The Largest Minority

October 13th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

I suppose we should not begrudge Barack Obama his Nobel Peace Prize, though it represents a radical break in tradition, since he’s only had slightly less than nine months to discharge his imperial duties, most concretely through the agency of high explosives in the Hindu Kush whereas laureates like Henry Kissinger had been diligently slaughtering people across the world for years.

Woodrow Wilson, the liberal imperialist with whom Obama bears some marked affinities, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919, having brought America into the carnage of the First World War. The peace laureate president who preceded him was Teddy Roosevelt, who got the prize in 1906 as reward for sponsorship of the Spanish-American war and ardent bloodletting in the Philippines. Senator George Hoar’s famous denunciation of Roosevelt on the floor of the US Senate in May of 1902 was probably what alerted the Nobel Committee to Roosevelt’s eligibility for the Peace Prize:

“You have sacrificed nearly ten thousand American lives—the flower of our youth. You have devastated provinces. You have slain uncounted thousands of the people you desire to benefit. You have established reconcentration camps. Your generals are coming home from their harvest bringing sheaves with them, in the shape of other thousands of sick and wounded and insane to drag out miserable lives, wrecked in body and mind. You make the American flag in the eyes of a numerous people the emblem of sacrilege in Christian churches, and of the burning of human dwellings, and of the horror of the water torture.”

TR was given the peace prize not long after he’d displayed his boundless compassion for humanity by sponsoring an exhibition of Filipino “monkey men” in the 1904 St Louis World Fair as “the missing link” in the evolution of Man from ape to Aryan, and thus in sore need of assimilation, forcible if necessary, to the American way. On receipt of the prize, Roosevelt promptly dispatched the Great White Fleet (sixteen U.S. Navy ships of the Atlantic Fleet including four battleships) on a worldwide tour to display Uncle Sam’s imperial credentials, anticipating by scarce more than a century, Obama’s award, as he prepares to impose Pax Americana on the Hindukush and portions of Pakistan.

People marvel at the idiocy of these Nobel awards, but there’s method in the madness, since in the end they train people to accept without demur or protest absurdity as part and parcel of the human condition, which they should accept as representing the considered opinion of rational men, albeit Norwegian. It’s a twist on the Alger myth, inspiring to youth: you too can get to murder Filipinos, or Palestinians, or Vietnamese or Afghans and still win a Peace Prize. That’s the audacity of hope at full stretch.

It’s dawning even on those predisposed to like the guy that when it comes to burning issues the first black president of the United States truly hates to come down on one side or the other. He dreads making powerful people mad. He won’t stand up for his own people when they’re being savaged by the nutball right, edges them out, then has his press secretary claim that they jumped of their own accord. This may impress the peaceniks of Oslo, but from the American perspective he’s looking like a wimp.

Obama’s Afghan policy evolved on the campaign trail last year as a one-liner designed to deflect charges that he was a peacenik on Iraq. Not so, he cried. The Global War on Terror was being fought in the wrong place. His pledge was to hunt down and “kill” Osama bin Laden.

Once ensconced in the Oval Office Obama, invoking “bipartiship”, instantly nailed a white flag to the mast by keeping on Robert Gates, Bush’s secretary of defense.

He formed a foreign policy team mostly composed of Clinton-era neo-liberal hawks, headed by Hilary Clinton and Richard Holbrook. His next step was to eject the US commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, and install Gen. Stanley McChrystal, best known for running the assassination wing of the military’s joint special-operations command. (JSOC). Then he ordered 17,000 new US troops to be deployed to Afghanistan.

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September 28th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

It’s really amazing how everything Hitchens writes becomes about him. How many chips can one man have on his shoulder? Take the following excerpt from Cheap Laughs:

Long before the Weekly Standard crew disembarked at Anchorage for its now-historic call upon the lady governor, I myself once sat on a cruise-ship entertainment panel—sponsored off the imposing shores of Alaska by The Nation magazine—with Betty Friedan and Al Franken. In the spontaneous-humor stakes, I seem to remember outpointing Betty with relative ease, but I nonetheless noticed with slight envy that some “progressive” women in the front row would start laughing uncontrollably as soon as it was Franken’s turn to speak and, indeed, often before he had even opened his mouth.

Fascinating. Do tell me more. Did you finally best Franken? What other famous people do you know and why are you better than them?

As predicted, Hitchens then goes on to tell us why he’s smarter than Franken. The article starts with the un-shocking revelation that Jon Stewart has polled as “America’s most trusted newscaster,” which launches Hitchens into a tirade about comedians having hubris and not being funny enough (in his objective opinion).

Isn’t the real problem that journalists such as himself are not doing their jobs well enough to reclaim that title from lowly comedians? Why not attack them for losing the public trust rather than Stewart - a comedian - for gaining it? That’s just bad sportsmanship Chris.

It’s clear Hitchens is butt-hurt that satirists have beaten journalists at their own profession, hence, he tries to beat them at theirs by becoming a parody of himself. The irony is lost on Hitchens, whose own fame has been due largely to the entertainment value his bitchiness provides rather than the intellectual honesty that people like Twain, Murrow, Cronkite, and yes even Stewart have.

Whether Stewart is a good comedian is beside the point. He’s not on trial. You and your colleagues are, Chris. Ego-driven articles like this don’t help you any.

h/t Allison Kilkenny via twitter

September 26th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

Intimidation tactics used against citizens peacefully assembling is a form of state terrorism. Protesters are treated the same around the world, whether we’re talking about Honduras, Iran, or America. That shouldn’t be surprising. We’re all fighting the same capitalist enemy.

By the way, how badass is that dude with the Captain America shield?

September 25th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Stephen Colbert has giant brass balls. Can we all agree that by now the Right has left no doubt to anyone that they are unabashedly racist?

I sympathize with people whose legitimate criticisms of President Obama are derided as racist, just as my criticisms of Israel have been derided as anti-Semitic. Still, it is important to draw a distinction between opposition from the Left and opposition from the Right. The arguments coming from the Right are simply not legitimate. They’re more like temper tantrums from angry and irrational children.

For example, calling Obama a Socialist (as if that’s a bad thing) is more than just hilariously inaccurate. It’s seeded in the deep fear that black people steal from hard-working white Americans. The president has done nothing to indicate he’s anything more than a corporate capitalist, yet the Right immediately links a black man to Socialism because they think both are synonymous with theft. That is the base of their “criticism”, and it really ought to be called out for what it is.

h/t RaceWire

September 25th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

SPREAD THIS VIDEO! This is what happens to dissenters in the USA.

Didn’t President Obama denounce the same types of kidnappings and general repression when they were taking place in Iran? It’s interesting to note that the unauthorized street protests which he defended in Tehran are actually considered illegal in the “Home of the Free”. And thank God for that. Cracking Commie skulls is an American tradition!

If the men kidnapping the youth are indeed military, as their uniforms suggest, they’re clearly violating the Posse Comitatus Act, which states that the federal government can not use the military for law enforcement (except in Iraq and Afghanistan of course).

Not to worry though, Obama is different. I have faith that the kid in this video won’t be getting roughed up and held on trumped-up political charges. Most likely he’s just been selected to attend a Beer Summit with the G-20 leaders to work out their differences.

video description below the fold

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September 23rd, 2009 by Manila Ryce

Sometimes I think Greenpeace just isn’t radical enough, but every so often they do some cool shit like this to remind me why I’m a member.

Greenpeace activists are hanging off a Pittsburgh bridge with a massive banner displaying our message to G20 leaders gathering for tomorrow’s summit. The banner takes the form of stylized “road sign” that warns of the political maneuvering and delay that have put a international climate treaty in jeopardy as the world enters the final stretch on the road to Copenhagen.

We’re hanging banners off of bridges surrounding the area where these leaders will be meeting tomorrow.

The messages we’re sending are:

* “Warning: G20 Climate Talks Ahead. Danger of Falling Expectations”
* “Caution: Climate Disaster Zone. G20 in Session. Expect Delays.”
* “Danger: Climate Destruction Ahead. Reduce CO2 Emissions Now.”

We’re sending these messages to world leaders, because instead of rolling up their sleeves and working on a constructive solution to global warming, they’re heading down a dangerous road of destruction. All signs ahead point to a lack of leadership.

September 11th, 2009 by Manila Ryce

Remember when Obama denounced Iran’s suppression of free speech? We’re doing the same for the G20.

Attorneys Call Denial of Permits to Activist Groups Bogus

PITTSBURGH, PA - September 11 - Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on behalf of groups seeking to hold peaceful demonstrations in downtown Pittsburgh where the Group of 20 summit (G-20) will take place later this month. The complaint charges the U.S. Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security, the City of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources with violating the groups’ constitutional rights to free speech.

The plaintiffs include: CODEPINK; Pittsburgh Women For Peace; 3 Rivers Climate Convergence; Thomas Merton Center; Pittsburgh Outdoor Artists; Bail Out The People and G-6 Billion. The complaint was filed after repeated efforts to negotiate with the city regarding the permits.

“The City is unjustified in denying permits to these peaceful protestors,” said CCR Vice President Jules Lobel. “We hope the court will uphold and protect the core American values of free speech and the right to dissent.”

“Despite working in good faith for weeks to resolve G-20 demonstration permits with the City of Pittsburgh and federal officials, demonstration organizers can wait no longer and will now pursue permit remedies in Federal Court,” said ACLU-PA Legal Director Witold “Vic” Walczak.

“This is a struggle for our First Amendment rights,” said Francine Porter, CODEPINK Pittsburgh Coordinator. “Refusing these permits takes away our right to educate the public about the G-20 agenda and how it relates to war, war funding and war’s impact across the globe on mostly women and children.”

“The G-20 is gathering in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis,” said Molly Rush, co-founder of the Thomas Merton Center in Pittsburgh. “Unrestrained profit-making by financial institutions and the deregulation and privatization of public resources have led to disaster for the vast majority of the world’s people. Yet the people lack a voice in the proceedings.”

The complaint alleges violations of the Constitution based on the following actions by the defendants: 1) refusal to issue permits to demonstrators for the use of Point State Park during the week of the G-20; 2) failure to issue permits for First-Amendment-protected activities in Pittsburgh’s downtown; 3) refusal to issue a permit for a march by the Thomas Merton Center within a reasonable distance from the Convention Center on one day during the summit; and 4) refusal to allow demonstrators permission to stay overnight in several Pittsburgh parks.

To read the full complaint, click here.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization dedicated to defending and expanding individual rights and personal freedoms throughout the entire state of Pennsylvania. Visit www.aclupa.org.

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The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

source

September 10th, 2009 by Allison Kilkenny

During his speech before a joint session of Congress, President Obama called for the creation of insurance exchanges, a system designed to allow consumers to see varying prices and programs so they can comparison shop. Obama only mentioned the P-word once, and even then the public option name drop was immediately followed by the caveats “We should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal,” and the public option is only a “means to an end.” Read: It’s a nice idea, but drop it.

Elsewhere, Obama recycled the usual reasons for why single-payer healthcare, the Progressives’ other favored solution, just isn’t possible right now (at the mere mention of single-payer sporadic cheers broke out in the audience.) “I believe it makes more sense to build on what works and fix what doesn’t, rather than try to build an entirely new system from scratch,” said the president. This dismisses Marcia Angell’s idea of a gradual expansion of Medicare, a slow transition that wouldn’t have violently jolted our beloved system of privatized healthcare.

But nevermind. Back to the insurance exchange idea. Obama means citizens will be required by law to purchase their coverage from private insurers. Similarly, Max Baucus’s disastrous recent proposal calls for mandates that will literally force individuals and families to purchase insurance from the enemy — and one of the great culprits of the entire reform debate — Big Insurers. Without a serious public option (and not the “I’m humoring them, have they shut up yet?” approach Obama seems to be suggesting,) the insurance industry has a captive market, the American people, who will be held hostage in a for-profit health insurance scheme.

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