Whistle-Blowers' Site Taken Off-Line in the U.S.

. . . that is, the eminently useful Wikileaks. As reported by the BBC, the site, which "allows whistle blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents[,] has been taken offline in the US.

* * *

"The site was founded in 2006 by dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and technologists from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa.

"It so far claims to have published more than 1.2 million documents."

Versions of the site hosted in other countries such as Belgium and India can supposedly still be accessed.

P.S.: Note to journalists: it's ok to have more than one sentence per paragraph.

UPDATE Feb. 29, 2008: Per the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the order that disabled the wikileaks.org domain name in the U.S. has, for now, been rescinded. EFF attorney Matt Zimmerman said, "[a]ttempting to interfere with the operation of an entire website because you have a dispute over some of its content is never the right approach. Disabling access to an Internet domain in an effort to prevent the world from accessing a handful of widely-discussed documents is not only unconstitutional -- it simply won't work." The ACLU has also intervened. Consider donating.

From the Collection of Robert E. Jackson

Photographer unknown. The collection of photos by "average Americans trying out their cameras" was scavenged by Jackson from yard sales and antiques shops and was recently shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

"I'm not a hot shot, I'm not rich," Jackson said laughing. "I work in a cubicle."

(From The Seattle Times via snarky -- thanks!)

At the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, TX, through April 27, 2008.

Martin Creed's New Tate Commission: Run, Dick, Run!

Tate Britain has commissioned Creed to create a new art work to be exhibited in a 300 foot-long (90m) gallery hall, in which the artist will, Times Online understands, "do no more than get individuals to run through the gallery every minute for months on end." Ah, but which individuals?

Creed won the Turner Prize in 2001 for Work No. 227: The Lights Going On and Off.

Unofficial Tallies in NYC Understated Obama Vote

According to The New York Times, "[b]lack voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama.

"That anomaly was not unique. In fact, a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district." More here.

During the last several years, there have been more than one election reform bill pending in Congress, most of which were "bandaids" that would have failed to assure meaningful transparency and auditability. To understand the merits and status of any particular bill, I recommend verifiedvoting.org (you might want to bookmark that for the next time you get e-mail urging you to support particular legislation -- I had serious problems with one bill moveon was pushing).

Ending the Iraq war and health care reform are urgent issues. But for me, the top two priorities are election reform and media reform, because our ability to respond effectively regarding everything else depends on those two.

Last I checked, none of the leading Presidential candidates' official websites addresses either election reform or media reform, presumably because the corporate media and others aren't asking about them. To ask the candidates about those issues, for Huckabee go here, for McCain go here, for Clinton go here, and for Obama go here.

Woebken & Okada: New Picnic Threat

This "Ant" device created by Chris Woebken and Kenichi Okada is intended to simulate the experience of being an ant. Exhibited at a masters student show at London’s Royal College of Art. (Via dezeen.)

Clinton & Obama Supporters: Pls Refute This if You Can

I happen to believe there can be no bigger, better art work/ game/ life purpose than trying to help make a "better" universe, however you might prefer to define that. If you agree, you might rhyme with this.

TWO STEPS to Voting in the Texas Dem Primary

The primaries in Texas will be held on March 4, 2008.

Per Texas Dem party rules, there are TWO steps. Texas has both a New Hampshire-style primary AND an Iowa-style caucus.

1. Go to the polling place and vote.
2. Return to your polling place at 7:15 PM and sign in at your party convention. You do not have to stay and caucus, you just need to sign in.

Only 3/4 of the total Texas delegation (126 delegates) will be based on the primary returns. The other 1/4 (42 delegates) will be distributed based on the number of people attending the precinct convention. To "attend" you need only sign in (at which point you indicate your candidate) and then you can leave.

Of course, if you want to stay -- and if you want to actually run to be a delegate -- you can do that, too.

It's vital to go and sign in, because that sign-in number determines the percentage in attendance for Obama vs. Clinton vs. Undecided, and delegates are allotted based on that number alone. The choosing of delegates is a subsequent step that's based on the sign-in sheet, but separate from it.

Senate Dems Agree: the Constitution Really Is "Just a Goddamned Piece of Paper"

-- as Bush put it.

A number of Senate Dems, including Senator Clinton, have voted in favor of granting telecoms immunity for abetting the Bush administration's wholesale, warrantless spying on U.S. citizens, in gross violation of our Constitutional rights. Senator Obama voted against granting the immunity. You can check the roster here.

Remember, this isn't just about the telecoms, or even just deterring illegal spying. It's also about (1) whether the telecoms have any reason to reveal who in the Bush administration pushed for the illegal spying and (2) whether anyone in the future has any incentive to say "no" to the next violation by our government of our fundamental rights.