Clearly, this is why I haven’t made a film yet. I haven’t completed about 5 of the 7 steps..
Comments & retractions
From Slate, two lists of comments and retractions about the recent events.
In other retractions, Clear Channel is denying a list of banned songs ever existed.
Alternatives to War/Act Locally
The following is an email message in it’s entirety. Some of this applies to people at large, some of this is direct action that is occurring in Vancouver. I encourage people everywhere to get involved in demanding alternatives to war. At the very least, that the upcoming military action, which appears inevitable, be VERY limited:
Thanks to Brishen for forwarding this on to me.
Measured Response
Seeing as I can’t get any work done today, here’s another response; this one is from the South African newspaper the Mail & Guardian. I found this link at Underacheivers.com
URLS
Oh joy of joys, knobenvy.com is available! It’s so silly, I’m tempted. But not that tempted. Must resist the evil. But maybe Dean would like this.
Flag.
Like Lauren, this is an American flag I’d be proud to fly. Especially if you’re not so sure about the star spangled banner.
A good Apple?
Apple is donating $1 000 000 to the relief fund for NYFD, NYPD and families of the victims of this attack in New York. In addition, they are pledging to give an iBook to every family with children this christmas. And they did all this without a major announcement, which suggests to me that this is do-gooderness more than a publicity stunt. Which is nice. There are so many orphaned kids, or kids that have lost a parent in this, that christmas will probably not be the best time. But for some, it will ensure that something nice happens to them. I don’t normally gush about Corporate donations, as they are always inherently self-serving, but this really does seem great to me. And a classy way to do it, without the media coverage of it.
Clear Channel
Clear Channel, North America’s largest radio network, owning some 1700-odd radio stations has banned numerous songs from their airwaves. Here is the list, as found at Much More Music:
New union drives?
So I was reading this article, which got me thinking again about unionization. Several years ago, a friend and I started the bare bones work to unionize a student-run computer help centre. It wasn’t that the work was so bad, because it wasn’t. The pay was decent, as student jobs go, and it was a fairly good work environment. So why on earth would we want to unionize? Because the reason the job was so good was because of our supervisor. She was an amazing woman who always seemed to put the interests of the helpdesk staff first. She was our friend. She’d come down and hang out, talk about whatever, make work fun, yet at the same time, she made sure work got done.
Then, she got a sort-of promotion. Essentially, she was handed more responsibility apart from running the helpdesk that took her away from us. Nothing changed immediately, but there were subtle changes afoot. New responsibilities were added to the staff. We were asked to support more, different technologies, without being given (proper) training on what to do. Many of us suddenly changed roles at our jobs, with no recognition in titular or financial form. The student staff was split into 2 groups, the ‘first level’ group, who would respond to most calls, and the ‘second level’ group, whose job it was to supervise the first level group, as well as respond to more difficult questions.
I was put into the second level group. While admittedly, I was compensated by earning an extra $1.50 an hour, suddenly I was expected to lead my peers; reprimand them if necessary. In a sense, it split the helpdesk, and the atmosphere was no longer the same. I ceased enjoying the atmosphere at work, as the tension grew : if someone talked to me, would they be reprimanded for not doing their jobs? etc. My job there transitioned further – I essentially became a network administrator there, redeploying their network and making sure that it was maintained properly. There was no other change in my job description or compensation package, even though I was now doing exactly the same job as full time network administrators. My job satisfaction contined to free-fall, and I quit as soon as I could.
So why do I say all this?
Terrorism by any other name
From the New York Times (free subscription required):
‘Mr. Cheney warned that the coming conflict would have to be fought “in the shadows” with the help of unsavory intelligence sources, and despite a 1976 executive order banning assassinations by the government, said he saw nothing to prevent the United States from killing Mr. bin Laden if it could find him. Asked by the “Meet the Press” moderator, Tim Russert, if he would like Mr. bin Laden’s “head on a platter,” Mr. Cheney replied, “I would take it today.”‘
A war by unconventional methods? I should think so. And these comments coming as Bin Laden denies a second time that he has had anything to do with these attacks. When CNN reports than the US is widening it’s probe to include other, non-Al Queda suspects. Essentially, it sounds like the US government is telling the media to not track every move, so that they can act as they will. Use covert operatives, etc. Perhaps stretch ‘the rules of engagement’. The last thing America needs right now is the media to find out that it is committing war crimes, or that it is slaughtering innocent civilians, regardless of what country they live in. I feel the US population might turn against them at this point. Americans are highly aware of the cost of civilian casualties at this point, annd probably won’t support them. No matter who they are. Or maybe I’m just idealistic, and as along as the deaths aren’t American they won’t care whether the deaths are military or not.