Global
AUSTIN, Texas -- As Riley used to say on an ancient television sitcom, "This is a revoltin' development." There seems to be a bit of a campaign on the right to blame Newsweek for the anti-American riots in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other Islamic countries.
Uh, people, I hate to tell you this, but the story about Americans abusing the Koran in order to enrage prisoners has been out there for quite some time. The first mention I found of it is March 17, 2004, when the Independent of London interviewed the first British citizen released from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoner said he had been physically beaten but did not consider that as bad as the psychological torture, which he described extensively. Jamal al-Harith, a computer programmer from Manchester, said 70 percent of the inmates had gone on a hunger strike after a guard kicked a copy of the Koran. The strike was ended by force-feeding.
Uh, people, I hate to tell you this, but the story about Americans abusing the Koran in order to enrage prisoners has been out there for quite some time. The first mention I found of it is March 17, 2004, when the Independent of London interviewed the first British citizen released from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoner said he had been physically beaten but did not consider that as bad as the psychological torture, which he described extensively. Jamal al-Harith, a computer programmer from Manchester, said 70 percent of the inmates had gone on a hunger strike after a guard kicked a copy of the Koran. The strike was ended by force-feeding.
CHICAGO (April 18, 2005) – Addressing some of the most controversial but relevant issues in America – from the renewal of the Voting Rights Act to the failure of college sports programs to graduate their players – the RainbowPUSH Coalition and the Citizenship Education Fund also echo the nation's Founding Fathers and look to more recent historical giants in the 34th Annual Conference, “A More Perfect Union: Building on the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Lyndon B. Johnson.” The conference, an event where the RainbowPUSH seeks to take action on many of the key issues it addresses during the year, will be held June 11 through 16, 2005, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, 301 E. Water St. in downtown Chicago.
A stellar array of guests scheduled to appear during the conference includes, from the political arena, Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Barack Obama (D-IL) and Congresswoman Maxine Waters D-Calif.); and from the religious, entertainment and business arenas, Nation of Islam Leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte; and prominent business executives Cathy Hughes and Earl Graves.
A stellar array of guests scheduled to appear during the conference includes, from the political arena, Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Barack Obama (D-IL) and Congresswoman Maxine Waters D-Calif.); and from the religious, entertainment and business arenas, Nation of Islam Leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte; and prominent business executives Cathy Hughes and Earl Graves.
History is slowly being rewritten. Hard to believe yet harder to deny is the increasing frequency and fervor with which those on the religious right are asserting that the United States was founded on Christian principles. Every day, on editorial pages and radio talk shows across the country, more and more unapologetic Christian crusaders are stating as fact fantastic claims of our founding fathers’ providential mission to create a nation based on the Ten Commandments and a Biblical worldview.
You may be tempted to chuckle, but you must not. You must take this seriously, very seriously, for unknown to many of you America has become engaged in nothing less than an epic battle, one whose outcome will shape world history for the next century and beyond. It is not a battle against radical Islamic terrorism, though that is a separate fight we must also win, but a battle that pits reason against faith, the Enlightenment against the Dark Ages, the light against the cave.
You may be tempted to chuckle, but you must not. You must take this seriously, very seriously, for unknown to many of you America has become engaged in nothing less than an epic battle, one whose outcome will shape world history for the next century and beyond. It is not a battle against radical Islamic terrorism, though that is a separate fight we must also win, but a battle that pits reason against faith, the Enlightenment against the Dark Ages, the light against the cave.
To Harvey Wasserman.
I read your article "Four bloody lies of war, from Havana 1898 to Baghdad
2003".
Thank you for writing a great historical review.
I discovered at the national achieves, seven taped telephone conversations
between Robert McNamara and Lyndon Johnson on august 4th 1964 the day of the
Golf of Tonkin Incident.
One minute and thirty-eight seconds into clip # 3 McNamara says "and our
ships are allegedly o be attack tonight". Confirming in there own words that
the whole Gulf of Tonkin incident was to be a fake excuse to start a war and
murder three million people.
If you listen to all seven clips you will get a real fly on the wall
understanding of two mass murderers preparing for the kill.
I especially like the part were Johnson checks with the New York bankers
before going ahead.
Jim Davis
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB132/tapes.htm
Hello,
I am writing (May 13) from St. Louis where I am attending the National Conference for Media Reform. I intend to share what I am learning when I return. I wanted to relate a bit of what I am experiencing so far. You can read about it perhaps see/hear some recorded content at www.freepress.net
There are 2300 people here from all 50 states and 8 countries. It is very clear we are winning the battle for media reform. Numerous legal setbacks have dealt a blow to broadcasters’ efforts to keep their control of our airwaves. Soon the battle will go to Congress where the big media and telecom companies will try to regulate the open digital networks so only they can be the content providers.
The battle ahead * the 2006 Telecom Act for one * will be about the individual right to speak through digital spectrum without having to get the permission of Verizon or any other network owner.
I am writing (May 13) from St. Louis where I am attending the National Conference for Media Reform. I intend to share what I am learning when I return. I wanted to relate a bit of what I am experiencing so far. You can read about it perhaps see/hear some recorded content at www.freepress.net
There are 2300 people here from all 50 states and 8 countries. It is very clear we are winning the battle for media reform. Numerous legal setbacks have dealt a blow to broadcasters’ efforts to keep their control of our airwaves. Soon the battle will go to Congress where the big media and telecom companies will try to regulate the open digital networks so only they can be the content providers.
The battle ahead * the 2006 Telecom Act for one * will be about the individual right to speak through digital spectrum without having to get the permission of Verizon or any other network owner.
Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman was one of several distinguished guests, including Seymour Hersh, Rep. Bernie Sanders, Phil Donahue, Naomi Klein and other prominent media professionals.
...Hersh claimed the Iraq War was increasingly being conducted “off the books” by mercenaries, retired military personnel, and private contractors beyond the scope of accountability.
... “Body bags aren’t going to stop him,” Hersh said, referring to Bush.
...According to...Congressman (Sanders), this media distortion is no accident; as fewer and fewer corporations control more and more media outlets, viewpoints are increasingly channeled and contrived to benefit narrow commercial interests at the expense of the public good.
...Klein defined the obsessive prominence of the Michael Jackson and Terri Schiavo cases in the media as “spasms of collective mourning.” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was the site of a conference entitled “Can Freedom of the Press Survive Media Consolidation?” on May 10th and 11th, 2005. The Conference focused on the impact of media conglomeration and corporate control on the dissemination of news in the United States.
...Hersh claimed the Iraq War was increasingly being conducted “off the books” by mercenaries, retired military personnel, and private contractors beyond the scope of accountability.
... “Body bags aren’t going to stop him,” Hersh said, referring to Bush.
...According to...Congressman (Sanders), this media distortion is no accident; as fewer and fewer corporations control more and more media outlets, viewpoints are increasingly channeled and contrived to benefit narrow commercial interests at the expense of the public good.
...Klein defined the obsessive prominence of the Michael Jackson and Terri Schiavo cases in the media as “spasms of collective mourning.” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was the site of a conference entitled “Can Freedom of the Press Survive Media Consolidation?” on May 10th and 11th, 2005. The Conference focused on the impact of media conglomeration and corporate control on the dissemination of news in the United States.
At the height of the nuclear arms race, those who marched against it used to
say that in the ashes of a nuclear war, no one could tell a capitalist from
a communist. "Not necessarily," others would joke, "Richard Perle could
tell." For Perle, even total annihilation would have its victors and losers,
and he knew which side he wanted to be on.
Perle has continued to preach the virtues of usable nuclear weapons while helping orchestrate our invasion of Iraq. Now he's a key allied strategist of an administration willing to obliterate democracy itself if they don't get their way on judicial nominees and everything else.
I'm thinking of the ease with which Trent Lott, Bill Frist, and other Republicans have talked of a "nuclear option" to intimidate the Democrats into capitulating on every right wing judge that Bush sends to Congress. Although Republicans have backed off from using the phrase since it began polling negative, it may reveal more than they intended about their Party. They doesn't just seek to enact particular programs, but have done their best to turn politics into total war, seeking to annihilate the opposition completely.
Perle has continued to preach the virtues of usable nuclear weapons while helping orchestrate our invasion of Iraq. Now he's a key allied strategist of an administration willing to obliterate democracy itself if they don't get their way on judicial nominees and everything else.
I'm thinking of the ease with which Trent Lott, Bill Frist, and other Republicans have talked of a "nuclear option" to intimidate the Democrats into capitulating on every right wing judge that Bush sends to Congress. Although Republicans have backed off from using the phrase since it began polling negative, it may reveal more than they intended about their Party. They doesn't just seek to enact particular programs, but have done their best to turn politics into total war, seeking to annihilate the opposition completely.
The battle over the filibuster is now one of the country’s biggest
political news stories. The Bush administration seems determined to
change Senate rules so a simple majority of senators, instead of
three-fifths, can cut off debate and force a vote on the president’s
judicial nominees. Both sides claim to be arguing for procedural
principles.
But a Senate filibuster is not inherently good or bad. Throughout U.S. history, the meaning of the filibuster has always been a matter of political context. The merits have everything to do with what kind of nation people want.
During the 1950s and ’60s, to anyone who supported civil rights legislation, “filibuster” was a very ugly word. In Washington, it was the ultimate maneuver for avian racists whose high-flown rhetoric accompanied their devotion to Jim Crow. The gist of many speeches and commentaries was that civil rights bills were part of an ominous plot against “states’ rights” and sacred American traditions.
But a Senate filibuster is not inherently good or bad. Throughout U.S. history, the meaning of the filibuster has always been a matter of political context. The merits have everything to do with what kind of nation people want.
During the 1950s and ’60s, to anyone who supported civil rights legislation, “filibuster” was a very ugly word. In Washington, it was the ultimate maneuver for avian racists whose high-flown rhetoric accompanied their devotion to Jim Crow. The gist of many speeches and commentaries was that civil rights bills were part of an ominous plot against “states’ rights” and sacred American traditions.
Justifying my long years of public devotion to her intelligence and beauty (also the fact that she is the frail hawser linking G.W. Bush to reality), Laura Bush fired off those jokes at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, mostly minted by Landon Parvin. And don't start whining about her stuff being "scripted." You think FDR wrote that thing about the Four Freedoms, or Dwight Eisenhower made up that phrase about the military industrial complex? It's what they decide to read aloud that counts, not who wrote it.
Laura chose some edgy lines: "George and I are complete opposites -- I'm quiet, he's talkative; I'm introverted, he's extroverted; I can pronounce nuclear ..."
She accurately called her ghastly mother-in-law "actually more like ... hmm ... Don Corleone," made fun of George's pretensions to being a rancher, had some cracks about male strip clubs and "Desperate Wives."
Laura chose some edgy lines: "George and I are complete opposites -- I'm quiet, he's talkative; I'm introverted, he's extroverted; I can pronounce nuclear ..."
She accurately called her ghastly mother-in-law "actually more like ... hmm ... Don Corleone," made fun of George's pretensions to being a rancher, had some cracks about male strip clubs and "Desperate Wives."
This Wednesday, May 11, the court martial of Sgt. Keith Benderman begins. Sgt. Benderman, who has served in the military for eight years including one tour of duty in Iraq, filed for conscientious objector status after seeing the reality of war in Iraq. He has been denied and now faces court martial on two counts, for desertion with the intent to avoid hazardous duty and missing movement by design. He could spend five years incarcerated if found guilty of the first charge and up to two years for the second.
Keith Benderman's opposition to war – all war – is based on his experience in Iraq. As Rep. Cynthia McKinney said on the floor of the House of Representatives on April 28:
Keith Benderman's opposition to war – all war – is based on his experience in Iraq. As Rep. Cynthia McKinney said on the floor of the House of Representatives on April 28: