The Media Lies, Your Ability to Make Informed Voting Decisions Dies

Being in the tank for a candidate is bad, actively spreading false propaganda is another thing entirely.


The Main Stream Media has completely lost sight its professional standards, and has possibly lost its soul.

Art, or the Colosseum?


UPDATE, thanks to Assistant Village Idiot and Eugene Volokh for the links. If you are here for the first time, please also check out my Art Studio website, Jerub-Baal Studio



Neatoramma posts about German artist Gregor Schneider, who plans to display a person's death as a piece of performance art. A doctor has agreed to help find a volunteer.

Actually, to be fair, Neatorama’s description is not really accurate. The piece would be considered installation art. If I have followed the article trail properly through Google, this interview in the Art Newspaper is where it all started, with a response by the artist to the comments thread here and a further defense by the artist published in the Guardian Further interesting reading on the subject, from a legal angle (US only) can be found at the Volokh Conspiracy (who I might ad, posted an interesting essay on the Aliza Shvarts art-thesis-cum-hoax at Yale, and the legal and ethical issues surrounding Yale’s ending of her project. Read through the comments…. )

I think all of these are good reads before coming to a conclusion about the project.

First or all, Mr. Schneider is taken aback at some of the insults and threats that he has received in response to the publishing of his idea. I can’t say that I blame him. The examples he gives, if they are true (and given the often vituperative nature of on-line commentary, I believe him. He could probably have gone on for several pages… ) Such things are not arguments or discussion, and they do nothing but take away from any rational criticism that could be given to the artist. I sincerely hope for his safety and peace of mind.

That said there are a number of things in the artist’s arguments that appear to me to be flawed. Foremost is his comparison of his art concept with several modern social realities and some art history, as a way of justifying the morality and compassion of his concept.

One of these arguments is that modern entertainment, especially television, regularly portrays death in a degrading way. Well, he will get no argument from me that television is often debasing of its subject matter. However, using this as an argument to validate his motivations or methods as moral and compassionate is highly suspect. This is moral relativism. The unethical, immoral, or distasteful actions of others does not make my actions moral (or immoral, as matter of fact), anymore than Mr. Schneider’s being German makes me an American.

Mr. Schneider’s argument from art history is that, “Michelangelo used to cut up dead people to study their anatomy. Is that not much more shocking than what I am proposing to do?” * Well, obviously, Michelangelo’s subjects were already dead, and were not subject to public scrutiny while he made his studies (that being due more to his fear of the Catholic Church’s authorities than of any moral rectitude on his part). But even in later years, where such dissections were done as a matter of public viewing, it still remains that the subject’s actual passing was not the part on display. The artist's argument would have made more sense had he compared it to public hangings, seen as entertainment by the masses in days gone by. However, I don’t think that comparison would have the effect he hopes.

Mr. Schneider states that, “…I am not proposing that I would bring about someone’s death, or stage it.” ** Or that he would encourage suicide. I believe him. This does leave a scheduling problem. If the point of the exhibit is to show death as a positive experience, then the natural death would have to occur during the operating hours of the museum or gallery, hardly something you could plan out. Would this then mean that the exhibition was a failure, or that the patrons and visitors should get their ticket money back? My understanding of most municipal health code regulations is that leaving a freshly dead and untreated human body lying about in your home or place of business is out of the question. (Heck, I’m not even allowed to bury my cat in the backyard.) This would seem to be a major operational flaw.

Another argument for the moral standing of Md. Schneider’s proposal is that many people die in bleak environments, separated from loved ones and any support. “These days, many die in hospitals, locked away from the public,” and, “Shouldn’t this last journey be the most intimate and personal journey in a person’s life?” *** He is arguing two opposing points here. In one, the public is not allowed to see death (suggesting that the artist believes it should be so allowed), in the other, death should be personal. His proposed art installation would certainly be public. The very act of displaying someone’s death in a gallery environment would remove any vestige of the intimate or personal for the subject. He also complains of the regulations and rules surrounding burial, saying, “In my view, the dying should be able to define the rituals and sites of their funeral themselves.” † But where would this lead? Is the artist then suggesting the possible return of Suttee?

A further justification provided is the support Mr. Schneider has received from a priest. Unfortunately, history shows that the approval of a religious leader is no guarantee of moral strength or purity. (Meaning no disrespect to the gentleman mentioned, who I do not know.)

Finally, I will quote Mr. Schneider one last time. “My feeling is that the church used to provide us with rituals and ceremonies appropriate for death, but in a secular age, don’t we need to create our own?” In a way, this is the whole of the resistance that Mr. Schneider has found himself facing. The lack of a moral framework leaves no standard for decency or any idea of what actually constitutes respect.

This art concept (as a public display) and the arguments underlying it, exemplifies the muddy, self-justifying and often self-centered thinking behind much of the Arts today. In my opinion, such is the result of the amoral atmosphere that exists in the modern Humanities.


Notes

* ”There is nothing perverse about a dying person in an art gallery” Gregor Schneider, The Guardian, Saturday April 26, 2008

** ibid,

*** ibid,

† ibid,

(Editing note, corrected paragraph eight, where I mistyped "we" for "he." The pronoun has been corrected)

Civil Liberties

Kim du Toit notes that the Justice Department wants to build a DNA data base of anyone "arrested, facing charges, or convicted" who gets their fingerprints taken.

Like Kim, I can see compelling convicted felons to give up DNA samples, but to compel it for every person arrested?

So if you get pulled over for speeding, and refuse to give a breathalyzer sample, that's reason to put you permanently in the DNA database. Or how 'bout this, you get arrested because an officer thinks you are someone else. I worried about this once, a buddy of mine and I got pulled over and surrounded by three squad cars, because he was driving a "black SUV" and I matched the description of one of a pair of guys in a "black SUV" that had been doing break-ins that morning. (After the officers looked at our ID, they gave it back and apologized, saying that we were way to old to be the perps.) And of course, your local DA would never issue an arrest warrant for somebody based on flimsy evidence (sudden cough that sounds like "Nifong!").

This is a bad bad idea.

Here is the contact info, where you should let them know, politely that this is unconscionable.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before May 19, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to
David J. Karp, Senior Counsel,
Office of Legal Policy, Room 4509, Main Justice Building,
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20530.


To ensure proper handling, please reference OAG Docket No. 119 on your correspondence.
You may submit comments electronically or view an electronic version of this proposed rule at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David J. Karp, Senior Counsel, Office of Legal Policy. Telephone: (202) 514-3273.

Thanks Kim!

But remember, the worst threat to our civil liberties is the evile Bush Administration tapping the cell phones of terrorists...

UPDATE:Bioephemera notes that GINA, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act passed the Senate unanimously. More at Scientific American. So write to your Senators and Congresspersons, they may actually be in the mood to deal with stuff like this appropriately.

"... Do not therefore grudge me this little earth that covers my body"*

In the big-media news, what attention given to the government of Iran focuses on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's posturing or on concerns of war. Much of the news seems colored by the media's distaste for our current President.

Many of the really news-worthy things happening inside Iran are barely acknowledged, if not completely ignored. There is the popular hatred of the Modesty Police (or the fact at all, that women are treated this way in Iran... ed.), or the student uprising against an Ahmadinejad appointed chancellor at Shiraz University.

Though I have heard of the following from a neighbor, who moved to the US from Iran many years ago (and is a naturalized citizen), how much have you heard in the news about the Mullah's war on non-muslim Iranian history?.

The Iranian government has tried to bulldoze Persepolis, a World Heritage Site. They were stopped only because brave Iranian citizens stopped the equipment by literally standing in the way. The proposed Sivand Dam would flood 130 known archaeological sites, and could flood both Persepolis and Pasargadae, an ancient capital of the Persian Empire, and site of the tomb of Cyrus the Great. The destruction of the tomb of a great historic figure would not bother the Iranian government in the least. In Kashan, the tomb of Firuzan (Abu-lolo) has been destroyed. Abu-lolo lived in the 7th century. The original date of the tomb is not known, but it is known that it was restored in the 14th century.

The Medo-Persian empires are arguably as important to Western Civilization as the Greeks. Without the Edict of Restoration by Cyrus, there would have been no return of the Hebrews to Jerusalem to build the Second Temple. Cyrus was one of the first rulers to create and enforce policies of religious tolerance. The survival of Jewish culture into Roman times assured the survival of the Mosaic Code, which is one of the cornerstones of the ideals Western law and justice.

Iranian scholars have filed complaints in the International Criminal Court charging the Iranian government with "crimes against humanity" for its treatment of these World Heritage Sites.

Much grist for the news-mills was made over the looting at the National Museum of Iraq, which, though very tragic, was greatly exaggerated by the press (one wonders if this was because it made the military and the Bush Administration look bad, ed.). Authorities, including the FBI, are still investigating, and those responsible will be held to account. It is believed that roughly a third of the objects (around 5000) taken from the Museum have been recovered.

The loss of 15,000 cultural objects (and subsequent return of 5000) is a matter of great importance to the civilized world. How much more so the systematic destruction of history on a scale that amounts to Cultural Genocide?



* the title is a translation of part of the epitaph of Cyrus the Great, as recorded by Plutarch and Strabo

Saddam Supported At Least Two Al-Qaeda Groups: Pentagon Report

When the mainstream media reported earlier that "Report Shows No Link Between Saddam and Al Qaeda" were they reading the same Pentagon report as everyone else?


How can you tell when a Network News reporter is lying? Their lips are moving.

Happy π Day

3/14 is π (Pi) Day




OK, it's not really a video, but Kate's song is great!

Snow in Bagdad, First Time in Living Memory

The Far Left gets stuck in an infinite loop as they can't choose between blaming the administration's Iraq War policy or Anthropomorphic Global Warming.




Al Gore was found stationary in a corridor, staring blankly ahead muttering, "global bushing... george warming... global bushing...."

Happy New Year!

and the New Year's greetings from those I daily read...

The Glenn and check out his FORECAST FOR 2008: A 100% chance of alarmism.

Charles Johnson, Party in Bagdad

New Year's Day links from the folks at Maggie's Farm

Ann Althouse

The Moxargon Group's Year in Review

And I'm sure there are many more out there, but as my resolution for this year is to have a more disciplined mind, I'm going to shut down the computer and stop looking at political garbage.

(Hmmm, that may mean turning off the internet for the whole year... ed.)

Can the Press Actually Think and Do Their Jobs?

Watching the 10:00 News, and they are covering Oprah's backing of Mr. Obama.

Some reporter goes out on the street and asks a woman (only person interviewed, gee, no stereotyping or sexist thinking here) if Oprah can "tell her" how to vote.

Oprah is endorsing a candidate. She's not commanding anyone how to vote! There are candidates I like. If I share that with people, does the press think I'm telling them how to vote? Does the press think that Oprah has some strange magical compulsion over the people who watch her show? What kind of idiot asks such a gotcha question thinking that they are going to reveal some sort of truth by it?

I don't agree with Oprah, but after watching the news, I feel I have to defend her.



Well, that's one upside to the corruption and ineptitude of the press. It creates bipartisanship!

Hmmm....

Some guy with mental problems walks into a Hillary campaign office and makes a bomb threat. Hillary bugs the authorities on the phone till the situation wraps up, then makes a press conference.

This makes her look "Presidential."

Some guy speeding in a tanker truck flips over at 1:30 or so in the morning, igniting a neighborhood in Everett Massachusetts. Three multi-family homes are lost, dozens of cars go up in flames, a home for the elderly is evacuated. A lot of people got out with just their pajamas. The next day, as they are preparing to tear down two of the buildings, which the fire made structurally unsound, and one of the residents tells one of the emergency workers that he had ten grand in his freezer. Said emergency worker walks into the unsafe building, finds the mans cash, and gives it to him.

His name isn't even mentioned by the reporter.

What's wrong with this picture?

What Goes Around Comes Around



OK This was also linked by The Glenn but this needs as much linkage as possible.

It turns out, a group of guys in the Iraqi Army wanted to do something for the California fire victims, because they felt that the US had done so much for Iraq. So they raised $1000 US, and gave it to the local US Army commander to pass on.

$1000 US wouldn't get a family of four through half a month. In physical terms, it's absolutely nothing. In terms of sacrifice and a heart of compassion, it's everything.

"As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 'I tell you the truth,' he said, 'this poor widow has put in more than all the others.'" Luke 21:1-3

May God grant these people security and peace.

A Draconian Immigration Measure I Fully Support

A few weeks ago, a comment was left that said if we cannot deport 12 million illegal aliens, why not deport the 535 voting members of Congress? Don Surber


Sounds good to me, lets start lining up the buses.

Saddam Was

Michelle Malkin covers the facts as they seem to be for now. Obviously more info will be released over the weekend.

Must-Read Article at The American Thinker

Amil Imani posts an important essay, Iranians Are Defiant over at The American Thinker.

I completely support the military effort in Iraq. In fact, before 9-11 I thought that military action against Saddam was overdue. The agreements he had signed after the first Gulf War clearly stated that a military response was the punishment for failing to comply with the UN's stipulations. He clearly failed to comply. For the UN to ever have any credibility, or for it to ever be able to prevent any other nation from committing genocide or war crimes, there had to be action behind the threat. Anyone who has ever had to confront a schoolyard bully knows this. "Stop, or I shall say 'Stop!' again," is a Monty Python routine, not the action of a government that wants to be taken seriously.

Just because military intervention in Iraq was the best and only option at the time, does not mean that it is the best option at all times. The mullahs have never really had a grip on the population like that which Saddam had developed. The Iranian people are not cowed under the heal of a Fascist machine, but are still a proud and independent people.

It's time we supported them.

What kind of actions could be taken diplomatically to make the regime an international pariah? What pressure could be put upon their trading partners to cease trading with them? Could the government of Iraq, which has no reason to wish Iran to be dominant in the region, offer to fulfill the oil contracts that Iran has with China. This would protect China's energy supply, and give the Chinese government the opportunity to defend its own sovereignty. Iran's long-range missiles could reach into China, and another nuclear nation in the East would change the balance of power and could seriously hinder China's plans. Not to mention that China has its own problems with radical Islamic factions.

Has anyone got any plan for leaning on the mullahs?

Now would be the time, guys.

Eteraz is once again covering women's rights in Pakistan.

This is important progress. Coming from a military dictatorship with a heavy percentage of Islamic fundamentalists in the population and military makes it especially encouraging.

Time to break out "the Brothers Grimm"

(via Michelle Malkin)

"Parents could be forced to go to special classes to learn to sing their children nursery rhymes, a minister said.

"Those who fail to read stories or sing to their youngsters threaten their children's future AND THE STATE MUST PUT THEM RIGHT (emphasis mine), Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said."

Another quote from the original article...

"Tony Blair has backed the idea of 'fasbos' - efforts to identify and correct the lives of children who are likely to fail even before they are born - and new laws to compel parents to attend parenting classes are on the way."


The last of the Jane Tennison mysteries Prime Suspect 7 just aired here in the US on PBS. (WARNING, spoiler) In the show, one of the main suspects in the murder of a schoolgirl was a young black man from the wrong side of town. The true murderer was the white daughter of the white Headmaster of the school. Under the thinking behind this law, the first would be permanently marked as a problem from before birth, and the latter would never have been on the radar. Of course, this type of reasoning is not new at all, and is even a central part of the plot of the show. However, carving it in stone and carrying it down from on high does not strike me as progress in Civil-Rights. This is class warfare by the (now true in name and function) Nanny-state.

Anyone still questioning the idea of 'slippery slope?'

Good news from Pakistan!

As I have mentioned before, and others have argued, the reformation of Islam and the promotion of peace and democracy there may very well revolve around women's rights. Once their culture is no longer dominated by misogynists there will be a much stronger incentive to be part of the twenty-first century, instead of remaining in the eighth century.

You may have heard by now, but Saddam has been sentenced to death by hanging.

Ramsey Clark was ejected by the judge for calling the trial a mockery of justice.


Let me know when the rope goes taut.


I would say 'let God have mercy on his soul,' and of course, I am not the Judge of the living and the dead. However it strikes me that Saddam long ago chose a path devoid of mercy.




Romans 9:17-19 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

VIVA PANAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Publius reports on the vote in Panama to expand the canal.

Joy in Panama!!! And everywhere else! Makassar! Sydney! New York! Osaka! Dakar! Nearly EIGHTY FREAKING PERCENT OF PANAMANIANS HAVE APPROVED THE CANAL EXPANSION, a higher margin than even the biggest poll numbers indictated. FREE TRADE RULES IN PANAMA!!!!!!

VIVA PANAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Along with the increases in the Dow, and historicly low unemployment in the US, this is good economic news. The new mega-containerships that have been traveling around the Horn of Magellan will now (for many of them at least) have a shorter and cheeper route. Economics of scale (why those ships were built) combined with lower operating expenses will reduce costs and further strengthen the global economy. Reduced costs mean higher standards of living around the world.

One thing I wonder, and if there is anyone more versed in economics than I who reads this, perhaps they can give their thoughts. I would think lower shipping costs for mega-merchants like Walmart would ultimately lead to more consumer items being bought, which would mean more profits for trading partners like China. This would draw China further into the world community, creating more incentives for them to seek a stable political enviroment.

Does anyone else think that an expanded Panama Canal means more political stability and greater peace?


H/T The Glenn