it back? I crapped out of supporting Harry and Nancy shortly after our Glorious Victory of 06, and I haven’t been sorry about that, those lying fuckwads. These days, my answer to ennui over national politics is “local, local, local.” It’s working, but at the same time, not as satisfying. Anyway, I’m rambling as I’m on the verge of a major migraine and about to go to sleep to fight it off. But I’m wondering, am I alone? So much of what I read on today’s intertubes seems so transient, so fake, so much not of the moment that matters to people who eat food and breathe air. Or, it could just be summer. What do you think?

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog.

Elizabeth Pisani’s The Wisdom of Whores - Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS is a great book (along with a great website). Elizabeth Pisani is an epidemiologist with years of experience working on HIV/AIDS (or sex and drugs, as she puts, which sounds a lot, well, sexier) at a variety of agencies, including UNAIDS. The book is the story of her frustrations at the way the international community, national governments, NGOS and AIDS activists have dealt with the epidemics, as well as her hopes in some of the progress made.

I got interested in the book when I read an interview Pisani gave to the Guardian. The interview kinda billed the book as a controversial work where Pisani would be the mean lady who said people got AIDS because of their stupid behavior and not enough was being done because of political correctness. So, I was ready to get really pissed off with the book. That has not been the case at all.  Read more 

It is clear that Senator Clinton did not imply an assassination attempt against Senator Obama. Listen to the clip.  Read more 

Massive post alert, Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog, because believe it or not, there is other stuff going on in the world besides tomorrow’s much anticipated coronation.

I read all these articles and reports so you don’t have to.

Weeks after the food riots spread around the world, a flurry of articles have been published all over the place, taking stock of what is happening, providing analysis and critique as well as prospects on global food production and policy. So let’s review.  Read more 

(Massachusetts Senator Ted)Kennedy’s Senate office released a written statement just after 2 p.m. today offering the first official confirmation, saying, “It appears that Senator Kennedy experienced a seizure this morning. He is undergoing a battery of tests at Massachusetts General Hospital to determine the cause of the seizure. Senator Kennedy is resting comfortably, and it is unlikely we will know anything more for the next 48 hours.”

This is actually good news as first reports indicated a stroke and a situation that might be life-threatening. If you are so inclined, send positive thoughts and/or prayers on behalf of this public servant and his family — he’s among the last of a generation whose work, despite the steady drumbeat of repeal from Nixon ’til now, helped lead the United States of America into the light of progress.

Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog  Read more 

(hat tip to Athenae at First Draft)

Please take a moment to remember Irene Sendler.
What she did the last time nations with the kind of economic and political power as ours chose to behave as filthily as ours saved the lives of countless children; she paid a terrible price for her kindness, as she was tortured upon capture by the German ’conquerors’ of Poland.

In this Feb. 21, 2008, file photo, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger, left, speaks with Holocaust hero Irena Sendler, right, during a meeting in Warsaw, Poland. The family of Polish social worker Sendler, credited with rescuing 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis during the Holocaust, says she has died. Sendler’s daughter, Janina Zgrzembska, says her 98-year-old mother died Monday, May 12, 2008, morning in a Warsaw hospital. Sendler organized the rescue of Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto during Nazi Germany’s brutal World War II occupation. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

May the world be kinder to today’s  Read more 

Good Morning! It’s a beautiful day here, sunny and bright, sunrise was wonderful to see this morning. I thought I’d make up for the prolonged lack of blogging with some photos. Warning: big pics, so this will likely load slowly for you dial up folks.

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Shit, they already wrecked her comments section once. Do they want to do it again? Here.  Read more 

Now, it’s only natural that Obama’s supporters would like to change the subject from All-Wright-All-The-Time, and talk about, you know, important stuff_{MR SUBLIMINAL Ponies for everybody!!!!!} (at least when they’re not imagining Hillary’s death as the solution to all their problems). Kevin Drum, quoting John Cole, is typical:

Maybe it is because I am totally and unrepentantly in the tank for Obama, but I just can’t get worked up over what his pastor said … Or maybe I just refuse to spend any more time and energy getting worked up over and denouncing, distancing, and rejecting the wrong people — people who really don’t matter in the big scheme of things.

What he said.

Nice try.

To begin with, it was Obama himself, all on his own, who decided to make his religious choices part of his political appeal. Here’s Obama in October 2007 on religion in politics:

Republicans no longer have a firm grip on religion in political discourse, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama told Sunday worshippers.

The senator from Illinois delivered his campaign message to a multiracial evangelical congregation in traditionally conservative Greenville, South Carolina. “I think it’s important, particularly for those of us in the Democratic Party, to not cede values and faith to any one party,” Obama told reporters outside the Redemption World Outreach Center where he attended services.

“I think that what you’re seeing is a breaking down of the sharp divisions that existed maybe during the ’90s,” said Obama. “At least in politics, the perception was that the Democrats were fearful of talking about faith, and on the other hand you had the Republicans who had a particular brand of faith that oftentimes seemed intolerant or pushed people away.”

He finished his brief remarks by saying, “We’re going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth.”

Obama’s South Carolina campaign is in the midst of promoting Obama’s values through a grass-roots effort called “40 Days of Faith and Family,” which is reaching out to primary voters through gospel concerts and a series of faith forums.

So, I think it’s entirely righteous that Obama’s choice to use religion as a political tool should have consequences, and I hope those consequences are very, very bad indeed for Obama, because I’m sick of politicians pimping out their Gods to the voters. It’s disgusting, and the public square needs a lot less of this behavior, and not more. (Matthew 6:2). It’s even more disgusting when Democrats do this, because when they do, they’re ripping out and re-using one of the uglier pages from Rove’s playbook.

Yes, Obama made his bed; now let him lie in it. If people look seriously at the religious commitments that Obama made and then ran on — and let’s remember that Obama gave Wright’s church $22,500 in just one year, so his commitment was very solid — and reject Obama on the basis of his choice, is there any reason that’s not an entirely legitimate decision? Apparently, not everyone thinks as highly of Wright as Obama does did. So what? Obama’s the one who put his own religious practice in play as a reason to vote for him, so turnabout is fair play: His religious practice can also be used as a reason to vote against him. Why not?

Finally, the relation between religion and politics is important. Arguably, the people Cole wants to talk about — the people who “matter” in the “big scheme of things” — got to where they mattered exactly because they exploited religion for political gain. Obama tried, and his effort blew up in his face. None of this “matters”?*

O felix culpa!  Read more 

Obama at a PA diner—the National Pool Report — “… He batted away a Hamas question from a reporter, saying, “Why can’t I just eat my waffle?” …”

How dare reporters actually ask questions at a photo-op? ; >

Because the narrative must never, never be that Hillary wins.

Where were all these guys when Hillary was getting slammed in biased debate formats? Where was the haka then?  Read more 

WaPo, today:

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This is just wrong.

We’ve all heard that Obama opened his mouth last week and inserted both feet. It was an unforced error and Hillary quite rightly called him on it, as did John McCain and the GOP media. The Blog Boiz have been having a hissy fit ever since.

But some people are using the right-wing tactic of blaming the messenger for the message. In this case the messenger was Mayhill Fowler, who attended the San Francisco fundraiser between Obama and some millionaire contributors.

In an article titled “Faux Obama Supporter Mayhill Fowler Smears Obama, Joseph Palermo at Arianna’s
Huff & Puff writes:  Read more 

Yes, another Latin blogger, two in a row even! Anyway, this is a subtle take on an issue that has always annoyed and plague me personally:

via sugar butch via creative xicana

Chivalry is deeply feminist to me. When in femmes, I expect femininity to be deliberate, done with the whole knowledge of the compulsory heteronormative restrictions which dictate that women must be and do certain things, particular that we must wear high heels, delicate cloth, restrictive clothing. Femininity is not made for comfort or movement, it is made to accentuate the sexualization of a woman’s body - and that’s why things like holding her doors open (so she doesn’t dirty her white gloves or expensive manicure), pulling her chair out (so she doesn’t have to awkwardly move a bulky piece of furniture, and risk getting it caught on her skirt or stockings and ripping something) or holding her coat (so she doesn’t have to reach around and risk ripping the tight seams in her shoulders or upper back) are necessary to me, as an acknowledgement of how restrictive femininity can be, and of how difficult it is to walk around the world in these clothes, as a celebration of the beauty of femininity on the body, and with deep respect for the courage to costume and perform femme to begin with.

I’m a total slob at home, I lounge around in utterly unsexy clothes unless I’m about to have that kind of sex and need the lingerie on first. At work I have a little bit of flare, but generally I’m pretty oblivious to fashion and trend. But when I step out in High Society, I turn it on. It’s just what you do. I’m totally cognisant of “the whole knowledge of the compulsory heteronormative restrictions” and yes, that’s the whole point. Women can be cruel to themselves, but sometimes when they do it’s a conscious choice for a purpose that outweighs the negative impact of conforming to those restrictions.  Read more 

Eventually, the courtiers at Versailles got too witty for their own good. Tired of our Villagers and their inability to speak with honesty and self reflection? Try this instead. It’s totally possible to love someone you’ve never met, and to be made a romantic again by a single post…

I HAD WANTED in some way to remember Lt. Ehren Watada, as this anniversary of the Iraq Invasion passed us. Remember him? Yeah. Mad respect for this cat. But the media has drowned out that story, it’s slipped away, they lost it…we’ve moved on to Jeremiah Wright and other pressing matters. Here’s to you, sir. You are one of the heroes of this war to me.
You know who was a real Citizen Journalist? Brad Will. I feel trapped into making cute video cookies with my weekly deadline. I want to haul my ass down to the ruins of Katrina or spend weeks getting next to some hidden or ignored truth that the public needs to know about spend time building a story, building rapport, investigating, planning…and really busting out wild with something that matters. This is jingles and I want to do a concept album. I feel I am chasing snacky, quickly rotating headlines. Hey, don’t get me wrong. It’s a way to pay some bills. And I am proud of winning it. But I long to do some good in the face of all the harm being dropped down on so many out there. And I’m more a part of a corporate entertainment empire now than I am in being a useful eye for the public. That’s how I’m feeling lately, at least.  Read more