In a move that should surprise just about no one, a “historical novel” about Mohammad’s wife has been deep-sixed by Random House:

Random House said it had been advised the book “might be offensive” to some Muslims, and “could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.”

The decision was taken “for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel,” said the company’s deputy publisher Thomas Perry in a statement. 

In other words, Random House knows that every time someone “offends” a “small radical segment” of Muslims, people start dying, so they’ve started practicing what amounts to self-censorship. What’s more nauseating, however, is that American academics were evidently instrumental in halting the book’s publication:

Professor [Denise] Spellberg, from the University of Texas in Austin, was quoted saying the book was “ugly”, “stupid” and “soft core pornography”.

Three days later, Professor Spellberg argued in the same newspaper that she could not have “single-handedly stopped the book’s publication”.

But she conceded: “I felt it was my duty to warn the press of the novel’s potential to provoke anger among some Muslims.”

Denise Spellberg, in case you were wondering, is an associate professor specializing in Islam and gender studies. I wonder how she’d feel if a publisher refused to publish her important tract “Writing the Unwritten Life of the Islamic Eve: Menstruation and the Demonization of Motherhood”, calling it “ugly” and “stupid”.

At a conference entitled “Preventing Another September 11th“, Dr. Spellberg called for greater protection of religion and civil rights in the U.S. Evidently, she’s less interested in the “civil rights” aspect of that statement.

And, lest anyone think that I’m suggesting that Random House, as a private firm, has any sort of obligation to publish this novel, whatever its merits, let make it clear that I think they should be allowed to refuse to publish whatever they please. I just think it’s a sad testament to how culturally spineless we in the West have become, essentially letting thugs with knives, bombs, and AK-47’s dictate what will be published and what will not. It’s espeicially disgusting that a member of the academy would rather prevent a book from being published than to write a critique of it after the novel had come out, especially since said academic would almost certainly never stand for a similar treatment of her own work.

Oregon Commentator alum and new media strategist William Beutler is on this week’s edition of bloggingheads.tv. You can see him chat it up with Bill Scher about twittering, presidential polls and veep selection. Keep on rocking in the free world, Bill.

The International Olympic Committee, after long discussion, has decided to designate China as the permanent host for all Beijing Olympics to come. Emmanuelle Moreau, an International Olympic Committee spokeswoman, said, “This was a difficult decision to make. Many other countries had applied and were great candidates for future Beijing Olympics. But ultimately, we did not feel that Japan or Saudi Arabia would be able to do the Beijing Olympics justice as China could.” Impressed by the spectacular opening show and the country’s determination to dominate the Medal count, the Committee felt that the only country that could pull off the Beijing Olympics in years to come would indeed be China itself.

China was disappointed that the first Gold Medal awarded (for 10 m Air Rifle) during this Beijing Olympics was not to a member of the Chinese team,  but a Chinese spokesman said that, “China will be sure to win the first Gold Medal at the next Beijing Olympics. With Japan and Saudi Arabia out of the contention, nothing will stand in the way of our goal of being the masters of the Beijing Olympics for all eternity.”

I sent an email to the Black Women of Achievement today regarding their hair show. Individual messages sent yesterday to former ASUO Executive Emily McLain and BWA Director Ashleigh Callier-Wells have not yet been responded to. Here’s the letter:

Dear Black Women of Achievement,
My name is CJ Ciaramella. I’m the editor-in-chief of the Oregon Commentator, a student publication of the University of Oregon. If you don’t mind, I had a couple of questions for you regarding the hair show for which you received $64,050 in student money.

Could you describe what kind of event the hair show will be?

Is it the same thing as your Ethnic Hair Care Day, scheduled for Nov. 5, which will give students the opportunity “get educated on ways to handle that stringy, tangled, nappy hair that is either damaged by color, or dryness”?

How exactly is the $64,050 being used for the hair show?

Was the over-realized request for the hair show brought before the ASUO Senate by Ashleigh Callier-Wells?

If so, was Callier-Wells a student at the time?

I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m prying, but I’m really quite interested. This sounds like it will be a great hair show, considering its budget is bigger than the entire combined operating budgets of the Oregon Commentator, the Oregon Voice and the Student Insurgent. Thanks,

CJ Ciaramella
Editor-in-Chief, Oregon Commentator

Yo, what up. This Big Snoop Dogg. Represent the Punjabi. Aye ya, hit em with this.

So goes Snoop Dogg’s intro to a song he recorded and filmed for a Bollywood movie he’s appearing in.

The end times are nigh.

After a week or so of below-the-radar furor on the blogs (Mikey Kaus, take a bow), possible future Attorney General and Vice-Presidential contender John Edwards has finally come clean over allegations that he lied about having an extramarital affair. Okay, so Edwards is a lying scumbag. We all knew that. Big deal.

The real story, I think, is that most major media outlets kept a lid on this story — despite the fact that they were well aware of it —  and even going so far as to discourage people from writing about it.

Without taking this into “Team Red vs. Team Blue” territory, the media’s handling of this case should be instructive, at the very least. If the writing of bloggers like Michael Yon and Michael Totten, among others, has brought into question the accuracy of the media’s often-hysterical coverage of Iraq, then the non-coverage of the Edwards story should make consumers even warier about taking what they read in the paper or see on the nightly news at its word.

Until today, if you never read the Enquirer and never looked at blogs, just about the only inkling you might have had that this was even happening at all would’ve been a quip or two during Jay Leno’s monologue, and you probably wouldn’t have gotten the joke.

Back in March when the ASUO Senate heard over-realized fund requests, the Black Women of Achievement student group received $64,050 of student money for a hair show. This seems like a hell of a lot of money for a hair show, but it’s par for the course for the ASUO. However, we recently obtained a letter from former ASUO Executive Emily McLain to President Frohnmayer that brings to light some startling information. From the letter, dated March 23:

[T]he ASUO Executive has concerns regarding the $64,050 BWA proposal. Our concerns are twofold. The first is that there are organizational concerns regarding the ability of the group to spend the full amount approved for them. This is noteworthy because if a group does not spend money allocated to them it can have disastrous effects on the next budget for the organization. Our other concerns are of a more confidential nature. Individuals within the group have not been in student standing who are acting on behalf of the group. Moreover, some members of the group have expressed concerns to our administration regarding the nature of this proposal and the support, or lack thereof that this proposal has within the organizations involved. This is confidential because we handle student issues through the ASUO Programs Administrator and also our ASUO Programs Coordinator. The ASUO Executive worked to resolve this situation by speaking with some members of the group and gathering information. The timing was simply too hsort to finish this work. Because our concerns and information arose after the process was finished we recommend that Liora Sponko, the ASUO Programs Coordinator, be consulted to work with the group to determine whether these funds will be used or whether they should be denied. Because of the uncertainty of this proposal happening as well as the confidential nature of some concerns we cannot approve this proposal. Though, pending the consultation with the ASUO Programs Coordinator and Administrator and members of the organization, through normal means, this Executive will trust the decision of the University President.

(Full PDF of the letter, with the above section found on pages two and three.)

According to our sources, BWA Director Ashleigh Callier brought the proposal before the Senate, even though she allegedly was not a student at the time. Questions regarding the dubious use of this money and objections from other BWA and BSU members are being looked into. Unfortunately, other corroborating evidence is hard to come by, since both the original over-realized request and the minutes from that meeting are no longer on the ASUO website. This is odd because every other over-realized request is available in PDF.

As is made clear by the letter, Emily McLain was fully aware of these problems, but instead of vetoing the request she passed the buck to the Administration. How wonderful that we allow people not even attending the UO to waltz in to the Senate and walk off with tens of thousands of dollars in student money. How much more wonderful that the ASUO not only tries to ignore it but goes so far as to cover it up by removing public records from its website. Stay tuned for more on this tragi-comic escapade of irresponsibility.

Straight from PDX, this has the potential to be the best thing ever. Is this what new media advocates mean when they talk about citizen journalism? Sometimes the Internet makes me so happy.

Okay, this is totally awesome:

 Socialite Paris Hilton has made a spoof advertisement in response to a jibe by US presidential hopeful John McCain.

…

Reclining on a chair in a swimming costume and gold stilettos, she said: “Thanks for the endorsement, white-haired dude.

“I want America to know that I’m, like, totally ready to lead.”

At the beginning of the star’s film, an announcer called Mr McCain “the oldest celebrity in the world, like super-old; old enough to remember when dancing was a sin and beer was served in a bucket”.

Hilton’s spoof also intersperses images of Mr McCain and Yoda from Star Wars and the cast of TV show The Golden Girls.

The 27-year-old suggested a hybrid of Mr McCain’s offshore oil-drilling plan and Mr Obama’s incentives for new energy technology.

“Energy crisis solved. I’ll see you at the debates,” she said.

A spokesman for Mr McCain’s campaign, Tucker Bounds, said: “Paris Hilton might not be as big a celebrity as Barack Obama, but she obviously has a better energy plan.” 

This is officially turning into the most hillarious presidential campaign season ever.

The City of Eugene is currently considering an ordinance that would allow the city to ban alleged lawbreakers from the downtown area for up to 90 days. And by “alleged lawbreakers” they mean “goddamn street kids.”

The proposal was spurred in large part by Betty Snowden, owner of the Glamour Girls and Guys shop in downtown (and host of the totally awesome “Hats Off” public access show). A couple of weeks ago, Snowden testified before the City Council about the constant harassment she faces. From the R-G article:

Snowden, who is black, said the conflicts have escalated in the past year. She refuses to let the mostly young people congregate in front of her store, and she said they are retaliating against her with threats, racist epithets and vandalism. She said she was struck by a young man last year. The gangs, as she calls them, vomit, urinate and defecate in front of her store when it’s closed.

[…]

“When we get there, ‘nigger’ is already (written) on our door,” she said, her voice rising, mixed with anger and heartbreak. “Then they’ll pass by. This isn’t three or four of them at a time. This is 20 or 30 of them, passing by over and over and over (saying) ‘You nigger. You bitch. You are going to be killed.’ This goes on on a daily basis.”

And from today’s R-G article:

The morning after the article was published, Snowden said she found human feces in front of her door.

Last week, surveillance cameras that Snowden uses to monitor the front of her store videotaped a young man ramming a bicycle into the front door, and other young men trying to pry plywood off the storefront. The plywood was covering a window broken in an earlier vandalism.

Mayor Kitty Piercy said she was reluctant to give her support to the proposal because it allowed for people who were only “alleged criminals” to be evicted and denied them a trial. I agree that the proposal is a little odd and sounds hard to enforce, which is why I plan on introducing another proposal, the “Spray Street Kids With Pressure Washers and Soap Until They Leave Act of 2008.”

In all seriousness, though, the real solution is greater police presence, which thanks to the testimony of Snowden is now happening.

After a couple months of lallygagging and general tomfoolery, we’ve finally finished up the Summer Issue. Click on the picture to the right to see all of our beautiful content, including (but not limited to):

• Possibly our most disturbing cover ever
• Tater awards
• Year in Review
• 100 percent true, definitely not false coverage of the Olympic Trials

Hate mail, outrage, corrections and hand-wringing can be directed to [email protected].

Writing about the quickly-retracted idea for a new law requiring adult cyclists to wear helmets, Carla Axtman plays at being a libertarian:

 I use that label to infer the idea of the “leave me alone” ethos that tends to be an intregal part of what we’re about in the west. As a rule, the western U.S. seems to be a region whose citizens have a strong preference for government to remain out of their personal decisions… we tend to cast a jaundiced eye at any law which would give the government power over the way we choose to live our lives.

Alright. So far, so good…

We’re not opposed to government taxation and spending per se. In fact, we’ll be the first to embrace it in many cases. [emphasis added]

Hm. Yeah, I’m not entirely sure she gets it. One of her commenters does, though:

I’m not sure from where this ethos began. Perhaps it was from all of those independent-minded pioneers who ventured from parts east on the continent

I’m guessing the ethos began right at about the time a bunch of bicycle riding Portland liberals came to understand that their ox would now be gored by Prozanzki and the rest of his legislative nannycrat buddies.

Heh.

Some guy was handing out Socialist street poetry down on 13th the other day. He asked me if I wanted some, and I declined.

I’m not sure if this is from the same guy or not, but thankfully, a co-worker took a poorly-photocopied poetry booklet from someone, which I subsequently found in the garbage. Check below the fold for an example of one Michael Chusid’s fine verse, from his epic “A Life of Livelihood: Workers of the World, Relax!”:

(more…)

Kari Chisholm at Blue Oregon is expressing shock! and indignation! at a new plan floated by Oregon Republicans: selling water to water-starved states like Nevada and California (though interestingly, his link to the Republicans’ “Leadership Fund” doesn’t mention the plan at all). He quotes Jeff Mapes at the OregonLive blogs:

David Nelson, R-Pendleton, who convinced the Senate R caucus to take up this idea, insists that times have changed and that Oregon could be a Saudi Arabia of water. “We wouldn’t allow them to take it,” he says of other regions. “We would sell it to them.” And he adds that it could make the kind of profits that will help support a level of state services that the taxpayers aren’t willing to fund.

Mapes points out that there are several problems with the plan, not the least of which is that Oregon is already embroiled in all sorts of water-rights litigation involving Native tribes, farmers, and fishermen. Such criticisms are certainly fair and, as the continuing controversies surrounding the Columbia and Klamath flows illustrate, the issues involved are delicate and often intractable.

Chisholm, on the other hand, seems to feel that the idea itself is beyond comprehension, having little to add aside from

Seriously.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Perhaps Kari Chisholm is unaware that the Bonneville Power Administration already sells massive amounts of hydroelectric power from the Columbia to neighboring states and that California already gets huge amounts of water from sources like the Colorado River, which has experienced increasingly smaller flows as places like Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico (which is legally entitled to part of the Colorado River flow), to say nothing of California itself, require increasingly large amounts of water to sustain growth.

Or perhaps he does know that electricity generated by the BPA is consumed in other parts of the country and is simply under the same misapprehension as one of the people posting in his comments section and believes that BPA power is simply given away free to people outside the Pacific Northwest rather than being put to good use near where the power is generated.

Either way, and admitting that there are some real potential issues that arise if we start selling water to California and elsewhere, why does Chisholm think that the plan is so utterly beyond the pale? If the water can be spared without endangering fish runs and Tribal fishing rights, etc., one fails to see how making up for budget shortfalls by selling water is supposedly so outrageous.

After all, we all know that the budget isn’t going to shrink itself since taxpayers aren’t terribly excited about taking even more money out of their pockets and the government isn’t willing to alienate interest groups by cutting programs. It’s clear we can’t rely forever on Band-Aid measures like Federal timber payments, so if a profit can be made using some of Oregon’s natural resources, and it can be done without endangering other interests that Oregonians have decided are important (fish runs, etc.), it seems incredibly short-sighted to pass up that opportunity.

[EDIT]

Then again, maybe Kari Chisholm was too caught up in basically calling Gordon Smith a fatty poo-poo head to be bothered to write anything more substantial about potential plans to exploit Oregon’s natural resources.

Newsweek publishes one of the worst pieces of journalism I’ve ever read.