Nine years later: More shocked, less awed
When I lived in New York 20 years ago, the United States was beginning a 20-year war on Iraq. We protested at the United Nations. The Miami Herald depicted Saddam Hussein as a giant fanged spider attacking the United States. Hussein was frequently compared to Adolf Hitler.
On October 9, 1990, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl told a U.S. congressional committee that she’d seen Iraqi soldiers take 15 babies out of an incubator in a Kuwaiti hospital and leave them on the cold floor to die. Some congress members, including the late Tom Lantos (D., Calif.), knew but did not tell the U.S. public that the girl was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, that she’d been coached by a major U.S. public relations company paid by the Kuwaiti government, and that there was no other evidence for the story. President George H. W. Bush used the dead babies story 10 times in the next 40 days, and seven senators used it in the Senate debate on whether to approve military action. The Kuwaiti disinformation campaign for the Gulf War would be successfully reprised by Iraqi groups favoring the overthrow of the Iraqi government twelve years later.
On October 9, 1990, a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl told a U.S. congressional committee that she’d seen Iraqi soldiers take 15 babies out of an incubator in a Kuwaiti hospital and leave them on the cold floor to die. Some congress members, including the late Tom Lantos (D., Calif.), knew but did not tell the U.S. public that the girl was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, that she’d been coached by a major U.S. public relations company paid by the Kuwaiti government, and that there was no other evidence for the story. President George H. W. Bush used the dead babies story 10 times in the next 40 days, and seven senators used it in the Senate debate on whether to approve military action. The Kuwaiti disinformation campaign for the Gulf War would be successfully reprised by Iraqi groups favoring the overthrow of the Iraqi government twelve years later.
Cops beat our cameraman ZD Roberts
[New York Monday March 19] Our photographer ZD Roberts was beaten by New York City cops with nightsticks while covering Occupy Wall Street's attempt to re-take Zuccotti Park Saturday night.
Zach yelled several times, "I'm PRESS! PRESS!" yet was slammed on the head twice after he'd been thrown to the ground when the police shoved back the protesters. Zach, whose photos of Occupy Wall Street have been seen all over the world on the front page of The Guardian, showed his press badge, an act for which his hair was grabbed, head pulled back and slammed again with a club.
If you remember, Zach was arrested while covering the story three months ago. His trial is coming up (he refused to cop a plea).
We've covered the world … but who thought that the toughest combat assignment would be New York?
Here's Zach's story and comment in his own words and photos:
My head hurts. The NYPD did this to me.
Zach yelled several times, "I'm PRESS! PRESS!" yet was slammed on the head twice after he'd been thrown to the ground when the police shoved back the protesters. Zach, whose photos of Occupy Wall Street have been seen all over the world on the front page of The Guardian, showed his press badge, an act for which his hair was grabbed, head pulled back and slammed again with a club.
If you remember, Zach was arrested while covering the story three months ago. His trial is coming up (he refused to cop a plea).
We've covered the world … but who thought that the toughest combat assignment would be New York?
Here's Zach's story and comment in his own words and photos:
My head hurts. The NYPD did this to me.
DEATH AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
The killer was in his fourth deployment. He walked from his base to one village, then another, leaving behind the lunacy and spiritual wreckage of American foreign policy. Then he walked back to his base and calmly turned himself in.
I've been staring at the words for hours now:
"This terrible incident does not change our steadfast dedication to protecting the Afghan people and to doing everything we can to build a strong and stable Afghanistan." - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and their entire community." - deputy American ambassador to Afghanistan, James B. Cunningham
The words are meant to soften this PR disaster, to muffle the cries of the survivors.
"And obviously what happened this weekend was absolutely tragic and heartbreaking. But when you look at what hundreds of thousands of our military personnel have achieved under enormous strain, you can't help but be proud generally." - President Barack Obama
I've been staring at the words for hours now:
"This terrible incident does not change our steadfast dedication to protecting the Afghan people and to doing everything we can to build a strong and stable Afghanistan." - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and their entire community." - deputy American ambassador to Afghanistan, James B. Cunningham
The words are meant to soften this PR disaster, to muffle the cries of the survivors.
"And obviously what happened this weekend was absolutely tragic and heartbreaking. But when you look at what hundreds of thousands of our military personnel have achieved under enormous strain, you can't help but be proud generally." - President Barack Obama
Nuclear power's Green Mountain grassroots demise
In the wake of Fukushima, grassroots citizen action is shutting the worldwide nuclear power industry.
A Solartopian tipping point is upon us in the US, Europe and Japan which will re-define how the human race gets its energy.
States rights and local democracy are at the core of the battle.
The definitive breaking point looms in Vermont.
By mid-March a state board is likely to deny the Yankee reactor licenses to operate or to create radioactive waste.
If that happens, a Vermont shutdown could mark a critical moment in establishing state power over an atomic reactor. A critical domino would fall---as it has in Japan and Europe---and we will begin taking down old reactors all across the US. Four new reactors barely under construction will go down with them, making inevitable the end America's age of atomic power.
In Vermont, the New Orleans-based Entergy bought the Yankee reactor in 2002. Entergy agreed to shut it if the state's Public Service Board denied it a Certificate of Public Good to continue to operate and generate radioactive waste.
A Solartopian tipping point is upon us in the US, Europe and Japan which will re-define how the human race gets its energy.
States rights and local democracy are at the core of the battle.
The definitive breaking point looms in Vermont.
By mid-March a state board is likely to deny the Yankee reactor licenses to operate or to create radioactive waste.
If that happens, a Vermont shutdown could mark a critical moment in establishing state power over an atomic reactor. A critical domino would fall---as it has in Japan and Europe---and we will begin taking down old reactors all across the US. Four new reactors barely under construction will go down with them, making inevitable the end America's age of atomic power.
In Vermont, the New Orleans-based Entergy bought the Yankee reactor in 2002. Entergy agreed to shut it if the state's Public Service Board denied it a Certificate of Public Good to continue to operate and generate radioactive waste.
Rush Limbaugh's comments about Sandra Fluke
Well Mr. Limbaugh, you have certainly done it again. Although this is not
the first time your mouth has spewed such hateful language perhaps it should
be the last time you say anything more on your corporate sponsored program.
Yes, that's right; it is time for you to resign or be put out to pasture.
You didn't "apologize" for your remarks about Ms. Fluke until after it
became apparent that your political torpedo missed its target completely and
headed back to where it came from. Once you realized that your paycheck
may be affected {as if you don't have enough money} you conveniently
switched on the damage control to avoid further embarrassment and save your
own miserable ass. This time however it has failed miserably and people
from all sides of the aisle demand you leave before making anymore
despicable comments. Some could argue that the words "slut" and
"prostitute" could just as easily be leveled at you. After all don't you
"earn" money by performing a certain "service". It never fails to amaze me
that our capitalist system has allowed a scumbag like yourself to become
very wealthy by just ranting all day against anything contrary to your
personal views.
The peace movement needs Kucinich, with or without Congress
If Congressman Dennis Kucinich becomes simply Dennis Kucinich sans the "Congressman" his value to the peace movement need not diminish.
I admit it's been nice having someone in Congress who would say and do what he would. There have been and remain other relatively strong voices for peace, but none as strong as Kucinich's. His resolutions have forced the debates. His bills have changed the conversation. His questioning of witnesses has afflicted the comfortable while seeking to comfort the afflicted. Perhaps Congressman Norman Solomon will pick up the baton. Time will tell.
I admit it's been nice having someone in Congress who would say and do what he would. There have been and remain other relatively strong voices for peace, but none as strong as Kucinich's. His resolutions have forced the debates. His bills have changed the conversation. His questioning of witnesses has afflicted the comfortable while seeking to comfort the afflicted. Perhaps Congressman Norman Solomon will pick up the baton. Time will tell.
Large Coalition Asks for Obama's Nobel Peace Prize to Be Rescinded
Petition: Investigate Betrayal of the Nobel Peace Prize
Endorse as an organization or an individual
Dear Members of Stockholm's County Administrative Board:
The signers of this petition include an array of peace groups and peace activists based in the United States. The undersigned wish to endorse and support the investigation that Stockholm’s County Administrative Board has reportedly begun based on it supervisory role over the Nobel Foundation and information received from Norwegian peace researcher/author Fredrik Heffermehl. We understand your Board has formally asked the Nobel Foundation to respond to allegations that the peace prize no longer reflects Nobel's will that the purpose of the prize was to diminish the role of military power in international relations. According to Heffermehl, “Nobel called it a prize for the champions of peace,…and it's indisputable that (Nobel) had in mind the peace movement, the movement which is actively pursuing a new global order ... where nations safely can drop national armaments.”
Endorse as an organization or an individual
Dear Members of Stockholm's County Administrative Board:
The signers of this petition include an array of peace groups and peace activists based in the United States. The undersigned wish to endorse and support the investigation that Stockholm’s County Administrative Board has reportedly begun based on it supervisory role over the Nobel Foundation and information received from Norwegian peace researcher/author Fredrik Heffermehl. We understand your Board has formally asked the Nobel Foundation to respond to allegations that the peace prize no longer reflects Nobel's will that the purpose of the prize was to diminish the role of military power in international relations. According to Heffermehl, “Nobel called it a prize for the champions of peace,…and it's indisputable that (Nobel) had in mind the peace movement, the movement which is actively pursuing a new global order ... where nations safely can drop national armaments.”
Flood damage investigation not over for US nuke plants
The summer of 2011 was one of the hardest ever on American nuclear power plants. After the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, U.S. nuclear plants were required to inventory and test emergency equipment , and undergo emergency drills to make sure safety systems were in place and working properly. One of the biggest threats to the safety of any nuclear power plant would be a prolonged loss of electrical power because the plants need to be able to continue pumping water over the radioactive fuel to keep it cool. Failure of one or more dams upstream from a nuclear power plant may result in flood levels at a site that render essential safety systems inoperable.
In the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese officials assured everyone that the problems at Fukushima Daiichi were limited and controllable, everything was alright; everything was under control. It took a only took few days for that house of cards to be destroyed, only to be re-built, destroyed, and resurrected many times over, in a perpetually endless cycle.
In the immediate aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japanese officials assured everyone that the problems at Fukushima Daiichi were limited and controllable, everything was alright; everything was under control. It took a only took few days for that house of cards to be destroyed, only to be re-built, destroyed, and resurrected many times over, in a perpetually endless cycle.
President Rick Santorum
The media's ability to confuse celebrity "news" with war and economic disaster grows stronger.
As North Korea ramped up its threats to attack South Korea, CNN reassured its viewers that a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula would have "no effect whatsoever" on its Whitney Houston coverage. (The Borowitz Report)
Whitney even in death outranks fighting in Syria, wherever that is. Right wing preachers distract their electorate (congregations) by linking God to political issues.
TV appeals by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell sucked millions of dollars from their flocks. God spoke to them, they said. "God may have allowed what the nation deserved because of moral decay," Falwell warned. "God wants you to succeed in business," he preached. (Quest for Power: The Origins of the New American Right, film by Landau and Frank Diamand 1982)
As North Korea ramped up its threats to attack South Korea, CNN reassured its viewers that a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula would have "no effect whatsoever" on its Whitney Houston coverage. (The Borowitz Report)
Whitney even in death outranks fighting in Syria, wherever that is. Right wing preachers distract their electorate (congregations) by linking God to political issues.
TV appeals by Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell sucked millions of dollars from their flocks. God spoke to them, they said. "God may have allowed what the nation deserved because of moral decay," Falwell warned. "God wants you to succeed in business," he preached. (Quest for Power: The Origins of the New American Right, film by Landau and Frank Diamand 1982)