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08
Jun

Obama’s Victory, Obama’s Problems

By Cynapse 4 Comments
Categories: American Politics and Politics

In his latest column, Eric Margolis provided an excellent social analysis of Barrack Obama’s victory and its social significance.

On Obama’s “black” background:

In the West Indies, where I used to live, Obama properly would be called a mulatto. There and in Africa and Latin America, mulattos are considered only one rung below whites, and of much higher social status than various mixtures of white and blacks known as quadroons, octaroons, high yellows, or “blacks” of pure African descent. In the West Indies and Americas, mulattos usually were part of the white power structure and often resented by darker-skinned people.

In fact, Obama, who sips tea and listens to Mozart, is part of white, liberal, upper middle class society.

On racism, both during the Democratic nomination and that which is still forthcoming:

Though Obama is not really a black man in the North American sense of the term, his candidacy has revealed the racist underbelly of the United States, particularly among southern rednecks, blue-collar workers, and evangelical Christians.

Hillary Clinton helped open this Pandora’s box, and Republicans will be certain to keep the lid open during the campaign. Many Jewish Americans, no strangers to racism, also are spreading anti-Obama prejudice. An intense, below-the-radar campaign is going on among Jewish groups warning that Obama is “soft on Israel” or even a closet Muslim. “I don’t trust that schwartze in a suit,” as one New Yorker put it.

… and on the selection of a VP

The next big question: Who will Obama choose for vice-president? Angry feminists and menopausal militants are demanding Obama name Hillary Clinton. But given her 40% negative national ratings, and the prospect of Obama being stuck in a menage a trois with Hillary and Bill Clinton, he should look elsewhere.
…
By refusing graciously to concede defeat weeks ago, and raising the race issue, Mrs. Clinton put her political career before the party.

A few more points to contemplate:

  1. Obama’s biggest challenge for the US election will not be outfoxing McCain or the widespread racism already being propagated on right-wing radio/blogs. Rather, his wife Michelle is most likely to cost him the victory. Her anti-America outbursts and trademark “mad black” sneering may play well at Rev. Wright’s church or among armchair activists, but mainstream America does not want to be constantly beaten over the head with the slavery stick. In politics, it’s not about the candidate’s feelings – it’s about the feelings of the people voting. If Michelle hasn’t figured that out now then she probably never will, and Barrack can’t just dump her the way he did with Rev. Wright.
  2. The Democrat party was never a unified party – it is a party of special interests that tolerate one another via the fact that they all fear being collectively crushed by the Republican right. If Hilary had won the election then a good % of younger Democrats, much of the black lobby and general anti-Hilary folks would be screaming about robbery and elite appointments. The Republican party is no more unified at its core but its supporters seem better able to put differences aside and fight the common enemy.
  3. Sure Obama can accept Hillary as VP … if he wants to be the shortest-lived president of all time.

Barrack Obama may have made history but, now that there’s a real chance he may become president, his problems have just begun.

07
Feb

Movie Review: Loose Change – Final Cut

By Cynapse 1 Comment
Categories: American Politics, Movie Reviews, Politics and Reviews

Title: Loose Change – Final Cut
Release: 2007
Genre: Documentary
Run Time: 129 Minutes
Publisher: Louder Than Words, LLC
Rating: 80%
URL: http://lc911finalcut.com/

Loose Change Final Cut represents a refreshing approach to the documentary film in that, like mature software, it has been conspicuously updated over several years. Filmmaker Dylan Avery released the original 9/11 documentary in 2005 and the film underwent a second revision (Loose Change Second Cut) before the third and final release. Film updates were spawned by expanded information as well as user feedback and creative tweaking.

Loose Change Final Cut

Chances are you’ve heard many 9/11 theories, spewed emphatically by the same kind of person who thinks the moon landing was faked and that Martians are watching us. No doubt this tin-foil crowd will enjoy Loose Change’s systematic dissection and indictment of the government’s flaccid response to 9/11. However, the movie goes beyond Bush-bashing to provide evidence supplying many post-9/11 questions that still haven’t been adequately addressed by public officials or commissions. Among them:

  • If an airplane hit the low-lying Pentagon, how did it manage to score a direct hit and not leave much debris larger than a color printer? How was this advanced maneuver accomplished by a hijacker pilot whose piloting skills were so poor that American flight instructors openly questioned the validity of his commercial license?
  • If Flight 93 really went down via internal scuffles between passengers and hijackers then how come the wreckage was spread out much further than similar plane crashes in recent history?
  • Why was the US government seemingly disinterested news of money wire transfers from high ranking Pakistani ISI members to alleged hijacker Mohammed Atta – even though these transfers took place just before the terrorist attacks?
  • How could America’s sophisticated air defense system, now known to engage in war games simulating attacks nearly identical to the 9/11 incidents, fail to intercept airborne threats four times in the same morning?

To address these questions, Loose Change presents a plethora of news clips, expert interviews, graphical recreations and witness testimony, convincingly challenging the “official” version of events that lead up to and succeeded the attack on the twin towers. The film typically stops short of pointing the finger exclusively at any one entity and instead leaves the evidence hanging for viewer debate, with the main exception being the Zeitgeist-like call to arms at the close of the film.

Loose Change Final Cut

Loose Change Final Cut has several powerful moments that give pause to even the strongest skeptic. About 2/3 the way through the film, discussion turns towards WTC tower #7, which collapsed several hours after the twin towers collapsed. WTC #7 contained offices for the IRS, SEC, Secret Service and most interestingly New York’s Office of Emergency Management Command Center (which is supposed to be bullet-proof, bomb proof, and self-generating when need be). A British film crew reported that the tower had also fallen, succumbing to what appeared to be superficial fires. However, the tower is clearly shown standing in the background as the female reporter continues to speak about its collapse. Apparently CNN and BBC made the same mistake …

While not entirely one-sided in its approach, Loose Change could have nonetheless benefited from more attention to contrary evidence and non-conspiratorial alternatives. For example, Avery uses collapse times to prove that the twin towers were felled by an explosion rather than the impact of a plane – the time-lapsed implosion of the towers is shown to be consistent with the free-fall that would result from a building demolition. This evidence is offered as a refutation of the theory that diesel fueled fires caused the tower’s tube-like structure to loosen and disintegrate. However, the film does not address the popular alternative theory that the collapse of a single floor started a domino effect that resulted in a disintegration that just happened to be consistent with the timing of a free fall. Imagine you are standing on the upper of two planks of wood, both suspended by concrete blocks. Chances are you will not go through the first plank with you are standing still. Now imagine yourself jumping up and down on the upper plank – you could crash through the wood, albeit a little slower than you would sink if you had no resistance; however, the combined weight of yourself plus the wooden plank would cause greater strain on a second plank of wood below the first plank, etc. In other words, the diesel fuel or impact could have caused 1 or 2 floors to collapse, with the increasing weight and velocity speeding up the collapse of the entire structure.

In any case, Loose Change Final Cut is effective as a catalyst to debate. Some of my (unwitting) test audience used the evidence presented to unleash their strongest condemnations against George W. Bush and his “imperial war”. Others were highly skeptical and offered unsolicited explanations backing the official versions of certain events. What my test subjects all had in common was a strong opinion and any filmmaker that can accomplish such with today’s increasingly desensitized moviegoers deserves a pat on the back.

27
Jan

2008 US Presidential Election – Politics Match

By Cynapse 3 Comments
Categories: American Politics and Politics

Pre-Quiz Preferences

president.jpgAs a Canadian, my primary interest in the 2008 Presidential Election lies in America’s financial future, which has received relatively little mention in the election or the media in general. The two main factors in US financial woes are:

  • The inevitable fallout from heavy speculation on mortgage-backed securities. The current recessionary conditions were encouraged by the aggressive guarantees and securitization of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (aka “Freddie Mac”). The government-sponsored enterprise owned over $372 billion in mortgages in 2006 and is expected to write off at least $10 billion in non-payments this fiscal year. Many of the sub-prime borrowers should never have received mortgages, but were egged on by an unlikely combination of corporate greed, government debt concerns (which caused the Federal Reserve to keep rates low even in a “hot” market) and social engineering
  • The worldwide war on terror, which has proven extraordinarily costly and shows no signs of resolution. George W Bush’s war budget has ballooned from roughly $93 billion in 2004 to $171 billion in 2007, and Dubya requested requested $193 billion for 2008. According to the Congressional Budget Office, America will be paying $234 billion on debt interest alone in 2008, while the US has borrowed more money from foreign countries during the last 8 years than all of the prior presidents combined.

Thus, it’s not merely “the banks” that will be in financial trouble on economic downturn but very much the government – the government of a nation whose middle class purchases drive the world economy and who also happen to be Canada’s largest trading partner by a large margin.

Canadians who delight at the misfortunes endured by our neighbors to the south reveal themselves to be asinine in light of this economic reality. In today’s global economy, economic issues strongly affect us all, unlike most social issues or religious squabbles.

With that in mind, here are my picks (based on desire, not prediction of actual results)

Democrat: Hillary Clinton
Sure, Barack Obama is on a roll (just having won South Carolina by a handy 2:1 margin over Clinton) but his tilt towards public welfare translates to more social spending. A new national healthcare plan, designed to cover all uninsured Americans, will be both expensive and enduring – it’s the kind of policy that makes sense for a president inheriting Bill Clinton’s $500 billion surplus rather than Dubya’s $160 billion deficit. I can just imagine how historians would write this one up: “Barack Obama – America’s first black president who bankrupted the nation to give away free healthcare to the homies”. Let’s let Hillary take this fall, since nothing she can do will quickly reverse the nation’s financial situation and, frankly, a lot of people don’t trust her to begin with. Let Obama grow a bit and give him a shot in 8 years, hopefully when the novelty of having a serious black candidate wears off.

Republican: John McCain
Of the rather unimpressive lot that are the GOP candidates, John McCain stands out as the strongest “leader”. McCain’s military credentials give him the greatest chance of scaling back the Iraq war without strongly offending the militaristic pride of America’s right wing. Outside of that, McCain doesn’t seem to have much policy that supports debt reduction and some of his platform may be counter-productive (e.g. pushing for income tax relief without an specifying a corresponding reduction in spending). Noted that I may not be familiar enough with Mitt Romney, whose fiscal policies seem good on paper. I just don’t know him that well.

44th President of the United States: John McCain
This one’s close, as both are old school Washington and cannot be expected to deliver the “change” in optics that Americans necessarily desire. Regardless, McCain’s hard-nosed approach to governance and lack of widely-known financial scandal inspires the most confidence.

Quiz Results

Closest matches and other noteworthy candidates are as follows -

Mitt Romney
Total = 45%
Economic = 63%
Social = 19%

Rudy Guiliani
Total = 43%
Economic = 38%
Social = 50%

John McCain
Total = 38%
Economic = 46%
Social = 25%

Ron Paul
Total = 35%
Economic = 38%
Social = 31%

Fred Thompson
Total = 35%
Economic = 42%
Social = 25%

Hillary Clinton
Total = 33%
Economic = 33%
Social = 31%

Mike Huckabee
Total = 30%
Economic = 42%
Social = 13%

Barack Obama
Total = 28%
Economic = 29%
Social = 25%

John Edwards
Total = 25%
Economic = 25%
Social = 25%

Post-Quiz Comments

It turns out Mitt Romney might be worth investigating after all. I don’t seem to have any really strong matches. Rudy was my original choice to win (as someone who also reads Jack’s NewsWatch is bound to point out) but his campaign as been unfocused and uninspiring. Support for Ron Paul isn’t going to happen in this lifetime. My man Obama is right near the bottom of the list, which is suspicious. Of course it’s just an internet test and all in good fun.

Another poll from the same website puts my political views square in the center of the spectrum, which explain why I get ostracized from liberal and conservative websites alike!

Anyway, take the test yourself and post the results in the comment section.

Quiz URL [updated!]:

http://www.speakout.com/VoteMatch/senate2006.asp?quiz=2008

21
Dec

Names

By Emilia Liz 0 Comments
Categories: American Politics, Politics and Society

About two decades or so ago the Black community in the United States became embroiled in a debate over what to call themselves. Some suggested that the term “African American” replace “Black,” which itself had succeeded “Negro” (now considered somewhat offensive by some Blacks, even though talk show host Oprah Winfrey once used it in the 1980s). Others objected on the grounds that their connection to Africa was rather tenuous since most American Black families had lived in the United States for generations. In a letter to the magazine Ebony, one reader pointed out as well that many American Blacks traced their ancestry to other places in addition to Africa. A Black in the US could be of mixed African, Irish, and Italian heritage (real-life example: singer Alicia Keys). The matter remains as yet unresolved; the media tends to use “Black” and “African American” interchangeably.

The business of naming – whether of a baby, a place or an institution – is more often than not fraught with difficulty, conflict and self-doubt. Perhaps no decision is more controversial, though, than what to name a community of people; i.e. an ethnic group. The “Black/African American” dilemma is just one example. While the White community has not experienced as intense a debate, terms like “European-American” (or “Euro-American”) and “Anglo” have of late become virtually synonymous with White in many circles. I have reservations about both, albeit for different reasons. With regard to the first, as with American Blacks and Africa, most US Whites’ links to Europe are fairly remote. For instance, I would have a hard time describing my mother, whose family has been in North America for up to four generations and who only visited Europe for the first time in her thirties, as “European.” Anglo on the other hand seems to exclude the many US Whites (like my mom) with no Anglo-Saxon ancestry whatsoever. And if one argues that these Whites are nonetheless culturally Anglo-Saxon by dint of living in the US, would not the same be true of nearly all American Blacks?

A less heated exchange has taken place in the Latino/Hispanic community. Some members believe that the former designation should be employed instead of the latter because many Latin Americans, being of Native American and/or African descent, lack any ancestral ties to Spain (the Latin word for which, Hispania, gave rise to “Hispanic”). In contrast, the name “Latino” ties them to “Latin” America – though ultimately the word “Latin” derives from another place in Europe, the Italian region of Latium (present-day Lazio) where the Latin language first emerged. Meanwhile some Hispanic/Latino groups have adopted names to describe their particular community. Mexican Americans, for instance, use the word “Chicano,” a contraction of “Mexicano.” Perhaps less familiar is Puerto Ricans’ description of themselves as “Boricuas” from “Boriquen” (“land of the great and valiant lord”), the name the island’s original inhabitants the Taino Indians gave it.

In other cases groups have sought to replace a name imposed on them by outsiders with one of their own choosing. For example, the reindeer-herding people of Northern Scandinavia reject the term “Lapp” in favour of “Sami.” Most inhabitants of the Canadian and American Far North similarly prefer to be called “Inuit” (“the people”) to “Eskimo,” a Cree word meaning “eaters of raw meat” on account of their habit of not fully cooking some of their food in order to preserve the nutrients. But not all: the Yupiks of Alaska still insist on the name “Eskimo.”

Some groups have gone a step further and deliberately taken on a formerly derogatory name as a sign of empowerment, just as some gays and lesbians have reclaimed the terms “queer” and “dyke.” For instance, the people of East Timor adopted the word “Maubere” which their Portuguese colonizers used to express scorn for them, as a term of pride.

Of course not all name changes are politically driven. A “Filipino,” for example, once referred to a descendent of Spaniards who was born in the Philippines, a former Spanish colony, in contrast to the natives of the islands, who were known as “indios” (Indians), like those of the New World. Eventually however “Filipino” came to designate a native inhabitant of the Philippines. In the naming of ethnic groups, we see how race, politics and history intertwine.

11
Dec

The Drew Advantage is … the Law?

By Cynapse 1 Comment
Categories: American Politics, Society and Technology

Main Entry:
iro•ny
Function:
noun
Inflected Form(s):
plural iro•nies
Etymology:
Latin ironia, from Greek eirōnia, from eirōn dissembler
Date:
1502
3 a (1): incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result

A few days ago, this blog wrote a sharp criticism or Dardene Prairie’s decision to enact a law to prevent harassment over the internet. The law was enacted in response to 13-year old Megan Meier’s high-profile suicide, and while it has no effect outside the city, there is still a possibility that several other municipalities/states/etc could follow suit.

One must reasonably assume that Megan Meier’s demographic profile (an innocent-looking teenage girl) tugged at more than a few heart strings, implying this law was little more than a latent and simplistic reaction to an unfortunate and complicated issue.

Megan could have been our daughter!
There ought to be a law stopping this from happening to our daughter!!

Well now there is a law in one municipality and first beneficiary of that law may be none other than the woman who allegedly drove Megan to suicide – Lori Drew.

Lori Drew, the woman accused of being behind that fake I.D., has denied through her lawyer that she knew what was going on, noting an 18-year-old employee created the false profile. But a strange thing has been happening since then. Someone purporting to be Drew has started a fake blog on the net, using a first person account to justify “her” actions.
Both Drew and her lawyer insist she didn’t post anything and authorities believe her. But the response from the public has been understandably vitriolic towards the woman and she now fears for her family’s safety. Attorney Jim Briscoe has contacted blogger.com owner Google and asked them to take the posts down.
…
The town of Dardenne Prairie, where this bizarre drama has been unfolding since October 2006, rushed a law into existence designed to prevent harassment over the Internet. And the first person it could be used to protect may be Lori Drew herself.
“I would say that would be a possibility, that they could be the first,” Mayor Pam Fogarty admits. “A law is a law is a law,” she concludes. “You can’t discriminate.”
-CityNews

So, essentially a law designed in response to a sympathetic victim may instead be used to protect her alleged attacker. Moreover, Meier’s alleged attacker is being protected from the on-line vigilante justice that would have otherwise been her only retribution for inducing Meier’s death. The folks scared of the ‘puter have potentially imperiled the efforts of their technologically-inclined sympathizers.

This is a deliciously ironic example of what happens when vague laws are quickly passed on the emotion of the moment.

28
Nov

Movie Review: Zeitgeist – The Movie

By Cynapse 63 Comments
Categories: American Politics, Movie Reviews, Politics, Reviews and World Politics

Title: Zeitgeist – The Movie
Release: 2007
Genre: Documentary
Run Time: 116 Minutes
Author: Peter Joseph
Rating: 68%
URL: http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ (watch online)

After an excessively long introduction, Zeitgeist launches into a dissection of religion (titled “The Greatest Story Ever Told”), and by religion the film-makers mean Christianity. A brief summary of astrology gives way to a comparison of earlier Middle-Eastern mythologies to the mythology which predated all of them. Indeed there are many coincidences to between the Egyptian Sun God Horus and the central figures of later faiths:

  • Horus was born December 25th to the virgin Isis
  • He was adorned by three “kings” who followed an eastern star
  • He was deemed a prodigy at 12 and was baptized at the Age of 30
  • He traveled with 12 disciples and traveled around performing miracles like healing the sick and walking on water
  • His alternate names included “Lamb of God”, “The truth, the light”
  • He was betrayed, crucified, buried from the dead and rose three days later

Anyone who paid attention during Sunday school or at least made an effort to read a bible (a group encompassing fewer Christians that one would think) should be a bit uneasy, as the Story of Jesus Christ is nearly identical – only the names differ. Strangely (or perhaps not) the same general sequence of events can be found many other mythologies across the world. The film then attempts to link common attributes of these stories to astrological symbolism and does a fairly convincing job of it.

None of this information (or at least the discussion of its legitimacy) should be new to armchair theologians, but it was not initially clear why Christianity was singled out above all others for astrological plagiarism – it was not the first, last or worst offender among the emerging faiths. Eventually, the answer is provided – the Romans apparently invented the myth of Jesus Christ solely to exercise social and economic control over Europe. Never mind Karl Marx’s Opiate of the Masses attack – the Zeitgeist narrator directly refers to Christianity and similar faiths as “the fraud of the age”. Them be Fightin’ words.

Alas, Zeitgeist is a film about conspiracy theories – an emphatic diatribe of how small groups of shadowy figures conspire to control the masses.

Bush’s Brawn

The second part of the movie, titled “All the World’s a Stage”, attempts to prove that the US government plotted the 9/11 attacks in New York and contracted the dirty work to international resources. Provided evidence includes a mixture of the apparent “TV clips of witnesses describing a second explosion”, the questionable “government efforts to hide any conclusive evidence of a Boeing 757 hitting the Pentagon” and the perplexing “the demolition-like accuracy with which the buildings collapsed”. Again, the viewer is presented with a series of facts that are true or at least believable, some arousing anecdotes and a consequential induction that implicates shadowy powers.

If film-maker Peter Joseph can be credited for one thing, it’s flawlessly utilizing Dale Carnegie’s yes-yes technique to influence the viewer. Like any good conspiracy theorist, he starts with information that is true (yes #1), follows with information that is apparent enough to make the viewer question previous dogma (yes #2) and inserts his interpretation of what is driving those occurrences (in this case, that the US government intentionally detonated the twin towers). One major distinction between a conspiracy theory and a valid explanation is that conspiracy theories rarely work inversely as deduction. As a Math Professor of mine loved to recite, proving all poodles are dogs does not prove all dogs are poodles.

Hand in my Pocket

The third section is called “Don’t Mind The Men Behind The Curtain” and deals with disproportionate influence exercised by early banking tycoons like JP Morgan and John D Rockefeller. The stock market crash of 1929 is alleged to have been deliberately engineered by the “international bankers” to allow a large-scale cash grab and easy purchase of failed rivals. The 1933 American gold seizure, establishment of the US Federal Reserve and the major world wars of the 20th century are also attributed to the objectives of the international bankers, who stood to gain from the interest on loans made to both the state and consumers. These bankers are never clearly defined after the first generation of financial barons. More alarmingly, the Federal Income Tax is declared unconstitutional – a declaration backed by a pair of former IRS agents who testify to avoiding tax payment for years without penalty. Perhaps they could share what they know with Wesley Snipes.

Zeitgeist closes, strangely, with a motivational speech about unity and how the human race should unshackle themselves from the social structures imposed by a diabolical few. It did provide levity for an otherwise bleak film, but nonetheless sounded kitschy.

Worth a Tin-Foil Hat?

Is Zeitgeist worth the watch? Probably, as you can watch it for free via the URL provided above. The movie also provides an opportunity to test your critical thinking – the real enjoyment in indulging conspiracy theories is not self-congratulation for being skeptical, but being able to explain precisely where they fail.

Conversely, you may find yourself occasionally saying “wait a minute!” and questioning what you thought you knew. Sadly, conspiracy theories are one of the few remaining outlets for some good old-fashioned, politically-incorrect debate, and one area Zeitgest excels at is stimulating debate. Invite a friend or two over and have fun.

Update (2008-10-12): Review for Zeitgeist Addendum

25
Jan

The Movie Industry Threatens Canada … Foolishly

By Cynapse 2 Comments
Categories: American Politics, Politics, Technology and World Politics

(Via Jack’s NewsWatch) Canada.com is reporting that movie distributor Twentieth Century Fox –apparently on behalf of the entire American film industry- is threatening to delay releases in Canada due to rampant piracy:

As much as 50 per cent of the world’s pirated movies come from Canada, prompting the film industry to threaten to delay the release of new titles in this country.
…
Changes to laws in the United States have seen movie piracy in that country plummet … one man caught with a camcorder in a theatre was jailed eight years and fined $250,000.
…
Because of movie piracy, a U.S. congressional committee has added Canada to a “country watch list” that includes such well-known piracy havens as China, Russia, India and Malaysia.

As a member of the The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Fox is attempting to scare Canadian authorities into ignoring such trivialities as terrorism and serial murder in order to recover Hollywood film profits.

Could 20th Century Fox and other film studio truly be contemplating delaying movie releases throughout Canada to pre-empt the release of pirate movies overseas by a few days? Unless the lot of them has gone completely mad, the answer is almost certainly “no”. Retarding a prosperous market to stem the proliferation of inferior products to and from an unstable market is economically dubious. Furthermore, the suggested course of prevention and punishment would only irritate legal movie goers while presenting little or no deterrent to pirates familiar with modern data transfer technologies.

Camcorder Movies are Poor Quality

It is important to understand the nature of these Canadian bootlegs before assessing the validity of Fox’s threats. First, consider the source – As the article states, movie pirates are literally recording movies using camcorder in the theatre. In the hacking world, these bootleg movies are known as “Cams” and are known for having extremely bad quality: Camera angles are usually not perfect since the camera has to be obscured by the bootlegger in order to avoid arrest. This means plenty of shaky pictures, cutoff images (most camcorders record video in 4:3 aspect ratio – the same as television – whereas theatres show movies in 16:9 widescreen), and silhouettes of moviegoers getting up to go to the washroom. The sound is typically recorded using the camcorder’s internal microphone, making the sound unclear and easily drowned out by cell phones or audience chatter.

To be fair and balanced, there are bootleggers who make deals with theatre owners to record movies in an empty theatre; however, even under perfect shooting conditions (the camera is placed on a tripod with a direct connection to an external audio source), the picture quality of a bootleg –in this case called a Telesync bootleg- would still be poor because video cameras simply can’t photograph television or movie screens with any degree of accuracy (for a live demonstration, try videotaping your own television!). Thus, any camcorder videos produce a quality slightly worse than home-taped VHS cassettes – definitely unacceptable in most first-world nations and increasingly unacceptable for even third world nations.

Now consider the destination format of the bootlegs. Originally these videos were sold on VideoCD discs, a low-resolution CD-based format popular in Asia but generally ignored in North America. Until a few years ago, VCD’s were dominant in the Far East and sold for between $0.75US and $2.50US. However DVD’s have since taken over and tend to retail for around $7.00US.

While Cams and Telesyncs were good enough for VideoCD discs, their low quality is quite visible on bootleg DVD’s and are avoided by people even slightly concerned about quality or who would otherwise be willing to pay for the “movie experience”. In other words, camcorder bootlegs threaten the movie industry the way home cassette taping threatens CD sales – not greatly.

Asia is an Unstable Market; Canada is Not

Quality is only part of the story, however. Fox news knows as well as anyone that Asia is very much a market dominated by individual merchants who survive on offering basement bargains (which inevitably includes piracy of films, music, video games and computer software). There is little chance that the entertainment market will be dominated by Blockbuster-style chains that can be easily influenced by MPAA threats or demands. Moreover, there is little incentive for Asian authorities to comply with American demands – any job or economic losses caused by piracy of American films will not affect local Asian economies but the sales of those discs could stimulate economic growth. Furthermore, India and Hong Kong both have prosperous film industries (the former being the largest film industry in the world) far more likely to successfully lobby for legal favor against pirate activities.

Asian piracy is also inadvertently perpetuated by protectionist government policy. China in particular limits the number of foreign films released on Chinese screens in order to favour the local film industry. Chinese consumers respond by seeking illegal copies of the movies online or through the underground market, contributing to the staggering 93% of Chinese film sales purchased illegally.

By comparison, Canada is very prosperous market upon which the MPAA has great influence. Last weekend alone, the top 10 box-office films in Canada grossed $5,440,837, with Fox’s own “Night at the Museum” taking first place [source: Tribute.ca Top 10 Movies in Canada, January 19-21, 2007]. As the article states, there are also guards at many Canadian cinemas actively looking for camcorder pirates, since Hollywood IS the local film industry (at least indirectly).

Piracy Logistics Have Advanced

The US watch list referred to in the article states that Canada has become a “dumping ground” for imported pirated goods from Russia and the Far East. This claim is rather dubious for the simple fact that these logistics are outdated for present-day movies. Aside from DVD and VCD, bootleg films can also be compressed into DivX files, which are MPEG-4 based computer files famous for allowing high quality video streaming over a low bandwidth. A 2 hour movie ripped directly from DVD can be compressed into a 700MB file that looks virtually identical to the original file. Transmitting such a file over a high speed internet connection from Russia to Canada can be done in a matter of hours. In fact, online pirates and casual internet users do so frequently using advanced file sharing technologies like BitTorrent. A transmitted DivX file can be converted back to a DVD for duplication and distribution in the local market. Transmitting pre-manufactured pirated movies from abroad is both expensive (in a market where black market movies will not sell well if priced for more than about $6) and unnecessarily risky. One has to assume the MPAA is aware of these technological advances.

Verdict: “Not … Very … Likely”

So to review Fox’s threat in terms of the information provided above and the original article –

  1. Fox would have us believe that the sale of sub-VHS quality movies in a market where over 90% of purchased films are pirated has a significant impact on their bottom line
  2. Fox and other movie studios are willing to stifle a prosperous, primary movie market over which it does have legal influence in hopes of indirectly forcing compliance on a struggling, secondary market where it has limited legal or political influence.
  3. Canadian police and customs officials should waste millions of dollars searching for bootlegged media entering/exiting via Canadian ports when a piracy operation of average aptitude realizes the cost saving and risk reduction of transmitting one copy and replicating locally.
  4. Fox is upset because Canadian authorities won’t jail camcorder pirates for as long as our nation jails murderers

One can only hope that Fox is merely saber-rattling to scare Canadian authorities into recouping some supposedly lost revenue (which is a dishonest argument, but that will be another post), because if this is an actual anti-piracy strategy then the mighty film studio is in bigger financial trouble than they think.

22
Jan

Barack Obama: Not a Muslim but Possibly a Martyr

By Cynapse 4 Comments
Categories: American Politics and Politics

The initial media love affair with Barack Obama was doomed to have a short shelf life, but even a cynic couldn’t have predicted he’d be savaged so quickly.

Fox News drew first blood with a TV segment accusing Obama of hiding his Muslim heritage and in particular the fact that he was educated in an Indonesian Madrassa for 4 years.

The clip suggests that supporters of rival Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s are primarily responsible for probing Obama’s Islamic past, a notion that many journalists and bloggers (present company included) initially accepted as fact; however, an “anonymous source” was the closest anyone ever got to pinning the attacks directly on Clinton.

Conservative strategists were undoubtedly hoping to catalyze this potential chasm within the Democrat party, not only because it would put the party at war with itself but because it could permanently weaken support from one of the Democrats’ strongest voting blocs – black voters. Blacks would be far more suspicious of the “good guys” if they attacked Barrack’s name (his middle name is Hussein and his last name rhymes with Osama – geddit?), religion and most importantly race. Combined with his overly progressive viewpoint -considerably to the left of any president elected since Carter- and lack of experience, Barack Obama (or more accurately his strife) could have been the best thing to happen to the Republicans for the 2008 election.

To that extent, the Republicans have wisely avoided any direct scrutiny of the half-black Muslim, hoping that faux-tolerant Democrats would draw first blood. Alas, the Republicans cannot control their conservative grassroots and ideological supporters, who jumped quickly on the Fox report and fiercely attacked Obama for WHAT he is (black, formerly Islamic, in possession of an Arabic name) rather than who he is (progressive, not particularly forthcoming with his platform). The attacks neatly conformed to every negative conservative stereotype:

And while Obama may not identify as a Muslim, that’s not how the Arab and Muslim Streets see it. In Arab culture and under Islamic law, if your father is a Muslim, so are you. And once a Muslim, always a Muslim. You cannot go back. In Islamic eyes, Obama is certainly a Muslim. He may think he’s a Christian, but they do not
…
So, even if he identifies strongly as a Christian, and even if he despised the behavior of his father (as Obama said on Oprah); is a man who Muslims think is a Muslim, who feels some sort of psychological need to prove himself to his absent Muslim father, and who is now moving in the direction of his father’s heritage, a man we want as President when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?
Is that even the man we’d want to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency, if Hillary Clinton offers him the Vice Presidential candidacy on her ticket (which he certainly wouldn’t turn down)?
-Debbie Schlussel

Black, stupid or both: that’s your only excuse for getting excited about Barack Obama. And they’re pretty lame excuses. “He’s so well spoken!” “He’s so handsome.” You sound like my grandma. Why not toss in “He’s a credit to his race!” while you’re at it? (PS: white guilt counts as “stupid”)
…
I’ll be repeating this a lot during the next few years, so get used to it: there is nothing “compelling” about a black man impregnating a white woman. In more than one Toronto neighbourhood, that’s what they call “Saturday night.”
-Kathy Shaidle (Relapsed Catholic)

“His father is Kenyan, his mother was white – a charismatic fresh face breaks the race barrier as America’s first African-American presidential candidate”! Or so one would think, based on media coverage. Al Sharpton * must be so pleased.
-Small Dead Animals

Without the political martyrdom provided by crude and bigoted personal attacks, Barrack’s candidacy would have faded long before the final vote took place. Like Canadian Liberal Party hopeful Michael Ignatieff, Obama’s presentation is slick and his forward-looking image beneficial to modern-day liberals; however, like Ignatieff, Obama is inexperienced and similarly would have made a fatal faux pas when forced to stray from niceties to spell out his actual platform. Furthermore, his pockets and political links within the Democrat are not nearly as deep as Clinton’s and he would have at best been offered a shot at vice-president.

Instead, due to the negative focus on his demographic traits, Obama’s candidacy will turn into a referendum on how far America has progressed in terms of race relations and religious tolerance. American culture has been traditionally kind to its virtuous underdogs, and the sympathy vote could carry Barack Obama into a close heat with the comparatively unlikable Hillary Clinton – if not to a victory. All he has to do now is keep smilin’

H/T: Waking Up On Planet X

21
Nov

Why “KKKramer” is being Crucified

By Cynapse 1 Comment
Categories: American Politics, Politics and Society

Warning: Potentially offensive material contained within!

Continue reading ‘Why “KKKramer” is being Crucified’

12
Sep

9/11 Also Showed Our Strength

By Cynapse 1 Comment
Categories: American Politics, Noteworthy Events and Politics

Everyone remembers where they were on the morning of September 11, 2001

I was lying in bed, sick from one of the many illnesses that float about university dormitories. Ordinarily I would have been in class, but decided to turn on my “television” (which was actually a computer with a TV tuner card). CNN was on and showing one of the twin towers on fire. At the time the speculation was that a small plane had crashed into the building and that there might be a few deaths outside of the plane passenger list. The TV camera was still trained on the twin towers when, much to everyone’s shock, a second plane hit the other tower – and it was clearly a jetliner. Talk of accidents quickly turned into “America is under attack”

Quite honestly, “Looks like Osama Bin Laden” was the first words out of my mouth. The attack was consistent with his hit-and-dodge attacks in Kenya, Tanzania and the Persian Gulf. Each attack seemed to be progressively brutal and civilian-oriented. An attack on the enduring symbol of western commerce seemed like a logical next step for an organization like Al Qaeda. But the melee was hardly over – within the next hours, both towers would fall, the pentagon would be hit with an attack and another plane would go down before hitting any targets.

From my bedroom, Manhattan looked like hell on earth. As the first tower fell, I remembered the fact that one of my close schoolmates was doing his co-op term at the World Trade Center, and became even more anxious. 9/11 became very personal for me very quickly. It would be days before I heard from my schoolmate and his survival story was one of chance – he was actually supposed to be in the towers at the time but decided at the last minute to sleep in until 10:00am. He was prematurely awoken by a telephone call from a coworker that consisted of a single sentence: “Turn on the TV”.

After seeing the carnage, he, like hundreds of New Yorkers, rushed towards the towers to see how they could help. Some people were bringing food and towels for those that were injured in the two plane blasts. As the twin towers came in full view, his blood “ran cold” (in his words) as the first of two towers started to crumble to the ground. Most people around him stood frozen in shock until it was apparent that the growing outward wave of dust and debris was not going to subside, causing the most hardened New Yorkers to run for cover.

It didn’t even take a New York minute for American citizens to finger Middle Eastern terrorists for the attack, and the NYPD, already burdened with securing ground zero, rushed to form barriers between a minority of angry New Yorkers and the nearby Arab neighborhoods to which they were quickly advancing. In this detail lies a point about America’s response that often gets lost amid the debates on post 9/11 civil liberties: the US government and even some citizens initially worked furiously to protect middle-easterners from the angry mobs and discriminatory activity. For the most part, they were successful: in the coming weeks the world heard stories of police protecting middle eastern neighborhoods, Christian Church groups providing security at local mosques and citizens opening their homes to Muslim colleagues who were at risk for becoming victims of backlash.

Canada played a significant role in the early 9/11 response when Atlantic Canadians provided food and shelter to over 15,000 stranded Americans whose flights were immediately diverted (44 flights went to Nova Scotia alone). Police officers and firefighters from Canada also rushed to ground zero to help with the rescue and cleanup.

In the coming weeks, North Americans and indeed the world would re-fracture into the usual political/social groupings. The sorrow from the 9//11 attack was used for every cause from promoting nuclear war to severing ties with Israel. Conspiracy theorists reacted almost immediately in gathering evidence they believed pointed to the Bush administration’s prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks (if not worse). Christian fundamentalists, busy promoting their own brand of Jihad, saw their ranks swell at least temporarily. Other Christian personalities, like Jerry Falwell, cast the attacks as punishment from God for sinful behavior. Socialists used the attack as evidence of danger of America’s “imperialism” (a sentiment soon echoed by much of Europe and the Third World), while sleeper cells derived encouragement from carnage that affected far more than just American citizens.

Nonetheless, Americans and Canadians were able to forget their social/political differences and pull together during an unmeasured crisis. In a moment of terror, we became humans first and foremost, and exhibited a potent courage that, if properly analyzed by Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenants, should have been the first sign that the West would not so easily surrender its humanity even the in the face of savagery.

Update: Removed references to “how” the fourth plane went down. Dick Cheney originally stated something on CNN far from the commonly-accepted story, but it would be difficult to prove so without consulting the credibility-killing “conspiracy theorists”

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