Another World Is Possible...

Progressives, Catch this Movie- Sunday 3:30, at the Drexel East...

User from Columbus, OH — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:55:28 EDT

Thom Andersen screens his critically acclaimed documentary,
'Los Angles Plays Itself'
3:30 this Sunday afternoon- not to be missed!

Jeremiah Wright and the prophets of profit...

User from Columbus, OH — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:12:57 EDT

Sara Robinson makes up half of the (highly recommended) blogsite ORCINUS.

She also posts at the 'Campaign for America's Future' where she just published a thoughtful article that locates Rev. Jeremiah Wright's ministry in the dispute between progressive 'Liberation Theology' and a consumerist 'Word of Faith'/ 'Prosperity Gospel' prevalent in those evangelical mega churches run by authoritarian-Republican-millionaire-preachers like McCain's, not-so-spiritual advisor, Rod Parsley, some excerpts:

'... whatever followers give to their preacher, God will return several times over. Forget the bank: if you need a thousand dollars, give the church a hundred, and wait for your supernatural return on investment. Forget the doctor: if you're sick or injured, a little extra in the bucket will incentivize God to restore your health.
In an unapologetic return to the glory days before the Reformation, the system even allows people to buy indulgences: you can atone for your sins by helping the pastor buy that new Palm Springs golf retreat his ministry so badly needs!
... Wright is very sharp thorn in these people's sides. As long as he and his friends [are] out there, their 30-year investment in the whole Word of Life movement is at risk. Obama's candidacy put him in the spotlight, and thus magnified the threat. So now he has very powerful enemies on the religious and political right.' READ THE ARTICLE

Fleecing desperate people without means is one thing- I'm surprised these characters aren't in the 'payday loan' business yet. But focusing on the shaky position of middle class believers, apprehensive about their economic future (or simply wanting more), provides a new perspective on the term 'value$ voter', doesn't it?

By-the-way, this trend also has a 'New Age' variant- 'The Secret'- promoted by Oprah and explored in this send-up by Australian comedy group: 'THE CHASERS'.

Dennis Kucinich on Iraqi Deaths

User from Columbus, OH — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:57:02 EDT

Watch it:

OUT OF IRAQ BLOGGERS CAUCUS

User from Columbus, OH — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:07:12 EDT

Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus Blogs:

A Poetic Justice
Affable Atheist
Alien Trucker
Anatolian Storms
And, yes, I DO take it personally
APJ Newsletter
Army of Dude
BabyWhisperingLoudly
Ben Heine - Cartoons
BFD Blog!
Big Tent Democrat @ Talkleft
Blazing Indiscretions
Blind In Texas
Blue Girl, Red State
Blue Musings
Coffee House Studio
Concerned TN Citizens
Cut to the Chase
Daily Scare
Decline and Fall
Docudharma
Dr. X's Free Associations
Dystopian USA
Echoing Voices Against War
Edgeing
exmearden
Faith In Honest Doubt
Fides Quaerens Intellectum
Fire on the Mountain
freedetainees.org
GDAEman
Gold Star Mom Speaks Out
Happening Here
Intrepid Liberal Journal
Invictus: A blog on U.S. Politics and the Fight Against Torture
Iraq Newsladder
Iraq Today
Iraq Update
Kmareka
Left End of the Dial
Left Wing Nut Job
Left-Handed Elephant
Lost Chord
Lotus - Surviving a Dark Time
Making The World Safe For Hypocrisy
March 19 Iraq War Blogswarm
Meteor Blades @ Daily Kos
Michael Leon: MAL Contends
Michigan Class Notes
Middle Earth Journal
My Buffalo River Home
My Thinking Spot
No Rest for the Awake - Minagahet Chamorro
OCD Gen X Liberal
one tenacious baby mama
Photomontage
Pissed On Politics
Poetryman Productions
Poets for Peace
Radamisto
Raw Dawg Buffalo
Real Liberal Christian Church
Real's World
Rubicon
San Francisco Impeach Now!
SanchoPress
Screaming In An Empty Room
Shuck and Jive
Sinister
Sirens Chronicles
Skeptical Eye
SocraticGadfly
The Anti-War Theatre
The Art of Peace
The Barefoot Bum
The Consumer Trap
The Existentialist Cowboy
The Garlic
The Liberal Doomsayer
The Liberal Journal
The Mandarin
The Motley Patriot
The New Fatigue Press
The Newshoggers
The ORIGIN Playhouse
The Osterley Times
The Paragraph
The Peace Tree
ThePoliticalCat
Truthiness - News From The Gut
Uppity Wisconsin
Urban Unrest
Varied Video
VidiotSpeak
Watching Those We Chose
Welcome to the Revolution
Whispers from the Wild
Worldwide Sawdust
Wounded Times
WWJV4 ~ Who Would Jesus Vote For?
Wyan.blog

Iraqi Deaths Due to US Invasion

User from Columbus, OH — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:42:47 EDT

Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints, the back-story

User from Columbus, OH — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:54:11 EDT

The media seems oblivious to the FLDS back-story
(and the possibility of a violent reaction viz. Jamestown
and Waco).

'The FLDS preaches 'blood atonement', the right of
the patriarchs to kill apostates who dare to defy them,
usually by slitting their throats. And they've done it: ...
Brenda Lafferty and her year-old daughter...were both
killed by her husband's brothers because Brenda
rejected (and mocked) her husband's desire to take
plural wives.'

-From an excellent series of articles by Sara Robinson
writing on the Orcinus blogspot.

Close to 1 in 5 Iraqis are refugees...

User from Columbus, OH — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:51:36 EDT

Watch It:

ENABLING TORTURE...

User from Columbus, OH — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:53:19 EDT

John Yoo's War Crimes by Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com

Yet again, the ACLU has performed the function which Congress and the media are intended to perform but do not. As the result of a FOIA lawsuit the ACLU filed and then prosecuted for several years, numerous documents relating to the Bush administration's torture regime that have long been baselessly kept secret were released yesterday, including an 81-page Memorandum issued in 2003 by then- Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo which asserted that the President's war powers entitle him to ignore multiple laws which criminalized the use of torture..

As I was walking up the stair, I met a man who wasn't there...

User from Columbus, OH — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:25:24 EDT

From that indispensable resource, Chip Berlet, and 'Political Research Associates', the most comprehensive analysis I*ve seen of a new, rapidly proliferating conspiracist theme:

The North American Union. Right-wing Populist Conspiracism Rebounds

The same right-wing populist fears of a collectivist one-world government and
new world order that fueled Cold War anticommunism, mobilized opposition to the Civil Rights Movement, and spawned the armed citizens militia movement in the 1990s, have resurfaced as an elaborate conspiracy theory about the alleged impending creation of a North American Union that would merge the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

MYOPIA AND THE TOLL IN IRAQ

User from Columbus, OH — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:41:51 EDT

I recently POSTED about Iraqi mortality rates attributable to unjust war and occupation by the U.S. I cited the most robust and rigorously scientific studies to date- the Johns Hopkins cluster survey, as updated by additional studies and extrapolations.
The result is the ghastly figure of 1,200,000 Iraqi men, women and children dead, primarily by gunshot.

How does one explain the recurring fact that, among those who write in opposition to the war, are some for whom this grievous Iraqi toll is invisible?

An example: recent anti-war posts on ProgressOhio with titles such as:

'How Much More Are Americans Willing To Pay For President Bush's War in Iraq?'
'The Bush Administration's Upside-Down Priorities, End The War And Invest In America's Future'
and the morally provocative '5th Anniversary of the Iraq War: Bleeding America Dry'

Iraqi losses are mentioned in none of them.

It's as if Iraqi blood, real blood not the U.S. dollars referred to above, a torrent of it, is of no consequence. That's the only conclusion I can draw from copy such as:

'We are sickened by the waste. The war is projected to cost $3 trillion, while 47 million Americans go without health care coverage.
We are outraged at the betrayal. After our brave soldiers have served in Iraq, they come home to slashes in funding for veterans programs, and a broken economy.
And our hearts break for the families and communities of the nearly 4,000 U.S. servicemen and women who have died, and the 60,000 wounded...'

All very true, but only a part of the equation. Americans aren't the only people in the world who matter. Wasn't thinking that gives more weight to the distress of people who happen to be 'American' than it does to those in the rest of the world used by the administration to provoke this war in the first place? Doesn't ignoring the centrality of 1,200,000 deaths in our discourse on the war reflect a defect in our moral compass?

But then, maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe they write-out the Iraqi toll, not due to a blind spot where Iraqis are concerned, but, purposefully, as a act of self-censorship. Perhaps they believe common people are primarily motivated by economic self-interest. If so, aren't they selling us short and discounting our sense of outrage at the suffering of others?

This war needs to end- but only a movement that refuses to marginalize Iraqi suffering is up to the task. Only by recognizing our common humanity- and the sense of solidarity that recognition engenders- can we sustain our activity to end this war for empire, and, possibly, prevent the next.

PLA, The Predatory Lending Association

User from Columbus, OH — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:50:21 EDT

PREDATORY LENDING:Articles
and links

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One Way Ticket to Our Blacklist

Buying Off Non-Profits

Learn how to buy off a non-profit to create the illusion of community support for your business.

Make Your Voice Heard

Write your representatives to tell them the truth about the PLA and payday lending.

The Predatory Lending Association (PLA) is dedicated to extracting maximum profit from the working poor by increasing payday loan fees and debt traps. The working poor are an exciting, fast growing demographic that includes: military personnel, minorities, and most of the middle class.

Report Shows Consumers Better Off Without Payday Loans
PLA response: Society can’t control the... (read more)

Predatory Lending Tools

This One's Nothin' Like Vietnam...

User from Columbus, OH — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:50:42 EDT

except for the bullets, except for the bombs
except for the youth that's gone

-From my entry for the most trenchant anti-Iraq war song 'LIGHT UP YA LIGHTER' by Michael Franti and 'Spearhead.' LYRICS

1,200,000 Iraqi Deaths Attributable to U.S. Unjust War...

User from Columbus, OH — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:57:45 EDT

The best estimate for 'excess Iraqi deaths' attributable to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is the 2006 cluster study printed in 'The Lancet.'

That ROBUST study has since been updated and confirmed by Opinion Research Business, a British polling company.

1,200,000 IRAQI DEATHS represents the best scientific estimate available to date.

That's approximately 5% of the Iraqi population of 26,000,000.

If the U.S., with a much larger population, were to sustain that level of fatalities, we would be looking at 14,000,000 deaths.

Of course, for political reasons, the 'Lancet' study has been attacked by apologists for the Bush administration. The AUTHOR has fought back.

(In my opinion, any discussion by progressives of 'the costs of the war' that 'overlooks' this toll. inflicts yet another wound on the Iraqi People.)

Progressives, Catch this movie- Now at the Drexel East...

User from Columbus, OH — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:03:44 EDT

See THIS POST.

Democrats- Moving Right on Immigration?

User from Columbus, OH — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:38:50 EDT

This is the third in a series of posts, from various viewpoints, on the Democratic Party and it's role with regard to progressive social change.

It is from the good folks at ORCINUS, who I can't reccommend too highly, and concerns a discussion taking place among Democrat policy-makers on how to frame the immigration debate.

Excerpt:

The study urges Democrats to adopt more rigid rhetoric when discussing immigration by encouraging office-holders to emphasize 'requiring immigrants to become legal' rather than stressing border enforcement and the opening of a path to legalization for the undocumented already here.

They also have a lengthy 3 part series on immigration, from a progressive perspective, that is the most comprehensive I've seen.

Trojan Horse: When the Fascist Right Woos Progressives...

User from Columbus, OH — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:50:08 EDT

I attempt, in my political practice, to alert progressives to the dangers of the political disorientation that can occur when the hard right attempts to break out of their marginal status by pitching their message of ethnocentrism and exclusion to a broader audience, including, increasingly, progressives.

They do this by finding vehicles that afford them that opportunity. They are working overtime in the 911 'Truth' movement, the Ron Paul Campaign and within the anti-immigration movement, to name a few.

Here"s an instructive example of an EXPLICIT effort by fascists to pitch their politics to, in this case, ANARCHIST YOUTH.

This particular effort is a part of a developed fascist political movement known as 'THIRD POSITSIONISM' which claims to be neither 'Right nor Left'.

Of course this is just a shuck since their message is extreme-right, namely- white racial nationalism. This essay by honest 'GREEN ANARCHISTS' exposes such NATIONAL 'ANARCHIST' efforts.

Excerpt:

'There is a wave of fascist groups that are attempting to cross-recruit by sporting Che t-shirts and Palestinian scarves, even marching in Black Blocs! ..., they... are attempting to pull people from anarchist and left movements into the white racist milieu.'

It's an INTERNATIONAL strategy as well.

It's now generally acknowledged that we're in a recession. As conditions worsen, these marginal forces will doubtless appeal to a wider audience, especially if progressives don't educate themselves and expose the threat in it's infancy.

'Ding Dong Belle,' Something Wicked This Way Winds

User from Columbus, OH — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:18:16 EDT

Sherry Clark, an activist with the Columbus 911 'Truth" grouplet, posts on ProgressOhio's community blog under the nom de plume 'Liberty Belle'. The post I am concerned with was also published, in her own name, HERE.

'Liberty Belle"s' POST concerns Republican Party's nominee-designate, John McCain. It weaves together several older-than-dirt, right-wing conspiracist themes, including the Israeli Defense Force's 1968 attack on A U.S. SPY SHIP and the DISCREDITED ASSERTION that POW's were held captive long after the war ended.

She really reaches her stride, however, when she discusses how McCain's family wealth helped him get started in Arizona politics. Her case is that McCain's father-in-law, Jim Hensley, was a mobbed-up underling of the Meyer Lansky crime syndicate who "took the fall' for federal liquor violations and was rewarded with a beer distributorship that he parlayed into a $200 million empire.

She cites nary a source for her claims BUT she has excellent reasons for not doing so- THE PERSON SHE LIFTED THE STORY FROM- ALMOST WORD-FOR-WORD AND WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION- DIDN'T CITE ANY EITHER!!!

The use of another's published words without attribution is 'PLAGIARISM.' Among writers, it's an unforgivable transgression. While I find the act tawdry and unprincipled, I'm not as invested in the issue as some.

I AM, however, implacably opposed to HARD-RIGHT EXTREMISTS: neo-nazis, xenophobes, antisemites, Holocaust-deniers, white racial nationalists etc. and their VIOLENT message of HATE and EXCLUSION. Every category I just listed accurately describes Michael Collins Piper, the author 'Liberty Belle' finds so articulate and credible that she attempts to pass off his words as her own. Piper is a long-time 'reporter' with the neo-nazi 'AMERICAN FREE PRESS' and is currently recycling this 2000 article of his from the LIBERTY LOBBY paper 'THE SPOTLIGHT' founded by notorious antisemite WILLIS CARTO.

People other than 'Liberty Belle' value Piper as an important source, including his close comrade-in-arms , DAVID DUKE, who puplished the article in it's entirety.

I substantiate the charge of plagiarism in 'Ding Dong Belle, Part II'

'Ding Dong Belle' II, 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'

User from Columbus, OH — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:01:28 EDT

In another post- 'Ding Dong Belle'- I claimed that Sherry Clark, a 911 'Truth' activist who posts as 'Liberty Belle', (and poses as a progressive) plagiarized the work of Michael Collins Piper, a 'reporter' for the neo-nazi 'American Free Press.'

Here's the evidence- first the neo-nazi's words followed directly by 'Liberty Belle's' Xerox copies, which are all in caps:

McCain's father-in-law got his start as a top henchman for Kemper Marley, who, for 40 years until his death in 1990 at age 84, was the undisputed behind-the-scenes political boss of Arizona. But Marley was much more than a machine politician. In fact, he was also the Lansky crime syndicate's top man in Arizona.
JIM HENSLEY GOT HIS START AS A HENCHMEN FOR KEMPER MARLEY, WHICH WAS THE BEHIND THE SCENES (SIC) POLITIAL (SIC) BOSS AND LANSKY CRIME FAMILY'S TOP MAN OF (SIC) ARIZONA.

In 1948, 52 of Marley's employees (including Jim Hensley) went to jail for federal liquor violations...
MARLEY BUILT UP A LIQUOR DISTRIBUTION MONOPOLY IN ARIZONA, BUT IN 1948, 52 EMPLOYEES OF MARLEY'S WENT TO JAIL FOR FEDERAL LIQUOR VIOLATIONS, INCLUDING JIM HENSLEY.

The story in Arizona is that Hensley took the fall for Marley and, upon his release from prison, Marley paid back Hensley's loyalty by setting him up in the beer distribution business. That beer company today, said to be worth $200 million, is what largely financed John McCain's political career.
SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT FOR PAYMENT FOR HIS LOYALTY, KEMPER MARLEY SET HIM UP IN THE BEER DISTRIBUTION BUSINESS, WHICH IS NOW WORTH $200 MILLION AND HAS HELPED TO FINANCE MCCAIN'S POLITICAL CAREER.

While John McCain himself cannot be held personally responsible for the sins of his father-in-law, the fact is that this "reformer" owes his political and financial fortunes to the good graces of the biggest names in organized crime. Today, the Las Vegas gambling industry is among McCain's primary financial benefactors.
THE LAS VEGAS GAMBLING INDUSTRY IS ALSO AMONG MCCAIN'S PRIMARY FINANCIAL BACKERS. OF COURSE, JOHN MCCAIN HIMSELF CAN NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE SINS OF HIS FATHER-IN-LAW, BUT THE FACT IS, THAT THIS 'REFORMER' OWES HIS POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL FORTUNES TO SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN ORGANIZED CRIME.

You may read the original Michael Collins Piper piece HERE at the American Free Press or on the website of his close comrade, racist DAVID DUKE

WARNING: these sites exhibit antisemitic and racist 'discourse' but (IMO) people NEED to be aware of the sinister forces gnawing at the body politic. I also highly reccommend the respected Southern Poverty Law Center's 'INTELLIGENCE REPORT' for more information.

The next post in this series looks at the established history of promoting antisemites, neo-nazis and their ilk by Columbus 911 'Truth' activists despite efforts by concerned individuals to caution them not to do so.

THE DEMOCRATS AFTER NOVEMBER- MIKE DAVIS- January 2007

User from Columbus, OH — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:19:02 EST

The second in a series of articles from diverse sources on the Democratic Party and prospects for progressive change.

With anti-war sentiment growing--if still passive--in the US, how will Democrats use their recapture of Congress? Mike Davis analyses likely outcomes on the questions--Iraq, corruption, economic insecurity--that confront a Party leadership hooked on corporate dollars, and myopically gazing towards 2008.

Excerpts:

Indeed the Democratic leadership--the Black Caucus and a few notable progressives aside--has exploited domestic resentment against Bush policies in Iraq to consolidate, not debunk, the underlying Washington consensus about the War on Terrorism.

The Democratic leadership likewise has deliberately avoided a debate on the constitutional implications of the Patriot Act; not a single prominent Democrat has proposed the straightforward rollback of the totalitarian powers claimed by the presidency since 9/11.

The next election cycle will be the most expensive in history, and Hillary Clinton is unlikely to relish congressional hearings into the crimes of the pharmaceutical, oil and military-construction industries that could unleash massive corporate retaliation against her in 2008. From a strategic perspective, it makes far more sense for the Democrats to concentrate congressional exposés on a handful of Administration villains, while quietly rebuilding parity of representation on K Street, where many of the winged monkeys are reputedly rejoicing at their recent liberation from DeLay, the wicked witch of Texas.

Read the entire article HERE

A Blood Pressure Lowering Guide to the Democratic Party and Democrats by Chris Townsend

User from Columbus, OH — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:20:04 EST

The first of a series of articles, from various perspectives, on the Democratic Party U.S.A. and the prospects for significant social change:

Excerpt:

Over the past seventy years, many working people and most unions have tended to regularly support the Democratic Party. That sometimes brought tangible results for working people, such as enactment of the various New Deal programs of the later 1930s. In recent years, Democrats holding office have survived by promising just slightly more to working people than the Republicans and working a skillful "if-the-Republican-wins-the-sky-will-fall" strategy. Combine it with the fact that both parties will go to great lengths to legalistically bar any third party candidate from challenging their de facto monopoly, and there you have it. This is the political straightjacket that working people wear. They don't call it the two-party trap for nothing.

Read the entire article HERE