Roller Con 2005 Info

Tentative Roller-Con 2005 Schedule (Thank you Ivanna S. Pankin)

FRIDAY, Aug. 26, 2005

5:30 p.m.: Cocktails at Binion’s Horseshoe Pirate Lounge while we get ready for the water fight!

7:15 p.m.: Sundown BYOW Water Fight, Fremont St.

10 p.m. Double Down Saloon shows

Reagan SS (Los Angeles, CA)
Oil (CA)
Meat Department (Phoenix, AZ)
Toothless George & His One-Man Band (Philadelphia, PA)
Sharkpants (Tucson, AZ)
The Mothballs (San Francisco, CA)
Thee Double D's (San Francisco, CA)
Holy Moleys (Las Vegas, NV)
Jewdriver (Oakland, CA)
Knights of the New Crusade (Heaven)

SATURDAY, Aug. 27, 2005

11a.m.: Bloody Mary Recovery Party at Terribles pool for the drunks

11:30 a.m. - 2 pm Convention Hall open for various activities. Tentative: Keynote/Autograph Session w/ Little Iodine.

2 – 6 p.m.: Skating at Boulder Crystal Palace (2 hours of drills, 2 hours of social skating, not necessarily in that order)

6 p.m. Group Dinner

7- 10 p.m.: Scavenger Hunt, culminating at DD

10 p.m. Shows start at DD; Merch Extravaganza on the back patio.

The Condors (Los Angeles, CA)
The Guilty Hearts (Los Angeles, CA)
Toothless George & His One-Man Band
The Okmoniks (Tucson, AZ)
The Malamondos (Greensborough, NC)
The Orphans (Los Angeles, CA)
The Shemps (New York City, NY)
The Dissimilars (?)
The Radio Reelers (San Francisco, CA)
The Knockout Pills (Tucson, AZ)

SUNDAY, Aug. 28, 2005

11 a.m. Convention Hall open for various activities. Bloody Mary Brunch/mixer.

1 p.m. Group Picture

2 - 8 p.m. Bands at DD

Winelord (Tucson, AZ)
Ramp Tramps (Los Angeles, CA)
Holepunch (Austin, TX)
Mocmoc (Seattle, WA)
Toothless George & His One Man Band
Go Like Hell (Seattle, WA)
Loud Pipes (Las Vegas, NV)
Absent Minded (Las Vegas, NV)
Dirty Babies (Las Vegas, NV)

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Roller Con

He’s a Right Weirdo

Welsh singing star Charlotte Church: Bush "is a right weirdo"

Church, 19, said gaffe-prone Bush had no idea where Wales was when she
met him after performing for outgoing President Bill Clinton in
Washington in 2000.

“Clinton was lovely, in tune with everyone else, but George Bush just
hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing,” she said, according to the Daily
Record.

“He asked me what state Wales was in. I said: ‘It’s its own country
next to England, actually Mr Bush.’

“If he doesn’t know the rest of the countries in Europe, he could at
least know what’s in his own country. I’m really worried about it. He’s a
right weirdo.”

Ideas Have Power

From Bill Moyers speech at the Take Back America Conference. Transcript (pdf) here.

In one way or another, this is the oldest story in America: the struggle to determine whether “we, the people” is a spiritual idea embedded in a political reality – one nation, indivisible – or merely a charade masquerading as piety and manipulated by the powerful and privileged to sustain their own way of life at the expense of others.

Let me make it clear that I don’t harbor any idealized notion of politics and democracy; I worked for Lyndon Johnson, remember? Nor do I romanticize “the people.” You should read my mail – or listen to the vitriol virtually spat at my answering machine. I understand what the politician meant who said of the Texas House of Representatives, “If you think these guys are bad, you should see their constituents.”

But there is nothing idealized or romantic about the difference between a society whose arrangements roughly serve all its citizens and one whose institutions have been converted into a stupendous fraud. That difference can be the difference between democracy and oligarchy.

[snip]

...From his own public comments and my reading of the record, it is apparent that Karl Rove has modeled the Bush presidency on that of William McKinley, who was in the White House from l897 to l90l, and modeled himself on Mark Hanna, the man who virtually manufactured McKinley. Hanna had one consummate passion – to serve corporate and imperial power. It was said that he believed “without compunction, that the state of Ohio existed for property. It had no other function…Great wealth was to be gained through monopoly, through using the State for private ends; it was axiomatic therefore that businessmen should run the government and run it for personal profit.”

Mark Hanna – Karl Rove’s hero -- made William McKinley governor of Ohio by shaking down the corporate interests of the day. Fortunately, McKinley had the invaluable gift of emitting sonorous platitudes as though they were recently discovered truth. Behind his benign gaze the wily intrigues of Mark Hanna saw to it that first Ohio and then Washington were “ruled by business…by bankers, railroads and public utility corporations.” Any who opposed the oligarchy were smeared as disturbers of the peace, socialists, anarchists, “or worse.” Back then they didn’t bother with hollow euphemisms like “compassionate conservatism” to disguise the raw reactionary politics that produced government “of, by, and for” the ruling corporate class. They just saw the loot and went for it.

[snip]

Ideas have power – as long as they are not frozen in doctrine. But ideas need legs. The eight-hour day, the minimum wage, the conservation of natural resources and the protection of our air, water, and land, women’s rights and civil rights, free trade unions, Social Security and a civil service based on merit – all these were launched as citizen’s movements and won the endorsement of the political class only after long struggles and in the face of bitter opposition and sneering attacks. It’s just a fact: Democracy doesn’t work without citizen activism and participation, starting at the community. Trickle down politics doesn’t work much better than trickle down economics. It’s also a fact that civilization happens because we don’t leave things to other people. What’s right and good doesn’t come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it – as if the cause depends on you, because it does. Allow yourself that conceit – to believe that the flame of democracy will never go out as long as there’s one candle in your hand.

'Wreck-It-and-Run'

William S. Lind at Soldiers for the Truth:

Among the many unhappy developments in American industry in recent decades has been the advent of "wreck-it-and-run" management. A small coterie of senior managers takes over a company and makes a brilliant show of short-term profits while actually driving the business into the ground. They bail out just before it crashes, cashing in their stock options as they go, and leave the employees, ordinary stockholders and customers holding an empty bag.

It is increasingly clear that under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. armed forces have also been taken over by "wreck-it-and-run" management. When Rumsfeld leaves office, what will his successor inherit?

A volunteer military without volunteers. The Army missed its active-duty recruiting goal in April by almost half. Guard and Reserve recruiting are collapsing. Retention will do the same as "stop loss" orders are lifted. The reason, obviously, is the war in Iraq. Parents don't want to be the first one on their block to have their kid come home in a box.

The world's largest pile of wrecked and worn-out military equipment (maybe second-largest if we remember the old Soviet Navy). I'm talking about basic stuff here: trucks, Humvees, personnel carriers, crew-served weapons, etc. This is gear the Rumsfeld Pentagon hates to spend money on, because it does not represent "transformation" to the hi-tech, videogame warfare it wrongly sees as the future.

[snip]

A world wary of U.S. intentions and skeptical of any American claims about anything. In business, goodwill is considered a tangible asset. In true "wreck-it-and-run" fashion, Rumsfeld & Co. have reduced the value of that asset to near zero. A recent survey of the German public found Russia was considered a better friend than the United States.

Finally, the equivalent of an unfavorable ruling by a bankruptcy judge in the form of a lost war. We will be lucky if we can get out of Iraq with anything less than a total loss.

Earlier this week, I attended the funeral and burial of one of America's real military heroes at Arlington cemetery. Col. David Hackworth would not have sat silent, as our current senior military leadership sits, while "wreck-it-and-run" civilian management drove America's armed forces into the ground. Rumsfeld & Co. will bear primary responsibility for the disaster, which will no doubt disturb them greatly as they enjoy their luxurious retirements.

But our senior generals and admirals are the equivalent of the board of directors, and they would have some difficulty convincing Hack that they were just the piano players in the whorehouse. It would not surprise me if when the current crowd finds itself approaching the Pearly Gates, Hack has a few claymores waiting for them.

Library patrons to provide fingerprints to use the internet

From the Christian Science Monitor:

CHICAGO – Soon, patrons of the Naperville Public Library - at least those wanting to use the Internet - will need more than a library card.

They'll give a fingerprint.

It sounds like something out of a Philip K. Dick novel, but the new requirement is in many ways unsurprising.

The library, like other Internet providers nationwide, has realized computer users aren't always who they say they are. And the technology it will use to check up on them is fairly simple - patrons will press a glass-topped scanner.

In Naperville, the identity swapping consists largely of kids trying to circumvent their parents' Internet-filter rules. But in today's wireless world, users' purposes can be much more sinister: sending spam, looking up child pornography, or, increasingly, trolling for personal information like bank-account numbers and passwords - all under a cloak of anonymity.

Dogfightin' Dames

Roger Doger Aviation pays tribute to the Dogfightin' Dames of the KC Roller Warriors with a World War II air combat simulator.

two in the pink, one in the stink

The Bay Area Roller Girls are featured as the cover story in the new SF Weekly :B.A.D. Girls

The women have also picked up the endorsement of original roller derby's most famous bad girl, Ann Calvello, 75, of San Bruno, whose green hair and quixotic temper during a four-decades-long career have helped make her an icon within the all-girl derby milieu. (Teams in one of the Texas leagues play for the Calvello Cup.) She showed up to offer her best wishes at a recent Derby Girls benefit held at a San Francisco nightspot; it raised $5,000 for the budding league. Much of the money came from a "spanking booth" in which male fans lined up for hours for a chance to pat scantily clad Derby Girl bottoms at $1 a pop. "I don't know if these girls are roller derby's future," says Calvello, "but I sure as hell like their style and what they're trying to do."

The hour is late -- almost midnight -- and new coach Lydia Clay, 63, a veteran of roller derby during the 1960s and '70s, is putting the women through their paces. It's Clay's second workout with the Derby Girls after agreeing to help them in return for gas money for her commute from Hayward. "These girls have heart, and I love that," says Clay, a whistle dangling from her neck. As the one-time team captain of the Red Devils (a perennial nemesis of the old Bombers) during derby's second golden era, Clay has skated before countless thousands of fans, from the Cow Palace to Madison Square Garden.

The mere fact that the women are willing to commute long distances to practice at such a late hour (the only time they can secure a rink to themselves) says much about their commitment. Except for Amy Jo Stewart, 24, aka Stitches Stew, who skated for two Arizona teams before moving to San Francisco last year, the women are without derby experience. A few hadn't put on skates for years before the Derby Girls formed and, for now, offer more devotion than talent. At the start of practice Clay has turned diplomat when the women press her for an appraisal of their collective abilities: "Let's just say that we've got a lot of work to do."

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Bay Area Roller Girls

O'Neill Memo

FOR SECRETARY O'NEILL

SUBJECT: Briefing for NCS Principals Meeting on Gulf policy

DATE: Thursday, February 1, 2001

PURPOSE: To review the current state-of-play (including a CIA briefing on Iraq) and to examine policy questions on how to proceed.

ATTACHMENTS:
Tab A: Agenda and Policy Questions from NSC -- SECRET
Tab B: Economic Background on Iraq (from Deutsche Bank)
Tab C: Executive Summary: Political-Military Plan for Post-Saddam Iraq Crisis (interagency working paper) -- SECRET
Tab D: Summary of Unied States Sanctions on Iraq
Tab E: "Iraq Sanctions Regime," State Department, for use in public statements

via King of Zembla from Corpus Callosum

Iraq Is America's 'Golden Shower Moment'

Bush Tells Reporters: Yes, Iraq Is America's 'Golden Moment'

Q At the Naval Academy last week you spoke of a midshipman named Edward Slavis, who graduated and has served in Iraq. And you quoted him as saying that the mission will be a success, and 20 or 30 years from now historians will look back on it and consider it America's golden moment. I'm wondering, sir, if you agree with that assessment, and, if so, why?

THE PRESIDENT: I do, David, because I believe that as a result of the actions we have taken, we have laid -- begun to lay the foundation for democratic movement that will outlast this administration; a democratic movement that will bring peace to a troubled part of the world. ...

You know, I reminded people that because Japan is a democracy, Japan is now a great friend, we work together on big issues, and yet it wasn't all that long ago that we warred with Japan. In other words, democracies have the capability of transforming nations. That's what history has told us. And I have faith in the ability of democracy to transform nations. And that's why, when I talked about Iraq earlier, that we've laid the -- begun to lay the foundation for a democratic, peaceful Iraq. Someday an American President is going to be dealing with an Iraqi -- elected Iraqi President, saying -- or Prime Minister, saying, what we can we do together to bring peace to the region? In other words, it's a platform for peace. And, yes, I do believe -- I agreed with the man.

These are incredibly hopeful times -- and very difficult times. And the problem is, is that I not only see the benefits of democracy, but so do the terrorists. And that's why they want to blow people up, indiscriminately kill, in order to shake the will of the Iraqis, or perhaps create a civil war, or to get us to withdraw early. That's what they're trying to do, because they fear democracy. They understand what I just -- they understand what I understand, there's kind of a meeting of minds on that. And that's why the American people are seeing violent actions on their TV screens, because these people want to -- the killers want us to get out. They want us to -- they want the Iraqis to quit. They understand what a democracy can mean to their backward way of thinking.

So I do agree with the man. I thought it was a pretty profound statement, and I was pleased to be able to share it with the -- with the folks there at Annapolis.

Urban Network for Social Change

Cities for Progress is a new nationwide network of locally-elected officials and community-based activists working toward social and economic change in America's urban centers.

Cities for Progress was born out of Cities for Peace, a project which helped pass nearly 200 city council resolutions opposed to the invasion of Iraq, citing local costs. Both are projects of the oldest progressive think-tank in Washington, The Institute for Policy Studies. The vision of Cities for Progress is to create national change at the local level. By educating the American people and offering means of communicating with each other, the organization empowers local communities to change politics. Working together in this manner to create a national consciousness, Cities for Progress brings together collective voices that will be heard by the White House, Congress and the national media.

la Dama + el Diablito = Fresa

The flat track Texas Rollergirls skate this Sunday, June 5th.

The still undefeated Honky Tonk Heartbreakers take on the Hustlers.

The second match will have the Hell Marys kicking some Hotrod Honey ass.

Sunday, June 5.

Playland skate Center

Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

Doors open at 6:30 pm, bout at 7:15 pm.

Music by The Good Looks.

Please check the Texas Rollergirls website for more info.

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Texas Rollergirls, Hell Marys

Arizona Roller Derby in Colorado

The flat track Arizona Roller Derby will travel to Vail, Colorado for the Teva Mountain Games on June 4th.

The Bruisers will take on the Smash Squad as part of the Teva Mountain Ball.

Saturdy, June 4th.

Dobson Ice Areana, Vail, Colorado.

Tickets are $12

Doors open at 8 pm, bout at 9 pm.

Next Arizona Roller Derby bout be held on Saturday, June 11 back in Phoenix.

tags: roller derby, rollergirls, Arizona Roller Derby