Roger O Green

Left Behind

Every once in a while, a news story will irritate me so much that I feel the need to respond somehow. Such is the case in last week’s Metroland:

Doing the Lord’s Legal Work

Bloggers and journalists find themselves threatened with lawsuits after criticizing a video game

Evangelical Christian post-apocalyptic video game Left Behind: Eternal Forces, based on the book series of the same name, was introduced last year to a storm of controversy. Now, with an expansion on the horizon, the maker of the game, Left Behind Games Inc., apparently have launched a legal campaign to silence its critics.

The game has been condemned by both secular and Christian blogs and publications that have criticized that the game at best excuses and at worst encourages religious-based violence against gays, Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christians. Critics also have expressed disapproval of gender roles within the game, where women are limited to the professions of nurses or singers. Apparently, the game play wasn’t that great, either.

Beginning in early October, various blogs and Web sites that had posted negative reviews of the game, such as Talk to Action, Public Theologian, and the Daily Kos, received identical, nonspecific legal notices from an attorney representing Left Behind Games Inc. demanding that they take down their content regarding the game, which the company alleged was “false and misleading.”

Delmar resident Glenn Weiser, who owns and maintains celticguitarmusic.com, was among the recipients of the letter due to his article “Let God Sort ’em Out,” which he first wrote for the June 29, 2006, Metroland, and which he also hosted on his site.

Weiser was unable to comment on the case due to the fact that LBG hadn’t specified complaints. Weiser has contributed dozens of articles to Metroland and was recently quoted in The Village Voice.

Weiser removed the story from his Web site on the advice of his lawyer and has posted a statement denying “knowingly and maliciously posting anything false or misleading about the game or LBG.”

The article remains online in the Metroland archives.

Metroland has not yet been contacted by LBG or its legal representation, according to Stephen Leon, Metroland’s editor and publisher.

“It’s an attempt to squash free speech, but it’s a clumsy one,” said Leon. “It’s very nonspecific. That’s a meaningless, empty threat right now. If they ever confront me with anything more specific, I’ll deal with that. If I got that letter I would just chuckle and put it in a folder and put it in my file drawer.”

Metroland will not remove the article from its site even if receives a similar threat from LBG.

The threat has all the makings of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation or SLAPP suit, a tactic that has been gaining popularity with corporations and other entities that is meant to halt discussion of issues through legal intimidation. Regardless of the threat’s validity, the tactic usually serves to warn others against further debate lest they face legal action themselves, according to the California Anti-SLAPP Project’s Web site.

Legal fees can total tens of thousands of dollars if a lawsuit progresses; a daunting amount for a private citizen or small business to scare up. To date, only smaller Web sites and blogs have received notices, while larger publications, such as PC Gamer and Metroland, remain unthreatened.

So far, the SLAPP suit seems to have backfired, as many of the blogs have decided to defy and deride the notice rather than comply with it.

—Jason Chura

It bugs me for a number of reasons. As a librarian who believes in free expression, I don’t like LBG’s bullying tactics. As a Christian, I don’t like LBG’s theology.

So, in protest, I decide to re-post Glenn Weiser’s article myself. Let me make it clear that I do this without Glenn Weiser’s knowledge or permission – I don’t believe I even know Glenn Weiser – and will take it down only if he or METROLAND request that I do so.
***
Impeachment TV.

ROG

Theorems of the Sick Child and/or The Sick Parent

At least for me:
If I am well, and the child is well, well, that’s fine.
If I am well, and the child is sick, I can deal with that.
If I am sick and the child is sick, I can muddle through.
BUT
If I am sick, but the child is well, but doesn’t want to go to day care because some boy said that she was a boy (probably because of her short haircut), information about which I torturously had to pry out her over a three-hour period, then this is not good, because she wants to do stuff, and all I want to do is SLEEP, which I failed to do yesterday.

So, after I go vote, that’s what I’m going to do today, thank you very much. And re: voting, I’ll probably vote for at least one Republican, which, in Democratic-machine Albany, is no big whoop. Also, there’s a little-mentioned Constitutional amendment for New Yorkers to vote on. From the Adirondack Club:
Since 1930, the Raquette Lake Reservoir has supplied the community with drinking water, but for the past five years, Raquette Lake has been under a “boil water” order from the state Department of Health. To address the water contamination problem, the town needs wells on state Forest Preserve land adjacent to the hamlet.
The “Forever Wild” clause of the New York Constitution permits reservoirs on the Forest Preserve, but makes no provision for drinking-water wells, so a constitutional amendment is needed so the town can legally move forward with this much-needed project. The amendment was twice approved unanimously by the state Legislature, and it is now up to voters statewide to OK it.
As one e-mail from a generally reliable source puts it, “Constitutional amendments make people nervous, and that’s probably a good thing. I believe that these drinking water wells do not signal a danger for environmental groups and are not antagonistic to the original intent of protecting the Adirondack Forest.”

Lots more to blog about, but no energy to describe things such as the Albany Symphony Orchestra concert last month featuring erhu player Betti Xiang, which Carol and I saw with our friends Bruce and Cenzi. Wonderful concert, wonderful time, but no pithy observations, except to note that the two-stringed instrument could, surprisingly, be more lyrically expressive than a four-string violin.

ROG

Scary meme

Yeah, I know Halloween is over; I don’t care. From Jaquandor via Tosy.

1. What is your favorite work of horror fiction?

I have no idea. I’ve never read any horror novels, though I’ve seen movie adaptations of some of Stephen King’s work.
I was talking just recently to someone about Rolf Stark. He was an artist published for a time by FantaCo. His work, some of which was more like horror fact than fiction, was quite disturbing.

2. Who is your favorite monster?

The monster of Frankenstein. Or Grover.

3. What horror movie gives you the most chills?

I still don’t remember the title. I was nine or ten at the time. The story involved this woman who was old and/or homely but became lovely through this potion. Men found her irresistible, but if they kissed her, she’d revert to her former self. She had to kill them, using some ring to the jugular, and blow some powder to return to her beautiful self. I was about 10 or 11, so this movie came out before 1964. The thing gave me nightmares for MONTHS. It was, quite literally, a pain in the neck.

4. Freddy versus Jason?

I ODed on Freddy. FantaCo sold Freddy gloves, Freddy masks. That said, Jason seemed like a doofus in a hockey mask. Probably Freddy, barely.

5. Ghosts or goblins?

Friendly ghosts like Casper.

6. What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal?

I don’t know that it was “paranormal” but I spoke in tongues once.

7. Do you believe in ghosts?

I consider the thought that people from beyond watching over me undisturbing.

8. Favorite Halloween costume?

This one.

9. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your fantasy costume be for this Halloween?

Chuck Berry.

10. When was the last time you went trick or treating?

Seventh or eighth grade.

11. What’s your favorite Halloween candy?

Mark Evanier is convinced that nobody likes candy corn, and even posted a Lewis Black video from YouTube (alas, no longer available) to prove his point. He’s wrong, though this season I probably only had about a half dozen.

12. Tell us about a scary nightmare you had.

I had a recurring nightmare of being in the back of a large automobile, it crashing through the railings of a bridge, crashing into the river, and sinking to the bottom. The level of intensity depended on how open the windows were; it was usually a slow leak into the vehicle.

13. What is your supernatural fear?

I don’t have any.

14. What is your creepy-crawlie fear?

Snakes. don’t matter that there are probably none of the venomous variety around here. Oh, and rats.

15. Would you ever stay in a real haunted house overnight?

Sure, why not?

16. Are you a traditionalist (just a face) Jack O’Lantern carver, or do you get really creative with your pumpkins?

Well, this year’ pumpkin, carved by my wife, had two faces – a smiling face and a scary face.

17. How much do you decorate your home for Halloween?

Not at all.

18. Do you think Halloween is too commercial these days?

No, but I don’t want to think about it in August.
***
More scary things:
The New England Patriots are now 9-0, after their 24-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
The Writers’ Guild strike is underway. Or is it Writers’ Guilds, since there’s a WGA East and a WGA West. Most of what I know about this comes from Evanier, but it seems reasonable that writers should benefit from the newer technologies such as DVD and video streaming.

ROG

Hairless

My hair, and especially my beard, was becoming a scruffy mess. In the past, my father, my sister, or significant others have cut my hair, but not Carol. So I have to find time to squeeze in a visit to the barber shop between all the busyness.

On Monday past, I had to go to the eye doctor – boy, I’m looking forward to new glasses, since my most recent pair broke in July, and I’ve been using a pair I got in 1999. And I had a Friends of the Library meeting at the end of the day. In between, I got a haircut, and not just a trim, but a shave-it-all-off thing. It wasn’t in solidarity with National Breast Cancer Month or anything; it was just a whim when the barber asked what I wanted.

First thing I noticed: it’s cold out. Even the minimal covering of my receding hairline was providing some warmth, so the hat’s the thing. Second, most people claim to like it; wonder how it’ll look with the new specs.

Anyway, I’m a little under the weather (I was home sick on Friday). I can’t blame it on the short cut, though, because my daughter was ALSO home sick on Friday and my wife came home early, not feeling particularly well.

So, we’re gonna stop here and save our energy.

– ROG

VOTING Questions

Election Day is Tuesday, and you’ll be sure to discover on Wednesday that fewer people vote in off-year/non-Presidential years than will vote next year, as shown here (PDF), here and here. It’s ironic, I think, because one has a much greater voice in municipal elections than in the Presidential race. Even next November, more people will vote at the top of the ticket, and ignore the “lesser” races.

I’ve been involved in “get-out-the-vote” pitches before. My last strategy, sort of a reverse psychology thing, was “don’t vote – mote power for me”. So:

1. Are you voting on Tuesday? Why or why not/ I am, just so I can kvetch about the results.
2. What would it take to get more people to vote? (Electronic voting, instant runoff voting, bribery – somewhere in the Southwest, they offered a random voter a cash prize for voting, which turned out to be of dubious legality.) I think IRV’s a good idea in multi-candidate (3 or more) elections, but it won’t solve the ennui problem.
***
Pulse Poll of the Democratic candidates for President, with videos delineating a couple of their positions.

ROG