Armenian genocide resolution clears committee
Kenneth Todd Ruiz
Article Launched: 10/10/2007 03:50:57 PM PDT

WASHINGTON -- A resolution to compel the U.S. government to formally classify the 1915 massacre of Armenians as a genocide cleared a House committee by 27-21 vote.

Amid strong opposition from the White House and Turkish government, the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee approved the resolution which clears the way for it to go to a full vote in the House.

"The United States has a compelling historical and moral reason to recognize the Armenian Genocide, which cost a million and a half people their lives," said the bill's author, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena. "But we also have a powerful contemporary reason as well -- how can we take effective action against the genocide in Darfur if we lack the will to condemn genocide whenever and wherever it occurs?"

More after the jump ...

Former Councilman/Mayor Bill Paparian took on the rotating seat of City Hall Dungeonmaster and presided over many Dungeons & Dragons tournaments. OK, that was insensitive and offensive. He was hosting dignitaries from the Armenian Apostolic Church, according to his campaign web page.

"I think now we have to see what speaker [Nancy] Pelosi's going to do with it," Paparian said. "I'm of the belief that like previous administrations, both Republican and Democratic, she will not allow this to come to the floor for a vote because it is predicted that it would pass."

More than half of the House's representatives have signed on as cosponsors.

Paparian's doubts about Pelosi's support are bolstered, he said, by Turkish media accounts that she has met several times this year with top Turkish officials, including Turkey's ambassador and a top adviser to that nation's prime minister.

President George Bush quickly reiterated his opposition to the resolution today, saying it would damage an important strategic relationship with Turkey.

"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings and its passage would do great harm to our relations with a key ally in NATO and in the global war on terror," he said.

Turkey denies the killing of 1.5 million Armenians during the twilight of the Ottoman Empire was a genocide and perceives the resolution as the first step toward demands to surrender land to Armenia.

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Pasadena's Arts community doesn't get a great deal of coverage in the newspaper, something for which its Brahmins should be glad. What experiences I've had with ArtWorldCorp and glimpses 'behind the canvas' is a politically charged world of petty, casual treachery.

THAT SAID ... Art Night Weekend Month is here. More compelling is the SKIN / Art & Ideas Festival.

Arts Councilor Terry LeMoncheck sends some info my way on a series of related "public conversations" about race, synthetic beauty and the mutating cityscape.

Dates and details after the jump.

SKIN/ART & IDEAS 2007 PUBLIC CONVERSATION SERIES
Presented by the Pasadena Arts Council

Beneath the Skin -- The Shifting Conversation on Race in America
Tuesday, October 16th, 7:00 pm
All Saints Church
132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena

Panel discussion/audience dialogue with writer and journalist Erin Aubry Kaplan, Karen Mack, Founder and Executive Director of L.A. Commons, and Dr. Jaime Regalado, Director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs.
Few issues remain as controversial in our society as race and national identity. This conversation will focus on elements of racial and cultural definition. How do we define our own race and culture? What is “race” and why are we still talking about it? Do we view race and culture differently since 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina?

The Changing Skin of Pasadena
Wednesday, October 17th, 7:00 pm
Donald Wright Auditorium
Pasadena Central Library
285 E. Walnut St., Pasadena

Remarks by Dr. William Deverell, Director of the Huntington/USC Institute on California and the West, with townhall moderated by Shelton Stanfill, advisor to community and urban regeneration projects.
Pasadena’s recent development boom and steady gentrification have changed the face of our city dramatically over the last five years, but this change has actually been a complex, decades-long process involving factors of race, class, economics and politics. In this conversation with audience feedback, historian William Deverell will take a look back at the historic demographic communities of Pasadena and Altadena, examine the current face of the city, and imagine the Pasadena of 20 years hence; civic regeneration strategist Shelton Stanfill will conduct a townhall style conversation on the current urban planning challenges in Pasadena.

Skin Obsessions/Venus Envy
Tuesday, October 23rd, 7:00 pm
Armory Center for the Arts
145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena

A dialogue with high school girls moderated by actor and educator Rose Portillo.
Americans are aging faster and getting fatter than any other population on the planet. At the same time, our popular notions of perfect beauty and have become so strict it seems even Barbie wouldn’t have a chance of making it into the local beauty pageant, and one of TV’s most popular programs celebrates cosmetic surgery. Actor and educator Rose Portillo and seven high school girls from Pasadena’s Teen Futures program take on the culture of perfection and beauty from the inside out.

Posted by Todd at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)