Dinosaur research backs link to birds

From the AP via Yahoo courtesy of AlterNet:

So, when she was able to recover soft tissue from a T. rex bone found in Montana in 2003 she was surprised, Schweitzer said.

And now, researchers led by John M. Asara of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston have been able to analyze proteins from that bone.

The genetic code that directs the development of living things is the DNA, but that is more fragile and they didn't find that.

"But proteins are coded from the DNA, they're kind of like first cousins," Schweitzer said

What Asara's team found was collagen, a type of fibrous connective tissue that is a major component of bone. And the closest match in creatures alive today was collagen from chicken bones.

Click here for the rest.

Usually missing from mainstream coverage of the seemingly endless evolution-creation "controversy" is that scientists continue to do their jobs. That is, while lame-brained creationists continue to assert the most wild absurdities, the scientific evidence for evolution, long ago established as unassailable fact, continues to mount, year after year. Just last December, scientists announced that they had found very strong evidence about groups of human beings developing lactose tolerance in Africa somewhere between three and seven thousand years ago, yet another smoking gun in favor of evolution. And now we've come close to confirming that dinosaurs evolved into birds. Really, the big news isn't that we're drowning in hard proof of evolution as an important biological principal: it's that there is no such thing as a controversy over evolution.

No controversy. Just a bunch of religious assholes insisting that the earth is flat. Fuckers.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

TWO FROM WORKING FOR CHANGE

Busy tonight. Check out these essays from Working for Change.

Propaganda is indispensable, dangerous reality of modern democracy

Without any real constitutional checks against using violence to coerce action, totalitarian rulers don't really have to worry about what you think. They tell you what to think with a gun to your head. But it's much more difficult to use naked state-sanctioned violence in democracies, which is why "democratic" rulers subject the masses to a mind-numbing amount of propaganda.

Unfortunately, "education," as it's been constructed, is what lays the foundation for people to be propagandized. In fact, the more "education" someone has, the more susceptible they are to propaganda because most schooling is geared toward teaching what to think; not how to think.

More here.

Cult of gun ownership still casts seductive spell

Gun assaults are rising, but you're unlikely to hear anything from the top-tier presidential candidates about improving gun safety laws. Republicans, of course, are wholly owned by the National Rifle Association, which advocates a howitzer in every home. Democrats, meanwhile, have been persuaded that gun safety is the suicide bomb of domestic politics; mention the subject, and your campaign explodes.

So this folly will continue, fueled by a perplexing cultural ethos that worships individual gun ownership. A century from now, anthropologists will look back and wonder what in the world this was all about. They'll sift through the ruins and the historical record, in much the same way anthropologists today puzzle over cannibalism and the sacrifice of virgins in long-dead civilizations. They'll wonder how a highly advanced and sophisticated culture allowed unchecked personal gun ownership, despite the carnage.

More here.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

THESIS

From Wikipedia:

The thesis is the main idea of one's research. The thesis is normally the culmination of a candidate's research; submission of the thesis represents the completion of the final requirement for the degree being sought. In certain faculties (such as fine or performance arts), the thesis may be in the form of an artistic performance, a written work (of music, or of fiction, for example), or a painting or other artistic production.

The length of the thesis will vary depending on the specific degree. Theses submitted as part of the requirements for an undergraduate degree are usually much shorter than those submitted as part of a Ph.D. (or other research-oriented doctorate). Length may be calculated in number of words, number of pages, or, when the thesis is written in a character-based language (such as Chinese or Japanese), number of characters.

Theses are most often written in the main language of instruction at the university granting the degree, but students of languages and linguistics, or those undertaking research in foreign languages, are sometimes permitted to submit the thesis in the language studied. In some countries it is a requirement to include at least some material in an international academic language; originally Latin and at one time French or German, this nowadays almost always means English. In countries where English is the predominant language of academic work, especially in the sciences, for example in the Netherlands or Scandinavia, an entire thesis may be submitted in English.

Click here for more.

Just in case you're not really into the whole Ivory Tower thing, I figured I'd post the inside scoop on what a master's thesis is all about. Of course, my thesis is excerpted and linked below. Check it out. If you dare.

Thank god I didn't have to write the damned thing in Latin.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

PLAYING THE THIRD MAN
(MIDAS’ SERVANT, CEYX, MORPHEUS AS CEYX,
ORPHEUS, APOLLO, A, PHILEMON)
IN MARY ZIMMERMAN’S METAMORPHOSES:
A PRODUCTION THESIS

From LSU's electronic thesis and dissertation library:

Fortunately, the director decided that he would prefer a jazz aesthetic here, which
is in keeping with the costuming concept, and asked me to scat-sing, like Louis Armstrong or Ella Fitzgerald, which freed me up a great deal. Being a big jazz fan, and having great familiarity with many jazz standards, I was able to choose my melodies to fit my mood. For Phaeton’s arrival, I riffed on Harry James’ “I’ve Heard That Song Before,” which is a sentimental love song, reflecting Apollo’s nostalgic love for his boy’s mother, and the sun god’s pride in his son. For Apollo’s oedipal anxiety, I riffed on Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing,” which is one of the most manic songs I’ve ever heard. For Apollo’s warnings about the dangers in the sky, I chose Duke Ellington’s “The Mooche,” which has a sinister sound, and its title reflects that Phaeton has gone too far in his request. Finally, for Apollo’s chariot-driving advice, I worked with the Frank Sinatra version of “Fly Me to the Moon,” which is a love song, but, in Sinatra’s personal style, is also quite masculine and strong, reflecting Apollo’s desire to maintain control even as he gives the reins over to Phaeton. Ultimately, this all seemed fit. Like an archetypal, glamorous movie star or pop music idol who is too busy with his work to be involved in his child’s life, the “shining and golden” Apollo squeezes his love-child into his hectic schedule, speaking to him in the language of the sun god’s work.

Click here for much, much, much more (in pdf format).

So, yeah, my thesis is officially approved and online for one and all to peruse. Have at it. If you really want to. After toiling away on this beast for months, I finally realize that it's actually much more difficult to read than it was to write. And writing it sucked. I have pity for my committee. On the other hand, you may find it interesting, if not totally dry. Even though acting theses aren't as intellectually rigorous as, say, philosophy theses, this one pretty much lays out my conceptual approach for dealing with the role I played last semester in Metamorphoses, complete with new knowledge about character analysis I've picked up since starting the program here back in '04. If you're unfamiliar with the script, it may be confusing, but the score section includes the text from the scenes I was in.

At the very least, you'll enjoy the photo section at the end.

Oh my god, I'm fucking done!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

FIRE THE FUCKING BASTARD NOW!
Racial Slur Gets Imus 2-Week Suspension

From the AP via the Huffington Post courtesy of AlterNet:

Don Imus' morning talk show will be suspended from CBS Radio and MSNBC for two weeks following protests about his reference to members of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos," both networks said Monday.

MSNBC, which telecasts the radio show, said Imus' expressions of regret and embarrassment, coupled with his stated dedication to changing the show's discourse, made it believe suspension was the appropriate response.

"Our future relationship with Imus is contingent on his ability to live up to his word," the network said.

The suspension begins next Monday.

Click here for the rest.

Here's a fact: Imus is lying. His entire career has been about racist, sexist, and homophobic "jokes," which aren't even all that funny. The only reason he's being so nice now is because of the massive controversy his remarks caused. Actually, I'm amazed that there's an uproar, given that he's been at it for so long. 'Bout time. Anyway, it's clear that he's fighting to save his career, but with a track record like his, it's also clear that he doesn't deserve a career, not in radio. Jackson and Sharpton think he should be permanently sacked, and I totally agree with them. Imus is a foul-mouthed, evil prick. He shouldn't even be doing the traffic reports.

You know, I don't really understand the "shock jock" phenomenon. Okay, I get that it's all about tearing down barriers and pushing censorship buttons, but it seems to me that if it's all about pissing people off, without any kind of constructive value of which to speak, that it's just a bunch of bullshit. George Carlin is, and Lenny Bruce was, about freedom and thought. Howard Stern is about devolving America into a bunch of pubescent boys. I don't know what the hell Imus is about.

Fuck him.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

39,000 DEAD PETS

From the AP via the Huffington Post courtesy of AlterNet:

Cases of kidney failure among cats rose by 30 percent during the three months that pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical was sold, one of the nation's largest chains of veterinary hospitals reported Monday.

Banfield, The Pet Hospital, said an analysis of its database, compiled from records collected by its more than 615 veterinary hospitals, suggests that three out of every 10,000 cats and dogs seen in its clinics developed kidney failure during the time the melamine-contaminated pet food was on the market. There are an estimated 60 million dogs and 70 million cats in the United States, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

The veterinary hospital chain saw 1 million dogs and cats during the three months when the more than 100 brands of now-recalled contaminated pet food were sold. It saw 284 extra cases of kidney failure among cats during that period, or a roughly 30 percent increase when compared with background rates. It's not clear if those animals ate the contaminated food, though it seems likely.

"It has meaning, when you see a peak like that. We see so many pets here, and it coincided with the recall period," said veterinarian Hugh Lewis, who oversees the mining of Banfield's database to do clinical studies. The chain continues to share its data with the Food and Drug Administration.

Click here for the rest.

The latest recalls have put me in a more frightening place: when the news first hit, I figured that just for safety I'd buy only from companies that weren't recalling any products; it now appears that's no longer an option. As far as I can tell, all pet food companies and distributers selling in Baton Rouge have recalled at least one kind of pet food. So, I'm being careful, staying away from the tainted varieties, but not as careful as I'd like. When I'm not nervous about what I'm feeding my own cats, however, I'm sad for the people who have lost theirs. Losing a cherished pet sucks. It's bad enough when they die of old age. I have no idea how losing a pet to something like this would affect me. I'm sure I'd be devastated.

One thing's for sure: if this can happen to pet food, it can definitely happen with human food. What's going to happen when 39,000* Americans drop dead due to mass food poisining?

UPDATE: Senate Panel To Question FDA On Tainted Dog Food

*As figured by AlterNet based on an earlier draft of the AP story.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

"TELEVISION, THE DRUG OF THE NATION"

Fantastic fan video for one of my favorite songs, courtesy of Throw Away Your TV:


Via: VideoSift

Here are the lyrics:

Television, the Drug of the Nation
by Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

One nation under god has turned into
one nation under the influence of one drug

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., it satellite links
our united states of unconsciousness
apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
the methadone metronome pumping out
150 channels 24 hours a day
you can flip through all of them
and still there's nothing worth watching
T.V. is the reason why less than ten percent
of our nation reads books daily
why most people think Central America means Kansas
socialism means unamerican
and apartheid is a new headache remedy
absorbed in its world it's so hard to find us
it shapes our mind the most
maybe the mother of our nation
should remind us that we're sitting too close to...

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V. is the stomping ground
for political candidates
where bears in the woods
are chased by grecian formula'd bald eagles
T.V. is mechanized politic's
remote control over the masses
co-sponsored by enironmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special
it's the perpetuation of the two-party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
where sound bite politics are served
to the fastfood culture
where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
race baiting is the way to get elected
Willie Horton or will he not get elected on...

(chorus)
Televison, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T.V., is it the reflector or the director
does it imitate us or do we imitate it
because a child watches 1500 murders
before he's twelve years old
and we wonder how we've created
a Jason generation that learns to laugh
rather than abhor the horror
T.V. is the place where armchair generals
and quarterbacks can experience first hand
the excitement of video warfare
as the themesong is sung in the background
sugar sweet sitcoms that leave us with
a bad actor taste while pop stars metamorphosize
into soda pop stars you saw the video
you heard the soundtrack
well now go buy the soft drink
well, the only cola that I support
is a union C.O.L.A. (cost of living allowance) on...

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Back again, "new and improved"
we return to our irregularly programmed schedule
hidden cleverly between heavy breasted
beer and car commmercials
CNNESPNABCTNT but mostly B.S.
where oxymoronic language like
"virtually spotless" "fresh frozen"
light yet filling" and
"military intelligence" have become standard
T.V. is the place where phrases are redefined
like "recession" to "necessary downturn"
"crude oil" on a beach to "mousse"
"civilian death" to "collateral damages"
and being killed by your own army
is now called "friendly fire"
T.V. is the place where the pursuit of
happiness has become the pursuit of trivia
where toothpaste and cars
have become sex objects
where imagination is sucked out of children
by a cathode ray nipple
T.V. is the only wet nurse
that would create a cripple
on...

(chorus)
Television, the drug of the nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

God, I love this song!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

THE STAR TREK CALENDAR PICTURE OF THE MONTH IS...



Doctor McCoy!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

REAL ART EASTER BASKET 2007
"Hoppy Horrifying Easter!!!"

As longtime Real Art readers know, I don't celebrate Easter. At all. I mean, okay, I'll eat the chocolate my mom sent me. Like these disgustingly sweet, but somehow irresistible Cadbury creme eggs.



Or these much better Cadbury caramel eggs.



Or even this delicious chocolate Peter Rabbit.



And how could I refuse these extraordinarily weird Lindt "mini lambs," complete with a black sheep? I guess I'm supposed to be the black sheep.



So yeah, I'll eat the chocolate. I even watched a bit of the four and a half hour long presentation of The Ten Commandments earlier this evening on ABC--even after all this acting training I'm getting here at LSU, I'm still a sucker for the 1950s style science fiction acting of Charleton Heston, and almost every other member of the cast, excluding, of course, Edward G. Robinson. But the more I think about it, the more I hate Easter.

Why? Easter is about eternal punishment and damnation.

Yeah yeah, I know it's supposed to be about how Jesus died to save us from such a cruel fate, but the fact that we need a savior simply means that God is either insane or evil. That is, no good and just god would ever, ever, ever condemn anybody to eternal hellfire. I mean, I can understand some punishment aimed at correction, you know, make you learn the error of your ways and all, but eternal punishment defies all reason. It's just plain sadistic. And if that's all part of God's plan, then he's fucking evil. Or crazy. Either way, if the Christians are right, this is one fucked up universe. I just can't accept it.

Here, I explained it much better a few years back:

EASTER GRINCH:
Good and Evil, Heaven and Hell

First, it’s pretty easy for me to be good. I’ve had an easy life. I have wanted for almost nothing. I have a loving and emotionally supportive family. I am well educated. Nothing particularly bad has ever happened to me. I deserve none of this. I have gotten this wonderful life because of luck, because of the circumstances of my birth. Second, if my ability to easily be good is, by and large, due to luck, any notions of absolute individual responsibility for good and evil become, at best, problematic. Third, Heaven and Hell, the absolute reward and the absolute punishment for good and evil, become absurdly simplistic, absurdly unfair. As the great philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell writes, “eternal punishment is inhumane.” I have discovered that I can no longer believe in Hell, as no just God would ever condemn souls to such a place. I have realized that I no longer care about Heaven—why should I be rewarded for the circumstances of my birth? I’ve already received ample reward here on Earth. Furthermore, doing good has become to me an end unto itself, with its own rewards. Because I now know that I, too, am capable of great evil, it is now much easier to forgive those who have wronged me. Abandoning the prison of the Heaven/Hell concept has allowed me to become a more enlightened person, a more moral person.

Click here for the rest.

So I'll be hiding out Easter Sunday, doing my taxes and trying to forget about the cruel and horrifying Christian universe. But you know, there is a pretty good Peanuts Easter special, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.

Here, I've embedded it from myspace:

Peanuts- It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown


Hoppy horrifying Easter!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

An Army of Christian Right Lawyers Is Waging War on the Constitution

Or are they? From AlterNet:

ADF recognizes that sometimes strange bedfellows--even the ACLU--can help its divine cause on behalf of the free-speech rights of America's public high schoolers. It recently sided with its arch-enemy (and against the Bush administration) in a Supreme Court case in which an Alaska high school student charged that his First Amendment rights were violated when school officials forced him to take down a sign reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The student, Joseph Frederick, admitted that he designed the sign "to be meaningless and funny, in order to get on television" as the Olympic torch passed through his home town of Juneau in 2002. And even though Frederick's cause had nothing to do with Jesus (and even implicated the Savior in the defiled culture that ADF disdains), ADF has an interest in continuing to shape Supreme Court precedent, an effort it began with its first landmark case 12 years ago and that has been aided by a judiciary increasingly friendly to its views. ADF's legacy in these cases has been to elevate the First Amendment's free speech clause over its Establishment Clause, which separates church and state, and thereby to promote religious speech--even proselytizing speechin the nation's public schools.

And

Shortly before the Supreme Court heard arguments in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, it had agreed to hear ADF's appeal of another case, one in which a San Diego student, Chase Harper, who participated in the first Day of Truth, claimed that his school prevented him from wearing a T-shirt that read "Be ashamed, our school has embraced what god has condemned" on the front, and "Homosexuality is shameful, Romans 1:27" on the back. After a federal appeals court for the Ninth Circuit (the Christian Right's bogeyman of the judiciary) ruled last year that the school could constitutionally restrain Harper from wearing the shirt in the interest of protecting the rights of other students, ADF issued a press release complaining that the opinion "implied that Brokeback Mountain is in, and the Bible is out."

Click here for the rest.

Well, for my money, freedom of speech does trump the separation of church and state. All civil rights flow from free expression. You can't have democracy without the freedom of speech. And I'm virtually an absolutist on the topic. I mean, okay, yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is dangerous and all that, but, for the most part, people should be able to say or portray whatever they want. That's the American way.

So if fundamentalist kids want to proclaim that homosexuality is a sin and that sinners are going to hell, that's their right. I disagree, but that's how democracy works. We must have a totally unfettered marketplace of ideas, which means that we all have to hear a bunch of bullshit everyday. Of course, this also means that gay teens should be allowed to wear "I suck cock and I'm proud" t-shirts if they want. And that's where the real problem starts.

I've been bouncing around the idea recently that religion is inherently ideological, and therefore totally fair game as far as political criticism goes. Of course, this runs headlong into the "respect my religion" meme that gets thrown around so much these days. That is, some of the most froth-mouthed, fire and brimstone oriented, homophobic loudmouths think it's just fine to advance publicly what are obviously political ideas, but when they get some shit thrown back at them they like to take cover behind what they claim to be their special status as believers.

You can't have it both ways. You're either going to jump into the rough-and-tumble world of political speech, or you're not. These zealots are being really dishonest.

I think it's just fine that these guys are seeking free speech protection for their loony religious ideas, but it's as close to a smoking gun as we'll get that a great deal of religious speech is clearly political in nature. I mean, they're pretty much admitting that's the case. So, okay, teenagers can try to lead people to the lord while at school. That's cool. But don't freak out and whine and blather when other teenagers try to advance atheism, or Satanism, or Wicca, or communism, or gay circuit parties, whatever. Don't freak out when artists make chocolate Jesuses. Don't freak out when I quote Marx and say, "religion is the opium of the people," especially because, no matter what you believe in terms of a supreme being, it's uncontroversially the truth.

Also, the Rutles are definitely "bigger than God."



$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

FRIDAY CAT BLOGGING

Frankie



Phil



Sammy



Be sure to check out Modulator's Friday Ark for more cat blogging!

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

REAL ART RERUN
FULL CIRCLE: A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Well, if you look at the time stamp at the bottom of the post, you'll see that I'm up late, trying to get my thesis uploaded to the Graduate School here at LSU. I mean, I didn't really start until midnight because, you know, it's a hassle and I've been putting it off and figured it wouldn't take long. Of course, I was wrong, but that doesn't matter; I'm done now. Done. Okay, there's a slight chance that they may want some last minute minor corrections, but that shouldn't take long now that I've figured out all the rigamarole with PDF files and uploading and all that. So I am done.

Christ, it's sucked doing it all, but I am done.

Anyway, it's late, so no chatty-chat tonight, but in honor of this accomplishment, I'm going to rerun the statement of purpose that helped me get into the program here back in the spring of '04. I think the title, at this point, is a nice bit of irony. Anyway, here you go:

Acting teacher Sanford Meisner used to say, “it takes twenty years to become an actor.” This makes a lot of sense to me: twenty years ago, as a high school freshman, I started taking myself seriously as an actor. When I was a child, seeing Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl started a process that would eventually result in my investing much personal identity in a romanticized concept of “actor.” It wasn’t until my first high school play, however, that I encountered others who focused more on the work than on themselves. That was when I first began to understand that acting is about creating great shows, rather than self-aggrandizement. Indeed, this sense artistry in theater, of professionalism, is what now drives me to seek a Master of Fine Arts in acting.

A few years ago, while watching a television series on the history of jazz, I had a realization. Trumpeter Miles Davis was attempting a comeback in the late 1950s following personal troubles that had sidelined him for a while. During this time, he saw Joe Louis box: Louis’ no-nonsense, professional approach to boxing greatly impressed Davis—this experience inspired him to treat his own career as a musician in the same way. That is, Davis was revitalized, achieving greater artistic heights, because he focused thoroughly on the work, no distractions, no fooling around. Davis’ newfound philosophy of consummate professionalism rekindled my excitement about acting: seeing his resuscitation gave me the wherewithal to overcome the cold feet that had steered me away from pursuing an acting career when I was younger. It made me want to be a professional actor.

I’ve always loved acting. I’ve spent my years since college finding ways to be on stage, working with the theater people I love. In situations with untrained actors, I’ve tried to use my own training to set an example. Indeed, I’ve been fortunate enough to work recently with two other trained actors in a local amateur company; the three of us have set a standard of artistry that has helped to improve the company’s work overall. I have also been teaching high school theater for the last five years. The job has provided unexpected rewards: gradually, I have gained a firm intellectual mastery of acting basics that I first learned when I was getting my BFA—developing and using multiple strategies to explain such fundamentals has forced me to ponder these ideas in ways that I would not have otherwise.

Twenty years after my first high school play, I have come full circle. That is, as a student, I first began to explore the artistry of acting; as a teacher, I continue that exploration. However, I think I’ve learned as much as I can in that realm: now I want to go to graduate school.

Indeed, LSU’s MFA acting program offers learning opportunities that could result in my becoming a great actor. I am excited by the chance to extend both the voice lessons of Berry, Linklater, and Skinner, and the stylistic repertory work that I began as an undergraduate. I am also excited by LSU’s professional focus: internship experience and an audition portfolio are invaluable to a working actor. Furthermore, I have also studied television production and film criticism: exploring on-screen acting offers the chance to extend my understanding of those media. Beyond the benefits of a top-notch training program, LSU would be a really nice place to study. I love Louisiana—my wife and I have spent a great deal of time vacationing in New Orleans, and Baton Rouge is always a nice place to linger on the way. I also love Louisiana food and culture—the fact that my favorite music, jazz, was born there is also compelling. In short, LSU can give me the environment, skills, and knowledge to prepare me to attain what I so very much want, to be a professional actor.

Friday cat blogging tomorrow.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Sweet (chocolate) Jesus controversy

From AlterNet:

Now, setting Donohue and his idiocy aside, let's get the more critical view of the controversy from Faith Commons:

I've obviously not seen the piece properly, but my sense is that it looks like a wonderfully cheeky critique of the saccharine nature of modern Easter-tide. I wonder if those in the Catholic League would normally purchase chocolate eggs for their children around this time? Are we not all guilty of sweetening the impact of Christ's death?

It also seems likely that the CL are offended by Jesus' penis being shown. Did he not have one? Would he not have been stripped naked to be crucified? Isn't a loin cloth just a lie?

It seems again that those who seek to represent Christ in anything other than explicitly Christian and conservative works are going to find themselves heavily under attack. But, as in the work of Serrano, what I hope is happening is that these artists are playing the Trickster role that they ought, and are forcing us to re-evaluate our engagement with Christ over Easter.

Click here for more, which also includes a video debate between the artist and the ranting and raving head of the Catholic League.

Well said. And the chocolate Jesus' artist, Cosimo Cavallaro is also well-spoken in the CNN debate, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek, Andy Warholian way. All I have to add is some riffing on a couple of my recent posts.

First, as I explained last Friday, religion is inherently ideological, which means that it is necessarily subject to heavy civic scrutiny. Christianity is a political and philosophical force. The moment it attempts to advance itself in the marketplace of ideas is the same moment that it relinquishes any claim that it is somehow above the fray and worthy of a level of respect far beyond any other ideological points of view. That is, if you're going to tell somebody how to live, you'd better be ready to encounter resistance.

Second, as I explained yesterday, the Bible, along with its stories and iconic figures, is hopelessly intertwined with the very fabric of Western civilization. Pretty much anybody who comes out of the Western tradition can lay claim to Jesus as an important cultural figure. That is, Jesus isn't solely the posession of Christians, and these preachy motherfuckers who freak out anytime an artist portrays their Lord in a way they don't like are just going to have to deal with it. This artist is a Westerner, and Jesus, as a cultural concept, belongs to him just as much as he does to Jerry Falwell or Pope Hitler Youth the First.

Besides, chocolate is yummy.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Protesters confront Rove at American University

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

White House adviser Karl Rove was confronted by more than a dozen protesters who blocked his car and threw things as he tried to leave a speaking engagement at American University, officials said.

Click here for the rest.

This really cracks me up. I mean, Cheny and Bush have been enduring some pretty heavy protests for at least a couple of years now, but Rove, a.k.a. "Bush's Brain," doesn't really get out enough to be a target for this kind of thing. But, man, he really deserves it. All those neo-cons were definitely a major factor behind our Middle Eastern wars, but at least they have some sort of pro-American rationale behind their scheming, however misguided it may be. Rove, on the other hand, who may be just as responsible as the neo-cons for getting us into Iraq and Afghanistan, did it solely for the purpose of making Bush a "war President." That is, he's just fine with killing tens of thousands of Muslims, and thousands of US service men and women, in order to increase his boy's domestic power. And that's pretty fucking sick, if you ask me.

This doesn't even begin to get into Rove's bread-and-butter tactic of smearing political opponents rather than actually debating them. Yep, he definitely deserves to have things thrown at him.

Here's another reason to throw things at him.

UPDATE: Here is some youtube footage of the Rove protest, courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Bill would require Bible classes in Texas schools

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

A Texas legislator wants to require the state's nearly 1,700 public school districts to teach the Bible as a textbook, "not a worship document."

The House Public Education Committee was set late today to consider a bill by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, mandating high schools to offer history and literacy courses on the Old and New Testaments. The courses would be elective.

And

A study by the liberal watchdog group Texas Freedom Network last year identified 25 high schools in the state already offering such courses and said that many have serious problems.

The proposed legislation puts school districts in legal jeopardy, said Kathy Miller, TFN's director, who was joined at a news conference by theologians and clergy members opposed to the bill.

"These courses are often more about the religious beliefs of the teachers rather than true academic studies of the importance of the Bible in history and literature," she said.

More here.

So, this is obviously an attempt by Jesus-Nazis to get some Christianity into the schools under some pseudo-intellectual cloaking. Kind of like the old "teach the controversy" gambit or "intelligent design" when it comes to getting tax payers to fund the religious indoctrination known as creationism. But you know what? I support the bill. The Good Book is so utterly intertwined with the history of Western civilization, it's fair to say that if you don't know the Bible, you don't know the West. Indeed, I'm very fortunate that I had some heavy Bible study when I was in my teens; I feel it's given me great insight when considering how fucked up our culture is.

What really excites me about this, however, is the whole "textbook" angle: public schools are going to have a hard time pulling this off. If this class is really going to be studying the Bible as literature, culture, and philosophy, that means criticism is going to be a huge part, or else it's all going to be a big joke, and therefore worthy of dozens of ACLU lawsuits. That means taking a look at not only contrarian positions, like those of Bertrand Russell and others, but also various sectarian understandings of the Bible, like Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Fundamentalist, Unitarian, and on and on. I just can't see how the schools aren't going to run full steam straight into a brick wall of controversy. Somebody's going to get pissed off and raise hell, no matter what.

My hope is that such controversy will provide a great deal of stimulus for a long overdue discussion of what, exactly, education is, and that, maybe, people are going to wake up to the fact that what we have now is far more about indoctrination than it is about learning. Yeah, I'm being optimistic, but even if there's no discussion about this, the controversy's going to be damned fun to watch.

Hee hee.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Trillions in Debt, Can the Middle Class Hang On?

From AlterNet:

Some will argue -- with no empirical evidence, mind you -- that the culture itself is to blame. We have become a bunch of materialistic, Paris Hilton-loving deadbeats! they trill. Such was the argument the banks used to railroad bankruptcy reform through Congress a year and a half ago. If we accepted their argument and blamed the "gamers" -- the new welfare queens -- they promised us a dividend in the neighborhood of several hundred dollars apiece in the form of lower interest rates. Last quarter, these same bankers announced record credit card profits (JPMorgan Chase, the biggest, more than doubled their profits), but alas, no check arrived in the mail for you or me.

The "personal responsibility" argument, as it is euphemistically known, appeals to our love of false nostalgia if not history itself. It assumes that Jimmy Carter wasn't imploring us to cut up our credit cards three decades ago (he was); that the Me Generation never happened (it did); that the '80s was not the decade of greed (it was); or that, going back a bit further, the Roaring Twenties never happened (it did).

Click here for the rest.

Yeah, and the "personal responsibility" argument also assumes that there's no such thing as advertising. The materialistic culture of heavy consumption we now endure didn't just happen; it was consciously created. It's been a long time in the making, but Americans are pounded, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, from cradle to grave, by countless advertising messages, on TV, radio, the Internet, billboards, t shirts, signs (on everything from urinal cakes to grocery bags), in newspapers, magazines, at sporting events, virtually everywhere. I mean, it is almost as though consuming is the culture now. Like I said, that didn't just happen: over the last fifty years or so, business has literally altered our once thrifty, hard-working, savings-oriented point of view to this orgy of shopping that now defines us.

Given this brainwashing, I'm amazed that anyone at all is able to resist. When the credit card companies hand out applications to people, it's like throwing a match onto gas-soaked rags.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

60 MINUTES
Under the Influence: How Lobbyists
Wrote and Bought the Rx Drug Bill

From CBS's 60 Minutes via Crooks and Liars:

If you have ever wondered why the cost of prescription drugs in the United States are the highest in the world or why it's illegal to import cheaper drugs from Canada or Mexico, you need look no further than the pharmaceutical lobby and its influence in Washington, D.C.

In January, one of the first things the new Democratic House of Representatives did was to make it mandatory for Medicare to negotiate lower prices with the drug companies.

A similar measure faces stiff opposition in the Senate, where the drug lobby is spending millions of dollars to defeat it. The president has already announced that if the bill passes, he will veto it.

Click here for video.

Every seven or eight years, 60 Minutes does the amazing and risks its existence as a television show by taking on the corporate giants who make broadcast television possible by supporting it with advertising--this time the venerable news magazine show is going after one of news' biggest sponsors, the drug industry. And, man, they kick ass here, really pulling out all the stops. The report shows it all, the lobbying, the hardball politics on the Hill, the ramifications for average ordinary people, in short, a primer for how corporations have replaced citizens as rulers of the country, and all in less than ten minutes. Rarely do I praise the corporate media so strongly, but this piece is an instant classic, and shows that old-school news is not entirely beyond redemption.

Ah, it's probably just a fluke. I'm sure they'll be back to fluff pieces next week.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Tainted wheat gluten sold as “food grade”

From HorsesAss.org courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

Del Monte Foods has confirmed that the melamine-tainted wheat gluten used in several of its recalled pet food products was supplied as a “food grade” additive, raising the likelihood that contaminated wheat gluten might have entered the human food supply.

“Yes, it is food grade,” Del Monte spokesperson Melissa Murphy-Brown wrote in reply to an e-mail query. Del Monte issued a voluntary recall Saturday for several products under the Gravy Train, Jerky Treats, Pounce, Ol’ Roy, Dollar General and Happy Trails brands.

Wheat gluten is sold in both “food grade” and “feed grade” varieties. Either may be used in pet food, but only “food grade” gluten may be used in the manufacture of products meant for human consumption. Published reports have thus far focused on tainted pet food, but if the gluten in question entered the human food supply through a major food products supplier and processor, it could potentially contaminate thousands of products and hundreds of millions of units nationwide.

Click here for the rest.

Aw fuck, I'd switched over to 9 Lives canned cat food because Del Monte didn't seem to be part of this wheat gluten scare. I just bought eight more cans earlier this evening. Is the whole pet food industry going down because of this? I'm really too nervous about my two cats, Frankie and Sammy, to be as pissed off about this as I ought to be. I mean, this is totally outrageous, an example of both a lax federal regulatory environment and globalization run amok--the regulations and enforcement that we do have is apparently not enough, and who the hell knows what kind of oversight is going on in slave-friendly China? This is bad. Trust me, Hillary, like her husband a great friend of corporations, ain't gonna do much about this.

As if fewer jobs and benefits, lesser wages, and too many hours for those of us lucky enough to work wasn't bad enough, we also have to fear for our and our pets' lives. But then, that's par for the course. Usually, the straight-up people-killers are chemical plants and the like. I guess I'm just not used to caveat emptor coming into play with the food I eat.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

TWO FROM THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE

I've been working on my second to last edit for my thesis tonight, and I'm up waaaay too late for having to be at rehearsal tomorrow at noon. So no clever chat this evening, just a couple of stories that caught my interest.

Report: Global warming changing life on Earth

From the AP:

From the micro to the macro, from plankton in the oceans to polar bears in the far north and seals in the far south, global warming has begun changing life on Earth, international scientists will report next Friday.

"Changes in climate are now affecting physical and biological systems on every continent," says a draft obtained by The Associated Press of a report on warming's impacts, to be issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the authoritative U.N. network of 2,000 scientists and more than 100 governments.

In February the panel declared it "very likely" most global warming has been caused by manmade emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

More here.

Ricky Martin says if you're gay, 'life is too short' to hide it

Also from the AP:

Ricky Martin defended the right of pop stars to come out of the closet, saying he felt solidarity with Christian Chavez of Mexican band RBD, who recently said publicly that he is gay.

"Life is too short to live closed up, guarding what you say," said Martin — whose sexual orientation has been the subject of speculation — in an interview with the Associated Press. Christian "has to be free in many aspects. I wish him much strength."

Click here for the rest.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Dianne Feinstein resigns committee post
amid scandal; accused of war profiteering

From AlterNet:

SEN. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum's ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.

As MILCON leader, Feinstein relished the details of military construction, even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design. She regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect construction projects, some of which were contracted to her husband's companies, Perini Corp. and URS Corp.

Perhaps she resigned from MILCON because she could not take the heat generated by Metro's expose of her ethics (which was partially funded by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute). Or was her work on the subcommittee finished because Blum divested ownership of his military construction and advanced weapons manufacturing firms in late 2005?

Click here for more.

For years, without really looking into it, I thought Feinstein was a liberal because, you know, she's a Democrat and she's from California. Then I heard Jello Biafra railing away against her conservative tendencies. That's when I decided I should hate her. I mean, yeah, she's good on the environment, women's rights, and gun control, but she's a total corporatist, as big of a poster child for what's wrong with the Democratic Party as the Clintons. At least Republicans are honest about what they are.

Feinstein's a heinous bitch. Fuck her. This scandal's just perfect for her, too. She likes to play with bigtime corporate and government money, and that's what's got her in trouble. I hope she gets roasted.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$