MIM goes to the MIMovies!

"'Changeling' is surprisingly good":

The opening scene shows a working class mother named Christine Collins lose her child to an abductor. The child was alone, because the father had left at birth and because the mother was overworked. This vulnerability turned Christine Collins into a gender oppressed persyn, unable to own children like normal adults. . . .

The rest of the film is how various professionals connected to the LAPD seek to control Christine Collins, including by the use of a psychiatric hospital. The gender oppressors (men) including adult psychiatric professional females seeking to control Collins all come to no good end. "Fuck them and the horse they rode in on" is appropriate for Collins's response to the institutions of social control and other similar political situations outside the movie.

Clint Eastwood will be ecstatic.

"'Body of Lies' is Amerikkka":

CIA agent Roger Ferris kills many Arabs, gets many on his side killed and carries out a fake terrorist operation to attract attention. Then at the end of the movie he concludes his path does not work.

Ferris just quits the CIA. The end result is petty-bourgeois escapism, the privilege of the rich. . . .

Despite the conclusion, it may end up being yet another recruiting film for the CIA. Most of the dialogue is stupid Amerikkkan war on terror stuff.

The upshot may be that more Amerikans will decide to fight for the CIA for a while and then quit.

British court blocks extradition of alleged Holocaust denier

Saw this on a spinoffenzee linken at LGF:

Germany will continue to pursue a well-known Holocaust denier even after a British court ruled against his extradition and set him free, a German state prosecutor said Monday.

And it's not D-blog pal David Irving!

Gerald Fredrick Toben is wanted on charges of denying the Holocaust for articles posted to his Web site, said Mannheim prosecutor Andreas Grossmann. Toben was arrested Oct. 1 on the German warrant at London's Heathrow airport while traveling from the United States to Dubai.

Didn't recognize the name, but I googled it with Irving's and found this in the Telegraph from October 3:

Historian Irving has offered a place at his home in Windsor, Berks, for German-born Australian national Gerald Toben who faces extradition to Germany on a European arrest warrant.

That Irving. What a sweet guy.

The German authorities claim Toben launched a campaign between 2000 and 2004 in which he posted anti-Semitic claims on the internet that "denies, approves or plays down" the mass murder of the Jews.

Toben's (or "Töben's") wiki (though not the papers) details the kind of shit he spews, on his own and as founder of the Adelaide Institute:

Töben has indicated that he considers the Holocaust to be a "lie" ostensibly perpetuated by "the Holocaust Racketeers, the corpse peddlers and the Shoah Business Merchants"; he has further asserted that "the current U.S. government is influenced by world Zionist considerations to retain the survival of the European colonial, apartheid, Zionist, racist entity of Israel."

The Australian had details of the British court's ruling:

[W]estminster Magistrates Court district judge Daphne Wickham ruled the extradition could not go ahead because the warrant contained only "sparse" details about Dr Toben's alleged offences, including exactly what they were, as well as where and when they took place.

"This judgment makes no determination as to whether the (alleged) conduct (of Toben) ... amounts to an extradition offence," Judge Wickham said.

"But I do find the particulars in the warrant are vague and imprecise. Therefore I don't find it to be a valid warrant and I can discharge the defendant."

Granting Dr Toben bail, the judge laid down a set of strict conditions including that he come up with pound stg. 100,000 ($247,465) in cash as security. He had to reside at a specific address approved by British authorities and report daily to police but not use the internet, speak to the media or attend public meetings.

As with Irving, who spent a year in jail in Austria for Holocaust denial, it's nice to contemplate Toben behind bars (or, even worse, denied use of the internet), but still: thank God for the First Amendment. First they came for the Holocaust deniers, and I laughed. Then they came for the Canuck Muslim-mockers . . . and I laughed again. But you get the idea.

Two quotes from "historian" Irving, by the way, the first from the Telegraph story, before Toben was released:

However, Irving claimed outside court that the case showed that living in England was like being in Nazi Germany.

Of course it is! Isn't that why Irving lives there? (Mein Fuehrer!). The second quote, however, is from the Australian, after Toben's release:

When Dr Toben was released, Mr Irving said: "We defeated Germany again; we've defeated Europe in fact. We've always believed in freedom of speech in this country, no matter how crazy people's views are."

Yeah, crazy. Have another drink, Davey.

Tree murder

Goodbye, Sumac! Bwahahahahah--look out! Big branch!

When interns go bad

Hadn't noticed this one anywhere. TwinCities.com:

An intern for KSTP-TV did not take well to being fired. She began hurling threats at an executive producer and kicked out the glass of a conference room door in an attempt to get at her, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.

Jennifer Nicole Anato-Mensah, 21, a University of Minnesota student, was told about 7:15 p.m. Oct. 13 that things weren't working out for her.

"This is a young girl who was not understanding concepts in a television newsroom," said Danielle Prenevost, 33, executive producer of the station's early evening newscasts. "I said, 'I don't think your level of college experience is enough for this job.' "

At that point, Prenevost said, Anato-Mensah "just lost it." . . .

Several newsroom employees heard Anato-Mensah shouting, yelling obscenities and threatening Prenevost, saying, "You don't know where I'm from. I'll mess you up, b ——-."

Prenevost attempted to walk away from Anato-Mensah, but the intern followed her. A male employee stepped between her and Prenevost, who went into a nearby conference room. The male employee tried to get Anato-Mensah to calm down and pack up her things, but Anato-Mensah left her desk and again tried to get to the conference room, the complaint said.

Several male employees then stood at the conference room door as Anato-Mensah continued to yell and swear and try to push her way in. At one point, she kicked at and broke a window in the conference room door. She had to be restrained to keep her out of the room, the complaint said.

"The whole situation was very scary," Prenevost said. . . .

Anato-Mensah was charged with criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct. Both are misdemeanors.

(via Romenesko)

Hungry hungry Santa

Reuters:

Wanted: Cheerful, chubby men, preferably with fluffy white beards and no criminal record, ready to work hard for one month.

Germany is running out of qualified Santa Clauses and needs to recruit and train them fast, a leading job agency says.

Germans are trying to shut out the financial crisis by taking comfort in traditional festivities, and there is an acute shortage of Santas to entertain children at shopping centres, Christmas markets and private parties.

"Being Santa is not an easy job," Jens Wittenberger, in charge of Santa Claus recruitment at the Jobcafe Munich, told Reuters on Monday. "To be honest, not many people have what it takes to be a good Father Christmas".

And you know what happens when you hire substandard Santas:


Tragedy. (Isn't this the most convincing photoshop you've ever seen?)

The story concludes:

Recruitment sessions are being held in cities across the country, and while the job may be stressful, it's better than being jobless, Wittenberger said.

"Santas can make up to 60 euros ($75) an hour," he said. "That's not bad, is it?"

Ho Ho Ho! Ho Ho Ho! Ho Ho (chomp) Ho!

Here's to moo, Denver!

On this date (one more famous for another incident, but I disremember what) 150 years ago, the city of Denver was founded, right down the hill from the Drunkablog manse at the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek.

Both papers have a bunch of stories, gathered here in the Post und here in the News. Both mention the city's alleged "cowtown" fixation, though only the News has a whole story about it. Neither has much to say about the Indians, who, oral tradition has it, were here first, though Bill Gallo is the more PC in the News' overview: "Pioneer Denverites once slaughtered American Indians with no thought for their humanity"--which draws a comment from one "davehughes":

First of all, the assertion by Gallo that Colorado Territorial "Pioneer Denverites once slaughtered American Indians with no thought for their humanity" utterly ignores the reality that both the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians managed to 'slaughter' hundreds of settlers who came west. And even sealed off Denver from the east by their continual attacks on travellers. Which even Col Chivington following the clear orders of General Curtis to 'punish' both tribes at Sand Creek, did not stop their depredations. In fact right on our family ranch on Comanche Creek east of Kiowa the Arapahoe killed and mutilated Henrietta Dietemann and her 5 year old son. And killed and mutilated three young boys right here where Colorado Springs now stands. Both after Sand Creek. So some of us who are also 3 and 4 generation Coloradoan's don't buy into the 'politically correct' version of history that makes all the settlers bad and all the Indians good.

Revisionist history is the fad these days. Sorry to see the Rocky Mountain News be a party to it.

Both papers have slideshows of old photos, the News' far superior to the Post's, including pics not only of the city but of people like Baby Doe Tabor and the Unshankable Molly Brown, as the heroine of the Titanic was known during her prior stint in the Denver City Jail (hey, look at me, I'm a revisionist historian!).

Only one paper, thank God, has an essay by John Temple, who apparently believes it his duty as editor to write such things: "A song of praise for you, Denver":

Yes, you are still a village, or maybe a town, when I compare you to Chicago or New York, Tokyo or London.

But I am glad, yes, glad when I arrive home from a trip and slip into your easy ways.

Last Saturday I was driving west on Hampden Avenue toward the glistening peaks.

It was then that the word glorious came to mind. I have been carrying it with me and rolling it on my tongue ever since as I think of how to mark this special day, today, your 150th birthday.

Oh, Denver.

Oh, John.

Friday Night at the Radio!

Bill Stern's Sports Newsreel! Paul Harvey stole his entire schtick from this guy. "Rudy Vallee" (24 January 1945). I'll always love Vallee for his role as a rich fop in "The Palm Beach Story," in which he uttered the immortal line: "It's a tragedy of this world that the men most in need of a beating up are always enormous."

Okay, one more line from that movie:

Wienie King: I'm the Wienie King! Invented the Texas Wienie! Lay off 'em, you'll live longer.

X Minus 1: Robert Heinlein's early classic, "The Roads Must Roll" (4 January 1956).

A wartime Duffy's Tavern: "War Bond Drive With Boris Karloff" (1943). Karloff, "America's favorite pin-up ghoul."

Suspense! A Dashiel Hammett story (my, ain't we literary tonight): "Two Sharp Knives" (30 September 1942).

Abstract of the Week!

Dance Research Journal:

Re-orienting Dance and Migration Studies

Like dance studies, the interdisciplinary field of migration studies is interested in theories and methods for understanding patterns of individual and mass human movements across the world's stage, the policies governing human im/mobility, and the social experiences that such movements engender. Both dance and migration studies privilege movement and process as categories of analysis. As such, dance studies is uniquely poised to contribute to migration studies and the foremost topics within its terrain: citizenship and statelessness, territory wars, labor refugeeism, border wars, religious and political occupation, and environmental and epidemiological displacement. Recent scholarship in the fields of music, theater, art, architecture, and literature has persuasively insisted upon the importance of the fine and performing arts to exploring the experiences and conditions of global migration. To date, no volume has investigated the impact of migration studies in relationship to dance. . . .

Paging Paul Campos

The Rocky op-ed columnist, who writes frequently about "food fascists," will blow a gasket over this story. AP:

A little less "I'm Lovin' It" could put a significant dent in the problem of childhood obesity, suggests a new study that attempts to measure the effect of TV fast-food ads.

A ban on such commercials would reduce the number of obese young children by 18 percent, and the number of obese older kids by 14 percent, researchers found.

They also suggested that ending an advertising expense tax deduction for fast-food restaurants could mean a slight reduction in childhood obesity.

Wednesday Night at the Radio!

One of the last of the old-time radio writers has died. AP:

Irving Brecher, who wrote vaudeville one-liners for Milton Berle and scripted Marx Brothers movies, the TV and radio hit "The Life of Riley" and the Oscar-nominated musical "Meet Me in St. Louis," has died. He was 94. . . .

Brecher was a teenager in New York when he got his first comedy writing credits as columnists Walter Winchell and Ed Sullivan named him when they used jokes he sent them on postcards.

At 19, he and a friend began a comedy-writing service for entertainers, promising jokes so bad even notorious gag-stealer Milton Berle wouldn't use them.

Berle was their first customer, then took Brecher along when he moved into radio and the movies and went to Hollywood, where Brecher got a contract with Mervyn LeRoy, head of production at MGM.

He was an uncredited script doctor on "The Wizard of Oz" and wrote screenplays for the Marx Brothers movies "At the Circus" and "Go West."

"If I were any drier, I'd be drowning," Groucho Marx says while caught in the rain in 1939's "At the Circus," which was filled with puns and other wordplay.

In another scene, Marx exclaims: "I bet your father spent the first year of your life throwing rocks at the stork."

He and Fred F. Finklehoffe were nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay of the 1944 Judy Garland picture "Meet Me in St. Louis."

Brecher created the long-running radio series "The Life of Riley," about a common man whose missteps cause endless trouble.

Chester Riley, voiced by William Bendix, frequently used the tag line "What a revoltin' development this is!"

Another character, undertaker Digger O'Dell (obviously based on Boris Karloff), had the once famous tagline: "I'll be shoveling along now." Brecher was a union man to the end:

He made a video in 2007 during the writers' strike, urging the union not to settle, The New York Times noted.

"Since 1938, when I joined what was then the Radio Writers Guild, I have been waiting for the writers to get a fair deal; I'm still waiting," he said in the video. "As Chester A. Riley would have said: 'What a revoltin' development this is.' But he only said it because I wrote it." . . .

Brecher created, wrote, directed or produced several other movies, including the 1941 feature "Shadow of the Thin Man" and 1963's "Bye Bye Birdie."

Nobody's perfect. Anyway, as far as I know the only real old-time radio writer left, believe it or not, is Herman Wouk, who, like Brecher, sent jokes to comedians as a teenager (and wrote for Fred Allen for several years in the late 30s and early 40s.)

Never was a big fan of "Life of Riley," but it's okay. Here's a wartime Thanksgiving episode: "Turkey Hunt" (19 November 1944). Good war-bond plea at the end.

And one more: "Bread Shortage" (13 April 1946).

Update: Don't know how I always screw these things up. Here's "Bread Shortage." The one just above is "Riley Finds a Fur Coat" (6 April 1946)

Odder

Part two of the Ayers-Dohrn interview with Amy Goodman at Democrac!y Now, scheduled for Monday, has yet to appear. Still no explanation. One begins to suspect one or the other of them said something(s) too impolitic even for D!N. But if so, why wouldn't they just edit it out? In any case, the delay can't possibly be because of the press of news.

Oh, well. Instead, today Glottal Fry Girl interviewed academic clown Cornel West (about 14:30 in) on "my dear brother Barack" and his initial appointments. "I hope he is a progressive Lincoln" (Cornel's going to be very disappointed):

(Once again !DN!s embed code completely screws up the page.)

Israel = evil

The Rocky's first real blogger, Bridget Johnson, has an excellent post on a panel discussion at CU Monday: "Panel at CU rails against Israeli 'apartheid,' won't condemn terrorism":

The speakers for the evening were Katherine Fuchs, national organizer of the occupation-ending campaign (who said that her "End the Israeli Occupation" group "doesn't take sides"), Diana Buttu, onetime PLO spokeswoman and legal adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Eddie Makue of the South African Council of Churches. As I was perusing the handouts offered at the door, I saw how much they were leaning on South African sources to claim that Israel practices apartheid in the Middle East. My first thought was the rank anti-Semitism exhibited when Durban, South Africa, hosted the U.N. World Conference Against Racism. The good reverend gave an impassioned lecture about the evils of apartheid in South Africa, a talk that was stirring in its correct context of egregious human-rights violations. Then, as he decried apartheid as "legal forms of discrimination to promote a diabolical philosophy ... that people are unequal," he began to pepper in the comparisons to Israel. "The argument we're having is, 'But it's right to have
apartheid,'" he said, and that apartheid there "thrives on teaching its youth, its children that other people are less human."

Same old, same old. Read the whole thing; Johnson does a good job of contrasting statements and actions.

The bastard children of Derrick and Ward

The Feds are offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of four eco-terrorists accused of, among many other crimes, the 1998 firebombing at Vail Ski Resort. The News:

The four are believed to be members of a radical environmental group known as "The Family" that is blamed [yeah, blamed] for a series of arson attacks, vandalism and other crimes in Oregon, Washington, California, Wyoming and Colorado from 1996-2001.

They are Josephine Sunshine Overaker, Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, Justin Franchi Solondz and Rebecca Rubin, and are believed to be living outside the United States.

Ah, diversity.

The 1998 firebombing at Vail ski resort is considered one of the most devastating ecoterrorism attacks in U.S. history.

The group also is suspected in a 2001 ecoterror arson of the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle.

At least the Rocky doesn't cavil at using that word.

The incidents were among at least 25 criminal actions by members of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front that caused more than $80 million in damages, officials said. . . .

A total of 17 people have been indicted on ecoterrorism charges related to actions by the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, Ward said. Thirteen have been convicted.

The FBI said Solondz, 29, may be in Canada, Europe or Asia; Dibee, 31, in Syria; and Rubin, 35, in Canada.

"Sunshine" Overaker may be in Canada too.

News you will use--or else!

A history lesson in song from the North Korean News Agency:

Many revolutionary hymns reflecting ardent reverence for President Kim Il Sung have been created in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and are widely sung among people.

The creation of hymns praising him dated from the anti-Japanese revolutionary struggle.

Representing the will of the young revolutionaries of the new generation and people to look up President Kim Il Sung, who took the road of the revolutionary struggle in his early years and was devoting himself to the liberation of the country, as the centre of unity and cohesion and the leader of the nation and to be loyal to him, the song was disseminated among the people, gripping their hearts from the first days after its creation.

The immortal revolutionary hymn "Song of General Kim Il Sung" which rocked the mountains and rivers of the liberated country is full of the boundless reverence of the Korean people for and their absolute trust in him.

A lot of hymns including "Song Devoted to Marshal Kim Il Sung", "Marshal Kim Il Sung Is Our Supreme Commander", "Long Live Generalissimo Kim Il Sung" and "Long Life to Generalissimo Kim Il Sung" were created in the periods of building a new country, the hard-fought Fatherland Liberation War, postwar rehabilitation and construction and the socialist construction; they inspired dynamically the people to the efforts for making a leap forward, heightening their revolutionary confidence and great pride of having the peerlessly great man.

Today the Korean people are vigorously turning out in the efforts for accomplishing the revolutionary cause of Juche, loudly singing revolutionary hymns including the song "Generalissimo Kim Il Sung Is with Us" created in response to the ardent desire and will to hold him in high esteem as the eternal leader of the revolution and the sun of Juche.

Update: Remember Paul Anka's surreptitiously recorded "When I move, I slice like a fuckin' hammer" rant? A great blogosphere moment. Last year Ace (from whom), noted that the movie Oceans 18 (or whatever it was) steals that line as well as the classic "Don't make a maniac out of me."

Update II: More golden memories. "An original song of his member."

Plug

The inaugural podcast of the Rocky Mountain Alliance of Blogs is tonight at 9 p.m. MST.



The show will feature exemplary bloggers Randy Ketner of Night Twister and Michael Alcorn of Best Destiny. Guest will be Seeme Hasan, founder of Muslims for America.




Someday I'll be on to discuss, um, well, one of the many things I'm an expert on.

Chew on this (if you can, gummy)

The Mail has a piece on a rare book on 18th-century dentistry to be auctioned this month:

Written in 1770 by Thomas Berdmore, who was considered to be the outstanding dentist in England and was known as 'Operator for the Teeth' to King George III, it makes toe-curling reading as he details how pliers and wire were used to give a patient a brilliant smile. . . .

Addressing the subject of 'how to bring teeth which are ill into beautiful order', he wrote: 'Pass gold wire from the neighbouring teeth on either side, in such a manner as to press upon what stands out of the line.'

The somewhat drastic alternative, Berdmore suggested, was to 'break the teeth into order by means of a strong pair of crooked pliers'.

The book, called 'A Treatise On The Disorders And Deformities Of The Teeth And Gums And The Most Rational Methods Of Treating Them', is thought to be the first-ever English-language tome on the art of dentistry.

Berdmore also encouraged youngsters with milk teeth to 'chew upon coral, wax and suchlike bodies', and advised: 'Cracking nuts is hurtful to teeth, as is the custom young girls have for cutting sewing thread with their teeth.

As true now as it was then:

'The boyish custom of carrying a table or chair in their mouth is as dangerous as it is absurd. Tooth picks are also very bad practice.'

Odd

Part two of Amy Goodman's interview with Billy 'n' Bernie was supposed to air today, but nada. No explanation.

Wart's demographic

Been a while since I ran across a new member of Ward Churchill's target audience, but here's one: James F. Marino, author of the succinctly named blog, FASCISM--"9-11"--MIND CONTROL--The Mother Of All Black Operations.

9-11 Is The Worst Black Operation Ever Perpetrated Against The American People. This Site Documents This Inside Job As Well As My Experiences With Precedent Setting Government Corruption & Civil Rights Violations Committed Against Me By The FBI, NSA & DHS Under The Color Of Law. US Federal Intelligence Has Become A Modern Day Gestapo - An Orwellian Nightmare -- NSA Satellites And Remote Neural Monitoring Technology Are The Modern Day Equivalent Of Orwell's Big Brother.-- James F. Marino

Ward isn't a troofer, at least publicly, but this Marino guy relies on his COINTELPRO lies for much of his outlook. Here he is on the FBI and the J. Edgar Hoovette office building in D.C.:

A Fitting End To The TERRORIST FBI

Since the latter part of the 20Th Century the J. Edgar Hoover Building has represented Nazism in the strongest sense of the word. It has stood for tyranny, the most abject cruelty, and the destruction of the United States Constitution and basic human rights. Each leader of the FBI from the paranoid megalomaniac John Edgar Hoover, on down to the latest of this Bureau's Nazi minded representatives has stood for oppression and the destruction of American freedoms.

The FBI should be abolished since its existence in the United States is diametrically opposed to the freedoms which this country is supposed to represent.

The J. Edgar Hoover Building should be demolished. Since the mid 1970's it has stood as a symbol of oppression for all Americans.

In its place, a memorial park should be erected in honor of all of the FBI's millions of victims; those who've been disenfranchised of their rights as American citizens -- many of whom were covertly tortured and murdered by the FBI.

The J. Edgar Hoover Building's remains should be buried in the ocean as a barrier reef to propagate new marine life -- the only "healthy" use that the materials which went into the construction of this building will ever have.

Throughout the FBI's criminal history, there have been so many lives destroyed by this Nazi indoctrinated anathema to basic human rights, but perhaps the following testimony does justice to how EVIL the Federal Bureau Of Investigation truly is, and why it must eventually be abolished:

His examples of the Nazi-like murderingness of the FBI (millions of victims, mind you) are John Trudell and Judi Bari (whom I'd never heard of before).

Real boss

Staggering around Home Depôt the other day looking for something or other and a clerk, noticing my distress, came over and asked:

"Whatcha lookin' for, Boss?"

Boss? Several times in the last couple of years I've been addressed that way, but before that, never. Where did it come from? Is it a rap thing? An artifact of the prison-industrial complex? It's weird, and vaguely insulting. Whatever happened to "May I help you, sir"?

The Urban Dictionary lists 94 definitions of the word. Number nine:

An employee of the state or county entrusted to guard prisoners; the prison guard, the jailer, the warden, the bailiff. The Man.

Number 11:

Disingenuous form of address used by insolent little twats, which although ostensibly deferential, actually implies that they don't actually have any respect for you at all.

"Alright boss!"

"Thanks boss!"

Yeah, that's it.

Non-native W. Churchill to discuss native issues

In Canada again, where they seem to have more tolerance not only for "diversity," but for frauds as well. The Daily Gleaner:

St. Thomas University's native student council hopes to attract a crowd on the campus for Native Awareness Days.

From Nov. 17-21, the student council will host a series of discussions titled, Combating Convenient Untruths.

The Pirate with the Palsied Parrot notes the irony of that title.

The discussions will focus on social justice issues pertaining to First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples on topics as diverse as Arctic sovereignty, race relations, the residential school apology and the role of rhetoric in compromise.

Special guests will include Mary Simon, the national voice of Inuit from Nunatsiavut to Inuvialuit; Ward Churchill, a political activist and author; Isabelle Knockwood, author of Out of the Depths: the Experiences of Mi'kmaw Children at the Indian Residential School at Shubenacadie, N.S.; and Roland Chrisjohn, St. Thomas University professor and director of native studies.

The events will wrap up with a drumming ceremony and feast featuring the Muskrat Singers from St. Mary's First Nation on Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. in the native student lounge in Sir James Dunn Hall.

Native student lounge?