FGHEAIAFGHLSHGVDFLSHGFS

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Wiki-CCCP

The Coalition is now in the wiki-world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Coalition_for_Change_and_Progress

In Confictibus Veritas

Existence is an insanity of a sort. A perpetual empirical nightmare. A finality with a beginning that will never again exist. It is a spiral; hope and fear, in an endless dichotomy. Purposeful meaninglessness. A purgatory for the present, a fiction for the future, and an accumulation of the past. Confined in a solitary shell, yet whole. Integrated through the planes of space and time, yet inert. The wish is of torture, a beautiful chaos which will perturb this order. A fate that is unknown; entropic and mystical. Thus, a change of residence; Escape! Escape from the ebb and flow of recurring tides. Roses will no longer bloom, for withering has gone out of style. Utility will have forgone its usefulness. Facts no longer yield their truth. A fabrication for deconstruction. A destruction of melancholy, a creation of joy; The Anarchy.

Creepy Peepy

The LOGIKBURRO hereby endorses the following For no real reason at all.

1776

The LOGIKBURRO hereby endorses the above video for all purposes private and public.





SE-vuhn-TEAN-SE-vhun-TEA-sicks

Suicide

http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/70/Suicides.html

Party Time

The LOGIKBURRO hereby endorses the above video for all purposes private and public.

BU-tt

Imperial Progress

And Lo! It is only the willing who know, it is not the eagle which should symbolize American progress, but the Snowy Owl! The owl of the genus of bubo, the Knight of the right honorable Order of Strigiformes, Class of Aves, Prince of the Phylum Chordata of the Kingdom Animalia. This civilzed beast of such a noble lineage does not scavenge for its meal atop relics of old and antiquity! No! It does not prey on carrion from the sea who have given up their passion for life! It would not lower itself to such an uncivilized and dishonorable temper as the eagle has left in his wake of 231 years of laying waste to his hunting grounds.

No! The Snowy Owl does, what in glorious splendour any creature of virtue will, by its honour and grace, do. It will keep in waiting, leaving naught of its form visible, naught of its sound audible, yet all of its virtue laudable. It will let its prey run, unless to succumb to the skill of its hunt. It will live in its land unimpeded, yet integrated, no less perfect than the snowflakes of his nightly bedchamber, majestic, passionate, and deserving his rightful throne amongst the creatures of this kingdom of nature.

Progress knows only one creature as the exemplification of all in this world that is purely virtutous, and in accordance with coalition principles, The Snowy Owl would like to bestow, through his blessed patronage, his grace upon this coalition, making plain the desire to be a symbol of coalition forces for what time existence has hitherto placed us....

The Poor Are Doomed

The LOGIKBURRO hereby endorses the above video for all purposes private and public.

en-VY-rone-ment

Progress through Debate

The LOGIKBURRO hereby endorses the above video for all purposes private and public.

BUH-jy-nuh

On Iraq...

And Lo! He spoketh unto the willing...

"The war, that is, the hostile feeling and action of hostile agencies, cannot be considered as at an end as long as the will of the enemy is not subdued also; that is, its Government and its allies forced into signing a peace, or the people into submission; for whilst we are in full occupation of the country the war may break out afresh, either in the interior or through assistance given by allies. No doubt this may also take place after a peace, but that shows nothing more than that every war does not carry in itself the elements for a complete decision and final settlement."

-Karl Von Clausewitz

Perhaps the empire should have listened to the prussian military scholars...

Triumph Of The Grill

The Triumphant ones @ Planet 1516 are up to it again: This time its for real, yo. The Coalition would like to invite participants to participate in 'The Triumph of the Grill' pot luck BBQ on Friday April 20th beginning @ 7pm @ Planet 1516 @ Chicago @ Illinois @ U$A. Please be festive and remind yourselves that the organization needs no special thanks, only your devotion to anarchy and progress. And your meat.





and ummm munchies.

and alcoholic beverages. ummmmm yeah....



APPROVED BY THE LOGIKBURRO

Up All Night

The party on the 31st was indeed a success; a night of frivolity and
debauchery that will not soon be forgotten, A testament to the sublime
virtue or our glorious organization!...

The Haymarket Riot

INTRODUCTION

The events that took place in Chicago on May 4th, 1886 changed the world. Occurring during a summer of unprecedented labor organization, a bomb was thrown into a crowd of police, wounding dozens and killing eight. The public reaction to the event was felt the globe over, leading to the first ‘red scare’ in the United States, and crippling the labor movement’s struggle for the eight-hour workday. The trial that ensued ended in the hanging of four innocent men.

FRAMING THE SITUATION

Beginning well before May 1st 1886 labor in the United States was in turmoil. The Nation was recovering from its Civil War, a war fought over labor and a war that was won in favor of wage labor. Since the Civil War, the United States underwent what has been known as the ‘Second Industrial Revolution’, a period where the rebuilding of the United States in both the north and the south took on unprecedented proportions. Huge waves of immigrants from Europe flooded into America, this driving down labor prices and new technologies led to a lack of need for labor that had been previously skilled.

In Chicago, many of the immigrants had come from various German states, and the philosophies at the time had a great influence on the people who had been imported. Anarchy and communism were concepts (strongly influenced by German writers such as Marx) that were philosophically linked, however they had not yet had states of their own, and were at the time still theories to be proven. Much of the language in periodicals of the time speaks of communism and anarchy equally.

MAYDAY PARADE AND STRIKES

On May 1st 1886 thousands and thousands of people all over the United States took off of work in favor of an unprecedented nationwide strike in favor of many labor reforms but mainly the 8-hour workday. Marches, negotiations and strikes were reported from the following cities in The Chicago Daily Tribune: New York 20,000 rally, Milwaukee 5,000 strike, St. Louis (conflicts settled), Pittsburg 600 strike, Washington D.C. (individuals celebrated their 12-hour schedule in the streets), Rochester, N.Y. (began working 8 hour days), Cincinnati 600 strike, Sandusky 13 strike, Detroit between 250 and 300 strike, Philadelphia (negotiations continue) and Baltimore 2000 threaten strike. In Chicago between April 25th and May 4th workers attended many meetings and thousands walked off their jobs. On May 1st alone some 35,000 workers walked off their jobs to march in the streets, with at least 10,000 more joining them as the march went on.
At the McCormick Reaper Plant a long time strike ended on May 3rd when police opened fire on strikers killing at least two. Anarchists immediately circulated several flyers in response to the event, calling workers to rally for a protest meeting at the West Randolph Street Haymarket. One of these flyers had the title: “Revenge! Workingmen to Arms!”


RALLY AT HAYMARKET SQUARE

Mayor Carter H. Harrison attended the meeting that took place on the evening of May 4th 1886, and instructed the police not to disturb the meeting, and the meeting did remain peaceful until a speaker told the crowd to “Throttle” the law. It was then that 176 uniformed Chicago Police Officers ordered the meeting to disperse. It was at that moment that someone threw a bomb into the wall of police, which exploded, killing one officer instantly. The police reaction was to fire wildly back at the crowd, resulting in 60 officers being injured, eight killed, and an undetermined number of civilian casualties. The event galvanized fears that many in the business and government spheres had suspected, and Mayor Harrison immediately banned meetings and processions. Police were ordered to make picketing and publication of ‘Anarchist Literature’ impossible essentially barring printed or public speech of all but the major papers in the city, and those major papers printed literature matching the anarchists’ calls for revenge towards the anarchists. Most of the strikers had become demoralized, and only a few strikes continued after that.

TRIAL, EXECUTIONS AND PARDONS

In the aftermath of the bombing, the police arrested hundreds of people, but could not pin the thrower of the bomb. The trial that occurred after the arrests was one in the midst of a public seeking revenge. Eight anarchists: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden and Oscar Neebe: all prominent speakers and writers, and 5 of the 8 German immigrants, were tried for murder. The judge and all 12 jurors on the trial admitted prejudice against the defendants. Having no evidence that the tried were the bomb-throwers, or that they knew the bomb thrower, or that they had in any way planned to throw a bomb, the jury, instructed to adopt a conspiracy theory without any legal precedent, convicted all eight defendants. Seven of the eight were sentenced to death.
While many Americans felt that the decision against the convicted was wrong, legal appeals failed. Two of the death sentences were commuted, and on November 11, 1887, four of the defendants, Spies, Parsons, Fischer, and Engel were hanged together before a public audience in the Cook County Jail. The night before the hanging Louis Lingg committed suicide in his cell supposedly using a smuggled dynamite cap held in his mouth like a cigar (the blast disfigured his face and he lived in agony for several hours). Hundreds of thousands turned out for the funeral procession of the five dead men.

LEGACY

Over the years the legacy of Haymarket has had many consequences, whether they be for labor, industry, police action, anarchy or law, the event has come to be an icon of a profound moment of history where ordinary working men and women as well as captains of industry and everyone in-between can take a long hard look at many major problems in society.

-Since the event, socialists and unionists from around the world have celebrated May 1st as “International Workers Day” or “May Day”, in solidarity with the movement. American observance of the holiday was at its peak in the era before World War I, and due to ‘communist’ overtones lessened during the Cold War. Its popularity has risen since the 1980’s. In 2006, a May Day protest occurred across the United States (much like the protest in 1886) with 400,000 mostly Hispanic immigrants in Chicago alone protesting for immigrant’s rights.

-In 1893, Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld (a German-born American) granted the three remaining imprisoned defendants absolute pardon, citing lack of evidence and unfairness of the trial. In circles of law, the trial is considered to be one of the worst miscarriages of justice in American History, lending towards many of the anarchists’ claims about the law.

-The complicated nature of the conflict is exemplified by how the Haymarket Square itself has been memorialized over the years. In 1893 the Haymarket Martyrs Monument was constructed at Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park Illinois, where the four executed prisoners were buried. In 1997 it was dedicated a National Historic Landmark with a plaque. Also in 1889, a nine-foot bronze statue of a Chicago policeman was constructed in the Haymarket Square itself. On the 41st anniversary of the riot (May 4, 1927) a streetcar jumped tracks and hit the monument. It is unclear if this was deliberate by the driver. Then, in October 1969 an anti-United States terrorist organization called The Weather Underground bombed the statue, and within a year it had been rebuilt and bombed again supposedly by the same organization. A 24-hour police guard remained around the statue until 1972, when it was moved from the pedestal on which it stood to the grounds of the Chicago Police Academy. The pedestal remained for three decades known as ‘the Anarchist Landmark’. On March 25, 1992 a plaque was dedicated on the spot of the rally, and in 2004, a sculpture was placed on the spot where the original speakers wagon stood, it remains there to this day.

Bibliography:

Green, James. Death in the Haymarket. New York: Pantheon Books, 2006.
Ashbaugh, Carolyn. Lucy Parsons American Revolutionary. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1976.
Wade, Louise Carroll. Chicago’s Pride: The Stockyards, Packingtown, and the Environs in the Nineteenth Century. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987.
Sifakis, Carl. “John P. Altgeld and the Haymarket Riot.” The Encyclopedia of American Crime, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2001. Facts On File, Inc. American History Online. HYPERLINK "http://www.fofweb.com" www.fofweb.com.
Unknown Author. “For An Eight-Hour Day.” Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963); May 2, 1886: ProQuest Historical Newspapers Chicago Tribune (1849 – 1985) pg. 11.
Thale, Christopher. “Haymarket and May Day.” The Encyclopedia of Chicago. Ed. James R. Grossman, Ann Durkin Keating, Janice L Reiff. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
“Haymarket Riot.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Thursday March 8th, 2007, 10:53 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation. 8 March 2006 HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Riot" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Riot.

Pre-9/11 intelligence Policy On Terrorism

Intelligence is defined as "...the process and the result of gathering information and analyzing it to answer questions or obtain advance warnings needed to plan for the future." In the wake of the attacks on the 11th of September 2001, many questions were raised. How prepared was the US to handle this threat? Did the US intelligence community have enough information to act on this threat? Was the US intelligence policy on terrorism designed well enough before 9/11, and was it simply a matter of existing organizations communicating with each other? The purpose of this paper is to shed some light on these questions, as well to prove that : The US did have enough information to prevent the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but not the organizational or political initiative to act on these potential threats.
Terrorism is an ambiguous term usually used to describe a particular form of political violence. A terrorist or a terrorist action attempts to achieve a particular political or social goal through violence. A common way to identify a terrorist action is by six characteristics: Violence, Target, Objective, Motive, Perpetrator and Legitimacy. This definition excludes governments, organized crime, war crimes, and requires that any action labeled 'terrorist' be unlawful. Also Terrorism is divided into two groups: lone-wolf terrorists such as the Unibomber and Timothy McVeigh, and state sponsored terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Irish Republican Army.
The United States has been familiar with the threat of international terrorism before the 9/11 attacks. Throughout the 1970's and 1980's there were several airplane hijackings, and more specifically to the topic at hand, in three separate instances the US had direct encounters with Al-Qaeda. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed, in 1998 two embassies in Africa were bombed simultaneously, and in 1999 so was the USS Cole. In all three cases dealing with Al-Qaeda in the 1990's up until 9/11 there was never a paradigm shift in how the US dealt with international terrorism. It is important to point this out as policy is often determined by past conflict.
Policy determines what kind of intelligence is to be collected. Modern US intelligence is gathered in six steps. The steps are: planning and direction, collection, processing, analysis, dissemination and feedback. It is this very first step that determines what defines a policy problem and then all the other steps are logical ways to gather and present information on that problem. This means that policy makers are the ones in charge of what information is gathered in the first place because they have set the precedent for what is deemed a worthy issue. War, for example has precedent, and a long standing methodology as to how to go about engaging in war. Therefore the collection, processing, analysis, dissemination and feedback of information about foreign powers and foreign governments all comes to be because of a desire from the top leadership policy team to get information on foreign countries in order to prepare for / prevent war. Terrorism too, has precedent, however, the threats of terrorism before 9/11 were not met with the same tenacity as a leader would have gone about going to war.
Some facts stand out. In early 2001, the newly elected Bush administration did not have counter-terrorism high on its list of priorities. The intelligence community had known of Al-Qaeda itself as a terrorist organization since 1999, and even up until 1997 had considered Osama Bin Laden to be simply a financier of terrorism. This (in hindsight) may seem absurdly inadequate. To better understand how urgent threats are dealt with in the intelligence community, we need only look back to the year 1999.
The biggest terror threat immediately prior to 9/11 was the millennium new years festivities, known as the 'Millennium Crisis'. A slew of intelligence began to surface. On December 4th, a sleeper cell in Jordan was caught by Jordanian authorities, revealing detailed information on how Al-Qaeda operates. As a direct result of this, on December 8th the Counter-terrorism Security Group (CSG) set out to make plans to deter Al-Qaeda plots. By accident on December 14th a Jihadist was caught smuggling explosives into the US. This confirmed to the CSG that sleeper cells in the US and Canada were receiving instruction from Al-Qaeda members abroad (It was noted that while this plot was foiled, it probably did not create any significant dent in the operational ability of Al-Qaeda). As a result, the members of the CSG met daily, and higher members were meeting constantly. The sense of heightened urgency was felt all through the intelligence community. The new year went off without a hitch, but it was noted that the foiled attack was probably just the first of a planned string of attacks. All throughout the summer of 2000 and 2001 there were similar threats and intelligence acquisitions. Most notably, the Taliban government in Afghanistan was threatened to be eliminated if any Al-Qaeda attack occurred. In effect, while these were all warning signals to policy makers, no significant intelligence policy shift occurred.
A major source of failure to prevent 9/11 came on the part of how to deal with the foreign versus the domestic threat of terrorism. The attacks fell into the gap perceived to be a line between domestic and international terrorism. The foreign agencies were prepared and informing for an attack (like what had happened before in Yemen and Africa), and the domestic agencies were watching for sleeper cells within the US borders, but each bureau responsible for gathering information on their respective threats were not sharing information in a collective way with each other. The attacks that occurred were an intermestic affair, meaning that it was eventually foreigners who had infiltrated into the US who had committed these attacks.
In this way, the bureaucratic politics model of government explains the gap - policy has not been formulated with respect to any underlying conception of US national interest. Other forces interrupted the need to prevent terrorism. Competing smaller organizations and individuals did do their jobs, but in the end they did not have a singular unified plan.
The whole intelligence community could have been helped by external guidance and initiative from the president and other higher ranking individuals as to how to proceed in combating terrorism. One stated problem with intelligence gathering is how the information gathered is eventually used. Some have said that intelligence is often not used as a means for directing policy, but vice versa. This would assume a political agenda purported by politicians outside the realm of the intelligence community, that would guide the fundamental first step in intelligence gathering. It could certainly be argued that evidence of this concept is notable in the summer of 2001, and the failure to act on information coming in from various agencies. It could also be conceded that without major precedent (like the events of 9/11) that few policy makers could perceive the threat of intermestic terror to be that real. However, this might have been prevented (in the case of 9/11) by a centralization of communication, and a single strong unified message brought to the president and other policy makers.
Altogether, while the information gathered by various agencies had completed their own goals of information gathering, in terms of combating terrorism it was fragmented and did not complete a whole. Our policy was shaped by the bureaucratic politics model of policy - making. The US intelligence community had not received enough go-ahead style initiative from higher authority to act in a manner needed to prevent the attacks on 9/11.





Bibliography:
1.) Source:
Egendorf, Laura K. Terrorism : Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000.
ISBN 0-7377-0136-6
2.) Source:
Strasser, Steven. The 9/11 Investigations. PublicAffairs LLC 2004.
ISBN 1-58648-279-3
3.) Source:
Nadelmann, Ethan A. Cops Across Borders. The Pennsylvania State University Press 1993.
ISBN 0-271-01095-9
4.) Source:
US Government Publication. The 9/11 Commission Report. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 2004.
ISBN 0-393-32671-3
5.) Source:
Hastedt, Glenn P. American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, Future. 6th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall 2006.
ISBN 0-13-193069-9
6.) Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_%28information_gathering%29, 2005.

!GOJIRA vs. GODZILLA! or: How GODZILLA Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb.

The original 1954 film entitled Gojira directed by Ishiro Honda (released in America as Godzilla) was produced in Japan as a horror / Sci-fi film with anti-nuclear proliferation overtones. Since the original productions initial huge financial success, the film has had nearly 30 sequels, making it one of the most prolific franchises of film history. In 1998, an American production of the picture was released, with many notable differences in style, plot, and attitude. This paper will compare these two films in terms of style and politics and note production differences between the films.
In 1954, Japan was still recovering in a very real way from the effects of nuclear war. The people of Japan were going through a tremendous rebuilding effort, and from this particular point of view the first Gojira was made. The original Japanese cut involves a series of boats that are found destroyed, and an island town that is attacked. The superstitious natives of the island name the creature Gojira after a legend of a great sea beast. A scientist played by Takashi Shimura points out that the evidence all leads towards an amphibious reptile that had been extinct for millions of years, however the radioactive elements in the animals footprints suggest that it had been resurrected from the sea as the result of nuclear weapon use. It is determined that Gojira is in the Sea of Japan, and Tokyo is vulnerable. The only defense that the city has is its large electrical grid, and as Gojira makes its way through the grid , it is seen destroying trains, bridges, buildings, and screeching a horrible roar. Hoards of people are seen running from Gojira. In this devastation, the monster breathes flammable radioactive breath, for which the humans have no defense. Fighter planes then chase the beast into the sea. It is found that a scientist, Dr. Serizawa has discovered an oxygen-depletion chemical that can kill any life underwater. His wife divulges this information to the authorities who want to use it to kill Gojira, and he determines that this weapon is so powerful that he can only let it be used once. Dr. Serizawa burns his notes about the weapon and upon successful delivery of the oxygen weapon, he sacrifices himself while scuba diving, cutting his own air / oxygen supply, and going down with the beast. The film promptly ends.
The American cut of the film stars Raymond Burr (from the ‘Perry Mason’ television series) as reporter Steve Martin. This version opens with Martin in a pile of rubble, and a voice-over recalling what had happened. Martin serves as a narrator, present in many scenes where there is Japanese – only dialogue. Many scenes were altered, and dialogue changed in the American version, due to fear that an American audience in 1954 would not relate to cultural differences; i.e. an all-Japanese cast. Most notably the title of the film was butchered to Godzilla.
The original film was a very serious and quite scary work of art. It was designed for a people who had been through a major war, and could contemplate mass violence seriously. The idea of creating a weapon, and having to use even more heinous technology to destroy this weapon was quite real in the post-war Japanese mind.
This as a metaphor for an arms race (or nuclear proliferation), fortunately was not lost in the American version of the film. However some more human elements were. There is a line in the original Japanese production where a woman states that it would be awful to survive Hiroshima, only to be killed by Gojira. Another altered scene was where a room filled with schoolchildren singing against nuclear proliferation was narrated by Raymond Burr as a ‘national day of prayer’.
The film Gojira (as well as its American cut) create a moral dilemma for the audience. The message that violence and weaponry begets more violence and greater weaponry, often with unintended consequences, is a profound moral message, with very practical, historically real roots. This film intended to personify a weapon, and in this writers view, it did a very good job of it. Gojira is a hideous, heartless, fearless beast, which roars a horrible sound, capable of whimsically destroying anything. The choices that man must make in its presence are difficult and vital. This is seen in the self-sacrifice of Dr. Serizawa, as he heroically lets himself drown so that his work about the oxygen destroyer can never be pursued.
In 1998, Roland Emmerich directed an American remake of Gojira entitled Godzilla, which contained many plot elements of the original production. The films opening credits are entirely visual, showing us old film nuclear tests, superimposed with images of iguanas on islands. A few sea-faring vessels are attacked in the South Pacific, and the military hires a ‘nuclear biologist’ who had been investigating worm growth at Chernobyl. Played by Matthew Broderick, the character finds that the creature had been created by nuclear tests and is an entirely new life form. A French spy (played by Jean Reno) interviews one of the surviving sailors who calls the beast ‘Gojira’. A wannabe reporter in New York City who had a prior relationship with Broderick can’t get the reporting done that she wants to. Her boss takes all the credit. Eventually the beast attacks New York, and gets lost in the forest of skyscrapers. Godzilla proves to be quite evasive of the many helicopters and bumbling military sent to destroy it. The Scientist and the reporter both track Godzilla (as the reporters boss butchers the name) and the creature it turns out wants to burrow in the city to lay eggs. The French spy notes that his countries nuclear tests created the beast in the first place. Eventually, the spy, the scientist and the reporter all team up in the end to vanquish the hatchling Godzillas, and snare mama Godzilla in the Brooklyn Bridge, where it is vulnerable to helicopter fire. When the creature dies, the scientist inquisitively mourns. The film ends with a big kiss, and a lone egg that hatches for your sequeling pleasure.
This Clinton-era production reveals an arrogant society at peace. All of the original anti-war / anti-weapon messages are lost or non-existent. There is no message of the film other than to stay true to the one you love, and that there is room for a sequel. Major holes in plot, ‘science’, character, and genre help to classify this film as bad. Especially for fans of the original (and the 26 other sequels), this was a major deviation from the Godzilla franchise. The film apparently tries to be a monster movie combining elements of the hugely successful Jurassic Park as well as Gojira.
The telling elements of society / demographics are profound. The French spy in the film notes that it is his country’s nuclear tests that created the beast, thus eliminating ANY moral responsibility on the part of an American audience. Quite to the contrary, this evasion towards French responsibility creates an animosity in the picture from American audiences against the French, because the attacks from Godzilla occur on American soil. Nothing is mentioned of American use of nuclear weapons. It is possible that there exist different cuts / translations in different countries so as to make a more marketable / less profound picture from nation to nation more consistent with typical Hollywood tripe.
The film is more of an action / comedy designed for pre-pubescents than a serious horror / sci-fi picture. The character of Godzilla is noted as being androgynous and asexual (“where’s the fun in that?” noted by female reporter), but for the duration of the film the monster is sexistly referred to as ‘him’, even jokingly so as the scientist notes ‘his’ pregnancy. Much of the production design seemed to try to steer away from the clumsier, chunkier design of Godzilla itself, and tried to make the creature more of a real animal, not a supernatural being as many other sequels had done.
Comedic elements added to the ridiculous: a fat, candy-eating mayor named ‘Eberts’ whose election campaign involves a ‘thumbs up’ poster, two actors who voice characters for The Simpsons, and many childish one-liners. Product Placement was not surprising, as the videocassette of the film features a trailer/ad for the soundtrack to the film, which is a compilation of pop music barely relevant or featured in the film. The most surprising part of a film designed for 10 year olds was a racial slur (“you dumb wop!”) uttered by a New Yorker to her husband. In addition the more telling aspect of the film is the near yearning for disaster, evident in some pre-9/11 predictions made: A portion of (mayor Eberts:) “The goddamn Chrysler Building” is torn off by Godzilla, Manhattan is evacuated, and the military takes over, A reporter calls Manhattan “Ground Zero”, and mentions the first World Trade center bombing. The mayor is seen as a corrupt leader, the military is a noble power (the only sacrifice made in the film is by helicopter pilots hunting Godzilla), The press is cutthroat, and science is bumbling but accurate. The French are in competition with the Americans, and nice guys get the girl. American demographics become clear.
In the 44 years between the release of Gojira and Godzilla many sequels were made that paid little attention to continuity. The sequels of Godzilla are known for having nothing to do with each other, and existing purely as ‘popcorn-movie’ pleasure. The serious elements of the films were lost even in the cold war era. The franchise became clichéd and the 1998 production attempted (as was advertised) to be the most varied in the history of the franchise. Most notably was the fact that it was an American film, set in New York City. There were few hoards of yelling panicked people (as if New Yorkers cant terrify). Godzilla could swim, burrow, and breed. The cast was international. Godzilla was no longer a guy in a rubber suit, but a computer – generated animation.
The biggest element, which modified the production of the two films, was audience. In the post-war years, the Japanese people faced many struggles, and had many serious worries about the future of their country. The economy and infrastructure were in shambles, just beginning to re-emerge. How were a people to develop and evolve? They had to reconsider such fundamental things as right and wrong. By contrast, the American audience during the Clinton years was just the opposite. Fat and happy, with a booming economy and a guiltless conscience they yearned for some struggle, and a chance to kick ass. Two years earlier the same director made a similar disaster picture, with similar attributes, which was enormously successful financially, but contained the same cynical demographic studies, and plot failures as ‘Godzilla’. A film that tried to express grief of war and a sense of uncertainty was completely pillaged by a shameless remake. The American scientist mourns the loss of the nuclear bomb metaphor. His discovery is dead. He has no shame or guilt, after all, his country didn’t create Godzilla.
Since 9/11 there have been two straight to video sequels of Godzilla. One involves the ‘traditional’ rubber suit Godzilla vanquishing the CGI Godzilla. Both of these films were intended for fans, and not marketed to mainstream audiences like the 1954 and 1998 productions. This author feels that post 9/11, the demographics in America have changed significantly. The economy has slowed since the Internet boom, and the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington have created a feeling of realistic vulnerability, which would make a monster / disaster film that destroys New York with one-dimensional characters spitting one-liners seem tasteless and inappropriate. No doubt this film was briefly blacklisted immediately after 9/11. Any new mainstream release of ‘Godzilla / Gojira’ in the United States would have to take itself more seriously, and more patriotically. No doubt the Military would be seen with absolutely no jokes as a savior of the American people. Perhaps such a sequel would go so far as to have the exact opposite message as the 1954 Godzilla, suggesting that the way to defeat a monster is by USING nuclear weapons. Certainly the politics of Roland Emmerich do not conflict with depicting the use of nuclear weapons by a movies hero, should he be the director of such a proposed picture. If this were the case, and the picture were successful, it would prove that the original Gojira has had little impact on world politics today, and its legacy had been completely mutated (no pun intended) into a pro-nuclear picture.


Bibliography:
Films:
1.) Gojira. DIR. Ishiro Honda. Toho Film Company LTD, 1954.
2.) Godzilla. DIR. Roland Emmerich, Columbia Pictures, 1998.
3.) Jurassic Park. DIR. Steven Spielberg, Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, 1993.
Books:
1.) Tsutsui, William M. Godzilla on My Mind – Fifty Years of the King of Monsters. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
ISBN: 1403964742
2.) Lees, J.D., Cerasini. Marc. The Official Godzilla Compendium : A 40 Year Retrospective. Random House Books for Young Readers, 1998.
ISBN: 0679888225
3.) Kalat, David. A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series. McFarland & Company, 1997
ISBN: 0786403004
Internet:
1.) Goldberg, Barry S. Barry’s Temple of Godzilla. January, 20, 1996. Accessed Friday December 16, 2005 < http://www.godzillatemple.com/index2.htm>.

Military Industrial Complex

Sir DJ Snowy Owl, being of fit and proper mind, in his allegiance to all things capitalism, would hereby like to salute Major General Smedley Butler for his honest and upright views; and in taking the vanguard against human decency in the relentless pursuit of capital.

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.

-Smedley Butler

Myth Owns Us

Myth Owns Us. What is ownership? Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive possession or control of property, which may be an object, land/real estate, intellectual property or some other kind of property. It is embodied in an ownership right also referred to as title. Who controls myth in this place on this pyramid? Who controls myth now? Who will control myth in the future? Hold your myth dearly.

Goldilocks

And Lo! she spoketh unto the willing!

The individual is the true reality in life. A cosmos in himself, he does not exist for the State, nor for that abstraction called “society,” or the “nation,” which is only a collection of individuals. Man, the individual, has always been and, necessarily is the sole source and motive power of evolution and progress. Civilization has been a continuous struggle of the individual or of groups of individuals against the State and even against “society,” that is, against the majority subdued and hypnotized by the State and State worship. Man’s greatest battles have been waged against man-made obstacles and artificial handicaps imposed upon him to paralyze his growth and development. Human thought has always been falsified by tradition and custom, and perverted false education in the interests of those who held power and enjoyed privileges. In other words, by the State and the ruling classes. This constant incessant conflict has been the history of mankind.

Individuality may be described as the consciousness of the individual as to what he is and how he lives. It is inherent in every human being and is a thing of growth. The State and social institutions come and go, but individuality remains and persists. The very essence of individuality is expression; the sense of dignity and independence is the soil wherein it thrives. Individuality is not the impersonal and mechanistic thing that the State treats as an “individual". The individual is not merely the result of heredity and environment, of cause and effect. He is that and a great deal more, a great deal else. The living man cannot be defined; he is the fountain-head of all life and all values; he is not a part of this or of that; he is a whole, an individual whole, a growing, changing, yet always constant whole.

-Emma Goldman

On Joy...

Is creativity not the device we create to help retain our individuality? Do we not then hold a supreme hatred for those who challenge our creativity? What truly romantic ideals to hold dear! Creativity binds us spiritually to creations spawned from the deepest parts of ourselves, then only to wish for the most profound disjunction, for which others may share the joy that we have created. Conversely, is it not also the device of our desire for domination? Our desire to direct the attention of others to our efforts and energies manifested in a rather mysterious fashion? We would not wish to make plain our desires and energies, for then, would others actually experience our joy?

Is it then, ‘war’, which belongs fundamentally to the social realm, which in turn dominates all other realms of human endeavor? Is it nothing but {nor merely} an act of joy and domination? Is there truly a dialectic force within us that we use to fight as the vanguard of our individuality? It is not a merely a dialectic, but a trinity. It lies in the dynamic forces of our emotion, of rational calculation, and most importantly, of chance. It is this fascinating trinity that forces us to fight with our creativity at times against ourselves, to save our romantic ideals. It is, however, this trinity that we use for ourselves, to destroy them.

-Genius Von Bubo

Our Nation's Future

Friendly Reminder

Spot of Tea Anyone?...

...Or perhapf a lovely tarring and feathering?.... or fhall we tie you to a pillory, and throw a haunch or two of bone at you, hmm? Let it be known to the affembly, and members of whom this will shewe, that we will be meeting under the liberty tree on the 24th.

FUTURISM

FUTURISM, unbelievable futurism for all!

The Pledge of Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the Chicago Coalition for Change and Progress, and to the Anarcho-Syndicalist Gift Economy for which it stands, one Nation under Surveillance, Centralized, with Liberty and Taxation Rights for several.

SNOW NO MORE....

3 more degrees makes it hard for snowflakes to fall. If there's no snow, then there's no more snowmen, no more snowangels and no more snowballs. Most importantly, our friend Bubo the snowy owl won't have anywhere to live. Why do they want it not to snow?
:(

Civilian Consumer Prolitariat. CivConProl

We need another Viet-Nam. Kind of like a real big war. Like one where lots of people die. Like and theres like a bunch of hippies and shit. Like we could use some of that here. Anyone know where we could find one like that? We all loves agent orange. Lots of fucked up people brought into this world. Low gas prices. High gas prices. Wage labor.

USA = Viet-Nambla.

Natural Society

And Lo! He spoketh unto the willing....

Ask of Politicians the End for which Laws were originally designed; and they will answer, that the Laws were designed as a Protection for the Poor and Weak against the Oppression of the Rich and Powerful. But surely no Pretence can be so ridiculous; a Man might as well tell me he has taken off my Load, because he has changed the Burthen. If the poor Man is not able to support his Suit, according to the vexatious and expensive manner established in civilized Countries, has not the Rich as great an Advantage over him as the Strong has over the Weak in a State of Nature? But we will not place the State of Nature, which is the Reign of God, in competition with Political Society, which is the absurd Usurpation of Man. In a State of Nature, it is true, that a Man of superior Force may beat or rob me; but then it is true, that I am at full Liberty to defend myself, or make Reprisal by Surprize or by Cunning, or by any other way in which I may be superior to him. But in Political Society, a rich Man may rob me in another way. I cannot defend myself; for Money is the only Weapon with which we are allowed to fight. And if I attempt to avenge myself, the whole Force of that Society is ready to complete my Ruin.

-Edmund Burke

Comrades! To Arms!

WE must destroy stagnancy now! the happiness of the world is dependant upon us. Whether it be from the lowliest neglected worker who wishes there was a way out, to the reject who feels as if there is no one who will listen to them, we MUST utterly destroy this conformist creation, and dispell all the misery afflicted in its fascist name! Glory and Honor be to the blessed who purge this earth of all the "inevitable" consequences of statist manufacture. we WILL triumph, and people will once again be free...

Aspirations

 

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Thank you, thank you all. the meeting has proceded nicely.

Now business:

also we need a website or 2
cccprogress.com
cccprogress.org
are both available. which do we prefer? we need a centralized means of voting on this online. does anyone have any ideas how to do this? something where we can yea, nay , abstain, etc.
I move that we make the bidet song the anthem of the party.
i think we should put it to a vote.
electronic voting system for all proposed issues on the website?

Arlo:
can you register both :
cccprogress@gmail.com
CCCProgress on youtube

we need a proper email / telephone / home address / contact list for all members. portraits may help too. Information ministry: can you acquire and disseminate this information?

propaganda videos for youtube? what do the members think?

the Informed Uniform

The time for cohesive and communicative signifyin´ through clothing conformity is near nigh. The informed uniform is what seperates the men from the beasts, or the big beasts from the little beasts, to say nothing of Breasts, as in ´medals and ribbons upon´. With that in mind, please be thinking of what the informed uniform of the CCCP will communicate to the rest of the animal kingdom.
Your Official Production Manager of the Informed Uniform is currently in jolly olde London, researching the fashion fallacies of our forefathers. She will return to the land of Change and Progress (god bless it) on or around the 23rd of January. After a reasonable period of adjustment and recovery, during which Ms. Highgate will attempt to re-Americanize her accent to avoid misunderstanding re: the definition of ´pants,´´bloody twat,´and ´knicker kickers,´ design and production will commence on February 2nd, 2007 (shadow or no shadow).
Discuss, debate, draw, and forward all ideas to Delilah Highgate post-haste. The appraising eye of the masses awaits.

THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL

The First International of the Chicago Coalition for Change and Progress will convene on Saturday January 13, 2pm at FORT WRIGHTWOOD.

Japanese Fried Ice Cream & The End of the World

mmmmm....... delicious, isn't it? .... for some reason this New York tempura doesn't taste like vegetables.... and the feeling of tightness in my chest doesnt seem to help either. The hotel I'm staying at is a little too close to the NEW YEARS terrorist attack for me... PERHAPS I will just devour this fat little piece of tempura....

Happyhappyhappy

Happy Holidays, pawns. JK - We love you.

Entities Worthy of Party Recognition

Entities Worthy of Party Recognition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeru_Kobayashi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzu_Hsi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Gottlieb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_9000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Yager
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burke_(science_historian)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbie_hoffman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_jackson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabba_the_hutt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licklider
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus

The aforementioned personages and dieties are hereby nominees for ICONIC STATUS within the party. They each represent the VALUES, CHARACTER, SPIRIT, FAITH, DETERMINATION, CLOUT, POLITIK and MODESTY that all members of the CCCP have in great abundance.

Reeferendum as to the status of the aforementioned entities will be by open ballot of the SECURITIES COUNCIL, and all other members of the party.


THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

APPROVED BY THE LOGIKBURO

Fake Kitty Torture

We all love animals. Some of us love to eat them. Some of us love sleeping with warm fuzzies. Some of us love to torture them and take photographs of such events. This is an eventful event.

On the Nature of Statism

And LO! he spoketh unto the willing....

"It is in the nature of the State to break the solidarity of the human race and, as it were, to deny humanity. The State cannot preserve itself as such in its integrity and in all its strength except it sets itself up as supreme and absolute be-all and end-all, at least for its own citizens, or to speak more frankly, for its own subjects, not being able to impose itself as such on the citizens of other States unconquered by it. From that there inevitably results a break with human, considered as universal, morality and with universal reason, by the birth of State morality and reasons of State. The principle of political or State morality is very simple. The State, being the supreme objective, everything that is favorable to the development of its power is good; all that is contrary to it, even if it were the most humane thing in the world, is bad. The International is the negation of the state." -M. Bakunin


Words of Wisdom! Finally we see, spoken unto thee.....facts of such that break with stagnancy!

If it is progress you need, take heed and plant seeds! change begins with one fell swoop

Money and Snake Boots.

Social Observations, Vol. 14:

Some jackass last night, who looked like he was right off of Judge Elihu Smails' boat in Caddyshack, left $7 on the monitor in front of some blues guitarist last night at the bar. While his backing band played on, the guitarist picked up the $7, gave us a half-smile, then simply dropped the donation all over the stage in what could be construed as a hybrid of disgust and irritation.

Saturdays and the beginning of time...no luck for the unopposed...clearly aging beyond the 20th century...lords and ladies hold candles but not cards

Well friends, It's been a rough ride but once again 
we have emerged the yellowest banana of the bunch. 
In other words, clearly we are the ideal choice. 
Success is our mantra, and prevailing is our calling card.

Sit tight and hold on to your butts, friends, because we are on a
self destructive ride to the ends of the block and back again. 
Fear not, for we shall all wake up on the 
upside as opposed to the down. Kudos and Compassion.

that is all.

Stay tuned.

 

COMMENCE!

and begin...