February 25th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
“Do people want change, or are they merely claiming that they do?”
Political Prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal discusses the difference between the illusion of change and the substance of change in this 3:42 minute long audio clip.
The transcript can be found here on Cynthia’s site.
Mumia is also an award-winning journalist who encourages everyone to write him on Death Row. His address is: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI Greene 175 Progress Dr., Waynesburg, PA 15370.
February 14th, 2008 by Manila Ryce
As Vincent Warren, head of The Center for Constitutional Rights, simply stated; “What we are looking at is a series of show trials by the Bush administration that are really devoid of any due process considerations.”
h/t Steve from COA News
December 1st, 2007 by deadissue
In 1997, Huckabee claimed that Jesus would have agreed with him on supporting the death penalty. Shortly before a triple execution in Arkansas in Jan. 1997, a caller called into Huckabee’s show on Arkansas Educational Television Network and asking how he squared his Christian teachings with his support for the death penalty. As the Arkansas Times reported on Jan. 22, 1997:
“Interestingly enough,” Huckabee allowed, “if there was ever an occasion for someone to have argued against the death penalty, I think Jesus could have done so on the cross and said, ‘This is an unjust punishment and I deserve clemency’.”
(Think Progress) Jesus, though, did not ask for clemency. Therefore, according to Huckabee’s logic, Jesus must have been in favor of capital punishment. (F Jackie!)
September 25th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
On Sunday, President Ahmadinejad said that the American people have been denied “correct information”. Unfortunately, Lee Bollinger’s introduction the next day proved just that. Before his speech at Columbia, Ahmadinejad said, “The US is a big and important country with a population of 300 million. Due to certain issues, the American people in the past years have been denied correct and clear information about global developments and are eager to hear different opinions.”
By passing Neocon and Zionist propaganda off as academically valid points of contention, President of Columbia University Lee Bollinger denounced the President of Iran with an introduction wrought with misinformation and character assassination. Perhaps he thought he was auditioning for Condi’s job. This incident was even more of an affront to free speech and free thought on college campuses than the incident with the tasered student at John Kerry’s speech simply due to the fact that this hostile attack came directly from the president of the university and not just a group of campus police, which you could argue do not represent the academic establishment.
Bollinger was more interested in hurling insults and getting the audience to join him against the speaker than in providing a forum for discussion. He attempted to shape the opinion of his audience by leaving out certain bits of information which ran contrary to his political agenda. Bollinger also stated outright lies, such as the mistranslation that the President of Iran called for Israel to be “wiped off the map”, and pretended it was a direct quote. It’s also rather telling that nearly all of the objections posed to Ahmadinejad were concerning Iran’s relationship with Israel, not its relationship with America.
It’s inexcusable for a professor like Bollinger to pepper unverifiable and utterly false information in with true offenses like public execution and the oppression of women and gays. Though there are valid human rights violations to be addressed, it’s safe to assume that the same level of disrespect would not have been delivered to Ahmadinejad had he been a greater criminal like Blair, Olmert, or even Bush. Judging by the applause the Iranian President received from the audience during his speech, it’s safe to say that a fair percentage of students were not swayed by his bias.
The rest of the videos are embedded below the fold. By the way, Ahmadinejad’s speech is pretty boring and uncomfortably religious in nature to our secular Western ears. He does start to raise some good points about sanctions and nuclear rights around video 5 or 6, but the beginning is fairly long and painful.
May 15th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
Israel has decided to continue assassinating suspected Palestinian fighters in Gaza. The practice has been condemned by human rights groups not only because Israel is basically executing people without trial, but because the process also puts innocent Palestinian civilians in the line of fire. Israeli officials say the extrajudicial killings are necessary to stop unguided rocket attacks.
Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the national infrastructure minister, said; “It was decided there will be more liquidation fire against terrorists and I think this will limit the damage [on Israel from the rocket attacks].” Ben-Eliezer is talking mostly about the damage done to buildings in Israel, not the loss of life caused. Though 1,025 unguided rockets were fired last year alone, these attacks have only killed a total of 10 people since 2001. Still, the fear of impotent rocket attacks is constantly used by the Israeli government to justify a policy of collective punishment towards all of Palestine.
Israels security cabinet has falsely framed the situation as being a decision between just two options: the continuation of extrajudicial killings or that of a full-scale ground offensive. Obviously, the former is preferred to the latter, though in reality neither is at all necessary. Eli Yishai, the trade minister and a member of the security cabinet, explained how the continuation of exterminating an occupied people and the bulldozing of their houses can bring order. “We should concentrate on bringing order through targeted killings, the destruction of infrastructure, and of military headquarters,” he said.
May 2nd, 2007 by Manila Ryce
Dammit Rage, where the hell have you been the past few years? Well, the important thing is that the band is back, and is wasting no time in dispersing their message of resistance and antiestablismentarianism (I’ve always wanted to use that word in a post). In this clip, Zach de La Rocha states that the officials in the Bush administration ought to be hanged and shot for war crimes, much to the satisfaction of their audience.
ht/ Jeremias X via Live FOR the Revolution
March 20th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
The former Vice-President of Iraq was convicted of murder, forced deportation, and torture in November, and sentence to life in prison. An appeals court argued that his sentence was too lenient a month later, and returned his case to the High Tribunal where he was upgraded to a death sentence.
Ramadan is the third Saddam aide to be hanged for crimes against humanity. His son Ahmed said the hanging was not an execution but a political assassination. Human rights groups and Iraqi Sunnis are outraged over the execution.
Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraq’s former vice-president, was hanged before dawn on Tuesday for his role in the killing of 148 Shia Iraqis in Dujail, an official in the prime minister’s office said.
“Ramadan was hanged at 3:05am today,” said the official who witnessed the hanging.
No official announcement has been made by the government
Ramadan had maintained his innocence, saying his duties were limited to economic affairs, not security issues.
Human Rights Watch and the International Centre for Transitional Justice have said the evidence against him was insufficient for the death penalty.
February 9th, 2007 by Manila Ryce
Corporal Trent Thomas plead guilty to kidnapping, murder, and lying to investigators. He has since changed his plea, forcing prosecutors to restart the case. Thomas plead guilty last month to being part of a unit of seven marines who kidnapped and killed an unarmed Iraqi man. Four others in the case plead guilty to lesser charges. Thomas, who was second in command, faced life under his guilty plea.
It seems as though Thomas lawyers are taking a page from the Nazi handbook, arguing that Thomas was simply following orders. Perhaps every soldier ought to wear a wristband for inspiration when theyre given orders to do something immoral What Would Watada Do?
The case is one of a series in which US military personnel in Iraq damaged the image of the US through the use of excessive or unjustified force. Prosecutors said they now plan to reissue charges that may include premeditated murder, which would put Thomas at risk of a death sentence. Defense lawyers intend to argue that Thomas was simply following the orders of the unit commander when he took part in the killing.
The marines allegedly plotted to capture and kill a suspected terrorist and make the incident look like a legitimate battle. When the marines did not find the suspect at home, they allegedly grabbed a neighbor, Hashim Ibrahim Awad, instead.
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