Billed as "a technological phenomenon that was never possible before. It's both a movie and a movement", this documentary, Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War, was apparently shown at house parties around the country on December 7, 2003. Supposedly, 100,000 DVDs have been sold (source link below).
Lawrence Lessig says an updated version will be released in August. It looks like it will be shown on the Sundance Channel on September 6.
This review, Selective Intelligence On Road to Baghdad, of a Frontline episode, Truth, War and Consequences,
from last fall seems worth re-visiting, especially as more documentaries are on the way.
~ originally shared by Andres to the comm-grad listserv.
~ Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War in an article, Copyrighting the President, by Lawrence Lessig in Wired.
Study: Fear shapes voters' views
Responses to candidates differ after thinking about tragedy
7/30/2004 www.reuters.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President George W. Bush may be tapping into solid human psychology when he invokes the September 11 attacks while campaigning for the next election, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
Talking about death can raise people's need for psychological security, the researchers report in studies to be published in the December issue of the journal Psychological Science and the September issue of the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
"There are people all over who are claiming every time Bush is in trouble he generates fear by declaring an imminent threat," said Sheldon Solomon of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, who worked on the study.
"We are saying this is psychologically useful," said Solomon.
Greg Palast asks these in his blog (mark for the rss!), Johnnie Been Good?. He takes some of Kerry's anecdotes and images apart, not in support of Bush, but in support of integrity and more than a nod to the middle-class from the elite.
~ from Sherry on the socjus-teach listserv.
We'll see how the momentum flows but I've been feeling optimistic listening to the Democrats all week. I think they're making a strong and aggressive case in compelling ways. Kerry even got a little rowdy last night - I thought he took a few cues from Al Sharpton in terms of delivery. :-)
The one weakness I see is that the emphasis on hope can present an image of naivete. Obviously Kerry is not naive in any way, but I think people do feel that the world is "a more dangerous place" these days and that danger needs to be addressed as forthrightly and convincingly as the desire to build toward improved conditions and a climate of hope rather than fear.
The text from all the speeches from the convention are available. (Thanks to Becky for sharing this link with the comm-grad listserv.) The best speeches (so I've heard from others) were those by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. We'll have to see how folks compare Kerry's acceptance speech with their context-setting speeches.
NPR has archived the audio if you want to listen to any of the speeches.
The editorial in the NYTimes this morning is decidedly positive. To read it,
Tom Atlee has sent a few more links:
A petition calling for dialogue in America and some resources on political polarization.
copied directly from an email from Tom Atlee:
"SUMMARY: Hawaii State Senator Les Ihara (who has signed the Co-Intelligence Institute's "Pledge to Hear the People's Common Sense") is now organizing state legislators across the country to strengthen public deliberation as a force in state governance. This Thursday 7/22 he and other legislators are sponsoring a session to discuss this at the annual meeting of the main national organization of state legislators in Salt Lake City. He is asking supporters of this initiative (like us) to do two things:
1. To encourage our state legislators -- if they are attending this annual meeting -- to go to this session on citizen deliberation and
2. To call or email our state legislators to join this state-level citizen deliberation effort for the long haul.
Details are below."
I haven't come across any hue and outcrys over online voter registration - and here's an easy way to do it. It does highlight the digital divide - easier for those with access/resources to do it than those without.
If you're not registered - hurry up! :-)
~ via Eric Hamako and the social justice listserv
As I just mentioned, Tom Atlee was on online voting a long time ago, watching the curve of developing events. I appreciate his perception (and his recent willingness to publicize recognizing his own vulnerability and biases). Here's a taste of the lawsuits to come.
Tom Atlee's been sharing stuff about online voting for the past six months or so (maybe more). I've posted several things in here previously. Now, the latest on the threat to postpone the elections - I hope this is the final straw the "illegitimate president" (Donna's infamous label) will play to tip the tide of outrage and propel a new leadership into the white house.
Only Cowards Cancel Elections by William Rivers Pitt.
This just in from the Women of Color Resource Center, their own Declaration of Interdependence.
Thanks to Eric Hamako for posting this to the UMass social justice listserv.
This is a lengthy recent email from Tom Atlee detailing his personal transformation as a result of a dialogue between leaders of the conservative right and leaders of the liberal left. Interesting!
An excerpt:
"On June 11, 2004 I was privileged to join in a fascinating meeting of Left and Right organized by Lets Talk America and the Democacy in America Project. This unusual gathering was funded by the visonary Fetzer Institute and generously hosted at their wooded Seasons Retreat Center in Kalamazoo, MI. When we said our good-byes three days later, I knew my worldview had been changed forever....
...The organizers had invited leaders of the liberal and progressive Left as well as some of Joseph's longtime friends and associates on the Right. ... a couple of former Clinton administration officials came -- Shirley Wilcher of Wilcher Global LLC and the National Congress of Black Women, and Carl Fillichio of the Council for Excellence in Government -- and a number of other folks who have roots in progressive politics, like myself, Mark Satin of THE RADICAL MIDDLE newsletter, and Michael Toms of New Dimensions Radio. Among the pillars of the conservative movement who attended were David Keene, Chair of the American Conservative Union (the largest grassroots conservative organization in the U.S.); Bill Thomson, National Field Director and a leading spokesperson for the Christian Coalition; FBI veteran Gary Aldrich, founder of The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty (and author of UNLIMITED ACCESS); and columnist and radio talk show host Bob Barr, former US Congressman from Georgia and a board member for the National Rifle Association.
Other participants included Laura Chasin of the Public Conversation Project, Lawry Chickering of Educate Girls Globally (and author of BEYOND LEFT AND RIGHT), Joe Goldman of America Speaks, Barbara Marx Hubbard of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution (and author of CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION), Ethan Leib (author of DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA), Jeff Peters of We The People, Ginny Sloan of the Constitution Project, Pat Spino of the Democracy in America Project, Donna Wiesner of BrainTrain, Zoe Schonfeld of the NY office of the Legal Aid Society, and Jeri Barr of Cobb Family Resources....
...we signed the following declaration:
"We the people, gathered at the Season's Conference Center, Kalamazoo, Michigan, June 11-13, 2004, seeking to form a more perfect Union now in 21st Century America, declare:
* We cherish our country and the founding ideals and institutions on which it stands.
* We respect our differences and recognize America needs every one our viewpoints, ideas and passions - even those we don't agree with - to keep our democracy vital and alive.
* We recognize that meeting here and across our land for dialogues across differences builds trust, understanding, respect and empowerment - the conditions necessary for freedom and democracy to live in us and around us.
* And therefore, each still grounded in our own considered views (conscience and convictions), we commit ourselves and our communities of interest to foster dialogue across the many divides in America, in large and small groups, to build trust, insight and inspired action towards the more perfect union we all desire.
* And we support the work of Let's Talk America and Democracy in America Project - and other efforts - to bring Americans into conversations that are inclusive, non-partisan, respectful and open - guided by hosts and ground rules that allow all the voices of 'We the People' to be heard."
For another perspective on this gathering, see this report in the (a href="http://www.radicalmiddle.com/x_fetzer_conference.htm">Radical Middle Newsletter.
__________________________
Tom's current signature quotation:
"Conversation is a meeting of minds with different memories and habits. When minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards: it creates new cards." -- Theodore Zeldin
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