MadBlog

As we gathered in D.C. to protest the fact that our government was lying to and ignoring us, another essential contributor to democracy was choosing to ignore us...the mainstream media.

I'm not so naive to have believed before this that they were encouraged to follow our cause or highlight our successes (or even really deliver the news) - but the near absence of coverage of this rather large event is unforgivable. I don't toss around the word "abhorrent" too often, but it's appropriate.

Granted, I know that there are many things going on...there was a major hurricane wreaking yet more havoc on the Gulf Coast that morning...there was (thankfully) continuing coverage of the pathetic and unforgivable response to Hurricane Katrina...there's the sad and unnecessary ongoing war in Iraq that takes more young, brave lives each day...and a host of other issues out there. But this was hundreds of thousands of people. On the streets outside the White House. Very clearly and vocally telling the people of our nation and the world that our government is failing us, with dire consequences for our nation and the world. Where were they? Where was the press? It's so sad that to get decent coverage of this event (and many others) I had to turn to news sources in other countries to get even remotely accurate or in-depth information.

Enough media ranting...and a little more on the protest, for now.After aprox. 3 hours of speeches at the Ellipse, my friends and I joined the march alongside a long train of flag-draped coffins. Lots of great chants - our personal favorite was the oh so rhythmic and catchy "Move Bush, get out the way, get out the way...Move Bush..." and the familiar "This is what democracy looks like; this is what democracy sounds like..." For a while we followed behind a very fun troupe of marching drummers.

Some clever acts - a great puppetry act with a guy dressed as the devil holding the puppet strings of Dick Cheney, who was in turn holding onto the strings of GW, who was holding a big blow-up earth and performing destructive acts and demeaning gestures towards it.

Always fun and imaginative, the Billionaires for Bush troupe was out, an anti-Bush group that attends protests in ball gowns and suits, looking like polite society and holding signs proclaiming their appreciation for hi-income tax breaks and the like.


The Raging Grannies were also a welcome sight - they put on a great show near the beginning of the rally that I hope to post if I can ever upload audio onto this thing.Despite good competition, I'd have to say that my favorite sign simply said "The RAPTURE is NOT an EXIT STRATEGY."




On our way home from the protest (from the Mall to a friend's house in D.C.) , in the shadow of the national monument once the sun had receded behind a dark red sky (read: d.c. pollution), we saw that Sheehan's Camp Casey had set up next to hundreds of memorial crosses near the monument.

In the end, it was just nice to be among intelligent, peaceful people coming together for the great cause of our time - rallying against an unelected president who wields power for it's own sake and has no loftier ambitions for a nation so great than to saturate it with money and power for the wealthy, white and morally weak. Despite my low expectations, the media still managed to disappoint me...but really, the convergence was invigorating.

Fuck the media. We know the people are with us. It's clear in Bush's declining approval rating and the low and constantly plummeting approval of our war and occupation in Iraq. People are mad. They are mad that their sons and daughters and friends and relatives are dying in a war that has no forseable end and no no substantiated purpose. Mad that the wealthiest and (often) least deserving among us get pats on the back and big tax breaks. Mad that our so-called leaders turned its back on an underserved and very important part of our national community in a time of crisis and human suffering. And I hope they are mad and getting madder that this government wants to take a national crisis and turn it into an opportunity to turn one of this nation's cities with the most culture and character into an upscale development and playground for the rich and properly pious.

God knows why it took so long, but I'm hoping that people are finally starting to wake up. The most crucial part of democracy is the people who it's meant to represent; our greatest enemy is apathy. This is a crucial time in our history, and in this struggle, I've been very disappointed in our general decision to ignore our responsibilities and decline to hold our government accountable.

Generally a pessimist, I'm encouraged now to hold to a glimmer of hope that the people of this nation still care about our global image and have a desire to work for the greater good. We can continue to shop and consume and ignore the world around us, or we can take on the responsibility of being a largely privileged group of people that can be good international neighbors. The issues at face value may seem abstract - global terrorism, scientific research on environmental issues, social mores and religious values - but when you just take the time to think about them, it becomes very simple: a safe place for ourselves and our children - no matter what race, color, or religion.

Ok...before I start singing "Cumbaya' with my candle in the dark, this is katya, signing off for now...

Well, Bush wasn't in D.C. but a hell of a lot of other people were today. (apparently, Bush was in Austin, TX.)

We arrived at the "Ellipse" around 10:30 am, where United for Peace and Justice, ANSWER, et al were assembling. Code Pink started off just accross the way. As the crowd gathered, we were told that more were on their way, stuck up in the D.C. metro system and traffic. By around 11:30, they announced that about 250,000 people has assembled, with more still on the way.

A number of speakers from 10 am to around 2 pm... From Jesse Jackson to Ralph Nader, Cindy Sheehan, George Galloway, Elias Rashmawai, leaders from the labor movement, Unite, ANSWER and ImpeachBush.com...all demanding an end to the occupation of Iraq (and Palestine, Haiti, the Philippines...), and asking Americans to demand truth and responsibility from their government (didn't really quite get ALL that accomplished today, but...)

Galloway, an author and a member of British Parliament, said: "There is an absolute need for your country and for my country to stand shoulder to shoulder against the war criminals -Tony Blair and George W. Bush. It is also important to demonstrate to the peoples of the world, particularly the people of the occupied world, that these criminals are not acting in our name. This is not any clash of civilizations! This is not a war between the people of the West and the people of the East. This is not between Christianity and Islam. George Bush does not represent any civilization!"

Many great signs, wonderful people, and suprisingly chill police. There was a small group of protesters protesting the protest - always nice to see. They camped out outside the FBI building and, from what I heard, struck up some heated but not violent conversations with the peace demonstrators. As usual, the mainstream media is giving the 40 pro-bush supporters equal media time as the hundreds-of-thousands anti-bush contingent on tonights news in the effort to be 'fair an balanced."

The protest was HUGE, although I'm going to take the current reports on turnout with a grain or 2 of salt...speakers at the rally were reporting a high of 300,000, while other media sources are leaving it at something like 'much more than the 100,000 expected.' The police have so far declined to comment on the population of the protest, but I do know that the line of people circled the protest route (aprox 20 blocks) so fast that for a while there was no place to go - the protest route was full of people and for a little bit it was more like a stand in than a march.


Evening events were good - my highlight of the evening was a great performance by the Coup... Spirits were high and the organization of the event was excellent - now it's all of our jobs to take that energy and determination back to our own communities.





So...I've slept maybe 10 hours since last Thursday and I don't think I can make much more of this right now. So many things going on today, my brain is mush and it's one of those things I'll just have to ponder for longer before I'll have any perspective. More to come... and it'll sound a hell of a lot more exciting after a hell of a lot of sleep...I promise!

Kanye West puts in his two cents about racist attitudes towards the hurricane aftermath on tv.

It's always, figuratively and physically, a black and white issue. Concerning the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina, the area of New Orleans has pretty much gone to the dogs, Lord of the Flies-style. Of course most of the blame for NO's societal decay has been scapegoated on black folks, the foremost indication being the whole looting/finding issue that we are all familiar with by now. Whether it was intentional or not, intentionality is not the issue; the issue is projecting internalized racism onto the actions of others without thinking about the consequences when you're supposed to be part of the so-called "neutral" media. Neutrality pretty much becomes moot yet for most, this event furthers their own racism under the banner of "neutrality."

Additionally, the fundamental dualism that presents itself within supporting hurricane victims is problematic. As it is with the War On Terror, either you are with us or against us. None of that pansy pestering you call "critical thinking." Same line of thinking goes with hurricane relief; either you are with us or with the hurricane. West is apparently in the Hurricane camp, which is probably also populated by gay, abortionists, and hippies.

The tone of the AP article is pretty dismissive of West's actions. Yeah neutrality. In describing the uber-cheesy, star-studded TV benefit as "heartfelt and dignified," West is cast as a villain because he is being critical of the effectiveness of the aid sent in by the government.

The JuiceENews website is particularly vehement towards West, calling his actions "selfish and unprofessional" while remarking that "it was clear that now was not the time to voice such harsh opinions." If not now, when? No one cared to think about the strategies of disaster relief before this happened and once something more titillating hits the media, no one will care to think about how to improve things afterwards.

Unfortunately West was not the most articulate in his speech, something that haters will inevitably use and most likely are using in demeaning him and his message. (You can download the video and watch it.) If it's not your poor spelling and grammar to brand you as ignorant and, consequently, your comments as pointless, it's going to be your dictation.

Interestingly enough, right after West says "George Bush doesn't care about black people," they cut straight to Chris Tucker as if to say, "Black Man #1 just got angry! He was supposed to be entertaining. Quick, Black Man #2, go be funny!" Tucker just has this Look on his face: "What the hell do you want me to do? Put a Band-Aid on this? Yeah right." Classic.

Or not at all. Check out the ridiculous quotes from ASM Chair Eric Varney from Monday's Badger Herald article.

Associated Students of Madison Chair Eric Varney dismissed the possibility of a tuition freeze, however, and deemed the tuition hike acceptable.

“Those seeking a tuition freeze simply aren’t being reasonable,” Varney said. “To offset rising costs, including wages, the UW System must raise tuition by at least the rate of inflation.”

Varney added it is outrageous to call the rise “horrendous” due to the stronger pinch many states are facing.

“[Considering] what the hike could have been and has been in recent years, 6.9% is acceptable,” he said.

Varney is, however, not fully sympathetic with the Board of Regents and criticizes them for not cutting costs within the administration.

“There are many ways as to which the Board of Regents could trim the budget, but they seem more content with jacking up fees than consolidating the inefficient administration,” he said.

Y'all got a long hard fight this year, this is just the beginning.

Out of courtesy, we are not currently revealing the staffer's name. And this is the first time I've seen a presumably Beacon staffer comment on the cybersquatting situation, since according to the Badger Herald, "Mendota Beacon Editor in Chief Tim Shea declined to comment on the issue 'as a matter of policy.'"

Below was the kind comment to our press release
by what? @ 07 May 2005 02:24 am
Who is the staffer? Print a name or shut up about it. I work for the Beacon and have heard nothing about this. I think you are just jealous that some randon student out there pulled a joke on you. Put up or shut up buddy!

As a staff, we chose to ignore this situation and its absurdity until we realized how these two domains are giving the Beacon false hits and allowing them to effectively lie to online web advertisers by producing hits that are by folks not at all interested in the Beacon's website. Of course, this doesn't help the Observer's online stats either.

"Put up or shut up"??? Sorry, but I might be able to listen to you if y'all were willing to reveal your sources regarding your "breaking news" story on the Observer's funding situation. Also, you chose to deny printing our correction to that story, claiming that since your "facts" were right and ours were wrong, you wouldn't print the letter. As a news publication, this seems to be a very poor policy decision as "facts" tend to have different perspectives and you owe it to your readers to print those different perspectives as they come to you.

Regardless, I hope that we can figure out a cordial, professional way to resolve this situation. Cybersquatting is illegal. I hope that you understand the ramifications of this as you refuse to comment on the situation. If you didn't do it, just say so, in public. If you did, then please hand over the domains for equal value and provide us with a solution to recover damages.

Rivalry between two alternative papers to result in legal action
MadObserver Press Release
Contact: Youssef Sawan, Editor in Chief, 608.215.7653

The Madison Observer, a progressive bi-weekly, is taking legal action against the conservative bi-weekly The Mendota Beacon, based on allegations that the Beacon is cybersquatting two Observer web domains.

The Mendota Beacon first appeared on the UW-Madison campus as of February 2005 and immediately incited a rivalry with the Observer.

The Beacon’s first issue featured a story that falsely accused the Observer of funneling money through UW-Madison student segregated fees. After being notified of the serious mistake, the Beacon removed the article from its Web site, but refused to print a correction.

In mid-March, the Observer, whose Web address is www.madisonobserver.org, learned the domains www.madisonobserver.net and www.madisonobserver.com had been bought anonymously on March 11 and were redirecting traffic to the Beacon’s Web site. The Observer notified the Beacon of the problem and of its legal implications, but the Beacon denied all responsibility. However, during an informal encounter on April 7, a staff member of the Beacon told two Observer staff members that the Beacon’s editor in chief was directly involved in obtaining and redirecting the domains.

According to the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a case is identified as cybersquatting if “a domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights, the domain name owner has no rights or legitimate interests in the domain name, and the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.” The Observer has found that all of these factors apply to its case against the owners of madisonobserver.com and .net. Kevin Palmersheim of Haley Palmersheim is representing the Observer. Observer members ultimately hope to gain control of these two domains and be reimbursed for any damages.

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