ZACK SOTO FEATURED IN ARTICLE
Call him old school if you like. But at a time when the Frank Miller-chomping masses are tearing stand-alone graphic novels and Japanese manga off the shelves with fervor to spare, Baton Rouge artist Zack Soto holds an unwavering belief in the serial comic."
(225BATONROUGE.COM)

MEET THE .COMmunist
Columbia Law professor Eben Moglen believes "the bourgeoisie" -- namely, Microsoft, The Walt Disney Co., the WTO, the U.S. Congress and the European Commission -- form "an unholy alliance" controlling culture and information. And he advocates for the abolition of all IP laws. But he's no Marxist. This self-proclaimed "dotCommunist," who just happens to have some of the world's biggest tech companies paying his bills, sits at the forefront of a growing political technology movement. Its goal? Free software.
(LAW.COM)

WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN UNIQUE CONTEST TO BENEFIT HUNGRY
If you want to marvel at the creativity of some design firms go to this site for Canstruction. Trademarked by the Society for Design Administration (SDA) and held in conjunction with chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and allied professional organizations, it is an annual charity competition where design firms test their mettle to see who can build the most astounding structure made entirely from full cans of food. At the close of the competition all of the food used in the structures is donated to local food banks to feed those most in need. Structures, ranging in size from 1,000 to 13,000 cans, are created by stacking a variety of can sizes and shapes using the product labels as the color pallet. Structurally self-supporting, the only other materials to be used are 1/4 leveling, cardboard, tape, rubber bands and wire. This past year competitions took place in 45 cities across North America. "
(unearthed by Tommy Bealle)

A RESPONSE TO SALIM LAMRANI'S ARTICLE
Good friend and fellow traveler (to Cuba) Ted Henken has some pretty insightful responses to Salim's article. Check it out!

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MAINSTREAM MEDIA'S COVERAGE OF CUBA
Here's something that I saw today that is very interesting. The main premise is the notion that the role of the mainstream media is not to offer objective information to citizens but to defend the established political, economic and social order through diverse effective means such as propaganda, disinformation and censorship and that the role of the alternative media is to build a wall against the manipulation of reality.

It looks at Cuba, which it says is the "textbook case that should be studied at any center for the research of disinformation, because it has reached an unimaginable level of sophistication." It criticizes "the enormous difference between the ideological representation spread by the Western media and the reality inside the country," claiming that the mainstream media's "toxicity toward the Cuban problem is so effective that it has contaminated even the most progressive sectors of the developed world."
(PROGRESO WEEKLY)

MARIJUANA AND JESUS LINKED IN STUDY
"Jesus was almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal properties of the drug, according to a study of scriptural texts published this month. The study suggests that Jesus and his disciples used the drug to carry out miraculous healings."
(GUARDIAN, unearthed by Whythe Holt)

CHRIS MATHEWS' QUEER VIEWS
"On his TV show Friday Chris Matthews suggested that maybe liberals or gays were responsible for a series of terrible church burnings in central Alabama.

(see the video here)

That's a rather startling jump, since it is the black community, liberals, gays, and other progressives who, as the oppressed, often make common cause here. If one had to jump at conclusions before learning the facts, one would assume - certainly we Southerners would assume - that it was the product of racial hatred directed at churches as they are the soul of the black community.

That has been the history of our region and any fool - except, apparently, Mathews - would know that. He might remember, for example, the Birmingham church bombing that killed four little girls. The churches have been attacked by bigots because they are the unifying element of the black community and because they were the lead instrument in the struggle for civil rights.

And its not just ancient (1960s) history. The Alabama church burnings of a few years back were by some young people whose anger was driven by racial hatred. But, then, that doesn't really fit into his progromme, does it?

Mathews seems to have a fascination with homosexuality. Reminds me of Terry Dolan, the homophobic founder of the National Conservative Political Action Committee who died of AIDS. He used to proudly say that "the shriller you are the easier it is to raise money", or in Mathews' pathetic case, "get attention".
So, just to put this into persective:

1) It is way too early to tell who is responsible for the church burnings and what motivated them.

2) Mathews is entitled to be as big a homophobic bigot as he wants to be.

3) I am free not to view him or buy the products of the people who advertise on his show.

4) The people who listen must demand, at the very least, some semblance of connection to his stream-of-thought musings. (OPEN LETTER MEDIA, unearthed by Joel Sogol)

BETTY FRIEDAN IS DEAD
"Betty Friedan, the writer, thinker and activist who almost single-handedly revived feminism with her 1963 book 'The Feminine Mystique,' died of congestive heart failure yesterday, her 85th birthday, at her home in Washington."
(WASHINGTON POST)

JUDGE BLOCKS TRANSFER OF AMERICAN TO IRAQUIS
"A U.S. District Court judge temporarily blocked the federal government from transferring an American citizen to the custody of the Iraqi government, noting Friday that the move could place the prisoner at risk of torture and indefinite confinement."
(WASHINGTON POST)

SOCIETY MOBILE-LA HABANA ANNUAL MEETING SET
The Society Mobile La Habana's annual meeting is set for Tuesday, February 7, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. at the AmSouth Bank Building, 31st Floor, 31 North Royal Street. Join them at 5:30 p.m. for refreshments or cut to the chase and attend just the meeting at 6:15 p.m.
They will elect board members and officers, present the Mobile Public Library with money for Cuba materials and get you up-to-date on the Society's activities and issues. For more information call the Society's President Mike Feore at 251-342-1641. Ya'll come! Si?

HUNTING AMMARI SAIFI
"The convoy, led by a wanted Islamic militant named Ammari Saifi, had just slipped from Mali into northern Niger, where the desert rolls out into an immense, flat pan of gravelly sand. Saifi, who has been called the 'bin Laden of the Sahara,' was traveling with about 50 jihadists, some from Algeria, the rest from nearby African countries such as Mauritania and Nigeria."
(VILLAGE VOICE)

MRS. KING IS DEAD
Coretta Scott King, who turned a life shattered by the assassination of her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., into one devoted to enshrining his legacy of human rights and equality, has died. She was 78.
(ATLANTA JOURNAL)

WEBSITE CLAIMS DOJ MEMO CLAIMS THAT DEA AGENTS ARE INVOLVED IN CORRUPTION IN COLUMBIA
In an internal Justice Department document attorney Thomas M. Kent claims that federal agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Bogotá, Colombia, are the corrupt players in the war on drugs.
(NARCO NEWS, unearthed by Jay Lewis)

MAN WHO KILLED TIDE FAN GETS SENTENCED
A man who claimed he killed a retired police officer because he thought the "A" on the victim's University of Alabama baseball cap meant he was the Antichrist has been sentenced to death.
(FOX, unearthed by John Kearley)

IMPEACH BUSH?
"As awful as Watergate was, after the vote on impeachment and the resignation of President Nixon, the nation felt a huge sense of relief. Impeachment is a tortuous process, but now that President Bush has thrown down the gauntlet and virtually dared Congress to stop him from violating the law, nothing less is necessary to protect our constitutional system and preserve our democracy."
(THE NATION, unearthed by Common Dreams)