Again in the forefront of every backward step:
U.S. refuses to sign ban on cluster bombs

OSLO, Norway (AP) — An Afghan teenager who lost both legs in a cluster bomb explosion helped persuade his country to change its stance and join nearly 100 nations in signing a treaty Wednesday banning the disputed weapons.

Afghanistan was initially reluctant to join the pact — which the United States and Russia have refused to support — but agreed to after lobbying by victims maimed by cluster munitions, including 17-year-old Soraj Ghulan Habib. The teen, who uses a wheelchair, met with his country's ambassador to Norway, Jawed Ludin, at a two-day signing conference in Oslo.

[And for what reason, I wonder, does the U.S. insist upon using one of the most unambiguously evil devices mankind has ever devised? The story continues ..... ]

The U.S., Russia and other countries refusing to sign the treaty say cluster bombs have legitimate military uses, such as repelling advancing troop columns.

Cluster bomblets are packed by the hundreds into artillery shells, bombs or missiles, which scatter them over vast areas. Some fail to explode immediately. The unexploded bomblets can then lie dormant for years until they are disturbed, often by children attracted by their small size and bright colors.

The group Handicap International says 98 percent of cluster-bomb victims are civilians, and 27 percent are children.

* * * * * * * * * * *

The teenager mentioned in the news story is not the one I've pictured. The photo comes from journalist John Scully's web site, Am I Dead Yet?

Human flesh search engines -- another dark side of the internet

The Obama campaign's use of the internet to mobilize positive, political participant is one of the brighter chapters in the Net's presence as a contribution to public life. Now from China comes some awful news about ways in which "human flesh search engines" are used by aggressive moralists to hound people suspected of wrongdoing.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Beijing - Some call it a weapon in the hands of a righteous army, forged so that wrongdoers might be smitten. Others say it simply allows a mob of vigilantes to publicly vilify and humiliate anyone they choose to pick on through grotesque invasions of privacy.

Either way, the peculiarly Chinese Internet phenomenon known as the "human flesh search engine," a citizen-driven, blog-based hunt for alleged undesirables, claimed a fresh victim this month when a mid-ranking government official lost his job.

Accused of accosting a young girl, Lin Jiaxiang found his name, address, phone number, and workplace plastered all over Chinese cyberspace for 250 million Internet users to see, and his alleged crime the subject of hundreds of insulting blog postings.

Mr. Lin might be thought to have gotten his just deserts, especially since the police refused to prosecute him because he'd been drunk. Grace Wang, however, a Chinese student at Duke University, was outraged when netizens back home, offended by her efforts to mediate a campus dispute between pro-Tibetan and Chinese students last March, tracked down her parents' address and emptied a bucket of feces by their front door. . . . .

* * * * * * * *

It's easy to imagine mud slinging campaigns of this sort in the U.S. as well.

China's plans to bailout Detroit

Chinese carmakers SAIC and Dongfeng have plans to acquire GM and Chrysler, China’s 21st Century Business Herald reports today. . . . The paper cites a senior official of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology– the state regulator of China’s auto industry– who dropped the hint that “the auto manufacturing giants in China, such as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) and Dongfeng Motor Corporation, have the capability and intention to buy some assets of the two crisis-plagued American automakers.”

A take-over of a large overseas auto maker would fit perfectly into China’s plans. As reported before, China has realized that its export chances are slim without unfettered access to foreign technology. The brand cachet of Chinese cars abroad is, shall we say, challenged. The Chinese could easily export Made-in-China VWs, Toyotas, Buicks. If their joint venture partner would let them. The solution: Buy the joint venture partner. Especially, when he’s in deep trouble.

At current market valuations (GM is worth less than Mattel) the Chinese government can afford to buy GM with petty cash. Even a hundred billion $ would barely dent China’s more than $2t in currency reserves.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/breaking-news-chinese-may-buy-gm-and-chrysler/

* * * * * * *
Is this what has finally become of the Bush/neocon/Republican Party dreams for America as the "world's lone superpower"?
- Langdon

Vroom-Vro0m!! -- Detroit in crisis, no surprise

From my vantage point, what’s happening to Detroit is the culminationof a slowly developing car crash.

Anyone who’s read Keith Bradsher’s “High and Mighty,” a social history of the SUV, understands the broad coalition of groups – the companies, labor unions, federal and state politicians, suburban families, and others – who came together to resist building fuel efficient automobiles and push for big, heavy, profitable vehicles. Several of my students who’ve done internships at GM in recent years have come back with the same basic story. A good many top level managers were fully aware that corporate culture and the firm’s product line needed drastic reform to respond to the realities of peak oil and climate change. But in the middle layers or the organization, inertia prevailed. Equally disappointing from my students’ reports is the fact
that while young engineers recently graduated from the best engineering schools were aware of the pending energy crisis and the need for “sustainable technology,” their inclination was to keep designing vroom-vroom muscle cars, as if the power fantasies of the 1950s and 1960s were still the cool way to go.

Those who argue that a bailout of Detroit should revolutionize its “corporate culture” should include money for psychotherapy of the technical staff.

- Langdon

American power fantasies today: Housing

The above photo shows unfinished McMansions in Las Vegas, construction halted by the mortgage crisis. A story from the ironically named "Center for American Progress" web page tells the sad story.

Green technology updates

GM chief admits failure to develop hybrid auto.

Detroit has long dragged its heels in energy saving, planet saving technology.

"Not making a hybrid car like the Prius was a "mistake," outspoken General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz told a room of Chevy Volt "fan boys" at the New York Auto Show this week.

"We had the technology to come out with a hybrid at the same time as Toyota," Lutz said Tuesday. "In hindsight, it was a mistake. ... We made the mistake and we won't make it again." [ABC News]

Warren Buffett's portfolio includes trains

It's been clear since the energy crises of the 1970s that a wonderfully "appropriate" or "green" technology would be a decent railroad system like the ones that exist in Europe.

"Want to invest in a green industry that employs the latest technology, reduces U.S. oil consumption and is priced very attractively? Look no further than the railroads. Laggards for decades after the 19th-century boom ended, they're hot again.

"There was steady traffic growth until last year, and the trend looks good once the economy gets back up to speed," says Kenneth Kremar, an economist who follows the railroad industry for consulting firm Global Insight. Perhaps that's why railroad stocks have largely escaped the battering that other sectors have taken so far this year." [CNN Money]

Confronting Tyranny and Stupidity: What Works? --
My talk at the Democracy Teach-in

Below are links to the edited YouTube version of the talk I gave at the teach-in on democracy held at Rensselaer, October 24, 2007. This version contains the overhead slides I used to illustrate some ideas. Please click on each of the segments separately in order, otherwise YouTube may direct you to the earlier version, out of sequence and without the slides! Unfortunately, the parallels I was suggesting in the talk seem increasingly apparent.

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



(My thanks to Ethan Bach for the video editing.)

Welcome to Troy -- Home of Banned Art




Right up there with...OH, NO!!

















The history of banned art is truly an ignoble one, ranging from silly gestures to monstrous forms of oppression. Most famous of all, was the banning of some of the greatest works of painting and sculpture in modern Europe during Hitler's reign of terror. The black and white picture above shows people lining up for a special showing of "Entartete Kunst," degenerate art, works that Hitler had confiscated and censored. This exhibition in Munich, July 1937, was emblematic of the waves of police state persecution that led directly to the Holocaust. From a web site on this period of history:

"Entartete Kunst portrayed the eclipse of an age of "decadence and chaos", while the Great German Art exhibit heralded the dawn of a new epoch of Governmental control of the Arts: sanitized, uninspired, and devoid of dissent.

Entartete kunst was just the tip of the iceberg: In 1937 alone more than sixteen thousand examples of modern art were confiscated as 'degenerate' by a committee headed by Joseph Goebbels, Hitlers second in command (and Minister for Public Enlightenement and Propaganda)

On March 20th, 1939, the Degenerate Art Commission ordered over one thousand paintings and almost four thousand watercolors and drawings burned in the courtyard of a fire station in Berlin. Other works were auctioned off to the highest bidder ...."

* * * * * * * *

Isn't it interesting to notice the company that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the City of Troy, New York are keeping in their efforts to sanitize both campus and city of controversial works of art?

Joseph Weizenbaum, computer scientist and social critic, is dead at 85

He was a good friend. I learned a great deal from him and appreciated his kindness and support during good times and bad. His book, Computer Power and Human Reason, is still the most sensible philosophical exploration of computing and the human prospect.

Here's the story from the New York Times.

University tramples free speech and artistic liberty:
some lingering questions

Yielding to pressure from right wing political groups, Shirley Anne Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has decided to make permanent the university’s the ban on “Virtual Jihadi,” an exhibition by visiting artist Wafaa Bilal. (See below for earlier developments.) A statement by William Walker, Vice President for Strategic Communications and External Relations, tries to explain:

“The decision was based on numerous concerns, including, in particular two characteristics of the video game in the exhibit, as affirmed by the artist: First, that the video game in the exhibit is derived from the product of a terrorist organization; and second, that the video game is targeted to and suggests the killing of the President of the United States.

Rensselaer fully supports academic and artistic freedom. We respect the rights of all members of the Rensselaer community and their guests to express their opinions and viewpoints. However, as stewards of a private university, we have the right and, indeed, the responsibility to ensure that university resources are used in ways that are in the overall best interests of the institution.”

The exhibit has been moved to the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, a community center where artistic freedom is still revered.

The episode raises several important questions.

1. Do the leaders of Rensselaer recognize the difference between fact and fiction?

The answer is clearly “No.” By the standards articulated in the present ban, if a university theater group ever decides to produce Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the actors could well be arrested for planning and enacting a criminal conspiracy.

2. Does the university recognize the principle of free spelled out in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution?

Again the answer seems to be “No.” R.P.I. has assumed the power to curtail speech that is protected by the nation’s founding law.

3. Does the phrase “Rensselaer fully supports academic and artistic freedom” have any significance? No. These words are hollow, without any real substance. Something is “full” in the R.P.I. administration, but it is not recognition of academic and artistic freedom.

4. How will the faculty and students respond to this outrageous decision?

Good question. At present widespread torpor on campus is a perfect complement to President Jackson’s autocratic style of so-called “governance.”

5. Given recent the events, what would be an appropriate name for the fabulously costly building -- the “Experimental Media Performing Arts Center” (EMPAC) – the university will soon open?

How about: SMPAC – Sanitized Media Performing Arts Center
Our motto: Guaranteed not to offend, or your money back!

* * * * * * *

UPDATE:
Sanctuary shut down by malicious Troy bureaucrats

On the morning following last night's talk by Wafaa Bilal and his dialog with the audience gathered at the Sanctuary for Independent Media, the City of Troy decided to shut the place down. The Sanctuary has been open for several years, so you'd think that issues about building codes would have been addressed in a different context. It's obvious what this abuse of power by city officials is all about.

Here's an excerpt from the Times Union:

Troy shutters site of 'Jihadi' video game
Sanctuary for Independent Media: Doors at issue

By BOB GARDINIER, Staff writer
March 11, 2008

TROY - The controversial "Virtual Jihadi" video game and art exhibit has now had two very short premieres.


Wafaa Bilal's "Virtual Jihadi" video game exhibit that features himself as a suicide bomber on a mission to assassinate President Bush opened last night at the Sanctuary for Independent Media and this morning the city shuttered the building for code violations.

"They put us out of business," Steve Pierce of the Media Alliance said. "They said we had doors that were not up to code."

Pierce said he got a call from city officials this morning telling him to close the building. . . . .

Art Police: the saga continues

Things are heating up around the censorship of artist Waffa Bilal at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (see my first postings on this story below).

There's a good YouTube interview with Bilal on the website of the Project for a New American University, along with an extensive written commentary about the matter by Brian Holmes.

Here's another link to the video:

Tonight, 3/10/08, at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, the banned exhibition will be shown, 6:00 for the reception for Professor Bilal, 7:00 for the exhibition of his work. Here's the announcement from the Sanctuary folks:

"Iraq-born video artist Wafaa Bilal will be on hand for a reception at 6 PM followed at 7 PM by a presentation about his installation "Virtual Jihadi" which will be on display at The Sanctuary for Independent Media through April 4, 2008. Admission is by
donation ($10 suggested, $5 student/low income). Another version of this installation opened on March 5, 2008 at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute but as reported by the Times Union
it was abruptly closed the following day.. . . . A local Republican
operative on the payroll of the City of Troy, Rensselaer County /and/ NY
State called for protests at the Monday, March 10 show opening at the
Sanctuary in an article in the Troy Record."

And this just in.... An unconfirmed report from one of my students indicates that the website of the College Republicans has been taken down by RPI. Irony of ironies. Will they scream "CENSORSHIP!!!!"?

You can't make this stuff up!

(For better or worse, the constitutionally protected web bile issued by the College Republicans has been preserved for posterity, but I won't bother reprinting it here.)

I'm looking forward to tonight's art program. Let's hope that people on all sides remain cool, respectful and non-violent, despite their disagreements.

- Langdon

Art Police Shut Down Exhibit at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Invade Classroom

Stories in the Washington Post, Newsday and Times Union describe the sad tale of a university responding to political pressure to close an exhibit by controversial artist Wafaa Bilal. Here are excerpts from the Post:

"In the video game that Wafaa Bilal created, his avatar is steely-eyed and hooded, with an automatic rifle at his side, an ammunition belt around his waist, a fuse in his hand and the mien of a knightly suicide-bomber. He is the "Virtual Jihadi." ...

"His work was briefly exhibited Thursday night at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. The game was projected on a giant screen so that one viewer at a time could play -- until administrators shut down the show Friday morning. The institute needed time to review the show's "origin, content and intent," said William N. Walker, a vice president." ....

* * * * *

The fracas included an unfortunate incident, one that casts a shadow over acdemic fredom at Rensselaer. From the Times Union:

"The controversy intensified Wednesday, when Bilal was scheduled to give a lecture and unveil his exhibit.

That afternoon, RPI students in a class taught by media arts professor Branda Miller were interviewing Bilal when he was pulled out of the room by RPI officials.

"It was very unsettling for me and my students," Miller said. "It would be unfortunate if Wafaa Bilal's art exhibition remains closed. The whole point of art is to encourage dialogue." ....

* * * *
The origin of the controversy arose from protests by the College Republicans on the campus, a group interested in works of art, at least the ones they think require censorship.

Fortunately, Bilal's exhibit will be shown off campus at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, a wonderful place where artists, writers and everyday folks gather to exhibit their works and exchange ideas, realizing the promise of the First Amendment freedoms, a project evidently too risky for the university to abide.

Another dimension of the story is that RPI is about to open a enormously costly "Experimental Media Performing Arts Center." The Bilal incident raises serious questions about how "experimental" the Center's offerings will be and who decides.

UPDATES:

A colleague in the Arts Department passed along the news that this morning, March 8, faculty in the Arts Department found themselves locked out of the building where they work because security was under orders (according to the posted guards) to prevent Wafaa from getting into the building!

Meanwhile a message from the RPI administration offered these chilling words of reassurance:

March 8, 2008

To the Rensselaer Community:

You may have seen coverage in the news media of actions taken by the
university regarding a visiting artist on campus. This is to provide
more information on this situation.

After becoming aware of and discussing concerns expressed by some
members of the Rensselaer community about a lecture and associated
exhibit by digital media artist Wafaa Bilal, the university decided to
allow his March 5 lecture to go forward. Most observers agreed that he
presented a stimulating and thought-provoking lecture.

We are pleased to have Mr. Bilal among us to contribute to the
intellectual and artistic life of the Institute, and we look forward
to his continued presence in our classrooms and studios as a visiting
artist.

During the unveiling of the artist's video game exhibition, "Virtual
Jihadi," important concerns surfaced that the work may be based on a
product of Al Qaeda, and questions were raised regarding its legality
and its consistency with the norms and policies of the Institute. The
university is considering various factors relating to the exhibition,
and has suspended it pending a more complete review of its origin,
content, and intent.

Rensselaer fully supports academic and artistic freedom. The question
under review regards the use of university resources to provide a
platform for what may be a product of a terrorist organization or
which suggests violence directed toward the President of the United
States and his family.

William N. Walker
Vice President for Strategic Communications and External Relations

* * * * * *

What could be more "thought-provoking" than censoring an art exhibit and blocking access to a university building?

(Sorry to have been away for a while. I'll be posting fairly frequently from now on.)