Upgraded Version of Alfred Hitchcock Holocaust Documentary to be Broadcast

Image: austinchronicle.com

In 1945, Alfred Hitchcock helped create a documentary that depicted the macabre reality of the Nazi extermination machine. The director used footage Allied soldiers shot in Bergen-Belsen and other concentration camps. According to an article in the UK newspaper The Guardian, the movie did not see the light of day for decades, apparently due to "political reasons." A truncated version was shown in Berlin about thirty years ago. In 1985, the US television network PBS broadcast the film, but one The Guardian article claimed was "poor quality."

The UK's Imperial War Museum completed a restoration project that has brought the Hitchcock documentary to its complete form and visual integrity. The film will be shown this year on British television.

Meanwhile, Time noted that HBO will broadcast a Holocaust documentary called Night Will Fall, which will include the story of the footage that Hitchcock used, and show some of it. Of course, the opportunity to view "unseen" Hitchcock work should not be missed. The larger reason to view the film became evident recently, courtesy of the massacre of Charlie Hebdou staffers and related, hate-inspired murders in a Paris kosher supermarket.

HBO will show Night Will Fall on January 26th, with a repeat presentation on HBO2 the following day. Viewers are advised that some footage will be graphic and disturbing.

Think Twice About That "Organic Milk" Label in California

Image: nytimes.com

The drought in California, one of the worst in the state's recorded history, doesn't get a lot of attention east of the Hudson River or inside the Beltway. However, the dry spell is having a powerful impact on agriculture in America's most important farming state.  Right now, nearly all California dairy farms are experiencing a dramatic absence of grass, thanks to the drought. Suffering perhaps most of all are organic farms, which are resorting to feeding cows organic hay or alfalfa. A story relating what's happening to farmers, bee keepers, and others in the Golden State's organic farming community recently appeared in the UK newspaper Guardian, and was picked up by siliconvalley.com.

One curiosity in the article was the USDA's definition of "organic milk." Apparently, all it takes for the designation is for the cows to eat "local" grass four months of the year. The other eight months? Well, do you really want to know what you're pouring on your corn flakes?

Report: NSA Surveillance Panel's First Meeting Dodges Change

Ten days ago, the UK newspaper The Guardian reported on an Obama Administration panel's initial meeting to determine changes to NSA surveillance practices and data collection. The group included representatives from tech heavyweights (with the notable exception of Amazon), insiders from the fed's spy world, and think tank policy mavens. Some participants claimed the meeting was a borderline sham, in which no change was discussed and tech firms worked hard to advance their interests. Those "interests" did not necessarily coincide with those of the larger body of American citizens, who have discovered the military-technology complex has compromised their constitutional right to privacy.

Some details from the Guardian's story offer a disturbing look into what passes for transparency inside the Beltway. The meeting, one participant noted, was something less than a full, open dialogue. For one participant, the tech firms, who dominated the 90-minute meeting, seemed to be walking through a prepared script.

Representatives from the technology firms were identified around the table not by their names, but by placards listing their employers. There was minimal technical discussion of surveillance mechanisms despite the presence of technology companies; (the participant) took the representatives to be lawyers, not technologists.

When it appeared like the meeting would discuss a surveillance issue in a sophisticated way, participants and commissioners suggested it be done in a classified meeting. (The participant) interpreted that as a maneuver to exclude his more-critical viewpoint.

The privacy vs. surveillance issue is one of the few issues where American conservatives and liberals share a common concern. It is the conservatives' great shame that they allowed the Bush Administration to emasculate personal privacy guarantees; it is the liberals' great shame that they have played matador to the Obama Administration's bullish advocacy of the NSA's breathtaking data and communication sweeps.

It's a sad state of affairs when a British newspaper takes the lead and sheds light -- continued light -- on this American issue. No Fox News, no NPR, no major American media player really wants this story. That's a national shame.

Phone Hacking Scandal Spurs News Corp Shareholders Lawsuit

A story in today's online edition of the UK newspaper The Guardian reported that certain News Corporation shareholders intend to file a lawsuit against the firm's board of directors "for failing to stop the phone hacking scandal."

Elizabeth Murdoch, whose TV production venture
is at the heart of the Delaware litigation.
(photo from paidcontent.org)

The plaintiffs, including certain labor union organizations, allege that the Murdoch family put the clan's interests ahead of shareholders. The Delaware lawsuit, the Guardian story noted, began in 2011; its original object was to halt News Corp.'s proposed acquisition of Rupert Murdoch's daughter's television production venture. The UK phone hacking scandal developed into a far juicier target for the left-wing opposition, even though its prospects for success appear to be remote.

What's interesting is that the story did not appear, at least with any reasonable prominence, in any major American media outlet today.

Judge Strikes Down "Indefinite Detention" Provision of National Defense Authorization Act

Judge Katherine Forrest

Last week, Obama appointee Judge Katherine Forrest struck down a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would have permitted a president to order the indefinite detention of people "suspected" of contact with "terrorists." The story about the judge's ruling, and the deeply disturbing genesis and nature of NDAA, is noted in commentary appearing in the Guardian.

Thanks to the financial blog zerohedge.com for picking up the story. 

Web Pioneer Tim Berners-Lee Comments On The "Closed" and The "Open" Web

Tim Berners-Lee

Tim Berners-Lee, widely credited with helping launch the Internet as we more or less know it today, has some uneasy feelings about the current state of Web affairs. According to a Guardian interview picked up by the "Good Morning Silicon Valley" blog, Berners-Lee regards smart phones as closed systems that create "a serious brake on innovation." He prefers to use machines that encourage open platform capabilities. You remember those devices: they're called computers.

Unlike those who use "innovation" and "monetization" as synonyms, Berners-Lee actually likes the creative use of the Internet. Then again, he's essentially a scientist who believes in the glory and expansive use of the rational imagination. It's not just about the money.

Parisian Suburb Wants Bronze Sculpture Depicting French President's Wife

Lenin Statue/Seattle

I recently traveled to Seattle, where a massive bronze statue of Lenin is on public display. I didn't have time to see it, but I wish I had. There is something genuinely strange about sculpture of public figures, whether they are artifacts from a bygone era (surely Leninism qualifies on that score) or manifestations of current popular sentiment (the bronze bull in New York's Financial District is a case in point).

However, the notion that anyone would want a bronze of the wife of French president Nicholas Sarkozy is from way out of left field. In this case, I should say right field, as the request came from the mayor of a Parisian suburb who is a member of Sarkozy's UMP "right-of-center" political party.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

Mrs. Sarkozy happens to be Carla Bruni (now Carla Bruni-Sarkozy), an Italian who made quite a name for herself as a world-class fashion model. She also has done some acting, notably a cameo in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. The UK newspaper Guardian's report on the Bruni sculpture affair did not indicate whether the French first lady agreed to the sculpture project or if she was consulted.

However, the proposed six-foot piece will not be the same scale, or presumably historic intent, from the 16-foot replica of Lenin currently in Seattle's feisty Fremont neighborhood.

France's Canal du Midi to Lose 42,000 Diseased Plane Trees

France's Canal du Midi, a waterway that combines Gallic beauty and extraordinary engineering skill, is facing something of an existential crisis. A fungal disease is mortally affecting the 42,000 plane trees framing the nearly two-century old structure. Every tree must be replaced. According to an article in today's Los Angeles Times, new trees will be slowly be introduced along the canal's 155-mile length. (A story on the same topic, with some French domestic politics noted, appeared in the July 27th edition of the Guardian.) As it happens, plane trees take a long time to mature. Consequently, the historic canal's gorgeous canopy will not have the aesthetic impact it currently does. This is a matter of some poignancy for local citizens as well as the nearly two million tourists who annually visit the canal.

A journey along the Canal du Midi, while cliched, really does provide a memorable "south of France" travel experience. The boats travel around five miles per hour. The bankside towns and cities have largely been spared warfare's destructive impact. Industrial development has not marred the canal's singular charm.

UNESCO recognized the Canal du Midi's unique character and declared it a World Heritage Site. Hopefully, you'll take a leisurely reading voyage and read more about this civilized passage from the Mediterranean to Toulouse. Also, you're welcome to explore another post I've written about allées, both the canal-side styles and elegant, framed walkways.