The crackdown is turning violent - the Egyptian government regularly engages in police repression and torture, and scores of protesters have reportedly been killed.
Egypt's protesters share the same dreams of all people who aspire to freedom, peace and prosperity - and they need to know that we support them.
Please Sign the solidarity statement below - the solidarity statement will be broadcast via regional media to the Egyptian people. You will be heard.
http://pol.moveon.org/standwithegypt/?r_by=25942-9090003-6v15ZXx&rc=confemail
11006 Veirs Mill Rd, STE L-15, PMB 298
Silver Spring, MD. 20902
May 30, 2010
Commentary By: El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan
Are American Muslim Organizations in Collusion with the American and Pakistani Governments in the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui?
The question of Muslim American organization collusion with the US and Pakistani governments, is a growing question in the minds of more and more people (among both Muslims and non-Muslims who have been following this troubling case over the past two years).
I am presently at the ICNA-MAS Convention in Hartford, Connecticut, still awaiting word on whether or not this sister’s case will be heard on one of the main stages at this weekend’s gathering. In my humble opinion, there is NO ISSUE on the agenda that carries greater import than this troubling case, and the many long-term implications that it potentially holds for our communities here in the West! Read More »
DHUL Hijjah 1431 A.H.
(Nov. 27, 2010)
Comment by Al- Hajj Mauri' Salaakan
Assalaamu Alaikum (Greetings of Peace):
The latest scare dominating America’s media mainstream is of a 19 year old naturalized citizen, from Somalia, who allegedly desired to do catastrophic damage to a community in Portland, Oregon. If we accept the reports that have already been broadcast on this unfortunate tragedy, on face value, it raises many concerns…or it should.
Let me state clearly and forcefully, up front, that if this young man indeed attempted to do what he’s been accused of, I’m glad that he’s been taken off the street, and he should be punished.
The punishment, however, should fit the crime; and a life sentence - for what he merely wanted to do (with FBI assistance) - would be brutally excessive to say the least! Read More »
I envision this Federation comprised of any global citizen including government representatives who will ascribe to and promote integrity. Anyone, regardless of race, creed, religion, political affiliation, and nation-state status can organize to eliminate their corporate dominated governments and injustice in whatever form it presents itself.
Essentially, many global citizens in our movement can communicate on their own websites, personally with friends & associates, and via any medium to enlist recruits to our cause - it will morph into our supra governmental entity that will eventually have followers from across all walks of life.
But in order for this to work we need to get the word out to have people join our federation. That's why we all need to organize everyone who is fed up with the greed, corruption, lobbyist directed governments, and labor slavery that the corporate dominated world is perpetuating.
Please help me make this federation a reality by organizing small groups of "II" members in meetings and having them spread the movement to their own small group of members so that this federation can expand exponentially across the globe.
Why is the word Integrity before International? This is because Integrity is our central reason for existing organizationally.
When we get enough folks involved in various areas of the country, or your own nation-state we should all resolve to take collective action to bring about meaningful change. This is change that will allow all global citizens to once again be connected to their (lobbyist infested) governments and corporate controlled media.
Action may take several forms depending upon your location and the specific injustice that you're attempting to correct but if we use our organizational structure to convey (the means is completely up to the members) our dissatisfaction in a collective fashion our impact will be substantial.
Thanks again for joining! This is just the beginning.
Our globally based citizen’s federation will sweep aside injustice, inequity, and corruption from our societies if we just take that first positive step and become involved.
Thank you for caring enough about the future to become engaged in this federation for positive change!
Please join the Facebook group below which is our nexus for international change.
The Facebook group for the Integrity International Federation can be found at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=272955573766
Thank you,
Ray Pairan Jr.
563-506-4943
rpairan@runbox.com
Integrity International Federation site:
http://structuraleconissues.blogspot.com/
ALL NIGHT LONG THERE WERE SACRED PRAYERS AND SONG FOR MY GRANDPA'S HEALTH AND WELL BEING. HE WAS ADMINISTERED THE MOTHER SEED PEYOTE AS THE PRAYERS AND SACRED SONGS WENT ON ALL NIGHT LONG. HIGH UP IN THE MOUNTAINS OF THE SANTA ISABEL RESERVATION.
Through the night until morning he took many teaspoons full of powdered mother seed and washed down with peyote tea. He was up all night on his ironwheeled horse. The experience for me was a highly memorable one. The sacred fire in the circle was kept going all night by the fireman, and the Roadman blessed him and I many times with Eagle feathers. As the Roadman prayed to Grandfather Spirit to cleanse the cancer from my Grandpa's body. The Roadman Glen Justky came all the way from a rez north of Casa Grande Arizona and he brought with him family members to assist with the entirety of the sacred ceremony.
I felt blessed just from being as one with our people and to have been under a beautiful starlit night on a mountain top as the coyotes serenaded us with their song, to have heard the crow of the roosters and see the birth of a new wonderful sunrise which became the first day of the rest of my Grandpa's life. He will live longer because the mother seed will cure him from his cancer, and Grandfather Spirit Creator of all will not allow my Grandpa to go home to Grandfather Spirit before his time.
I feel as if I have become one with all of our people and happy to be home.
If you have any family members going to Vail elementry School, of Temcula Unified School District, you should be aware that there is a breakout of th swine flue and that it has been kept under wraps as far back as early June.
The first cases should have been reported to the CDC in Washington D.C. and Bethesda Maryland CDC.
It was not for obvious reasons. However since my little brother was exposed at the school and contracted the disease we are now all under order and guide lines from the CDC to stay Quarantined for the next 10 days. Two people have died from the disease in the County of Sandiego in the past month.
The Swine Flue is lethal if not treated.
The school district was not particularly in a hurry to make the report. Their main concern is to avoid a money loss from the federal subsidy they recieve for each child. My grandfather Dine' Warrior made a call to the CDC office in Washington DC and henceforth was passed on to the direction of the Bethesda Maryland office.
The School District of Temecula has not made it public to the parents of all the other students in the school.
Many of those children have brothers and sisters that go to middle School and Great Oaks Highschool. The disease can become a major epidemic if not properly handled. The sad part is that not all people have proper medical coverage and can not afford to take their children to the hopital emergency room to get treatment. The latter are the ones that may end up dead, and all because some money hungry school districts only care about the money and not the health of the students.
The Native American communities donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to the school districts in their areas every year, from Gaming on the Rez. I ask myself is it right for our people to be forking out money to the school districts if this is going to be their attitude. I do not think so. My grandfather Dine' Warrior will be going on a crusade to stop this practice, and to make it known to the shool districts that all children go there to recieve an education and not to be put in harms way by money grubbers, who do not care what happens to the children in their trust. No child should be exposed, Native American or other. I am writing this blog under guidance and direction of Grandpa Dine' Warrior.
The CDC is now aware and making sure that guide lines are being followed and will be watching closely that this type of behavior does not repeat, Grandpa Dine' Warrior is going to stay on top of this situation along with the CDC.
Under-age future voters should have the chance to learn about the parties and their platforms. However there is little interest from the adult voters when it comes to seeing what we think about regarding politics. It seems that the only time we are taken into consideration is on election years and major campaigns. When it comes to canvassing areas for adults in local state and national campaigns we are asked to participate. We end up doing a lot of the dirty work along with the footwork. After the election is over it is as if we no longer exist.
I ask the enlightened here, if you have any ideas or suggestions on the matter, to come forward and make your views heard.
I say please give us a fair taste of the mainstream politics and better educate us on the matter so that those among us whom are apathetic can become genuinly interested and do our civic duty gladly as we progress and mature. We are mostly affected because we technically have no say.
We work gladly doing what is called the dirty work in the hope of having our needs met through proper representation. Sadly after the elactions we are not taken into any consideration at all.
It is the hope of a majority of youths that we are given a true taste of politics, so that the apathetic become more engaged and interested enough to cast real ballots when they turn 18. What do you think?
If I am wrong please correct me?
Respectfully
Little Dine' Warrior
indnslist.org was founded by Kaylyn Free of the Shoshone Nation for the soul purpose of assisting Native Americans in reaching their goals to become public servants. If you believe you are made of the right material to become an honest public servant get in touch with Kaylyn. Her foundation is strictly to help and asist Native Americans recieve the support and preparation to be launched to public service after taking part of the internship offered by the indnslist.org.
I myself will become an intern with indnslist upon graduating from highschool and turning 17 years of age. Internship is for a minimum of two years at the Morongo Nation Rez.
The organization is not limited to youths, but also adults that are running for office at whichever level, from among Native America.
Todd Gloria from the Alaskan Tribes is now a public servant in the City of San Diego. He is one of the alumni from indnslist, and truly a success story. He is not the only one.
Take care all and may the Great Spirit shower you with blessings.
Sincerely your friend.
Respectfully Little Dine' Warrior
I do ask that all elders and adults on this site blog on this group as often as possible.
As the future leaders of America, we can not achieve our goals without the advice of the well versed and enlightened on this site.
I pray the Great Spirit Bless you all.
Very Rerspetfully
Little Dine' Warrior.
http://www.democrats.org/page/group/NationalDemYouthCaucas
http://www.democrats.org/page/group/NationalDemYouthCaucas
My children said Boyd "was really nice and funny." He gave them discounts when they didn't have enough money to pay for a piece of baklava or a nectar drink. My children were sad when Blackstone closed. The government, however, is painting a very different picture of Boyd, calling him the mastermind of a terrorist cell bent on waging a holy war. Read More »
When I become 17 I will be going for my Political Science internship with the Morongo Nation and upon completion I will be launched for my first Public Servant job by indnzlist.org.
I pray the Great Spirit illuminate me and guide me so that I can become a good public servant and a dedicated servant to my fellowman, Native American as well as All citizens of our great nation.
I have joined just about as many groups as possible on this site. It is part of my political science major course of study. I hope that I am not removed from the groups, for not being an immediate local. However I have many family members all over our nation and specially among Native America all over. reason for which I joined these groups. We keep in contact and urge our fellow Native Americans in the areas to support fully the Dem candidates in your states and districts. May the Great Spirit Creator Bless you all.
Special greetings to grandma Spirited Donna, Vydia, Maryanne and all the mutual friends of my mentor and myself, Grandpa Dine' Warrior. Your friend always.
Sincerely Little D.
What is true? What is false? Politicians wedded to a political ideology are exclusively focused upon instilling a uniform public mindset. Any individual viewpoints that are inconsistent with those espoused by the political, business, and intelligentsia elite are targeted for ‘vaporization’.
Regardless of which media inspired label you’ve chosen to proudly wear – disavow it, tear it off now! There’s a whole plethora of them: conservative, liberal, moderate, Libertarian, Socialist, Democrat, Republican, the list is endless. Why proudly proclaim a faith in something that repeatedly fails to deliver and forces you to adhere to an ideology that denigrates you’re other divergent viewpoints? Why proudly belong to political parties that consistently disregard the demands of the people in order to faithfully execute the edicts of their business masters?
The fact of the matter is the majority of people are apolitical, love their country, expect results over excuses, unflinchingly adhere to realism, don’t believe you can get something for nothing, and understand the importance of strong communities. We don’t get out of bed every morning with a burning desire to distort the truth, spin lies, spend money we don’t have keeping a rich neighbor’s bank flush with an unlimited supply of cash, or asking the well-off in our communities to support our extravagant wants in return for favors that ultimately would destroy or impoverish the lesser off in our communities.
That’s right we’re all generally decent people. So why do we constantly align ourselves with malignant organizations that destroy all that is decent in the pursuit of squeezing more from those with the least to give? These organizations have their tentacles lunged deep into our democracies; they will not release them until they have turned blue and have exhaled their last breath.
The Head Pow Wow Woman Mrs Arnita Swanson will be one of the Honored guests at the Pow Wow.
Arnita is better known as Grandma Sioux.
I hope that those of you that live in Southern California will honor us with your presence. I also extend the invitation to those of you that happen to be visiting Southern Calif to come join us.
I am very proud of my grandson Little Dine' Warrior, he has grown considerably and is a very patriotic and respectful young warrior. He is a long time member of the JRAFROTC and is quite active in the community visiting hospitalized veterans at the local VA hospital.
He has also recieved recognition from the VA Volunteer Services Director and staff for his unselfish involvement bringing a smile to many Hospitalized Vets that are in the Community Living Section of the Va, whom for the most part have no family left to care for them.
I hope that you can all attend the Pow Wow At the Sycuan Rez 11 th through the 14th of September 2009..
May the Great Spirit Bless you all Highly.
I am still in fasting and preparation for my Peyote Cleansing Ceremony coming up on the weekend of the 21st of this month. I have faith the mother seed Peyote will cure me of my terminal Cancer.
My Little Dine' sends his regards to all here, the best people that ever graced our mother Earth. The Democrats and their leadership.
Dine' Warrior.
To many of you here at this point I may be a stranger, however there are still many here whom remember me. I am the Grandfather of Little Dine' warrior.. I still have stage four cancer and will soon be cleansed through the Native American Church of my cancer with the mother seed Peyote.
This event will take place on the third weekend of August at the Santa Isabel Reservation. I invite all of my Native American friends here to join me for my ceremony. If you are from afar and will be in the area at that time I will be highly honored if you can attend. If you are from near the area and are able to attend I will also be highly honored.
Regardfless of the situation whether you are able to attend or not due to previous engagements or the imposibility of attending, I will still be praying for all of you as I will be for all my family and close friends so that they can recieve blessings from the Great White Spirit Creator and always walk with beauty before you, to the back of you, above you and below you to the right of you as well as your left.
I will be praying that all your troubles go away and the great Spirit shower you all with health, love, happiness and that you have all your needs met. This invitation is not only for the Native Americans whom I have befriended here on this site, it is also for all non natives whom are here. I extend welcome and wish blessings and all good tidings to the new mwmbers of the Party Builder.
I pray that those of you that remember me drop me a note or comment on this invitation, and I offer my humble friendship to all the new people here. Little Dine Warrior is at my side now and he sends his best regards to all here and wants to make it known to all new members of the party builder he would enjoy their friendship in his humble friendship network.
MAY THE GREAT WHITE SPIRIT CREATOR OF ALL BLESS YOU.
SINCERELY YOUR FRIEND, DINE' WARRIOR.
Post Data
For directions to Santa Isabel Reservation drop me a note. I will give you all the necessary info, or call me at cell 619 399-6626
Sickened at the prospect that a victory for reformist Mir-Hossein Mousavi in the Iranian presidential election might have led to better relations with the United States, neoconservatives here and their fellow war hawks in Israel are celebrating the dubious victory of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Yes, this is true: Right-wingers in America and Israel don't want peace with Iran, nor do they want anyone to get the impression that President Obama's efforts at engagement with Iran might actually work, nor do they give a damn about the Iranian people. Mad Mahmoud is the man neocons love to hate, and they're as happy as clams that their guy found a way to steal the election.
Had Mousavi won the Iranian election as many in Iran and around the world hoped, it would likely have signalled a new and more positive direction for U.S.-Iranian relations as well as providing support for the "Obama Doctrine" of engagement with Iran and others in the Muslim world with which America's relations have been troubled. Such a development would at the same time have undercut the neocon attitude of hostility and suspicion toward Iran, as well as undercutting the right-wing Israeli government's aggressive stance toward Iran. As we know, neocons can tolerate peace only when it is imposed with an iron fist or the heel of a jackboot, and the prospect of peace through diplomacy in the Greater Middle East must surely have given them nightmares the rest of us could scarcely imagine.
In the run-up to the Iranian election last week, Daniel Pipes of the right-wing Middle East Forum came right out and admitted in a speech at the right-wing Heritage Foundation that he would actually vote for Ahmadinejad if he were allowed to vote in Iran (video). This speech was followed by a June 12 blog post by Pipes in which he reiterated that he was "rooting for Ahmadinejad" based on the twisted logic that the fundamentalist clerics who really rule Iran will always be our enemies and it's better to have an Iranian president we can really hate than "a sweet-talking Mousavi" who lulls us into thinking we can be friends. Never mind the aspirations or even basic human rights of the Iranian people; never mind anyone's desire for peace in the Greater Middle East. I've long had a pretty strong distaste for Daniel Pipes, but following this admission I'm more convinced of his utter vileness than ever. This is, after all, a man who has publicly advocated for the profiling and internment of Muslims in America, and who considers Israeli and Palestinian existence mutually exclusive (see Sourcewatch). As we leave the age of the neocons behind, I look forward to watching Pipes and others like him slide into the bitter, drooling irrelevance and oblivion they deserve.
The American Enterprise Institute's equally malignant Michael Rubin likewise told Kathryn Jean Lopez at the National Review that it might be better for Ahmadinejad to win, because a Mousavi win might give Obama and the rest of us the impression that diplomacy was actually working. Painting Iran as inherently and hopelessly evil, Rubin said of the Iranian election that should Mousavi win "it would be easier for Obama to believe that Iran really was figuratively unclenching a fist when, in fact, it had its other hand hidden under its cloak, grasping a dagger." James Taranto strikes a similar tone in the Wall Street Journal, warning against the "eagerness to see Obama's feel-good foreign-policy approach succeed."
Now that the Iranian election appears to be over, right-wingers will be tripping over themselves in the rush to use Ahmadinejad's victory against Obama. In fact, once and future Republican U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney has already piped up, saying that Ahmadinejad's win is proof that Obama's "policy of going around the world and apologizing for America is not working." These losers obviously have nothing left but the hope that Obama will fail, or can at least be said to have failed. I look forward to watching Romney and his party lose again in 2012.
Right-wingers in Israel, meanwhile, have been making noises very similar to their American bedfellows, and appear to see nothing good for themselves in any warming of relations between the U.S. and Iran, as observed by M.J. Rosenberg at TPM. From Israel in the run-up to the Iranian election Yaakov Katz wrote in the Jerusalem Post that members of the Israeli defense establishment were "silently praying" for an Ahmadinejad victory, fearing that a Mousavi win would result in decreased pressure on Iran and its nuclear program. Now that Ahmadinejad appears to have successfully stolen the election, Israeli officials and their allies in America are calling for renewed pressure on Iran. Meanwhile, Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff write in Haaretz that an Ahmadinejad victory is actually preferable for Israel because a Mousavi win would only "paste an attractive mask on the face of Iranian nuclear ambitions."
I suspect we'll hear more of this in days to come from eager neocons on both sides of the Atlantic. Obama's policy of engagement will work, however, and is working, as evidenced by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to his Cairo speech, by the Lebanese election results, by the reform movement in Iran, and by the likelihood that Ahmadinejad kept his office only through vote-rigging, suppression, and intimidation. Obama will succeed, and once he has neocons like Daniel Pipes can take up residence in the dustbin of history where they belong.
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
As Iranians go to the polls to elect a president, American neoconservatives are openly rooting not for moderate reform candidate and former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi but for anti-U.S. hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This is an obvious sign both of the neocons' preference for conflict over peace between the U.S. and Iran and of the generally bankrupt state of conservatism in America, reduced now to banking on failure for the Obama administration (see Huffington Post, Rachel Maddow).
Should the reformist Mousavi win the Iranian election and become president, it would likely signal a new and more positive direction for U.S.-Iranian relations as well as providing support for the "Obama Doctrine" of engagement with Iran and other adversaries. Such a development would at the same time undercut the neocon attitude of hostility and suspicion toward Iran, as well as undercutting the right-wing Israeli government's aggressive stance toward Iran. Indeed right-wingers in Israel like those in America appear to see nothing good for themselves in any warming of relations between the U.S. and Iran, as observed by M.J. Rosenberg at TPM and Yaakov Katz at the Jerusalem Post.
The unpleasant fellow you see pictured here is Daniel Pipes of the right-wing Middle East Forum, a raging neocon who said in a speech this week at the Heritage Foundation that he would vote for Ahmadinejad if he were allowed to vote in Iran (video). The American Enterprise Institute's Michael Rubin likewise told Kathryn Jean Lopez at the National Review that it could be better for Ahmadinejad to win, because a Mousavi win might give Obama the impression that diplomacy was working. Painting Iran as inherently and hopelessly evil, Rubin said of the Iranian election that "should someone more soft-spoken and less defiant -- someone like former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi -- win, it would be easier for Obama to believe that Iran really was figuratively unclenching a fist when, in fact, it had it had its other hand hidden under its cloak, grasping a dagger."
Without so openly rooting for Ahmadinejad, other neocons are playing down the significance of a possible Mousavi victory, obviously worried that a shift in power will signal a fresh start for U.S.-Iranian relations that could leave American and Israeli hawks out in the cold. The same right-wing pundits who constantly point out Ahmadinejad's bad behavior as reasons to confront Iran now argue that it doesn't matter who the president of Iran is. Martin Peretz wrote at the New New Republic: "We've known for a long time that elected leaders do not carry the weight of those who have been anointed." Ilan Berman likewise wrote at the American Spectator: "Whoever ends up becoming president will have little real power -- and even less influence over Iran's geostrategic direction."
The prospect of peace in the Greater Middle East must give sociopaths like these nightmares the rest of us could scarcely imagine.
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
Shawna Forde, leader of Minutemen American Defense, is one of three individuals arrested June 12 by sheriff's detectives in Pima County, Arizona, for the murder of a Mexican American man and his nine-year-old daughter.
Based in Washington State, Forde's group is one of several border militia groups nationwide that refer to themselves as "Minutemen," including also the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, of which Forde is also a former leader. Profiles on Forde and her anti-immigrant activities are available from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.
According to authorities, Forde and her two accomplices, Jason Eugene Bush and Albert Robert Gaxiola, broke into the home of Raul Flores and his family in Arivaca AZ on May 30th, apparently in the commission of a robbery. The invaders reportedly shot all three members of the Flores family who were present at the time, killing the father and daughter and leaving the mother wounded. While Bush is the suspected gunman in the shootings, investigators say Forde was the mastermind of the operation. Nine-year-old murder victim Brisenia Flores is pictured here from the local Green Valley News:
Forde is listed as the National Executive Director of Minuteman American Defense on the group's website, and the Arizona Daily Star reports that Bush, nicknamed "Gunny," is the group's Operations Director. The three are charged with two counts of first-degree murder in addition to burglary and aggravated assault charges.
The Minuteman American Defense website and blog contains numerous photos of Forde and friends at Minuteman and "Tea Party" events, including an Apr. 15 event in Phoenix at which Forde's favorite protest sign was one reading "Stop the Obama-Nation of America." The site also includes descriptions of immigrants as violent criminals, drug addicts, and "Subhuman Mexicans." Here is a photo of Forde in full border vigilante gear from the Anti-Defamation League:
Forde's mother tells the Everett WA Herald that she was not surprised to hear of her daughter's arrest since she had previously talked of staging home invasions: "She sat here and said that she was going to start a group where they went down and start taking things away from the Mexican mafia...," Forde's mother recalled, "...She was going to kick in their doors and take away the money and the drugs." Forde's mother also says that her daughter called her a few hours after the shootings May 30 and reported that she was taking refuge in a "safe house" in Arivaca: "I'm in hiding," Forde told her mother, "You won't believe what is going down here.... The mafia, they are kicking down doors and they are shooting people and they are looking for me."
Pima County sheriff's lieutenant Michael O'Connor told the local Sahuarita Sun that the killings were an "assassination," and said the killers were also looking for Flores' other daughter, who was not at home at time of the killings. Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik, meanwhile, said that Forde as "at best a pyschopath" (KOLD, KOMO, KVOA, Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
Under pressure from the private medical industry Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana has flip-flopped on the public health care option she once supported. In a letter to Health Care for America Now (HCAN) dated April 11, 2009, Landrieu clearly stated her support for a public insurance option. This week, however, Landrieu withdrew her support for the public option, saying "I don't think it's the right way to go."
Landrieu's reversal on the public option can only be the result of pressure from the medical industry, including the American Medical Association (AMA), insurance, and pharmaceutical interests dedicated to keeping health care in for-profit hands. As the Huffington Post observes based on figures from the Center for Responsive Politics, Landrieu has collected a career total of $1,668,693 in campaign contributions from private health insurance and health care interests. This total includes $607,616 from "health professionals" (i.e., the AMA), $401,731 from insurance interests, $269,645 from hospitals and nursing homes, $224,696 from the pharmaceutical and health products industry, and $165,005 from health services/HMOs (see also Think Progress, Blue Herald).
Tell Senator Landrieu what you think of Democrats who act like Republicans, betraying the people they are sworn to serve in favor of big-money special interests. Louisiana residents can use a contact form at Landrieu's official website. Residents of other states and/or those who don't want to mess with the form can e-mail Landrieu directly at: senator@landrieu.senate.gov.
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
Much is being made in the media of the current tension between the Obama administration and the right-wing government in Tel Aviv on the issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and I fully expect that coverage of Israeli reaction to the tough line on settlements taken by Obama in his Cairo speech will focus on the negative. Equally important but likely to receive far less attention is the applause and support Obama is receiving from Israeli progressives, many of whom are as critical of the settlements as their counterparts in the West.
A sampling of progressive Israeli opinion on Obama and his stand on the settlement issue includes the following from Gideon Levy in Haaretz, predicting hopefully that Binyamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government will ultimately have no choice but to acquiesce to Obama's demands:
"Washington will decide the fate of the West Bank settlements, and we can only hope it insists on their evacuation. Obama standing firm beside the revolutionary Mideast policy he has begun will light the torch of hope here, too. The battle of the titans, Netanyahu and Obama, is little more than a farce - let us recall the fable of the elephant and the bee, or the frog and the ox. Not all creatures can become as great as they think. Let's also be realistic: An Israeli prime minister has no option of saying no to America once Washington has dug in its heels. Netanyahu knows this better than anyone, and the time has come to explain as much to his 'patriotic' coalition allies.... Time is short but the keys are in the ignition, President Obama. Drive on to peace."
Barak Ravid also in Haaretz provides the following comments from progressive Members of the Knesset:
Kadima MK Ze'ev Boim said that "Obama's speech is yet another proof that Netanyahu miscalculated the foreign policy of the new American administration."
"The President's take on the Palestinian question is similar to Kadima's, and it's a shame that narrow political considerations prevented the Israeli government from espousing the two-state solution which is the only one that can ensure a Jewish and democratic existence in Israel."
Kadima MK Yohanan Plesner said that "Israel could benefit from the America's improved image in the Arab world and leverage it to forge a regional coalition, together with the moderate Arab countries, to counter Iran, but instead the government is engaged in marginal debates on outposts."
Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman (Labor) said that Obama was right that the world's common enemy is extremism and that finding a common strategy is the way to defeat it.
"We should adopt a similar strategy in Jewish-Arab and religious-secular relations, as well as vis-a-vis the Palestinians," Braverman said. "We are committed to the two-state solution."
Meretz leader Haim Oron, for his part, welcomed Obama's speech. He said it was filled with inspiration, optimism and vision.
"The speech is the feat of enlightenment," he said.
Negative reaction to Obama's speech from right-wing Israelis, meanwhile, has been predictably harsh. Most outspoken in their opposition to Obama are settlers themselves and their leaders, whose hysterical, lowbrow rhetoric strongly echoes that of right-wing Americans. Like their teabagging U.S. counterparts, right-wing Israelis have taken to throwing Obama's middle name around as an epithet, accusing him of being a closet Muslim and of betraying Israel. Organizers of a right-wing protest outside the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem had the following to say in a press release reported by Arutz Sheva:
"Barack Hussein Obama! Hands off the land of Israel! You cannot appease the Islamic lust for conquest by selling down the Jews and their Biblical homeland."
Settler leaders quoted in Y-Net likewise said that "Hussein Obama opted to adopt the Arab's bogus versions over the Jewish truth" and that Obama's speech "pandered to Islam." Sound familiar?
Reader comments in Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post make it clear that right-wing Israelis and right-wing Americans are finding each other and connecting online, sharing their hatred of Arabs and their contempt of Obama, and hatching all manner of hysterical theories on the coming end of civilization as we know it. Before long American news audiences may see images of their president burned in effigy not by Palestinians in a Gaza refugee camp but by right-wing Israelis in a West Bank settlement. On the other hand, the enthusiastic support Obama continues to receive from Israeli progressives sounds a hopeful note both for the peace effort and for the future of the U.S.-Israeli relationship.
Right-wing hack Glenn Beck has taken on his Fox News talk show to spreading paranoid fantasies of a coming totalitarian America, total economic collapse, and an armed citizens' uprising in defense of the constitution. On the Feb. 20 installment of his "War Room" segment, Beck and a paranoid panel of guests raised the spectre of the "bubba effect," a rise of individual militias across America in response to liberal tyranny, and suggested that America is on the verge of civil war.
The segment is pure melodrama, beginning with a warning that some might find the material disturbing and advising viewer discretion. Beck then opens with a nightmare vision of the year 2014 in Barack Obama's America: All US banks have been nationalized, Beck predicts; unemployment stands at between 12 and 20 percent; the Dow is trading at around 2800; the real estate market has collapsed; the government and unions control most business; and America's credit rating has been severely downgraded. As Beck and his guests continue, the picture gets worse: Since the Democratic victories of 2006 and 2008, the segment suggests, the USA we used to know has been transformed into the Islamic Socialist Republic of Obamistan, where income tax rates have risen to between eighty and ninety-five percent, and where we all must live in fear of the Obamist secret police who will soon be coming to take away our guns and bibles. Beck and his guests predict a Mad Max-like environment in America's cities, which have become no-go zones controlled by armed gangs presumably of angry blacks and illegal aliens. Meanwhile, the disenfranchised and betrayed "bubbas" of America's heartland have taken to setting up armed, self-sufficient communities hostile to outsiders, and to preparing for civil war.
Finally, Beck asks his guests how such a situation might be defused, and they suggest provocatively that perhaps it should not be defused at all but encouraged, since it is government that is at fault and such an uprising would be an uprising against tyranny in defense of the constitution. At this Beck feigns shock and surprise, though his barely-masked excitement at the prospect says he is really just playing along as his guests more-or-less openly advocate the armed overthrow of the US government. Indeed earlier that day on Fox, Beck had played the sad and fearful prophet of doom, showing us his shaking hands to prove how afraid he is at the prospect of civil war in America, and warning us: "You need to prepare."
I wonder how many "bubbas" who watched Beck's show are, even now, stocking up on guns, ammo, and survival supplies for the coming apocalypse: Ka-ching!
Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com
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