A Docuharma Tradition

Solidarity Forever

Socialist Realism is not as easily quantified in music as it is in literature and representational art due perhaps to the sonic nature of it’s expression.  Don’t get me wrong, the commissars knew what they liked and what they liked was therefore good for the people.  That was kind of a Neoclassicism with heroic and noble themes easily grasped by the masses for propoganda purposes, other more ‘challenging’ expressions deemed bourgeois, ‘decadent, degenerate and pessimistic’.

Socialist Realism must follow these rules laid down by the Congress of 1934

1. Proletarian: art relevant to the workers and understandable to them.
2. Typical: scenes of every day life of the people.
3. Realistic: in the representational sense.
4. Partisan: supportive of the aims of the State and the Party.

Despite that it also (depending on the patronage and power of its State sponsors as well as their personal tolerance for difference) it also included avant garde elements like Jazz and 12 Tone, Dodecaphony, and serial techniques.

Perhaps the most popular Soviet composer in the Socialist Realism style was Isaak Dunayevsky who achieved notable success in collaboration with director Grigori Aleksandrov in creating the scores for many comedic films.

Among his favorite works was Circus

I’ll be back with news and links later.  You know, visiting.

Phallic Symbolism

What?!  No Truthiness?!

Who will be working on Labor Day?  Well I will because you have to have a gosh darn good excuse to travel on a Holiday when everyone else is on the road too.  Our boys. perched as they are in the navel of the universe- New York City, simply get another day off.

The real news, as well as the 2 part web exclusive extended interview with Hassan Abbas and next week’s guests below.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Is It Live Or Is It Memorex?

Perhaps tonight we shall see how hung over Stephen really was.  The real news, as well as the 2 part web exclusive extended interview with David Rose below.

Back to School

Calculations

Congratulations on Stephen’s Emmy.  An abbreviated piece below.

I’m not much of a road warrior and those familiar with my habits and the writings of Rex Stout are likely to identify me with a certain sedentary detective whom is no more likely to skip a meal than he is to miss an appointment with orchids.  He would say that if an eccentricity is easily foregone simply out of convenience it becomes mere petulance.

It’s hard for me to say which is less desirable, to be visited and suffer the preparations necessary to ensure the happiness of the guest, or to visit and subject to the whims and vagaries of one’s host.

In any event while some may call it flexibility and adaptation in tones of admiration, I’ve never been attracted to novelty for it’s own sake.  Having determined the best course, why would one pursue any other?

Yet there are obligations to friends and family whom seem anxious for the amusement I provide and having delayed and temporized as long as decently possible I find myself removed from my customary haunts and activities.

In short, on vacation.

Now for me, it’s not so bad.  I see interesting things, I have entertaining conversations, I eat differently and well in new and exciting places.  Still my routine is under suspension and my work desultory at best and non-existent at irregular and unpredictable intervals.

I delude myself that among my dozens of readers there are a few who have been puzzled by this phenomena and that is your explanation.

Ah Formula One, the dismal sport.

How dismal is it Johnny?

Dismal enough that it signals the end of summer and a return to the dreary grind.

Dismal enough that still nobody has solved the problem of Mercedes dominance and we are reduced to talking about stupid things like the rivalry for first place in the Driver’s Championship (Rosberg leads by 11) and the fight for third place in the Constructor’s Championship between Ferrari and Williams.

Dismal enough that we are once again reminded that you have to bribe your way into a seat in an F1 cockpit but provided you have the nepotistic credentials and the money anyone at all can get a ride even if you’re too young to drink or have a driver’s license for a regular road.

It’s remarkably egalitarian that way.

As dismal as the weather at Spa where they say if it’s not raining it’s getting ready to rain.  At 4.35 miles per lap it’s the longest and one of the fastest tracks of the season.  On offer will be Mediums and Softs.  Because of the speed there will be added wear on the brakes where Hamilton has already had some problems.

Modern music, at least in the classical sense, covers the period from 1890 to 1930 and is a reaction against the previous Romantic movement that is generally considered to have lasted for the 95 years from 1815 to 1910.

The Romantic movement was a rebellion against the stylized rationality of the Enlightenment and sought to emphasize Nature, the past (particularly the Middle Ages), the mystic and supernatural, and Nationalism.

Modernism on the other hand celebrated the accomplishments of science and industry and encouraged experimentalism with the elements of music including tonality, rhythm, melody, and harmony.  As a result is sounded very strange and novel to audiences at the time and generated quite a bit of controversy-

Those kids today, they don’t listen to real music.  It’s nothing but noise.

The 3 composers most commonly associated with  the rise of Modernism are Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss and Claude Debussey.

Mahler was much more famous as a conductor than a composer and was not exactly considered prolific which is probably just as well as his works were not very popular.  He paid the bills and made his reputation on wildly successful stagings of popular Operas and Symphonies by the late Romantics, eventually ending his career in New York as the conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

The piece I’ve chosen today, the Eighth Symphony, has kind of a weird history.  Just before it’s debut Mahler discovered his wife Alma, was having an affair with Walter Gropius.  Mahler was kind of upset and went to Sigmund Freud for analysis.  Alma agreed to stay but continued her affair with Gropius.  Still, this symphony is dedicated to her.  Mahler died the next year.

This particular performance is the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Obligatories, News, and Blogs below.

In other cheerful news from the land of the Rising Sun-

No One Wants You to Know How Bad Fukushima Might Still Be

By Johnny Magdaleno, Vice

Aug 19 2014

Last month, when the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced it would move forward with its plan to construct an “ice wall” around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s failed reactors, it seemed like a step backwards.

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(I)ts initial attempt at installing a similar structure had flopped. Its pipes were apparently unable to freeze the ground, despite being filled with a -22°F chemical solution.

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Aside from TEPCO’s unwillingness to consider other engineering solutions, his main point of criticism about Japan’s largest utility company is rooted in one that countless others have voiced since the earthquake (and subsequent tsunami): a suspicious disregard for keeping the public informed.

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(I)t’s worth noting that TEPCO has been reprimanded by the Japanese government, international scientists, peace-keeping organizations, global media outlets, and both anti- and pro-nuclear advocates for its unwillingness to disclose key details at a time when they are desperately needed. Coupled with the unmitigated radiation still pouring into Pacific waters, this helps explain why a Japanese judicial panel announced in late July that it wants TEPCO executives to be indicted.

This negligence can be traced back to the Fukushima plant’s meltdown. Just three months after the plant was crippled, the Wall Street Journal came out with a report culled from a dozen interviews with senior TEPCO engineers saying its operators knew some reactors were incapable of withstanding a tsunami. Since the Daiichi plant’s construction in the late 1960s, engineers had approached higher-ups to discuss refortifying the at-risk reactors, but these requests were denied due to concerns over renovation costs and an overall lack of interest in upgrading what was, at the time, a functioning plant. In 2012, it came to light that one such cost-cutting measure was the use of duct tape to seal leaking pipes within the plant.

A year after the Wall Street Journal report, TEPCO announced that the Daiichi plant’s meltdown had released 2.5 times more radiation into the atmosphere than initially estimated.

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(A) year later, in June 2013, TEPCO admitted that almost 80,000 gallons of contaminated water had been leaking into the Pacific Ocean every day since the meltdown. As of today, that leak continues.

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In February, TEPCO revealed that groundwater sources near the Daiichi plant and 80 feet from the Pacific Ocean contained 20 million becquerels of the harmful radioactive element Strontium-90 per gallon (one becquerel equals one emission of radiation per second). Even though the internationally accepted limit for Strontium-90 contamination in water hovers around 120 becquerels per gallon, these measurements were hidden from Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority for nearly four months.

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Last month, TEPCO told reporters that 14 different rice paddies outside Fukushima’s exclusion zone were contaminated in August 2013, after a large piece of debris was removed from one of the Daiichi plant’s crippled reactors. The readings were taken in March 2014, but TEPCO didn’t publicize their findings until four months later, at the start of July-meaning almost a year had passed since emissions had begun to accumulate at dangerous levels in Japan’s most sacred food.

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As of August 2014, we know that radiation levels around the Fukushima area continue to rise, even after three years of containment attempts. We know that doctors have found 89 cases of thyroid cancer in a study of less than 300,000 children from the Fukushima area-even though the normal incidence rate of this disease among youths is one or two for every million. We know that Japanese scientists are still reluctant to publicize their findings on Fukushima due to a fear of getting stigmatized by the national government.

We also know that US sailors who plotted a relief effort in Fukushima immediately after the disaster have reportedly been experiencing a well-up of different cancers, that monkeys living outside Fukushima’s restricted zone have lower blood cell counts than those living in other parts of northern Japan.

So, in summary, what we know today is that all three of the Daiichi reactors in operation at the time of the earthquake and tsunami experienced core meltdowns with the strong probability that every single one of their containment structures have been breached and the radioactive material sits merely buried but otherwise exposed to the elements.

That the entire site remains so radioactive that humans would face immediate sickness and inevitable death should they attempt to detoxify it themselves and the environment is so hostile that even specially hardened robots can only operate for hours at best before their electronics cease to function.

That there is a pile of used fuel rods larger than the cores of all three reactors in operation at the time of the disaster sitting on top of the fourth reactor building that was shut down for safety concerns.

And that all these structures have continued to deteriorate without any effective repair or maintenance in the past 3 years, the situation is measurably getting worse, and that TEPCO and the Japanese government continue to lie about it.

(h/t Naked Capitalism)

Video by KMOV

Transcript by  Lincoln Madison

I’m a cop. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t challenge me.

By Sunil Dutta, Washington Post

August 19 at 6:00 AM

Sunil Dutta, a professor of homeland security at Colorado Tech University, has been an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department for 17 years.

Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge. Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary, and don’t even think of aggressively walking towards me. Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?

I know it is scary for people to be stopped by cops. I also understand the anger and frustration if people believe they have been stopped unjustly or without a reason. I am aware that corrupt and bully cops exist. When it comes to police misconduct, I side with the ACLU: Having worked as an internal affairs investigator, I know that some officers engage in unprofessional and arrogant behavior; sometimes they behave like criminals themselves.

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(Y)ou don’t have to submit to an illegal stop or search. You can refuse consent to search your car or home if there’s no warrant (though a pat-down is still allowed if there is cause for suspicion). Always ask the officer whether you are under detention or are free to leave. Unless the officer has a legal basis to stop and search you, he or she must let you go. Finally, cops are legally prohibited from using excessive force: The moment a suspect submits and stops resisting, the officers must cease use of force.

But if you believe (or know) that the cop stopping you is violating your rights or is acting like a bully, I guarantee that the situation will not become easier if you show your anger and resentment. Worse, initiating a physical confrontation is a sure recipe for getting hurt. Police are legally permitted to use deadly force when they assess a serious threat to their or someone else’s life.

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Later, you can ask for a supervisor, lodge a complaint or contact civil rights organizations if you believe your rights were violated. Feel free to sue the police! Just don’t challenge a cop during a stop.

Respect his authoritah. He’s not just a cop, but a “professor of homeland security at Colorado Tech University.”- Atrios, Eschaton

So, if you fk with me and my rights, and I respond by explaining to you that I am going to call a lawyer and sue you for abuse, you have the right to tase me, bro? I can’t tell you how glad I am that this guy is training the next generation of Homeland Security goons.-  Charles P. Pierce, Esquire