stuart noble's blog

Voting in the Clouds

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:37:26 -0800

This is the lead image currently online at the NYT. I love how this shot, voters at Woodland Elementary, perfectly serves as a metaphor for the Obama campaign. Here we see six older voters in multicultural technicolor mirror the stylized picket fence painted on the wall. A group of small children run across the foreground of the mural. They are somewhat obscured behind the voting stations. This is not their day after all. They play while we participate in democracy. Though they play in the background they are in the forefront of our thoughts. We can imagine what the children are running towards. They are running towards the future. Our eyes look up to the sky where a clock hangs in the clouds as time stands still for the next 12 hours. These voters, like that fence, are all that separate those kids from their dreams.

Whither A Maverick?

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:41:43 -0700

Rolling Stone takes a hatchet to McCain's utterly false "maverick" image. The title sets up a clever double play, simultaneously discrediting the narrative and referencing McCain's increasingly childish behavior;

Make-Believe Maverick

A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty

Dishonest. That's almost calling him a liar. Robert Grossman's brilliant illustration reduces and captures the sad caricature that is quickly becoming the template. All the facts have been available public record since, well duh. But the corporate media isn't typically interested in facts. It's all about the narrative. Drill baby drill! Well this well is finally tapped. I'm coming around to the idea that the elite press has come to the simple conclusion that their money is simply safer under an Obama administration. But let's not discount the tremendous, tireless push back work that takes place in the blog-o-sphere and the terrific work done by real maverick journalists like Cliff Schecter and Brock and Waldman. Not to mention, McCain's own free-fall campaign has been its own worse enemy. Hearing Sara Palin go on and on about "a team of mavericks" just doesn't have that authentic "mavericky" feel now does it?

Looking into the Financial Abyss

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:09:32 -0700

During this latest "financial crisis" there have been some fascinating images which communicate possible alternative narratives to the daily press stories. The image above from this NYT article particularly caught my attention. Here, despite whatever giveaway, formerly known as the bail-out, "rescue" the Senate may approve on Wednesday, the message in this photo seems clear. We are facing the abyss. Not only are we looking down the cliff but from this angle, we've already walked out past the ledge. This is the moment Willie Coyote realizes he's about to take a free fall into oblivion.

I also appreciate how all those electric green symbols on the giant electronic ticker are cascading down to the floor were there are more wires, screens and computers than human beings. This theft was not created by machines, but it is the machine that's been employed for all those "complex" unregulated investment instruments which lie at the center of the "crisis." The Matrix thus serves as another appropriate metaphor (borrowing from Baudrillard) as the "code" merely supports the illusion of stability.

More after the jump, click on image for better resolution.

The New Yorker Obama cover revisited

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:03:12 -0700

Recently here at the Agonist we've had a few lively discussions about recent false media narratives created around both Barack and Michelle Obama. See for example Forgiven's, Machiavellian And The War of Words and my Presto, Uppity Angry Black Woman!

I know not everyone was convinced of our arguments. Fine. Let me make clear however that my purpose is not to provide partisan defense for Obama but to criticize the media and shed light on what I regard as deeply rooted racist, misogynistic and certainly anti-progressive and anti-democratic undercurrents in American culture.

On that note, for some historical perspective which compares the New Yorker cover to Bret F. Harte’s 1870 “Plain Language from Truthful James” poem see Rune Christensen's “The Heathen Obama”? The limits to satire in American politics.

rikyrah of Jack and Jill Politics has a terrific article which addresses the image as well as some of the deeper contexts to Michelle's unenviable position. As part of the guest series at Open Left see Update: Michelle Obama as Racial Rorschach Test

Michael Shaw provides an excellent deconstruction of the image here,The "What" Of What's Wrong With The Barack Osama New Yorker Cover. Shaw's analysis is important as he looks beyond the obvious surface communication and finds discourses which communicate some of the false narratives we've been discussing here.

So let me know what YOU think. And just to leave this post on a high note, THIS is satire.

Raymond Federman Frenzy

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:07:40 -0700

Since the early 60s, Raymond Federman has been one of the most important American writers. His highly experimental fictions in works that bear such titles as Take It or Leave It, Double or Nothing, and The Twofold Vibrations, he has explored cultural and personal memory, invented intricate narrative strategies, and above all has given readers an experience that exceeds the ordinary. Creating situations that make one really think and really laugh is a tall order for any writer. But Federman did it. He is one of the few writers to truly have achieved this.

One of our contributors at the Atlantic Community, Camelia Elias, has just released a wonderful collection of essays on Raymond Federman. This open source web publication includes four scholarly articles and some previously unpublished texts by Federman. Federman, who just turned 80 is also a blogger.

For more, including links to the free download see, Federman Frenzy. Feel free to leave any comments for Camelia at the link. I'd like to arrange an online discussion with Federman so if anyone else is interested, stop by and let us know.

The Fox News John McCain Election Wanking HQ

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:29:33 -0700

The only US cable and/or broadcast news I ever see comes from online sources, usually clips or segments provided as evidence on media criticism sites like Media Matters or Crooks and Liars. I was watching one such clip embedded to this post at C&L, David Broder wanks away on the McCain Town Hall meetings that Obama turned down.

Well, Broder or any other rightwing "centrist" wanking for McCain isn't anything new or unexpected, especially not the Faux News wank fest seen in the video clip in the above link.

At approximately 2:15 the video cuts from one wanking fest to another, located in the "Fox News Election HQ" revealing something ,if not unexpected (it's Fox after all), then perhaps new.

More below the fold

Presto, Uppity Angry Black Woman!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:00:17 -0700

Michael Powell and Jodi Kantor published a piece of back-handed journalistic work in today’s newspaper of ill record, "After Attacks, Micelle Obama Looks for a New Introduction."

Never mind that the premise of the article’s title is completely false and misleading. The hiring of Stephanie Cutter as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff is about managing communications and providing defense against right-wing attacks. Michelle Obama is not looking for a new introduction.

In it, they paint Michelle Obama as the “Angry Black Woman” quoting such irrefutable sources as “Conservative columnists” and a “blogger who supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

The article begins, “Michelle Obama’s eyes flicker tentatively even as she offers a trained smile.” See the “multi-media slide show” “Mrs. Obama’s Journey” for visual representations of Michelle’s trained (read phony) smile.

In Madison, Wis., in February, she told voters that hope was sweeping America, adding, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.”

Reverend Wright?
More below the fold

Kyoto could cause permanent gas price increases

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:10:57 -0700

"Are you somewhat upset about gas at $2 a gallon and looking forward to lower prices? Well, just remember that the Kyoto Protocol (to combat a hypothetical global warming), avidly promoted by the Clinton-Gore administration, would raise prices even higher - on a permanent basis.

As disclosed by The Washington Times, an internal memo of the Energy Department blamed much of the June price run-up in the Midwest on the rigid regulations of the EPA. Supplies of gasoline became tight because of the EPA requirement for the Chicago market, starting on June 1, for "reformulated" gasoline (blended with ethanol distilled from corn). Refiners ended up with having to supply different formulations for fuels for different areas to meet EPA rules. With no flexibility to swap supplies and with refineries operating at peak capacity, just one pipeline breakdown or one refinery fire would then cause supply shortfalls and price spikes."

Rock Pioneer Bo Diddley Dies at 79

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:41:53 -0700

NPR.org, June 2, 2008 - One of the fathers of rock 'n' roll died Monday at the age of 79. Bo Diddley was born Ellas Bates in Mississippi and grew up in Chicago, where he played guitar on street corners before being discovered by Chess Records. He leaves behind a sound that helped build a musical movement.

What made Bo's music so unique? I don't know exactly but if I had to assign to it just one adjective it would be, crunchy. Yeah, what a wonderful crunchy sound.

Stop the Runaway Legislation!

Fri, 23 May 2008 02:57:07 -0700

Bloomberg News reports (via Huffington Post) that Billionaire and Corporate Overlord Carl Icahn says, "Obama would be a terrible U.S. President!"

Sigh. Maybe Obama would be a terrible president.

But Icahn is full of the same load of right-wing garbage, throwing out the same tired corporate talking points we've unfortunately become accustomed to;

"Obama would probably go on a ``huge spending spree'' that ``the country can't afford right now.'"

Does he mean "huger" than the one Bush is on in Iraq? This crap is to be expected, and much worse.

But Icahn shows his true disturbing colors, displaying his absolute disdain for democracy.

Even worse, Icahn said, would be a Democratic president with a veto-proof supermajority of 60 Democrats elected to the Senate.

`Runaway Legislation'

``It would be devastating,'' he said. ``Then you couldn't stop runaway legislation.''

Runaway Legislation? Is that the new Orwellian doublespeak to describe the democratic legislative process?

Subtext. Let's not let a little thing like democracy get in the way of our corporate agenda. When Icahn said "you" just who was he speaking to anyways?

Does anyone really believe that a Democratic administration with a supermajority Senate would do much in the way of curbing corporate power? Absolutely not. But perhaps, some semblance of a democracy may remain if the Republicans aren't in power during the next few years. See Ian's latest post for example.

That's just unthinkable for Icahn and all his pals. The past years have apparently not been profitable enough. But when I think about Naomi Klein's latest piece in Rolling Stone it all starts adding up to some very frightening prospects.

There's a word for this kind of corporatist, right-wing ideology.

“Hummersaurus Wrecks”

Thu, 22 May 2008 05:59:23 -0700

Karen Fiorito
"Hummersaurus Wrecks"

I wanted to offer this work of art as a follow on to several recent posts here at the Agonist. Stirling Newberry's recent, The Progressive Century was the first to come to mind. This also seemed rather fitting alongside Sean-Paul's, Die Beast Die. There are any number of recent posts here in which this piece could present an accompanying visual narrative. Sean-Paul also had a few interesting discussions about modernist art based on some reading about Ezra Pound here and here. These taken together led me to think more about the political role of art and the basic value of art in a democratic society. Instead of a discussion on theory I thought a brief analysis of the Fiorito piece could be instructional.

more below the fold

The War on Housing Crisis, DIY Commandos to the Rescue.

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:26:35 -0700

The New York Times has got to be kidding, right? After last night's debate, ABC's agenda became blatantly clear to anyone paying attention. Distract, distort, discredit, destroy. In a word, disgusting. So what do I wake up to in this morning's online NY Times center cover story "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Solvent" by Joyce Wadler.

more bellow the fold

Beauty and Beast? No, it's worse

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:10:55 -0700

This article is partially a response to Bent’s last post, Beauty and the Beast? I had originally intended on posting the Lebron Vouge Magazine photo which Bent analyzes below. I then thought I would post a reply in his thread but upon further reflection, I think an independent post is in order. I typically wouldn’t do that but I wanted to display a fair amount of images and just couldn't do that in the comments.

More below the fold...

Obama and America's Racial Stalemate: A Counter-wedge to the Southern Strategy

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:10:03 -0700

This is where we are right now. It's a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.

Obama has just delivered a speech (which he wrote himself) for the history books. I won’t go into a full analysis but like any memorable speech from the American scene, his included the themes of; American exceptionalism, generational progress, religious freedom and tolerance, and of course, founding myths of American democracy.

The New Media and the US State Department?

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:51:16 -0800

This was just bizarre.

I was surfing the US Embassy's (Copenhagen) website this morning and found this article, prominently displayed on the home page;

The New Media and U.S. Politics
by Thomas B. Edsall

The Internet has become the vehicle for the mobilization of the antiwar left as an influential Democratic interest group that all candidates and congressional leaders now must treat with respect and special deference.

I just thought I'd pass this on. I can't make heads or tails of it. Any ideas?