Farewell, Alex, My Friend » Counterpunch

It was possible to have often disagreed with Alex Cockburn and still believe it's important to recognize his contribution to our struggle and know he will be missed.

Farewell, Alex, My Friend » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Recent right-wing nonsense

Mitt Romney: "To say something like that is not just foolishness, it's insulting to every entrepreneur, every innovator in America."
What is "that"? Obama said that if an entrepreneur succeeds in business that he or she doesn't do it on his or her own but with the help of others and a government built infrastructure. Romney says that's insulting to every entrepreneur. I wish we could just LOL. In any sane society this man would be made to sit in the corner with a dunce hat on his head. In this society he is running for president.

Michael Goodwin in today's (7/22/12) N.Y. Post: "It was inevitable that a left-leaning news organization would be the first to inject politics into the Colorado massacre story."
Which "left-leaning publication" could he be talking about? He goes on: "ABC News performed down to type..." It certainly is nice to welcome ABC into the family of "left-leaning publications".

"I believe it was all god's plan and for me to second guess it or judge it...." So said George Zimmerman about his shooting and killing unarmed teen Trevon Martin. it would seem, if Zimmerman was carrying out amyone's plan, it was much more the devil's plan he was carrying out. But I suspect it was his own.

How much more insanity do we have to put up with before we collectively say Basta! Enough insanity.

"Fuel on the Fire": Author Greg Muttit on Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq.

If you remember in 2004 & 2005 (and Chelsea neighbors even now)at every anti-war demonstration there were signs declaring "No Blood For Oil" and all the administration denials. Now we learn in Greg Muttit's new book "Fuel on the Fire" & in this interview from Democracy Now this morning that the spilling of American, allied & mainly Iraqui blood was in fact spilled to
enrich the oil companies. They seem to be the main beneficiaries of the invasion & occupation.

"Fuel on the Fire": Author Greg Muttit on Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq, Arab Spring

Your Friday the 13th Daily Kos Multimedia Morning - July 13, 2012

Your Friday the 13th Daily Kos Multimedia Morning - July 13, 2012

Woody Guthrie at 100: Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Will Kaufman Honor the "Dust Bowl Troubadour"

Who better to acknowledge the founding of the U.S. than Woodie Guthrie & Pete Seeger. Who better to cut through the triumphalism that pollutes the air on July 4th. Here they are:

Woody Guthrie at 100: Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Will Kaufman Honor the "Dust Bowl Troubadour"

Democracy Now! Live Coverage of U.S. Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling: Tune in Thursday 10-11am EDT

Despite the obvious inadequacied of the health-care law, it is a desperately needed 1st step needed by most of the 99%. If the Supes decide against it they will be acting to defeat Obama not uphold the Constitution, which of course is their sworn duty.


Democracy Now! Live Coverage of U.S. Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling: Tune in Thursday 10-11am EDT

Opinion: Some Dems turning on Obama - by Juan Williams (TheHill.com)

The Republicans can't hurt Obama without help from right-wing Democrats. It seems that now they have it. Of course, it's been there all along, remember the congressional fight over the health-care law - Blue Dog Democrats were fighting Obama even  then, but it seems to be getting worse.

Opinion: Some Dems turning on Obama - by Juan Williams (TheHill.com)

Luke Kirby last night

Luke Kirby, one of the stars of "Take This Waltz", last night at The Sunshine Cinemas (on East Houston St.) after a Q&A following the NYT Film Club screening of the film
(photo by Dan Cohen)

PACBI-Letter from Alice Walker to Publishers at Yediot Books

This is a letter from Alice Walker to an Israeli publisher explaining why she won't let them translate "The Color Purple" into Hebrew and publish it.

PACBI-Letter from Alice Walker to Publishers at Yediot Books

Who are the immigrants?

"A fitting response to AZ's desire to repeal the 14th Amendment" This photo, I stole from Emma's Revolution's website, says it all

Guantanamo Scandal: The 40 Prisoners Still Held, but Cleared for Release at Least Five Years Ago

It seems as if the wrong people are in jail

Guantanamo Scandal: The 40 Prisoners Still Held, but Cleared for Release at Least Five Years Ago

South Ferry, Shelter Island

Maple Spring: Nearly 1,000 Arrested as Mass Quebec Student Strike Passes 100th Day

Here's the full story from this morming's "Democracy Now"

Maple Spring: Nearly 1,000 Arrested as Mass Quebec Student Strike Passes 100th Day

Maple Spring: Nearly 1,000 Arrested As Mass Quebec Student Strike Passes 100th Day

Have you seen/heard anything about this on our corporate-owned media? No, quelle surprise!

Maple Spring: Nearly 1,000 Arrested As Mass Quebec Student Strike Passes 100th Day

Eugene Polley, 1915-2012

The next time your sitting on the sofa and turn on the TV or change channels or, most importantly, silence a commercial look at the device in your hand and think of Eugene Polley, its inventor. Mr. Polley died on Sunday. Yes, it's sadly true that he got paid only a thousand dollar bonus by his employer Zenith (capitalism, anyone) & his invention was replaced by one more like the remote in your hand developed by another Zenith employee, Robert Adler. It has also, as the NYT suggests, "caused decades of domestic discord." (We solve that problem by having two remotes.)

Ultimately Mr. Polley provided his own eulogy (NYT again): "The flush toilet may have been the most civilized invention ever devised, but the remote control is the next most important. It's almost as important as sex."

Let's applaude the creator of one of the only twentieth century inventions that doesn't kill people or bring down the economy. Something very rare indeed.

Interview on 'Voices from the Edge' radio show | Professor Richard D. Wolff

Interview on 'Voices from the Edge' radio show | Professor Richard D. Wolff

Noam Chomsky on WikiLeaks, Obama's Targeted Assassinations and Latin America's Break from the U.S.

Noam Chomsky on WikiLeaks, Obama's Targeted Assassinations and Latin America's Break from the U.S.

Maurice Sendak has gone where the wild things are😱

After giving us many years of pleasure both as children 👫and then again as adults👨👵 Maurice Sendak has gone where the wild things are😪💔

The problem of ’working from different facts’

More proof of the Republican/tea party fantasy world

The problem of ’working from different facts’

The Republican alternate reality/fantasy

It's becoming abundantly clear that the Republicans live in a reality quite different from the rest of us. In some worlds this is called insanity, in the U.S. today it's called the "Republican brain" (an oxymoron?)

A pox on one of your houses

Emily Montague @ Tribecca Film Festival

Since I live around the corner from the Tribecca Film Festival I always take my camera with me when I go shopping. Here's Emily Montague one of the stars of "Resolution"

Occupy This Album

I just heard a number of cuts from this album - "Occupy This Album" (due out May 15) - on Delphine Blue's "Shocking Blue" on WBAI. Matt Pless wrote & performed this song at Zuccotti Park during the occupation.

Occupy This Album

Photos from the main post office (33st & 8th Ave) tonight

Ann Romney: Not exactly "Wages for Housework"

The latest campaign kerfuffle, which has occupied all the empty space in the corporate media, after a somewhat silly Obama supporter said of Ann Romney that she "hasn't worked a day in her life." When you first hear the comment it sounds like a put down of women who stay home to care for children. But then let's remember who we are talking about: Ann Romney, wife of multi-millionaire, presidential candidate Mitt Romney. When she says: "My career choice was to be a mom." We're not talking about most women in this society, who work at full-time jobs and then go home to their second "career" being a mom.

The question the corporate media and, unfortunately, the Democrats aren't asking is, how much did Ann Romney actually work in her chosen career? That's essentially what separates her from the few other women who are even able to make that career choice. This is not exactly akin to "wages for housework." I suspect that quite a number of people worked hard keeping the Romney's house and taking care of the Romney boys, but I doubt very much that it was Ann Romney. In fact, as an accomplished equestrian, who has won a number of Grand Prix awards, she has spent as much of her time with her horses as in her chosen career. Now let's talk about the growing inequality in this country and the Republican/Tea Party orchestrated war on 99% of women.

Inequality in the U.S.

93% of all the wealth created bt. 1009-10 went to the top 1% in U.S.
(Sen. Bernie Sanders, "Breakfast with Bernie", The Thom Hartman Show)

Ozzie Guillen suspended for speaking his mind

Manager Ozzie Guillen was suspended for at least five games by the Miami Marlins and Major League Baseball for saying:

"I respect Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that mother fucker is still here."

Clearly if you work for Major League Baseball and the Miami Marlins, the U.S. Constitution doesn't apply to you.

This isn't Guillen's first time in hot water for speaking his mind. And it hasn't always been positive. He's used a homophobic slur against a sportswriter, praised Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and declined to join his former team’s traditional post-championships White House visit, among other flare-ups.

I suspect that this isn't the end of the story. The Gusanos in Miami won't let it go until they get their pound of flesh.

Tina Fey On The

Tina Fey On The

Gil Noble, "Like It Is" will be no longer

For 44 years there was virtually one sane voice in the corporate-owned media. That voice, Gil Noble died today. He became ill last summer and left "Like It Is" the oasis in the desert of Sunday talk shows.

Noble joined WABC in July 1967 as a reporter, and starting in January 1968 became an anchor of its Saturday and Sunday night newscasts. In 1968, he began as co-host of "Like It Is." Until last Summer, at 1PM Sunday, there was only one place to be, if you were at all concerned with the latest developments in the world-wide Black liberation struggle. There was almost no one who was too radical for Gil Noble to interview. He was determined to make the struggle understandable to anyone willing to hear the truth, and maybe even change some minds.

Now that legal lynching of young Black men is back in the picture, Gil Noble's ability to tell It "Like It Is" will be sorely missed.
Others will step up, but they won't have the national stage Gil Noble had. Times they are a changin' but not for the best.

The Hunger Games: a review

So we saw The Hunger Games last night. My short review: Don't bother. I haven't read Suzanne Collins novel, so I can't tell you how true the movie is to it, but as a movie The Hunger Games makes no sense. I'm guessing that since the 7PM show on Saturday night wasn't sold out, word-of-mouth isn't that great. Unless you've been hiding in a cave or on vacation on Mars, you know the basic story. Once a year each of the 12 districts that make up the nation of Panem sends two teens (one boy & one girl) selected by lottery to a fight to the death - historically only one gladiator survives - which is shown on television. It's sort of a modern electronic version of the ancient Roman arena. As soon as 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers to replace her younger sister, Primrose, and a young man, Peeta Mellark, who has a crush on her, is chosen you will know almost everything that will happen over the next two + hours. Besides Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) all the other combatants are nameless figures that Katniss and Peeta have to hurdle to get to the end. The one exception is Rue (Amandia Stenburg), a young Black contestant who befriends Katniss at a crucial point in the contest.

The adults - except for the seemingly evil President Snow (Donald Sutherland) and Cinna, one of Katniss and Peeta's advisors (Lenny Kravits) - are basically clowns and not very funny ones at that. They just keep repeating the same shtick from beginning to end.

My editor (Ann) reminds me to mention the always delightful Woody Harrelson who plays Haymitch Abernathy, a former winning gladiator, who is now Katniss and Peeta's other advisor. Despite being an alchohic he plays a crucial role in assisting her through post-modern technology with things like salve to heal serious wounds. Harrelson does a wonderful job with this complex character.

Perhaps the theme of this movie should be "young love conquers all" or at least, the appearance of young love conquers gullible adults.

When the basic story is first introduced it is quite horrific, but unfortunately you become a bit inured to the horror of the idea and participate as part of the TV audience and root for Katniss to win and stay alive (since you know there are two more Hunger Games novels in which she continues to be the main character this seems like a pretty safe bet). The fate of Peeta is perhaps a bit less predictable for a while.

Panem seemingly has replaced the U.S. and its different regions fair well or badly depending where they are located. District 12, which is in the Appalachian coal mining area is the poorest. There are references to hunger but none if the teens looks like they've missed a meal.

At the beginning of the film there is another young man, Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworrh) who seems to have a relationship with Katniss, but who disappears for most of the movie. But I suspect the triangle of Peeta, Gale and Katniss will reemerge in volume two (and given the money it's already made, this movie's sequel).

I have read in various places that the novels have political meaning, but it seems to me that - except for the obvious that the rich and powerful starve the poor to further enrich themselves and provide spectacles to distract the masses - there is very little else to enlighten even the most politically naive American.

One last thought. I fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence when we saw Winter's Bone in which she plays an equally intrepid female character. Of course, there she played against a real story and interesting characters, not the cardboard cut outs of The Hunger Games. So if there is any reason to see this movie it's Katniss Everdeen, who proves that brains and skill trump foolish arrogance every time, and Jennifer Lawrence, who I hope will soon display a wider range of her talents. Although I haven't seen her turn as Mystique in X-Men: First Class I suspect that's not much different, except that it's a villainous character rather than the hero of Winter's Bone and The Hunger Games.

Who presumed Trayvon's innocence?

When reading a letter in today's Daily News (3/30/12) from Gary Schmitt of Glen Cove, L.I. which says, in part, "George Zimmerman may have been acting in self-defense, and that doesn't require Trayvon Martin to have had his own weapon. Until Zimmerman is charged and convicted he should be presumed innocent," I couldn't help wondering if Zimmerman (or anyone else) presumed Trayvon's innocence."

"Out of Afghanistan"

"The murder in Panjwai of sixteen civilians, including nine children, by an American soldier on March 11 puts an exclamation point on ten and a half years of failed war in Afghanistan.
(The Nation editorial, 4/2/12)

The Tin Man finally gets a heart

It's good to learn that the Tin Man finally got a heart. If it had happened right after 9/11, perhaps we wouldn't have invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. But it would probably require a brain-transplant as well to see the world as actually inhabited by human beings who also have hearts & minds.

This week in the War on Women: How about electing more, better women?

The Republican/Tea Party war on women's health may turn this election around, if the Dems can take advantage of it. As always a big 

This week in the War on Women: How about electing more, better women?

Florida Grand Jury to Probe Killing of Trayvon Martin

Florida Grand Jury to Probe Killing of Trayvon Martin

Trayvon Martin Shooter Had History of Reporting Black Males

George Clooney arrested protesting human rights violations in the Sudan

George Clooney, his dad (Nick), NAACP Pres. Ben Jealous & Va. Rep. Jim Moran were arrested for crossing a police line at the Sudanese embassy in D.C. to protest human-rights abuses in the sudan.

March 24: 12:30-2:30 PM: March & Vigil for Peace and Economic Justice To Mourn and Resist the Ravages of War

March & Vigil for Peace and Economic Justice - begins with March of the Dead mourning and resisting the ravages of war in commemoration of ninth anniversary of war in Iraq

Saturday, March 24, 2012 - 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Intersection Rt. 112 (Main Street) and Rt. 25A (blinking light, across from ferry) in Port Jefferson Village, LI
ncpeaceg@gmail.com [1], 631-331-3419

March & Vigil for Peace and Economic Justice To Mourn and Resist the Ravages of War

Participants dressed in black with identical white face masks will lead a "March of the Dead" lamenting and resisting nine years of war in Iraq and 10-plus years of war in Afghanistan

Speakers to include
Mac Bica of Veterans for Peace LI;
Lauren Carmichael of Occupy Port Jefferson;
Charlotte Koons of Code Pink LI;
Bill McNulty of North Country Peace Group;
and Greg Maney of LI Teachers for Human Rights.

Sponsored by the North Country Peace Group and endorsed by more than a dozen Long Island peace, justice, religious and Occupy groups,
the March will begin at the intersection of Rt. 112 (Main Street) and Rt. 25A (across from the ferry) in Port Jefferson. We will march through the village to a public park nearby, where a program featuring speakers, music, and the reading of the names of Long Island service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan will take place.

News March 13 - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

News March 13 - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Rush to get women back under the male boot

Although it's obviously clear, as Georgetown University student Sandra Fluke testified, that birth control pills are crucial ingredients of women's health care, their widespread availability has also been an important aspect of the struggle for women's liberation from male domination. According to Nancy L. Cohen (Delirium: How the Sexual Counterrevolution is Polarizing America):

Enovid, the first birth control Pill, went on the market in 1960. Unlike any other previously available form of contraception, the Pill was both reliable and controlled by a woman herself, requiring neither the consent nor the knowledge of her sexual partner. .... The Pill made possible the sexual revolution of the 1960s. .... ...with the impetus the sexual revolution gave to a new feminism and a movement for gay liberation, it became one of the major catalysts of America's ongoing political delirium.

It's the challenge to male domination that not only provoked Rush Limbaugh's conniption last week but also the recent outbursts of a number of male religious honchos. (see photo of Issa birth-control hearing) There have been many aspects to male domination over the ages but control of the reproductive process has always been key. And when birth control shifted into women's hands, genuine equality between the genders became a real possibility. Women could for the first time really decide whether and when they would get pregnant. In other words, they finally could control their own lives - both at work and at home. Women's Liberation, not religious freedom, is at the center of the current brouhaha over birth control. The very language Limbaugh used in his diatribes - "slut" & "prostitute" - has historically been used to label any woman who stands up for women's rights to get her back under the male boot.

What These Popular Republican Phrases Really Mean

This should help clarify the current political debate (or not)

What These Popular Republican Phrases Really Mean

Fox News "fair & balanced" (LOL) Ignores Limbaugh Controversy

Fox News Ignores Limbaugh Controversy: pFox News devoted just a single segment to the escalating controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh’s vicious attacks on Sanda Fluke, the Georgetown Law student whom Republicans wouldn’t let testify during a hearing on birth control, largely ignoring the controversy. The only mention over the past two days, according a search of a media monitoring service, was [...]/p

What Are Iran's Intentions? by Noam Chomsky (Truthout)

What Are Iran's Intentions? | Truthout

War on women's health: Sandra Fluke, called ’slut’ by Limbaugh, is ’stunned, outraged’

Has Rush Limbaugh, propagandist for the War on Women's Health, gone too far this time? There is a Twitter campaign to convince advertisers to pull out of the Rush Limbaugh show. I'm sorry that Sandra Fluke has been hurt by Limbaugh's comments. I think she should be proud. It's kind of like being on Richard Nixon's "Enemies List." it's something about which to be proud. Fluke should wear a t-shirt that says: "Rush Limbaugh called me a whore; is that the pot calling the kettle black?" Limbaugh is a clown and the best we can do is to, let him go on exposing himself & the rest of the right-wing fools with him. Woman called ’slut’ by Limbaugh is ’stunned, outraged’

WikiLeaks: DHS Monitored Occupy Wall Street

If you've been wondering what the future of peaceful protest will be in the U.S., try this on for size. Less than a month after it's inception, OWL was designated "a significant problem for law enforcement" by Homeland Security. The U.S. Government is clearly throwing the Constitutional baby out with the "terrorism" bath water. The right to peaceably assemble & Freedom of Speech may soon be relics of the past. (Unless they are gone already)

WikiLeaks: DHS Monitored Occupy Wall Street

Chelsea History/Cookie History

"While many a New Yorker has ambled through Chelsea Market and been aware that it was once HQ to the National Biscuit Company, later called Nabisco, few know just what that means in terms of the vaunted annals of cookie history. It was there, 100 years ago, on March 6, 1912, that the Oreo cookie was born."
(by Hailey Eber, NY Post, 2/26/12)

Is The GOP All About Small Government?

Is The GOP All About Small Government?

Oscar voters overwhelmingly white, male

With the Oscars about to be handed out on Sunday, it's worth noting the overwhelmingly white, male & aging composition of the voting membership. The voters "are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male," with the median age of the members 62. Black voters constitute 2%, Latinos less than 2% and 14% voters under 50.

Oscar voters overwhelmingly white, male

On First Anniversary of Wisconsin Uprising, Gov. Walker Fights Recall Effort by Energized Movement

On First Anniversary of Wisconsin Uprising, Gov. Walker Fights Recall Effort by Energized Movement (from Democracy Now! this AM)

The Secret, Corporate-Funded Plan To Teach Children That Climate Change Is A Hoax

CONFIRMED: Anti-Science Blogger Admits Heartland Institute’s ‘Special Project’ To Distort Temperature Data: pThe second in a series of posts about the Heartland Institute’s inner workings, from internal documents acquired by ThinkProgress Green. Questions about the authenticity of the leaked Heartland Institute documents are fading, as projects described therein are confirmed. Heartland’s senior fellow James Taylor confirmed the existence of the climate-denier classroom curriculum project to ThinkProgress Green [...]/p

INTERNAL DOCUMENTS: The Secret, Corporate-Funded Plan To Teach Children That Climate Change Is A Hoax: pInternal documents acquired by ThinkProgress Green reveal that the Heartland Institute, a right-wing think tank funded by the Koch brothers, Microsoft, and other top corporations, is planning to develop a “global warming curriculum” for elementary schoolchildren that presents climate science as “a major scientific controversy.” This effort, at a cost of $100,000 a year, will [...]/p

LGBTQ Rights Activists on Victories for Marriage Equality in California and Washington

This week has been a week of celebration for anyone who believes in equality & human rights. In both California & Washington state the right of lesbians & gay men to share in the basic rights that all human beings have to marry the people they love has taken a major stride. I have never been able to get my head around the religious right argument that one couple's getting married could have any adverse effect on our marriage. This is so bizarre. In fact, marriage will be strengthened as an institution if more people who are likely to stay together, unlike heterosexual serial marriages, get married. Here is a discussion of these developments from this morning's "Democracy Now".

LGBTQ Rights Activists on Victories for Marriage Equality in California and Washington

The New York Times misleading public on Iran - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Do the words "Weapons of Mass Destruction" ring a bell. Well, the New York Times is leading the cheering section once again as it did in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. According to most people who actually know anything (and are not in the thrall of the Israeli propaganda machine) Iran's nuclear ambitions are as accurate as Iraq's WMDs were.


The New York Times misleading public on Iran - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

California Prop 8 declared unconstitutional again

A federal appeals court Tuesday overturned California Proposition 8 on narrow grounds, ruling that Californians took away a right from a minority group without justification when they approved the 2008 ban on same-sex marriage.

"The people may not employ the initiative power to single out a disfavored group for unequal treatment and strip them, without a legitimate justification, of a right as important as the right to marry," the court said.

Now the question is, will the U.S. Supreme Court hear the appeal from this decision.

Evolution? Not for the GOP

According to the New York Society for Ethical Culture: "Today, out of seven Republican presidential candidates, only one - [now defunct] John Huntsman - supports evolution. The remaining are creationists (Rick Perry: "God is how we got here.") and intelligent design advocates (Mitt Romney: : "I believe God is intelligent, and I believe he designed the creation."

I can't help but wonder how many Republican presidential candidates believe the world is round.

The Boehner from another planet

Quote of the week:
"We just come from two different planets."
John Boehner, House Speaker (R-Ohio) about him & President Obama

We have known for a long time that Boehner was from another planet (Planet GOP). Bit the question is what did we do to Planet GOP to make them want to destroy life on earth?

Gingrich's Extremist Anti-Palestinian Stance Follows Millions from Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson

Although Thom Hartmann said today that Gingrich (according to Florida polls) had imploded for the second time, it's still worth noting how easily he can be bought (although he doesn't come cheap). He is, in fact, the Israeli candidate for president. The real question is why doesn't he have to register as an agent of foreign government.

Gingrich's Extremist Anti-Palestinian Stance Follows Millions from Casino Magnate Sheldon Adelson

The New York Times today on Penn South: A positive view

The lead story in today's New York Times Arts Section "Towers of Dreams: One Ended in Nightmare" by Michael Kimmelman is very positive toward Penn South (our home), an attitude that's very unusual for Times' reporters. In this case Kimmelman is comparing the history of the late Pruitt-Igoe development in St. Louis (demolished in 1972) with the success of Penn South and trying to explain the differences which led to such different outcomes. The immediate peg for the story is a documentary, "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth."

Ralph Nader Responds to Obama's State of the Union Address

"He Says One Thing and Does Another": Ralph Nader Responds to Obama's State of the Union Address

Egypt: Sharif Abdel Kouddous Reports from Cairo Marking 1 Year of Rebellion in Tahrir Square; HBO documentary tonight

HBO will mark the 1st anniversary of the uprising in Egypt with "In Tahrir Square" showing Democracy Now correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous reporting from Tahrir Square in the first 18 days of the rebellion. Unfortunately the discussion with the filmmakers at the end of the broadcast is cut-off.

Egypt: Sharif Abdel Kouddous Reports from Cairo as Crowds Mark 1 Year of Revolution in Tahrir Square

We must stop this corporate takeover of American democracy - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

We must stop this corporate takeover of American democracy - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

GOP/Tea Party debate

Looking at photos from last night's Republican clown show it definitely looks more like a GOP event now that the five white guys got rid of the black guy & the woman

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's make 2012 the best yet

This photo taken by Lindsay Beyerstein on Sept. 26th @ Liberty Plaza Park (OWS) best sums up 2011 & looks forward to 2012.

[Thanks to Joe Macare for referring to the photo in his excellent Truthout article "The Year Dissent Came Back"]

The Messiah

The Messiah tonight @ The Community Church. Ann sang, as she does every year

Quote of the Day: On Democracy

Heard @ the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, SA (via Democracy Now):
"The U. S. Has the best democracy money can buy"

Let's weed out the bad mayors

The latest words of wisdom from Hosni Bloomberg
From yesterday's speech:

And I would, if I had the ability - which nobody does really – to just design a system and say, ‘ex cathedra, this is what we’re going to do,’ you would cut the number of teachers in half, but you would double the compensation of them and you would weed out all the bad ones and just have good teachers. And double the class size with a better teacher is a good deal for the students.”

I have a better suggestion: Let's have half as many mayors and weed out all the bad ones and just have good ones. Bloomberg would be first on most people's weed-out list.

A thought for today

Those who can do.
Those who can't go into politics

Film award season begins: The run-up to Oscar

So here we go again. The film award season is underway. And our annual Oscar Odyssey will begin. Today The New York Film Critics Circle announced its awards.

Best Film: "The Artist"
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Best Actor: Brad Pitt, "Moneyball" and "The Tree of Life"
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, "Drive"
Best Supporting Actress, Jessica Chastain, "Take Shelter" and "The Tree of Life"
Best Screenplay: Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, "Moneyball"
Best Cinamatography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life"
Best Foreign Language Film: "A Separation" directed by Asghar Farhadi
Best Non-Fiction Film: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" directed by Werner Herzog
Best First Film: "Margin Call" directed by J.C. Chandor
A Special Award will be given posthumously to filmmaker Raoul Ruiz

Washington Lobbyists Crafted $850,000 Secret Plan For Bank Lobbyists To Undermine Occupy Wall Street | Truthout

If Wall Street banksters & big city mayors, like Bloomberg, had the courage of their convictions they would have sat back & let the OWS patriots (as Thom Hartmann calls them) do their thing; but their hysterical use of pepper spray, rubber bullets & beating up a pregnant protester says more about the power of the OWS truth than the truth of power. When you attack peaceful protesters in the dead of night & exclude the press it's obvious you have something to hide.

Washington Lobbyists Crafted $850,000 Secret Plan For Bank Lobbyists To Undermine Occupy Wall Street | Truthout

Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein (from The Nation)

This is the best analysis of the current situation I've read. That won't surprise anyone who has read The Shock Doctrine. Not only is Naomi Kiein the best progressive thinker, but she can really write.

Capitalism vs. the Climate | The Nation

This Is What Revolution Looks Like | by Chris Hedges - from Truthout

This Is What Revolution Looks Like | Truthout

The knee

Ann's knee in all its glory. She's doing very well, but rehabs a bitch. Likely date of discharge next Monday. Could change.

Ann's surgery

Ann's surgery went very well. She's in recovery & awake. I've seen her twice. I'm hoping the next time I see her (probably around 4:30PM) she'll be in a room. But all is going very well.

Measures of poverty

There's a new measure of poverty in the U.S. from the Census Bureau. It jiggles the numbers & concludes that less of some groups & more of other groups are poor, but as Lawrence Katz, Harvard professor of economics, says: "The big picture is that in this so-called recovery there are more people in distress regardless of how you measure poverty". (NYT, 11/8/11)

10,000 Surround White House to Protest Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline

Here's this morning's interview about the Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline. Obama is postponing a decision, I hope it's not just an election ploy. The pipeline needs to be stopped. It would be an environmental disaster & despite claims will
Not create jobs.

10,000 Surround White House to Protest Keystone XL Tar Sands Oil Pipeline

Halloween Parade

This year's parade is expected to have 50,000 participants & it marches up 6th Ave.
I remember in 1973, when it was created by Ralph Lee, and his giant puppets, that were the centerpiece of the parade as it proceeded across 10th St in the Village. It was a genuine community event.

Occupy Wall Street, Not Palestine!

My new favorite slogan:

Occupy Wall Street, Not Palestine!
(Although we could add Afghanistan & Iraq)


Saturday, October 29 2011, 2:30pm

At Occupy Wall Street

Join members of Adalah-NY for a message of solidarity from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee followed by a Q & A session about the growing movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law.

2:30 PM: gather at the big red structure (corner of Broadway and Cedar) to help publicize event + hold space

3 PM: statement + debut of new chant for Occupy Wall Street + BDS Q & A
“The refreshing scenes of determined peaceful protest for justice from around the world tell us that we, the 99% of the world, are in the process of straightening our backs, collectively, with unwavering fortitude and boundless hope.”

Live Blog for #OWS: Day 36, Pete Seeger & Occupiers March to Columbus Circle | The Dissenter

Live Blog for #OWS: Day 36, Pete Seeger & Occupiers March to Columbus Circle | The Dissenter

#OccupyMarines are Preparing to Occupy America Nationwide

This is a great story. The NYPD continues to help us organize.

#OccupyMarines are Preparing to Occupy America Nationwide

Bev Grant (center) and The Dissident Daughters (Angela M. Lockhart, left & Carolynn Murphy, right) last evening @ the People's Voice Cafe in another wonderful performance perfectly mixing music & politics

City Council Members’ Letter to Bloomberg Regarding Zuccotti Park ‘Eviction’ | The New York Observer

City Council Members’ Letter to Bloomberg Regarding Zuccotti Park ‘Eviction’ | The New York Observer

Stand with Occupy Wall Street

Stand with Occupy Wall Street

Happy Genocide Day! | Truthout

Although I think it's important to talk about the genocide that took place before and after 1492, we should call today by the name the Indians have given it, "The Day of International Solidarity with the Indigenous People of the Americas." Therefore celebrating their survival, not focussing on their demise.

Happy Genocide Day! | Truthout

The Yankees: An Obituary

A few words about the Yankees. (Fortunately we went to see The Debt, so I didn't have to watch all of the disaster). But what happened at Yankee Stadium III last night was very simply a supreme display of baseball impotence. And the most impotent of all was A-Rod, who as Ann keeps telling me can't perform in the post season and last night struck out 3 times, once in the 7th inning with bases loaded and then, as if decreed by the baseball gods, in the final Yankee at-bat of the season. For the record, A-Rod batted .111 for the series.

It seems to me that since many baseball contracts base a portion of the player's salary on their performance, the next time the Yankees sign A-Rod to a contract it should have an incentive clause that bases a large portion of his salary on his post-season performance.

Only in America

It's quite startling that there are people (Republicans) who think the best attack on President Obama is to combine his name with the word "care". Who after all would want to vote for someone who cares

Watch "Occupy Wall Street" live now

If you have an I-phone you can watch "Occupy Wall Street" live now. Go to the ap store & search for "Live Stream", then follow "Global Revolution" they are broadcasting now
See you there there this PM

"Trouble" on Sunday: Michael Moore live on BookTV today(10/2)

Michael Moore will be live for three hours today (noon-3PM) on BookTV (CSPAN2). We can phone-in questions as well as use other online forms of communication to participate. Michael will discuss his new memoir "Here Comes Trouble" & many other issues. Sounds like it should be fun & it will conveniently be over just in time for the Yankee game: 3:07PM (TNT)

Occupy Wall Street action grows & grows; solidarity march next Wed

Occupy Wall Street growing rapidly by Chris Bowers on Daily Koz.

This entry could be more positive. But how big the action gets & how long it lasts is up to us. Bowers doesn't seem to take any responsibility for growing it. But we can Bowers concludes At this point,

how long Occupy Wall Street lasts, and how big it gets, is anyone's guess.

Come on man. Get off your ass & help to make it last.

First African Woman to win Nobel Peace Prize, Wangari Maathai dies at 71

Nobel Peace Prize, Right Livelihood Winner Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

From yesterday's Daily News (by Erin Einhorn) "[City Council Speaker Christine] Quinn is expected to win the backing of close ally Mayor Bloomberg [in the 2013 mayoral election] but the poll found that might backfire. Nearly half - 47% - of Democratic voters said a Bloomberg endorsement would make them less likely to support a candidate"

New Yorkers may be smarter than they get credit for

The lynching in Georgia

Last night's state-sponsored lynching in Georgia reminds us of many things we've known for a long time, particularly how little human life means in the U.S. (except when it's still in the womb). And how much less it means if it belongs to a person of color. Troy Davis your name will not be forgotten. It will become a battle cry for life not death.

Palestine at the UN

In its earliest days, the battle cry of the Zionist movement was "A land without a people for a people without a land." Sometime this week, the people who weren't on the land will most likely apply to the UN for admission as a member state. Yes Mr. Netanyahu, they are still there. The Israelis, with the help of another nation that knows all about stealing land and resources from people they cannot see, will oppose the Palestinian application for statehood in the UN. The Israeli and U.S.foolish opposition to Palestinian statehood will surely heighten tensions in the region and endanger the safety of all Israelis and Americans. This is really simply a matter of recognizing reality. The Palestinians are a people and deserve the same sovereignty of all people. All I can say is if the Palestinians succeed in this endeavor, Mazel Tov.

Koch's pooper scooper law will come in handy after his intervention in Queens

I have always believed that Ed Koch's only accomplishment in 12 years as Mayor was the pooper scooper law, which is lucky given his "contribution" to this week's special election in Queens. It's interesting that his only constituency is now in Israel.

U.S. Poverty at Record High; Uninsured Hits 20-Year Peak

Here are some of the results of the last 40 years of U.S. Government economic policies. It's just not possible to enable inequality of the proportions it exists here w/o at the same time throwing more-and-more people into poverty.


U.S. Poverty at Record High; Uninsured Hits 20-Year Peak

Sept. 13: Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! will spend the hour with Noam Chomsky on Tuesday, Sept. 13 [WBAI-FM (radio) or MNN 1 (TV) @ 8AM]

As the nation commemorates the 10th anniversary of 9/11, he will discuss, among other topics, the new edition of his book, 9/11. Published more than a decade ago, it is still one of the most uncompromising assessments of the attacks on the World Trade Center.

In Memory of Akil Al-Jundi on the 40th anniversary of the Attica Rebellion

On this the 40th anniversary of the Attica Rebellion just a word in memory our friend & comrade Akil Al-Jundi (Minister of Information for the Attica Brothers) who died in 1997. At a National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality rally (in 1996) Akil said:

We, the poor and oppressed people in this country, we are only our own liberators. Nobody can protect us but ourselves. We have to stick together and forge a strong alliance. I end by saying to you, self-respect, self-defense and self-determination

.
Those words are as important, if not more, today than when they were spoken.

[Quote from Revolutionary Worker, #920, Aug. 17, 1997]

UN to accept Palestine as a member state, U.S. still obstructing

Photo by Mohamad Torokman/MaanImages

At the UN, the funeral of the two-state solution
by Ilan Pappe
(The Electronic Intifada
12 September 2011)

We are all going to be invited to the funeral of the two-state solution if and when the UN General Assembly announces the acceptance of Palestine as a member state.

The support of the vast majority of the organization’s members would complete a cycle that began in 1967 and which granted the ill-advised two-state solution the backing of every powerful and less powerful actor on the international and regional stages.

Even inside Israel, the support engulfed eventually the right as well as the left and center of Zionist politics. And yet despite the previous and future support, everybody inside and outside Palestine seems to concede that the occupation will continue and that even in the best of all scenarios, there will be a greater and racist Israel next to a fragmented and useless bantustan.

The charade will end in September or October — when the Palestinian Authority plans to submit its request for UN membership as a full member — in one of two ways.

It could be either painful and violent, if Israel continues to enjoy international immunity and is allowed to finalize by sheer brutal force its mapping of post-Oslo Palestine. Or it could end in a revolutionary and much more peaceful way with the gradual replacement of the old fabrications with solid new truths about peace and reconciliation for Palestine. Or perhaps the first scenario is an unfortunate precondition for the second. Time will tell.

A substitute dictionary for Zionism

In ancient times, the dead were buried with their beloved artifacts and belongings. This coming funeral will probably follow a similar ritual. The most important item to go six feet under is the dictionary of illusion and deception and its famous entries such as “the peace process,” “the only democracy in the Middle East,” “a peace-loving nation,” “parity and reciprocity” and a “humane solution to the refugee problem.”

The substitute dictionary has been in the making for many years describing Zionism as colonialism, Israel as an apartheid state and the Nakba as ethnic cleansing. It will be much easier to put it into common use after September.

The maps of the dead solution will also be lying next to the body. The cartography that diminished Palestine into one tenth of its historical self, and which was presented as a map of peace, will hopefully be gone forever.

There is no need to prepare an alternative map. Since 1967, the geography of the conflict has never changed in reality, while it kept constantly transforming in the discourse of liberal Zionist politicians, journalists and academics, who still enjoy today a widespread international backing.

Palestine was always the land between the river and the sea. It still is. Its changing fortunes are characterized not by geography but by demography. The settler movement that came there in the late 19th century now accounts for half of the population and controls the other half through a matrix of racist ideologies and apartheid policies.

Peace is not a demographic change, nor a redrawing of maps: it is the elimination of these ideologies and policies. Who knows — it may be easier now than ever before to do this.

Exposing Israel’s protest movement

The funeral will expose the fallacy of the present Israeli mass protest movement, while at the same time highlight its positive potential. For seven weeks, mostly middle class Israeli Jews have protested in huge numbers against their government’s social and economic policies.

In order to keep the protest as large a movement as possible, its leaders and coordinators do not dare to mention occupation, colonization or apartheid. The sources of evil for everything, they claim, are the brutal capitalist policies of the government.

On a certain level they have a point. These policies disabled the master race of Israel from fully and equally enjoying the fruits of Palestine’s colonization and dispossession. But a fairer division of the spoils will not ensure normal life for either Jews or Palestinians; only the end to looting and pillage will.

And yet they also showed skepticism and distrust in what their media and politicians tell them about the socio-economic reality; it may open the way for a better understanding of the lies they were fed about the “conflict” and their “national security” over so many years.

The funeral should energize us all to follow the same distribution of labor as before. Palestinians urgently need to solve the issue of representation. The progressive Jewish forces in the world have to be more intensively recruited to the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) and other solidarity campaigns.

Intifada at the proms

The recent disruption of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performance at the prestigious BBC Proms in London shocked the gentle Israelis more than any genocidal event in their own history.

But more than anything else, as reported by senior Israeli journalists who were there, they were flabbergasted by the presence of so many Jews among the protesters. These very journalists kept depicting in the past the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and BDS activists as terrorist groups and extremists of the worst kind. They believed their own reports. To its credit, the mini-intifada at the Royal Albert Hall at least confused them.

Putting one state into political action

In Palestine itself the time has come to move the discourse of one state into political action and maybe adopt the new dictionary. The dispossession is everywhere and therefore the repossession and reconciliation have to occur everywhere.

If the relationship between Jews and Palestinians is to be reformulated on a just and democratic basis, one can accept neither the old buried map of the two-state solution nor its logic of partition. This also means that the sacred distinction made between Jewish settlements near Haifa and those near Nablus should be put in the grave as well.

The distinction should be made between those Jews who are willing to discuss a reformulation of the relationship, change of regime and equal status and those who are not, regardless of where they live now. There are surprising phenomena in this respect if one studies well the human and political fabric of 2011 historic Palestine, ruled as it is by the Israeli regime: the willingness for a dialogue is sometimes more evident beyond the 1967 line rather than inside it.

The dialogue from within for a change of regime, the question of representation and the BDS movement are all part and parcel of the same effort to bring justice and peace to Palestine. What we will bury — hopefully — in September was one of the major obstacles in the way to realizing this vision.

The author of numerous books, Ilan Pappe is Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter.

Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows reflect on anniversary

Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Reflects on 10th Anniversary of Attacks


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The members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows are grateful for the expressions of remembrance and concern being offered on the 10th anniversary of the events which took the lives of our loved ones. On this day we ask those who feel compassion for our loss to expand their compassion to include others who continue to experience loss ten years later: innocent families in Afghanistan and Iraq experiencing the loss of their loved ones and displacement from their communities as the result of war and political strife; Muslim-Americans subjected to bias and violence at home; those denied the protections of our Constitution and law, whether in Guantanamo or in our own country; those suffering from job loss and economic dislocation related to the cost of war and rising military budgets; and those who have seen their civil iberties and freedoms exchanged for the false promise of security.

The lesson of 9/11 is that we live in a connected world. We rise or fall together. As Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” On this 10th anniversary, let us honor those we lost by recognizing our kinship with people all over the world, and affirming the values and principles that will guarantee peaceful tomorrows for everyone.

Contact:
Sahil Bhatia/David Lerner, Riptide Communications, (212)260-5000, SBhatia@riptideonline.com
Andrea LeBlanc, aldvm@comcast.net

Thoughts on "Ten Years After"

I have been studiously avoiding all the self-satisfied & politically indulgent media coverage of "Ten Years Since 9/11." But perhaps some personal thoughts are appropriate:

I was here & saw much of it on TV.

Andrew was safely out-of-town, starting college in Ithacca. There were many references to 9/11 @ his graduation four years later.

Ann was working near Wall Street @ the time & therefore not far from the World Trade Center. If my memory serves she had to walk home from work that day, since there were no vehicles moving people. Fortunately at the time her knees were in better shape.

My main memory is of the wonderful deli across the street from our house. It was owned by two Lebanese brothers. It was one of our favorite neighborhood places. It is no more, because a few days after 9/11 (in somewhat of a preview of our response as a nation) it was fire-bombed by one or more "patriotic Americans." Thinking safety the better part of valor they never tried to reopen. When I walk by the old deli location, I often think about the brothers, & hope they are doing well, (It has since morphed into a porn video store).

Now back to trying to avoid "Ten years after."

Nov. 5: New York City Labor Chorus 20th Anniversary Concert

In the immediate aftermath of Labor Day, it seems like a great time to inform (or remind) anyone reading this that the New York City Labor Chorus will celebrate its 20th anniversary @ Town Hall on Nov. 5th., 8PM
Tickets $25.00, Seniors $15.00

As most of you know, Ann has been a Chorus member virtually from its beginning & went with the Chorus on its recent trip to Cuba.

There are 1,500 seats in Town Hall (123 West 43St) & we plan to fill every one of them. That will not be possible without you. The tickets are now available. In addition to organizing as many people as you can to be there Nov. 5th, the Chorus would appreciate any ideas you may have for promoting the concert.

I can be reached through Facebook or gaelinc@aol.com

Sept. 15: Rally & March to UN for Palestinian Sovereignty

Rally and March to the United Nations for Palestinian Sovereignty

Thursday, September 15,
4:30 pm: Gather at Times Square
5:30 pm: March to Grand Central and the U.N.

Palestinians Tell the World: Sovereignty Means Securing ALL Our Rights!
Palestinians and their supporters everywhere are mobilizing to remind the world of their right to self-determination.
In New York we are marching to the United Nations because the world's attention is focused on the vote on Palestinian statehood scheduled to take place soon.

For over six decades, the U.N. has approved numerous resolutions promising Palestinians their basic rights, none of which has been implemented.

We come to the U.N. to demand:
-Sovereignty, Equality, and the
-Right of Return for Palestinians NOW!
-End All U.S. Aid to Israel!
-End the Occupation!
-Support Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions!

For more information, email palestineun@gmail.com
event on Facebook

Sponsored by the Palestine U.N. Solidarity Coalition

Endorsed by: Abna'a Albalad Center for the Right of Return-Damascus, Syria, Action for a Progressive Pakistan, Adalah-NY, Al-Awda NY, alqudsday.org, American Iranian Friendship Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, Arab American Union Members Council, BAYAN-USA, Bergen County Green Party, Coalition for Palestinian Rights (Minneapolis), CODE PINK-NYC, Concerned Families of Westchester, Delaware Valley Veterans For America, Desis Rising Up and Moving, Existence is Resistance, Fight Imperialism Stand Together, Harlem Fightback Against War at Home & Abroad, Freedom Socialist Party, International Action Center, ICAHD-USA, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International League of People's Struggle-NY LOC, International Socialist Organization, Jewish Voices for Peace-Westchester, Jews Say No!, Labor for Palestine, May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights, Middle East Crisis Response, New York City Labor Against the War, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, Northeast Al Quds Day Committee, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Progressive Democrats of America, Radical Women, September15.org, Socialist Action, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Temple U., SJP NYU, Union of Palestinian Women Committees-Palestine, United National Antiwar Coalition, US Palestinian Community Network, Veterans for Peace, War Resisters League, WESPAC, West Queens Greens, Women Against Military Madness: Mideast Committee (Minneapolis), Women in Black Union Square, Workers World Party

What the right-wing really thinks: "Registering the Poor to Vote is Un-American"

The Arizona attorney-general has challenged the 1965 Voting Rights Act The Voting Rights Act very simply prohibits states from enacting laws that prevent people from voting based on race. In other words Arizona Republicans want to go back to the pre-Civil Rights movement America. This strategy began with the totally bogus destruction of ACORN and has escalated to this day.

This article by right-wing propagandist Matthew Vadum lays out their deeply racist ideology. But remember it's really about winning. Stopping anyone from voting who disagrees with them. In other words, "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."

I don't know what's "American" and "UnAmerican" in the 21st century, but I do know the right wing violates any pretensions to democracy Americans seem to hold.

"Registering the Poor to Vote is Un-American" by Matthew Vadum