The Try-Works

Based on some of the comments made on KHOW’s Caplis and Silverman show, Try-Works commenter N would like to know. And you can decide for yourself. KHOW’s .mp3 of the show is right here. In it, the pair interviews Glenn Morris and David Lane about the Columbus Day protest trials I pointed to yesterday.

Generally Caplis and Silverman seem a little confused as to what civil disobedience actually fucking means, arguing somehow that Martin Luther King was a hero, but that any violation of any law, no matter how fucking stupid, arbitrary or vicious, should be prosecuted to the fullest. They manage to reconcile that logical split in the way they usually do: by being too fucking dumb to notice it.

But anyway, highlights as follows:

At 5:45, when David Lane corrects one of our historically illiterate local media’s favorite canards: that those engaged in civil disobedience during the civil rights movement just took their lumps, and never fought prosecution.

At 8:45, when Dan Caplis begins a tear about the fundamental characteristic of America being the rule of law. This’d be the same motherfucker who never saw a treaty or international obligation he didn’t piss on. The same Dan Caplis who has openly called for anyone expressing an opinion to the left of Hillary Clinton to be tried for fucking treason. Not to belabor the point, but Dan Caplis has about as much right to lecturing on the rule of law as Monica Lewinsky does lecturing on tobacco abstinence.

At 16:00, when David Lane points out the city of Denver doesn’t celebrate Columbus Day. City employees go to work, offices are open. Not much to that, but it’s interesting, and I didn’t know it.

At 20:45, when Silverman waxes eloquent about the poor racists who might’ve missed their tee time. Incurring open derision from David Lane.

At 21:35, when Glenn Morris points out that Silverman’s idiotic argument about protestors not having the right to inconvenience working people is the self-same argument used by white segregationists when whining about the civil rights movement’s tactics.

And the kicker, at 22:15 when, as N said, “referring to civil rights demonstrators who sat-in at and otherwise disrupted segregated businesses, Silverman [or Caplis… whichever one sounds like a child molestor] said, ‘That was their own bad decision.’”

Leading me to the answer to N’s question: “are you required to be a covert racist to host a show on AM radio?”

The answer: absolutely not.

But if Mr. Silverman’s any example, being an open racist is fucking mandatory.

However, my absolutely favorite moment, comes at 28:20 when Craig Silverman is asked by David Lane if he’s really unaware that treaties made with other nations are the supreme law of the land; that they trump the US Constitution.

To which, Craig Silverman answers, “Correct, I’m unaware of that.”

Which left me literally fucking agape.

See, as regular readers ought fucking know, even I knew that one.

You know why?

Because it’s IN THE FUCKING CONSTITUTION.

In those exact fucking words: “[A]ll Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”

Even better, when Glenn Morris points Mr. Silverman to the appropriate passage, Mr. Silverman honks something to the effect that he’ll take a look at that.

Meaning that Mr. Silverman, a man who has made it a quarter-century into the legal profession, who has built a career as a legal pundit, isn’t even generally conversant with the fucking US Constitution.

He’s never even fucking read it.

That’s the kind of stupidity that borders on legendary. It would be something akin to a medical doctor not being able to point out the general location of the human heart. If there were a God in heaven, the dumb fucker would be divinely disbarred upon uttering the words.

And they call Ward Churchill a fraud.

You’ve probably heard this elsewhere, but the fucking idjits at the Denver DA’s office have dropped the ball again, failing to produce evidence against key defendants. God love their ample incompetent asses.

Meanwhile, according to a recent press release from the TCD alliance, the consolidated trial of defenders Julie Todd, Koreena Montoya, Glenn Morris and possibly Russell Means begins next Wednesday, January 16, 8:30 AM, in Courtroom 117M at the Denver City and County Building. The first day will be taken up with jury selection and the prosecution’s opening.

And, if Patricia Calhoun can be believed — always a tenuous prospect – Try-Works favorite David Lane’s already been having a ball.

Friday was David Lane’s birthday, and the criminal defense attorney gave himself a present by wreaking some legal havoc. When Claudia Jordan, the Denver County Court judge presiding over a hearing for some of the 83 Columbus Day protesters, announced that potential witnesses should be sequestered, Lane asked which potential witnesses she meant, exactly, since there were some fifty people in the courtroom — including Jared Jacang Maher, the Westword staffer who’d covered the Columbus Day protest (”Taking It to the Streets,” October 25, 2007). If she needed to, Jordan responded, she’d take attendance.

“So I stand up and start the revolution,” Lane says. After arguing that the judge did not have the authority to do that — that recording names would violate the Constitution — he proceeded to exercise more constitutional rights by calling Maher to the stand, throwing the First Amendment into the mix.

“Do you believe that as a reporter you have a constitutional right to sit here in this courtroom and listen to the testimony in this hearing?” Lane asked.

“As a reporter and this being a public hearing, I do.”

“You also understand that as a citizen, you are subject to subpoena just like anyone else?”

“Yes…”

“So you just heard the judge tell everyone in this courtroom that if you are going to be called as a witness at this trial, then you are going to have to get up and leave the proceedings today.”

“I did…”

“Do you think Westword magazine would have a First Amendment interest in getting counsel over here right now to see if their reporter can be constitutionally thrown out of the courtroom or not?”

Prosecution: “Objection, your honor. That calls for legal conclusion.”

Judge: “Sustained.”

“Do you know whether or not Patty Calhoun, who is the editor of Westword…has expressed to you in the past a concern about maintaining Westword’s rights under the First Amendment?”

Prosecution: “Objection. It calls for speculation.”

Judge: “I wasn’t trying to preclude Westword from being in the courtroom. I’m only precluding witnesses.”

And so it went for a few more minutes (you can read the full transcript at blogs.westword.com). After Maher left the stand — and the courtroom, since by now he’d been officially designated as a witness — Lane called Rocky Mountain News reporter Sue Lindsay.

At that point, the judge decided the day’s hearing was done — but the case is far from over. While charges have been dismissed against three of the protesters, including Russell Means, eighty defendants are still awaiting their day in court. One, perpetual protester Glenn Morris, is set for trial on January 16.

The rest.

So, it seems that everything Mr. Churchill says these days sets the usual suspects humping over each other to howl with outrage that his every word is a lie. The only problem being that they more often than not shoot themselves in their own ass because they’re about as qualified to offer judgment on the merits of, say, Ward Churchill’s take on Mein Kampf as John Martin’s dog would be to offer discourse on French linguistic theory. So they end up looking about as clever as a hatful of assholes.

Heretofore, I’d assumed they were just too fucking stupid to know when to keep their mouths shut and I had nothing to do but sit back and enjoy what amounted to a perpetual-amusement machine.

Well, it turns out I’ve been off the mark entirely. As Pablo B recently pointed out in the comments, it ain’t that they’re either stupid or fucking liars: they’ve just somehow managed to escape the bounds of logical fucking thought altogether.

[W]hat you have to understand is that JGM, Noj, jwpaine, Lawyer, and the rest of the usual suspects, have carved themselves out an exemption from the need for EVIDENCE when making any claims about Ward Churchill. They don’t feel any need to prove anything is a lie using actual evidence. They believe that their claims alone are sufficient in light of the SRCM report.

They are actually ACTIVELY promoting the theory that they can say whatever they want, even when no evidence has come to light to support their claims. Their excuse is that the burden of proof has shifted to Ward Churchill to prove wrong everything they say. So until Ward Churchill personally debunks their bullcrap, they themselves are exempt from providing any actual evidence to back any of their claims.

But they’ve got THAT angle covered too. Because they say that Ward Churchill’s statements can’t be trusted, so HE has to provide evidence to debunk THEIR claims.

That’s right. They can make any claim they want, even when no evidence has come to light to support their claims. It is only Ward Churchill that is required to provide evidence.

Unbelievable.

So they’ve wrapped themselves up in a nice logical fallacy where they claim immunity from providing evidence for their own claims.

And you are surprised that JGM would list whatever he wants as a supposed lie without any evidence at all to back up his claim?

I’m not.

Welcome to the new irreality of Jwpainian Logic.

No better example exists than in the comments to my last post on the subject, where I objected to John Martin’s pointing to four paragraphs of coverage of a recent Ward Churchill talk, and claiming that what Churchill said therein was lies. All I wanted to know was what the hell the lies were.

Well, in the rather spastic manner to which we’ve become accustomed from Mr. Martin, I received four contradictory responses between 11:30 last night and 1:00 in the morning. (Note to Mr. Martin: quitting alcohol to take up cocaine doesn’t really count as achieving sobriety. Just saying.)

So, in order:

Response #1

Jeez, you got way too much free time on your hands, Benjie. I don’t even have to look for citations to find a really big lie Wart/Charley Arthur told, as reported in that article:

“As a proven academic fraud and imposter, what basis can you claim in coming to a public university, which is funded by the government, which from your speeches and writing you so clearly despise?” asked Pete Markevich, a junior political science major. . . .

“My answer is, far more than you,” Churchill said. “By the way, you want to look at the famous university report? The university has completely withdrawn that from scholarly scrutiny. There is no case other than the ‘little Eichmanns’ thing.”

That’ll sure make for a short trial (when and if it ever happens).

Well, okay, except this is nowhere in the four paragraphs which Mr. Martin initially claimed as a lie. Moreover, it’s not a lie. The university did remove the report from scholarly scrutiny. Numerous scholars subjected the university report to scrutiny and found it lacking. Instead of replying, the university responded that the report did not represent scholarly research, and was thusly exempt from scrutiny. That ain’t a lie.

In the kind of bizarre contortion of reality which usually attends one eating their own feces in a padded cell somewhere, the inveterate idiots at Pirateballerina have since concluded that Ward Churchill meant something entirely different — that the report had been removed from the public domain — and are now calling him a liar for their own radical misinterpretation of his statement. By that logic, of course, I could interpret the first sentence of John Martin’s above statement to mean “I like to rape ten-year-olds,” and assign him a pedophile. It’s nonsense on its fucking face.

But, of course, as I mentioned above, the point’s moot. Because the above statement ain’t anywhere in the four paragraphs which Mr. Martin deemed lies.

Response #2

By the way, your blog is really dying over here, Benjie. I keep telling you, nobody wants to read your pretentious crap — they want to read your evil crap.

This isn’t really a response, of course, just a variation on the old “and your blog sucks!” theme. I have to admit Mr. Martin’s getting a little quicker with the old wit, however; that little bon mot only took him seven minutes to compose.

Response #3

And when are you going to post those pictures of the Columbus Day “bloodbath,” like you said you would months ago, Benjie? Can’t trust you guys for nothin’.

Also not a response. But it looks like my grudging concession for Mr. Martin’s new-found quickness of wit is sadly mistaken; it too him nigh twenty more minutes to compose that motherfucker.

Response #4

Oh, you weren’t talking about lies in general, but lies Charley told specifically about the Middle East. How ’bout this:

In the last 15 minutes of his hour-long lecture, Churchill shifted his emphasis to Israel, arguing that Zionists use the same justifications as did Hitler to perpetrate what he believes is a Palestinian genocide. . . .

Not a direct quote, but Wart of course does claim an ongoing “Palestinian genocide” (as do you and Glenn Morris and Ratsu and all the other moral midgets). But it’s a lie.

This, of course, is the real howler. One could get into the legal definition of genocide, but why bother. As Mr. Martin admits, the three words he’s chosen to highlight as a lie don’t come from Ward Churchill at all.

Meaning, out of the four paragraphs he highlighted as lies, the only portion he’s willing to stand by as a lie are three fucking words that Ward Churchill didn’t even say.

So, I’ll ask again. And, I’ll clarify, since holding Mr. Martin to the meaning of his own words seems only a little less tricky than wrestling a greased pig (an apt analogy, I’m sure you’ll agree):

In the four paragraphs you headed “Lies told”, Mr. Martin, how is what Ward Churchill actually said a lie?

Not what Ward Churchill didn’t say.

Not what you never declared a lie in the first place.

Not what you recast as a lie which obviously ain’t.

How is what Ward Churchill actually said a lie?

I’ll recap for your convenience. Ward Churchill said:

“You find in the later pages of Mein Kampf an articulation of Hitler that comes from an analysis of empires,” Churchill said. “He’s examining the other European powers for models that would be an applicable model of the German destiny. He points directly to what he calls the Nordics of North America. The United States is the model.”. . .

And:

“You have active negotiations going on between more radical Zionist organizations, the fascist Italians and Nazis themselves,” he said. “Zionists would collaborate with the Nazis in what would be arranged as guerrilla operations against the British war effort … in exchange for a certain guarantee that there would be a territory set aside in that area for Jews and Jews alone.”

How are these statements lies?

It’s a fair question. Quit waffling and answer it.

In full, a great article from the University of Denver’s Bassem Ahmed which appeared recently in Al-Ahram Weekly. (Thanks to Dustin.)

For more than a decade now, thousands of people in Denver, Colorado, have been spending the first weekend of October in the streets both celebrating and protesting. This year was no exception. Crowds from different national and ethnic backgrounds came out to participate in the Four Directions March; a celebration organised by the Transform Columbus Day Alliance (TCDA), an umbrella group of grassroots organisations that envision a world freed of Columbus’s legacy. Afterwards they took to the streets to protest and block the “Convoy of Conquest”, the name they use to label the Columbus Day Parade, and demand a change of the name of this official holiday. As usual, scores of protesters were arrested for violating the legally sanctioned “right” of the parade organisers to “honour their hero”.

What is this fuss all about? After all, wasn’t Columbus, as we were all (mis)educated, a great explorer who “discovered” the “New World” in 1492, the same year that Arab rule in Andalusia came to an end? It is quite striking that Arab commentators who lament the latter often celebrate the former without trying to further interrogate the significance of this coincidence. “Objective” history books usually focus on Columbus’s skills (didn’t he think he was sailing to India?) and resilience. The ensuing systematic destruction of indigenous societies, the establishment of a transatlantic slave trade, and the exploitation of the wealth and resources of the so-called New World are minor details that more often than not go unmentioned.

It is precisely this marginalised narrative that the TCDA wants to bring to the fore. For protesters in Denver, Columbus’s trips and crimes were the opening act in the process that led to the crystallisation of a system of domination that subjected non-white peoples to the power of Europeans, relegated the ways of living of the former to an inferior position vis-à-vis that of the European Enlightenment, and made the wealth of indigenous peoples all over the world “legally” available for grabs by any European adventurer. All this was based on an alleged “right of discovery”. Initially, this wrong was claimed to be the will of the divine. Later it was couched in more secular and (ir)rational terms by the likes of Locke and Hegel.

The confrontation in Mile High City is just one example of a phenomenon that has been taking shape for few decades now, namely the re-emergence of the indigenous peoples of the Western hemisphere on the international stage. From the jungle of Chiapas to the Andes in the Southern Cone, indigenous peoples have been on the march reclaiming their territories and cultures. What distinguishes these movements from Third World liberation movements of the last century is that the latter while struggling to achieve political independence embraced Western modernity and couched their demands in the language of the Enlightenment. They wanted their fair share of the cake. In contradistinction, indigenous movements of this century question and reject the main foundations of the worldview of the Enlightenment. They believe the cake is poisonous and are not interested even in the crumbs.

What are the implications of such movements for the Arab-Israeli conflict? And what lessons can the “Indians of the Middle East” draw from the experiences of the “Palestinians of the Americas” — as Glenn Morris, a prominent leader of the TCDA, describes the Palestinians and the indigenous peoples of the Western hemisphere respectively — in particular with a new “peace” conference in the offing? Three issues stand out; first, while international law and conferences might be the “civilised” way to settle conflicts, it is important to keep in mind that the doctrine of discovery and the civilised/ uncivilised dichotomy has constituted the meta-theory of international law since the days of Francisco de Vitoria. The mandate system established by the League of Nations under which civilised nations were assigned the task of tutoring uncivilised peoples until found fit for self-determination is another expression of this characteristic. In the same vain, the unequal distribution of powers between the UN General Assembly, where the uncivilised form the majority, and the Security Council, where the civilised nations run the show, the influence of the semi-civilised notwithstanding, further testify to the persistence of this attitude. Consequently, as long as international law is based on this foundation it will continue to privilege the European-Israeli over the Palestinian-Arab, as has been the case since the mandate agreement.

Does this mean that international law needs to be changed in order for the Palestinians to achieve their goals? Not necessarily. It only means that international law is neither neutral nor the panacea for the plight and sufferings of the Palestinians, or for that matter many other oppressed peoples. Rather, it should be turned into a site of contention and competing if not conflicting visions.

Secondly, in this regard it is about time for Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular to resort to a genuine realist position that is based on balancing, rather than a policy of bandwagoning cloaked in a disfigured version of realism. If Palestinians opt to take this path they will have natural allies in these indigenous movements and like-minded groups all over the world, including in the Western metropolis, that struggle to rid the world of this entrenched system of domination. So when it comes to the international scene the picture might not be as bleak as some commentators suggest. For instance, it might not be too late to reinvigorate the Arab-South American summit. In other words, and quite to the contrary to Fukuyama’s affirmations, history has not yet reached its final destination.

Finally, the rising attention afforded to indigenous issues resulting from the struggles of indigenous movements mainly, but not only, in the Western hemisphere has created a conducive environment in which the systemic discrimination suffered by the Arabs of 1948 could be moved to the centre of the Arab- Israeli conflict. After all, Israeli oppression has not been limited to the West Bank and Gaza; the Arabs of 1948 have been subjected to it the longest. In this respect, it is totally unacceptable that any Palestinian leader or body that is unrepresentative of the Arabs of 1948 recognise Israel as a Jewish state, thus infringing on the rights of these Arabs. In the eyes of many, such recognition would resemble Balfour’s declaration nine decades ago.

It will most likely take the protesters in Denver another few years to bury Columbus Day in its birthplace in Colorado. Moreover, the result of this struggle and similar indigenous struggles in the Western hemisphere probably might not be the decisive factor in the outcome of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Nevertheless, one should not underestimate the impact these struggles will have on the character of world order in the future, and consequently on the environment in which the conflict will be settled.

All right, so somehow I seemed to have blundered into some fantastic dreamscape wherein Denver actually has an alternative media source.

And even more fantastic, it’s fucking Westword.

Not only do they include a fairly relevant — albeit a little light on analysis — piece providing a local angle on the usage of trigger-happy mercenaries in Iraq this week, they lead with a profile of two of my favorite people: Glenn Spagnuolo and Glenn Morris. Even though it contains some really, really stupid errors — such as calling Colorado AIM “a tiny, and disavowed, splinter of that original organization [AIM]” — it ain’t a hatchet job. In fact, overall, it’s a fairly fucking impressive bit of journalism, especially compared what’s usually churned out in our backwater burg.

Did I mention I’m talking about Westword?

They even mention anarchism without the obligatory middle-brow, cowtown sneer.

I ain’t gonna start buying stock or anything, but how fucking cool would it be to have an actual, well, alternative to the non-stop, greasy, callous-fisted handjob provided by our local papers?

The throng of demonstrators — 500 according to police, 1,500 according to protest organizers — had taken over the intersection of 15th and Stout streets, unfurling banners and emptying a bucket filled with fake blood and dismembered baby dolls. As dozens of officers in full riot gear approached and camera crews jockeyed for shots, drums and Native American chants steeled the resolve of the protesters. Glenn Morris, who’s been leading efforts against Denver’s annual Columbus Day Parade for almost twenty years, urged everyone who was “prepared to be arrested” to stay close, while supporters cheered from the sidewalks.

But this direct action wasn’t going quite the way the other lead organizer, Glenn Spagnuolo, had envisioned. The original Transform Columbus Day plan had called for as many as a hundred protesters to burst through barricades along the parade route. After this first group of less-resistant individuals — the elderly, the handicapped, people not as willing to risk bodily harm — was swept up by police, a second wave of activists would enter the street and use what Spagnuolo had described as “more hard-core sitting lockdown maneuvers” to stall the parade even longer. But the demonstrators had moved too early; the parade was still three blocks away. Anticipating such a display, officers quickly sealed off a one-block radius and surrounded the protesters with a wall of uniforms.

Now about fifty activists sank to the street in three sit-down circles, using the proper hand grips and leg locks they’d been taught in training sessions. Earlier in the week, Spagnuolo had declared that “the time to talk is over,” since many Native Americans and their supporters consider a celebration of Columbus deeply, unredeemably offensive. But his expression changed from determined to strained as he watched police efficiently dismantle each of the circles and haul the demonstrators off to nearby Denver County Sheriff’s Department buses. If this kept up, their blockade would be over before it even started. Standing near the police, Morris and Spagnuolo — or “the Glenns,” as they’re often referred to by associates — consulted with Russell Means. Even at 68, Means still commands attention as the man who led the American Indian Movement’s militant occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1973. But AIM of Colorado is just a tiny, and disavowed, splinter of that original organization.

“What should we do?” Morris asked. They tried to speak softly, but the screams of a female protester whose leg was in a police pressure hold made talking difficult.

“I say we just rush them,” said Means. “All of us at once. Just like we did back in the old days.”

The Glenns looked at the three-deep line of police, some of them armed with black paintball guns loaded with pellets that release pepper spray. Designing a large protest is never an exact science, and this is especially true among radical groups whose general distrust of centralized authority often makes such efforts an exercise in guided chaos. There are advantages to this model, including adaptability and quick recovery from law-enforcement responses. But it also makes it difficult for those involved in the action to know what the hell is going on.

“What the hell is going on?” one protester, a young woman, shouted at Spagnuolo.

He didn’t answer. Instead, he moved to the sidewalk. “Don’t stand near me,” he whispered to his wife, Barbara. A police sergeant had pointed Spagnuolo out to other officers, who were keeping a close watch on a group of young men who’d wrapped their faces in bandannas. Spagnuolo had a white bandanna hanging around his neck, ready for tear gas. This was one of the precautions he’d urged at a planning meeting; other suggestions including packing a granola bar for a snack during arrest-processing and a credit card to secure bond quickly. He paced nervously along the sidelines. The second wave couldn’t make it into the street without pushing through some cops.

From the 2004 Columbus Day Parade protest, Spagnuolo knew that anyone who instigated contact with an officer, even a bump with a shoulder, would be looking at a much more serious charge than a misdemeanor for refusing to vacate. That year, he and 238 others were taken into custody as part of the orchestrated arrests they’d worked out beforehand with the Denver Police Department. As they peacefully entered the parade right-of-way, they were escorted off and given a citation. The deal was designed to walk the thin line between free speech and illegal behavior. If you scream “Columbus was a murderer!” from the sidewalk, you’re protected under the First Amendment. But if you scream it in the street, are you breaking the law? That was the question that led to Spagnuolo and seven others being acquitted at trial, after which charges were dropped in the 231 other cases. Protesters declared it a major victory. Denver City Council responded by closing the loophole, passing an ordinance that makes it illegal to obstruct lawful events after a police order to move.

This year, the Transform Columbus Day Alliance skipped the advance meeting with police, and the rhetoric was much more aggressive.

As Morris began unbraiding his hair, Spagnuolo told fellow activists to head into the street on his cue. “We’re going to break that tape and take the assault charges,” he said. “That way you guys can follow and take up to the other side and go on lockdown.”

The rest.

Vernon Bellecourt is dead.

We’ve been tracking Mr. Bellecourt and his series of lies since the Ward Churchill scandal broke. He’s been behind the most pervasive of the lies about Ward Churchill. Including that Ward Churchill ain’t a real Indian and that Ward Churchill, Glenn Morris, and Russell Means were expelled from the National American Indian Movement. For details, see here.

The title coming from a line at the Columbus Day protest that seemed to piss Caplis and Silverman off to no end.

You can listen to their recap of events here. Part of it’s a response to the actual protest, part of it’s a response to their interview with Russell Means and Glenn Morris I posted about here.

My favorite bits as follows.

At 1:28, when Craig Silverman goes on a tear, claiming we’re celebrating Columbus as an explorer, like an Astronaut, “who takes a risk on behalf of civilization,” but that we’re not celebrating Columbus as a “racist or a colonizer.”

Just an emissary of civilization. Who presumably brought civilization to where there was none. Right? I mean, to claim Columbus is acting on “behalf of civilization” during his exploration necessitates there ain’t already civilization in place inthe areas he explores. Or am I missing something?

And how the fuck is that not celebrating colonization again?

At 2:50, when Mr. Silverman rants about some of my favorite folks who were out, as always, protesting vigorously and offending the hell out of all squeamish liberals on one hand, as well as, and much more importantly, the opposing side.

Leading one to wonder why said squeamish liberals were so upset. I witnessed a couple of fashionable-activist types dressing them down for their, er, racist language. (One of them was shouting “go home, wetbacks” at the parade-goers, which I thought was hysterical.)

I submit that if you wanna make life uncomfortable for those in the parade, you’ve gotta hit ‘em where they live. The parade ends when it gets so uncomfortable for the city and the parade-goers that they’d rather end it than deal with the protests. This ain’t a fucking bridge party.

Besides which, I’m of the opinion that anything done to piss off Caplis and Silverman is self-validating.

At 7:45, when Mr. Silverman claims there were anarchists in the crowd. Anarchists! And, they were sizing up the Denver police response for the Democratic National Convention!

Furthermore, Mr. Caplis would have us know that they’re just losers. Oh, and Russell Means and Glenn Morris are losers too. Wallowing in past offenses and all that. (This just before Dan Caplis begs them to come back on. Regularly.)

Speaking of which, is there anything quite as grotesque as a couple of ambulance chasing lawyers cum radio shock-jocks maligning others for not doing enough with their lives? Given their role in the world, their greatest contribution would come with their downing a quart of Drano.

At 10:05, when a blind protester who was arrested calls in to relate his story. Including that the cop who arrested him refused to give him his name or badge number. Not that he should feel singled out; word has it that many of the cops were wearing tape over their badges to conceal that information.

At 17:47, when Mr. Silverman continues to voice his outrage over the profanity used at the event.

At 31:45, when Dan Caplis trots out one of his favorite balf-faced lies: that Russell Means, Glen Morris, and Ward Churchill were expelled from the National American Indian Movement.

Yeah, Dan Caplis is a liar. I’ll try to keep from tearing my hair out in shock and outrage if you do the same.

Update: Craig Silverman was outraged. He wants you to know his outrage. He will not abide profanity.

Child molesters, sure.

But not profanity.

Fucking hypocrite.

Update II: And since we’re on about fucking hypocrites, we really don’t wanna forget Dan Caplis.

Tomorrow. I’ll see y’all there. Don’t be shy, stop by and say hello, trolls.

If you need to get fired up, check out Glenn Morris and Russell Means, who I’m stealing the holocaust denial tag from, on Caplis and Silverman. You can download an .mp3 here. My two favorite bits are:

1. When Glenn Morris points out that ain’t nobody quashing anybody’s First Amendment rights; we’re just exercising ours. If you don’t like it, tough. Two Denver juries have decided otherwise, and there’s precedent. It starts about 11:20.

2. When Russell Means decides he’s had enough of bigot ignoramus (his wonderful word) George Vendegnia and the pair of ignoramus bigots sitting in the studio, Caplis and SIlverman. It starts about 31:10. Do not fucking miss Mr. Means calling Craig Silverman Goebbels.

See you tomorrow. This is a protest against holocaust denial. Bring your ego and your stomping boots. I have it on good authority it’s gonna be about as much fun as fun gets.

If that don’t get your heart working, check this out from Shubel Morgan.

(New readers: I haven’t repeated all the backstory on this protest, but you can find all you like here.)

As I said yesterday, the Newmont Mining protest went swimmingly. It was good rough, lively fun. As long as you weren’t one of the Korbel Dinner guests, that is. From what I could tell, the guests were having no fucking fun at all, and my money is that the Marriott will never, and I mean never, host anything like this again.

Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann received her award. Graduates of the University of Denver’s Graduate School in International Studies burned their degrees. Newmont Mining stockholders burned their stock certificates. And a gorgeous puppet of Wayne Murdy was given a citation.

(You can’t see the lady walking ahead of the puppet, but she’s wearing signs that read “Pimp that School!” and “Hey! We’re Talking $$$ Here!” and leading Mr. Murdy’s doppleganger with a carrot. An allusion to Tom Farer’s singularly stupid explanation for giving a serial human rights violator a humanitarian award.)

But the most effective tactic, as alluded to above, was the hectoring of the shindig’s attendees. They were ravaged, starting as they waited at a dead stop in a line of cars to unload, where protestors were assailing them through the car-windows with a litany of Newmon Mining abuses, and giving ’em holy hell for taking part in, as one commenter put it, “Eichmannalooza.” (Catchy, no?) Then, of course, they had to totter from their luxury cars into the Marriott. Over-dressed, incredibly-quaffed, pinch-mouthed, upper crust shitbirds, just begging for ridicule.

And, oh boy, did they get it.

There was the rather restrained, but always effective, “you should be ashamed of yourselves,” but there were also a few, shall we say, more vigorous folks. Some of the best lines I heard:

“Newmont Mining poisons people for money. Hey, do you think we could pay the Marriott to do the same?”

“How’s about we throw Wayne Murdy off a bridge? How’s about we throw Madeleine Albright off an even bigger bridge?”

“How’s about we feed a cyanide cocktail to your kids?”

“You guys should read Ward Churchill. He’d scare the hell out of you, because you’re,” then after a dramatic pause, in a wonderful game-show announcer’s voice, “little Eichmanns!”

And, my favorite, at a woman in a ridiculous hat that looked something like a very large rat eating a partridge, “holy shit, look at that hat! You look like a little Eichmann train wreck!”

If nothing else, the Marriott paid in spades for its Director of Event Planning, Joe Humerickhouse’s, cowardice and servility. I doubt there was a Marriott guest during the four-hour protest that wasn’t really, really wishing they’d stayed somewhere, anywhere else. (Nor, for that matter, a Marriott employee that wouldn’t rather have been working anywhere else.) It was an excellent example of the ways in which, with only a megaphone and a vicious sense of humor, non-corporate entities — meaning, people — can bring their own kind of pressure.
(The goon in the suit is, of course, Omar Jabara, Newmont Mining PR hack. The young man with the bullhorn is Nick Brown of the delightful Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement - Denver. Mr. Brown was responsible for the vast majority of the great one-liners hurled at the Eichmannalooza attendees.)

Needless to say, the $500-a-plate crowd entered the Marriott flustered, red-face and muttering to themselves. Just as funny was the contingent of Denver’s finest who just stood there fuming and purpling.

One enterprising businessman stalked over to make his outrage at being called a “little Eichmann” known. Unfortunately for him, he picked Glen Morris of Colorado AIM to vent on. Mr. Morris takes no shit, and didn’t take any from this gentleman. He laid into him, running down a whole litany of things he was rather outraged by. Like, say, a fucking butcher being awarded a humanitarian award. Needless to say, Mr. Morris had the gentlemen walking on his own tongue before their lively discourse ended.

Then, as if we weren’t having enough fun, Omar Jabara, Senior Director of Communications and Media Relations for Newmont Mining, came out and made a horseshit pretense of taking the concerns of the protestors seriously for the local media.

The highlight of that exchange came from the Ghanan WACAM representative Awon Atuire, who told Mr. Jabara in no uncertain terms that he’d like him to get out of his country and stop killing his people. Predictably, Mr. Jabara protested that Newmont Mining worked with many Ghanan leaders. To which Mr. Atuire responded, “And you know what those people are? They’re slave traders. And so are you.” That shut Mr. Jabara down fairly effectively.

All in all, it was a gas. Oh, and I didn’t get to meet Madeleine Albright, but Al Lewis of the Denver Post introduced himself. It happened while Carrie Dann was speaking. There were a group of protestors still hanging around Mr. Jabara, arguing with him. I’ve never thought much of the concept of trying to argue with little Eichmanns. You can’t educate them. They know what they’re doing, they just consider their own financial gain, how shall I put it, worth the cost. As such, it seemed to me that these folks might be better served listening to Carrie Dann. I walked over and told them as much. Al Lewis, who was following Mr. Jabara around dutifully all evening, kind of grinned and turned around, held out his hand and introduced himself.

I actually asked him later why he was following the Newmont Mining flack around all night, and he protested that he was a journalist. So I asked him why he wasn’t getting the other side. He asked me if I’d read his first article. I said I had, and that it was pretty good. He said, “wait until you see the next one, dude.”

I have no idea what that means. Could be he’s decided to go hard pro-Newmont as we so offended him, or it could be that the next article’ll be much tougher on them. But I told him I’d reserve judgment, and I will.

Update: Vincent Carroll has weighed in on Wayne Murdy’s award, castigating Tom Rowe for his guest editorial in the Denver Post. It’s a shoddy piece of work by even Mr. Carroll’s usual standards. The predictable Indian hating whopper comes here:

“In North America,” Rowe writes, “Newmont operates on Western Shoshone lands without their permission, damaging the environment and paying no royalties to the tribe for taking their resources.”

Wouldn’t a scholar interested in fairness have mentioned that this mining land, while claimed by the Western Shoshones under a 19th century treaty, is in fact among holdings of the federal Bureau of Land Management, as Newmont has repeatedly pointed out? Isn’t it more than a tiny bit inflammatory to suggest to readers that Newmont is simply occupying tribal lands as a rogue multinational?

If Rowe sympathizes with the Western Shoshone and considers Newmont’s behavior atrocious, so be it. Make the case. But at least acknowledge that the mining property is, say, within “ancestral Western Shoshone lands,” as less biased activists do.

Keep reading.

Speaking of playing fast and loose with the facts, these are “ancestral Western Shoshone lands,” sure, but they’re also lands guaranteed the Western Shoshone by the Treaty of Ruby Valley. It’s the only agreement ever signed by the US government and the Western Shoshone, and the land granted therein has never been ceded. The Bureau of Land Management can claim to own anything they like — hell, I can claim to own Vincent Carroll’s house, that doesn’t make it mine — but the Ruby Valley Treaty is the law. And, as we all know from Article VI of the US Constitution, them treaties are the supreme law of the land.

As always, I’m a little awestruck by Mr. Carroll’s casual contempt for the US Constitution, not to mention those principles of property rights he’s always on about. A little awestruck, but never surprised. As we all know from long experience, any pretense of principle goes out that Colfax window when Mr. Carroll gets an opportunity to express his pathological hatred of Indians.

Update II: RAIMD’s recap of events is up. They got to see Madeleine Albright. Motherfuckers. I’ve been hating Ms. Albright since they were playing cops and Assata with AK-47 squirt guns. (Yeah, I’m old.) Anyway, more good stuff from Mr. Brown and all those positively charming lads and lasses whom I hope and pray we shall be hearing from for a long time to come. Read it.

Update III: Slapstick Politics and The Legend of Pine Ridge are shocked and offended that I’ve endorsed Newmont Mining’s methods be applied to people who aren’t brown and poor. Being that they don’t seem like the quickest pair of guns in the right-wing blogosphere, I’ll point out the obvious: if poisoning people’s kids is terrorism when advocated by leftist cat-callers, then it’s sure as shit terrorism when actually fucking done by corporations. If you don’t like the logic, press for an end to terrorism. I’d start with, as the folks at RAIMD have so eloquently put it, tossing Wayne Murdy and Madeleine Albright off a bridge.

Update IV: Snapple’s been working overtime. All my life I’ve pined for some lunatic stalker, and I’ve finally found him (or her). Now if only he could find it within himself to manage an accidental lobotomy while chewing on his pencil.

Update V: Al Lewis’ promised article is up. It’s kind of revealing, in that Al Lewis indicates he considers Newmont Mining flack Omar Jabara a fucking liar, right before slobbering all over him and buying the poor dear a drink. It’s shit, of course. The kind of shit that would get any reporter in any respectable newspaper reassigned to suburban pie-baking contests. Luckily for Mr. Lewis, he doesn’t work for a respectable newspaper.

The only interesting tidbit comes in Mr. Lewis’ professed terror of the protesters. And that he didn’t even bother asking Carrie Dann for comment. I guess I’m one of the people with “menacing stares” who “hassled him” until he identified himself. I don’t believe I was rude to the tender soul, I just wanted to know why he was following a fucking Newmont Mining PR flack around, and entirely ignoring folks like Carrie Dann who have to live with the consequences of Newmont Mining’s actions.

The answer now seems obvious: he’s Omar Jabara’s media counterpart: a chickenshit flack, who, as he put it, didn’t dare “look her in the face.”

Which was probably a wise move.

Human Rights and Environmental Groups to Protest Award to Newmont CEO

Marriott Hotel Revokes Contract for Alternative Award Ceremony

Miner trapped by Cave-in at Newmont Mine in Nevada

When Denver’s elite arrive at the Downtown Marriott Hotel for Denver University’s annual fund-raising Korbel Dinner on Aug 30, they will be met by protesters from around the state.

While DU’s Graduate School of International Studies presents its “International Bridge-Building Award” to Newmont CEO Wayne Murdy, protesters will serve Murdy with a Citation for building Newmont’s bridge on a foundation of human rights and environmental abuses. GSIS Dean Tom Farer has refused to revoke the award to Murdy, over objections from a majority of GSIS tenured faculty and protests from communities that are directly affected by Newmont gold mines around the world.

The protesters, representing a host of Colorado-based non-profit organizations, will present what they call the “REAL International Bridge Builder’s Award” to Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann. But the honoring ceremony will have to be held on public sidewalks now because the Marriott revoked the groups’ contract to hold the honoring ceremony in the Hotel’s Molly Brown room.

In an email to the groups, Marriott’s Director of Event Planning Joe Humerickhouse wrote that the “Hotel see (sic) the Thursday event “Presentation by Carrie Dann” as a conflict of interest to a current piece of business” — clearly a reference to DU’s Korbel Dinner.

It is unknown who pressured the Marriott to revoke its contract for the meeting room, but Glenn Morris of Colorado’s American Indian Movement, said, “This is reminiscent of Newmont changing the location for its annual shareholder’s meeting three times a couple of years ago, for fear of negative scrutiny. Newmont doesn’t want its record exposed, DU is embarrassed, and their response is to muscle the Marriott into trying to silence our voice by denying us a venue. Of course, they will not succeed, and we will be there, and we will have our say.”

In Western Shoshone Territories (Nevada), a Newmont miner was reported missing yesterday after a cave-in at a mine owned jointly by Newmont and Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. It is feared the miner is trapped in the underground Getchell Mine. In June, another miner was killed when ground gave way at Newmont’s Midas mine. Both mines are near Winnemucca.

On five continents, Newmont-affected communities are constantly engaged in protests, marches and litigation to defend their natural resources and their rights. Oxfam America, Amnesty International and the World Resources Institute have documented community charges against Newmont for contaminating drinking water; polluting rivers and oceans with toxic waste including cyanide, mercury and arsenic; colluding with police and military in order to intimidate, brutalize and detain community activists; bribery; and depriving local fishermen and farmers of their lands and livelihoods.

In April, Newmont shareholders passed a resolution requiring an investigation into the company’s relations with the communities affected by its mines. A report will be presented to shareholders at the 2008 meeting. “Why is DU giving an award to a corporation whose own shareholders have moved to investigate the negative human rights and environmental impacts of their operations?” asks Kara Martinez, a GSIS alumna who coordinates the Denver Justice and Peace Committee.

“This award is an unforgivable affront to many thousands of people whose lives, livelihoods and natural resources are forever marred by Newmont’s mines,” says Paula Palmer, executive director of Boulder-based Global Response.

Carrie Dann, representing the Western Shoshone Defense Fund, said, “Newmont has done nothing to address the impact of their operations on the ongoing human rights violations against the Western Shoshone.”

The Colorado American Indian Movement, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, Global Response, Denver Justice and Peace Committee, the Stop Newmont Coalition and the University of Colorado’s Indigenous Support Network are calling on their members and all concerned citizens to to gather for a civil demonstration outside of the Marriott Hotel (California and 17th Street) at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 30th. Protest organizers have pledged their commitment to non-violence.

Poor ol’ John Martin has worked himself into something of a dither today, fretting that he can’t seem to find anything with which to corroborate the proposition that Ward Churchill was among those targeted for assassination by the “Bellacourts” (sic: it’s spelled “Bellecourt,” Johnny).

Now we do have to admit that such material is really, really, really tough to find. So, in the spirit of being ever so helpful—blogger to blogger, so to speak—we thought we’d lend him a hand.

As in, try the front-page story by Amy Herdy and Carol Krech which appeared under the title “‘Spy file’ target seeks scrutiny of cops: Plot didn’t tell activist of rival’s plot to kill him” in the DENVER POST on December 19, 2002, Mr. Martin (it’s available, or was, at http://www.ccmep.org/2002_articles/Civil_Rights/121902_spy_file.htm).

Hell, given the extent of your obvious cognative impairments, Johnny, we’ll even come as close as we can to reading you the first 3 paragraphs. Here goes:

“Among the 20 pages that detail his height, weight and profession, Glenn Morris found something alarming in his Denver police ’spy file’: a report that the department knew of a plot to kill him…. ‘Information was given that Glenn Morris and Ward Churchill were to be killed, and Russell Means would only be injured’ by a rival political faction, read the Nov. 22, 1994, entry, marked as ‘confirmed’ and received from the FBI…. Entries in the intelligence files of Churchill and Means show the same information, yet all three men say police never told them they were in danger.”

Clear enough?

We can make it even clearer. The FBI office where the “confirmed” report was generated, and from which it was transmitted to the Denver PD, is located in Minneapolis, home of Vernon Bellecourt, his little brother Clyde, and “National AIM,” Colorado AIM’s primary movement “rivals” (and, as has been repeatedly noted on this blog, linked quite heavily to—among a number of other things—the kidnap/rape/murder of AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash in 1976).

Even you can follow this one without a power-point presentation, right Johnnie?

Just for the record, though: The cop who received the report, but failed to meet his legal obligation to warn the intended targets, was detective Dave Ponterelli, then-head of the Denver PD’s political intelligence unit.

There y’go, dimwit. Anything else we might do to be of service?

(Picture from Shubel Morgan.)

The title is the money quote from a rather good article by Al Lewis on the little Eichmann celebration being planned at DU.

Life is good for Wayne Murdy.

In 6½ years, he built Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. into one of the world’s largest gold producers. During his tenure as CEO, gold soared from about $250 to $665 an ounce.

On June 30, Murdy, 63, retired with a pension valued at $19 million, plus stock and options worth millions more.

Ripping open the earth and extracting its gold is a messy business. It sometimes means dealing with corrupt governments, accidentally spilling cyanide and mercury, destroying traditional livelihoods and displacing the little people from their native lands.

Yet after leading these activities on a global scale, Murdy is about to be honored as a humanitarian.

Murdy has been chosen to receive the University of Denver International Bridge Builders Award at the 10th annual Korbel Dinner, a glitzy fundraiser for DU’s Graduate School of International Studies at the Denver Marriott City Center on Aug. 30.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will give the keynote address. The dinner, after all, is named after her father, Czech diplomat Josef Korbel, who founded the international-studies school and became its first dean. Albright was unavailable for comment for this column.

. . .

“At best it’s ironic and at worst it’s hypocritical for a human-rights program to give an award to Wayne Murdy,” said Glenn Morris, a professor at the University of Colorado at Denver.

Morris, who is also an attorney and sits on the leadership council of the American Indian Movement of Colorado, said he will help organize protests outside the Marriott on Aug. 30. Other groups say they will help organize protests as well.

“During Wayne Murdy’s tenure, we have not seen Newmont take significant steps to address the needs and rights of local communities,” said Paula Palmer, executive director of Global Response, a Boulder-based group that aids people impacted by Newmont’s activities. “I think most of the changes have been on paper.”

. . .

I asked Tom Farer, dean of the international-studies school, if he regretted choosing Murdy.

“Most of my colleagues wish that I hadn’t recommended Murdy … for the award,” he said. “I’ve taken a fair amount of abuse for it.”

Many professors in his department signed a letter asking him to reconsider. But he says he’s willing to take the heat.

Keep reading.

How’s about a new award for Mr. Murdy and Mr. Farer? Think Little Eichmann of the Year is too over the top?

So, we’re just a wee bit tardy on this, but in The Churchill Smear you will find a new addition entitled Now, About Ward Churchill’s Cherokee Enrollment…. It includes clips of video shot during the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee enrollment of Ward Churchill, along with a breakdown by the mighty Charley Arthur, refuting several long-standing lies about Ward Churchill, including, but not limited to:

1. That his membership was honorary. As you’ll see, both Vernon Bellecourt crony David Cornsilk and UKB council member Ernestine Berry make it very clear that an associate membership legitimizes Churchill as a member of the UKB.

2. That associate memberships were only around during John Ross’ reign and have been discontinued. As is made clear, associate memberships have been around as long as the Keetoowah.

3. That Churchill begged the Keetoowah to provide him with a membership, making several quid-pro-quo promises. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: A UKB member approached Churchill and asked him to apply.

4. That because his membership was honorary, there was no application process, nor checking of his genealogy. Actually, as is shown, his application, necessarily including a genealogy, was vetted not once, but twice, by the UKB enrollment committee. It’s also worth pointing out that unlike the Rocky Mountain News’ genealogical panel — two anti-Churchill bloggers and a New Jersey cop — UKB genealogists are actually experts at verifying claims of Indian ancestry.

When watching the video, do bear in mind that several members of the local media had access to it, viewed it and still continued to regurgitate the above lies. As I’ve said a few thousand times now, the local media’s coverage has never been about journalism, it’s been about smearing Ward Churchill for actually exercising his right to freedom of speech. Its been vicious, stupid, and so shot through with outright lies one wonders that those involved — in this case, Rocky hack Kevin Flynn — can even walk upright under the weight of their accumulated horseshit.

Enjoy.

Update: The Painenites would have you know that the video means nothing. Even though they’ve spent the last two years claiming Ward Churchill’s associate membership in the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee was an honorary membership only; that said associate memberships were only around during the reign of John Ross; that Churchill begged the UKB to even receive that; and that because said memberships were honorary, there was no application process. (http://tinyurl.com/2a7bz4)

Sure.

And, hey, Vigil and Paine, what exactly do you think the UKB’s enrollment committee was vetting when they went through Churchill’s application not once, but twice? Y’know, especially after they spent the entire meeting discussing genealogy and Cornsilk’s contention that Churchill wasn’t a real Indian?

His credit rating?

Keep fiddling with the rope, gentlemen. I’ll be happy to keep giving it to you.

Update II: It’s worth pointing out that Paine has a vested interest in disputing this video. He, after all, was one of the two anti-Churchill bloggers hired by the Rocky Mountain News to serve as their, ahem, genealogical experts.

Update III: For the hell of it I sent the following email to pretty much everyone I could think of. I’ll keep you updated on any responses. And, when I get bored, I’ll follow up with a second round.

Hello,

I’m co-host of a Denver media watchblog called the Try-Works, which, I’m proud to say has drawn a little blood here and there amongst our locals. One of our primary foci has been the Denver media’s neo-Stalinist smear of CU Professor Ward Churchill. You’re getting this email because you’ve shown some interest in either the Try-Works or Ward Churchill. If I’ve misjudged and you’re interested in neither — my apologies.

As you know, though Ward Churchill drew the right-wing’s ire for questioning American exceptionalism, it was understood that attacking him for exercising his right to free speech might raise some uncomfortable questions. As such, the local media’s coverage immediately took on a viciously personal bent, the main charge being that Professor Churchill wasn’t a “real Indian.”

Only two pieces of evidence have ever been offered that Churchill is an “ethnic fraud” — whatever that means.

1. A genealogical study in a June 8 Rocky Mountain News article, performed by an incredibly unqualified team made up of two anti-Churchill bloggers and a New Jersey cop. (http://tinyurl.com/byp32)

2. The word of several people affiliated with a splinter offshoot of the American Indian Movement — primarily Suzan Shown Harjo, Vernon Bellecourt and Carole Standing Elk — who have a longstanding feud with Professor Churchill. Professor Churchill (along with Russell Means, John Trudell, Robert Robideau, Glenn Morris, George Tinker and others) have earned their lifelong enmity by contending that members of this group brutally raped and murdered a young American Indian activist. (http://tinyurl.com/3av3sp)

Professor Churchill, on the other hand, has videotape of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee council discussing his membership application and affirming his every word. Videotape tape the UKB mailed Professor Churchill along with his enrollment card. Videotape which the Denver media knows of, and has chosen to ignore as inconvenient.

But we have made a copy. And we have posted relevant clips to the Internet, accompanied by a breakdown penned by Try-Works member Charley Arthur.

Just click here: http://tinyurl.com/36uat6

For those of you who support Professor Churchill (or who just have a passing interest in journalistic integrity), enjoy.

For the inveterate liars among you — especially among the Denver local media — we’re going to be having a lot of fun at your expense. Do drop by.

Sincerely,
Benjamin Whitmer
www.tryworks.org

As I posted last week, Glenn Morris had a piece in the Rocky about Columbus Day. And, as I didn’t post — because who gives a shit? — John Martin posted a singularly stupid retort.

Well, in a blessing to the blogging gods, Mr. Morris was kind enough to stop by Martin’s place and respond. Which, even better, inspired Mr. Martin to drop his pants and wag his ass around a little. My favorite bit being as follows:

The reason poor little landlocked Colorado, so far from the scenes of Columbus’ exploits, celebrates Columbus Day is the same reason most of the hemisphere does: his “discovery” of the New World symbolizes the spread of western civilization and its values, and the dramatic and continuing improvement in the general lot of humanity that resulted.

At first blush I thought I’d riff on Martin’s casual racism. When that kind of horseshit gets dropped on the table, I always like to begin by referring the idiot-at-large to Kipling, seeing as he’s done that line of reasoning like no one else.

The White Man’s Burden - Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man’s burden–
Send forth the best ye breed–
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild–
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Take up the White Man’s burden–
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain,
To seek another’s profit
And work another’s gain.

Take up the White Man’s burden–
The savage wars of peace–
Fill full the mouth of Famine,
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
(The end for others sought)
Watch sloth and heathen folly
Bring all your hope to nought.

Take up the White Man’s burden–
No iron rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper–
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go, make them with your living
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man’s burden,
And reap his old reward–
The blame of those ye better
The hate of those ye guard–
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:–
“Why brought ye us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?”

But, hell, that seems a little too complicated, doesn’t it? So, instead, since Mr. Martin seems just a little soft on his history, I thought I’d ask him exactly what “the dramatic and continuing improvement in the general lot of humanity” was that the Taino incurred by being, er, discovered? I mean, there’s a few hundred places to begin with Mr. Martin’s argument, but let’s start with that one.

Or, even better, is the point supposed to be that now and then a few million hapless souls must be sacrificed for the greater benefit of mankind?

Because, y’know, I can think of a few other figures who’d share that viewpoint.

Oh, and though I pretty much end every post about Mr. Martin with this same tip, I’ll repeat it: whyn’t you and your pinhead ilk, like, crack a dictionary once a decade?

Check #4. Fucking morons.

Update: Over at the Drunkablog’s place, a commenter by the name of vendor has pointed the real problem with John Martin’s so-called refutation.

Namely, that it’s nothing of the sort.

If you want to refute someone’s points, then you should address those points instead of posting cornball ripostes after entire paragraphs.

Simply breaking up someone’s post does not mean you have dismantled and refuted the arguments. Do you understand that, retard?

I’ll even walk you through some easy steps. Pick out 3 of the strongest points in Glenn Morris’s response. Next, refute those points using a coherent argument. That way, people can read what you wrote as a refutation.

As it is, your reply is a mess and is rather pointless. Go ahead and give it a shot and I’ll check back at the end of the day.

I’ll update when Martin responds.

(That was a joke. As those of you who’ve ever tried to get John Martin to actually back up to one of his idiot assertions know all too well, he ain’t responding — that would require he research a subject beyond Wikipedia.)

Update II: Anybody wonder how Jim Paine got to be such an expert on circle-jerks?

Update III: Anybody wonder why John Martin’s pretending ignorance of the subject?

Update IV: This updating shit is kind of fun. Think I’ll steal it.

Update V: Martin still hasn’t responded to vendor’s challenge, or my fair questions. Instead, he’s taken to whining that we’re just nasty.

Update VI: Alright, this vendor cat is a fucking genius, taking one of Martin’s posts and Drunkablogging it.

Martin’s original:

Noj,

I think JWP quoted somebody one time who pointed out that despite all the problems American Indians face, Co-AIM does fuck all except spout revolutionary rhetoric and victimology. They’re a hindrance to the people they purport to represent.

What’s the evidence that Morris is a fake Indian? All I can find is national AIM crap, and I believe them exactly as much as I believe Colorado AIM.

Glenn,

Really, does it ever bother you that dumb, nasty, threatening people like Vendor and Whitmer are on your side?

Vendor’s, um, refutation:

I’ll now channel JGM and reply in his typical fashion.

And in true JGM style, I’ll entitle this

“A devastating reply only on the drunkablog”
by jgm

>I think JWP quoted somebody one time who pointed out that despite all the problems American Indians face, Co-AIM does fuck all except spout revolutionary rhetoric and victimology. <

Victimology? Wasn’t that the name of a Paula Abdul song? Oh, that was Vibeology. Karl Marxism indeed.

>They’re a hindrance to the people they purport to represent.<

In the same way a leash is a hindrance to a favored pet.

>What’s the evidence that Morris is a fake Indian? All I can find is national AIM crap, and I believe them exactly as much as I believe Colorado AIM.<

Speaking of crap, I wonder how the nuggets did tonight.

>Glenn,<

No, that is not my name.

>Really, does it ever bother you that dumb, nasty, threatening people like Vendor and Whitmer are on your side?<

I once took a photo of this homeless guy digging through the trash. I don’t know if he was from Spain but I did detect a certain noble civility in his actions.

Update VII: Sound familiar, Sullivan?

The United States to the Filipinos - John Banister Tabb, 1900

We come to give you liberty
To do whate’er we choose,
Or clean extermination
If you venture to refuse.

This from Glenn Morris in today’s Rocky.

Colorado state Sen. Suzanne Williams has proposed the repeal of Columbus Day as a state holiday in Colorado. One of her proposals is to replace Columbus Day with a floating or flex holiday for state employees. Another proposal is to designate All Nations Day — to honor the contribution of all peoples and nations in the construction of America. Neither suggestion carries any negative fiscal impact for the state.

Williams is to be applauded for her moral leadership, and for her forthright stance; she should be supported by her colleagues in the state Senate and House, and by Gov. Bill Ritter. State-sanctioned holidays that portray Christopher Columbus as an honorable man who “discovered” America are untruthful.

Prior to his arrival in the Caribbean, Columbus engaged in the African slave trade for the Portuguese. That alone should disqualify him for state or national hero status. While he was governor of the Caribbean, Columbus began and administered a system of forced labor camps known as encomiendas or repartimientos. Under this system, hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were literally worked to death.

Even historian Samuel Eliot Morrison, a Columbus fan, was forced to conclude that “the policy and acts of Columbus for which he alone was responsible began the depopulation of the terrestrial paradise that was Hispaniola in 1492.” According to Morrison, one-third of the Indian population was killed in less than four years. Surely, we no longer want a state holiday to a man who began and advanced genocide.

Some suggest that Columbus was simply a man of his times, and that whatever his crimes, well, “everyone was doing it.” This assertion reflects a profound ignorance of the courageous voices of Columbus’ contemporaries who condemned the atrocities of Columbus and his subordinates in their own era. Scholars and theologians like Antonio de Montesinos, Bartolome de Las Casas, Matias de Paz, and Franciscus de Victoria — considered by many to be the father of modern international law — opposed the destruction that was begun and advanced by Columbus. Today, we should do no less. Even if the apologists were correct, however, and Columbus simply went along with the prevailing practices of his own society, engaging in invasion, murder, rape and plunder, we should not now reward that example with a state holiday.

Keep reading.

Er, hat tip to John Martin, who seems more than a little hazy on what it was Foucault actually had to say about the nature of power — Morris and he being at polar opposites by all conventional estimations. (And, yeah, I’m aware of the hubbub about Foucault’s alleged neo-humanism, but I haven’t read Foucault 2.0 yet, it being out only in hardcover.)