Dispatches from the Culture Wars 

Start of Summer Collection - July 3, 2012

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WikiLeaks Enters the Music Business

By James C. Mckinley Jr.

New York Times
June 29, 2012

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/wikileaks-enters-the-music-business/

In its never-ending quest to find ways to circumvent
corporate and governmental power, WikiLeaks has announced
that it is releasing a CD called "Beat the Blockade" that is
chock-full of songs about this whistle-blowing Web site's
struggles with Washington and American banks. The song
titles include "Where There Are No Secrets," "The Ballad of
Julian Assange," "WikiLeaks Samba" and "Song for Bradley
Manning." Proceeds from the sale of the album will go to
keeping the Web site afloat in the face of payment services
that have stopped processing payments.

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Super Pacs: Who Comes Up with those Names?

By Carl Hiaasen

Miami Herald
June 23, 2012

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/23/2863824/super-pacs-who-comes-up-with-those.html

If you're starting a Super PAC, the most important thing
(besides having suck-up billionaire friends) is choosing a
feel-good name that looks solid and patriotic. Overall, the
GOP does a craftier job of naming its Super PACs than
Democrats.  For example,  one of the biggest Republican
Super PACs is American Crossroads, which sounds like the
title of a Woody Guthrie folk song but is in fact a tool of
Karl Rove.  By contrast, the top Super PAC supporting Obama
is Priorities USA Action, which sounds like a lame combat
video game.

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After Winning Right to Spend, Political Groups Fight for
Secrecy

By Joseph Tanfani and Melanie Mason

Los Angeles Times
June 26, 2012

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-disclosure-challenge-20120626,0,2730713.story

A handful of conservative foundations, themselves financed
with millions in anonymous funding, have been fighting legal
battles from Maine to Hawaii to dismantle disclosure rules
and other limits on campaign spending.  During their long
drive to loosen rules on campaign money, conservatives
argued that the simple way to prevent corruption was
transparency.  But with those fundraising restrictions
largely removed, many conservatives have changed their tune.
They now say disclosure could be an enemy of free speech.

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Alice Walker Declines Request to Publish Israeli Edition of
"The Color Purple"

Guardian
June 20, 2012
 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/20/alice-walker-declines-israeli-color-purple 

The Pulitzer prize-winning author Alice Walker has refused
to allow an Israeli edition of her classic novel "The Color
Purple" to be published because she believes the country "is
guilty of apartheid and persecution of the Palestinian
people". In a letter to Yediot Books, published on the
website of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and
Cultural Boycott of Israel,she explained "It is my hope that
the non-violent BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions)
movement, of which I am part, will have enough of an impact
on Israeli civilian society to change the situation.  This
may happen, but now is not the time."

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Pixel Uniforms Made American Soldiers Easier to Shoot

By Luke Plunkett

Kotaku
June 24, 2012
 
http://kotaku.com/5920930/pixel-uniforms-made-american-soldiers-easier-to-shoot

In 2004, American Army personnel were issued a bold new
camouflage design, one based not on wavy woodland patterns,
but on large pixels.  But the design supposed to make
soldiers harder to see has, in fact, made them much more
visible to the enemy. Things got so bad that in 2010 the US
Army's combat forces in Afghanistan were issued a new design
after repeated complaints, based on a more "organic" pattern
like previous types of camouflage design.

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Want To Boycott Koch Brothers' Products While Shopping?
There's An App For That

by Clare O'Connor, Forbes Staff

Forbes
June 18, 2012

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/06/18/microsoft-programmer-turned-democrat-politician-plans-anti-koch-brothers-smartphone-app/

If you've ever bought Brawny paper towels, Angel Soft toilet
paper or Dixie cups, or a pair of yoga pants containing
Lycra or a Stainmaster carpet, you've contributed to one or
another subsidiary of Koch Industries, owned by conservative
billionaires Charles and David Koch.

Once Darcy Burner, a Democrat running for Washington State's
1st Congressional District seat, learned how many household
products are manufactured by their companies, she decided to
take action.  Burner, a Harvard computer science grad who
worked at Microsoft, has a plan for a smartphone app
allowing shoppers to swipe bar codes to check whether the
Kochs, or other right-wing supporters, are behind a product
on the shelves. "We already have folks in the habit of doing
price checks with their phones," Burner said. "This is an
extension of that idea."

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Adidas Cancels 'Shackle' Shoes After Outcry

By Jesse Solomon

CNN
June 19, 2012

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/us/adidas-shackle-shoes/index.html

German sports apparel maker Adidas has withdrawn its plans
to sell a controversial sneaker featuring affixed rubber
shackles. Adidas defended the sneaker's design as being
"quirky" and "lighthearted" with "nothing to do with
slavery." And whether Adidas wanted it or not, the sneakers
were still inspiring a spirited debate about race in its
Facebook page.

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Ohio Man Demands State Revoke 'Bisexual' Buckeye's Status As
State Tree

By Sahaj Kohli

Huffington Post
June 18, 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/18/ohio-buckeye-state-tree-status_n_1606280.html

Ohio's Jim Flechtner is demanding that the Aesculus glabra,
better known as the Ohio Buckeye be revoked of state tree
status because it bears male, female and bisexual flowers on
the same tree.

"It is shameful and unacceptable that a bisexual tree should
represent us! We are flaunting the Holy Bible! I urge
everyone to condemn the use of the term "buckeye" as a
nickname for residents of Ohio," he asserts.

What would happen to Brutus, Ohio State's beloved mascot now
that he's been outed as possibly bisexual? He's a public
employee, vulnerable as a member of an unprotected class.

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Iraq Veterans Against the War Produce Documentary Video
Series

by Aaron Hughes

Iraq Veterans Against the War
June 29, 2012

http://www.ivaw.org/blog/voice-art-documentary-series-releases-new-episode-featuring-historic-nato-march-led-iraq-veterans

Voice of Art, the new documentary series on Pharrell
Williams' I Am Other YouTube channel, is releasing Part 1 of
its new episode entitled "Iraq Veterans Against the War".
The episode features the historic march and returning of
Global War on Terrorism service medals by members of Iraq
Veterans Against the War (IVAW) in Chicago during the May
2012 NATO summit.

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