US Foreign Policy/Iran

Ceremonial Cleansing.

LITTLE DINE' FOR RECALL ON COLUMBUS DAY — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:12:32 EDT

Friday last I had the honor of attendinding Grandpa Dine's Spiritual cleansing. I was in the circle with my grandpa and many wonderful Native brothers and sisters, whom made a special sacrifice to pray for grandpa all night long, from early evening untill the following day at sunrise.

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.

Swine Flue, AH1 Positive.

LITTLE DINE' FOR RECALL ON COLUMBUS DAY — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:11:33 EDT

Attention all Temecula Residents,
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.

We need your help, for America's future.

LITTLE DINE' FOR RECALL ON COLUMBUS DAY — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:48:04 EDT

There there has been a lot of research conducted on how and why youths are not interested in mainstream politics and voting. The latter is not a phenomenon
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

Attention Native American Youths. all over our great Native Land

LITTLE DINE' FOR RECALL ON COLUMBUS DAY — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:49:50 EDT

For those of you that have aspirations of becoming Public Servants in the not distant future, contact (kalyn@indnslist.org).

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

National Dem Youth Caucass.

LITTLE DINE' FOR RECALL ON COLUMBUS DAY — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:32:25 EDT

I ask that all adults here refrain from joining this group. It is strictly for youths under 22 years of age.
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

Good afternoon all.

LITTLE DINE' FOR RECALL ON COLUMBUS DAY — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 18:18:56 EDT

I just want to wish you all a happy belated birthday to all whom have been blessed with a birthday in the past few days. I have over two thousand friends on my network and it is very hard to keep up. I am getting ready to start school this monday and am looking forward to getting started. I am now a sophmore and looking forward to graduate early by taking advanced courses at Great Oaks High.
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.

Pow Wow upcoming Sycuan Rez.

LITTLE DINE' FOR RECALL ON COLUMBUS DAY — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:32:01 EDT

I greet all our mutual friends. I am happy to announce that on the weekend of September 11 through the 14th, Little Dine' Warrior will be dancing the Gord Dance and other ceremonial dances at the Pow Wow for the first time. He will be in full regalia along with the members of the Soaring Eagles, whereby I hope that all of you that are in the general area of San Diego County will be able to attend the Pow Wow.
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.

A humble invitation

LITTLE DINE' FOR RECALL ON COLUMBUS DAY — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 01:59:25 EDT

I am Dine Warrior and am thankfull to the Great Spirit for the oportunity to be again blogging here on Little Dine,s Party Builder pages. I have been away for quite some time in the land of shadows between the living and the dead. I have regained control of not only one limb but both and can now handle a key board much better versus previously with only one hand.

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

US/Israeli Neocons Celebrate Ahmadinejad Victory as Iran Burns

Mark C. Eades — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:45:30 EDT

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

U.S. Neocons Favor Ahmadinejad in Iranian Election

Mark C. Eades — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:01:41 EDT

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

Israeli Progressives Back Obama on Settlements

Mark C. Eades — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:12:21 EDT

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.

GOP Chairman Rant vs. Reality

Robert Pike — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:30:21 EDT

GOP Chairman Michael Steele's rhetorical rant this morning blaming President Obama for the tsunami of federal deficit spending ignores reality, avoids GOP responsibility, and emits yet another smokescreen in the Republican Party's continuing and sordid efforts to disguise the truth and delude the rank and file of the United States.

Crisis in Juarez, Mexico

Benny — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:12:21 EDT

The current situation in Mexico merits significant attention. Not only has violence been ravaging the streets of multiple Mexican streets, but the violence is crossing the border into the United States and claiming the lives of innocent Americans. We need to actively pursue a means of securing the borer and ensuring that violence in Mexico does not spill over into our country. Furthermore, if he United States is going to serve as a hegemony, than we need to let our presence be known to our neighbors. We need to increase the pressure on Mexican authorities to better regulate their country and to quell violence. We also need to prevent the sale of guns to individuals who have criminal records, no citizenship, and who have not passed a thorough background check. If we fail to act now, bloodshed will become a reality in American cities.

Work of Non-Profits and Community Based Organizations

Benny — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:04:41 EST

This demographic is often overlooked, unappreciated, and definitely underfunded. Non-profit and community based organizations carry out the work in the local communities that is most helpful to the residents of the neighborhood. It is these organizations that have the time to provide individual attention for the American citizens in need. It is therefore imperative that politicians take into account the importance of having these institutions working in the community, and provide adequate funding and support. Often, these organizations carry out the work that city and state governments cannot be bothered to do, and the federal government would never undertake. These organizations need better funding in order to continue to provide the vast number of different services that they provide for local citizens. Without adequate funding, the organizations will have no choice but to lay-off employees, reduce available services, and unfortunately some will cease to exist. If this becomes the case, these organizations will take with them the services they provide for the community, and who will then step up to fill that void in our most hard-hit communities?

Stimulus Plan

Benny — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:50:47 EST

I hope that the new stimulus plan results in available money for the institutions and the people who are committed to ensuring an economic recovery actually occurs. Handing out money to organizations that refuse to put these finances to good use will only worsen the situation. We need to ensure that organizations like non-profit organizations, are receiving adequate funding in order to maintain the same high level of work in the local communities they service. These are the organizations that merit financial support, for they service the people at no cost and truly believe in helping the individuals who come into their offices. Handing money o these greedy organizations that do not but gobble it up and pay lucrative salaries to employees who serve the wealthy, goes against the intended purpose of this economic plan. I believe that President Obama needs to ensure that money is disseminated and put to use. Lets move away from the notion of "trickle-down" economics and move into the future with social-economic policies that better the lives of Americans and limit corporate greed. Big business cannot be the only concern of America. Whether we are red or blue, the most important color right now is green because it represents food, shelter, and livelihood. This plan needs to get green in the hands of those who need it most, not those who created this problem in the first place.

Bailouts, Bubbles & Bad Bets

Robert Pike — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 17:44:49 EST

Bailout bill debates aside, immediate Congressional action is necessary to inhibit another financial real property bubble in the future. These actions must include rescinding both the Gramm-Leach-Bliley and Commodity Futures Modernization Acts of 1999 and 2000. Congress should then readopt the 1933 Glass-Stegall Act. Those actions would ring fence financial institutions from engaging in this greed driven activity in out years, nipping their RICO ACT conduct in the bud.

Obama Reaches Out to Muslim World in Al-Arabiya Interview

Mark C. Eades — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:26:21 EST

President Barack Obama's interview this week with Arab news network Al-Arabiya appears to have been a success. The president's first interview since taking office, his appearance with the network's Washington bureau chief Hisham Melhem was an effort to extend a hand of friendship to the Arab and Muslim world, and included Obama's acknowledgment that Americans "have not been perfect" in their dealings with that world:

"My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives...," Obama told Melhem in the interview, "...My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as twenty or thirty years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that I think is going to be an important task."

Obama's interview included a re-statement of his committments both to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and to follow through on his promise to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital during his first months in office. It also included an aknowledgment of his own personal connections to the Muslim world -- connections for which Republican bigots viciously attacked Obama during the 2008 campaign, but which can hardly hurt him now as he begins the work of repairing US relations with the Muslim world:

"My job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.... And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith -- and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers -- regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams."

Obama's interview with Al-Arabiya comes as his new Mideast envoy, former senator George Mitchell, heads to the region to restart a peace process long neglected by Obama's predecessor, and follows his contact with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas immediately after his inauguration Jan. 20. Obama's overtures to the Muslim world are certain to offend many conservatives, who regard Arabs and Muslims with extreme hostility and suspicion, and who think that the only people in the Middle East we ought to be talking with are the Israelis. Many of these were deeply offended when Obama's first call to a foreign leader was to the Palestinian president instead of his Israeli counterpart, and are likely to be equally offended that his first interview was with Al-Arabiya instead of the Jerusalem Post.

I say tough cookies for them. Elections have consequences. While President Obama has neither said nor done anything to suggest that he is about to "abandon" Israel (as I'm certain his conservative critics would love to charge), he clearly recognizes that a Mideast policy based on an exclusive relationship with Israel and on callous disregard of Arab concerns has not worked. The time for change has come, and from where I sit it looks like President Obama is off to a damn good start.

Israel Faces War Crimes Charges Following Gaza Slaughter

Mark C. Eades — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 16:35:42 EST

(Your Tax Dollars at Work in the Middle East)

The state of Israel is facing charges of war crimes following the slaughter of innocent civilians including hundreds of children in its recent campaign against Palestinian militants on the Gaza Strip. Israel's powerful ally, the United States, also faces charges of complicity in the slaughter as Palestinians declare: "This Damage Made in USA."

UN human rights expert Richard Falk said on Thursday that the recent Israeli military operation on the Gaza Strip "raises the specter of systematic war crimes" and needs to be investigated. Falk told journalists in Geneva from his home in California that he had little doubt as to the "unavoidably inhuman character of a large-scale military operation of the sort that Israel has initiated... against an essentially defenseless population." Charging that "unlawful targets have been selected" by Israeli forces during the fighting, Falk insisted that Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip including children and the wounded were effectively trapped in a war zone and prevented from fleeing.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued demands for a full explanation of "outrageous" Israeli attacks on UN facilities on the Gaza Strip including a school used as a refuge for civilians, killing dozens. The UN chief noted that Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert had promised to provide results of an Israeli inquiry into the attacks "on an urgent basis" and said he would then decide on "appropriate follow-up action." On January 12, the 47-member UN Human Rights Council voted by a large majority to launch an investigation into "grave" human rights violations by Israeli forces against Palestinians. Israel is also facing questions from human rights groups regarding the use of illegal weapons, including white phosphorus munitions, against Palestinian civilians on the Gaza Strip.

These charges come amid renewed calls for a global boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel from groups such as the Global BDS Movement. Recently, Canadian journalist Naomi Klein wrote in support of such a boycott: "The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa." Some are also calling for a boycott of US exports for its continuing support of Israeli actions against Palestinians.

The Palestinian death toll from Israel's recent war on Gaza currently stands at around 1300, most of whom were innocent civilians, and around a third of whom were children. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians were killed in Israel during the same period, an indicator of Israel's massively disproportionate response to Palestinian attacks on Israelis. A total of twenty-eight Israelis have been killed by Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip since 2001, a tiny fraction of the number of Palestinians killed in Israel's recent Gaza actions alone. These numbers echo casualty figures from the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict which consistently show innocent Palestinian dead including children massively outnumbering Israelis.

Rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip deserve both condemnation by the international community and a proportionate response by Israel. The killing of one Israeli in a rocket attack does not, however, entitle Israel to respond by slaughtering twenty, thirty, or forty innocent Palestinian civilians. Such slaughter, furthermore, will no more stop Hamas' rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip than it stopped Hezbollah's rocket attacks from Lebanon in 2006. Just as Hezbollah could declare victory in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war simply by surviving to fight another day, so Hamas can declare victory in Gaza this day. Meanwhile, Israel increasingly becomes a pariah state in the eyes of the world, as does the United States for its complicity in the slaughter. Ever-growing anger particularly in the Arab world serves America's national security interests no better than it serves Israel's.

Behold, America: Your tax dollars at work in the Middle East.

Out of the tragedy of Gaza, perhaps, will come renewed opportunity to hold Israel accountable for its actions, to press for a new US policy on the Middle East, for peace, and for an end to Israel's long and bloody occupation of the Palestinian Territories. Boycott, divestment, and sanctions efforts such as those promoted by the Global BDS Movement have a proven track record of success as in the case of South Africa, and deserve our support. UN efforts to hold Israel accountable for its actions also deserve our support, but are likely to require UN Security Council action of the type America with its power of veto most often and most notoriously obstructs. Pressure, therefore, needs to be applied to the White House and Congress for a new US approach to the conflict and a new US attitude in the UN Security Council. Whether our new ambassador to the UN offers active support with a "yes" vote or passive permission by abstaining on UN efforts to hold Israel accountable for its actions, our message to the new administration regarding these efforts can be stated clearly and briefly as follows: NO VETO!

Sources: Agence France Presse, Time, Los Angeles Times, Haaretz, New Straits Times, Bay Area Indymedia, B'Tselem, Human Rights Watch.

Slide show: Gaza Massacre by Sabbah.

Photo gallery: Child victims of Gaza violence.

Contacts:

The White House

US Mission to the UN

Contact your US Senators

Contact your US Representative

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com

Foreign Policy Inquiry

Benny — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:34:49 EST

How long exactly are we going to remain on the ground in Iraq? Are we ever going to provide the necessary shift of troop strength from Iraq to Afghanistan? When are we going to allow the international community to take a greater role in affairs that are closer to their side of the world?

Essentially, I am interested in knowing if any changes in our foreign policy are going to take place or are we continuing failed policy. If we continue to ignore the issues that exist on a domestic level, choosing instead to focus on the international community, how are we ever going to rectify our problems here at home? Should we resign ourselves to a worldwide "policing" role? The last time I was abroad, which was fairly recent, I didn't get the sentiment that other nations were calling out for our assistance. Those that were, they needed aid, not military presence.

Your Tax Dollars at Work in the Middle East: Palestinians Forced from East Jerusalem Homes by Israeli Settlers Despite US Protests

Mark C. Eades — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:04:44 EST

On the night of Nov. 22, a group of Israeli settlers descended on the Jerusalem home of Palestinian resident Fatima al-Daoudi while the owner was away visiting relatives, changing the locks on the gates and putting a metal sheet over an open-air porch built in by the al-Daoudi family in 1948. Although an eviction order was obtained by the al-Daoudi family and the settlers removed, the order was only temporary and the settlers are expected to return, eventually to stay as the al-Daoudi family is forced to seek housing elsewhere. Residents of the same house since 1930, the al-Daoudi family now faces the prospect of joining the many other Palestinian residents of Jerusalem who, like those in the neighboring West Bank, have been turned into homeless refugees by expanding Israeli settlements (PNN).

Despite US and international protests, a similar fate recently befell the family of Mohammed al-Kurd and his wife Fawzieh, residents of their East Jerusalem home since 1956. Evicted in a pre-dawn raid by Israeli police, the al-Kurd family was forced to move into a tent on private land rented from a Palestinian neighbor while Israeli settlers moved into their home of more than fifty years. Israeli harassment against the family continued, however, including repeated demolition of the tent in which they had been forced to live despite its location on private Palestinian land. To make matters worse, Mr. al-Kurd suffered from complications related to diabetes, of which he finally passed away on Nov. 23. As Mrs. al-Kurd, her children, and her grandchildren mourn Mr. al-Kurd's death, the family's future remains in question (PNN, BBC, AFP, Haaretz, AIC).

As Haaretz reported prior to the al-Kurds' eviction from their home, the US filed an official protest with Israel for acts against Palestinians including the eviction of the al-Kurd family and harassment of Palestinian residents by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The US complaint was obviously ignored. Such complaints from US officials including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have grown more frequent in recent months according to a separate Haaretz report, drawing the ire of some Israeli officials, who suggest the US is meddling in local affairs that are none of its business. Despite overriding US concern for Israeli interests and massive US aid to Israel, it would seem that the Israelis have little regard for US and international opinion on the human rights of Palestinians. Billions of your tax dollars go to Israel each year, yet even the most restrained US complaints against settlement expansion and abuse of Palestinians go ignored by those who are supposedly America's best friends and a beacon of democracy in the Middle East. Meanwhile, anger toward both Israel and America festers throughout the Arab world.

President-elect Obama has told us that "the time for change has come." Has the time come for this long, sad state of affairs to change?

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com