Show 192 - Cyber-Lynching the Troublemakers
by Dan Carlin
Common Sense
Dan expresses a concern about reform-minded political troublemakers being digitally "framed" by governments around the world. "Ben" thinks that's nutty conspiracy talk. What do you think?
1. Privacy Information
2. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speech "Why I am opposed to the war in Vietnam"
3. "Analysis: A warning to Arab dictators" by Khaled Abu Toameh, January 15, 2011.
4. "Arab League chief says Tunisia is dire warning" by Maggie Michael for the Associated Press, January 19, 2011.
5. "Egyptian, Algerian, Mauritanian set selves alight" by Hamza Hendawi for the Associated press, January 17, 2011.
6. "Trends analyst predicts global youth uprising, ‘progressive libertarians’ in 2011" by Stephen C. Webster for The Raw Story, January 11th, 2011
To Listen to the Episode and Access Sources
Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Stephen Salisbury: Extremist Killing Is as American as Apple Pie -- Murders Grow on the Far Right Four Decades After Martin Luther King
Extremist Killing Is as American as Apple Pie: Murders Grow on the Far Right Four Decades After Martin Luther King
By Stephan Salisbury
TomDispatch
...
White Men Are Never Labeled Terrorists
That leads to a common thread among these murderous incidents. None has been labeled the work of terrorists by authorities or the media. All involved white men, most of whom -- like Jared Loughner in Tucson -- have been deemed troubled or disturbed by authorities and various media outlets. Even Jim David Adkisson, the unemployed truck driver who attacked the Knoxville church because he believed it was “a cult” and a haven for Democrats and secular liberals, has not been characterized as a political terrorist. Adkisson was a fan of the writings and shows of right-wing media personalities Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, and Sean Hannity, according to authorities who searched his residence after the 2008 shootings. However, his primary motivation, according to those same authorities, was the imminent loss of food stamps and inability to find a job.
Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into the Austin IRS building in an eerie echo of the 9/11 attacks, is also not a terrorist -- just a plain old suicide. The Maine dirty-bomb maker, who amassed quantities of hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide, and magnesium ribbon, a terrorist? No, just a “disturbed individual.”
Arizona, of course, has seen a lot of extremist political activity in recent years. In fact, even as Jared Loughner was gunning down 20 people inside the Safeway on North Oracle Road on January 8th, the murder trial of Shawna Forde, head of the anti-immigrant Minutemen American Defense group, was getting underway in nearby Pima County Superior Court. Forde and two associates have been charged with the shooting death of a man, the wounding of his wife, and the killing of the couple’s nine-year-old daughter during a June 2009 robbery aimed at funding her extremist political activities.
These are America’s killing fields, coast to coast, yet the commentary and debate in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting revolves around political rhetoric in Washington. Both sides need to tone it down, we’re told. There have been endless discussions on television and radio, newspaper commentary and Internet postings all focused on the issue of overheated political talk -- as if Jared Loughner somehow leaped full-grown from the forehead of Glenn Beck.
Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck did not send Jared Loughner out to kill, even if their extreme lock-and-load rhetoric -- Beck, brandishing a baseball bat, has warned his viewers to watch out during the next “killing spree” -- has helped legitimate such talk. What they have certainly done is help create an inspirational environment where it is perfectly normal for Tea Party extremists to attend political rallies while packing pistols. Indeed, packing pistols is the point, isn’t it?
That said, conservative columnist David Brooks, in an astonishingly superficial argument, wrote in the New York Times that those who drag politics into public debate over the killing of political figures and government officials are leveling “vicious charges” and lack empathy for the mentally ill. Brooks gravely wagged his finger at those -- he singled out MSNBC commentator Keith Olberman, former Senator Gary Hart, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas -- who have argued that violent rhetoric from the Tea Party and Sarah Palin set the table for the Tucson shootings. (Of course Congresswoman Giffords herself chastised Palin for putting her district in the now-infamous gun-sight crosshairs. Does Brooks include her, too, in excoriating “vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness”?)
How sugary is Brooks’ argument? Compare it to what he wrote following the shooting rampage that took place at Fort Hood in November 2009. In that murderous incident, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was ultimately charged with killing 13 and wounding over 30. Hasan, a Muslim psychiatrist, was clearly disturbed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (he was about to be deployed to the latter) and his deteriorating mental state had been a concern to officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
That was before Hasan snapped. Despite documented psychiatric worries, the issue of terrorism quickly dominated public discussion of Hasan’s act.
At the time, Brooks derided talk of Hasan’s mental state and characterized those who brought it up as casting “a shroud of political correctness” over the Hasan “narrative.”
“The conversation in the first few days after the massacre was well intentioned, but it suggested a willful flight from reality,” Brooks intoned. “It ignored the fact that the war narrative of the struggle against Islam is the central feature of American foreign policy. It ignored the fact that this narrative can be embraced by a self-radicalizing individual in the U.S. as much as by groups in Tehran, Gaza or Kandahar.”
So much for “vicious charges” and empathy. They are apparently reserved for young white males in Tucson; Muslims need not apply.
Meanwhile, the bodies are piling up in Arizona and Tennessee, Kansas and Pennsylvania. The Homeland Security Department issued a lonely cautionary report in 2009 on the rising tide of right-wing extremism; it was loudly hooted down by right-wing radio celebrities like Rush Limbaugh and Internet pundits like Michelle Malkin. The killings and the attacks went on.
Now, we have arrived at another Martin Luther King Day, the birthday of a man gunned down by a right-wing extremist more than 40 years ago and, while we talk endlessly about rhetoric, we have done a remarkable job of ignoring the growing pile of bodies. The murderous right wing is still with us. The racists and the skinheads and the neo-Nazis are still here. Sales of Glock semi-automatic guns are skyrocketing in the wake of Tucson. The growing piles of bodies is real evidence of growing extremist activity. What could be plainer or starker?
Congressman Peter King, the New York Republican who now heads the House Homeland Security Committee, is planning to hold hearings on Muslim radicalization in America when the new Congress convenes. Muslims, he said in the wake of the Tucson killings, are recruited by "foreign" terrorists, while Loughner is just a "deranged" American, the latest in a long line of deranged Americans.
What place is this? Where are we now?
To Read the Entire Essay
By Stephan Salisbury
TomDispatch
...
White Men Are Never Labeled Terrorists
That leads to a common thread among these murderous incidents. None has been labeled the work of terrorists by authorities or the media. All involved white men, most of whom -- like Jared Loughner in Tucson -- have been deemed troubled or disturbed by authorities and various media outlets. Even Jim David Adkisson, the unemployed truck driver who attacked the Knoxville church because he believed it was “a cult” and a haven for Democrats and secular liberals, has not been characterized as a political terrorist. Adkisson was a fan of the writings and shows of right-wing media personalities Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage, and Sean Hannity, according to authorities who searched his residence after the 2008 shootings. However, his primary motivation, according to those same authorities, was the imminent loss of food stamps and inability to find a job.
Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into the Austin IRS building in an eerie echo of the 9/11 attacks, is also not a terrorist -- just a plain old suicide. The Maine dirty-bomb maker, who amassed quantities of hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide, and magnesium ribbon, a terrorist? No, just a “disturbed individual.”
Arizona, of course, has seen a lot of extremist political activity in recent years. In fact, even as Jared Loughner was gunning down 20 people inside the Safeway on North Oracle Road on January 8th, the murder trial of Shawna Forde, head of the anti-immigrant Minutemen American Defense group, was getting underway in nearby Pima County Superior Court. Forde and two associates have been charged with the shooting death of a man, the wounding of his wife, and the killing of the couple’s nine-year-old daughter during a June 2009 robbery aimed at funding her extremist political activities.
These are America’s killing fields, coast to coast, yet the commentary and debate in the wake of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting revolves around political rhetoric in Washington. Both sides need to tone it down, we’re told. There have been endless discussions on television and radio, newspaper commentary and Internet postings all focused on the issue of overheated political talk -- as if Jared Loughner somehow leaped full-grown from the forehead of Glenn Beck.
Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck did not send Jared Loughner out to kill, even if their extreme lock-and-load rhetoric -- Beck, brandishing a baseball bat, has warned his viewers to watch out during the next “killing spree” -- has helped legitimate such talk. What they have certainly done is help create an inspirational environment where it is perfectly normal for Tea Party extremists to attend political rallies while packing pistols. Indeed, packing pistols is the point, isn’t it?
That said, conservative columnist David Brooks, in an astonishingly superficial argument, wrote in the New York Times that those who drag politics into public debate over the killing of political figures and government officials are leveling “vicious charges” and lack empathy for the mentally ill. Brooks gravely wagged his finger at those -- he singled out MSNBC commentator Keith Olberman, former Senator Gary Hart, and Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas -- who have argued that violent rhetoric from the Tea Party and Sarah Palin set the table for the Tucson shootings. (Of course Congresswoman Giffords herself chastised Palin for putting her district in the now-infamous gun-sight crosshairs. Does Brooks include her, too, in excoriating “vicious charges made by people who claimed to be criticizing viciousness”?)
How sugary is Brooks’ argument? Compare it to what he wrote following the shooting rampage that took place at Fort Hood in November 2009. In that murderous incident, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was ultimately charged with killing 13 and wounding over 30. Hasan, a Muslim psychiatrist, was clearly disturbed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (he was about to be deployed to the latter) and his deteriorating mental state had been a concern to officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
That was before Hasan snapped. Despite documented psychiatric worries, the issue of terrorism quickly dominated public discussion of Hasan’s act.
At the time, Brooks derided talk of Hasan’s mental state and characterized those who brought it up as casting “a shroud of political correctness” over the Hasan “narrative.”
“The conversation in the first few days after the massacre was well intentioned, but it suggested a willful flight from reality,” Brooks intoned. “It ignored the fact that the war narrative of the struggle against Islam is the central feature of American foreign policy. It ignored the fact that this narrative can be embraced by a self-radicalizing individual in the U.S. as much as by groups in Tehran, Gaza or Kandahar.”
So much for “vicious charges” and empathy. They are apparently reserved for young white males in Tucson; Muslims need not apply.
Meanwhile, the bodies are piling up in Arizona and Tennessee, Kansas and Pennsylvania. The Homeland Security Department issued a lonely cautionary report in 2009 on the rising tide of right-wing extremism; it was loudly hooted down by right-wing radio celebrities like Rush Limbaugh and Internet pundits like Michelle Malkin. The killings and the attacks went on.
Now, we have arrived at another Martin Luther King Day, the birthday of a man gunned down by a right-wing extremist more than 40 years ago and, while we talk endlessly about rhetoric, we have done a remarkable job of ignoring the growing pile of bodies. The murderous right wing is still with us. The racists and the skinheads and the neo-Nazis are still here. Sales of Glock semi-automatic guns are skyrocketing in the wake of Tucson. The growing piles of bodies is real evidence of growing extremist activity. What could be plainer or starker?
Congressman Peter King, the New York Republican who now heads the House Homeland Security Committee, is planning to hold hearings on Muslim radicalization in America when the new Congress convenes. Muslims, he said in the wake of the Tucson killings, are recruited by "foreign" terrorists, while Loughner is just a "deranged" American, the latest in a long line of deranged Americans.
What place is this? Where are we now?
To Read the Entire Essay
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Judge John Roll Dead, Rep. Gabby Giffords Shot in the Head In Tuscon Shooting; Sarah Palin's PAC Puts Gun Sights On Democrats She's Targeting In 2010
(Update at 4:36 PM: Talking Points Memo: Gifford Is Alive and Doctors Optimistic)
"Shoot with accuracy; aim high and remember it takes blood, sweat and tears to win."
--Sarah Palin defending her violent metaphors used to, in her words, "target" Democrats who supported the Healthcare reform bill
Rep. Gabby Giffords and Six Others Have Died In Tuscon Shooting
Related stories:
Sarah Palin's PAC Puts Gun Sights On Democrats She's Targeting In 2010 (Gabrielle Gifford was one of the 20 democrats they placed on a map with a gun target)
"Sarah Palin Sticks to Her Guns, and Gun Imagery, in Message to Supporters"
Giffords Opponent, Jesse Kelly, Held June Event to “Shoot a Fully Automatic M16″ to “Get on Target” and “Remove Gabrielle Giffords”
Chief Judge John Roll Dead in AZ Shooting, Received Death Threats Over 2009 Immigration Case
"2nd Suspect Sought in Arizona Shooting."
A Cautionary Tale
"Shoot with accuracy; aim high and remember it takes blood, sweat and tears to win."
--Sarah Palin defending her violent metaphors used to, in her words, "target" Democrats who supported the Healthcare reform bill
Rep. Gabby Giffords and Six Others Have Died In Tuscon Shooting
Related stories:
Sarah Palin's PAC Puts Gun Sights On Democrats She's Targeting In 2010 (Gabrielle Gifford was one of the 20 democrats they placed on a map with a gun target)
"Sarah Palin Sticks to Her Guns, and Gun Imagery, in Message to Supporters"
Giffords Opponent, Jesse Kelly, Held June Event to “Shoot a Fully Automatic M16″ to “Get on Target” and “Remove Gabrielle Giffords”
Chief Judge John Roll Dead in AZ Shooting, Received Death Threats Over 2009 Immigration Case
"2nd Suspect Sought in Arizona Shooting."
A Cautionary Tale
Friday, October 29, 2010
Laura Sullivan: Prison Economics Help Drive Arizona Immigration Law
Prison Economics Help Drive Ariz. Immigration Law
by Laura Sullivan
NPR
Last year, two men showed up in Benson, Ariz., a small desert town 60 miles from the Mexico border, offering a deal.
Glenn Nichols, the Benson city manager, remembers the pitch.
"The gentleman that's the main thrust of this thing has a huge turquoise ring on his finger," Nichols said. "He's a great big huge guy and I equated him to a car salesman."
What he was selling was a prison for women and children who were illegal immigrants.
"They talk [about] how positive this was going to be for the community," Nichols said, "the amount of money that we would realize from each prisoner on a daily rate."
But Nichols wasn't buying. He asked them how would they possibly keep a prison full for years — decades even — with illegal immigrants?
"They talked like they didn't have any doubt they could fill it," Nichols said.
That's because prison companies like this one had a plan — a new business model to lock up illegal immigrants. And the plan became Arizona's immigration law.
Behind-The-Scenes Effort To Draft, Pass The Law
The law is being challenged in the courts. But if it's upheld, it requires police to lock up anyone they stop who cannot show proof they entered the country legally.
Shaping State Laws With Little Scrutiny
Among hundreds of bills drafted by an alliance of business, lawmakers: Arizona's immigration law.
When it was passed in April, it ignited a fire storm. Protesters chanted about racial profiling. Businesses threatened to boycott the state.
Supporters were equally passionate, calling it a bold positive step to curb illegal immigration.
But while the debate raged, few people were aware of how the law came about.
NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.
The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.
He also sits on a American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) task force, a group that helped shape the law. Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce says the bill was his idea. He says it's not about prisons. It's about what's best for the country.
"Enough is enough," Pearce said in his office, sitting under a banner reading "Let Freedom Reign." "People need to focus on the cost of not enforcing our laws and securing our border. It is the Trojan horse destroying our country and a republic cannot survive as a lawless nation."
To Read the Rest of the Report and/or Listen to it
by Laura Sullivan
NPR
Last year, two men showed up in Benson, Ariz., a small desert town 60 miles from the Mexico border, offering a deal.
Glenn Nichols, the Benson city manager, remembers the pitch.
"The gentleman that's the main thrust of this thing has a huge turquoise ring on his finger," Nichols said. "He's a great big huge guy and I equated him to a car salesman."
What he was selling was a prison for women and children who were illegal immigrants.
"They talk [about] how positive this was going to be for the community," Nichols said, "the amount of money that we would realize from each prisoner on a daily rate."
But Nichols wasn't buying. He asked them how would they possibly keep a prison full for years — decades even — with illegal immigrants?
"They talked like they didn't have any doubt they could fill it," Nichols said.
That's because prison companies like this one had a plan — a new business model to lock up illegal immigrants. And the plan became Arizona's immigration law.
Behind-The-Scenes Effort To Draft, Pass The Law
The law is being challenged in the courts. But if it's upheld, it requires police to lock up anyone they stop who cannot show proof they entered the country legally.
Shaping State Laws With Little Scrutiny
Among hundreds of bills drafted by an alliance of business, lawmakers: Arizona's immigration law.
When it was passed in April, it ignited a fire storm. Protesters chanted about racial profiling. Businesses threatened to boycott the state.
Supporters were equally passionate, calling it a bold positive step to curb illegal immigration.
But while the debate raged, few people were aware of how the law came about.
NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.
The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.
He also sits on a American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) task force, a group that helped shape the law. Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce says the bill was his idea. He says it's not about prisons. It's about what's best for the country.
"Enough is enough," Pearce said in his office, sitting under a banner reading "Let Freedom Reign." "People need to focus on the cost of not enforcing our laws and securing our border. It is the Trojan horse destroying our country and a republic cannot survive as a lawless nation."
To Read the Rest of the Report and/or Listen to it
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Julianne Hing: Leaving Water for Migrants Not a Crime, Court Says
Leaving Water for Migrants Not a Crime, Court Says
by Julianne Hing
Colorlines
A border activist charged with littering for leaving jugs of water in the Arizona desert for migrants was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday.
Dan Millis, a volunteer with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths, was convicted in a federal court of littering when he and three other volunteers left water for border crossers in 2008 along a section of the Arizona desert that was a designated wildlife refuge. He faced a $5,000 fine and six months in jail for refusing to pay the $125 ticket.
On Thursday the Ninth Circuit overturned his conviction and ruled 2-1 that the statute was vague enough such that water did not constitute garbage. The dissenting opinion was written by Judge Jay Bybee, a former Bush administration assistant attorney general who co-wrote that administration’s torture memos. Bybee wrote: “Leaving plastic bottles in a wildlife refuge is littering under any ordinary, common meaning of the word.”
“It’s a win,” Millis said. “We’re happy with the outcome but we’re not happy with the situation that continues to exist. I’m thinking about how this can hopefully turn into better border policy.”
Not if the federal government can help it. Millis said that his defense, led by Arizona attorney Bill Walker, was forbidden to mention in court why he was out there in the first place, and why No More Deaths does its work. Millis was forced to argue his case without what he called a necessity defense.
“We are out there because of a flawed, inhumane border policy,” Millis said. “There are human lives at stake.”
Since 2001, No More Deaths has provided water and operated medical stations for border crossers in the Southern Arizona deserts. It’s organizational policy to return to the locations of their water drops to pick up emptied jugs, and pick up any trash they find when they’re out and about. Millis said they recycle, too.
On February 22, 2008 he was stopped by two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officers who cited Millis for “dumping of waste” along oft-traveled trails. Millis said that while they confiscated the 22 gallons of water he planned to leave for migrants that day, they did not take away the trash Millis had also collected. Just two days prior to his run-in, Millis had also discovered the body of a 14-year-old Salvadoran girl named Josseline Jamileth Hernandez Quinteros. Hernandez was traveling with her younger brother. The two were traveling to the U.S. to be reunited with their family in Arizona. But he arrived alone.
The verdict comes on the heels of reports of a year of unprecedented deaths along the border. Millis said that in the six months between when the Ninth Circuit first heard his case and yesterday, when they issued their verdict, 126 migrants had perished in Arizona. Most die from dehydration and heat-related illnesses in the region where daytime temperatures soar into the triple digits.
To Read the Rest
by Julianne Hing
Colorlines
A border activist charged with littering for leaving jugs of water in the Arizona desert for migrants was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday.
Dan Millis, a volunteer with the humanitarian aid group No More Deaths, was convicted in a federal court of littering when he and three other volunteers left water for border crossers in 2008 along a section of the Arizona desert that was a designated wildlife refuge. He faced a $5,000 fine and six months in jail for refusing to pay the $125 ticket.
On Thursday the Ninth Circuit overturned his conviction and ruled 2-1 that the statute was vague enough such that water did not constitute garbage. The dissenting opinion was written by Judge Jay Bybee, a former Bush administration assistant attorney general who co-wrote that administration’s torture memos. Bybee wrote: “Leaving plastic bottles in a wildlife refuge is littering under any ordinary, common meaning of the word.”
“It’s a win,” Millis said. “We’re happy with the outcome but we’re not happy with the situation that continues to exist. I’m thinking about how this can hopefully turn into better border policy.”
Not if the federal government can help it. Millis said that his defense, led by Arizona attorney Bill Walker, was forbidden to mention in court why he was out there in the first place, and why No More Deaths does its work. Millis was forced to argue his case without what he called a necessity defense.
“We are out there because of a flawed, inhumane border policy,” Millis said. “There are human lives at stake.”
Since 2001, No More Deaths has provided water and operated medical stations for border crossers in the Southern Arizona deserts. It’s organizational policy to return to the locations of their water drops to pick up emptied jugs, and pick up any trash they find when they’re out and about. Millis said they recycle, too.
On February 22, 2008 he was stopped by two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officers who cited Millis for “dumping of waste” along oft-traveled trails. Millis said that while they confiscated the 22 gallons of water he planned to leave for migrants that day, they did not take away the trash Millis had also collected. Just two days prior to his run-in, Millis had also discovered the body of a 14-year-old Salvadoran girl named Josseline Jamileth Hernandez Quinteros. Hernandez was traveling with her younger brother. The two were traveling to the U.S. to be reunited with their family in Arizona. But he arrived alone.
The verdict comes on the heels of reports of a year of unprecedented deaths along the border. Millis said that in the six months between when the Ninth Circuit first heard his case and yesterday, when they issued their verdict, 126 migrants had perished in Arizona. Most die from dehydration and heat-related illnesses in the region where daytime temperatures soar into the triple digits.
To Read the Rest
Friday, August 13, 2010
"Tea Party in Sonora": Ken Silverstein of Harper’s Says Arizona is Laboratory for Radical GOP Policies
"Tea Party in Sonora": Ken Silverstein of Harper’s Says Arizona is Laboratory for Radical GOP Policies
Democracy Now
A new article by Harper’s Magazine Washington editor Ken Silverstein argues that Arizona has become a laboratory not just for immigration policy, but a broad range of issues. It’s a place, he writes, where the Tea Party is arguably the ruling party, and should the Republicans retake nationwide power, "the country might start to resemble the right-wing desert that Arizona has become."
To Watch/Listen/Read
Democracy Now
A new article by Harper’s Magazine Washington editor Ken Silverstein argues that Arizona has become a laboratory not just for immigration policy, but a broad range of issues. It’s a place, he writes, where the Tea Party is arguably the ruling party, and should the Republicans retake nationwide power, "the country might start to resemble the right-wing desert that Arizona has become."
To Watch/Listen/Read
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Democracy Now: "Tea Party in Sonora" -- Ken Silverstein of Harper’s Says Arizona is Laboratory for Radical GOP Policies
"Tea Party in Sonora": Ken Silverstein of Harper’s Says Arizona is Laboratory for Radical GOP Policies
Democracy Now
A new article by Harper’s Magazine Washington editor Ken Silverstein argues that Arizona has become a laboratory not just for immigration policy, but a broad range of issues. It’s a place, he writes, where the Tea Party is arguably the ruling party, and should the Republicans retake nationwide power, "the country might start to resemble the right-wing desert that Arizona has become."
To Watch/Listen/Read and to Access Silverstein's Article
Democracy Now
A new article by Harper’s Magazine Washington editor Ken Silverstein argues that Arizona has become a laboratory not just for immigration policy, but a broad range of issues. It’s a place, he writes, where the Tea Party is arguably the ruling party, and should the Republicans retake nationwide power, "the country might start to resemble the right-wing desert that Arizona has become."
To Watch/Listen/Read and to Access Silverstein's Article
Monday, July 05, 2010
Midweek Politics with David Pakman: Glenn Miller, racist US Senate candidate from Missouri known for his “It’s the Jews, Stupid” campaign
(White Supremacist Glenn Miller Running for Senate in Missouri—Radio Stations Playing His Racist Ads While Claiming They Must Do So ... Despite FCC Stating Radio Stations Don’t Have To Play Them)
Midweek Politics with David Pakman – 04.28.2010
This Week’s Topics:
–Glenn Miller, racist US Senate candidate from Missouri known for his “It’s the Jews, Stupid” campaign joins us live to discuss whether African-Americans or Jews are a bigger problem, his felony conviction, his racism, and much more.
–Part 1 of our interview with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, author of the new book American Conspiracies, where we discuss conspiracy theories, third parties, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and much more, plus a 10 minute behind the scenes interview on our Members Podcast.
–Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signs a new immigration-related bill into law that allows police to detain and question anyone they believe looks like they might be an illegal immigrant, and we discuss all aspects of the bill, and why even some Republican do not like it.
–Obama does not like the new AZ immigration bill, Bill Kristol, not surprisingly, does not think it is a civil rights violation of any kind, and the AZ state senator linked to the bill has a long history of ties to Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, while Joe Arpaio says the bill will not lead to racial profiling.
–Although he is Hispanic, would David Pakman be likely questioned under this new law?
–After years of calling himself a maverick, countless campaign ads calling him a maverick, countless appearances and speeches referring to being a maverick, and even a book BY JOHN MCCAIN with the word Maverick in the title, McCain hedges for his upcoming election by insisting he never called himself a maverick.
–A man who is possibly the only Hispanic Teabagger in the country loses it, having a complete unrestrained meltdown on camera after being asked a question about healthcare at a DC rally, and we wonder whether him with a gun is something we should be worried about.
–Republicans, Fox News, and others continue trying to convince us that the Tea Party is not overwhelmingly made up of white people who voted for John McCain.
–Will the Tea Party end up helping Democrats, Republicans, or no one at all?
–Voicemails from a radio show accusing Midweek Politics of being a young Republicans club show, and more, as well as emails about Jesse Ventura and Jason Mattera, recent guests on the show.
–Healthcare and obesity, including a discussion about a picture of a circus freak show fat man from 100 years ago that today represents a common site on any city street.
To Listen to the Episode
Midweek Politics with David Pakman – 04.28.2010
This Week’s Topics:
–Glenn Miller, racist US Senate candidate from Missouri known for his “It’s the Jews, Stupid” campaign joins us live to discuss whether African-Americans or Jews are a bigger problem, his felony conviction, his racism, and much more.
–Part 1 of our interview with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, author of the new book American Conspiracies, where we discuss conspiracy theories, third parties, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, and much more, plus a 10 minute behind the scenes interview on our Members Podcast.
–Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signs a new immigration-related bill into law that allows police to detain and question anyone they believe looks like they might be an illegal immigrant, and we discuss all aspects of the bill, and why even some Republican do not like it.
–Obama does not like the new AZ immigration bill, Bill Kristol, not surprisingly, does not think it is a civil rights violation of any kind, and the AZ state senator linked to the bill has a long history of ties to Neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, while Joe Arpaio says the bill will not lead to racial profiling.
–Although he is Hispanic, would David Pakman be likely questioned under this new law?
–After years of calling himself a maverick, countless campaign ads calling him a maverick, countless appearances and speeches referring to being a maverick, and even a book BY JOHN MCCAIN with the word Maverick in the title, McCain hedges for his upcoming election by insisting he never called himself a maverick.
–A man who is possibly the only Hispanic Teabagger in the country loses it, having a complete unrestrained meltdown on camera after being asked a question about healthcare at a DC rally, and we wonder whether him with a gun is something we should be worried about.
–Republicans, Fox News, and others continue trying to convince us that the Tea Party is not overwhelmingly made up of white people who voted for John McCain.
–Will the Tea Party end up helping Democrats, Republicans, or no one at all?
–Voicemails from a radio show accusing Midweek Politics of being a young Republicans club show, and more, as well as emails about Jesse Ventura and Jason Mattera, recent guests on the show.
–Healthcare and obesity, including a discussion about a picture of a circus freak show fat man from 100 years ago that today represents a common site on any city street.
To Listen to the Episode
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
On the Media: A Personal Angle on the AZ Immigration Bill
A Personal Angle on the AZ Immigration Bill
On the Media (NPR)
Every so often, when a local story becomes a national story, we like to ask local reporters what they think of all the coverage. This week, Arizona Republic reporter Daniel Gonzalez talks about coverage of that state's controversial immigration bill and about the challenges of being a Latino reporter on the immigration beat.
To Listen to the Episode
On the Media (NPR)
Every so often, when a local story becomes a national story, we like to ask local reporters what they think of all the coverage. This week, Arizona Republic reporter Daniel Gonzalez talks about coverage of that state's controversial immigration bill and about the challenges of being a Latino reporter on the immigration beat.
To Listen to the Episode
Friday, May 21, 2010
Best of the Left #361: The Police State Welcomes You (Immigration)
#361 The Police State Welcomes You (Immigration)
Best of the Left
Act 1: Boycotting AZ, teas and otherwise – Wait wait don’t tell me
Song 1: Tea for the Tillerman – Cat Stevens
Act 2: AZ law spurs immigration reform – Rachel Maddow
Song 2: Different People – No Doubt
Act 3: AZ Sheriff rips new law – Young Turks
Song 3: Stand – R.E.M.
Act 4: Law and Border – Daily Show
Song 4: I miss you – Blink 182
Act 5: O’Reilly grasping to support AZ law – Counterspin
Song 5: See you on the other side – Ozzy Osbourn
Act 6: Papers please amendments – Rachel Maddow
Song 6: Bouncing around the room – Phish
Act 7: The word – No Problemo – Colbert Report
Song 7: Mexico – The Refreshments
Act 8: Wrongful arrests happens already – Young Turks
Song 8: Still crazy after all these years – Paul Simon
Act 9: Police State Pete – Mark Fiore
Song 9: What I’m looking for – Brendan Benson
Act 10: AZ law writers are liars, racists – Rachel Maddow
To Listen to the Episode
Best of the Left
Act 1: Boycotting AZ, teas and otherwise – Wait wait don’t tell me
Song 1: Tea for the Tillerman – Cat Stevens
Act 2: AZ law spurs immigration reform – Rachel Maddow
Song 2: Different People – No Doubt
Act 3: AZ Sheriff rips new law – Young Turks
Song 3: Stand – R.E.M.
Act 4: Law and Border – Daily Show
Song 4: I miss you – Blink 182
Act 5: O’Reilly grasping to support AZ law – Counterspin
Song 5: See you on the other side – Ozzy Osbourn
Act 6: Papers please amendments – Rachel Maddow
Song 6: Bouncing around the room – Phish
Act 7: The word – No Problemo – Colbert Report
Song 7: Mexico – The Refreshments
Act 8: Wrongful arrests happens already – Young Turks
Song 8: Still crazy after all these years – Paul Simon
Act 9: Police State Pete – Mark Fiore
Song 9: What I’m looking for – Brendan Benson
Act 10: AZ law writers are liars, racists – Rachel Maddow
To Listen to the Episode
Saturday, May 01, 2010
Liz Goodwin: Arizona legislature bans ethnic-studies programs
(Arizona continues its slide into racist paranoia... )
Arizona legislature bans ethnic-studies programs
by Liz Goodwin
Yahoo News
Just a week after signing the country's toughest immigration bill into law, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer now must decide whether to endorse another bill passed by her state legislature — one that outlaws ethnic-studies programs in public schools.
The bill forbids Arizona schools from using any curriculum that promotes "the overthrow of the United States government" or "resentment toward a race or class of people." It also disallows any curriculum that's "designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group" or that seeks to "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."
Arizona's superintendent for public instruction, Tom Horne, has said he's backing the measure because ethnic-studies programs encourage "ethnic chauvinism"; he's also suggested that such programs could breed secessionist sentiment among Hispanic students.
Republican state Sen. Jack Harper also voted for the bill, saying that certain Hispanic-themed ethnic-studies programs are "trying to say that somebody who came to this country illegally is somehow oppressed. That's crazy stuff."
But the legislation's opponents say that, if the bill is signed into law, the state, not the targeted programs, would be promoting a politicized curriculum. Democratic state Sen. Linda Lopez says the bill would target a Mexican-American studies program used in her home district of Tucson. She offered an amendment — which the legislature approved — mandating that Arizona schools adopt curricula that include discussions of incidents of genocide such as the Holocaust, so that such material would not be considered as promoting "ethnic resentment."
In another controversial shift in state education policy, the Wall Street Journal has reported that the Arizona Department of Education has begun telling principals to remove teachers who speak English with an accent from classes with students who are still learning English. Some school officials are complaining that the move will remove experienced teachers from classrooms that need them. Margaret Dugan, the state's deputy superintendent of schools, told the Journal the request is "politicizing the educational environment."
"Teachers should speak good grammar because kids pick up what they hear," Johanna Haver, an adviser to Arizona educators, told the Journal. "Where you draw the line is debatable."
The Education Department permits teachers who don't meet fluency standards to take classes to improve.
Link to the Article and More Resources
More on Jan Brewer and Arizona:
Arizona Governor Takes Away State Domestic Partner Benefits Says 'God Has Placed Me in This Powerful Position'
Arizona legislature bans ethnic-studies programs
by Liz Goodwin
Yahoo News
Just a week after signing the country's toughest immigration bill into law, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer now must decide whether to endorse another bill passed by her state legislature — one that outlaws ethnic-studies programs in public schools.
The bill forbids Arizona schools from using any curriculum that promotes "the overthrow of the United States government" or "resentment toward a race or class of people." It also disallows any curriculum that's "designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group" or that seeks to "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."
Arizona's superintendent for public instruction, Tom Horne, has said he's backing the measure because ethnic-studies programs encourage "ethnic chauvinism"; he's also suggested that such programs could breed secessionist sentiment among Hispanic students.
Republican state Sen. Jack Harper also voted for the bill, saying that certain Hispanic-themed ethnic-studies programs are "trying to say that somebody who came to this country illegally is somehow oppressed. That's crazy stuff."
But the legislation's opponents say that, if the bill is signed into law, the state, not the targeted programs, would be promoting a politicized curriculum. Democratic state Sen. Linda Lopez says the bill would target a Mexican-American studies program used in her home district of Tucson. She offered an amendment — which the legislature approved — mandating that Arizona schools adopt curricula that include discussions of incidents of genocide such as the Holocaust, so that such material would not be considered as promoting "ethnic resentment."
In another controversial shift in state education policy, the Wall Street Journal has reported that the Arizona Department of Education has begun telling principals to remove teachers who speak English with an accent from classes with students who are still learning English. Some school officials are complaining that the move will remove experienced teachers from classrooms that need them. Margaret Dugan, the state's deputy superintendent of schools, told the Journal the request is "politicizing the educational environment."
"Teachers should speak good grammar because kids pick up what they hear," Johanna Haver, an adviser to Arizona educators, told the Journal. "Where you draw the line is debatable."
The Education Department permits teachers who don't meet fluency standards to take classes to improve.
Link to the Article and More Resources
More on Jan Brewer and Arizona:
Arizona Governor Takes Away State Domestic Partner Benefits Says 'God Has Placed Me in This Powerful Position'
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Rachel Maddow: Racist Roots of Arizona Law
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
9500 Liberty (USA: Eric Byler and Annabel Park, 2009)
Full report on the documentary 9500 Liberty: 9-11 Not the Same as 7-11
Also check out:
Change: "Arizona: One Step Closer to a Police State"
Thursday, April 08, 2010
Seeing Red Radio: Health Care & Financial “Reform”, Stop-Loss Hip-Hop, E. Jerusalem Building Boom and Arizona 2.3
Health Care & Financial “Reform”, Stop-Loss Hip-Hop, E. Jerusalem Building Boom and Arizona 2.3
Seeing Red Radio
Obama’s recently passed Health Care “Reform” Bill, and Christopher Dodd’s proposed Financial “Reform” legislation most recently exemplify the pro-corporate credentials of the Democratic party, solidifying their place as the US ruling class’ Team B. We then offer the hip-hop song that got Spc. Marc Hall imprisoned and facing a court martial, when he dared to call out the US Army’s disingenuous “stop-loss” policy, which forces members of the US Army to remain in the service beyond their contracted enlistments. We expose the the full extent of Israel’s plans for East Jerusalem, which seeks to effectively alter “facts on the ground”, and displace any hope of the “Peace Process”. We highlight the proposed legislation in Arizona which if passed will make every undocumented worker in the state a criminal “trespasser”. Lastly, we feature a day in Revolutionary History, March 25th, and remember the horror of one of America’s worst industrial disasters, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
Music:
Henry Geddes – Waiting for a State of Siege
Destroy Babylon feat. DXA – Shadow Army
Marc Hall – Stop Loss
David Rovics – Building a Wall
Ska P – Intifada
Immortal Technique – The Poverty of Philosophy
Background Music by T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
To Listen to the Episode
Seeing Red Radio
Obama’s recently passed Health Care “Reform” Bill, and Christopher Dodd’s proposed Financial “Reform” legislation most recently exemplify the pro-corporate credentials of the Democratic party, solidifying their place as the US ruling class’ Team B. We then offer the hip-hop song that got Spc. Marc Hall imprisoned and facing a court martial, when he dared to call out the US Army’s disingenuous “stop-loss” policy, which forces members of the US Army to remain in the service beyond their contracted enlistments. We expose the the full extent of Israel’s plans for East Jerusalem, which seeks to effectively alter “facts on the ground”, and displace any hope of the “Peace Process”. We highlight the proposed legislation in Arizona which if passed will make every undocumented worker in the state a criminal “trespasser”. Lastly, we feature a day in Revolutionary History, March 25th, and remember the horror of one of America’s worst industrial disasters, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
Music:
Henry Geddes – Waiting for a State of Siege
Destroy Babylon feat. DXA – Shadow Army
Marc Hall – Stop Loss
David Rovics – Building a Wall
Ska P – Intifada
Immortal Technique – The Poverty of Philosophy
Background Music by T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
To Listen to the Episode
Monday, January 18, 2010
Katy Bolger: Fallout -- Cold War-era uranium mining leaves a poisoned legacy for the Navajo
FALLOUT
by Katy Bolger
Brooklyn Rail
Cold War-era uranium mining leaves a poisoned legacy for the Navajo
On the side of Gray Mountain in northeast Arizona, Lorraine Curley lives alone in a two-room concrete home. Her roof is tarpaper and tin, and her bathroom is a wooden outhouse 50 feet from her door. Living without electricity or water is a way of life for Curley; she has, after all, been restricted by the Bennett Freeze, a law enacted in 1966 that prevented 18,000 reservation residents from repairing their homes, or building new ones, until the freeze was lifted in May 2009.
Curley would like a new home, and she’s not picky: It doesn’t need to have electricity or running water—a floor and insulation would be nice.
“Maybe I’ll never see a home,” she said.
And at 79 years old, Curley is running out of time.
Curley is Diné, or Navajo, and like more than 180,000 others in her tribe, she lives on the reservation known as Navajo Nation, which spans a sprawling 27,000 miles stretched across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The land is also rich in highly sought-after natural resources, like coal and uranium, which has proven to be both a blessing and a curse. With its vast and breathtaking sandstone vistas and scrubby desert floor, the territory includes some of the prettiest land in America, but its people, scattered throughout, are some of the country’s most desperately underserved.
Because of its sovereign status, Indian territory is not regulated by federal environmental standards. In addition to oil and natural-gas drilling, the Nation was subjected to uranium mining from 1944 through 1986, when almost four tons of uranium ore was extracted for use in the arsenal build-up of the Cold War. It was mined without regard to the safety of the miners, the nearby residents, or even the mineral-rich land itself, resulting in the inevitable pollution of the air and water. As a consequence, the land they treasure so deeply has turned against the Navajo people, many of whom have developed severe health problems from drinking contaminated water and breathing contaminated air.
And then there’s the coal.
Since the mid-20th century, coal has been the primary source of energy for electricity-generating power plants around the world. Regardless of how it is measured, coal mining, and the process of converting coal into electricity, has proved to have a devastating environmental impact. Coal mining pollutes land and seeps into groundwater, while emissions from burning coal have been cited as one of the main sources of global warming. Currently, there are five coal mines on Navajo land, and two companies are fighting to open up two more—Black Mesa (which was closed in 2005) and Desert Rock.
Sithe Global, the multinational corporation looking to open Desert Rock, says the Navajo stand to make $52 million a year from the power plant, in addition to the income from new jobs. But in reality, with more than 90,000 people unemployed and thousands more underemployed, the Desert Rock plant will barely make a dent, offering jobs to just 300 workers. And although it is promoted as “clean coal,” a report by the Sierra Club estimates the emissions will poison the air, soil, and water forever with toxic chemicals including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and solid waste containing cadmium, selenium, arsenic, and lead.
...
With its wealth of natural resources, it would be easy to imagine the people of Navajo Nation are wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. But the tragic irony is that many are excruciatingly poor, having derived no profit, in personal terms, from any of the bounty of their land. There is a common misconception that the Navajo actually own the land on which they live, but in fact they don’t, which means they have no control, ultimately, over how it is managed, even though they have lived here for generations. Rather, it is held in trust by the U.S. government (or “in reserve,” thus the term “reservation”).
...
That arrangement has kept the Navajo people in a form of patriarchal colonialism since 1868, when the first treaty was signed. Unable to manage the land themselves, they were at the mercy of the U.S. government and its agreements with industry.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
by Katy Bolger
Brooklyn Rail
Cold War-era uranium mining leaves a poisoned legacy for the Navajo
On the side of Gray Mountain in northeast Arizona, Lorraine Curley lives alone in a two-room concrete home. Her roof is tarpaper and tin, and her bathroom is a wooden outhouse 50 feet from her door. Living without electricity or water is a way of life for Curley; she has, after all, been restricted by the Bennett Freeze, a law enacted in 1966 that prevented 18,000 reservation residents from repairing their homes, or building new ones, until the freeze was lifted in May 2009.
Curley would like a new home, and she’s not picky: It doesn’t need to have electricity or running water—a floor and insulation would be nice.
“Maybe I’ll never see a home,” she said.
And at 79 years old, Curley is running out of time.
Curley is Diné, or Navajo, and like more than 180,000 others in her tribe, she lives on the reservation known as Navajo Nation, which spans a sprawling 27,000 miles stretched across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. The land is also rich in highly sought-after natural resources, like coal and uranium, which has proven to be both a blessing and a curse. With its vast and breathtaking sandstone vistas and scrubby desert floor, the territory includes some of the prettiest land in America, but its people, scattered throughout, are some of the country’s most desperately underserved.
Because of its sovereign status, Indian territory is not regulated by federal environmental standards. In addition to oil and natural-gas drilling, the Nation was subjected to uranium mining from 1944 through 1986, when almost four tons of uranium ore was extracted for use in the arsenal build-up of the Cold War. It was mined without regard to the safety of the miners, the nearby residents, or even the mineral-rich land itself, resulting in the inevitable pollution of the air and water. As a consequence, the land they treasure so deeply has turned against the Navajo people, many of whom have developed severe health problems from drinking contaminated water and breathing contaminated air.
And then there’s the coal.
Since the mid-20th century, coal has been the primary source of energy for electricity-generating power plants around the world. Regardless of how it is measured, coal mining, and the process of converting coal into electricity, has proved to have a devastating environmental impact. Coal mining pollutes land and seeps into groundwater, while emissions from burning coal have been cited as one of the main sources of global warming. Currently, there are five coal mines on Navajo land, and two companies are fighting to open up two more—Black Mesa (which was closed in 2005) and Desert Rock.
Sithe Global, the multinational corporation looking to open Desert Rock, says the Navajo stand to make $52 million a year from the power plant, in addition to the income from new jobs. But in reality, with more than 90,000 people unemployed and thousands more underemployed, the Desert Rock plant will barely make a dent, offering jobs to just 300 workers. And although it is promoted as “clean coal,” a report by the Sierra Club estimates the emissions will poison the air, soil, and water forever with toxic chemicals including carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and solid waste containing cadmium, selenium, arsenic, and lead.
...
With its wealth of natural resources, it would be easy to imagine the people of Navajo Nation are wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. But the tragic irony is that many are excruciatingly poor, having derived no profit, in personal terms, from any of the bounty of their land. There is a common misconception that the Navajo actually own the land on which they live, but in fact they don’t, which means they have no control, ultimately, over how it is managed, even though they have lived here for generations. Rather, it is held in trust by the U.S. government (or “in reserve,” thus the term “reservation”).
...
That arrangement has kept the Navajo people in a form of patriarchal colonialism since 1868, when the first treaty was signed. Unable to manage the land themselves, they were at the mercy of the U.S. government and its agreements with industry.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
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