The Largest Minority

May 16th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

American hero Ralph Nader speaks at Google’s Mountain View, CA headquarters on May 12th as part of the Policy Talks@Google series.

May 16th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

“It is far better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.”

After Adolph Hitler dissolved Austria into the Third Reich, he then began to demand that the German minority in Czechoslovakia also be reunited with the fatherland. In 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler out of fear by signing the Munich Agreement, which annexed Czechoslovakia’s heavily fortified Sudetenland to Nazi Germany. Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia the following year.

Anyone who honestly tries to compare Nazi Germany to modern day Iran either has no clue about World War II, no clue about Iran, or both. Kevin James operates under the notion that the loudest debater wins the argument, but Matthews has a rare moment of journalistic integrity by not letting him pull the Nazi card. James references a moment in history he is clearly ignorant of, and Matthews does not let him get away with it. At least temporarily, Chris deserves the title of “bus driver” for taking James to school.

May 16th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Wafer Shaker al Daghma, a 34-year-old elementary school teacher at a local UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), was killed last Wednesday in front of her three children by an explosive device placed on her door by the Israeli military. According to her children, Mrs. Al Daghma put on a headscarf, told her kids to go into a bedroom, and said she was going to open the door for the Israeli troops. As she prepared to open her Gaza home for the soldiers, most of Mrs. Al Daghma’s head was blown off her body.

The Israeli military then confined her traumatized children, ages 2-13, to a room adjacent to their mother’s body for 5 hours. Mr. al Daghma was not home during the time of the murder. Samira, the oldest child, said; “There were still tanks outside our house and if I had gone out they would have seen me. I tried to call my father on my mother’s Jawwal [cellphone] but there was no line. I lifted the carpet and saw a bit of my mother’s clothes. She was not moving. I did not see her head.”

The UN is now demanding an investigation. Chris Gunness, spokesman for UNRWA, said that the Israelis were using al Daghma’s house to monitor “alleged militants”. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised earlier this week to take “strong action” against more residents of occupied Gaza for the rarely-lethal Qassam rockets finding their way over the border.

source

May 15th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Scottish artist Jane Frere discusses in length her inspiration and reason for creating the Nakba Project here.
h/t Return of the Soul

May 15th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

This completely unreported bit of information on the recent polar bear classification is provided to us by Greenpeace Global Warming Campaigner Melanie Duchin. For more, read Polar Bear Listing Falls Short of Protection.

It’s taken several years, lawsuits, and thousands of letters from you, but the Bush Administration finally listed the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act today. I’d love to tell you that that’s great news, but there’s a BIG catch. The Administration listed the polar bear as threatened instead of endangered, and invoked a clause (known as a “4(d) exemption”) that excludes global warming from the list of threats the federal government has to consider when trying to protect polar bear habitat.

Global warming is the biggest threat facing polar bears today, and this little clause eliminates any protection the listing should have given to the polar bear. In fact, global warming is the very reason we sued the Administration for protection of the polar bear in the first place.

So who’s really being protected here? Polar bears or the oil industry?

The listing specifically says that federal agencies don’t need to consider the impact of global warming pollution on the polar bear. But there’s more: the listing also proposes a separate regulation that reduces the protections the polar bear would otherwise receive under the Endangered Species Act.

Meanwhile, in the months leading up to this weak decision, the Administration conveniently sold oil leases in prime polar bear habitat off Alaska’s northwest coast.

Are you starting to get the picture here? Well, if your temperature is rising like mine is, there are a couple of things I’d like you to do about it:

• First, join our new Rapid Response Network. Here’s how it works: we will send you a pop up notice about breaking news stories like this, as well as an easy way to click to promote the article to the Most Popular list of sites like CNN, Reuters, Yahoo News and a dozen other online media outlets. If you have just 5 minutes to spare each week, you have time to be a Rapid Responder!
• Next, please consider a donation today to help us fight for polar bears and ramp up our campaigns to stop global warming. We’re not going to stand by and let the Administration get away with this, and I hope you won’t either.

Despite the loopholes the Bush Administration has inserted, it is crystal clear that without your tremendous support, they would have continued to ignore the polar bear until it disappeared altogether. I thank you for your determination and continued support.

For the future of polar bear,
Melanie Duchin

May 14th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

The US has given professional bigots like Arnon Soffer enough credibility on the international scene to demand that every other country in the region accept Palestinian refugees, with the exception of the one country which is actually obligated to do so - Israel.

Half of Palestine’s Arab population was forced to flee from their homes upon Israel’s creation in 1948. Palestinians have the inalienable right of return under international law, and Israel has no right to exist as a “Jewish State”. So why is this “conflict” still unresolved?

May 14th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Pepe Escobar fully explains the Hezbollah victory over the US-planned coup in Lebanon. It’s been a long time since the American Empire has won any battle on occupied soil.

May 13th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

China and Burma are having to deal with two massive natural disasters which have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people thus far. Al Jazeera examines how the two countries have responded to their respective disasters, and invites William Hess from Global Insight to offer further analysis.