Si Se Puede
"The British, the French, the Spanish and the Dutch didn't get green cards when they showed up on Indian lands. "
Black Commentator
Power to the people. Yesterday more than 1 million people marched across the nation to demand citizenship rights for immigrants. It isn't surprising that rallies took place in Washington, San Diego and New York. You do have to take notice when 3,000 march in Garden City, Kansas, a town with only 30,000 residents.
I digress, but did anyone wonder why the Chappaquiddick Band of Wampanoag spoke shortly after Sen. Ted Kennedy? For a moment my imagination got the best of me and I thought the Republicans were behind it. Maybe living in the Bush age has made me too paranoid.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Cynthia McKinney and Tom Delay
MATTHEWS: Thanks. I owe you one. I owe you two -- today and last night.
DELAY: No you don't.
MATTHEWS: No, I do.
DELAY: I appreciate it.
Cynthia McKinney is a member of Congress, not a serial killer. If you believed what you read in the papers this week you would believe she is the latter.
Republicans need a good distraction this week. After all, Tom Delay is about to be fitted for an orange jump suit. McKinney got into a shoving match with a Capital Hill cop when she didn't stop at a security check point. A bad decision definitely, but she could be a lot worse.
McKinney could have shot someone and then dispatched a private citizen to tell us about it. She could have instigated a war that would make her a much wealthier person. I guess only Vice Presidents get to do those things.
In an era when trillions of dollars have been stolen from tax payers, when the U.S. government advocates torture, I can't get worked up because of pushing and shoving in the halls of Congress. I wish Democrats would do a little more pushing and shoving, figuratively speaking of course.
Speaking of the indicted Tom Delay, he gets applause when he enters Congress. He also has "journalists" who live to suck on his toes. If Chris Matthews had any shame, he would quit his job as host of the laughably named, "Hardball."
Matthews has been whoring for Republicans for quite a while but he was caught on tape with Delay during a commercial break.
MATTHEWS: Hey thank you for calling me. It was a good thing for me, mostly.
DELAY: Oh really.
MATTHEWS: Oh of course it was. We got on the air as fast as we could....
[...]
MATTHEWS: Shannon [DeLay aide] told me, she called me, she said 'don't worry -- he's not calling in to complain'...
MATTHEWS: Have you seen this new focus group stuff on the candidates?
DELAY: No I haven't
MATTHEWS: It's great stuff. I'll send it to you -- it's great -- yeah it's great stuff. Hillary, John Kerry. All these guys, all these democrats, and how they do. And, uh, Frank Luntz did it...
DELAY: who I like
CM: ...and Hillary did not do well. Kerry did well.
DELAY: You're kidding.
MATTHEWS: I am NOT kidding. They didn't like Edwards -- they thought he was a rich lawyer, pretending to care about poor people...
DELAY: Too slick. Too slick.
MATTHEWS: ...and Hillary was a know-it-all.
DELAY: Nothing worse than a woman know-it-all
There is something worse than female know it alls, and that is journalists who treat one party's talking points as though they are truth revealed from the heavens.
Delay announced this week that he isn't running for re-election but apparently he still wields a hammer. Chris Matthews seems to think so anyway. He knows his bread is buttered by the right wing, even if they are on the way to jail.
Israeli Soldier Killed Reporter in Cold Blood
Mr. Miller died as he and colleagues were trying to leave a Palestinian house at night, holding a white flag with a torch shone on it, clad in body armour and helmets with the letters "TV" written on it in fluorescent tape.
Did you know that James Miller, a British cameraman, was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in 2003? Of course you don't know about it. No one in the American media told you.
The shooting really isn't surprising. Occupiers do not take kindly to having their dirty work exposed. They are also unaccustomed to being called to account for their actions. They can do anything they want, including shoot reporters in the neck.
Mr. Miller died as he and colleagues were trying to leave a Palestinian house at night, holding a white flag with a torch shone on it, clad in body armour and helmets with the letters "TV" written on it in fluorescent tape.
Did you know that James Miller, a British cameraman, was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in 2003? Of course you don't know about it. No one in the American media told you.
The shooting really isn't surprising. Occupiers do not take kindly to having their dirty work exposed. They are also unaccustomed to being called to account for their actions. They can do anything they want, including shoot reporters in the neck.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Yes Virginia, There is a Pro-Israeli Lobby
Can there be any doubt that Israel holds sway over American politicians and the media?Presidential candidates vie with one another to promise that they will attack Iran in order to protect Israel. Neither they nor the media will point out that Israel is armed with nukes and Iran can’t possibly have any for at least five years.
It is amazing that Israel and its American allies wanted a war against Iraq, but anyone who points out that very public information is labeled an anti-Semite. Worse yet, no one can point out that the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein when he had WMDs or that Israel pushed for that alliance as well.
Israel may have known about the 9/11 terror attaks. No one is supposed to talk about the so-called moving company in New Jersey whose workers happened to be Mossad agents who happened to have cameras pointed at the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11. I’m also not supposed to mention the Israeli art students who only sold their work at the FBI and DEA.
Sounds strange to me, but what do I know. I’m just an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist.
It seems I'm not the only one who is sick and tired of Israel getting America into one mess after another. A few brave voices dare to speak up in an age when even plays that criticize Israel are banned. "My Name is Rachel Corrie" can't find a home on the New York stage.
Professors Stephen Walt of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, are in the news because of their study "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." They haven't done anything revolutionary, just document the power of Israel's lobby in America.
Amazingly, their detractors claim there is no lobby or that it isn't really effective or declare that Condi Rice is a gentile.
That is the primary power of the lobby, labeling as anti-Semitic anyone who notices its success. I wish that someone would tell me the rules. Am I allowed to say that there is a lobby for Israel? Am I supposed to say its effect is neglible? Am I supposed to acknowledge its success but do so in hushed tones?
Let me know sometime soon. If I'm going to be called an anti-Semite, I would like to know why.
Can there be any doubt that Israel holds sway over American politicians and the media?Presidential candidates vie with one another to promise that they will attack Iran in order to protect Israel. Neither they nor the media will point out that Israel is armed with nukes and Iran can’t possibly have any for at least five years.
It is amazing that Israel and its American allies wanted a war against Iraq, but anyone who points out that very public information is labeled an anti-Semite. Worse yet, no one can point out that the U.S. supported Saddam Hussein when he had WMDs or that Israel pushed for that alliance as well.
Israel may have known about the 9/11 terror attaks. No one is supposed to talk about the so-called moving company in New Jersey whose workers happened to be Mossad agents who happened to have cameras pointed at the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11. I’m also not supposed to mention the Israeli art students who only sold their work at the FBI and DEA.
Sounds strange to me, but what do I know. I’m just an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist.
It seems I'm not the only one who is sick and tired of Israel getting America into one mess after another. A few brave voices dare to speak up in an age when even plays that criticize Israel are banned. "My Name is Rachel Corrie" can't find a home on the New York stage.
Professors Stephen Walt of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, are in the news because of their study "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." They haven't done anything revolutionary, just document the power of Israel's lobby in America.
Amazingly, their detractors claim there is no lobby or that it isn't really effective or declare that Condi Rice is a gentile.
That is the primary power of the lobby, labeling as anti-Semitic anyone who notices its success. I wish that someone would tell me the rules. Am I allowed to say that there is a lobby for Israel? Am I supposed to say its effect is neglible? Am I supposed to acknowledge its success but do so in hushed tones?
Let me know sometime soon. If I'm going to be called an anti-Semite, I would like to know why.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Condom Rice
I never liked her, but I didn't say it. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw did.
As he introduced his guest, the Foreign Secretary held up a copy of a local newspaper and read out the headline: "Condom….er, Condi Comes to the Centre of the World".
Where is Freud when you need him?
I never liked her, but I didn't say it. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw did.
As he introduced his guest, the Foreign Secretary held up a copy of a local newspaper and read out the headline: "Condom….er, Condi Comes to the Centre of the World".
Where is Freud when you need him?
Sunday, April 02, 2006
9/11: Enough Already
I have had it with 9/11. This week the city of New York released tapes of 911 calls made from the World Trade Center. Two films are due to be released this year, one about Flight 93 ("Let's Roll") and the other about firefighters.
Idealizing American dead only serves to diminish the dead in other countries. I recall being terrified and grief stricken on that awful day, but I'm not going to fetishize what I felt. To do so makes me think that my life is more valuable than another's. As much as I love being alive, I have to say that I don't have more of a right to stay that way than anyone else in the world.
Those are brave words coming from a New Yorker. Osama's warnings are meant for me, my family and my neighbors. I'm the one with a bulls eye on my head.
Having said that, I still say no to 9/11 memorials. The city and state of New York are about to waste millions of tax payer dollars to bail out a developer, all in the name of building something, anything, at the site known as ground zero. What a waste.
What business would move to the site of two terror attacks? The answer of course if no one will. The government will be the primary tenant, all so that we can say that the terrorists didn't win.
Well they did win. They killed nearly 3,000 people, and they taught us they would kick ass. That means they won. Period. Get over it.
We aren't the losers just because of Osama either. 9/11 was used to justify the occupation of Iraq. It empowered the awful neo-cons who now want to attack Iran and make America even more of a mass murderer.
It is never hard to get Americans to kill people somewhere in the world, but 9/11 made it all too easy. Yes, we lost on September 11, 2001. The families of the dead lost most of all. If we think of anyone we should think of them, and then we should move on. Further displays of public grief only empower the killers to keep killing.
I have had it with 9/11. This week the city of New York released tapes of 911 calls made from the World Trade Center. Two films are due to be released this year, one about Flight 93 ("Let's Roll") and the other about firefighters.
Idealizing American dead only serves to diminish the dead in other countries. I recall being terrified and grief stricken on that awful day, but I'm not going to fetishize what I felt. To do so makes me think that my life is more valuable than another's. As much as I love being alive, I have to say that I don't have more of a right to stay that way than anyone else in the world.
Those are brave words coming from a New Yorker. Osama's warnings are meant for me, my family and my neighbors. I'm the one with a bulls eye on my head.
Having said that, I still say no to 9/11 memorials. The city and state of New York are about to waste millions of tax payer dollars to bail out a developer, all in the name of building something, anything, at the site known as ground zero. What a waste.
What business would move to the site of two terror attacks? The answer of course if no one will. The government will be the primary tenant, all so that we can say that the terrorists didn't win.
Well they did win. They killed nearly 3,000 people, and they taught us they would kick ass. That means they won. Period. Get over it.
We aren't the losers just because of Osama either. 9/11 was used to justify the occupation of Iraq. It empowered the awful neo-cons who now want to attack Iran and make America even more of a mass murderer.
It is never hard to get Americans to kill people somewhere in the world, but 9/11 made it all too easy. Yes, we lost on September 11, 2001. The families of the dead lost most of all. If we think of anyone we should think of them, and then we should move on. Further displays of public grief only empower the killers to keep killing.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
War Against Women
Housewives are happier than women who work outside the home, or so we were told by a recent study. There is just one problem. The study's findings are different from every other study on the subject. Alternet points out the following.
"Over the past 15 years, some 20 studies have looked at the association between women's employment and earnings and their marital happiness. These studies have involved different samples of people and different methods of arriving at results. But they all tell the same story: Employed women are as happy (and perhaps happier) in their marriages as non-employed women and having an income generally improves a woman's marital happiness."
How politically expedient to quote a study whose results are different from every other study, at the precise moment that women are being told to go back to the 1950s. Be afraid, be very afraid when supposedly scientific work backs up the right wing agenda.
Housewives are happier than women who work outside the home, or so we were told by a recent study. There is just one problem. The study's findings are different from every other study on the subject. Alternet points out the following.
"Over the past 15 years, some 20 studies have looked at the association between women's employment and earnings and their marital happiness. These studies have involved different samples of people and different methods of arriving at results. But they all tell the same story: Employed women are as happy (and perhaps happier) in their marriages as non-employed women and having an income generally improves a woman's marital happiness."
How politically expedient to quote a study whose results are different from every other study, at the precise moment that women are being told to go back to the 1950s. Be afraid, be very afraid when supposedly scientific work backs up the right wing agenda.
Bring Me Your Tired and Your Poor
Los Angeles is not known as a city where people are prone to take to the streets. When I heard that a crowd estimated to be at least 500,000 strong assembled there to protest anti-immigrant legislation, I had to sit up and take notice.
Frankly, I see nothing wrong with immigration, legal or otherwise. I laugh when I see Lou Dobbs go on his rants about undocumented workers. When Dobbs' ancestors came from whatever part of Europe they hail from, did they phone ahead and get permission from the Iroquois and the Sioux? Of course they didn't.
You see, there is a lot of karma going on here. The parts of the country that now comprise Texas, California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming were all part of Mexico. The US stole that huge amount of land, half of Mexico's territory, in a war waged between 1846 and 1848. When immigrants sneak across the border, they are just going back to their old neighborhood.
If the often quoted figure of 11 million undocumented immigrants is correct, then it is no small matter to send them home. Be careful what you ask for. Eleven million people pay a hell of a lot of sales tax. They rent a lot of apartments and buy a lot of houses. Many of them are in fact tax payers. If the 500,000 who protested in LA show the extent of immigration in that state, then California would lose a lot if they all left.
If you are ever tempted to complain about immigration, just think of the poor Indians when they saw boats land at Plymouth Rock. You have a lot less to complain about than they did.
Los Angeles is not known as a city where people are prone to take to the streets. When I heard that a crowd estimated to be at least 500,000 strong assembled there to protest anti-immigrant legislation, I had to sit up and take notice.
Frankly, I see nothing wrong with immigration, legal or otherwise. I laugh when I see Lou Dobbs go on his rants about undocumented workers. When Dobbs' ancestors came from whatever part of Europe they hail from, did they phone ahead and get permission from the Iroquois and the Sioux? Of course they didn't.
You see, there is a lot of karma going on here. The parts of the country that now comprise Texas, California, Nevada, Utah and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming were all part of Mexico. The US stole that huge amount of land, half of Mexico's territory, in a war waged between 1846 and 1848. When immigrants sneak across the border, they are just going back to their old neighborhood.
If the often quoted figure of 11 million undocumented immigrants is correct, then it is no small matter to send them home. Be careful what you ask for. Eleven million people pay a hell of a lot of sales tax. They rent a lot of apartments and buy a lot of houses. Many of them are in fact tax payers. If the 500,000 who protested in LA show the extent of immigration in that state, then California would lose a lot if they all left.
If you are ever tempted to complain about immigration, just think of the poor Indians when they saw boats land at Plymouth Rock. You have a lot less to complain about than they did.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
War Against Black Women
"Even after controlling for socioeconomic status and disease stage, African-American women were 19 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than white women."
There is always a war against all black people. It exists because beliefs in white supremacy still exist. Once again yet another study shows that black people have to be on their guard wherever they go, including the doctor's office.
Black women are being seriously under treated for breast cancer. A study of breast cancer patients in New York City hospitals in 1999 and 2000 indicated the following.
They found that minority women were only 50 percent as likely as white women to receive adjuvant treatment, even though they had similar rates of referrals to oncologists.
The likelihood of under-use of adjuvant treatment was 34 percent among black women, 23 percent among Hispanic women and 16 percent among white women.
I'm not going to waste my time pondering this issue. Too many white people still feel superior to non-white people and so they treat non-white people badly. Case closed, end of discussion. I'm not going to pretend that a mystery exists when it doesn't.
"Even after controlling for socioeconomic status and disease stage, African-American women were 19 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than white women."
There is always a war against all black people. It exists because beliefs in white supremacy still exist. Once again yet another study shows that black people have to be on their guard wherever they go, including the doctor's office.
Black women are being seriously under treated for breast cancer. A study of breast cancer patients in New York City hospitals in 1999 and 2000 indicated the following.
They found that minority women were only 50 percent as likely as white women to receive adjuvant treatment, even though they had similar rates of referrals to oncologists.
The likelihood of under-use of adjuvant treatment was 34 percent among black women, 23 percent among Hispanic women and 16 percent among white women.
I'm not going to waste my time pondering this issue. Too many white people still feel superior to non-white people and so they treat non-white people badly. Case closed, end of discussion. I'm not going to pretend that a mystery exists when it doesn't.
War Against Women
Much has been made of the news that 7 women died after using RU-486, the abortion pill. Very little has been said about the 69 American men who have died because they wanted to have erections. Yes, viagra can kill.
Fewer women die from abortions of all kinds than die from complications of child birth. Scary stats on the abortion pill are an attempt to outlaw abortion, which is meant to punish women for having sex.
There are many people who believe that the fetus is a person, but most of those who want abortion to be illegal want to keep girls in there place and that means punishing them for being sexually active. Check out this chart (scroll down) and you will see what I mean.
Much has been made of the news that 7 women died after using RU-486, the abortion pill. Very little has been said about the 69 American men who have died because they wanted to have erections. Yes, viagra can kill.
Fewer women die from abortions of all kinds than die from complications of child birth. Scary stats on the abortion pill are an attempt to outlaw abortion, which is meant to punish women for having sex.
There are many people who believe that the fetus is a person, but most of those who want abortion to be illegal want to keep girls in there place and that means punishing them for being sexually active. Check out this chart (scroll down) and you will see what I mean.
More Bush Lies, More Press Obedience
"And when he [Saddam Hussein] chose to deny the inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. "
George W. Bush, March 21, 2006
That statement is an out and out bold-faced lie. Hussein gave UN weapons inspectors unlimited access to Iraq in November 2002. They found no WMD of any kind because Hussein destroyed his stock piles in 1991 before the first Gulf War. I knew that. The millions who marched around the world three years ago knew that. Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld and Rice knew it too. The press knew that. Sorry, they are apparently out of the loop. Bush keeps lying and they keep acting like stenographers, obediently taking down his every word without question.
The occupation of Iraq has now lasted nearly as long as America's involvement in World War II. Despite the destruction of that nation there is still no political opposition worth mentioning. Despite the opposition of a majority of Americans Bush made it clear that he wasn't contemplating a troop withdrawal. Why should he? No one is standing in his way.
"And when he [Saddam Hussein] chose to deny the inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. "
George W. Bush, March 21, 2006
That statement is an out and out bold-faced lie. Hussein gave UN weapons inspectors unlimited access to Iraq in November 2002. They found no WMD of any kind because Hussein destroyed his stock piles in 1991 before the first Gulf War. I knew that. The millions who marched around the world three years ago knew that. Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld and Rice knew it too. The press knew that. Sorry, they are apparently out of the loop. Bush keeps lying and they keep acting like stenographers, obediently taking down his every word without question.
The occupation of Iraq has now lasted nearly as long as America's involvement in World War II. Despite the destruction of that nation there is still no political opposition worth mentioning. Despite the opposition of a majority of Americans Bush made it clear that he wasn't contemplating a troop withdrawal. Why should he? No one is standing in his way.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Harold Ford Jr. Is Worse Than I Thought
photo - Memphis Commercial Appeal
"If you're not going to stand up for your mother, then who are you going to stand up for?"
Barbara Ford Branch
I have no use for Ford, none whatsoever. He is a political prostitute, publicly expressing his love for George Bush and supporting an end to social security.
Now we know that he is willing to lie about his own grand mother for political gain. Ford Sr. and now Harold Ford Jr., claim that family matriarch Vera Ford, pictured above, was white.
Sorry. That is not the photograph of a white woman. Fortunately, at least one of her descendants is honest. Barbara Ford Branch is quite adamant that her mother was a black woman and is calling out her own nephew. Good for her.
Ford Sr. and Jr. are asking us to believe that a white person would pass for black in an era when to put it mildly, there was no incentive to do so. Hmmm. I suppose anything is possible, but Ford has proven that the legal theory is true. Liar in one thing, liar in all.
photo - Memphis Commercial Appeal
"If you're not going to stand up for your mother, then who are you going to stand up for?"
Barbara Ford Branch
I have no use for Ford, none whatsoever. He is a political prostitute, publicly expressing his love for George Bush and supporting an end to social security.
Now we know that he is willing to lie about his own grand mother for political gain. Ford Sr. and now Harold Ford Jr., claim that family matriarch Vera Ford, pictured above, was white.
Sorry. That is not the photograph of a white woman. Fortunately, at least one of her descendants is honest. Barbara Ford Branch is quite adamant that her mother was a black woman and is calling out her own nephew. Good for her.
Ford Sr. and Jr. are asking us to believe that a white person would pass for black in an era when to put it mildly, there was no incentive to do so. Hmmm. I suppose anything is possible, but Ford has proven that the legal theory is true. Liar in one thing, liar in all.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
War Against Women
OK girls, get back in your place. South Dakota has banned the few abortions that took place there. The state of Missouri will no longer fund birth control clinics that serve poor women. Every week the New York Times tells us that women want to go back to the kitchen. What is going on?
The consolidation of power by the American right wing means that Iraq has been occupied, colonized and used as a cash cow for corporations. It means that we can say goodbye to fair elections. It means that the corporate media bows to conservative ideology. It means that museums that claim to promote science apologize for teaching Darwin. Even HBO has gotten in on the act. They are presenting a new series that tells us polygamy is a good thing. Yikes.
Right wing domination also means that anyone who was subservient to white men has to assume their old position. The right wing, even right wing women, extol the virtues of submissive women and guys who keep them that way. Women make less than men because they want to, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, housewives are happier than women who work outside the home, etc.
It is sad that few women are willing to speak about discrimination against them. Today's New York Times has an article about women at law firms. Why do so few make partner? Gee, I don't know. Could it be discrimination? You think?
I will now be on the look out for war against women stories. Stay tuned.
OK girls, get back in your place. South Dakota has banned the few abortions that took place there. The state of Missouri will no longer fund birth control clinics that serve poor women. Every week the New York Times tells us that women want to go back to the kitchen. What is going on?
The consolidation of power by the American right wing means that Iraq has been occupied, colonized and used as a cash cow for corporations. It means that we can say goodbye to fair elections. It means that the corporate media bows to conservative ideology. It means that museums that claim to promote science apologize for teaching Darwin. Even HBO has gotten in on the act. They are presenting a new series that tells us polygamy is a good thing. Yikes.
Right wing domination also means that anyone who was subservient to white men has to assume their old position. The right wing, even right wing women, extol the virtues of submissive women and guys who keep them that way. Women make less than men because they want to, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, housewives are happier than women who work outside the home, etc.
It is sad that few women are willing to speak about discrimination against them. Today's New York Times has an article about women at law firms. Why do so few make partner? Gee, I don't know. Could it be discrimination? You think?
I will now be on the look out for war against women stories. Stay tuned.
The Trouble with Irshad Manji
Is Irshad Manji supportive of Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine? In a New York Times op-ed on March 18, 2006 entitled, “How I Learned to Love the Wall” her answer appears to be yes. Actually, the title tells us all we need to know.
Ms. Manji is making a name for herself as the “go to person” on Islam, kind of like a Muslim Henry Louis Gates. You know the type. The New York Times and the rest of the corporate media maintain a hotline to their cell phones. In return for joining the punditocracy, they tell the media and the politicians what they want to hear about the group they claim to represent. They always give the powers that be a pass. It is a good deal for Manji, Gates and their ilk.
In her op-ed Manji condemns suicide bombing, as she ought to do. However, she is struck dumb on the subject of deaths caused by the occupiers. She says nothing about bull dozed homes, nothing about babies dying in childbirth when their mothers in labor were not allowed to pass through check points. She says nothing about the Israeli violence that has killed Palestinians. Manji neglects to mention that Israel knew as early as 1967 that the occupation was illegal.
The occupation of Palestine is a violation of Israeli law, international law and of human rights. It doesn’t matter that Manji is a Muslim. Her support for the occupation tells us that she is more concerned with vilifying certain segments of the Muslim community than she is in speaking out against oppression. That is the trouble with Irshad Manji.
Is Irshad Manji supportive of Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine? In a New York Times op-ed on March 18, 2006 entitled, “How I Learned to Love the Wall” her answer appears to be yes. Actually, the title tells us all we need to know.
Ms. Manji is making a name for herself as the “go to person” on Islam, kind of like a Muslim Henry Louis Gates. You know the type. The New York Times and the rest of the corporate media maintain a hotline to their cell phones. In return for joining the punditocracy, they tell the media and the politicians what they want to hear about the group they claim to represent. They always give the powers that be a pass. It is a good deal for Manji, Gates and their ilk.
In her op-ed Manji condemns suicide bombing, as she ought to do. However, she is struck dumb on the subject of deaths caused by the occupiers. She says nothing about bull dozed homes, nothing about babies dying in childbirth when their mothers in labor were not allowed to pass through check points. She says nothing about the Israeli violence that has killed Palestinians. Manji neglects to mention that Israel knew as early as 1967 that the occupation was illegal.
The occupation of Palestine is a violation of Israeli law, international law and of human rights. It doesn’t matter that Manji is a Muslim. Her support for the occupation tells us that she is more concerned with vilifying certain segments of the Muslim community than she is in speaking out against oppression. That is the trouble with Irshad Manji.
Friday, March 17, 2006
“[Merton Center} holds daily leaflet distribution activities in downtown Pittsburgh and is currently focused on its opposition to the potential war on Iraq.”
FBI
Who is a terrorist? According to the FBI, it is anyone opposed to Bush administration policy. The quote above is from a FBI memo that confirms spying took place against a Pittsburgh peace group in 2002. Keep thatt in mind when Bush says he is only spying on terrorists.
FBI
Who is a terrorist? According to the FBI, it is anyone opposed to Bush administration policy. The quote above is from a FBI memo that confirms spying took place against a Pittsburgh peace group in 2002. Keep thatt in mind when Bush says he is only spying on terrorists.
New Civil War
In this week's Black Commentator I note the beginnings of a new movement for succession. South Dakotans succeeded from the rest of the country when they outlawed abortion. Yes, it is that serious. We are facing assaults on our rights on a state by state basis. In Missouri, the GOP controlled legislature voted to ban state funding of birth control services. It looks like this war is targeting women first.
By the way, I have to thank Alternet for picking up my BC commentary.
In this week's Black Commentator I note the beginnings of a new movement for succession. South Dakotans succeeded from the rest of the country when they outlawed abortion. Yes, it is that serious. We are facing assaults on our rights on a state by state basis. In Missouri, the GOP controlled legislature voted to ban state funding of birth control services. It looks like this war is targeting women first.
By the way, I have to thank Alternet for picking up my BC commentary.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
More Dead Iraqis
Only Nixon in the midst of Watergate had lower approval ratings than Bush has now. Every poll shows his approval ratings in the 34% range.
The gutless Democrats are still afraid of him. Sen. Feingold's attempt to censure the president because of warrantless surveillance sent his fraidy cat colleagues running for cover. The corporate media tell us that talk of impeachment and censure will energize the Republican base. Who cares? They are his only supporters now anyway. How can anyone fear a president that most of the country can no longer stand?
Today the U.S. military began killing more Iraqis. Operation Swarmer will send bombs onto homes, and mosques and schools. Bodies will be torn apart. Families will be devastated.
Nothing scares the Democrats more than saying no to killing. They always support death and destruction. They will say that the president must be supported at a time of crisis and blah, blah, blah. Killing is a political winner. Even for a loser president.
Operation Swarmer may signal the beginning of the end of U.S. troops in Iraq. It also signals the beginning of a wider war against Iran and no one in a position of power will lift a finger to stop it.
Only Nixon in the midst of Watergate had lower approval ratings than Bush has now. Every poll shows his approval ratings in the 34% range.
The gutless Democrats are still afraid of him. Sen. Feingold's attempt to censure the president because of warrantless surveillance sent his fraidy cat colleagues running for cover. The corporate media tell us that talk of impeachment and censure will energize the Republican base. Who cares? They are his only supporters now anyway. How can anyone fear a president that most of the country can no longer stand?
Today the U.S. military began killing more Iraqis. Operation Swarmer will send bombs onto homes, and mosques and schools. Bodies will be torn apart. Families will be devastated.
Nothing scares the Democrats more than saying no to killing. They always support death and destruction. They will say that the president must be supported at a time of crisis and blah, blah, blah. Killing is a political winner. Even for a loser president.
Operation Swarmer may signal the beginning of the end of U.S. troops in Iraq. It also signals the beginning of a wider war against Iran and no one in a position of power will lift a finger to stop it.
Say Goodbye to Violence
"Every time I know a punch is coming or a gun is about to be blasted in someone's face or the soldier is gut-punching the prisoner or the boxer is about to slam the other guy to the mat in a flurry of spit and blood and disgust, I wince. My body recoils. I cannot help but turn away. I cannot watch. Not anymore."
Mark Morford
Mark Morford is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. In his most recent column he explains why he has decided to turn away from depictions of violence.
I stopped watching The Sopranos a few years ago. I know it is well acted, well written and keeps viewers interested in its characters, all of the ingredients for good drama. Yet I realized that when all was said and done it just glorifies violence and criminality. I don't care who did what to whom. I don't care about the latest cliff hanger. I can't watch a celebration of violence any longer.
If more of us abstained from the ever more desensitizing violence presented by the corporate media we would be better human beings. We couldn't be talked into killing Iraqis or Iranians or whomever else the killer elite targets for death.
I'm glad that Morford took the pledge. The rest of us should too.
"Every time I know a punch is coming or a gun is about to be blasted in someone's face or the soldier is gut-punching the prisoner or the boxer is about to slam the other guy to the mat in a flurry of spit and blood and disgust, I wince. My body recoils. I cannot help but turn away. I cannot watch. Not anymore."
Mark Morford
Mark Morford is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. In his most recent column he explains why he has decided to turn away from depictions of violence.
I stopped watching The Sopranos a few years ago. I know it is well acted, well written and keeps viewers interested in its characters, all of the ingredients for good drama. Yet I realized that when all was said and done it just glorifies violence and criminality. I don't care who did what to whom. I don't care about the latest cliff hanger. I can't watch a celebration of violence any longer.
If more of us abstained from the ever more desensitizing violence presented by the corporate media we would be better human beings. We couldn't be talked into killing Iraqis or Iranians or whomever else the killer elite targets for death.
I'm glad that Morford took the pledge. The rest of us should too.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
If 300,000 People March, but the Press Doesn't Tell You, Did the March Take Place?
Last Wednesday, March 8th, groups across the country marched, lobbied Congress, and took other actions to protest the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. In Chicago an estimated 300,000 took to the streets. That estimate comes from the police department, which always low balls numbers of participants in demonstrations.
I don't recall seeing news reports mentioning the demonstration at all, much less the fact that the crowd was at least 300,000 strong.
The bill sponsored by Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner, would make it a crime to any way assist an illegal immigrant. Don't give illegals a beds to sleep in or bowls of soup. You could end up a Halliburton detention center right along side them. No one will know you are there. The media won't bother to report that the centers exist either.
Last Wednesday, March 8th, groups across the country marched, lobbied Congress, and took other actions to protest the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. In Chicago an estimated 300,000 took to the streets. That estimate comes from the police department, which always low balls numbers of participants in demonstrations.
I don't recall seeing news reports mentioning the demonstration at all, much less the fact that the crowd was at least 300,000 strong.
The bill sponsored by Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner, would make it a crime to any way assist an illegal immigrant. Don't give illegals a beds to sleep in or bowls of soup. You could end up a Halliburton detention center right along side them. No one will know you are there. The media won't bother to report that the centers exist either.
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