The Invisible Library

1. I’ve just signed up for Gmail, the new google mail system. We’ll see if this works any better than my many other spam riddled addresses.

2. Last night, some friends and I went to see David Cross perform here on campus. It was a great show but I’m not going to tell you about it. So there. Delivery is key to comedy and well, you had to be there, etc. etc. (I mean, sure I could tell you the joke about Bush eating baby Jews but would you really get it without the gestures and the set up? I don’t think so).

3. I don’t really have much else to talk about right now.

4. I’m busy with finals so posting may be spare for the next week or so. Unless Kevin ever finishes his first post and moves on to a second one. He’s a bit of a perfectionist, and he’s new at this whole blogging thing. Plus, it’s not like I told him about our excruciatingly tight deadlines. But I swear, I showed him how to log in and everything, so any day now, he’ll have something ready to show the world. And then you’ll be sorry. (And by sorry, I mean delighted at his wonderful prose styling and masterful command of the English language).

And he’s a Representative, no less:

HR3687

To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 8, 2003

Mr. OSE (for himself and Mr. SMITH of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is amended–

(1) by inserting ‘(a)’ before ‘Whoever’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following: ‘(b) As used in this section, the term ‘profane’, used with respect to language, includes the words ’shit’, ‘piss’, ‘fuck’, ‘cunt’, ‘asshole’, and the phrases ‘cock sucker’, ‘mother fucker’, and ‘ass hole’, compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).’.

Don’t we have better things to do with our money and time than police the airwaves for “dirty” words? Seriously. The president is handing state secrets to the Sauds, Iraq is a fucking mess and there’s a frickin Ice Age breathing down our necks, but hay, at least little bobby won’t hear the word Cocksucker on TV. Just on the playgrounds, where their friends have heard it form their older brothers/sisters/parents.

~Thanks to Neil Gaiman for this. I’d never have heard of it otherwise as the words described in the Bill can’t be spoken on the news or published in respectable outlets or at the very least, can only be described in vague terms.

The Invisible Library will now have an Invisible Archivist as well. My Good Friend and fellow grad student, Kevin has been granted the special and highly covetted Golden Library Card, which grants him full and unfettered access to the coffee machine, photocopier and the staff entrence to the Blog. He�ll be posting from time to time, focusing primarily on Gay Rights, but also on Archival issues and whatever else he feels like. So, give him a warm blogosphere welcome.

I just got back from a hearty round of rhetorical fisticuffs with an anti-gay rights group that was on my campus (with permission, naturally). The group, The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property…

…was born of a group of Catholic Americans concerned about the multiple crises shaking every aspect of American life. Founded in 1973, the American TFP was formed to resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and property.

Central to the TFP mission is the idea that the various crises threatening American society and the Church cannot be seen as separate and disjointed. Rather they originate from a single cause.

The TFP handbook Revolution and Counter-Revolution by Plinio Corr�a de Oliveira masterfully traces the historical and philosophical roots of this single cause: a phenomenon called the Revolution.

I’m not sure which mysterious and capitalized Revolution they are referring to. I looked on their site but couldn’t find any specific historical references. But after talking for about half an hour with these Nervous White Men (as they were described on a sign held up by a fellow in the pro-gay rights camp who were also present) I can only conclude that this dastardly Revolution that they are waging a lavishly red caped and banner waving Counter-Revolution against is the Enlightenment. Which isn’t surprising, really. They are, after all, a catholic organization (though, one not condoned by the Vatican, as my friend Kevin and I were informed by stalwart and clean shaven James, Knight of the tweedy suit and vivid scarlet sash. How fabulous!) Such staunchly ernest and clean shaven Catholic groups have a historical animus against those dirty socialist ideas put forth by such radicals as Thomas Jefferson, and we all know what we get if we listen to those crazy guys and their ludicrous notions about, “The Pursuit of Happiness.” Because, after all, who needs happiness when you’ve got Jesus? (which about sums up every conservative-religious argument I’ve ever heard. As if the two are mutually exclusive and wo be he who sticks his chocolate in that holy penut butter).

Their arguments, as could probably have been predicted, were all slippery sloped to the point of practically being conical. You know, like a dunce’s hat. The standard Santorum argument, “If we let gays get married and be equal, what’s to stop the hot man on dog action from becoming legit?” Man-on-dog was actually brought up by Sir James. His bosom buddy (in a thoroughly manly and heterosexual manner, of course) suggested that if we let gay couples have the same rights as straits, then we should also grant these rights of equality to human-tree relationships, and then where would we be?

Rather chafed, I’m sure, but happy none the less.

A quick perusal of their site brought up this little gem, which takes slippery slope arguments to new hights of mental gymnastics:

ANIMALS DO IT, SO IT’S NATURAL, RIGHT?

The reasoning behind the “animal homosexuality” theory can be summed up as follows:

- Homosexual behavior is observable in animals.
- Animal behavior is determined by their instincts.
- Nature requires animals to follow their instincts.
- Therefore, homosexuality is in accordance with animal nature.
- Since man is also animal, homosexuality must also be in accordance with human nature.

This line of reasoning is unsustainable. If seemingly “homosexual” acts among animals are in accordance with animal nature, then parental killing of offspring and intra-species devouring are also in accordance with animal nature. Bringing man into the equation complicates things further. Are we to conclude that filicide and cannibalism are according to human nature?

Apaprently these folks have never read Medea, Odipus Rex or The Odyssey, but then, that’s all Pagan Greek stuff, and besides, it’s poetry, not Natural Law or Truth with a capital T, which these yahoos are very fond of.

But what they really hate is cultural realitivism, that evil liberal idea that different opinions are equally valid. Though, they didn’t mind using it themselves when I mentioned Dr. Bruce Bagemihl’s Biological Exuberance, which draws on 200 years of scientific research concerning animal homosexuaility. But they have their own books to sell, which you can buy on their website, so they can be excused. Peddling inequality for a buck is the American Way, after all.

The Conqueror Worm

~Edgar Allen Poe

�

Lo! ’tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly-
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!
That motley drama- oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.
But see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes!- it writhes!- with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And seraphs sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.
Out- out are the lights- out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

Dusk, as seen from the Library

I’ve just started using my new digital camera. This picture wouldn’t have been so blury with a tripod but still, it has a nice atmosphere.

[W]ho should control access to the archives of the 9/11 Commission after it closes up shop in August? The commission’s records will go to the National Archives. On April 8 the Bush Administration quietly pushed the current archivist, John Carlin, a Clinton appointee, to step down. To replace him, Bush will nominate Allen Weinstein, a historian who has been criticized for failing to abide by accepted scholarly standards of openness (more details will appear in an upcoming Nation profile). Weinstein headed, until recently, the Center for Democracy, a think tank whose board is studded with GOP heavyweights, including Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and Richard Lugar, House Republican whip Roy Blunt and Henry Kissinger.

[edit]

…This would leave a Republican appointee in charge of not only the 9/11 Commission archives but all other Bush White House documents.

The surprise move to replace the archivist violates the spirit of a 1984 law that sought to depoliticize the office. The archivist, according to that bill, is not a political appointee who serves at the pleasure of the President, and his term is not tied to the term of the President, although the President can ask for his resignation. A House report in 1984 said Congress “expects” the nomination of a new archivist “will be achieved through consultation with recognized organizations of professional archivists and historians.” There has been no such consultation.

Bush’s move is part of a larger pattern of expanded White House secrecy, starting with its fight to conceal the names of members of the Cheney energy task force and continuing with the recent effort to prevent the 9/11 Commission from revealing such documents as the now-famous Presidential Daily Briefing of August 6, 2001. It’s true that all Presidents want to control access to their papers, but it’s the responsibility of the archivist to see that access is “free, open, equal, and nondiscriminatory,” as the Statement on Standards of the American Historical Association puts it. [editorial, The Nation]

It’s hard for most people to get excited about Archival issues but, as pointed out above, this is part of a larger issue, namely BushCo.’s propensity for obfuscation and secrecy. The paranoia of this Administration make’s Nixon’s look like a bunch of touchy feely liberals. And that’s scary. What’s also scary is that Weinstein, Bush’s choice for Archivist, has an equally shady attitude when it comes to disclosure. This, apparently, won’t be his first time locking away documents where no one can verify their contents, which, by the way, is a violation of long standing archival principals.

We Information Professionals are dedicated First Amendment floggers. To hire someone with a history of hiding research documents and citing unverifiable sources should be shocking but for BushCo., it’s just another day at the office.

Feline Friday

Lucy hides in her favorite chair, pretending we can’t see her

Why Must George Lucus Taunt Me So?

This time, it’s by releasing Star Wars Episode III on May 19, 2005, the day after my twenty eighth birthday. He does it just to spite me. He knows that these films, at least the three watchable ones, are a cornerstone of my childhood, specifically because every freekin one of them was released on or around my birthday! He’s basically saying, “Happy Birthday, Keith. Why don’t you watch my crappy space opera?” Because they’re shitty, you old coot, that’s why! Because you’ve got too much money at your disposal and no one to reign you in, so every inane whim that pops into your head, ends up on the screen!! And by directing the prequels yourself, you’ve managed to preclude any artistry that might be had from your overwraught scripts by indulging your own cinimatic narcisism!!! Argh!!!!!

That Sexy, Rock and Roll-Librarian Lifestyle all the Kids are Digging These Days

I’ve been torn for some time between my calling as a Librarian and an equally strong desire to be a rock star. Now I learn I can be both:

When they[Bl��dHag] play live, Stratton and his colleagues, Sir Zachary Orgel, Dr JM McNulty and Ambassador Brent Carpenter, embrace the science-fiction life. Onstage they dress as sci-fi geeks, in thick glasses, short-sleeved shirts and ties. They throw paperbacks to the crowd. On a recent tour, enthuses Stratton, “I read a great book of stories by Alfred Bester and a book of Philip K Dick’s letters and essays.”

Metal and science fiction are a natural fit, Stratton believes. “We sing about SF and fantasy authors because of their direct connection to heavy metal in terms of borrowed names, titles, lyrics, art, themes and more. We want to make sure metalheads know the sources of inspiration for some of their favourite bands.”

To that end, their album Necrotic Bibliophilia features 15 songs about their favourite SF authors, from William Gibson to HG Wells, of whom they sing: “Writers still swipe from your most famous books/Yet they forget the social satire of your later works.” [Guradian]

Sci-fi geek metaheads on a literacy crusade; not your typical rockers but oh, do they live the lifestyle:

“Yes, we get the girls,” emails Jake Stratton, aka Prof JB Stratton, the singer with the Seattle speed metal band Bl��dHag. “Several lady librarians have kept company with us. Bl��dHag don’t make passes at girls who don’t wear glasses. No specs, no sex.”

Rock on! And make sure to return those books on time!

~Thanks to Jessa Crispin over at Bookslut for the link