By SAUL LANDAU - July 19/20, 2008

Carlin (71) and Helms (86) -- polar opposites of US culture -- died within weeks of each other. Carlin taught critical thinking through stand-up comedy. Helms represented unquestioned authority -- of the past. Lest anyone think Helms was always dour and serious about his love for all things reactionary, those who knew him told stories of his inventive sense of humor. This included the “good old boys” sense of humor.

George Carlin, comic, anarchist, 1937-2008: Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, Tits [otherwise known as "The Seven words you must never say on television"].

"Punk ain't no religious cult,
Punk means thinking for yourself
You ain't hardcore 'cause you spike your hair,
While a jock still lives inside your head"

- "Nazi Punks Fuck Off," Dead Kennedys, 1981

Special to Mostly Water

As internet technologies have developed, corporations have moved towards putting more restrictions on what you can freely download. Partially in reaction, a whole new movement has been created to give people access to high quality video and music. Legally.

Ah, they were the best and worst of gigs…One of the worst gigs I ever played was a catered party for the Port Authority on a ferry boat in Seattle in 1983. It was formal, the men in my band were in tuxes and I was in a formal gown. They rolled out lawns on the ferry decks for the guests to play croquet and the second my band finished playing, they stowed us away to a room and ordered us not to mingle with the guests!

By Chris Summers | BBC News

A bill outlawing the possession of "extreme pornography" is set to become law next week. But many fear it has been rushed through and will criminalise innocent people with a harmless taste for unconventional sex.

By DAVID ROVICS - March 24, 2008

...[W]hy is so much of the left in the US so attached to being so dreadfully boring? Why do so many people on the left apparently have no appreciation for the power and importance of culture? And when organizers, progressive media and others on the left do acknowledge culture, why is it usually kept on the sidelines? What are we trying to accomplish here?

I have been taking a class about “play” in college recently. The class has been teaching me all kinds of things ranging from the wide variations of play throughout different eras and across many cultures, but more importantly, I’ve been studying the politics of play...who controls and manages play, who gets to play and who doesn’t and why, etc. The definition of play has also been expounded upon with some saying it is merely the opposite of work, yet others arguing some work is fun and some play is not fun, such as junior high P.E. classes. I had never really thought about many of these topics before (which is why I love school, it brings new topics to you), and I am realizing that play is very complex.

With this letter I would like to officially withdraw as a member of the jury for the 2008 Prize of the Alex and Ruth Dworkin Foundation for the Promotion of Tolerance through Cinema[... A]fter examining in more detail the political and financial basis of the prize I must refuse to have my name associated with it. Behind this noble sounding “award for tolerance” hides a story of intolerance, division and discrimination.

They’re smaller, smarter, and feistier, and they number in the millions, but can D.I.Y. zines, blogs, and viral videos overthrow the corporate media dinosaurs?

Find out from Anne Elizabeth Moore and Franklin López as they brazenly celebrate independent media in Vancouver and world-wide. Anne is the Chicago-based author of Unmarketable: Brandalism, Copyfighting, Mocketing, and the Erosion of Integrity and the former editor of Punk Planet, the legendary punk zine that folded

neworldtheatre presents...

Here and There:
Panel Discussion & Community Forum on My Name is Rachel Corrie
January 20th, 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
SFU Harbour Centre, Labatt Lecture Hall (Room 1700)
515 West Hastings
FREE

This event comes in large part as a response to the innumerable attempts that have been made to censor the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie; and out of a need to question what this means for public discussion of the Israel-Palestine conflict that runs counter to mainstream characterizations of the situation.

By Cynthia Peters - December 21, 2007

The problem isn't with "getting off." The problem is the horrendous working conditions that women suffer in the pornography industry, our misogynistic culture that sees women...as objects of male pleasure and control, women's unequal access to power and wealth, and our profit-driven economy that constantly reduces our lives and our daily practices to acts of consumption.

A national TV documentary is shining a light on apparent racism against a Native American student in northern Michigan whose high school basketball milestone was celebrated late and much differently than a white player, who is also the son of the coach.
That white coach is the principal, athletic director and a county commissioner.
The coach denys racism was at the root of the belated ceremony to honor the American Indian student.
In addition, the coach says the local newspaper just happened to cover his son's ceremony and not at the smaller event for the American Indian player.
The documentary on the Sundance Channel also shows the quirkiness of living in remote northern Michigan where snow is measured in fee; and fishing, hunting and high schol basketball are king.

TORONTO - A Croatian rocker accused of glorifying nationalism and fascism has reportedly scheduled a secret show at a community centre west of Toronto.