This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Copyright P. Kerim Friedman.
While our Constitution does not guarantee minority groups victory in the political process, it does guarantee them meaningful and equal access to
Agamben on bandits and werewoves: The medieval ban also presents analogous traits: the bandit could be killed (… “ ‘To ban’ someone is to say that
Activist and playwright Dakxin Bajrange was arrested on May 11th, 2003 for allegedly assaulting Prahlad Chhara. The real reason? Performing plays
I’m glad that Taiwan is going smoke-free in public spaces and offices, but this PSA just made me laugh. Its so Taiwanese somehow …
This is a very complex picture (by Cooloud). Taiwan’s President and Vice-President were prisoners in this building during the White Terror. On Human
In 2000 Shashwati and I travelled to Iceland for our honeymoon. We had a fantastic trip, but the flight back was very early in the morning on the
This is one of those “only in Taiwan” stories: Police in Hsinchu 新竹 captured an escaped convict when they noticed a man attending a police-sponsored
iPhone owners are up in arms about the fact that Apple blocked third party applications. Personally I think these people should focus their wrath
The Palm Treo is a decent device, but it costs twice what it should and it hasn’t been significantly upgraded in years. Unfortunately, I need one. I
From an interview with Greg Palast, where he argues that both the media and congress are missing the real story behind the US attorney scandal:
The following quotes and chart were culled from Jason DeParle’s New York Review of Books article, “The American Prison Nightmare.” The issue has
The Employee Free Choice Act passed the house vote, now it is going to the senate. If you are a US citizen, please go here to tell your senator that
Just how many different ways has the Bush Administration tried to hide once-public information sources from the public record? Help us count the
In his classical work, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter Benjamin wrote that modern technology would free art from its
A known terrorist enters the United States and the department of Homeland Security only arrests him after a Miami-based NY Times reporter points it
Did you know that a secret government algorithm assigns you a “risk score” every time you fly in or out of the country? That have no way of knowing
There are two important stories about the use of “alternative interrogation techniques” by US forces which deserve to get more attention: First, the
This really is gruesome, so don’t read it if you don’t want to spoil your day. Still the recent murder of five children in a home in Hualien has
This is a general shout-out to all the stupid people out there: Thank you! Thank you for buying your memory from Apple (or purchasing a black
This is so important that I can’t believe the NY Times wants you to pay to read it. So here it is: Kristof’s latest article on Darfur … and Chad.
We are happy to announce some very exciting news … Today we signed a contract with Documentary Educational Resources (DER) to distribute two of our
One of the most moving experiences we had when shooting the film was a performance arranged for the cadets at the Gujarat Police Academy. It will
Kieran Healy recently posted this chart showing incarceration rates in the US compared to other “basically well-functioning advanced capitalist
In Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World writers and intellectuals are banished to an island where they have complete freedom to say and do whatever
Having never served on a jury, my knowledge mostly comes from the movie, “12 Angry Men“. But I’ve always found the instructions given to juries
The NY Times has gotten into the whole Google Maps mashup craze with this map identifying every murder committed between 2003 and 2005. Between
A longish title for a Keywords post, but these names are important to remember. They are the two Uighurs who remain in prison in Guantanamo four
A longish title for a Keywords post, but these names are important to remember. They are the two Uighurs who remain in prison in Guantanamo four
Guest post by tf Much of France is fixated on the televised parliamentary hearings concerning the Outreau sexual abuse scandal, named for the town
The other day we visited Maninagar with Dakxin Bajrange. Maninagar is now little more than a street lined with tents. The people there used to have
If the Bush administration has an ideology, it is that of executive power. John Yoo, now a Berkeley law professor, formerly a “mid-level attorney in
Writer Dilip D’Souza, a long time advocate of India’s Denotified Tribes, or DNTs, has a moving post promoting our film. He draws from his book,
Post of the month: It turns out that the false information about Iraq’s supposedly training al-Qaeda operatives in the use of chemical and
Bush v. The Onion: You might have thought that the White House had enough on its plate late last month, what with its search for a new Supreme
Jeffrey Rosen called Chicago law professor Richard Epstein the “intellectual guru” of a movement to “resurrect the Constitution in Exile,” meaning
Regarding Harriet Miers, who was picked by Bush to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court, Senate Majority Leader Bill
OK, I’ll admit that I consider most community access television shows to be a joke, especially Rabbi Mordechai Friedman’s “Judaism, The Series”
This December, Shashwati and I are going to India to shoot a documentary film about the residents of one city’s slum who are using theatre to fight
I haven’t blogged about Roberts because there doesn’t seem to be any point. He will be the next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He may even be,
I can’t stand A Prairie Home Companion, but it wasn’t something I was going to blog about until Ish brought my attention to the fact that Garrison
Seems that violent worker protests aren’t unique to China, and “Made in Taiwan” does not ensure that something is made under humane working
I’ve stayed out of the whole “stolen” election issue, because I tend to believe that both sides play pretty dirty whenever they can. I’m all for
If, as Doonesbury suggests, the terrorists really are after us because they hate freedom, there may be no need to fear any longer. The NLRB has
Shashwati has been written up in the South Asian press! His eventful life makes for a perfect movie script — serial murders, young, beautiful women
I’ve added it to my blogroll, but it really deserves its own post. Nathan Newman has joined the borg at TPMCafe and is blogging up a storm about
Don’t blog Andrew Sullivan much around here, but this is a must: One great merit of the Schmidt report — which is otherwise riddled with worrying
This site, using Google maps to show the location of all convicted sex offenders in Utah has me really freaked out. On the one hand, having entered
Last week Bill Poser of Language Log had a post about Leo Stoller, a Chicago businessman who claims not only to have copyright over the word
In many ways Kelo v. City of New London reminds me of Bush v. Gore. In both cases the court reversed its ideological course in order to serve the
Nixon and his crew suspected Felt (because they mistakenly thought he was Jewish), but dismissed the idea (because they mistakenly thought he would
is the alias of Hsu Hai-ching 許海清, one of Taiwan’s top gangsters, whose funeral procession yesterday included thousands of
Jeanne, who is going to join Tom Tomorrow in what is turning into a wonderful group blog, has been doing some good blogging on the Afghan prisoner
What really impresses me about President Bush is his almost instinctual ability to choose and elevate to positions of power people who go beyond the
The US prison population has risen further, with one in 138 people now in jail, new official figures reveal. There are more than 2.1 million US
Alan Berlow’s Atlantic Monthly article about death penalty memos written by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to then-Governor George Bush is
Graduate student teachers at Yale and Columbia universities are on strike to demand the right to form a union (recently denied to private schools by
Even though the new bankruptcy law will hit New Yorkers harder than the population as a whole, New York congressman Joseph Crowley was one of 73
I’m glad to know that the United States Army does not take hostages. Because, you know, it wouldn’t look good if they did. Also, see Body and Soul
Andrea Dworkin, who died today, never claimed that all heterosexual sex is rape. statements that Dworkin makes about the meaning of intercourse are
1,806 people were arrested in New York during the Republican Convention. It is now clear that the police were simply harassing people to limit their
I suppose late is better than never, but MoveOn has finally decided to get onboard with the fight against the bankruptcy bill — the day before the
I don’t know what it is about bankruptcy law. It seems really difficult to get any kind of traction on this issue. Most people understand that the
This ad, by French clothing company, Marithe et François Girbaud has caused a big stir in Europe: It wasn’t just that it was based on Leonardo’s
I recently described working in a coal mine in China as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The most dangerous factory job in the United
used to be viewed as a natural phenomenon. Now we know better. The average life expectancy of adult humans has more than doubled in the last
Campaign Contributions from the Finance/Credit Industry to Current Senators, ’99-’04 An analysis of the contributions shows that senators who voted
I never liked Congressman Crawley, our congressman from Queens, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that he is one of the cosponsors of House bill H.R.
Facing the threat of unionization, Wal-Mart closed its Jonquiere, Quebec store rather than pay its employees living wages and benefits. The Canadian
In my last post on Ward Churchill, I wrote: If Churchill did deliberately misrepresent the work of other scholars, his academic status should be
In the Star Trek episode “The Gamesters of Triskelion” prisoners are controlled through collars around their necks. While Homeland Security
Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) has a campaign to send letters on behalf of an imprisoned Iranian blogger:
I tried mailing a document to a friend in Arizona. It got returned. Why? We regret that your mail is being returned to you because of heightened
The above is a picture taken by Lewis Hine for the National Child Labor Committee in 1909, titled “Photograph of Bibb Mill No. 1, Macon, GA.” The
This is a story that would certainly be generating much bigger waves if it involved a Democrat, rather than a pro-torture (i.e. pro-Gonzales)
It turns out that many of the states which banned same-sex marriage unwittingly also banned civil unions — even though most people in those states
Good riddance! They can’t find anyone worse, right? … Right!? UPDATE: As Leila points out, it looks like Alberto Gonazales will be the next Attorney
If things go wrong on November 2nd, the No Stolen Elections website is the place to go: Our goal is to support existing election protection work
Rehnquist is not the only member of the Court to have been diagnosed with cancer. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 71, had colon cancer, Sandra Day O”Conner,
I have always found it interesting that there is tremendous anger at tort lawyers, but not at the insurance industry. How bad is the problem of
I was listening to Weekend Edition on NPR and heard a pollster say “gerrymandering” with a hard “G,” as in “gate.” It turns out that such a
Boy is David Neiwert mad! I guess I must be horribly out of touch with the Republican version of reality, because I’m still not really certain what
From the Editorial Page of the New York Times, a sense of what we are up against: The Poll Tax, Updated When members of Mi Familia Vota, a Latino
My dad has a letter to the editor in today’s times, placing Afghanistan’s elections in a historical context: To the Editor: It is important to put
Kevin Drum points to two very important articles (actually four, since the second one contains three parts). These are both really worth your time,
AKA “the Long Island Lolita,” has a new book: If I Knew Then. Here is a snippet from the AP news story: Fisher speaks candidly in the
Derrida (1930-2004) famously argued that writing preceded speech. By this I believe he meant that the “iterability” of language logically preceded
In Brazil the gangs send a press release before invading another favela
My latest Anthropology News article, “Open Source Anthropology” is now available online as a fully editable wiki article. Please feel free to
Joi Ito just got his student I.D. card, and now he can access all those wonderful academic databases, like Lexis-Nexis. His thoughts on this are
Why do we hold elections on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November? Why early November? For much of our history America was a
A law to legalize torture of suspected terrorists was slipped into the bill implementing the 9/11 Commission Report. Jeanne has the details
I don’t normally resort to name-calling on this blog, but Ted Rall is an idiot. Here is what he says about voters who don’t know that Bush is rich,
Until it was reversed by a federal judge, a recent court case in Detroit was the only terrorist conviction obtained from the Justice Department’s
Mark Schmitt recalls being asked the question: “Do any of you seriously believe that it is possible to have a real progressive movement in this
Reporters Without Borders is outraged at this latest escalation in the government’s attempts to suppress the right to inform the public via the
The first day after 9-11 my Shashwati and I, worried by stories we had heard about a racist backlash, went to eat at our local Afghan kabob house to
In July I wrote about the case of Edward Caraballo, a journalist who was implicated in the trial of the American “vigilante” Jonathan Keith Idema.
With Skype’s SkypeOut service, internet telephony has truly arrived, but this brings with it a whole set of questions. Most importantly, will VoIP
When I lived in North Philadelphia, check cashing places (which charge nearly 300% interest) were the only businesses I saw in the poorer
That’s the number of people they are saying were arrested in New York during the Republican convention. A judge ordered that 500 of them be released
The L.A. Times has a scathing editorial against the Supreme Court ordered tribunals for the Guantanamo detainees. (The Supreme Court didn’t order
while Google is accessible to Chinese users, not all of its functions are available; because of China’s content filtering technologies, users of
From Boingboing.net, three stories on “freedom of speech” (1, 2, 3): First, a story from the ACLU, whose court filing was censored by the Justice
There has been a lot of talk about how hypocritical Bush is for asking Kerry to disavow 527s (such as MoveOn.org). As Nick Confessore writes: If
Whether it is taking pictures in public places, or using a wireless connection outside a library, it seems that the police and even the population
Yes, there is a little gulag in New York City. It is located in Queens and its name is the Wackenhut Detention Center. And everybody should know
There was a lot of attention paid to the fact that Republicans in Florida were pushing voters to cast absentee ballots. But it seems that this is a
In his book Stupid White Men, Michael Moore included an open letter to Palestinian President Arafat: I have the key to your success. I know how you
Via Nathan Newman, an important article on the legal threat to use of card checks for union organizing and media coverage of the issue. What is Card
I’m very happy to announce, that after much thought and preparation, I have finally launched my own personal wiki! It isn’t the first time I’ve run
The New York Times reports that an award-winning documentary filmmaker was arrested in Afghanistan for allegedly participating in vigilante
This silence can not last. What are you still doing here? Click on the link! Now
Congresswoman Corrine Brown (D-FL) represents 600,000 Americans in the Duval County/Jacksonville area. She was censured by Congress for suggesting
[A]s critical as the government’s interest may be in detaining those who actually pose an immediate threat to the national security of the United
78% of South Koreans have broadband internet access. But none of them can access most blogs. Why? Because the government is trying to limit access
REQUEST FOR URGENT FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIP FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS
There has been great discussion of the phrase “under God” as it is used in the Pledge of Allegiance over at LanguageLog. The long and the short of
I was watching last night’s Frontline on “The Plea” (you can watch it online starting Monday), and I was struck between the similarity between how
Ashcroft’s arrogance knows no bounds. For those of you who don’t know already, Ashcroft refused to hand over documents requested by congress. These
I was contemplating purchasing a laser printer from a company called Legend Micro — until I read their return policy. Return Policy In order to
The NYC subway system is considering a ban on photography on its trains and platforms — despite the long and honourable tradition of shipping
What is your definition of a “police state”? How about having one out of every 75 men in prison
Kevin Drum points us to a LA Times article on Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, which he boils down to its essence: Gay marriage opponents are
The title of this post is in quotes, because that is how it appears in the 1983 Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual put out by the CIA. The
John Fabian Witt asks, Can China protect its workers? China and other developing Asian economies are experiencing an industrial accident crisis of
—> Sign the petition! Remember James Yee? Here is what Jeanne at Body and Soul wrote back in February: … James Yee, the Muslim chaplain at
Anyone hopeful that justice will be served in the Abu Ghraib investigation might wish to take a look back at the My Lai prosecutions: In the end,
By using torture to question the top terrorists it has in custody, the government has effectively sabotaged any future prosecutions of al-Qaida
The government is going to have to come up with new ways to block out information in public documents. Already there was a scandal when a sensitive
More on Abu Ghraib (in no particular order): Sidney Blumenthal: Bush has created what is in effect a gulag. It stretches from prisons in
Seymour Hersh, on the O’Reilly’s show (via Political Animal, emphasis added): O’REILLY: All right. Well, the damage to the country obviously is
Call it the whoopee cushion doctrine. It is hard to believe that the government now regards flatulence jokes, the lamest staple of gag gift stores,
I hope the US Supreme Court takes this into account as it makes its decision on the Guantanamo Bay case: A month before the alleged abuses
Article 3, Section 1(c) of the Geneva Convention states that prisoners of war shall not, “at any time and in any place whatsoever” be subject to
(man-dame-us) n. Latin for “we order,” a writ (more modernly called a “writ of mandate”) which orders a public agency or governmental body to
A 3-page memo was leaked which reveals aspects of the links between Cheney and Enron. The three-page document contains eight points spelling out
What is IMAP? It is simply a way of accessing your e-mail. Right now, if you use Entourage, Outlook Express, Eudora, Apple Mail, or some other
Amnesty International’s report revealed that China, Iran, the USA and Viet Nam accounted for 84 percent of the 1,146 known executions carried out in
It seems that expectant mothers who wish to carry their pregnancies to term are the ones most likely to be harmed by the Unborn Victims of Violence
Chris Mooney (who still doesn’t have an RSS feed) has an interesting post about how Republicans have undermined important public policy initiatives
Via both BoingBoing and LanguageLog, a very disturbing story about how the Academy of Art University in San Francisco is attempting to control the
It isn’t news that, despite their racy tabloids, the Brits have less freedom of speech than we do in the United States. Well, formally anyway. I
Wohohoho, it’s real, shame and scandal in the family Wohohoho, it’s real, shame and scandal in the family (Link via Cursor.org, lyrics from Peter
One group I never “got” are the “Gay Republicans.” But two news stories, one in the New York Times, and the other in the Washington Post, have
Mike at Ishbadiddle points out an interesting legal quandary: So amidst all the Gay Marriage backing-and-forthing, one thing I haven’t seen
Notice, for example, that recognizing gay marriage will not require a constitutional amendment, but blocking it will. Even if Scalia and Thomas
I would like to retract an earlier post. I suggested that the Democrats try to use “states rights” to re-frame the issue of same sex marriage. But
There has been considerable discussion (see the comments over at Lessig’s blog) about whether or not San Francisco’s mayor was right to go against
An excellent two part (one, two) article by Michelle Goldberg in Salon about how Ashcroft is encouraging local police departments to spy on anti-war
This is an upsetting abuse of copyright laws. On what grounds can anyone justify giving Joyce’s heirs 70+ more years of copyright to his work?
Advice to Kerry (or whoever the Democratic candidate turns out to be): Re-frame the issue of “gay marriage” as an issue of women’s rights. Efforts
UPDATE: Apple has finally extended the Logic Repair Program to cover late 2001 iBooks!!! Took them long enough, but I’m glad they did the right
Sometimes I wish that conservatives would make an effort to be logically consistent. I suppose some do, but most seem to have no problem switching
Remember when Bush bragged about his human rights record? No President has ever done more for human rights than I have. Billmon had a good
I’ve written several times about my ambivalence towards General Wesley Clark. This Democracy Now interview, in which reporter Jeremy Scahill
When I was studying Chinese the school had a policy that we had to speak Chinese all the time, even during our lunch breaks. A well intentioned
From the National Coalition Against Censorship newsletter, an important article about students being punished for dark or violent writing (emphasis
Read this article!!! It explains very clearly what is at stake if Bush wins the 2004 elections. …if President Bush is re-elected, we will be close
For those who didn’t look at the “Education Life” supplement to this week’s Sunday Times, there was a nice collection of articles covering the
Now the french are proposing to ban Bandannas, in addition to “Islamic headscarves, Jewish yarmulkes and large Christian crosses.” I posted over the
is bad for you: Mercury is one of those unambiguous poisons. It’s a known nerve toxin and a cause of birth defects. Minnesota and 40 other
A question for Ashcroft: What does a guy have to do to get a congressional bribe investigated
The trouble with prison isn’t that it doesn’t work; the trouble is that it doesn’t work very well but does cost a fortune compared with other ways
I’ve never been overly picky about my vegetarianism. I eat seafood, eggs, and often eat food cooked together with meat dishes as long as I can’t
The answer to problems like the Pentagon’s accounting system clearly is not more flexibility — what is needed is more accountability. Accountability
At least 20% of the Guantanamo detainees have been held without charges for years even though they were innocent. These are just the ones that the
I totally missed this brilliant post from Nathan Newman, written about three weeks ago. He discusses allegations of liberal censorship of
In my travels in the developing world, I’ve often been struck by how even those who hate the United States for its foreign policy have a very
“Attorney General Ashcroft has dismissed critics of the Justice Department’s tactics as ‘hysterical’ and has even said that such criticism aids the
Talk Left opposes hate crimes legislation because he sees it as an ineffective and unnecessary extension of federal power. Debasish Mishra, a board
Let me start with a personal revelation: I have toenail fungus. It is a very common problem, one that can easily be cured with a pill. The problem?
Marstonalia has some interesting ideas about what can be done to “stop” the downward spiral in the politicization of the judicial confirmation
America shouldn’t be subcontracting torture. From a Washington Post editorial, which TalkLeft takes to task for not going far enough. Much more
A recent article in The Nation starts with an account of the grass-roots mobilization (from both the right and the left) against further
Sometimes you stumble upon a character from history who seems like they must have been made up — then you realize that is because they are probably
I haven’t written anything about the Diebold electronic voting scandal because Body and Soul has done such a good job, there seemed very little to
One in six U.S. prisoners is mentally ill. Many of them suffer from serious illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.
Frankly, I’ve been quite shocked at the number of male bloggers who seem to feel that rape is justified if some certain “point” has passed in a
FYI: Soft and chewy candy is generally categorized by the industry as either “gummy” if it has a primarily gelatin base, or “juju,” if it has
The above is a frame from Cartoonist Joe Sacco’s NY Times Article on the Israeli destruction of homes in the Gaza Strip. The International
We got a “free” Lexmark printer with the purchase of one of our computers. Don’t ever fall for such a trick. It is like giving crack out for free.
Nathan Newman reports some good news: A federal district court in Texas ruled on Wednesday that Ken Lay and other Enron executives are liable to
Newspaper articles are usually pretty boring stuff, but this one uses Batman (the T.V. series) style sound effects to describe a … book signing
FROGMARCH verb [mid-19th century and still in use] to carry someone face down, one person holding onto each limb; used on drunks or recalcitrant
Attorney General John Ashcroft has become a threat and a menace to our criminal justice system and to the civil liberties that have been the
It seems that working for an organization with the name “Islamic” in it, or having a common muslim name are both likely to get you locked up in a
Well, they probably won’t impeach Bush, but it seems he pretty much just admitted that he lied to congress
Jonathon Delacour, writing about Japanese aesthetics, says the following: One of the reasons for my strong interest in Japanese literature and
Some interesting facts about crime rates and prisons: …crime rates in America, after rising sharply through the 1960s into the early 1970s, began
The New York times reports that “Africans Outdo Americans in Following AIDS Therapy.” This is a serious issue because failure to take medicines
On the one hand … our government is funding the internet service Anonymizer.com to protect Iranians from the prying eyes of their government. On the
Pictured here is a typical Taipei street scene, captured wonderfully by a computer science professor at Columbia. (I found the picture using
Amptoons is right, Pedantry’s series of posts about language policy is one of the most interesting things in the blogsphere right now. (Right up
Over at Nathan Newman: … a white criminal gets more job interviews than a black person with no record at all. It almost boggles the mind that there
I’ve been following an excellent series of posts over at Alas, A Blog about the Kobe Bryant Case (1, 2, 3). In particular, a link to this article by
As many of you may know, Ashcroft is running around promoting the Patriot Act and his new Victory Act as if it were snake oil. He also launched a
I was reading Noy Thrupkaew’s discussion of recent Gay-themed TV shows in The American Prospect, when this caught my eye [my emphasis]: Indeed, the
I’m starting a new campaign: Arrest Ashcroft for “Conspiracy against Civil Rights“!!! This law dates back to the reconstruction era and has mostly
There goes my site’s “G” rating! Probably means you won’t be able to visit my site from a school or public library web site anymore! Oh well… The
Following on my marriage post, I think this link to Balkinization deserves an entry of its own. Jack Balkin has an excellent post which clarifies a
One of the interesting things about the recent Supreme Court decision on the Texas anti-Sodomy law was the way in which it went out of its way to
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Copyright P. Kerim Friedman.