:: Dano's Production Journal ::

:: 9/28/2006 ::

From the New York Times today:

"Here’s what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans’ fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-year-old nation of laws — while actually doing nothing to protect the nation from terrorists. Democrats betray their principles to avoid last-minute attack ads. Our democracy is the big loser.

Republicans say Congress must act right now to create procedures for charging and trying terrorists — because the men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks are available for trial. That’s pure propaganda. Those men could have been tried and convicted long ago, but President Bush chose not to. He held them in illegal detention, had them questioned in ways that will make real trials very hard, and invented a transparently illegal system of kangaroo courts to convict them.

It was only after the Supreme Court issued the inevitable ruling striking down Mr. Bush’s shadow penal system that he adopted his tone of urgency. It serves a cynical goal: Republican strategists think they can win this fall, not by passing a good law but by forcing Democrats to vote against a bad one so they could be made to look soft on terrorism.

Last week, the White House and three Republican senators announced a terrible deal on this legislation that gave Mr. Bush most of what he wanted, including a blanket waiver for crimes Americans may have committed in the service of his antiterrorism policies. Then Vice President Dick Cheney and his willing lawmakers rewrote the rest of the measure so that it would give Mr. Bush the power to jail pretty much anyone he wants for as long as he wants without charging them, to unilaterally reinterpret the Geneva Conventions, to authorize what normal people consider torture, and to deny justice to hundreds of men captured in error.

These are some of the bill’s biggest flaws:

Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there’s no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses.

Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence.

Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture.

•There is not enough time to fix these bills, especially since the few Republicans who call themselves moderates have been whipped into line, and the Democratic leadership in the Senate seems to have misplaced its spine. If there was ever a moment for a filibuster, this was it.

We don’t blame the Democrats for being frightened. The Republicans have made it clear that they’ll use any opportunity to brand anyone who votes against this bill as a terrorist enabler. But Americans of the future won’t remember the pragmatic arguments for caving in to the administration.

They’ll know that in 2006, Congress passed a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation’s version of the Alien and Sedition Acts."

Write your Senators NOW!
:: Dano 11:19 AM [+] ::
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Wow. You know you're doing something right when creators of shows you watched growing up write you looking for work. Anybody remember shows called Muppet Babies or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
:: Dano 2:31 PM [+] ::
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'Tall Tales & Other Big Lies' will play at the St. Louis Film Festival this November. Look at the great graphic they sent us!




Also, 'In Defense of Definitions' will be playing TromaDance New Mexico. I think it's this weekend, but check the schedule... if you're in New Mexico. They didn't send us any graphics.
:: Dano 12:33 PM [+] ::
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So as much as I hate concert-goers who hold up their cell-phone cameras during shows, at least I can steal their memories via Flickr.com.

Sufjan Stevens: best show I've seen in Austin (except for Springsteen '00). Hands down.
:: Dano 5:46 PM [+] ::
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2 things:

An interesting article about E Coli and its terrible relatives (are you going to finish that spinach?)

And, I just got off the phone with Ned Lamont.
:: Dano 6:40 PM [+] ::
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A fascinating timeline of events.
:: Dano 9:02 PM [+] ::
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"Dance Like A Monkey" will be making it's European festival premiere at the Bradford Animation Festival in the UK. Considering we are in competition with a Gorillaz music video, we're in pretty good company!
:: Dano 1:31 PM [+] ::
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It just keeps getting weirder.

So ABC is not only airing a highly partisan and inaccurate 9/11 docudrama, they're sending it to schools as a teaching tool. Say what?

Here's my response to Mr. Iger. You can send your own here:

To whom it may concern.

I do not oppose the Walt Disney Company's right to produce entertainment that espouses a wide variety of opinions, points of view, or agendas. However, the USE of this media must be examined and criticized in an open forum. Disney's decision to selectively send screener tapes only to conservative bloggers is highly suspicious (but not unpredictable for a publicity stunt). As is the public relations campaign that is sending screener copies to schools as an 'educational tool.' A true educational resource would include access to facts and different interpretations of those facts. If an event portrayed in your film is dramatized, students should be notified. If events are portrayed offscreen or left out, students should be notified. I have worked for educational software companies that produce social studies courses. I know the power in my hands when I choose one image to show over another, or one quote over another. Do you realize that power when your studio fictionalizes or distorts real events that are so fresh in our memory, yet often misreported or unreported in our media?

I cannot ask you to not air your film, but I do request that you open a forum on your webpage or Nightline to openly discuss the opposing points of view and that questions the filmmakers and their intent. Any educational curriculum sent out to teachers should include copies of the 9/11 Commission report, along with other resources for teachers and students. Children need to know what is going on in the world, but they also need to be media literate and skeptical, skills severely lacking in our populace. Do not hinder or confuse them further.

- Dano Johnson

(Note I did not put that the Muppets rule. That's how serious this is)
:: Dano 9:28 PM [+] ::
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A conversation overheard as Jeffrey and I presented Flatland at the Dionysium:

Dude 1: Dude, what's a fractal?
Dude 2: I don't know. This is getting heavy.

And during the Q&A afterwards:

Not-so-random audience member: Mister Johnson, are you by any chance single?
Me: Ladies and gentlemen, my roommate is always trying to help me out. So, yes I am, and might I add she is very single too.
(applause and laughter)

Math is hot.
:: Dano 1:58 AM [+] ::
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A round-up post!

Upcoming:
Monday, September 4th - "Dance Like a Monkey" plays the Alamo Drafthouse downtown in the Indie Music Video Festival.

Tuesday, September 5th - "Flatland" will be discussed at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar at the Dionysium. Learn about this Austin production and see some sneak peeks!

Friday, September 8th - "Dance Like a Monkey" plays at Rebelfest

Friday, September 29th - "Dance Like a Monkey" plays in the Asian Animation Film Festival

And recent news:
- "Dance Like a Monkey" on Channel Frederator
- The Kinkytoons on News 8 Austin
- Collection Agency Films on Animation World Network
- Flatland in the Austin Chronicle
- "Dance Like a Monkey" is now available for purchase at the iTunes Store.
:: Dano 6:40 PM [+] ::
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