Friday, July 17, 2009

Right Wing Atheists

Alternet attempts to tell us why the most famous atheism evangelists are also war mongering right wingers. They make a good effort but miss the point entirely.

Christopher Hitchens and friends are white men before they are anything else. They should not be thought of as more enlightened because they don't believe there is a god. These particular nonbelievers are followers of the most pernicious belief system of all, white supremacy. That is why they think that the United States government should have the right to do what it wants in the world. And yes, it is still a white government despite the fact that it is now represented by a black man.

Atheists do not deserve more or less credit than anyone else who promulgates any other belief system. There are atheists I find more trust worthy than some self-proclaimed christians I know. But I don't find them to be inherently superior to anyone else, and that includes Hitchens, Dawkins and company.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Good Reporting on Iran

One month has passed since the disputed presidential election in Iran. Iran was front page news until South Carolina governor Mark Sandfordwas caught cheating on his wife. Then Michael Jackson died and well, so much for serious reporting. What do you expect? Isn't two weeks enough?

All the hours of broadcasting and pages of news print didn't really tell us very much of importance anyway. It has been little more than stale rehashes of the "Ahmadinejad is crazy" narrative and assumptions that charges of election fraud were valid. Neda Sultan's terrible death was chronicled, but alas, America's killing of thousands of innocent people goes unreported. Protests in Tehran were covered, but most of the anti-war protests that I attended in New York or Washington passed without any media attention.

Today I checked out Asia Times and found the only thing I have read that makes since of the Iran situation. Mahan Abedin does a great job of explaining the roles of all the players in this situation. Of course if we had real journalism, this caliber of reporting wouldn't be unusual. But we don't, so it is.

Do yourself a favor and read the Asia Times article.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Why Did Sarah Palin Resign?

Because the youngest baby is really her daughter's. No, I can't resist that story. It is just too delicious.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Dangerous Progressives

Why do progressives say nothing about endless war? Why does Juan Cole advocate attacking Iran? It is all very simple. They too believe in Manifest Destiny and the right of white America to have its way. I explain it all in my Black Agenda Report column.