The Invisible library

Via Wired:

In the past two years, more than 300 cities and four states have passed resolutions calling on Congress to repeal or change parts of the USA Patriot Act that, activists say, violate constitutional rights such as free speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.

Barring that, the resolutions declare that their communities will uphold the constitutional rights of their residents should federal law enforcement agents come knocking on the door of local authorities for assistance in tracking residents. This means local authorities will insist on complying with federal orders only in ways that do not violate constitutional rights. The resolutions are not binding, however, and do not affect the federal government’s actions.

The national movement was launched in 2001 by the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, an organization led by activist Nancy Talanian. Talanian first lobbied her community — Northhampton, Massachusetts, a town of 30,000 people — to stand against the act in November 2001, when few people had heard about the legislation.

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Although the resolutions don’t carry official weight, the communities say they hope to send a message to Congress to change or repeal parts of the act.

“Resolutions are powerful in that a city council can tell employees in their jurisdiction how they will behave,” said Talanian. “They can say we don’t want law enforcement to engage in certain activities even if authorized by certain legislation.”

This is part of a long and ongoing battle between federal and state (as well as some local) governments over who decides what laws will apply where (in its broadest sense) but it also has ramifications beyond just the USA Patriot Act (though these are big) to numerous laws, including medicinal Marijuana use and distribution, Gay Marriage and other such controversial rulings. If portions of the Patriot act can be overturned, what is to stop other statutes from being undermined, including ones more beneficial, like civil rights and and anti-miscegenation laws? Where does the rule of law end and the responsibilities of the individual begin?

Personally, I’m glad that there are so many people in such varied places working to overturn the patriot act. I don’t like it, most people I talk to don’t like it, what it represents, and the many myriad ways the law can be misused (such as locking up teenagers in GTMO because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time). it�s heartening to see the american people standing up the bullies running our government, steamrolling Undemocratic legislation into law using scare tactics and the general Populace�s own ignorance against them.

I’m in a sort of vacation but not real vacation lymbo this week, as my wife is up visiting from Savannah to avoid the sillyness of the G8 summit, but still attending class. So posts will be spotty until monday (unless of course, Kevin gets his next post up). I’ll have something of course, but it’ll jus be little things. Hang in there, though, I’ve got some stuff brewing in the back of my brain.

Speaking ill of the dead has never been a hobby of mine but I refuse to get all choked up over the passing of Ronald Reagan. I never liked the man when he was President, and I never felt obliged to give him a pass afterwards, just because he had Alzheimer’s. And I’m not going to wax nostalgic about his legacy now that he’s dead. I’m not running for public office, so I don’t have to politic.

And just what are the Reagan legacies? A good chunk of them are currently playing out in blood in Iraq, South America and dozens of other spots around the globe where his callous disregard for human decency and common sense still have not been fully expunged. Reagan’s policies are directly responsible for a fair number of the evils we live with today, from Osama Bin Laden to the Taliban to the instability of the Middle East, Russia and China in general. So shed your tears if you like, but never forget: all the other dinosaurs died a long time ago. All Reagan’s death means is that we have one less to terrorize the world, tomorrow.

Tom Tomorrow has a number of links that shed further light on Reagan’s life and legacy and Slacktivist highlights three of the man’s most notable accomplishments.

Update: The Medium Lobster over at Fafblog has the best eulogy I’ve read yet, pointing out that Reagan was neither a dinosaur, nor the Second Coming of Christ, merely a man who did some things. They may not have always been the beast things, or done for the right reason, but they were still merely mortal acts, not the miraculous deeds of a demigod.

Last night, my car was broken into, the passenger side window smashed and my iPod, digital camera, umbrella, jacket and my wife’s sweater stolen (along with a handful of change). I wasn’t really mad, so much as disappointed. I mean, it is just stuff (though my iPod has been so useful in so many ways that it’ll be the most missed). But the whole event has left me feeling a little out of sorts. At least my laptop wasn’t in the car. If it had been stolen, I’d have lost the files for both my finished novel as well as the new one I’ve just started. That would have required ritual suicide.

Oh well. Life goes on and windows can be replaced, as can stuff in general.

Update: Got the window fixed.

“Who cares about that ol’ stuff?” That question hunts this archivist. About to enter a new profession, I plan to do all I can to increase the awareness of the importance of archives and archivists among other information professionals and the general public. Archivists can play a critical role in widening and deepening the public debate on all topics such as transparent government, free speech, human and civil rights, and other topics of national importance. Charlene N. Bickford writes (”The Coalition to Save our Documentary Heritage.” MARAC, 1983) about a specific case of archival advocacy, for example. So there are hints that many,many people care a great deal, in truth. The job of the American Archivist, government official or cultural information manager, is to assist in the equal and open access to the resources for the creation of truthful stories.

Generalizing or popularizing topics usually of interest to a small audience is an art practiced by publicists, academics, in fact anyone who employs the rhetorical arts. Archivists are the partners of storytellers. Archivists are a gateway to the work of humankind. Nothing prevents them from using their skills to tell their own story.

Far too few people know of the work we do and the good that comes of it. Information professionals, and that includes CIOs, archivists, academic and public librarians, are a highly educated and skilled work force, and they can do better to demonstrate the positive role they play in the conduct of the work of this country. Their professional values are in concert with the principles of representative democracy, so why then do we tolerate remaining an undervalued national resource? Let’s use the resources at our disposal to master the articulation of professional and ethical social values of importance to several developing national information emergencies: Executive Order 13323, the toleration of lapses of international civil rights standards, the list could go on.

I’ll post more thoughts on these matters in the future.
For now, I’m just glad to be online. Before I sign off, a point of personal privilege: I’m honored that Keith has taken me under his big ol’ bloggin’ wing. I’m looking forward to building my bloggin’ skills. Thanks, Keith.

Lucy ponders the nature of reality, while looking out the window with Don Quioxte.

Salon.com:

“The Prisoner of Azkaban” is the first true Harry Potter movie — the first to capture not only the books’ sense of longing, but their understanding of the way magic underlies the mundane, instead of just prancing fancifully at a far remove from it. In the spirit of a true romantic, Cuar�n knows that the secret to great fantasy is naturalism.

This is heartening to hear, in so many ways. While my wife loves the first two movies (and the books as well) I’ve always felt that the films lacked a certain quality; something indistinct and hard to grasp but something decidedly absent. I blame Chris Columbus for this. He’s simply a mediocre director, hamstrung more than he usually is by the rabid devotion to Rawling’s books that the fans, the studio and Rawling herself demand.

I was talking about this with my friend, Jenny, who likewise, loves the books but was even more disappointed in the films than I was (and to be honest, they are watchable, just not as enjoyable as they should have been). Jenny has been, for the past week, going back and forth between excitement and dread about this movie. Excitement, because every teaser and trailer make sit look like it will be fantastic, in every sense of the word. Dread, because she felt the same about the other two movies and was let down by hammy acting from child stars and a plodding pace.

But as the reviewer, Stephanie Zacharek, points out, Cuar�n knows how to get child actors to actually act well, instead of just pretend. He also has a sense of subtlety and nuance that Columbus lacks (his other films include Y tu Mama Tambien, Great Expectations, and A Little Princess).

Of course, the major fear of any fan of a book is that the movie will not just fall short of the story (it usually does, except in the case of Dracula and Frankenstein, the only two movies to far surpass the books that inspired them) but will in fact ruin the story, forever replacing the great images inside the head of the reader with more Hollywood cotton candy and decaying fluff. It remains to be seen if this will happen to Azkaban, which by all accounts is the favorite of the Harry Potter books among just about everyone I’ve talked to. Given what we’ve seen so far and what the reviewers have said, I don’t think we have to worry. Too much.

Christian writes in with the latest news from the Green Zone:

Baghdad - June 2, 2004

Yesterday proved exciting enough. On my way to lunch with one of my coworkers, we heard a boom off in the distance followed by what sounded like a rocket whizzing by overhead - the most frightening kind of firework. Booms are not as frightening anymore. If you hear one, the attack already happened and you are safe. However, the sound of a rocket flying by means that the worst is yet to come. At such a moment, there is only one thing you can do - hit the deck. We did so immediatly. Then we got up and ran over to one of the many concrete shelters erected throughout the Green Zone for just this kind of occasion. Afterward, we hit the chow hall and in the middle of our meal, another boom sounded and shook the entire dining facility. There was one beat of silence and everyone went back to enjoying their meals. Hardly a conversation was interrupted. It seems as if anything can become routine.

I had my first day off this past Monday for Memorial Day. I spent most of the day recovering from the previous evening’s festivities and lounging by the pool. The night before, the Coalition Provisional Authority (the current government of Iraq) threw a BBQ complete with an amateur rock band of army people who covered everything from country to Jimi Hendrix. The shish kabobs were excellent but the burgers could have been better. Quite a high calibre political event. General Sanchez (the US military commander in charge of Iraq) was there. I ate my dinner but a few feet from him as he was posing for photographs and signing autographs just like a Hollywood celebrity. The British Ambassador recited a speech by Tony Blair. This was followed by an address by L. Paul Bremer (I stood but a couple yards away) thanking the staff of the CPA for their hard work. I was very impressed with his delivery. He sounded very sincere and exuded a sense of charisma one would expect of such a man with his position. After his talk, there was a prerecorded address by President Bush who hoped we enjoyed our BBQ. (Not very impressive after Bremer’s talk.) One thing I have noted about Bremer - there is very little bad press on him. The consensus seems to be that he has performed extraordinarily well considering all the adversity.

Read the rest

Yahoo! News, Giant Mushroom Baffles Experts in Congo:

BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) - A giant three-tiered mushroom which measures a meter (yard) across and was found in the tropical forests of the Republic of Congo has left experts in the capital Brazzaville scratching their heads.

‘It’s the first time we’ve ever seen a mushroom like this so it’s difficult for us to classify. But we are going to determine what it is scientifically,’ Pierre Botaba, head of Congo’s veterinary and zoology center, told reporters on Thursday.

For the love of God, man! Have you not read any Lovecraft?!? I’d offer stern warnings to these men, but I fear it is already too late. They have already meddled in things man was not meant to know, and probably already had their souls eaten by Yog Sathoth, too.

For the curious, however, Neil Gaiman offers a recipe for Giant Congo Mushroom Sauce.

Reason:

Clove cigarettes have long been a prop of self-styled bohemians, favored by neo-hippies, artists, drama students, and goths. By transforming the sweet, fragrant Indonesian smokes into contraband, the recently introduced Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act would make them even cooler.

The bill, sponsored by two bipartisan pairs, Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) in the Senate and Tom Davis (R-Va.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) in the House would give the Food and Drug Administration broad authority to regulate tobacco products. But the authors clearly thought the matter of cigarette flavorings was too important to be left to the FDA’s discretion.

I have a confession to make. I’m one of those self-styled bohemians (of the goth variety). I smoke cloves, I dress in black, and I don’t believe in Jesus, either. But mostly, I smoke cloves. (OK, not mostly. I smoke maybe two cigarettes a week, usually when I go out drinking or dancing).

I can’t help it. I just have a genetic predisposition to undermine family values and America’s faith in whatever it is that’s being undermined this week. I can’t keep track. I really should get on that mailing list for the Bohemian Anti-Family Association (BAA); that would keep me up to date on what we’re undermining, on a daily basis. I hear they offer discounts on clcigarettes, too.