Here's an article on the elections for the local adjunct union at NYU. Dave was on the winner's campaign staff.
Congratulations!
Monday, April 11, 2005
Killer Coke!
Since the beginning of his Freshman year at NYU's Gallatin School my brother Dave has been a leader in the national Killer Coke campaign.
In a nutshell, Coke's subsidiaries in Columbia have been accused of working with para-military groups to block efforts to unionize the bottling plants. According to the Killer Coke website, union-busting tactics have included murder, torture and kidnapping.
The Killer Coke campaign's goal is to get Coca Cola to agree to an independent investigation of the human rights abuses.
Coca Cola refuses.
So in order to put pressure on the company, students have now taken to calling for their universities to cancel contracts with Coke.
Coca Cola seems scared... they even sent a rep. from Atlanta to debate my brother at the end of last semester.
NYU stopped short of banning Coke from campus. Instead they recently sent a letter to Coke requesting that they work with the Worker Rights Consortium to address the allegations.
What's the next step for NYU's Killer Coke ativists? Stay tuned (or maybe Dave will update us using the "comment" feature). In the meantime, check out the latest article on the Killer Coke campaign from NYU's Washington Square News.
In a nutshell, Coke's subsidiaries in Columbia have been accused of working with para-military groups to block efforts to unionize the bottling plants. According to the Killer Coke website, union-busting tactics have included murder, torture and kidnapping.
The Killer Coke campaign's goal is to get Coca Cola to agree to an independent investigation of the human rights abuses.
Coca Cola refuses.
So in order to put pressure on the company, students have now taken to calling for their universities to cancel contracts with Coke.
Coca Cola seems scared... they even sent a rep. from Atlanta to debate my brother at the end of last semester.
NYU stopped short of banning Coke from campus. Instead they recently sent a letter to Coke requesting that they work with the Worker Rights Consortium to address the allegations.
What's the next step for NYU's Killer Coke ativists? Stay tuned (or maybe Dave will update us using the "comment" feature). In the meantime, check out the latest article on the Killer Coke campaign from NYU's Washington Square News.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Here's a recent IM conversation I had about the latest episode of 24 with my friend, associate and sometimes partner in crime (that's right Catone, eat it!) Pat. In the interest of not having to spend too much time on this post, I have not edited the conversation. MWHancock is me, Matt. I know that confuses people sometimes...
MWHancock: Am I wrong, or was the stock footage a little less terrible this episode?
TwistedView: Not nearly as bad.
TwistedView: And they hide it a little with the split-screen box things...
MWHancock: Yeah, that's true.
MWHancock: I'm not sure how I feel about this episode though.
TwistedView: Is it over already?
MWHancock: Yeah.
MWHancock: Remember, I see it without commercials.
TwistedView: Are we watching the same episode?
MWHancock: I think?
TwistedView: Ummm, Airforce One??
MWHancock: Maybe I just don't identify with Air Force one all that much.
TwistedView: That be some cold shit.
MWHancock: Well, here's the thing:
MWHancock: You hate the current president right off the bat because he turned against Palmer last season.
MWHancock: This season, the writers have done nothing to warm you up to him.
MWHancock: If Palmer was in danger you cared 'cuz it was Palmer, and not "the President."
MWHancock: For me, without Palmer inside, Air Force One is just another Boeing.
TwistedView: I think I'm viewing it more from the perspective outside of the show... more on the "wow, 24 has the biggest balls ever."
TwistedView: This brings it back to your "most subversive show on television" standing.
TwistedView: But yes, it would have been better had anyone given a shit about the president at all.
TwistedView: Or his son. Which was kind of gay.
MWHancock: Well, the son was just kinda "generic, vanilla, college, white kid."
MWHancock: And I do pronounce vanilla "vanella."
MWHancock: But, subservsive?
MWHancock: I don't think so...
MWHancock: The good guys are still the good guys.
MWHancock: Where's the shadow government that's subservient to corporate interests?
MWHancock: Where's that Muslim guy who you think is a terrorist and gets killed by his white girlfriend?
MWHancock: Where's that guy in the skyscraper on the cell phone with that hot girl?
MWHancock: Where are the people who paid Nina?
TwistedView: Well, shit.
MWHancock: Don't get me wrong. This season still has me on the edge of my seat. All I'm saying is that, as fans, can we hold 24 up to any standard other than its own best moments?
TwistedView: I trust you're putting all of this in an email?
MWHancock: Well, I thought this might be the next post to my blog.
TwistedView: That works too.
TwistedView: You're probably one of the only people in Italy blogging about this season.
TwistedView: To the victor go the spoils.
TwistedView: I have no idea what that means.
MWHancock: The die is cast!
MWHancock: (It seemed in line with what you said)
MWHancock: (at first I thought: who's Victor?)
TwistedView: (spoils.)
MWHancock: Huh?
TwistedView: Have you read the recent messages now?
TwistedView: And found out about Kevin
TwistedView: 's unhealthy fascination with that chick?
MWHancock: Well, she was hot, right?
MWHancock: Am I wrong, or was the stock footage a little less terrible this episode?
TwistedView: Not nearly as bad.
TwistedView: And they hide it a little with the split-screen box things...
MWHancock: Yeah, that's true.
MWHancock: I'm not sure how I feel about this episode though.
TwistedView: Is it over already?
MWHancock: Yeah.
MWHancock: Remember, I see it without commercials.
TwistedView: Are we watching the same episode?
MWHancock: I think?
TwistedView: Ummm, Airforce One??
MWHancock: Maybe I just don't identify with Air Force one all that much.
TwistedView: That be some cold shit.
MWHancock: Well, here's the thing:
MWHancock: You hate the current president right off the bat because he turned against Palmer last season.
MWHancock: This season, the writers have done nothing to warm you up to him.
MWHancock: If Palmer was in danger you cared 'cuz it was Palmer, and not "the President."
MWHancock: For me, without Palmer inside, Air Force One is just another Boeing.
TwistedView: I think I'm viewing it more from the perspective outside of the show... more on the "wow, 24 has the biggest balls ever."
TwistedView: This brings it back to your "most subversive show on television" standing.
TwistedView: But yes, it would have been better had anyone given a shit about the president at all.
TwistedView: Or his son. Which was kind of gay.
MWHancock: Well, the son was just kinda "generic, vanilla, college, white kid."
MWHancock: And I do pronounce vanilla "vanella."
MWHancock: But, subservsive?
MWHancock: I don't think so...
MWHancock: The good guys are still the good guys.
MWHancock: Where's the shadow government that's subservient to corporate interests?
MWHancock: Where's that Muslim guy who you think is a terrorist and gets killed by his white girlfriend?
MWHancock: Where's that guy in the skyscraper on the cell phone with that hot girl?
MWHancock: Where are the people who paid Nina?
TwistedView: Well, shit.
MWHancock: Don't get me wrong. This season still has me on the edge of my seat. All I'm saying is that, as fans, can we hold 24 up to any standard other than its own best moments?
TwistedView: I trust you're putting all of this in an email?
MWHancock: Well, I thought this might be the next post to my blog.
TwistedView: That works too.
TwistedView: You're probably one of the only people in Italy blogging about this season.
TwistedView: To the victor go the spoils.
TwistedView: I have no idea what that means.
MWHancock: The die is cast!
MWHancock: (It seemed in line with what you said)
MWHancock: (at first I thought: who's Victor?)
TwistedView: (spoils.)
MWHancock: Huh?
TwistedView: Have you read the recent messages now?
TwistedView: And found out about Kevin
TwistedView: 's unhealthy fascination with that chick?
MWHancock: Well, she was hot, right?
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Sin City... Geek-tastic!
Check out this interview with Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez by Kevin Smith.
Now, the big question is: will this movie ever come out in Italy? Or will I be forced to download it with Bittorrent (which I love) and watch it on my laptop.
Eitherway, this movie seems, in a word, awesome.
You can see a couple of good trailers here.
Now, the big question is: will this movie ever come out in Italy? Or will I be forced to download it with Bittorrent (which I love) and watch it on my laptop.
Eitherway, this movie seems, in a word, awesome.
You can see a couple of good trailers here.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
**BREAKING NEWS**
This just in.
My Blog has changed slightly in the last five minutes.
While the title remains, brilliantly, simply, "Matt Hancock's Blog" I've made a slight change to the subtitle that will revolutionize my Blog (and by that I mean I will post to it more frequently). As you can see the subtitle now includes "... and anything else that he feels like posting."
You see, when it was only a political commentary Blog I was under enormous pressure from my publisher to produce... political commentary. So if I didn't have something nice and polished to put up, I just wouldn't post.
But now, now all that has changed. Of course, you'll still find political commentary, but you'll also find much much more. I could post, I dunno, recipes for example. Or just write whatever's on my mind. Or put up pictures.
I can't wait.
My Blog has changed slightly in the last five minutes.
While the title remains, brilliantly, simply, "Matt Hancock's Blog" I've made a slight change to the subtitle that will revolutionize my Blog (and by that I mean I will post to it more frequently). As you can see the subtitle now includes "... and anything else that he feels like posting."
You see, when it was only a political commentary Blog I was under enormous pressure from my publisher to produce... political commentary. So if I didn't have something nice and polished to put up, I just wouldn't post.
But now, now all that has changed. Of course, you'll still find political commentary, but you'll also find much much more. I could post, I dunno, recipes for example. Or just write whatever's on my mind. Or put up pictures.
I can't wait.
Terri Schiavo and Civics 101
The Terri Schiavo case is deeply disturbing.
Mainstream, right wing, and left wing media and the foreign press have all focused on either the human story, or the fact that politicians opportunistically seized on the case for political gain. News reports focused on the drama of a husband pitted against his wife's parents; on the left and right, pundits drew the connection between the Schiavo case and the battle over abortion rights (see Katha Pollit in The Nation); George Bush urged erring on the side of caution when life was at stake. Democrats argued it just wasn't their job to intervene.
But what almost everyone has missed is the not-too-subtle attack on one of the foundations of the US political system--indeed the foundations of liberal democracy: the independent judiciary.
While everyone in the media (center, left and right) was focusing on the Schiavo case (should they pull the plug? who should decide? right to life etc.) Congress and the President directly intervened in the judicial system because they didn't like the way things were going. But to my knowledge, except for one article on CBS News online, no one has gone beyond the specific case to ask what the implications for democracy in the US are.
Everyone knows (it's the first thing kids are taught in school about the US government) that one of the foundations of our system is the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary. The judiciary is above partisan politics, the interpreter of the Constitution and the ultimate check on both Congress and the White House.
So when Congress and the White House passed special legislation dictating that a federal circuit court had to hear the case, this was a major attack on judicial autonomy. This is in fact what the conservative Judge Birch wrote in his decision:
"... it is my judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution."
He concluded that, "the Act invades the province of the judiciary and violates the seperation of powers principle."
Whether or not Congress and President Bush acted the way they did for "altruistic" reasons, or to undermine the judiciary, what's important is that they did. Taken in the context of the Bush administration's attacks on civil liberties with the passage of the PATRIOT act and the deliberate erosion of the separation between church and state, the right's intervention in the Schiavo case should not be taken lightly.
Mainstream, right wing, and left wing media and the foreign press have all focused on either the human story, or the fact that politicians opportunistically seized on the case for political gain. News reports focused on the drama of a husband pitted against his wife's parents; on the left and right, pundits drew the connection between the Schiavo case and the battle over abortion rights (see Katha Pollit in The Nation); George Bush urged erring on the side of caution when life was at stake. Democrats argued it just wasn't their job to intervene.
But what almost everyone has missed is the not-too-subtle attack on one of the foundations of the US political system--indeed the foundations of liberal democracy: the independent judiciary.
While everyone in the media (center, left and right) was focusing on the Schiavo case (should they pull the plug? who should decide? right to life etc.) Congress and the President directly intervened in the judicial system because they didn't like the way things were going. But to my knowledge, except for one article on CBS News online, no one has gone beyond the specific case to ask what the implications for democracy in the US are.
Everyone knows (it's the first thing kids are taught in school about the US government) that one of the foundations of our system is the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary. The judiciary is above partisan politics, the interpreter of the Constitution and the ultimate check on both Congress and the White House.
So when Congress and the White House passed special legislation dictating that a federal circuit court had to hear the case, this was a major attack on judicial autonomy. This is in fact what the conservative Judge Birch wrote in his decision:
"... it is my judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution."
He concluded that, "the Act invades the province of the judiciary and violates the seperation of powers principle."
Whether or not Congress and President Bush acted the way they did for "altruistic" reasons, or to undermine the judiciary, what's important is that they did. Taken in the context of the Bush administration's attacks on civil liberties with the passage of the PATRIOT act and the deliberate erosion of the separation between church and state, the right's intervention in the Schiavo case should not be taken lightly.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Okay... Sorry!
Hey Folks. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy. Some good news: I finally won in my struggle with the Italian bureaucracy. I will be starting the Master's in Cooperative Economics at the end of October. But before that, in September, I'll be acting as interpreter for a group of Indians coming to Bologna to study the Emilian Model of development.
Some other tidbits:
Check out Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday." I found it on my brother Eric's blog.
Saw two good movies this summer while I was at home for a month: Fahrenheit 9/11, which I thought was brilliantly made and very convincing (make sure you bring undecided voters with you when you see it) and the Manchurian Candidate, another well made film that was quite twisted and disturbing, not to mention the great performances by the film's stars.
That's all for now. Will have something more substantial up soon.
Some other tidbits:
Check out Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday." I found it on my brother Eric's blog.
Saw two good movies this summer while I was at home for a month: Fahrenheit 9/11, which I thought was brilliantly made and very convincing (make sure you bring undecided voters with you when you see it) and the Manchurian Candidate, another well made film that was quite twisted and disturbing, not to mention the great performances by the film's stars.
That's all for now. Will have something more substantial up soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)