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March 2006 Articles
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DV Articles
November 2003
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When
the late Alabama Governor George Wallace -- surrounded by armed guards --
stood on the steps of the University of Alabama to prevent a young Black
woman from entering the University of Alabama, he declared, “Segregation
today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” He also inspired a man
who would later stand at the US/Mexican border, armed to the teeth, to
prevent other brown skinned people from entering someplace he didn’t want
them to enter -- the United States.....(full
article)
Better Under Saddam Saddam Hussein is a bad man. As a 22-year-old he worked with the CIA on a botched effort to assassinate Iraqi President Abd al-Karim Qasim. The CIA and Egyptian intelligence got him out of Iraq and to Lebanon, where the CIA paid for his Beirut apartment, and then to Cairo. In 1963, under the new government headed by President ‘Abd as-Salam ‘Arif, he was placed in charge of the interrogation, torture and execution of communists whose names the CIA happily provided the new regime. He rose in the Baathist party ranks, and although jailed between 1964 and 1966, grabbed power in 1979. The Reagan administration cozied up to him after he attacked Iran; Donald Rumsfeld met with him twice and provided his regime with invaluable intelligence abetting his aggressive war on Iran in the ‘80s, which took a million lives. A bad man and bad regime. The propaganda of the occupiers requires that we believe things have improved since his fall. But the evidence suggests otherwise.....(full article)
The American Civil Liberties Union seems to believe that not only does money talk, it has a First Amendment right to do so. In keeping with that highly dubious notion, the ACLU is attacking a Vermont law that limits contributions to political candidates and candidate spending in state elections. In a case now being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, (Randall v. Sorrell) the ACLU argued the law conflicts with the infamous “money equals speech” doctrine first promulgated by the Court in its 1975 Buckley v. Valeo ruling. Although Buckley did allow restrictions on individual contributions, the Court struck down a law limiting the funds a candidate could spend on a national political campaign. Many critics think this decision has hamstrung serious attempts to keep wealth from being a dominant factor in elections.....(full article)
Back in the 1990s, when I was part of a union organizing effort at the University of Vermont, one of the assumptions expressed by the school's administration was the inevitability of the university's continuing corporatization. This assumption was also shared by many of the workers that we were attempting to organize. Furthermore, the assumption was not one specific to the university. Indeed, it was actually usually expressed as part of a larger reality that assumed that the world was going to continue down a path that would result in the ultimate supremacy of the world's largest corporations and banks running everything. Most of these businesses were naturally US-owned, even if they had their offices overseas. Now, the aspect of this whole series of assumptions that irked me the most wasn't that the corporations (and, locally, the university's administration and trustees) told us that this was a good thing. Nor was it that they acted like this scenario was a natural thing, because, according to the laws of capitalist accumulation, it was. No, what irked me the most (and still irks me) is the attempt to portray this form of monopoly capitalism and corporate takeover of every part of our lives as something over which no one has any control.....(full article)
Each Palestinian has a special place in their heart for Rachel Corrie. She symbolized strength, perseverance, and self-assuredness. Conversely, she was labeled an enemy of Israel, a nuisance by the American government and a target of ridicule by pro-Israeli propagandists. 58 years ago, my grandparents were dispossessed from their land in Palestine and this energetic little white girl from Olympia, Washington traveled half the world to try to fulfill their dream: the fruition of justice in Palestine. On March 22, a congregation of ardent supporters gathered to commemorate Rachel’s life and spread her words in the very church Martin Luther King, Jr. first chastised the war in Vietnam. This event came out of controversy. The critically acclaimed play My Name is Rachel Corrie, which chronicled Rachel Corrie’s work with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in Palestine through email and letters (and had two sellout runs in London), was canceled by the New York Theater Workshop (NYTW). Just weeks after the cartoon controversy and the mass trumpeting of free speech worldwide, Rachel Corrie was being silenced. The New York Theater Workshop attempted to crush her memory but her words live on. Other theaters have already expressed interest in putting on the show.....(full article)
Dear George,
In New Orleans, seven months after Katrina, senior citizens are living in their cars. WWL-TV introduced us to Korean War veteran Paul Morris, 74, and his wife Yvonne, 66. They have been sleeping in their two-door sedan since January. They have been waiting that long for FEMA contractors to unlock the 240 square foot trailer in their yard and connect the power so they can sleep inside it in front of their devastated home. This tale of lunacy does not begin to stop there. Their 240 square foot trailer may well cost more than their house. While FEMA flat out refuses to say how much the government is paying for trailers, reliable estimates by the New York Times and others place the cost at over $60,000 each. How could these tiny FEMA trailers cost so much? (full article)
Describing fentanyl as a "very strong narcotic," on July 15, 2005 the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory regarding the safe use of transdermal fentanyl patches in response to reports of 120 deaths in patients using the patch for pain management, stating that some patients and doctors might not be fully aware of its dangers. A cursory investigation of drug deaths listed in various databanks around the country indicates a severe math deficiency in officials within the nation's safety agency because the number of deaths attributed to fentanyl is far larger than the mere 120 cited by the FDA.....(full article)
Voicing what the Associated Press termed “now largely a consensus view,” Mr. Ben Bernanke, the new chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, has said low inflation is the key to growth of the U.S. economy and job market. OK, but how does this policy apply to the nation’s inflationary market for housing? (full article)
It’s nearly springtime and technology too is ready to be reborn. Thanks in large part to Alan Greenspan's retirement from the Fed, and the departure of “irrational exuberance” along with him, we can officially declare the dot-com winter over. So-called Web 2.0, the latest round of interactive, Internet-based tools and services, is to be our salvation. Raising their ipod-clutching fists to the sky, the technorati are demanding we take note of a new, golden era, where we can be online everywhere and in every way. Our happiness, like cable TV and satellite radio, is to be on-demand.....(full article)
On March 20, the
twits at FrontPageMag.com interviewed Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, a
retired U.S. Air Force pilot, who stated without a doubt that Saddam
shipped WMD off to Syria on the eve of the Iraq invasion. McInerney was
referring to documents he believes prove that Saddam was hiding his
horrible weapons. Of the 600 documents that have been released to the
public thus far, none, I repeat none, say that Saddam shipped off
his WMD to secret hiding spots. It is clear that McInerney, a Fox News
[sic] commentator, and the FrontPage conspiracy nuts are desperate
to find evidence that WMD existed in Iraq prior to the invasion three
years ago. They are also hoping to uncover ties between bin Laden and
Saddam. Many of the documents they hope will uncover these claims contain
forgeries, rumors, and disinformation. In short, they aren't the most
reliable sources.....
One of the major developments in yesterday’s
Israeli elections was the sudden rise of Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael
Beiteinu party which became the fourth largest Israeli party. Yisrael
Beiteinu advocates transferring a number of Palestinian towns in Israel to
Palestinian Authority control, thus revoking the Israeli citizenship of
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The popularity of this proposal
fits with the results of a poll released last week which showed that 68
percent of Israeli Jews would refuse to live in the same apartment
building as a Palestinian citizen of Israel, and forty percent of Israeli
Jews believe the state needs to support the emigration of Palestinian
citizens. However, because of the way Israel is portrayed in the
mainstream US media, such blatant discrimination would likely surprise the
US public. Israel’s obfuscation of the second-class status and even of the
very existence of Palestinian citizens, 20% of Israel’s population, is a
crucial component of a broader Israeli strategy of presenting the public
face of a liberal democracy while simultaneously repressing Palestinians.
The US mainstream media, with the New York Times in a leading role,
collaborates with this strategy. The US media emphasizes the Israeli
narrative and focuses coverage on Palestinian terrorism, while minimizing
the central Palestinian experiences of Israeli occupation and seizure of
Palestinian land, Israeli state terrorism, and systematic Israeli
discrimination against Palestinians living in Israel, the Occupied
Territories and the diaspora.....
As the US military has difficulties recruiting and retaining soldiers for its never-ending war of occupation in Iraq, the armed services are resorting to increasingly desperate means of coping. The Stop-Loss option in soldiers' contracts has allowed soldiers to be kept in uniform months or years after their term of service has expired. The National Guard has been sent overseas to a previously unprecedented extent. And military standards have been lowered, so that drug or alcohol abuse, pregnancy, and poor fitness no longer necessarily lead to dismissal of new recruits. Now word comes that "mentally ill" troops are being sent back to Iraq.....(full article)
Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles
Catholic diocese is taking a leading stand on an issue that will be
pivotal in determining whether democracy survives in the United States. As
racist legislation advances in Congress to harshly repress “illegal
aliens,” Mahony says American Catholics should disobey provisions within
the pending bill that would forbid helping undocumented immigrants in a
humanitarian manner. As anyone who’s watched CNN’s Lou Dobbs can attest,
vicious hysteria regarding undocumented foreign workers is being generated
especially by Republicans who recognize the key role that scapegoats can
play in consolidating their own, reactionary rule. In fact, with fascistic
attitudes emanating from the White House, progressives should appreciate
that “aliens” could be the divide-and-conquer contrivance that so dupes
the masses that unequivocal authoritarianism might actually be realized
here.....(full article)
The Hamdan Case:
Ball in the Supremes' Court This week the U.S. Supreme Court will hear what will almost certainly be one of the landmark cases of the past fifty years. Their decision will determine whether the Supreme Court will continue to assert its authority to review and check the executive’s power to detain and try individuals caught up in the “war on terror.” The case is called Hamdan v Rumsfeld. The Hamdan is Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who has been a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002. The Rumsfeld is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose department has jurisdiction over all detainees held at U.S.-controlled military prisons. Since the Court agreed to hear Hamdan’s case, the Bush administration filed an extraordinary motion to dismiss it. The government argues that a law passed by Congress late last year was intended to deny the right of habeas corpus to all prisoners in U.S. custody -- including not only new cases, but those that were pending at the time Congress acted. The Bush administration contends that Congress intended to strip the high court of its jurisdiction to hear any challenge arising out of the detentions at Guantanamo Bay.....(full article)
After years of advocacy for progressive causes, I am used to angry mail -- often from fellow Christians -- when I take a political or theological position that challenges conservative or fundamentalist views. So, I wasn’t surprised when many were unhappy about the decision of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX, where I am the pastor, to let a self-professed atheist become a member. But the intensity and tone of the condemnations were surprising; this wave of mail feels different, more desperate, like people have been backed against a wall. Ironically, the new member, a longtime leftist political activist and professor in Austin, has been getting mail from fellow atheists skeptical of his decision. “How can you do this?” both sides are asking. To me they ask, “How can you let someone join the church who cannot affirm the divinity of Christ? Does nothing matter to you liberals?” To Robert Jensen they ask, “How, as an atheist, can you surrender your mind to a superstitious institution that birthed the inquisition and the crusades?” (full article)
Within the last six years in Latin America
numerous social movements have gained momentum in the fight for human
rights, better living and working conditions and an end to corporate
exploitation and military violence. Recently, left of center leaders have
been elected in Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela.
These political
leaders, whose victory in office is due largely to these social movements
in the streets, have pledged to fight poverty and prioritize the needs of
the people over the interests of Washington and international
corporations. This resistance is connected to centuries of organizing
among indigenous groups and unions in Latin America. I'd like to discuss
some reasons why this leftist shift is happening right now and about a few
key moments and events in this movement's recent history.....
When a soldier no longer wants to fight, when his conscience tells him that he can no longer believe in the mission and commanders order that soldier back to combat against his will, there is something wrong. There is something very wrong when commanders send that soldier to jail simply because they cannot control what he believes, and what he believes scares them. In Afghanistan, we are witnessing a tragic violation of basic human rights -- rights given to all people simply for being alive. A man has made a choice -- a personal choice -- and he is being threatened with death because of his choice. Our government officials have stepped in and offered their thoughts on how the Afghan government should proceed in their treatment of this man. Members of our administration have publicly stated that freedom of religion is a personal choice, one afforded all human beings; the man should be set free and allowed to practice his religion as he chooses. This is the same administration that allowed my husband to go to jail for making a choice -- a personal, moral choice based on his ethical beliefs.....(full article)
According to a report released last week by the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) violated procedures for wiretapping and other methods of obtaining intelligence more than 100 times in the last two years. The department’s inspector general regarded some of the violations as “significant,” including wiretaps that were broader than what a court had approved, and wiretaps that were allowed to go on for weeks, even months, longer than had been authorized. Given the bureau’s history, this shouldn’t be surprising. The FBI was created for partisan political purposes, and has blatantly violated civil liberties since its inception.....(full article)
A bill recently introduced in the Senate
would legalize warrantless wiretapping at the President's discretion.
Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) introduced the bill, popularly named the
Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006, on March 16, 2006. The bill was
co-sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and
Olympia Snowe (R-ME). According to a press release by Senator DeWine, the
bill would allow the President to authorize wiretapping on international
communications by American citizens suspected of being affiliated with a
terrorist organization. All the President has to have is probable cause
and a belief that surveillance of the individual is necessary to protect
national security.....(full article)
Harvard Study Critical of Israel Lobby
Unjustly Lambasted The furious barrage of unjustified and vituperative criticism leveled at John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt over the recent publication of “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy,” is the latest and arguably the most troubling in a series of recent events which indicate that it has become extremely difficult for any critical views of Israeli government policy to receive a fair and calm hearing in the United States. There has been an almost complete disappearance of the Palestinian point of view from the mainstream media reporting of the Middle East within the past two years. The intense public display of disapproval for Stephen Spielberg’s film, Munich, the organized protests against the nomination of the Palestinian film, Paradise Now at the Academy Awards, and the indefinite postponement of the New York City staging of the critically acclaimed play, Rachel’s Words, are all recent instances where expression of unfavorable opinion in regard to Israeli policy have met with inordinate and orchestrated criticism.....(full article)
At the Chicago-Kent College of Law, Dr.
Rashad Zayadan spoke about the situation in Iraq since the US-led invasion
over three years ago. She asked a group of lawyers and law students to
inform their families and friends about Iraqi suffering because of the
war. She talked about justice and peace by ending the military occupation
in Iraq. “We do not want the war to continue,” Zayadan said. “The Iraqi
people still suffering and this will not end until all of the good people
with hand-in-hand trying hard because it’s just not suffering for my
people but suffering for your people.” Zayadan is a pharmacist in Baghdad,
a mother of four children and the head manageress of the
Knowledge for Iraqi
Women Society. On tour in the US for three weeks, she is a part of
an Iraqi women’s delegation promoting the
Women’s Call for Peace, which has been signed by more than five
million women around the globe. Their call urges that the strategy in Iraq
change from a military model to a conflict resolution model by withdrawing
all foreign troops from Iraq. Their belief is that women will play an
integral role in the peacemaking process. The lawyers and law students
attended Zayadan’s lecture for the
National Lawyers Guild
Annual Midwest Regional Conference. This year’s theme: “Rising to
the Challenge: Pursuing Justice in Dangerous Times.”.....(full
article)
First They Came for Abdul Rahman This week we witnessed America and Europe at their very best -- rallying in unison against the unjustifiable trial and possible execution of a man whose only crime was that he freely chose to become a Christian. What is especially heartening about this case is the West’s concern over the plight of a single individual Afghan. This could be or should be the start of a very beautiful thing. Every freedom lover in the world should be encouraged by this very new and very powerful phenomenon. The conscience of Europe has been stirred by the unfathomable tribulation facing one solitary convert -- over there......(full article)
President George W. Bush said in a press conference on March 21, 2006 that U.S. troops will still be in Iraq after his presidency ends in 2009. Asked when all U.S. forces would finally pull out of Iraq, Bush told a White House news conference: “That will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq.” The silence from Congress in reaction to this pledge was deafening.....(full article)
Wheelchair-bound multiple sclerosis patient Richard Paey is serving 25 years in a Florida prison for “trafficking” 1/2 gram of OxyContin, even though the prosecutor concedes that Paey never sold any of his medications. In prison, he now receives more pain-killing drugs than he was convicted of having. Dr. William Hurwitz, a pioneering pain physician, was tried and convicted of violating the Controlled Substances Act -- which is intended to curb the illicit use of drugs -- and is serving a 25-year term in federal prison. He was also fined $2 million. These are but two of hundreds of cases in which, in its zeal to stamp out the illegal drug use, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is cracking down on doctors who prescribe medications to relieve chronic pain, and the patients who depend on these drugs to live normal lives......(full article)
Psychological torture, sleep deprivation, brutality, severe sexual humiliation, and murder summon visions of a dank dungeon in a remote region of pre-invasion Iraq, Iran, or North Korea, replete with evil inquisitors and hooded executioners. However, those manifestations of horror did not spring forth from the Axis of Evil. They are actually drawn from official post-9/11 US policy. Despite its fabled commitment to human rights, the United States government has been committing and enabling acts of torture for half a century. Not even Superman had the power to snatch “Truth, Justice and the American Way” from the crushing jaws of imperialistic ambition and avarice. Ironically titled, Albert McCoy’s A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror probes and exposes the extent of “the Land of the Free’s” involvement in human torture over the years.....(full article)
An interview with Enrique Morones, founder of the Border Angels Project, an all-volunteer group that sets up rescue stations for migrants forced to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in remote and dangerous areas, and a leader of Gente Unida, an immigrant rights coalition in southern California, about the fight for immigrant rights today.....(full article)
Following a death-to-gays fatwa issued last October by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, death squads of the Badr Corps have been systematically targeting gay Iraqis for persecution and execution, gay Iraqis say. But when they ask for help and protection from U.S. occupying authorities in the “Green Zone,” gay Iraqis are met with indifference and derision.....(full article)
Two weeks ago, CBS 60 Minutes ran a segment called “Tal Afar: Al Qaida’s Town.” The story focused on an Iraqi city on the Syrian border that was allegedly “taken over by Al Qaida” and turned into a terrorist “base to train insurgents and launch attacks around Iraq.” (60 Minute’s transcript) According to “America’s most popular news magazine,” the city of 200,000 was controlled by a few hundred “terrorists” who kept the townspeople imprisoned in their own homes until American forces invaded the city and set them free.....(full article)
Waving the banner of "global competitiveness," corporate and government policymakers are running the U.S. economy into the ground. We are becoming a nation of Scrooge-Marts and outsourcers -- with an increasingly low-wage workforce instead of a growing middle class. We are living the American Dream in reverse.....(full article)
If you want to understand what is concerning ordinary Israelis as they prepare to cast their ballots next week, the most revealing poll is also the one that has received least attention. A few weeks after Ariel Sharon broke up his Likud party to form a new “centrist” faction, Kadima, his advisers conducted a poll to find out how potential voters would respond if its list of candidates included an Arab. The results were unequivocal: Kadima would lose votes equivalent to between five and seven seats in the 120-member Knesset from Israeli Jews worried that they might be helping to elect an Arab. Even allowing for a potential increase in Kadima’s support from the country’s Arab minority (a fifth of the population), the party decided the gamble was not worth it. Ahmad Dabah, an Arab mayor, was placed 51st on the list, with no hope of being elected. Sharon established his new party late last year as an escape chute from Likud before its drift rightward became terminal. Kadima promised instead to occupy the center ground of politics, representing the Israeli “consensus”. But that consensus is looking increasingly like a Jewish, not an Israeli, one. The country’s one million Arabs are not being invited to join the party in every possible sense.....(full article)
David Ben-Gurion, the mass-murdering war criminal, tool of U.S. imperial designs on Arab oil and first Prime Minister of the "State of Israel," ominously described this result as “the establishment, in the western part of ‘Eretz Israel’” of a “state based on dynamic expansion.” And Canada, as America’s best little buddy, was in the thick of it. Six months earlier, members of the UN General Assembly -- bribed behind the scenes by the U.S. and cajoled especially by its chief agent there, Canadian diplomat and future prime minister Lester Pearson -- passed the Partition Resolution 181 which pulled the trigger. Acknowledging Pearson’s historic role as the Wrench of Reaction tossed into the spokes of history’s forward-moving wheel, the Zionist movement dubbed him “the Canadian Balfour.” What overall meaning is to be gleaned, then, from Canadian government votes on UN resolutions affecting Palestine? And, what in particular to make of the allegedly contradictory recent evidence of some of its more brazenly, and some of its minutely less brazenly, pro-State-of-Israel positions? Not much. Careful always to proclaim the highest ideals of Humanity as its own, no Canadian government ever failed to toss in its own kick at the Palestinians when they were down -- and Ottawa was confident about averting discovery or retaliation.....(full article)
Who will save us from the pessimistic, do-nothing "realism" of the privileged and elitist "liberal left"? Paul Street surveys and challenges the tired phrases of the liberal-left do-nothing intellectuals (full article)
I recently offered a critique of the decision by the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) to cancel a planned production of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie. My effort in that essay was to contextualize this controversy so that we won’t fail to comprehend the large issues it raises. The present essay supplements that one with an argument that will surprise many readers of the earlier piece. The Corrie controversy continues but it has now largely become an example of how easily we get trapped by ideology in simple alternatives, false dichotomies and fatal assumptions. Many of them are illustrated by the current rallying around this play and the lionizing of it as a model of progressive theatre; and exemplar, to the shame of the NYTW of the “exploration of political and historical events and institutions that shape contemporary life.”.....(full article)
While whining about Christians being under
attack has been a standard operating tool of the religious right, Vision
America has taken it to a new level, organizing the first full-fledged
conference devoted to presenting evidence that there's a "war on
Christians" in the United States. The conference, called "The War on
Christians and the Values Voter in 2006," will be held on March 27 and 28,
at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. In full martyr mode, Pastor
Rick Scarborough, the President of Vision America, recently said that he
expected "attacks" on "our 'War On Christians' conference" would
"accelerate" as conference time "approaches".....
Peter Kurth's open letter to Homeland
Security chief Michael Chertoff, in response to Chertoff's warning last
week about the bird flu threat.....
Some of the
top-selling drugs of all time are those prescribed to treat attention
deficit disorders. Drug companies have physicians in every field of
medicine pushing these medications and dole out millions of dollars worth
of free samples each year to make sure they are passed out like candy. A
new ADHD drug is set to come on the market that supposedly can keep people
awake for days at a time with no problems. Just what we needed, especially
for hyper little kids. I wonder if this means they will remain calm as
they sit wide-awake watching TV and playing video games for days while the
rest of the family sleeps.....(full article)
The One and Only Answer: Two Cappuccinos
Please The corporate world now owns the federal government. Billions from its coffers fund the campaigns of legislators who therefore allow its lobbyists, of which there are now some 65 per legislator, to write the legislation itself. Congress then votes on that legislation without having actually read it. Anyone finding this acceptable does not deserve to live in a democracy much less be a legislator in one. It really is that simple. Today, the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Population Clock” has the U.S. at 298,192,000 citizens. Say that each year, an amount is set aside from the federal budget for each citizen, in an amount equal to two large cups of cappuccino, for the expressed purpose of funding federal election campaigns. Here in Madison, WI Starbucks charges $3.69 for a large cappuccino, $7.38 for two. That would amount to $2.2 billion at year’s end.....(full article)
Those of us who are at middle age or beyond have lived through a revolution in political and economic theory and practice, a revolution so profound that few of us can even begin to appreciate its significance, much less its peril. Future historians, however, will understand and appreciate this revolution and will wonder at the passivity of the public today and the ease with which those who instituted this upheaval achieved their success. The same historians, I would venture, will be equally or more amazed at how this moment played out. But this we cannot know, for their past is our immediate future. We are the agents of that still-to-be written history. The United States of America, in this year of 2006, is at a hinge of history. Our fate, and that of our successors, rests directly in the hands of all of us who are politically alert and active today. As Edward R. Murrow famously said, “we can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result.".....(full article)
If a national movement calling for the impeachment of the President is rapidly emerging and the corporate media are not covering it, is there really a national movement for the impeachment of the President? (full article)
As I write, the US Senate is debating legislation that would make migrant peoples a felonized, legally scapegoated racial and cultural under-caste, a move with deeply dangerous implications for us all. Maybe it wasn't such a lie, what the German people said after Hitler -- "we didn't know." Certainly the mainstream media isn't telling you. But many Mexicans, Central Americans, and immigrant groups like the Poles and Irish know. As many as 300,000 of them marched together in Chicago recently to oppose these new laws. 20,000 marched in Washington DC. People in Los Angeles know; over half a million people in LA are expected to march against these anti-migrant laws on March 25th. The march is being promoted on all the Spanish language media. This essay is both a plea and a demand: you must march with us on the 25th; somehow you must take action....(full article)
How has mainstream media covered the subject of U.S. working mothers leaving the labor force to stay at home and rear children? First, let us define our terms. By working mothers, I mean adult females with kids who labor for paychecks away from their households. Of course stay-at-home moms work. It is noteworthy that their labor is not counted in the official measure of the economy, or the gross domestic product, the prices of the output of goods and services (Associated Press, 1-28-06). The GDP can go up, go down or stay flat, but the daily work of women who change diapers, cook meals and clean house is hidden in plain sight when mainstream journalists report on the economy.....(full article)
Turn off the propaganda “business channel” and do some independent research. If you’ve already figured out that the Bush administration is fudging the numbers to make them look good, you’re right. Walter J. Williams (Dartmouth, BA in Economics and an MBA; economic consultant for Fortune 500 companies) has compiled the data and found that “real unemployment is running at 12%, real CPI (Consumer Price Index) is running at 8%, and real GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is in contraction. Most people know intuitively that things are bad, they just can’t see passed the government smokescreen. No one with half a brain believes this can go on forever. The Bush administration has racked up another $3 trillion in debt in just six years, most of it going to Bush’s well-heeled friends via the “tax cuts.” Now, the Congress has voted to make the tax cuts “permanent” even though they are certain to increase deficits by $400 to $500 billion per year. Deficit spending has become a permanent function of government . . . but why? (full article)
Corporate industry interests gain another victory and once more the welfare of American citizens will be jeopardized in the face of corporate agendas. For years, lobbyists for the grocery and food industries have been mounting an assault on the ability of states to dictate policies it sees fit to ensure the public health. The House has finally capitulated to the relentless industry campaign -- leaving the National Uniformity of Food Act in its wake. The bill, if passed by the Senate, will create a national standard for food safety, food labeling, and warning notifications. A national standard essentially means that only the federal government has the ultimate authority to dictate what food substances are hazardous to people or the environment. State laws dealing with these issues will be preempted, and their rights once more trampled on by the federal government.....(full article)
Taiwan -- As fallout from the August Thai workers’ riot in Kaohsiung continues to settle, details of another case of abuse against migrant laborers working at a CTCI (中鼎工程股份有限公司) chemical factory in Mailiao, Yunlin County are starting to come to light. On Aug. 2, at least four Filipino laborers at the plant were severely beaten at a highway rest stop near Hsinchu. According to the workers, this was done to coerce them and 12 others into signing agreements nullifying their contracts and allowing for immediate repatriation to the Philippines. After the beatings, the workers were taken directly to the airport, where at least one, Gil Lebria, was carried through customs and onto the plane in a semi-conscious and in need of medical attention. A month earlier, these workers had been involved in a strike, protesting illegal side agreements and other highly questionable fees deducted from their pay. Protests in Taipei last weekend elicited a promise from Council of Labor Affairs Chairman Lee Ying-yuan to investigate the case. Officials at Formosa Plastics Group (to whom the workers were originally contracted), the Mailiao factory, and CTCI would not comment on the incident or would not return calls when contacted by POTS. The Asian Pacific Mission for Migrants claims that CTCI has not denied the beatings, in separate contradictory statements saying the workers fought amongst themselves or tried to escape. The question also remains as to how a severely beaten individual could be carried through Immigration and onto an airplane at Chiang Kai Shek International Airport. Here is Gil Lebria’s story....(full article)
The New York Times Week in Review recently had a fascinating article “Children, the Littlest Politicians," Feb. 19, 2006) on gender differences in political allegiances. No, this isn't the well-known gender gap whereby women lean Democratic and men Republican. Rather, parents of boys tend to vote more conservatively than parents of girls. Most of the research conducted so far has been in Europe. For example....(full article)
President Bush used the occasion of International Women’s Day to tout his administration’s commitment to women. He spoke in glowing terms of how bringing democracy to the Middle East had improved the lives of women in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both the President and Mrs. Bush (this was a day for women after all) talked enthusiastically about girls going to school and women participating in government in both countries. Neither however mentioned the continuing pandemic of sexual violence against women that was highlighted in the State Department’s report on Afghanistan’s continuing poor record on human rights that was released the following day. Nor was anything said about the continuing low literacy rates for women in Afghanistan (less than 20%) or that 50% of marriages in that country take place before girls reach the age of sixteen.....(full article)
Hamas should not recognize Israel until Israel recognizes the human rights of its own citizens -- other than Jewish Nationals. Recently at the urging of Nobel “Peace” Prize winner Shimon Peres who wants the Negev for Jews only, the Knesset voted to ethnically cleanse 40,000 of its own Israeli citizens, Arab Bedouins from their ancient homelands. The illegal land grabs in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are also justified under Israel's racist laws. Despite our best intentions, we Internationals accomplish little because we do not challenge Israel's right to exist in its present form. The new mantra need not echo Hamas in its call for Israel to be destroyed, but rather to change. Hamas is correct to assert that under international law they have a Right to Resist as well as a Right to Return. Of course, by demanding their Right to Resist Hamas must also look into what is covered by that right -- and attacking innocent civilians, including children, is clearly not -- despite the fact that Israel does it day in and day out and a 1,000 times more effectively and viciously.....(full article)
On January 3, 2006, Global Exchange, the international advocacy group for human rights, released a report naming the top fourteen "Worst Corporate Evildoers" in the world for the year 2005. Pfizer, one of the most profitable drug companies on earth, with sales over $52 billion in 2004, made the list. Pfizer’s participation in the cover-up of the deadly side effects of Bextra surely contributed to its membership. Because the drug was promoted and sold off-label for so many unapproved uses, the company made hundreds of millions of dollars in pure profits during Bextra’s short life on the market. However, experts predict that when all is said and done, the total amount of the drug’s damage to consumers will be in the billions.....(full article)
The war lovers I have known in real wars have usually been harmless, except to themselves. They were attracted to Vietnam and Cambodia, where drugs were plentiful. Bosnia, with its roulette of death, was another favorite. A few would say they were there "to tell the world"; the honest ones would say they loved it. "War is fun!" one of them had scratched on his arm. He stood on a landmine. I sometimes remember these almost endearing fools when I find myself faced with another kind of war lover -- the kind that has not seen war and has often done everything possible not to see it. The passion of these war lovers is a phenomenon; it never dims, regardless of the distance from the object of their desire. Pick up the Sunday papers and there they are, egocentrics of little harsh experience, other than a Saturday in the shopping mall. Turn on the television and there they are again, night after night, intoning not so much their love of war as their sales pitch for it on behalf of the court to which they are assigned. "There's no doubt," said Matt Frei, the BBC's man in America, "that the desire to bring good, to bring American values to the rest of the world, and especially now to the Middle East . . . is now increasingly tied up with military power.".....(full article)
I'm often told by readers of their encounters with Americans who support the outrages of US foreign policy no matter what facts are presented to them, no matter what arguments are made, no matter how much the government's statements are shown to be false. If these Americans have no other defense of the policies they will declare how glad they are that the United States rules and polices the world; better America than someone else. They include amongst their number those who still believe that Iraq had a direct involvement in the events of September 11, that Saddam Hussein had close ties to al Qaeda, and/or that weapons of mass destruction were indeed found in Iraq after the 2003 invasion. My advice is to forget such people. They would support the outrages even if the government came to their homes, seized their first born, and hauled them away screaming, as long as the government assured them it was essential to fighting terrorism (or communism). My (very) rough guess is that they constitute no more than 15 percent of the population. I suggest that we concentrate on the rest, who are reachable.....(full article)
President Bush likes to talk about an "ownership society." There are many steps that can be taken to create an ownership society, one critical step is to continue to expand employee-owned businesses. The Zeese for Senate Campaign presented a “Ways that Work” Award to the Maryland Brush Company on March 21 as part of our Solutions Tour of Maryland. The award was presented to the board and 27 employee-owners of the Maryland Brush Company in order to highlight the importance of supporting employee-ownership of corporations.....(full article)
In
case you missed it, the U.S. is giving Indonesia $157 million to improve
education there. This in itself may seem ironic to you, in light of the
condition of our own educational system. But it’s not ironic at all, at
least by comparison with the overall US–Indonesia story. Ever since the
Gerald Ford days, when Henry Kissinger brought them a large sack of money
and a green light to mass-murder, Indonesia has been hard at work killing,
torturing, and rendering homeless several hundred thousand of its own
citizens. Or possibly millions, depending on whose estimates you prefer.
The carnage has been especially severe on the islands of East Timor, Aceh,
and Papua.....
One of the many serious dangers arising from the Bush administration's persistent record of lies and distortions is that, for many, whatever visceral faith they had that the government would attempt to deal sensibly with emergencies has dissipated. United States governments are well-known to deceive when foreign policy is at stake. But, in general, when domestic emergencies loom, we have been able to assume a basic level of honesty and competence. But no longer. The lies and incompetence that surrounded the Hurricane Katrina response and reconstruction, in conjunction with the Medicare prescription drug disaster, have focused attention on the overwhelming incompetence and duplicitous nature of this administration in dealing with domestic problems. Given the administration's record, it is no surprise that cries of alarm are met with skepticism. Thus, when President Bush finally acknowledged the risk of an avian flu pandemic and proposed strategies to deal with it, a certain amount of skepticism is appropriate. However, misjudging the extent and nature of the threat can lead to bad policies and these poor judgments can be a serious menace. Progressives must be careful not to let their skepticism about this administration and its actions obscure their ability to perceive real risks.....(full article)
I’ve always loved baseball. I even wanted to be a major leaguer one day. (Only one thing stopped me: a complete lack of talent.) Baseball’s not the same anymore, though, mainly due to agency. Free agency’s not evil. For one thing, it’s not named Karl Rove. For another, it resulted from the spiking of the odious reserve clause that had kept athletes contractually bound to club owners for years. I don’t begrudge players becoming wealthy enough to purchase, say, their very own oppressive Middle Eastern kingdoms, but, geez, come on! They’re filthy rich, the owners are filthy rich, yet apparently it’d be un-American or something for the two filthy rich groups to get together and decide to quit milking the game (and fans) dry.....(full article)
As the
new Hamas government is sworn into power in the Palestinian Authority, we
might ask: What would bring a people, the most secular of Arab populations
with little history of religious fundamentalism, to vote Hamas? Mere
protest at Fatah ineffectualness in negotiations and internal corruption
doesn't go far enough. While warning Hamas that their vote did not
constitute a mandate for imposing an Iran-like theocracy on Palestine, the
Palestinians took the only option left to a powerless people when all
other avenues of redress have been closed to them: non-cooperation.....
Americans are the most polled people in the world, but not the most shafted. The most shafted surely include the Iraqi people. In January 2003, Mark Manning, ex-deep sea diver turned filmmaker, began interviewing Americans in a heartfelt attempt to understand the move toward war. Almost two years later, his interviews led to Iraq. The result is two documentaries, American Voices and Caught in the Crossfire: The Untold Story in Falluja.....(full review)
Even as the intelligent design controversy
rages on, California recently witnessed a concerted push by a coalition of
three Hindutva (Hindu supremacist) groups -- Hindu Education Foundation,
Vedic Foundation and the Hindu American Foundation -- to doctor sixth
grade social science textbooks. Their strong ideological and
organizational links with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in India
makes them all the more dangerous, for any success here would provide a
much-needed fillip to the RSS family of organizations in India.
Fortunately, interventions by a group of Indologists led by Professor
Michael Witzel and strong mobilizations by the South Asian community
resulted in a resounding defeat for the Hindutva groups.....
The notion that Iraq is now consumed by civil war depends on a number of assumptions that are inherently false. First of all, it assumes that the Pentagon is ignoring the fundamental principle that underscores all wars: “Know your enemy.” In this case, there’s no doubt about who the enemy is: it is the 87% of the Iraqi people who want to see an immediate end to the American occupation. Therefore, the greatest threat to American objectives of permanent bases and occupation is the camaraderie that manifests itself in the form of Arab solidarity or Iraqi nationalism. To this end, the Pentagon, through its surrogates in the media, has created a “self-fulfilling” narrative that civil war is already under way. Most of the war coverage now makes it appear as though the violence is generated from ethnic tensions and sectarian hatred. But is it? Some of the more astute observers have noticed that other parts of the propaganda war, (like references to the “imaginary” al-Zarqawi) have completely vanished from the newspapers, as government spin-doctors are now devoting 100% of their time to promoting their latest product line: civil war....(full article)
On 15 February 2003, I joined the largest worldwide protest in history on the streets of San Francisco. I carried a simple sign reading: BUSH/ENRON/WWIII. 33 days later, without United Nations approval, our president christened the invasion of Iraq with the infamous Shock & Awe campaign. Three years later, we are more shocked than awed. The president issues yet another call for perseverance in the war effort. As yet another offensive is unleashed upon the inhabitants of the Sunni triangle, he asks for American patience and Iraqi unity against the resistance. The truth is the Iraqi resistance is the only cause that can unite the Iraqi people....(full article)
Three years on, it is clear that the case for war against Iraq was based on lies. Despite the cover-ups, insider compromise and silence, there can be no serious doubt that the lies were conscious and carefully planned. The real target of Western “intelligence” was not Iraq, but the British and American public -- the goal was to frighten and deceive us to support a war fought for elite interests. It was to persuade us to send our troops to kill and die for profits. It was to persuade us to ignore clear warnings that, in all likelihood, we would be subject to terrorist reprisals. Such risks were clearly deemed a small price to pay for the prize that mattered -- control of Iraqi oil and enhanced influence in the region and beyond. This is the ugly reality behind “patriotic” governments “supporting our boys” and protecting “national security.” Iraq, of course, never posed any kind of threat to the West. Even if portions of Saddam’s WMD had been retained, they would have been no danger to America, Britain and Israel bristling with veritable doomsday weapons. Saddam Hussein may be an animal, but he is a political animal -- a survivor, not someone who would have committed national suicide by launching WMD at the West. An honest press would be hyper-sensitive to these issues -- it would be keenly aware that Bush and Blair had lied, and would be re-evaluating earlier wars, earlier claims of “humanitarian intervention”, in light of what they now know. Given this context, something truly astonishing is revealed by media coverage of the death of Slobodan Milosevic....(full article)
One of the lesser-known administration justifications for wholesale, illegal NSA spying is the argument that the domestic United States became a theater of war after 9/11. The fact that this is a dream come true for rightwing interests is merely a coincidence -- in the same way and to the same degree that the culture war is merely a metaphor. Unfortunately, fundamentalists are noted for their literalism. As far as Jerry Falwell was concerned on September 14, 2001, the people who deserved the blame for the attacks on America were “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make them an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way” -- that is to say, all the religious right’s domestic political enemies. Ridiculous as that sounded at the time -- bringing condemnation from both GWB and Chuck Hagel -- the list of traitors is only growing.....(full article)
As our ears prick to the drumbeat of Bush v. Iran, a highly respected researcher from the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) warns that Washington is edging toward a policy of nuclear preemption, and Teheran knows it. Although the post 9/11 doctrine of USA military strategy known as “Global Strike” is often promoted as a post nuclear plan, Hans M. Kristensen finds documentary evidence that a “nuclear option” is included.....(full article)
Last August I wrote of the Bush administration, “They’ve opened up a Pandora’s box by their criminal invasion, and they’re not going to close it so easily.” I make no claim to originality in using the metaphor, which has been used by other critics of the war. But now I see even the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, acknowledging “We have opened the Pandora’s box,” adding, “the question is, what is the way forward?” (full article)
An enlightening article by Pratyush Chandra on the Maoist movement in Nepal and the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela....(full article)
Several months ago during a casual conversation, I was described by someone as being a radical. When he first said it I didn't know whether I should laugh or be offended. It never quite dawned on me until then that my standing up against spiritual homophobia, writing a gay spiritual book and producing and hosting a national black gay TV talk show would qualify me for radical status, but apparently in the minds of some it has. Prior to this particular conversation, my mental concept of radicalism or the word radical represented outdated images of white women burning their bras in protest of anything male dominated or people chaining themselves to century’s-old oak trees. So now I asked myself, what exactly is a radical? (full article)
The following is my vague recollection of a fictional interview with POTUS. While I never got to personally ask these questions, his answers have been reconstructed from previous Bush speeches. Q: Mr. President. Let’s not beat around the bush. We all know you’d rather visit a back alley dentist than show up for a mano-a-mano interview with the alternative press. So, let me warn you upfront that some of my questions are going to seem like the dental equivalent of a triple bypass root canal by a blind intern. President Bush: Bring it on.....(full interview)
“Crash” is a white-supremacist movie.The Oscar-winning best picture -- widely heralded, especially by white liberals, for advancing an honest discussion of race in the United States -- is, in fact, a setback in the crucial project of forcing white America to come to terms the reality of race and racism, white supremacy and white privilege.....(full article)
In the looking-glass world of Middle East politics, it is easy to forget that Ahmad Saadat, the imprisoned Palestinian leader Israel summarily arrested in Jericho late last Tuesday, is wanted for masterminding the killing of the Jewish state's most notorious racist politician-general.....(full article)
It is questionable whether or not responding to the neocons’ assault on sanity is worth the energy. They don’t take well to reason and they certainly aren’t capable of dealing with truth. In fact, the reality in which they dwell is a manifestation of propaganda and isolated conspiracy theories. Yeah, they think we are out to get them and that we’ll destroy their comfortable way of life. And what seems to be driving their delusional tendencies is the teaming up of traditional conservatives, libertarians and lefties -- all of whom oppose the neocon wars....(full article)
In the reception area at a doctor’s office I heard: “Can’t believe it . . . now he’s selling our ports to Arabs . . . . look at them, they are killing each other in Iraq.” It is not uncommon to hear negative associations with Arabs, even when such slurs are a public faux pas for other ethnic groups. In fact, I’m not alone in hearing these stereotypes. A recent poll by the Washington Post shows that at least four in ten Americans (43%) have heard other people say prejudiced things about Arabs and one in four, or approximately 52 million, report that they have “at least some feelings of prejudice about Arabs.” More disturbing than the prevalence of Arab stereotypes is how politicians, both Republican and Democrat alike, manipulated these stereotypes and played on public fears to score political goals. This article briefly examines some of the language and rhetoric used to sink the Dubai Ports deal, a discourse that implicitly and explicitly played on fear mongering and exploited the “Other” for political gains while sending some disturbing messages to the public....(full article)
As things now stand, it is difficult to predict how things will eventually turn out in Iraq. Anything is possible including eventual partition -- the outcome most favored by the neo-cons. On the other hand, we might end up with a failed state where nihilistic ethnic and sectarian militias confront each other in an orgy of violence to settle old and new grievances. The most likely scenario is the emergence of a Shia dominated theocracy tied at the hip to the clerical regime in Tehran. One can always hope for a rapid Anglo-American withdrawal followed by a broad effort at national reconciliation. But that possibility is becoming more remote with every new spasm of inter-communal mayhem. . . . . Despite the best efforts by the alternative press, the vast majority of Americans, including anti-war activists, have failed to decipher the secret American agenda in Iraq -- propping up the almighty dollar, enhancing Israel’s strategic position and protecting the Gulf monarchies and their oil plantations. So, as we approach the third anniversary of this war of choice, it is instructive to review the pre-invasion blue prints.....(full article)
Sometimes the injustices here in New Orleans leave me numb. But the continuing debacle of our criminal justice system inspires in me a sense of indignation I thought was lost to cynicism long ago. Ursula Price, a staff investigator for the indigent defense organization A Fighting Chance, has met with several thousand hurricane survivors who were imprisoned at the time of the hurricane, and her stories chill me. “I grew up in small town Mississippi,” she tells me. “We had the Klan marching down our main street. But still, I’ve never seen anything like this.” Safe Streets, Strong Communities, a New Orleans-based criminal justice reform coalition that Price also works with, has just released a report based on more than a hundred recent interviews with prisoners who have been locked up since pre-Katrina and are currently spread across thirteen prisons and hundreds of miles. They found the average number of days people had been locked up without a trial was 385 days. One person had been locked up for 1,289 days. None of them have been convicted of any crime.....(full article)
Standing Clausewitz
on his head may be the best way to understand the controversy provoked by
Jyllands-Posten. This is no first amendment issue at all. The rash
decision to publish the cartoons of Mohammed cannot be defended as freedom
of speech for a simple reason -- these cartoons are not speech but acts.
Acts of provocation and belligerence. They are the opening -- or perhaps
continuing -- rounds of war. How so? Don’t the cartoons express an idea
and isn’t expression of our thoughts the most fundamental freedom of our
western selves? Perhaps. But even if we concede this, the fact is that
even under our own Constitution, there have always been time, place, and
manner restrictions to freedom of expression. You cannot yell fire in a
crowded theater and plead artistic license; you cannot burn a cross in the
backyard of a fellow American and claim that inquiring minds want to know.
In both cases, the context gives the game away; it tells us that the right
being claimed is not the freedom to speak but the license to injure.....(full
article)
“We Have No Choice” “The problem of the Iranian regime has become entrenched over the course of an entire generation,” Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns told the House International Relations Committee March 8. “It may require a generational struggle to address it, but we have no choice but to do so.” As the International Atomic Energy Agency -- heavily pressured by the U.S. to condemn Iran -- was meeting to finalize a report to the UN Security Council about the country’s nuclear program, Burns (the number three man in the State Department) left little doubt as to Washington’s ultimate intentions. “We must defeat Iran in its pursuit of nuclear weapons and its sponsorship of terrorism and its subjugation of the people of Iran.” He might as well have just said, “We must defeat Iran” and left it at that. The nuclear weapons, terrorism and repression issues are all pretexts for regime change, just as they were with Iraq. If Burns were more candid, less Straussian, he might say something like the following.....(full article)
John Bolton’s tenure at the United Nations has been relatively unsurprising. He was shoehorned into his position by presidential edict although the Senate openly opposed his appointment. Since then, he has lived up to his reputation as a “loose cannon” by routinely blasting the “alleged” waste and ineffectiveness of the world body. Bolton is the new face of the UN; a blustery huckster whose primary task is to promote the interests of big business and Israel. He is not a diplomat at all, but an uber-lobbyist whose mission is to take a wrecking ball to the foundations of international accord. As chief weapons-inspector, Scott Ritter sagely noted, “Bolton was sent to destroy the UN.”.....(full article)
Nation-building is a term created by people living off Pentagon contracts. It is one of those queasy political expressions with no hard meaning yet its use raises few eyebrows. The term sounds as though it means something, and it is treated as though it were something you might study. At least this is true in the United States where people are hypnotized by hype and substance-lacking words, where inflating nothing into something is an everyday art.....(full article)
The fact that our
government spends so many of our tax dollars on the implements of death,
on militarism and weaponry, and so little on humanitarian causes tells the
story of America. 52 cents of every tax dollar finds its way
into the coffers of the Pentagon in some form. The consequences are
visible both at home and abroad. This explains why America is seen as
the Great Satan in the Middle East and beyond. How would you feel if you
and your kin were the recipient of American democracy, delivered through
the sites of an AK-47 or a carpet bomb? No matter how hard we try
we cannot escape the truth and its consequences. America is still the
greatest purveyor of violence on earth. We neglect our own poor even as
we impoverish the rest of the world, subjecting them to imperial rule
and colonialism. We are the only nation to have used the atomic bomb. If
this is democracy, the world can stand no more of it. So let us party
as if there were no tomorrow. Let us dance and have a good time as we
ignore the icebergs that drift through the darkness in silence and
pretend that our Titanic is not sinking. We’ll have a wonderful time --
right up until the cold dark waves wash over us and carry us into the
void.....(full article) March 10
There’s a war going on. It’s a war pitting good versus evil, us versus them, and slugger Barry Bonds finds himself on the other side of the fence. Believe everything you’ve read -- despite a heavy reliance on anonymous sources and illegally leaked Grand Jury testimony. Believe that Bonds did steroids, intentionally and repeatedly, in an effort to break what once seemed an unbreakable record held by a man who did the same. Crucify him! Run over him with a bulldozer or, better yet, an armored Hummer. Burn him in effigy or, better yet, burn him at the stake and blame him for New Orleans, Iraq, NSA wiretapping and Monica Lewinsky.....(full article)
A couple of new elements have been discovered in recent years. Go to a popular search engine (like Yahoo! or Google) and type in “Governmentium”. Click on one of the links on the first page of results to find its description. Governmentium is the heaviest element yet to have been discovered. It has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 11 assistant deputy neutrons for an atomic mass of 312. The 312 particles are held together by forces called “morons” and surrounded by weak, interactive particles called “peons”. Governmentium has a delaying effect on every reaction with which it has come into contact. Its mass increases over time because its subordinate neutrons undergo reorganization instead of decay, and each reorganization also causes some morons to become neutrons, thereby forming “isodopes”. The second element is remarkably similar to the first. On the same search engine, type in “Corporatium”. It has the same, exact makeup as Governmentium and the same atomic mass of 312. Its particles are also adjoined by morons and encircled by peons. Corporatium also has a delaying effect on anything it comes into contact with, yet its mass also increases over time and its reorganizations also result in isodopes being formed. When morons in Governmentium and Corporatium reach a certain number and concentration, a “Critical Morass” is formed. Although the scientists who discovered the elements did not speculate on this, it is possible that when the two elements come into contact, which is often, they exchange morons quite freely, as if there is a revolving door between them.....(full article)
Sports
Illustrated
magazine’s online arm, si.com, publishes the anonymous results of polls of
professional athletes in the four major North American sports weekly as
part of their broader pop culture coverage. Although these polls have
generally related to sports issues, this week’s question reflects a far
more important issue -- the anti-gay hysteria that has traditionally
characterized sports, and made it difficult (if not impossible) for gay
and lesbian athletes to pursue careers in professional sports.....(full
article)
Poetry They gave birth to a child called Chaos whom they nicknamed Freedom.....(full poem)
On one/fifteen/oh three worldwide demonstrations were dismissed by the Bush Administration as "focus groups", assisted by U.S. corporate-owned media "reporting", mindlessly supporting the objectives of The Regime, since objectivity is purported to meet with reprisal which threatens the survival of journalistic careers.....(full poem)
Records confirm C-141 Starlifters ascend from Ramstein on well-timed flights arriving ten hours later at Dover airbase under cover ----------------- of the night.
There will be no national day of mourning. The Capitol will not dim its lights to show respect for over 2300 returned under cover ------------------ of the night.....(full poem)
George, Please Tell Me, Would You
Consider Becoming Religious?
No president of the United States has asserted his religiosity more than George W. Bush. Yet, as a person who takes his own religious tradition seriously, no president has so embarrassed me by acting in such a way as to violate the essential ethical message of religion and the teachings of its most honored founders.....(full article)
March 9
[Editor's Note: The House approved the
slightly-revised PATRIOT ACT on TUESDAY, March 7. President Bush is
expected to sign the legislation today]
South American Paradigms Many progressives have taken heart by the electoral results in South “American” countries that ostensibly indicate a turn to the Left, away from decades of neoliberal government. Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, with his fiery oratory and willingness to openly defy US imperialism, has caught the imagination and support of anti-imperialists everywhere. In December, the equally outspoken Evo Morales, an indigenous leader of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), captured the presidency outright in Bolivia. Combined with movements that led to a rapid-fire replacement of five neoliberal presidents in Argentina from 21 December 2001 to 25 May 2003, before the election of “centrist” Nestor Kirchner, and the leftist-supported electoral victory of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Lucio Gutiérrez in November 2002, many progressives are feeling buoyant. Yet authors James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer caution against over exuberance.....(full article)
John Murphy is running an antiwar, pro-civil liberties campaign for US Congress from the 16th District of Pennsylvania (www.johnmurphyforcongress.org). Murphy, a Green, was denied his party’s endorsement last month because, as Murphy believes, he supported Ralph Nader and was critical of Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb in 2004. Murphy recently spoke with Joshua Frank about his campaign as well as the future of the Green Party.....(full article)
Remember, Big Brother is watching, listening and reading. In light of the illegal surveillance they are conducting at the behest of their incompetent, rogue, and murderous Commander-in-Chief, I am dedicating this essay to the NSA....(full article)
The massive
anti-cartoon protests in the Muslim world invited the derision of many of
our wise men and women, who pooh-poohed the saps who would expend so much
energy over something so silly. The anti-Bush protests in India were
dismissed by commentators as an unholy combination of Muslims and
communists. Every protester was debunked as a blind follower at the mercy
of tin pot leaders, false ideologies, or plain backwardness. Allowing that
it is wasteful to spend the day standing in the sun shouting slogans
against a faraway newspaper, let's also ask: are there ever worthy
reasons to protest? And if there ever are, what might they be? (full
article)
The Secret War Against the Defenseless
People of West Papua An estimated 100,000 Papuans, or 10 percent of the population, have been killed by the Indonesian military. This is a fraction of the true figure, according to refugees. In January, 43 West Papuans reached Australia's north coast after a hazardous six-week journey in a dugout. They had no food, and had dribbled their last fresh water into their children's mouths. "We knew," said Herman Wainggai, the leader, "that if the Indonesian military had caught us, most of us would have died. They treat West Papuans like animals. They kill us like animals. They have created militias and jihadis to do just that. It is the same as East Timor.".....(full article)
Digital Hype: A Dazzling Smokescreen?
As each new season
brings more waves of higher-tech digital products, I often think of Mark
Twain. Along with being a brilliant writer, he was also an ill-fated
investor -- fascinated with the latest technical innovations, including
the strides toward functional typewriters and typesetting equipment as the
19th century neared its close. Twain would have marveled at the standard
PC that we take for granted now. But what would he have made of the
intrusiveness of present-day media technology -- let alone its recurring
content? (full article)
Schwarzenegger and the Flood Risk in
California's Central Valley:
Water, where life
began, threatens to end the lives of many in California’s Central
Valley. As a result, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed in a recent
letter to President George W. Bush “a state of emergency for the
California levee system due to the imminent threat of catastrophic levee
failure. Increasingly severe weather systems each season have accelerated
the deterioration of the state's levee system to the point where they are
now in danger of failing during the next major rainfall or earthquake.
This worsening situation creates conditions of extreme peril to the public
and property protected by the levees, to the environment, and to the very
foundation of California's economy.” Schwarzenegger requested $3 billion
in federal funding to reduce this flood risk. It was denied. Surprised?
I’m not.....
Gangland violence is making us safer. That’s the message we hear today from Israel’s Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, who not only defended the practice of “targeted assassination” but threatened to use the controversial tactic against Palestine’s new Prime Minister-designate, Ismail Haniya. “We will continue the targeted killings at this pace,” Mofaz stated. “No one will be immune.” Mofaz’s comments were made in response to Israel’s air strike against two Palestinian suspects yesterday in Gaza City. The attack killed three bystanders -- one child and two teenagers....(full article)
Although peddling
psychiatric drugs for off-label treatment of every ailment known to man is
highly profitable, it is also illegal. Marketing schemes that increase the
rates at which drugs are prescribed for off-label use result in the sale
of drugs that have not been proven safer or superior to FDA approved
medications already on the market. That said, it’s time to quit blaming
the pharmaceutical industry exclusively for off-labeling marketing. The
fact remains that drug makers could not sell their new and relatively
untested drugs if not for the doctors who take on the role of middleman
pusher.....
The play My Name is Rachel Corrie was developed in the U.K. by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner. Every word of it is derived from writings and tape recordings of the late peace activist Rachel Corrie who was killed on March 16, 2003 when crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer while trying to prevent the destruction of the home of a Palestinian doctor in the Al-Salaam neighborhood of Rafah city in the south portion of the Gaza strip. Ms. Corrie was clearly visible to the driver of the bulldozer who ran over her and then backed up over her body. She was 23 years old. . . . The play based on Rachel Corrie’s life had an extremely successful run last year at London’s Royal Court Theatre. Plans for a production of the work at the New York Theatre Workshop beginning March 22 were well advanced when the Artistic Director of that Theatre, James Nicola, announced on Feb. 27 that he had decided to “postpone” the production indefinitely. Mr. Nicola’s reasons for this decision -- which have evolved over the past few days from naïve frankness to semantic obfuscation -- are well worth examining because of all that they reveal both about the state of supposedly serious theatre today and the impact of ideological and religious pressures, which no longer have to be spoken in order to be heard and obeyed.....(full article)
I don’t believe in God.
I don’t believe Jesus Christ was the son of
a God that I don’t believe in, nor do I believe Jesus rose from the dead
to ascend to a heaven that I don’t believe exists. Given these positions,
this year I did the only thing that seemed sensible: I formally joined a
Christian church....
Those who worry that the world’s Arab and Muslim populations pose a threat to free speech in Western democracies need not fear. The First Amendment remains intact--particularly, it seems, when it comes to the “right” to inflict racial slurs. Indeed, the last few weeks have witnessed a spate of pundits and politicians exercising their right to freely engage in racist demagoguery against Arabs and Muslims without repercussion.....(full article)
Condi
Rice spent the better part of her recent visit to the Middle East trying
to persuade Egyptians and Gulf Arabs to join the American-Israeli efforts
to isolate Hamas and impose economic sanctions on the Palestinians. To put
it mildly, she was told to take a hike. After democratic elections in the
occupied territories resulted in a massive shift to the Palestinian right,
Washington joined Tel Aviv in formulating a policy geared to starving the
Palestinians as collective punishment for their bad voting habits. In
trying to market her obscene scheme to an unreceptive audience in Cairo
and Saudi Arabia, Condi once again demonstrated her total allegiance to
the Israeli agenda.....
After all the outcry concerning the intolerance of the Islamic world in their impassioned response to the degrading cartoon depictions of the prophet Mohammed, where is the outrage in response to the silencing of Rachel Corrie by the New York Theater Workshop? Is there a double standard in western values of free speech? You bet there is. The hypocrisy runs so deep that the vast majority of Americans does not know who Rachel Corrie is and, thanks to the self-imposed gag rule of cultural and media institutions, they never will. In a year when Hollywood embraced such groundbreaking movies as Goodnight & Good Luck, Syriana, Trans America, Brokeback Mountain and Crash, a New York theater company cancelled a production of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie on the grounds that the public outcry would be unbearable.....(full article)
In the wake of the successful confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, President Bush has re-nominated Brent Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Democrats originally rejected his nomination in 2003, and for good reasons. He has less legal experience than all but one previous nominee in the last 35 years. And his judicial integrity and ethics are questionable at best. In response to his nomination in 2003, Mr. Kavanaugh completed a questionnaire for the Senate that asked him to cite the number of cases he’s tried before a court. He replied, “none.” That’s because he’s never set foot in a courtroom after graduating from law school in 1990. Wouldn’t it be important for an appeals court judge to have considerable experience? Especially a judge serving on the D.C. Court of Appeals, since this court has exclusive jurisdiction in approving the policies of several government agencies.....(full article)
One need only glance at the major left/liberal websites to realize that the left spends a lot more time complaining about what it would like to change than reflecting on itself. Jarol Manheim’s Biz War and the Out-of-Power Elite is a welcome effort to paint a picture of the progressive movement of the last twenty years, and is heartening in its claims that the left is gaining strength. Ironically, Manheim himself is a centrist who distances himself from the ideology he examines. Nevertheless, his argument should be taken seriously and is a useful starting point for exploring what needs to be done for the left to play a more potent role. This does not mean, however, that it should be accepted uncritically.....(full article)
Geography is fate. United Arab Emirates is located at the center of an oil-dependent world. This tiny state forms the promontory that juts out into the famed Straits of Hormuz through which 40% of the world’s oil passes every day. Across the narrow straights sits Iran, the next victim on the list of “axis of evil” nations. Any attack on Iran will require that military forces quickly deploy to Dubai to forestall the closing of the straits and the subsequent devastation that would occur to world oil supplies and financial markets. This is the critical point that is being intentionally concealed by America’s diversionary media. This is the reason that President Bush continues to force the Dubai port plan even though 70% of the American people and Congress resoundingly oppose it.....(full article)
My sister Apolitica called me yesterday. “Dolton’s really upset,” she said of her spouse. “What happened? Did someone peel the ‘I heart Dubya’ sticker off his beloved new truck?” I asked ever empathetically of my Bush-lovin’, Rush-adorin’, flag-wavin’, magnet-displayin’ brother-in-law, the one who’d just recently somehow scraped together a skeletal down payment for a $35,000 fully-loaded four-wheel drive even though he, my sister and their nine-year-old son (Dolton, Jr.) don’t have a pot to piss in and are already giraffe eyeball-high in debt. “No, no,” she answered. “His grandpa’s ill again and having trouble getting an appointment to see the doctor. You know how close those two are.” Indeed, I did know this. It was actually one of Dolt’s few redeeming qualities, the affection he had for his namesake grandfather. I also knew the old Dolt was a disabled veteran and figured his trouble getting treated was almost certainly related to the relentless assaults by the chickenhawk Bush administration on benefits fully due those who’ve honorably served in America’s armed forces.....(full article)
You can just imagine the comfort I felt over the weekend, when I learned that former U.S. Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R.-California) had been sentenced to eight years and four months in prison for taking millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks while serving in the hallowed halls of Congress. It’s always nice to see a Republican in the slammer, even if there’s room for so many more....(full article)
I know it is very dangerous to compare anyone or anything with Hitler these days. Hitler is holy. Nothing may be compared to him or his regime; the prevailing dogma is that no one could ever be as evil, no matter what they do. This is very fortunate, of course, for all leaders and tyrants who are not called Hitler. They get a really easy ride, a sort of “get out of jail free” card. This makes it easy for people to believe that fascism was inherently German or Italian; people forget its manifestations in Spain, Portugal, Cambodia, Uganda, etc. It also makes it easy to forget about its supporters in Britain (Mosely, etc) and the US (Henry Ford, Dupont, Brown Brothers Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, etc.). For those who study history, this concept seems to make all of their efforts redundant; if we cannot compare the past and present to find parallels, and use this to avoid making the same mistakes, we don’t really need to study history at all. Never mind that to compare is not to equate. Dogma is dogma is dogma, and all who suggest any sort of variation or counter argument are heretic. Nevertheless, I now dare to make such a comparison....(full article)
It looks like the press has found another scapegoat. Must be that the Ward Churchill bashing was no longer pulling in the high ratings, so now begins the Bashing of Bennish.....(full article)
Are you courageous enough?
The White House confirmed
Tuesday that it recently turned over to Special Prosecutor Patrick
Fitzgerald 250 pages of e-mails from the Office of Vice President Dick
Cheney related to covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and her
husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a vocal critic of the Bush
administration's pre-war
“Animal agriculture,” advocates tell us, “accounts for 98 percent of all animal suffering and killing.” What does “all animal suffering and killing” mean? Lawyers David Wolfson and Mariann Sullivan tell us more specifically that farm animals make up 98 percent of all animals “with whom humans interact in the United States.” This 98 percent figure is a cue: Read on, and you’ll likely find a discussion of squalid warehouses crammed full of miserable beings. Next, you’ll read that most farm animals are virtually invisible to federal law. And finally, because any efficiency is justified in mass production, advocates will often urge support for traditional farming and cage-free eggs. Yes, animal factories display an obscene disregard for the interests of any conscious beings caught up in their soulless venture. But it makes little sense to try to replace them with supposedly less offensive business practices such as free-range farms.....(full article)
Among progressives, the late English essayist and novelist George Orwell is highly regarded for his perspicacity in revealing the importance of language in propagandizing and indoctrination. In his epic novel 1984, Orwell described an upside-down world where “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” and “Ignorance is Strength.” Progressives are well aware of how language can be twisted to convey inside-out impressions; thus, the “killing of civilians” is dubbed “collateral damage,” “aggression” is “preemptive war,” and “an ethnically cleansed town” is “a settlement.” . . . . In the egalitarian universe of progressivism, a brilliant Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor has attained exceptional prominence. Noam Chomsky is an intellectual who wears many hats. But in two fields, in particular, Chomsky stands out: linguistics and US foreign policy. Therefore, as an outstanding linguist with a keen mind attuned to US policy at work in the world, one would expect the terminology used by Chomsky to be very precise. Yet, even Chomsky has incorporated some of the lingo of the corporate media into his repertoire.....(full article)
The militarization of America’s youth is the U.S. military’s strategic device for recruitment into the armed forces. Through authorization by the Supreme Court the military engages youth in middle schools and high schools through the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC). A spokesperson for the Committee Against the Militarization of Youth (CAMY) reports that the Middle School Cadet Corps program proliferates a culture of militarization because it “indoctrinates boys and girls (ages 11-14) to use rifles and play video games.” As a result, the program is a discipline of teaching kids violence. When youth learn about militarism through systematic instruction, then military principles mold their attitudes and thoughts about the armed forces. They become inspired to enlist after high school gradation. Therefore the program influences their decision to sign up for military service.....(full article)
Dubbed “Kiddie
Coke,” Adderall is being abused by increasing numbers of high school and
college students all across America. It's difficult to quantify the extent
of the abuse among students because of the availability of the drug
through legal prescriptions and on the internet. Adderall is an
amphetamine, a class of stimulant drugs that were widely abused when
prescribed as diet pills until they were banned for that use more than two
decades ago. However, according to clinical social worker, Catherine Wood:
“The mother's little helpers of the 1960s and 1970s are all available now
on the internet.” Adderall maker, Shire Pharmaceuticals, cannot claim
ignorance about the obvious rise in profits resulting from the sale of one
of its top selling drugs on the internet to people without a valid
prescription. And therefore, in addition to enjoying the black market
profits in plain sight, Shire must be held accountable for any and all
harm done to customers who unwittingly purchase Adderall online.....(full
article)
If we wish to see serious changes in the way society works we have to stop rehashing misconceptions that have led us to where we are now. Academics are generally trusted as sources of information. Unfortunately many take money producing junk science for major corporations. Although the attempt to turn as all into good little corporate citizens is bad enough in itself the problem runs much deeper.....(full article)
This is the guy who pulled the trigger of the gun that fired the round that hit his friend that ruined the hunt and shed some light on the world that Dick built....(full shot)
Evidently the
president’s trip to India created an option too perfect to pass up: The
man who has led the world in violence during the first years of the 21st
century could pay homage to the world’s leading practitioner of
nonviolence during the first half of the 20th century. So the
White House announced plans for George W. Bush to lay a wreath at the
Mahatma Gandhi memorial in New Delhi. While audacious in its shameless and
extreme hypocrisy, this PR gambit is in character for the world’s only
superpower. One of the main purposes of the Bush regime’s media spin is to
depict reality as its opposite. And Karl Rove obviously figured that
mainstream U.S. media outlets, with few exceptions, wouldn’t react with
anywhere near the appropriate levels of derision or outrage....(full
article)
The India That Can (No Longer) Say No:
The Paradox of Prosperity
Let us put Nehru's words in
context: here is the leader of a country still dependent on foreign aid
for food, militarily negligible, with 400 million poor, invited to address
the Congress of the United States. We watch him treat the superpower as an
equal, recalling it to its highest values. It lionizes him. Kennedy's
first State of the Union speech invokes the "soaring idealism of Nehru."
In 1962, C. Rajagopalachari (also known as Rajaji, an associate of the
Mahatma and a political opponent of Nehru) visits the US and the USSR
promoting the importance of nuclear disarmament. President Kennedy listens
with rapt attention, and calls his meeting with Rajagopalachari "one of
the most civilizing influences on me.".....(full
article)
The Commander in Chief Has
Lost the Troops: Nearly
Three-Quarters A unique poll of active duty troops in Iraq shows a huge disconnect between the Commander in Chief and his troops in battle. It is evident that the President views the war very differently then the troops on the ground. The loss of the troops may be the final straw in the illegal occupation turned into a failed war. The foreign policy establishment had already told the President they thought the Iraq War was a mistake. The people have been saying the war was a mistake. All that is left are President Bush and the hawkish leaders of the two parties -- only they are calling for staying the course or sending more troops.....(full article)
Last month, the FDA revealed its latest protective policy for drug companies in a statement that said people who believe they have been injured by drugs approved by the FDA should not be allowed to sue drug companies in state courts. "We think that if your company complies with the FDA processes, if you bring forward the benefits and risks of your drug, and let your information be judged through a process with highly trained scientists, you should not be second-guessed by state courts that don't have the same scientific knowledge," said Scott Gottlieb, the FDA's deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs....(full article)
. . . The Democrats
aren’t just letting the Republicans get away with murder, however, some of
them are also reaping the benefits of the Bush wars. We constantly hear
about Dick Cheney’s ties to Halliburton and how his ex-company is making
bundles off US contracts in Iraq. But what we don’t hear about is how
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband are also making tons
of money off the “war on terror.”.....(full
article)
Double Standards on Foreign Owners:
Amdocs vs. DP World In December 2001, Fox TV broadcast a four-part investigation on Israeli espionage by Carl Cameron, which the Israeli embassy in Washington, JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs), and AIPAC (American Israeli Political Action Committee) immediately denied and attacked. One and a half days after its posting, all the material related to the investigation was taken off the Fox website. The facts stayed alive thereafter only on the Internet. Forget the Israeli art student espionage story which Cameron unearthed and which has never been seriously investigated. Forget any of the other highly credible accounts of Israeli espionage before and during 9-11 that have been conveniently reclassified without investigation as urban legends. Focus only on what Cameron reported on Amdocs, a company that has contracts with the 25 largest telephone companies in the US to handle all their directory assistance, calling records, and billing work. This gives Amdocs access to data on nearly every telephone call dialed in the country. According to Cameron, Amdocs has been investigated on several occasions for suspected ties to the Israeli mafia and for espionage. Reportedly, in 1999 a Top Secret Sensitive Compartmentalized Information report (TS/SCI) warned that records of calls in the US were getting into foreign hands, Israeli in particular.....(full article)
Port security matters, the
Dubai controversy does not. If a president and his party choose to secure
our nation's ports at pre-9/11 levels, then they are operating in a
pre-9/11 mindset. According to Karl Rove, "that doesn't make them
unpatriotic -- not at all. But it does make them wrong -- deeply and
profoundly and consistently wrong." In 2002, when the Coast Guard
estimated that it would cost "$1.5 billion for the first year and $7.5
billion over the succeeding decade" to adequately secure our ports, our
War President ignored the request and asked Congress for a mere $46
million in his 2005 budget, a figure below 9/11 levels. Since then, the
federal government has allocated just $708 million to improve port
security. Such Congressional generosity has met one-fifth of our security
needs and has created a funding gap of over $3 billion....(full
article)
Put Out More Flags: The Making of Another
America The other day, one of my favorite cinemas closed down. The boards went up on the art deco Valhalla in Sydney, one of the world's best at putting out powerful, political documentaries. The lack of fuss might have seemed surprising in a city whose iconic Opera House is said to embody modern Australia's pride in the arts. On the contrary, the closure reflected a more general shutting down. The Valhalla was certainly an anomaly in an Australia so entrapped by the cult of "marketing" that an executive of the Sydney Morning Herald can declare "the answer" is "not smart and clever people" but "people who can execute your strategy." On 9 February, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris proclaimed Australia the least regulated and most privately owned economy in the western world. This is a country owned and run by businessmen.....(full article) |
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