"The mayor is just tired of looking at this battered, broken concrete shell," said Frank Keel, spokesman for Mayor John Street. Officially known as JFK Plaza, the small park, which sits in the shadow of City Hall and several high-rise office buildings, is "a disgusting eyesore," Keel said. Street and the city's Fairmount Park Commission, which approved the plaza's $800,000 overhaul last week, want to create a passive green space where office workers can sit and eat lunch.

The park's pending overhaul has become a source of outrage, not just for the city's sizable skateboarding community, but for parents and others who think staid Philadelphia, which has been losing population for years and has recently lost control of its underperforming schools to the state, can only benefit from the influx of hip, young skateboarders to LOVE Park and the city.

"I think when you've got life downtown and a national image and propose to throw it away just to upgrade a downtown space for old people like myself, you're missing the future," said George Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania lecturer in urban studies and historic preservation.

[...]

Indeed, except for the lunchtime crowd, LOVE Park was mostly a haven for rats and the homeless before the skaters claimed it, despite having to scatter frequently from the police officers and park rangers who kick them out. On a recent weekday evening, the park was filled with skaters -- a racially diverse group, but mostly young and male -- as well as a couple of BMX bikers. A few other people walked through on their way elsewhere, and several homeless men sat on the plaza's outside edges. Regulars say as many as 200 skateboarders flock to the park on weekends.

COOPER: Your critics accuse you of being a mouthpiece for Arafat. But in your public talks you openly disdain Arafat, calling him -- among many other things -- a preposterous old man.

FISK: I'm more than disdainful! More than disdainful. I always regarded him during his time in Lebanon as being a very cynical and a very despotic man. Even before he got a chance to run his own state, he was running 13 different secret police forces. Torture was employed in his police stations. And so it was easy to see why the Israelis wanted to use him. He was not brought into the Oslo process, and he was not encouraged by the Americans, and his forces were not trained by the CIA so that he could lead a wonderful, new Arab state. He was brought in as a colonial governor to do what the Israelis could no longer do: to control the West Bank and Gaza.

His task was always to control his people. Not to lead his people. Not to lead a friendly state that would live next to Israel. His job was to control his people, just like all the other Arab dictators do -- usually on our behalf. Remember that the Arab states we support -- the Mubaraks of Egypt, the Gulf kingdoms, the king of Jordan -- when they do have elections, their leaders are elected by 98.7 percent of the vote. In Mubarak's case, 0.2 percent more than Saddam!

[...]

On an ostensibly urgent mission, Secretary of State Powell -- our favorite ex-general -- wandered and dawdled around the Mediterranean, popping off to Morocco, then off to see the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, then he went to Spain, then he went to Egypt, then he went to Jordan, and after eight days he finally washed up in Israel. On an urgent mission!

If Washington firefighters turned up that late, the city would already be in ashes. As Jenin was. It was generally hinted at on the networks, in the usual coy, cowardly sort of way, that Powell wanted to give Sharon time to finish the job, just as he got to finish the job in '82 in such a bloody way.

And now Powell arrives and we see the two sides of the glass. On the one hand, he quite rightly goes to inspect by helicopter the revolting suicide bombing in Jerusalem where six Israelis were killed and 80 wounded.

But faced with the Israelis hiding their own activities, where hundreds [of Palestinians] have been killed, Powell does not ask to go to Jenin. Why? Because the dead are Palestinians? Because they are Arabs? Because they are Muslim? Why on earth doesn't he go to Jenin?

Either way, Palast is an American citizen who writes about corporate America -- from Britain. He says that he left the States because he couldn't get the American press to publish his exposes. In London, his stories about government and corporate abuse of power make front page headlines in the dailies, and he has a regular TV show on the BBC's Newsnight.

[...]

"I think it's a paradigm of 'go along, get along,'" says media critic and author Norman Solomon. "There are many permutations for this rationale for not being too feisty. It's a pattern that goes something like this: 'It's not news, everybody knows it happens. It's dog bites man, similar stories have already been reported, what's the big deal?' Or, 'it wasn't reported, so now it's old news.' ... There's an apparent temptation to which [the independent media] succumb sometimes, not to seem beyond the pale. We don't want to be marginalized, we're always fighting against being marginalized, we have to pick our shots ... The danger is that by trying to stay within proximity o"I think it's a paradigm of 'go along, get along,'" says media critic and author Norman Solomon. "There are many permutations for this rationale for not being too feisty. It's a pattern that goes something like this: 'It's not news, everybody knows it happens. It's dog bites man, similar stories have already been reported, what's the big deal?' Or, 'it wasn't reported, so now it's old news.' ... There's an apparent temptation to which [the independent media] succumb sometimes, not to seem beyond the pale. We don't want to be marginalized, we're always fighting against being marginalized, we have to pick our shots ... The danger is that by trying to stay within proximity of mainstream media's center, we lose our own centers as independent journalists."

In what Solomon calls the "echo chamber" of the American press landscape, getting published once, and only once, doesn't really count. It's getting your story picked up, generating "buzz," making sure your story has "legs." And generating buzz is sometimes a matter of funding. Progressive and liberal independent media, which traditionally might be more interested in publishing articles that challenge corporate power, are vastly out-financed by the conservative right.

"There's much less diversity in our media than there used to be, and conservatives dominate it," says Robert Parry, one of the reporters who broke the Iran Contra scandal at the Associated Press and the author of "Fooling America: How Washington Insiders Twist the Truth and Manufacture Conventional Wisdom."

"It's a tremendously skewed system," Parry continues. "If you're a professional journalist, you're most concerned about getting into trouble with the conservative side. They target things they don't like, and you can be subjected to pretty ugly attacks, and your career can be damaged or ended. If you make a mistake, it's huge, and even if you don't make a mistake, your career can be over."

Most of his houses are free of air conditioning. He has varied the pitch of the roofs of his houses according to the latitude and climate of the site. In some areas, he overlaps the layers of roofs so that the air can move between the layers.

"You have to work with nature. If you don't, nature eventually wins," Murcutt maintains. "The important thing is to understand water, water movement, water tables, sunlight, wind, rain pattern, where water flows. To understand these things is to know where you may place a building, how you might deal with it -- off the ground, on the ground, even underground."

With the cold war over and tolerance for regional dictators waning, the establishment of both electoral democracy and a free market has become the US goal. The simultaneous pursuit of these two objectives is driven by the assumption that they are not only compatible but complementary. As the market is freed, its benefits percolate throughout the economy and reach the whole of society. As the population becomes more affluent, democratic institutions and practices prosper and sink roots. That is the assumption.

Reality, however, cares little for theoretical assumptions about human behavior; the catastrophic failure of communism is proof enough. But under the sway of economic gurus who have more in common with communist ideologues than with rational students of human behavior, America has coupled the two goals and demanded their implementation.

This policy creates a Catch-22 situation. Freeing the market means, above all else, making the economy safe for foreign investment. Doing so requires measures that benefit a small number of people while creating hardships for a much larger group. The theory proclaims that, in time, everyone will benefit, but no one knows when that will be ? if ever.

The actual impact of such a policy is that the middle class grows impoverished and that opportunities are diminished accordingly. This situation produces a dynamic process that undermines both goals. The measures aimed at creating a free market weaken or destroy the middle class. Without a sound middle class, no electoral democracy is stable. [link]

Developed as a spiritual practice in India more than 5,000 years ago, yoga is making modern headlines as an antidote for stress and stiffness. Yoga positions -- known as asanas -- can ease back pain, decrease blood pressure, strengthen muscles, aid digestion and energize the body. Many yoga practitioners say that the discipline's focused attention to the breath and emphasis on meditative movement has emotional and spiritual benefits. Most Westerners think of yoga as a series of stretches, but there is much more to the ancient tradition. The word "yoga" means union -- specifically, union of the body, mind and spirit. The asanas taught in yoga classes cover only one of yoga's eight aspects, as defined by the Indian philosopher Patanjali more than 3,000 years ago. The eight, which also include universal ethical principles such as nonviolence and truthfulness, concentration of the mind, control of the senses, and "absorption in the infinite," are interconnected and are meant to lead to a higher stage of awareness.

"We were being criticised for broadcasting the Bin Laden tapes, but at the same time almost every news organisation on earth was queueing up to pay large sums of money to play the tapes," he said.

Mr Fouda said that the media hysteria by western governments towards the Arab media in the aftermath of September 11 and the early stages of the campaign against al-Qaida and Taliban forces had been hypocritical.

"[Western citizens] were told 'we were attacking the enemies of western civilisation, but in doing so you were challenging the very values which western civilisation was built upon".

Breast feeding mothers and newborn babies emit odours that may boost the sexual desires of other women, a study suggests.

Hormones produced by breast feeding women and babies send out signals which are picked up by others, steering them towards greater sexual desire and fantasies, say researchers.

In the US study, smells associated with breast feeding increased feelings of sexual intimacy in childless women volunteers.

[...]

...on a scientific level, [senior lecturer in psychology at Liverpool University, Dr Ros Bramwell] says this report reinforces previous studies on the behaviour of female hormones.

She suggests women often experience something close to an orgasm when they are breast feeding and produce hormones associated with orgasm, including oxytocin and prolactine.

She said: "Arguably, if women get the pheromones from breast feeding women, they might not be that different from people who have just had an orgasm.

[...]

Study co-ordinator Julie Mennella said: "The data are pretty striking."

She concludes the chemicals encourage other women to reproduce, and that they may have evolved as a signal that the environment is suitable for raising young. [link]

Second thought: as usual, how weird that we're still responding to signals from caveman times.

Third thought: how long til Big Pharma jumps on this one. . .Oxytocin chuggers at the convenience store. . .

Democrats unveiled a new campaign-season set of issues recently, under the title of "Securing America's Future for all our Families."

Republicans quickly said they had been using the phrase "Securing America's Future" since 1999, and accused the Democrats of slogan theft. link]

One of the American cardinals discussing the paedophile priests scandal at crisis talks in Rome says the meeting is close to consensus on a "zero tolerance" policy. [link]

After Indian tribes and environmental groups protested the drilling plan, an unsuccessful effort was made last year to trade drilling rights in Weatherman Draw for rights of equivalent value on the Blackfeet Reservation in northern Montana.

The agreement reached this week leaves the trust holding the only legal claims to oil exploration in Weatherman Draw. The trust has pledged to let those leases expire, and the land bureau said Tuesday it has no plans to permit any further leases of the 4,268-acre site, about 70 miles southwest of Billings.

"To my knowledge, this is the first time an oil company has donated leases to a nonprofit organization," said Richard Moe, president o"To my knowledge, this is the first time an oil company has donated leases to a nonprofit organization," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which agreed to drop its legal challenge to Anschutz's drilling plan. "The Interior Department is happy, the tribes are happy, Anschutz is happy," Moe said.

More large companies, from auto giants to airlines, are producing "sustainability reports" in addition to -- or as part of --their traditional annual reports. In them, they provide a detailed accounting of the firm's environmental and social performance. McDonald's released its first such report last week, and Shell came out with its fifth report a week earlier.

It's easy to be skeptical. The reports are voluntary, and a few of the fledgling efforts have an aura of "greenwashing" (putting an environmental spin on less than exemplary practices). But many seem to be legitimate, transparent, often self-critical reports.

They come in response to a growing demand for information from shareholders, socially responsible investment (SRI) funds, governments, and concerned citizens. [link]

Some say that what's happening in these parks illustrates a pervasive gap in protections for a stratum of society that some privately dismiss as "trailer-park trash." Though 16 states have special laws to guard mobile-home owners, most of the 17 million American homeowners who live in mobile-home parks have fewer housing rights than even the lowly apartment dweller.

Barred from home equity loans to raise emergency cash for moving, often lacking basic leases, and locked out of most newer parks, thousands of Americans are said to have already had to abandon their older mobile homes ? or have been forced to sell them at a loss.

"Every time, homeowners are the ones that lose out," says Terry Nelson, a housing activist from Des Plaines, Ill., who has advised on behalf of victims in some 200 eviction cases across the country. "The landlord takes the money, doesn't keep code, waits until the [municipality] closes it down, rezones it, and sells the land for a profit. That's the cycle we're finding all over the country." [link]

Nowhere is that more true than in Yogyakarta and Surakarta, the twin royal cities of Central Java and centers of the classical Javanese tradition. A new generation of artists is re-creating and redefining the practice of shadow-puppet play, the wayang, and the dance-drama wayang wong (literally, "human shadow play").

America's angry right rails against godless liberals; France's targets immigrants. In both cases, what really seems to bother them is the loss of certainty; they want to return to a simpler time, one without that disturbing modern mix of people and ideas. In both cases this angry minority has had far more influence than its numbers would suggest, largely because of the fecklessness of the left and the apathy of moderates. Al Gore had Ralph Nader; Jospin had a potpourri of silly leftists. Both men were mocked and neglected by complacent moderates.

Now for the important difference. Le Pen is a political outsider. His showing in Sunday's election puts him into the second-round runoff, but he won't actually become France's president. So his hard-right ideas won't be put into practice anytime soon.

In the United States, by contrast, the hard right has essentially been co-opted by the Republican Party - or maybe it's the other way around. Americans with views that are, in their way, as extreme as Le Pen's are in a position to put those views into practice.

Consider, for example, the case of Representative Tom DeLay. Last week he told a group that he was on a mission from God to promote a "biblical worldview," and that he had pursued the impeachment of Bill Clinton in part because Clinton held "the wrong worldview." Well, there are strange politicians everywhere, but DeLay is the House majority whip - and, in the view of most observers, the real power behind Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Then there is John Ashcroft.

What France's election revealed is that we Americans and the French have more in common than either country would like to admit. There as here, there turns out to be a lot of irrational anger lurking just below the surface of politics as usual. The difference is that here the angry people are already running the country. [link]

I'm so relieved. I can rest easy now.

The questioning of al-Qaida prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has descended into farce, with inexperienced interrogators routinely outwitted by detainees, sources on the island said yesterday.

The claims, reported by the Washington Post, came as it emerged that the Bush administration was planning new legal guidelines which would allow detainees to go before military tribunals even if interrogators had failed to extract any evidence of specific war crimes.

Because many army interrogators and Middle Eastern linguists are in Afghanistan, Camp X-Ray relies on young, underqualified and often inexperienced interrogators and linguists. "They twist their pen 2,000 times a minute," one linguist said. "The detainee is in full control. He's chained up, but he's having fun." [U]

Disclaimer: I've been a Lynch fan yes since Eraserhead. I used to go to NYC for such fare regularly in the 70s and 80s. Blue Velvet andTwin Peaks are high water marks for movies and TV respectively. One of my favorite directors. I even like Dune. Even when he's mediocre, he's more interesting than 95% of what else is out there.

That being said: I found MD numbingly slow and only watched the whole thing because Susan was fascinated by it, which is unusual. I have to admit, psychologically its brilliant. I think it should've been an hour (OK 45 mins.) shorter to be watchable in one sitting. I will probable watch it again. It is better than Lost Highway.

It's not just MTV and Internet and the PTSS after 9/11 -- even exquisitely composed films don't hold my interest all the time now. Life is faster and more intense, and while quick cuts can be unwatchable like any technique in the hands of the less talented, it's a lot cheaper and easier to do all kinds of interesting things with film (or digital video) than it used to be. I've seen a lot of movies. Keep the damn thing moving. Unless you're Kurosawa or Tarkovsky et al, static formalism is better left alone. It's not Lynch's strong suit, though his occasionally well-placed lingering-too-long camera -- like Herzog's -- works very well.

So MD is worth seeing, but only people who like a challenge will bother with it. Except for the doublegirl sex scene of course.

I'm sure I'll get enough of a contact buzz off the Salon piece when I read it to enjoy it more another time.

I should mention that Naomi Watts does Award-worthy material here. Tour-de-force.

That's all you'll get out of me.

Here's some backstory on him I got from Undernews, and quote from there since the antiwar.com archives don't go back that far.

JUSTIN RAIMONDO ANTI-WAR, February 5, 2000 - Having reached the apex of his military career after the Yom Kippur War of 1973 - after having been disgraced in high military and political circles for refusing to follow orders and continually placing his soldiers in danger for his own glory - Sharon joined Menachem Begin's Gahal coalition, a merger of the old Herut with the Liberal party, and with three smaller rightist parties later merged to form the Likud bloc. The party traces its origins back to the radical Revisionist Zionist movement of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, founded in 1925. In opposition to the secular and universalist conception of a Zionist state envisioned by the Labor left, Jabotinsky and his right-wing followers upheld a more down-to-earth philosophy of blood and soil clearly influenced by the rise of European fascism. Jabotinsky sang the praises of Mussolini, as did other Revisionist leaders: the Revisionist, as one writer put it, "maintains that the state is the highest expression of a people."

Jabotinsky regarded Palestinians as "alien minorities" who, in a future Jewish state, "would weaken national unity." Their transfer, if not accomplished voluntarily, would "have to be achieved against the will of the country's Arab majority. An 'iron wall' of a Jewish armed force would have to protect the process of achieving a majority," according to the Revisionist leader. To Jabotinsky, the Palestinian Arabs were a subhuman people who had contributed nothing to civilization: it was up to the Zionists to "push the moral frontiers of Europe to the Euphrates," he wrote. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine was a precondition for the success of the Zionist project, and the difference between the Israeli right and its Laborite-socialist utopian adversaries was that the former did not mince words or in any way shrink from this task. While the other Zionist leaders dithered and tried to conciliate their opponents, both in Israel and the West, Jabotinsky disdained incrementalism and boldly maintained that the Jews had the right to take the land of Israel, granted to them, of course, by God. In 1923, he summed up the Revisionist ideology and program succinctly and presciently: "Zionism is a colonizing adventure and therefore it stands or falls by the question of armed force. It is important to build, it is important to speak Hebrew, but, unfortunately, it is even more important to be able to shoot - or else I am through with playing at colonization." This is a policy that the heirs of Jabotinsky in Israel, with Sharon at their head, intend to reaffirm.

Carson's concerns were well founded. After The New Yorker serialized parts of the book, the New York Times ran an article with the headline, "Silent Spring Is Now Noisy Summer: Pesticide Industry Up In Arms Over a New Book."

The story began, "The $300,000,000 pesticides industry has been highly irritated by a quiet woman author whose previous works on science have been praised for the beauty and precision of the writing." It quoted the president of the Montrose Chemical Corporation -- a major manufacturer of DDT, a pesticide that Carson discussed at length -- as saying that Carson wrote not "as a scientist but rather as a fanatic defender of the cult of the balance of nature."

Some of the criticism seems laughable now. After the second installment from "Silent Spring" appeared in The New Yorker, a California man wrote to the magazine:

"Miss Rachel Carson's reference to the selfishness of insecticide manufacturers probably reflects her Communist sympathies, like a lot of our writers these days. We can live without birds and animals, but, as the current market slump shows, we cannot live without business. As for insects, isn't it just like a woman to be scared to death of a few little bugs! As long as we have the H-bomb everything will be O.K. P.S. She's probably a peace-nut too."