Sunday Night at the Radio!

Jack Benny! From Swamp, er, Camp Adair, "Infantry" (14 May 1943).

The Great Gildersleeve: "City Employees' Picnic" (21 May 1943).

And The Six-Shooter: "Jenny" (20 September 1953). Last week I played the audition show; this, I think, is the first broadcast show.

Police blotter!

Yourhub (bub):

A Jefferson County Sheriff's deputy was sent to a home on the 11000 block of West Burgundy Avenue on a report of a disturbance at 9:44 April 26. The deputy spoke to a 35-year-old man who said he was in an argument with his 28-year-old girlfriend about what the first word in the dictionary is. The man said he thought the first word was "aardvark"and his girlfriend thought it was the word "a". The man said the argument became loud, but there was no physical violence during the debate. The deputy spoke to the woman who confirmed the story. The deputy determined no crime was committed.

Libertarians on sixth ballot!

As everybody knows, the party is meeting in Denver this weekend to select its candidate for president. Right now they're tallying the sixth ballot (it's on C-Span) and only Bob Barr and Mary Ruwart are left. The tension is driving me mad--oh, wait, that's a mosquito bite. Reason is liveblogging the excitement.

Update: It's BobBarr, 324 to 276! Tremble, Rethuglicans and Dhimmicrats!

Ward Churchill has operation for aneurysm

The disgraced ex-professor underwent surgery Friday for an aneurysm in his leg, a source tells the Drunkablog. Churchill pal Shannon Francis sent out this e-mail:

Our brother Ward Churchill went in for surgery today for an aneurysm in his leg/ankle. Please send your prayers out to Ward for a good outcome and quick recovery. When I get more information, I will send out later. Talk soon!

Iliff School of Theology prof and American Indian Movement elder Tink Tinker had a little more:

I just spoke to Natsu and Ward is doing just fine. Resting easily. The surgery was a success, so the surgeons say. Keep him in your thoughts just to make sure.

All Things Considered does R!ecreate68

Not much new from NPR Denver reporter Jeff Brady, but a few good nuggets. For one, Brady says "the city's head of security for the convention says he's talking to the group and is relatively comfortable all will go smoothly." But wasn't Glenn Spagnuolo claiming just a couple of days ago that the city had cut off communications? Yes, he was. Odd. Maybe the new guy renewed contact.

Brady: "[R!68 cofounder Barbara] Cohen says the group is operating on a tight budget. It has about $1500" (ten of that is mine; if this thing fizzles I want it back). The tightness of the budget raises a frightening possibilty. Cohen:

In case we have to get our own port-a-potties, we will be having an adopt-a-port-a-potty campaign, where for $120 you can pay for a port-a-potty and that will give you the right to decorate it . . .

Is she serious? They're expecting 50,000 people and they don't know who's paying for the port-a-potties? What if they don't get adopters? Will the city have to pony up, or are we looking at 50,000 people and three (nicely decorated) port-a-potties in Civic Center park?

Along with some fun sounds from 1968 like William F. Buckley threatening to push Gore Vidal's face in if Vidal doesn't stop calling him a "crypto-nazi," Brady digs up a couple of original 68ers for quotes. Tom Hayden says the potential for violence in Denver is less because likely nominee Barack Obama opposes the war. Fellow 68er Bobby Seale says he won't be marching; he had a heart attack a few years ago and has a defibrillator. Seale's son, Brady says, is an army reservist on his way to Iraq in June. What a country. Happy Memorial Day!

DNC parade route to be announced June 12; other agreements reached between city, ACLU

The Rocky lacklusterly leads:

The ACLU of Colorado has reached agreement with the city of Denver and the U.S. Secret Service on some of the issues the group raised in a federal lawsuit dealing with First Amendment rights during the Democratic National Convention this August.

Denver will announce the designated parade route to the Pepsi Center, the site of the convention Aug. 25-28, by June 12.

The ACLU preserves its right "to challenge the adequacy" of the parade route and to "argue for a prompt disclosure of the location and other details relating to the termination point of that route."

Denver will try to accommodate up to three parades daily [!] on the designated route.

Denver will begin processing already-pending requests for parade permits June 12 and will complete that processing by June 19.

Denver will establish a "Public Demonstration Zone" on the grounds of the Pepsi Center

As the story notes, the ACLU still has some isseeyous, especially that termination point. They want a court order (from their press release):

directing Denver to disclose promptly the termination point of the Designated Parade Route;

directing Denver to disclose promptly all restrictions that it will impose on activity within the Public Demonstration Zone, such as

the location and size of the zone

any restrictions on the number of persons allowed in the zone at one time

the locations of all entrances and exits

the nature, height, and transparency of any barriers that will interfere with or limit communication between persons inside the zone and delegates outside the zone

any restrictions on signs or banners within the zone

any additional regulations or restrictions on First Amendment activity within the zone;

and directing Denver to disclose any plans to close or restrict access to any other public forum space as a result of the DNC.

Lawyers. Is there anything they won't demand?

(via El Presidente, who links to the better Post story. Chuck Plunkett rules!)

More: Ed Driscoll says Hillary's RFK assassination remark shows that even she's worried about Recreate68.

We gotta get out of this place

As if the presence in Denver during the DNC of Christine Aguilera, Bono, Oprah, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks weren't enough, the Post's Bill Husted notes that:

Re-Create 68 Alliance will be camped in Lincoln Park. I hear they're thisclose to having Rage Against the Machine play during the confab. Sean Penn's bus, the Dirty Hands Caravan, is being courted to come to town with its New Orleans volunteers. Word is Penn's very interested in being here.

Weird Bird Friday

Expired chicken breasts!


From here.

Drunkawife

Swoon

Rocky Mountain News liberal baglady Mike Littwin on "The night I met 'Teddy'." You can imagine. I'll just quote one commenter: "Oh gods below, Littwin. Did you save the blue dress, too?"

Meanwhile, in the front yard . . .

University of Colorado student newspaper adopts "equal space" rule

Not voluntarily. According to chancellor and blame-dispersal unit G.P. "Bud" Peterson last month, CU,

under the leadership of Provost Phil DiStefano . . . pledged to review recommendations made by Journalism Dean Paul Voakes and the faculty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication for restructuring and oversight of the Campus Press. As a result of these recommendations, the Campus Press editors have adopted a new opinion policy that states in part, that all opinions deemed controversial will be discussed by student editors who will strive to offset controversial opinions with a counter opinion published the same day and on the same page.

Peterson announced a few other new and humiliating policies:

Beginning in Spring 2009 the Campus Press will no longer qualify for course credit but will be open to all students. However, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication will continue to support this effort by providing space, a professional advisor and a modest operating budget. Finally, Journalism Dean Paul Voakes will create a Campus Press oversight board that will include not only journalism faculty but also non-journalism students, faculty and administrators representing a broad diversity of campus interests.

All of these policies, of course, in response to the PC stupidstorm kicked up by CU student Max Karson's mega-lame, fake-racist satire in the Press last February. What's hard to believe is that the journalism faculty recommended them. Way to be craven, guys.

(via the Vincent Carroll piece linked below, which I'll link to again anyway)

Carroll: R68 is a bunch of babies

Rocky editorial page editor Vince Carroll is on fire! Stop, drop and roll, Vinnie!

While he's doing that, I'll quote from his latest editorial:

Speaking of activist groups with a hair trigger, could there possibly be one more tedious than the Re-create 68 Alliance with its endless complaints about access to Denver parks during this summer's Democratic National Convention?

Waaa! We didn't get a permit to protest in Civic Center on the eve of the convention. . . .

Doesn't "Waaaah!" have an "h" on the end?

It is particularly rich to see Re-create's Glenn Spagnuolo invoking constitutional rights and fair play in the group's pursuit of protest permits. After all, he doesn't actually believe in the First Amendment as most of us understand it - at least not when the issue is whether the Columbus Day parade should enjoy an undisrupted trip through Denver's downtown. Then Spagnuolo can be found in lock step with the likes of Ward Churchill, who would shut the parade down.

The likes of Ward Churchill?

Now Spagnuolo presumes to lecture Denver officials about the importance of free speech. Which is important only when he says so, apparently.

Carroll still doesn't get it: The Columbus Day parade isn't an exercise of free speech. It's a hate crime, and therefore not protected by the First Amendment.

Update: More DNC via EP at SP:

1. Glenn Spagunolo was on Peter Boyles' show several times earlier this month. Having long ago forged the habit of never listening to Boyles, I missed them. This show (May 7), also has Larry Hales, and sounds quite dated already. Boyles, of course, asks obnoxiously easy questions (How many people will be here protesting, Glenn? How many do you think, Larry?). I'll listen to the rest of them (find them here) someday, maybe.

2. Fartmobiles:

The Molson Coors Brewing Co. has been named the official ethanol provider for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, to be held in Denver Aug. 25-28.

Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP) of Denver, and its Golden-based Coors Brewing Co. subsidiary, will donate all the E85 ethanol needed to power a fleet of General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) flex-fuel vehicles to be used at the convention.

Molson Coors also is Presidential-level sponsor of the convention, and will provide beer for Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee convention and pre-convention events, meetings, media briefings and VIP events. Presidential is the highest level of convention sponsorship, with sponsors contributing $1 million or more of cash and/or services, according to the host committee.

Uh-huh. Another interesting fact or figure:

While most ethanol comes from corn, Molson Coors' ethanol is produced from waste beer. The ethanol used in DNC vehicles will come from Coors Brewing's brewery in Golden.

There's an oxymoron only fellow alkys will appreciate: waste beer. It's not waste unless there's a cigarette butt floating in it (and sometimes not then). Coors produces 3 million gallons of ethanol annually.

3. DNCC essay contest winners announced. Here's the opening graf of high school junior Maria Tanabe's essay, "Restless for Change" (pdf):

"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do--ask what you can do for your country." The wise words of John F Kennedy are timeless and resonate loudly in the upcoming election of 2008. The future of our country is change and the power behind that change is the people. Individuals are becoming involved and are participating in government because the world is quickly shifting, and everyone wants a voice in the change.

Young people are the future of this country.

For further information

Look elsewhere. "Normal" blogging will resume shortly. If you haven't heard all the good R68! stuff that's been going on, check out Slapstick Politics. El Presidente has even begun a DNC "countdown" roundup that's chock full of DNC-ee goodness.

RSVP, chucklehead

Ward Churchill may or may not appear at the People's Networking Convention in Madison August 15-17. He's been invited, anyway:

The event aims to create an atmosphere of support and collaboration in our efforts against the government’s domination and the injustices that come with an exploitative economy. It will be an opportunity for face-to-face dialogue and discussion related to grassroots democracy in our communities. Speakers invited include Howard Zinn, Derrick Jensen, bell hooks, Starhawk, and Ward Churchill.

Blech.

Anarchists give up on Recreate!6!8

A long, long piece by the jolly sociopaths at Crimethinc discusses the effectiveness of "mass mobilizations" and strategerizes on the RNC and DNC protests, taking time to diss Recre!at!e68 along the way:

Unfortunately, in the course of the past year, major differences have emerged between the local organizing in Denver and St. Paul. It now appears that, as in 2004, the demonstrations at the RNC will be several orders of magnitude larger than those at the DNC. Like it or not, we must take this into account. . . .

[A]narchist organizing [for the DNC] has taken place in the shadow of Recreate 68, a coalition of liberal and radical groups. This has manifested itself most recently with the cancellation of one of Unconventional Denver’s two primary days of action, despite two nationwide consultas [!] and months of planning, at the request of an immigrant and Chicano rights coalition. . . .

Hadn't heard about that. No doubt accusations of racism were exchanged. But really, you have to wonder what R68!!! honcho Glenn Spagnuolo did to alienate anarchists even more than they're usually alienated (which is pretty alienated). Probably a charisma overload. Crimestinc ain't sayin', instead using the "anarchists have responsibilities too" excuse:

The surge in anarchist traveling culture that coincided with the publication of Evasion is long past; nowadays most anarchists can only be away from their communities for limited periods of time, so they have to choose carefully which national events to attend. Most will probably choose the RNC over the DNC, deeming Denver a tragic but unavoidable missed opportunity.

I've long deemed Denver a tragic but unavoidable missed opportunity.

This does not mean there is no potential for demonstrations at the DNC. Even a small but exciting action in Denver could serve the important purpose of heightening expectations and morale for St. Paul. Hopefully at least a moderate number of highly motivated anarchists from the surrounding region will converge in Denver with a plan for making something memorable occur.

A small but exciting action. In contrast, things are jumping in the Twin Cities, where

anarchists are involved explicitly in every level of the organizing in a way we haven’t seen since the successful FTAA protests in Quebec of April 2001. The RNC welcoming Committee, an explicitly anti-authoritarian organizing group, has for
well over a year already, and has established relationships of mutual respect and collaboration with broader antiwar organizations throughout the region—an achievement that has eluded other anarchist organizers for years. . . .

So, following a full year of regional and national strategy consultas, the RNC strategy that has been consensed upon by groups nationwide is… shutting it down via blockading.

Yep, that's what they've consensed upon, all right: blockading. They go on and on about it, too, but I'll just throw in a few more fun quotes. A philosophical question:

So is it more effective for one person to smash twenty windows on an empty street, or for twenty people to smash one window with the eyes of the world upon them? For that matter—is it safer to smash windows alone, or during a mass mobilization when lawyers are prepared to spring into action and police may be hard pressed to prove that they grabbed the right black-masked hoodlum? Is an example more infectious when it takes place in a typical suburban setting, or in a glamorous moment of collective activity?

A sad truth and a wistful daydream:

The antiwar movement of the following years was a colossal failure—perhaps the most colossal failure in the history of antiwar movements. . . . Imagine the effect if a mere tenth of the participants in the February 15 [2003] demonstrations had smashed recruiting center windows or blockaded ports!

Pigs want violence (we'll claim):

All this could change overnight if the powers that be saw a significant threat to their ascendancy; but it suggests that compelling the police to use force at the conventions this summer would be a coup, in that it would frame them as aggressors in a time when they are trying to dispel that
image. . . .

It may be that we don’t need to succeed in actually shutting down the convention in St. Paul this summer to deal a blow to our enemies and seize the attention of the world; we need only provoke a serious confrontation with the police.

Lovely folks. But here's the question: Is Rec!reate68 falling apart?

Old hamburger is green

The host committee for the Democratic National Convention has released its "green" requirements for catered food at parties it sponsors during the DNC. The Post:

Fried shrimp on a bed of jasmine rice and a side of mango salad, all served on a styrofoam plate. Bottled water to wash it all down.

These trendy catering treats are unlikely to appear on the menu at parties sponsored by the Denver 2008 Host Committee during the Democratic National Convention this summer.

Fried foods are forbidden at the committee's 22 or so events [no Rocky Mountain oysters!], as is liquid served in individual plastic containers. Plates must be reusable, like china, recyclable or compostable. The food should be local, organic or both.

And caterers must provide foods in "at least three of the following five colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white," garnishes not included, according to a Request for Proposals, or RFP, distributed last week. . . .

"I think it's a great idea for our community and our environment. The question is, how practical is it?" asks Nick Agro, the owner of Whirled Peas Catering in Commerce City. "We all want to source locally, but we're in Colorado. The growing season is short. It's dry here. And I question the feasibility of that."

And if a guy named Nick Agro questions the feasibility of something, you better listen.

"There is going to be sticker shock when those bids start coming in," he says. "I'll cook anything, but I've had clients who have approached me about all-organic menus, and then they see the organic stuff pretty much doubles your price."

Hope they're not thinking of shifting money from the rubber bullet and Taser budget.

Haven't they suffered enough?

AP:

Cuba's gay community celebrated unprecedented openness — and high-ranking political alliances — with a government-backed campaign against homophobia Saturday. . . .

State television in Cuba, where prejudice against gays is deeply rooted, gave prime-time play Friday to the U.S. film "Brokeback Mountain," which tells the story of two cowboys who conceal their homosexual affair.

Update: Not such a big deal, really. The Cuban dictatorship said long ago that it ♡s trannies.

Update II: Radar in 2006 on Raúl Castro:

News articles on exile websites about the hand over, which may prove temporary if Fidel ever recovers, are routinely accompanied by reader comments that refer to Raúl as el maricón, a Spanish derogatory term equivalent to "faggot." . . . Asked how widespread the belief is, a member of a Cuban exile family from Miami told Radar simply, "Everyone knows Raúl is gay."

The Western press has almost entirely ignored the rumor, aside from The Economist, which has mentioned in passing that Raúl is known as "la China," or "the Chinese girl." This, according to The Economist, is because he is "effeminate." In fact, it carries a clear implication of homosexuality, says Ann Louise Bardach, author of Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana," and an expert on the regime.

Bardach acknowledges that the rumor about Raúl is remarkably pervasive. It's not even particularly farfetched: Gay relationships are exceptionally common in Cuban culture, even among men who consider themselves straight, says Bardach. "It might be the gayest place on the planet outside of South Beach."

I did not know that.

(h/t Will T. Power)

Wondered why Colfax was so bumpy today

Der Posten:

Michael McBride pounded his way through the 13-mile half marathon, a black metal cart hitched to a harness he wore trailing behind him like a rickshaw.

Four small gray oxygen cylinders were suspended between the cart's bicycle wheels and green tubing pumped air through his nostrils to his battered lungs.

"As long as I'm moving, they can't bury me," said McBride, 55, who was diagnosed with emphysema three years ago.

Ex-smoker, no doubt. Something else to look forward to.

He was one of more than 2,400 runners who registered for the half-marathon, the most popular event of the Colorado Colfax Marathon, Half-Marathon and Relay today. A total of 5,216 people registered in all three races.

It took McBride and his 100-pound load three hours and 50 minutes to make the run from City Park to Aurora and back.

This wheezer's some kind of freak of nature (and American Tobacco). Even now, years after I quit, my staggers around Sloan Lake always end with Billy Bob having to drag me the last quarter-mile.

He runs with his cart, built by an engineer friend who designed a suspension system that keeps it from pushing him downhill, 3 to 6 miles a day Monday through Friday. He takes longer runs on the weekend. . . .

The barrel-chested McBride has always been physically active, but didn't start running until he was diagnosed. "I was one of those people who go to the gym three days a week and smoke on the way home."

Just like me! Except for the "gym" part! Our reporter shows an eye for the telling detail:

Despite his illness, he had more success than some. At least one man collapsed, falling in a heap beside a sound system blaring Midnight Oil's "Beds are Burning," about 100 yards from the finish line.

Might want to follow up on that.

Update: Good name in the story: Keith Panzer.

Update II: Not surprisingly, since the marathon was sponsored by the two papers, the Nee-ewes has more:

Unlike last year, when runners were sent in the wrong direction, adding a half-mile to an already brutal 26.2-mile race, the top 30 runners only had to go an extra quartermile this year.

They were led off course after the first mile because a bicycle pacer made a wrong turn. But within a few minutes, race officials knew the runners were headed in the wrong direction out of City Park and turned them around.

Nice work. Funny, the News doesn't mention anyone collapsing and the Post doesn't mention the wrong turns.

Protesters warn: DNC lawsuits a'comin'

As if you didn't know. Susan Greene in the Post:

They call it the Activists' Retirement Plan. Cities have paid protesters millions of dollars after using overly aggressive, unconstitutional police tactics to handle mass demonstrations.

Denver insists it won't happen here.

"The city's working to create a positive environment for people to express themselves," City Attorney David Fine said of the Democratic National Convention in August. "Our intention is for a week that doesn't result in claims against the city."

Aim high.

Some activists aren't so sure.

"Any time you get a bunch of law enforcement people with a $50 million security budget and new toys, they're going to find a threat. They'll manufacture one if they need to. And we'll all be paying for it later," warns Paul Bame, a software engineer from Fort Collins.

Pure R!68 logic. And these guys are pros:

Bame's activism led him in 2002 to protest the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He was walking on a Washington, D.C., sidewalk with a question mark painted on his face when police rounded him up, then locked him away for 30 hours. He sued for civil rights breaches and won $13,000 of that city's $1.6 million settlement with protesters.

A year later, police plucked Bame off a Miami sidewalk before a protest against a free-trade summit. For his six hours in jail, he settled for $20,000.

Laura Ripple, a Grand Junction property manager [sic], endured pepper spray, a strip search and an ankle injury while being arrested in Miami that same week. She settled for $52,500.

Though the payouts helped, both say they hardly compensated for their troubles, even after the charges against them were dropped.

"The money isn't enough to make up for the fact that I no longer feel safe about voicing my opinion," said Ripple, who plans to stay clear of protests around the DNC this summer because she is pregnant.

No matter how often you've seen it, the self-righteousness is mind-boggling.

That may be the city's desired effect [to ban pregnant women from protesting?] as it gears up to dispatch 2,500 officers in late August. The $50 million that Denver has snagged in federal security funding is twice the sum it estimated it needed and nearly double what Boston spent for the 2004 DNC.

The city is mum about how it will spend $18 million budgeted for new equipment such as rubber bullets, Tasers, batons and percussion grenades.

Though Denver covers lawsuits against its own cops, it's spending $1.4 million for a $10 million policy on officers from other cities working the event.

Denver also has three law firms approved for $83,000 in contracts to represent it in cases involving the convention.

More protester logic:

"They're acknowledging ahead of time that they're going to do things that will injure people and offend civil liberties," said Ripple, who won a $250 settlement for more than two days jailed in a Manhattan pier during the 2004 GOP convention.

Fifty-two thousand bucks for a sprained ankle and pepper spray in Miami, $250 for two days in jail in New York. Cheap bastards.

Fine said Denver 2008 shouldn't be compared to New York 2004, when 1,800 people were arrested and charged. Rather, he says, comparison should be to the DNC in Boston a month earlier, when police made only a handful of arrests.

"The city will treat people with respect and dignity, and expect respect and dignity to be returned," he said.

How nice.

At Fine's comments, B.C. Killmon howled with laughter, asking how equipping police with $18 million in riot gear amounts to "respect" for protesters.

"That's a joke," said the retired pilot, who won $240,000 after having spent seven hours at age 71 with his hands cuffed behind his back in Miami.

"There's a war going on, the economy's down the hole and there's a lot of pent-up frustrations coming into this convention. Every city says it won't happen here. God knows where things may go in Denver."

God knows.

Update: How's this: Ooooooohhhhh, my ankle!

Update II: Slapstick Politics has another good example of protesters' "we're peaceful but the pigs want violence" meme from the Democrats' state convention in the Springs yesterday.

Update III: Yeah, "Ooooh, my ankle" is too wimpy. How about this:

Everyone’s out of jail. I just spoke to one of the American Indian men who participated in the final protest. When they locked down, the police rushed in and immediately started a beat-down. One of the female pigs grabbed him by the testicles and started yanking on him. Another got him by his braid, cranked it up in his fist, and was jerking his head around. Then they laid into them with their nightsticks, destroying one of the men’s faces. When they were arrested, the pigs ground the cuffs on and left them cuffed in the holding cells; their hands were swollen and turning purple by the time they were released. It was a fucking bloodbath, but they’re all out of jail at least.

Naw, nobody would believe it.

Saturday Night at the Radicchio!

Think I'll play a run of these. Jimmy Stewart as The Six-Shooter. Might as well start with the "Audition Show" (15 July 1953). Stewart gives a little sales spiel to potential sponsors in the middle and at the end.

And a couple of Vic and Sades: "Uncle Fletcher to Meet the One O'clock Train" (24 February 1941). "With best wishes for a happy holiday season from Edna, Gus, Arthur and Bug-Eye"; and "Marching Team Pictures" (14 March 1941).