The indigenous Ecuadoran plaintiffs have filed an appeal from the Court's order temporarily staying enforcement of their judgment against Chevron.
Notice of appeal
Friday, March 25, 2011
Ecuadoran indigenous plaintiffs appeal from ruling staying judgment against Chevron
The indigenous Ecuadoran plaintiffs have filed an appeal from the Court's order temporarily staying enforcement of their judgment against Chevron.
Notice of appeal
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Judge temporarily enjoins enforcement of Ecuador judgment #indigenous
In Chevron v. Donziger, in a 131 page decision, the judge has granted Chevron a preliminary injunction against the enforcement, by the Ecuadorean indigenous plaintiffs, of the $17 billion money judgment they have obtained against Chevron for its pollution of the Amazon.
The judge conditioned his grant of an injunction upon Chevron's filing a bond in the amount of $21 million.
Full decision:
March 7, 2011, decision (PDF)
(Shortened URL for this post: http://is.gd/8O70Zn)
Sunday, February 27, 2011
List of people live tweeting from inside capitol building #wiunion
In view of Walker's apparent takedown of the live UStream feed, I'm going to collect a list of people live tweeting from inside the capitol building:
@AndrewKroll
@ddayen
@evale72
@MelissaRyan
@brandzel
@dane101
@searchcommittee
@PatSimmsWSJ
@brandzel [also livestreaming video]
If you have any additions, send them as a comment or a tweet addressed to me. I'm at raybeckerman
Live coverage: http://is.gd/jilYsm
(A short URL for this post: http://is.gd/jilYsm)
Live stream of protestors threatened with arrest in Wisconsin capitol building #wiunion
Apparently this is working live coverage:
http://qik.com/Brandzel
I found some live, or recently recorded, coverage here:
http://qik.com/madison1rally
It appears that Governor Walker let Fox News keep its live stream going:
http://interactive.foxnews.com/livestream/live.html?chanId=6
while UStream's mysteriously disappeared:
Video chat rooms at Ustream
http://qik.com/Brandzel
I found some live, or recently recorded, coverage here:
http://qik.com/madison1rally
It appears that Governor Walker let Fox News keep its live stream going:
http://interactive.foxnews.com/livestream/live.html?chanId=6
while UStream's mysteriously disappeared:
Video chat rooms at Ustream
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Documentary "Phil Ochs: There but for fortune" @philochsfilm showing all across country #film #philochs
I was thrilled to learn that the new documentary about the life of Phil Ochs, "Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune" directed by Kenneth Bowser, is now showing all across the country, and has extended play dates.
The younger generations need to know about the true "heroes", the ones left out of our history books... on purpose. And Phil Ochs was truly an American hero.
Cast and credits
Synopsis:
As our country continues to embroil itself in foreign wars and pins its hopes on a new leader's promise for change, Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune is a timely and relevant tribute to an unlikely American hero. Over the course of a meteoric music career that spanned two turbulent decades, Phil Ochs sought the bright lights of fame and social justice in equal measure - a contradiction that eventually tore him apart. From youthful idealism to rage to pessimism, the arch of Ochs' life paralleled that of the times, and the anger, satire and righteous indignation that drove his music also drove him to dark despair. In this brilliantly constructed film, interview and performance footage of Ochs is illuminated by the ruminations of Joan Baez, Tom Hayden, Pete Seeger, Sean Penn, Peter Yarrow, Christopher Hitchens, Ed Sanders, and others.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
The @ShortyAwards tampering with its own election!
I cannot believe what I just saw when I went over to the "politics" category at the Shorty Awards web site:
At the top of the voting category it has avatars of eight (8) twitter accounts which are not faring well in the voting, and says: "Undecied? [sic] Check out these popular politics accounts you can nominate."
Then it provides a "more" link which leads you to other accounts that aren't faring too well in the election, either.
Don't they realize how corrupt this is???
It would be like the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences suggesting to its members who it should nominate, and who it should vote for.
This really taints the award process, as it suggests something really wrong with the company administering the Shorty Awards.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Palestine/Israel problem is not an indigenous rights issue
The problem of bringing peace to the Holy Land is a complex one, and it is not one that can be resolved by resort to the issue of "indigeneity" -- i.e. who is more "indigenous".
The solution will require thinking, compassion, and intellectual integrity. Simplistic sloganeering will not do it, and ignoring history would be fatal to the process.
There are those who seem to think, or at least say, that the Palestinian Arabs are more "indigenous", because there was a relatively large migration of Jews in the 20th Century.
And there are those who argue that the Jews are more "indigenous" because their presence extends back more than 1500 years prior to the conquest by the Arabs.
Both of these arguments are wrong, and neither is constructive.
The presence of the Jews in the Holy Land goes back more than 3000 years. In addition to the continuous residence of the Jews in the Holy Land throughout recorded history, the repeated genocides, enslavements, expulsions, and exiles to which they have been subjected prior to, and even after, the formation of the State of Israel, which thinned their numbers time and again, have never caused exiled or escaped diasporan Jews to forget their history, or to stop considering the Holy Land -- where the remains of their forefathers are buried -- as their sacred land. The land of Israel (Eretz Y'Isroel) and the city of Jerusalem (Y'Rushaloyim) are central to Jewish culture and religion in the Diaspora, and always have been. Almost every part of Jewish liturgy contains references to the Holy Land and to the Jews' being there and returning there. There are holidays which were celebrated in the middle ages in the cold steppes of Russia which were centered around fruits and growing seasons that existed only in The Holy Land. Synagogues in the Diaspora are constructed so that worshippers facing the ark, or cabinet, in which the Torah is kept, are facing in the direction of Jerusalem.
Some argue that the Palestinians are non-indigenous because there was no such thing as an "Arab" in the Holy Land until after the conquest by the Arabs in the 7th Century A.D. This is propaganda, not serious history, since (a) it is highly unlikely that the Palestinian Arabs of today are all purebred descendants of the Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, (b) it is highly unlikely that all of the non-Jewish indigenous residents of the area in the 7th Century disappeared, moved, or became Jews; (c) there was no doubt intermarriage between the indigenous residents of that time and the Arabs from Arabia; and (d) many of those who identify themselves in that region today as Arabs, to the extent they are not relatively recent immigrants themselves, are no doubt the product of such intermarriage. And it would not be surprising to learn that many of them are in fact descended from Jews who opted to convert to Islam rather than be martyred by their Islamic conquerors.
It is likewise a myth that only the Jewish population's ranks have been swelled by immigration, while the "Arab" population has not. In fact, both the Jewish population and Arab population include vast numbers of relatively recent immigrants, who arrived during the past 100 to 150 years, and their descendants.
It is also a myth that all of the Jewish immigrants are from Europe, overlooking, e.g., the 3.5 million Jews in Israel who hail from the middle east. See, e.g., around a million who were forced out of other places in the Middle East by Islamic oppressors in the latter half of the 20th century alone. See, e.g. "Final Exodus of the Libyan Jews".
Another myth created recently has it that the Israelis who came from Europe aren't really "Jews" but are "converts" because of likely intermarriage in central Asia and in Europe. While a "racial purity" test is not an appropriate measure of who the Jewish people are, since they are not a race, but a people, the underlying factual premise is simply false. As the medical world and geneticists have known for decades -- the Jewish people have an unusually high level of genetic material in common with each other, despite their huge geographic dispersal.
To try to sort out who among the "Arab" population are indigenous and who are not, and who among the Jewish population are indigenous and who are not, or to try to determine which population is more indigenous than the other, is ludicrous, not constructive, and inhumane. It is a fact that both populations have long standing ties to the area, and that both populations have also been swelled by immigration.
More mythology is heaped upon us in suggesting that Israel "invaded" the occupied territories, ignoring the fact that each of the three major wars against Israel were initiated by the Arab world. On Israel's part, the 1948, 1967, and 1973 wars were purely defensive wars, not wars of "conquest". In 1948 the UN assigned Israel a tiny sliver of land, amidst a giant sea of Arab land, and gave it the right to share Jerusalem with its Arab neighbors. Unwilling to allow the Jews any right to even that small homeland in their ancestral home, the Arabs commenced a genocidal war intended to exterminate the Jews in the State of Israel. They immediately expelled the Jews from their ancestral home of Jerusalem -- which housed their most sacred site, and in which the Jews had resided for more than 3000 years, starting 1500 years before Islam was even invented (the Arabs who committed this "conquest" never termed their occupation of Jerusalem, which lasted from 1948 to 1967, an "occupation", or termed their mistreatment of Jews as "apartheid").
It is also propaganda to label Israel's Jewish nature as "apartheid", while ignoring Israeli law which bears no resemblance to apartheid, and ignoring the actual genocide, cultural genocide, pogroms, and other abuse of Jews by Arabs almost everywhere Jews have lived in the Arab world. If you want to see apartheid, study how Jews have been treated everywhere in the middle east except their home of Israel. (see note 1 below)
The Arabs lost their initial, 1948, war, and commenced several additional wars, which they lost as well. In each and every case the Arabs were the aggressor. With the first war, they gained territory, and with the second and third, they lost territory.
It is a fact that both peoples are "indigenous" and have longstanding ties to the land.
It is also plain that had the Arabs respected the right of the Jews to live in their ancestral homeland in peace there would have been no "occupation".
That is history. Now we have to look to the future.
If we are to move forward, each and every one of the living, breathing human beings who are born, live, and die in the region needs to be treated with dignity, respect, and compassion. Abuse of noncombatants, warring against civilians, abuse of prisoners, using civilians as human shields, war crimes, inhumanity to fellow man.... can have no place in the peace process.
Callous, politically motivated, warlike leadership is the last thing either side needs.
Inhumane behavior by the warring parties must stop, if peace is to be achieved.
1. Israel has a right to exist.
2. The Palestinian Arabs have a right to a state of their own.
3. War crimes, misconduct towards noncombatants, and other inhumanity must stop, and should be punished, or at least exposed through a 'truth and reconciliation" process.
4. Sloganeering, name calling, and rewriting history -- of the type that has been making the rounds on Twitter lately -- make the prospects for peace harder, not easier.
So I call upon all concerned to adopt a fair, balanced, honest, and humane approach to the problem of bringing peace to the Holy Land.
Note 1. Saudi Arabia's airline refuses to allow Jews to fly. This is apartheid.)
(Shortened link for this blog post: http://goo.gl/M8SKaJ)
The solution will require thinking, compassion, and intellectual integrity. Simplistic sloganeering will not do it, and ignoring history would be fatal to the process.
There are those who seem to think, or at least say, that the Palestinian Arabs are more "indigenous", because there was a relatively large migration of Jews in the 20th Century.
And there are those who argue that the Jews are more "indigenous" because their presence extends back more than 1500 years prior to the conquest by the Arabs.
Both of these arguments are wrong, and neither is constructive.
The presence of the Jews in the Holy Land goes back more than 3000 years. In addition to the continuous residence of the Jews in the Holy Land throughout recorded history, the repeated genocides, enslavements, expulsions, and exiles to which they have been subjected prior to, and even after, the formation of the State of Israel, which thinned their numbers time and again, have never caused exiled or escaped diasporan Jews to forget their history, or to stop considering the Holy Land -- where the remains of their forefathers are buried -- as their sacred land. The land of Israel (Eretz Y'Isroel) and the city of Jerusalem (Y'Rushaloyim) are central to Jewish culture and religion in the Diaspora, and always have been. Almost every part of Jewish liturgy contains references to the Holy Land and to the Jews' being there and returning there. There are holidays which were celebrated in the middle ages in the cold steppes of Russia which were centered around fruits and growing seasons that existed only in The Holy Land. Synagogues in the Diaspora are constructed so that worshippers facing the ark, or cabinet, in which the Torah is kept, are facing in the direction of Jerusalem.
Some argue that the Palestinians are non-indigenous because there was no such thing as an "Arab" in the Holy Land until after the conquest by the Arabs in the 7th Century A.D. This is propaganda, not serious history, since (a) it is highly unlikely that the Palestinian Arabs of today are all purebred descendants of the Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula, (b) it is highly unlikely that all of the non-Jewish indigenous residents of the area in the 7th Century disappeared, moved, or became Jews; (c) there was no doubt intermarriage between the indigenous residents of that time and the Arabs from Arabia; and (d) many of those who identify themselves in that region today as Arabs, to the extent they are not relatively recent immigrants themselves, are no doubt the product of such intermarriage. And it would not be surprising to learn that many of them are in fact descended from Jews who opted to convert to Islam rather than be martyred by their Islamic conquerors.
It is likewise a myth that only the Jewish population's ranks have been swelled by immigration, while the "Arab" population has not. In fact, both the Jewish population and Arab population include vast numbers of relatively recent immigrants, who arrived during the past 100 to 150 years, and their descendants.
It is also a myth that all of the Jewish immigrants are from Europe, overlooking, e.g., the 3.5 million Jews in Israel who hail from the middle east. See, e.g., around a million who were forced out of other places in the Middle East by Islamic oppressors in the latter half of the 20th century alone. See, e.g. "Final Exodus of the Libyan Jews".
Another myth created recently has it that the Israelis who came from Europe aren't really "Jews" but are "converts" because of likely intermarriage in central Asia and in Europe. While a "racial purity" test is not an appropriate measure of who the Jewish people are, since they are not a race, but a people, the underlying factual premise is simply false. As the medical world and geneticists have known for decades -- the Jewish people have an unusually high level of genetic material in common with each other, despite their huge geographic dispersal.
To try to sort out who among the "Arab" population are indigenous and who are not, and who among the Jewish population are indigenous and who are not, or to try to determine which population is more indigenous than the other, is ludicrous, not constructive, and inhumane. It is a fact that both populations have long standing ties to the area, and that both populations have also been swelled by immigration.
More mythology is heaped upon us in suggesting that Israel "invaded" the occupied territories, ignoring the fact that each of the three major wars against Israel were initiated by the Arab world. On Israel's part, the 1948, 1967, and 1973 wars were purely defensive wars, not wars of "conquest". In 1948 the UN assigned Israel a tiny sliver of land, amidst a giant sea of Arab land, and gave it the right to share Jerusalem with its Arab neighbors. Unwilling to allow the Jews any right to even that small homeland in their ancestral home, the Arabs commenced a genocidal war intended to exterminate the Jews in the State of Israel. They immediately expelled the Jews from their ancestral home of Jerusalem -- which housed their most sacred site, and in which the Jews had resided for more than 3000 years, starting 1500 years before Islam was even invented (the Arabs who committed this "conquest" never termed their occupation of Jerusalem, which lasted from 1948 to 1967, an "occupation", or termed their mistreatment of Jews as "apartheid").
It is also propaganda to label Israel's Jewish nature as "apartheid", while ignoring Israeli law which bears no resemblance to apartheid, and ignoring the actual genocide, cultural genocide, pogroms, and other abuse of Jews by Arabs almost everywhere Jews have lived in the Arab world. If you want to see apartheid, study how Jews have been treated everywhere in the middle east except their home of Israel. (see note 1 below)
The Arabs lost their initial, 1948, war, and commenced several additional wars, which they lost as well. In each and every case the Arabs were the aggressor. With the first war, they gained territory, and with the second and third, they lost territory.
It is a fact that both peoples are "indigenous" and have longstanding ties to the land.
It is also plain that had the Arabs respected the right of the Jews to live in their ancestral homeland in peace there would have been no "occupation".
That is history. Now we have to look to the future.
If we are to move forward, each and every one of the living, breathing human beings who are born, live, and die in the region needs to be treated with dignity, respect, and compassion. Abuse of noncombatants, warring against civilians, abuse of prisoners, using civilians as human shields, war crimes, inhumanity to fellow man.... can have no place in the peace process.
Callous, politically motivated, warlike leadership is the last thing either side needs.
Inhumane behavior by the warring parties must stop, if peace is to be achieved.
1. Israel has a right to exist.
2. The Palestinian Arabs have a right to a state of their own.
3. War crimes, misconduct towards noncombatants, and other inhumanity must stop, and should be punished, or at least exposed through a 'truth and reconciliation" process.
4. Sloganeering, name calling, and rewriting history -- of the type that has been making the rounds on Twitter lately -- make the prospects for peace harder, not easier.
So I call upon all concerned to adopt a fair, balanced, honest, and humane approach to the problem of bringing peace to the Holy Land.
Note 1. Saudi Arabia's airline refuses to allow Jews to fly. This is apartheid.)
(Shortened link for this blog post: http://goo.gl/M8SKaJ)
Friday, December 31, 2010
NY's problem isn't snow removal, it's parasite removal
In case you haven't noticed, the real reason for New York City's "snow removal" effort is that there isn't any snow removal equipment.
When it snows in New York they strap snow plow blades on the front of garbage trucks, and call that "snow removal".
Of course all the garbage trucks can do is push the snow around, from one end of the block to the other, burying and often denting and scratching cars parked on the side of the street.
Under the administration of Giuliani-Bloomberg Inc., the City has been busy
-"cooking its books" to pretend its budget is balanced, by omitting to include appropriate reserves for purchases and infrastructure maintenance
-encouraging developers to build more and more large buildings to house the wealthiest people and corporations in the world;
-making war on the public school system in hopes of privatizing it and turning it over to their wealthy friends;
-destroying neighborhoods;
-conducting "pretend" antiterrorist games, such as assigning a large number of police officers to perform random bag checks at a single subway station, thereby greatly deterring terrorists since a suicide bomber wouldn't walk, drive, or ride 3 or 4 blocks away to enter the subway system at a different stop;
-encouraging chainstores to drive out neighborhood stores;
-increasing gentrification;
-swelling the ranks of (a) Arab sheikhs (b) billionaires (c) yuppies (d) poor people (e) mentally ill people receiving no treatment (f) homeless people, and on and on.
So it's plain to see why there's no time or money for the parasites who run New York to sit down for two minutes and arrange to actually remove some of the snow.
And of course Bloomberg is the first to get on the news and accuse the poor sanitation workers of not pushing the snow onto people's parked cars fast enough. He would not think of his own lack of planning -- despite having had 3 terms of office -- as a possible cause.
The sociopathic parasites who are destroying our city are what need to be removed.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Very important action memo from Sen. Bernie Sanders @senatorsanders #p2 #progressive
Ray -
As you know, enormously crucial decisions are being made in Washington now which will impact the future of our country for decades. Please join me for an interactive discussion on issues ranging from how we protect Social Security for our kids and grandchildren, to how we create the millions of new jobs we desperately need to how we address the deficit crisis in a fair and progressive way.
Sign up to join me for DFA Live on Tuesday, December 7th, at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.
In terms of Social Security, let's be very clear. Social Security has not added one dime to either the federal deficit or the national debt. In fact, Social Security is running a $2.6 trillion surplus that is projected to grow to over $4 trillion by the year 2023. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that even if no changes are made, Social Security will be able to pay full benefits to every eligible American until the year 2039. In other words, Social Security is not in crisis.
Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress, who claim to be so concerned about our large deficit want to extend Bush's massive tax breaks to the wealthiest 2% of Americans -- which will add, over a ten year period, $700 billion to our national debt. Given the fact that we already have the most unequal distribution of income of any major country, this is a totally absurd and irresponsible proposal.
That's why I organized a working group in Congress to provide a real, progressive alternative to the Deficit Commission's recommendations. We can move this country forward in reducing our national debt, but we don't have to do it on the backs of the already suffering middle class and working families of this country.
All and all, there's a lot to talk about and I look forward to a lively discussion with my friends at Democracy for America. Thank you very much for your grassroots activism. Together, we will move this country forward.
Please join me and my friends at Democracy for America next Tuesday, December 7th at 8:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) for DFA Live -- a conversation on some of the important issues facing our country including Social Security, reducing the deficit in a fair and progressive way and job creation.
Thank you,
-Bernie
P.S. Follow me on Facebook or Twitter to stay up to date on the work I'm doing on Social Security, the deficit, job creation and more.
Democracy for America relies on you and the people-power of more than one million members to fund the grassroots organizing and training that delivers progressive change on the issues that matter. Please Contribute Today and support our mission.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Landmark speech by Senator Bernie Sanders @senatorsanders
(Originally posted 12/4/10)
A landmark speech by Senator Bernie Sanders (@senatorsanders on twitter).
Every American citizen should take 13 minutes and watch it.
It makes me wish Bernie Sanders were our President.
There is nothing I can say that will do it justice, so just watch it:
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Today the great silent majority raised its head. #rally4sanity
Today the great silent majority raised its head.
Teachers and students of history, not book burners.
The carriers of true family values.
Defenders of the poor, and of children,
The workers for peace and for community,
Fighters for equality and for justice.
The sharers, not the takers.
The givers of love, not the exploiters of hate.
The real America, holding her torch high,
reminded us today of her abiding presence,
and her quiet, but insurmountable, strength.
Teachers and students of history, not book burners.
The carriers of true family values.
Defenders of the poor, and of children,
The workers for peace and for community,
Fighters for equality and for justice.
The sharers, not the takers.
The givers of love, not the exploiters of hate.
The real America, holding her torch high,
reminded us today of her abiding presence,
and her quiet, but insurmountable, strength.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Remarkable goings on in MA: Green Guv candidate @jillsteinforgov just $7k away 75 min from deadline
The great Green Party gubernatorial candidate in Massachusetts Jill Stein is on the verge -- just $7000 away -- from qualifying for matching funds, with 75 minutes until the deadline.
This is a truly remarkable turn of events, and an opportunity for progressives to bring the important issues of the day to the fore in the Massachusetts election.
She needs a bunch of small Paypal or credit card contributions -- $250 or less -- within the next 75 minutes.
Here's the site: http://www.jillstein.org/
Go do it. We'll talk later.
This is a truly remarkable turn of events, and an opportunity for progressives to bring the important issues of the day to the fore in the Massachusetts election.
She needs a bunch of small Paypal or credit card contributions -- $250 or less -- within the next 75 minutes.
Here's the site: http://www.jillstein.org/
Go do it. We'll talk later.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Mass Gov Debate on CNN tonight at 7PM-Green/Rainbow candidate Dr. Jill Stein included!
The Massachusetts gubernatorial debate will be televised nationally tonight at 7 PM on CNN.
Despite first excluding her from the debate, the [corporate] media consortium hosting it eventually relented, and has allowed Green/Rainbow candidate Dr. Jill Stein to participate:
Despite first excluding her from the debate, the [corporate] media consortium hosting it eventually relented, and has allowed Green/Rainbow candidate Dr. Jill Stein to participate:
2010 Nationally Televised Massachusetts Gubernatorial DebateComplete article
Event Date:
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 - 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Watch Green-Rainbow Party candidate for governor, Dr. Jill Stein, join her 3 opponents in the Boston Media Consortium's first major debate. The media consortium, made up of The Boston Globe, WCVB-TV, WHDH-TV, WGBH-TV, NECN, and WBUR, has re-invited Dr. Stein after a lot of citizen outrage when they tried to exclude her because she had not raised $100,000, even though their criteria had given her until October 1st to do so.
The debate will be aired from 7 to 8pm -- nationally on CNN as well as locally on WGBH, The Boston Channel, WHDH/7, NECN, other local TV and radio stations, and online.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
GOP doesn't believe in protecting (a) humans or (b) other species. What's left?
I was trying to figure this out.
The Republicans aren't interested in protecting human health, safety, and lives.
Nor are they interested in protecting any other species, animal or vegetable.
So I asked myself, "what do they care about?"
And then it hit me: they do get animated about protecting man-made inanimate objects.
They usually do have strong feelings for things like
-money
-riding mowers
-stocks and bonds
-oil drilling platforms
-golf clubs
-coal burning power plants
-motor boats, and
-weapons.
No wonder I don't like Republicans. I'd rather protect lives.
The Republicans aren't interested in protecting human health, safety, and lives.
Nor are they interested in protecting any other species, animal or vegetable.
So I asked myself, "what do they care about?"
And then it hit me: they do get animated about protecting man-made inanimate objects.
They usually do have strong feelings for things like
-money
-riding mowers
-stocks and bonds
-oil drilling platforms
-golf clubs
-coal burning power plants
-motor boats, and
-weapons.
No wonder I don't like Republicans. I'd rather protect lives.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
My view on the Koran-burning tweets I'm seeing
My views on this are simple, but take more than 140 characters:
1. It would be wrong to burn Korans.
2. It would be wrong, when a handful of idiots in America burn Korans, for Islamic people to attribute that to the hundreds of millions of Americans who would never do such a thing.
3. It is wrong for Americans to be fearful of retaliation; there would be no justification for retaliation, and one cannot live one's life in fear of unjustified behaviors. One can only counter them when they occur.
4. While the people doing it might be Naziistic, there is a big difference between these planned book burnings and those of the Nazis. Nazi book burning was done with the approval of the government. These book burnings would be by a handful of rightwing nut jobs who are opposed to the government of the United States.
5. As to preventing this.... you can't. Even if the nutjob who threatened to do it changes his mind, there will be others stepping up in his place. This is America, which has a large degree of tolerance for bad behavior. Our jurisprudence allows all kinds of vermin plenty of room in which to demonstrate what they are.
1. It would be wrong to burn Korans.
2. It would be wrong, when a handful of idiots in America burn Korans, for Islamic people to attribute that to the hundreds of millions of Americans who would never do such a thing.
3. It is wrong for Americans to be fearful of retaliation; there would be no justification for retaliation, and one cannot live one's life in fear of unjustified behaviors. One can only counter them when they occur.
4. While the people doing it might be Naziistic, there is a big difference between these planned book burnings and those of the Nazis. Nazi book burning was done with the approval of the government. These book burnings would be by a handful of rightwing nut jobs who are opposed to the government of the United States.
5. As to preventing this.... you can't. Even if the nutjob who threatened to do it changes his mind, there will be others stepping up in his place. This is America, which has a large degree of tolerance for bad behavior. Our jurisprudence allows all kinds of vermin plenty of room in which to demonstrate what they are.
Monday, May 31, 2010
My views on Zionism, Gaza, the flotilla, & the #Iran threat
This is no more and no less than an expression of my personal beliefs on Zionism, Gaza, and the flotilla. I have no special knowledge of the facts, and am not an expert on middle east history. I have some knowledge of international law. I am an American and I am Jewish.
I am not looking for any arguments. I just wanted to make it clear what my views are.
Zionism
Zionism is no more and no less than a belief that Israel is entitled to exist -- i.e. that the Jews are entitled to a national home in the area traditionally referred to by them as the Holy Land.
Zionism is NOT blind approval of any specific conduct by any specific administration in Israel, and it is certainly NOT approval of any war crimes, violations of the rules of war, or standards of decency and humanitarianism.
Gaza occupation
The Gaza occupation came about through an unfortunate series of events, and is not being handled properly by the Netanyahu administration. Under Netanyahu insufficient care has been taken to protect the lives and well being of noncombatants. The occupation of Gaza has been cruel. If Mr. Netanyahu thinks his handling of the situation has helped improve Israel's security, I beg to differ. But whether it does or not, it is violative of standards of human decency.
The flotilla
Most of the people traveling on the flotilla were nonviolent human rights activists. Some of them are anti-Israel and/or anti-semites, specifically trying to delegitimize Israel, but some of them were simply in good faith trying to make a legitimate point about the Netanyahu administration's callousness and inhumanity. However, the organizers of the flotilla included at least one terrorist organization.
Israel had refused the boats direct access to Gaza, but committed itself to escorting the boats to an Israeli harbor, and then -- after a security check -- transferring all humanitarian goods to Gaza. This offer was refused. (That is because this was not about getting humanitarian goods to Gaza; it was about getting a certain kind of publicity.)
Israel had a right under international law to board boats which were admittedly about to violate Israel's territorial sovereignty, especially in view of the fact that they were being led by a vessel operated by a terrorist organization.
Appropriate nonviolent activists would have, under such circumstances, submitted to boarding or redirection by the Israel defense forces. This occurred on five (5) of the six (6) boats in the "flotilla".
However, one of the six (6) boats, the Mavi Marmara, did not act in a "nonviolent" manner. That boat was operated by IHH, an organization which has been outlawed in Israel since 2008 as a sponsor of terrorism, and which is in fact a long time sponsor of terrorist operations. IHH was one of the organizers, and by some accounts the primary organizer, of the flotilla.
The IHH boat was boarded by Israeli Navy men, who had been ordered to shoot only paintballs if necessary. [There are conflicting reports as to whether the IDF had fired lethal shots prior to boarding. This report by "Raw Story" and this report by Common Dreams report that it did.] [Prior to the boarding, men in an IDF boarding craft were attacked with various objects, including a stun grenade which detonated upon landing in the craft.]
It appears that there were two (2) separate bodies of "passengers" on the Mavi Marmara: one group of fifty (50) men boarded separately from the other passengers, did not undergo the same security checks, were carrying no passports or ID's, and were each carrying envelopes containing approximately $10,000US in cash.
In what appears to me to have been a planned, concerted action, carried out by a group of about thirty (30) men waiting for them on the top deck, the IDF commandoes were set upon by this Arabic-speaking group when they rappelled onto the deck. Some of the soldiers were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and some even jumped overboard to save themselves. At one point several of the Arabic-speaking "activists" seized several of the soldiers' handguns and opened fire. Israeli soldiers were attacked -- viciously -- with bats, pipes, metal rods, axes, knives, sling shots, and two (2) handguns. A supply of switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats was later confiscated from the boat.
The Israeli soldiers' response included killing nine (9) persons aboard the ship.
In my opinion, based on the sketchy facts available to me, the men who attacked the Israeli soldiers were not "activists", but trained provocateurs, and the Israel soldiers were (a) justified in exercising force, including deadly force, but (b) not justified in using the degree of force that was used.
Iran Revolutionary Guard
On June 6th Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced it would like to accompany additional ships breaking the blockade. Although these well known "human rights activists" specialize in torture and rape of the defenseless, and are therefore highly unlikely to cross swords with the Israel Defense Force, their announcement demonstrates what is really at play, which is the war of Islamic radicals against the 7.5 million Jewish people who live in Israel.
I certainly can't imagine anyone with weaker credentials as "human rights" activists.
This announcement should make people think about what it would be like to live in a world controlled by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and its allies, and about who's really running the show for the flotilla.
(I don't think this will ever come to pass, by the way. Clearly, were the "Revolutionary Guard" to carry through on their threat, their boats would be blown out of the water, and no one -- not even their own countrymen -- would shed a single tear.)
As more information becomes available to me, I will update this post if I think any of my above preliminary conclusions warrant revision.
For discussion of the legal issues, see "Q&A: Is Israel's naval blockade of Gaza legal? (Reuters)"
I am not looking for any arguments. I just wanted to make it clear what my views are.
Zionism
Zionism is no more and no less than a belief that Israel is entitled to exist -- i.e. that the Jews are entitled to a national home in the area traditionally referred to by them as the Holy Land.
Zionism is NOT blind approval of any specific conduct by any specific administration in Israel, and it is certainly NOT approval of any war crimes, violations of the rules of war, or standards of decency and humanitarianism.
Gaza occupation
The Gaza occupation came about through an unfortunate series of events, and is not being handled properly by the Netanyahu administration. Under Netanyahu insufficient care has been taken to protect the lives and well being of noncombatants. The occupation of Gaza has been cruel. If Mr. Netanyahu thinks his handling of the situation has helped improve Israel's security, I beg to differ. But whether it does or not, it is violative of standards of human decency.
The flotilla
Most of the people traveling on the flotilla were nonviolent human rights activists. Some of them are anti-Israel and/or anti-semites, specifically trying to delegitimize Israel, but some of them were simply in good faith trying to make a legitimate point about the Netanyahu administration's callousness and inhumanity. However, the organizers of the flotilla included at least one terrorist organization.
Israel had refused the boats direct access to Gaza, but committed itself to escorting the boats to an Israeli harbor, and then -- after a security check -- transferring all humanitarian goods to Gaza. This offer was refused. (That is because this was not about getting humanitarian goods to Gaza; it was about getting a certain kind of publicity.)
Israel had a right under international law to board boats which were admittedly about to violate Israel's territorial sovereignty, especially in view of the fact that they were being led by a vessel operated by a terrorist organization.
Appropriate nonviolent activists would have, under such circumstances, submitted to boarding or redirection by the Israel defense forces. This occurred on five (5) of the six (6) boats in the "flotilla".
However, one of the six (6) boats, the Mavi Marmara, did not act in a "nonviolent" manner. That boat was operated by IHH, an organization which has been outlawed in Israel since 2008 as a sponsor of terrorism, and which is in fact a long time sponsor of terrorist operations. IHH was one of the organizers, and by some accounts the primary organizer, of the flotilla.
The IHH boat was boarded by Israeli Navy men, who had been ordered to shoot only paintballs if necessary. [There are conflicting reports as to whether the IDF had fired lethal shots prior to boarding. This report by "Raw Story" and this report by Common Dreams report that it did.] [Prior to the boarding, men in an IDF boarding craft were attacked with various objects, including a stun grenade which detonated upon landing in the craft.]
It appears that there were two (2) separate bodies of "passengers" on the Mavi Marmara: one group of fifty (50) men boarded separately from the other passengers, did not undergo the same security checks, were carrying no passports or ID's, and were each carrying envelopes containing approximately $10,000US in cash.
In what appears to me to have been a planned, concerted action, carried out by a group of about thirty (30) men waiting for them on the top deck, the IDF commandoes were set upon by this Arabic-speaking group when they rappelled onto the deck. Some of the soldiers were stripped of their helmets and equipment and thrown from the top deck to the lower deck, and some even jumped overboard to save themselves. At one point several of the Arabic-speaking "activists" seized several of the soldiers' handguns and opened fire. Israeli soldiers were attacked -- viciously -- with bats, pipes, metal rods, axes, knives, sling shots, and two (2) handguns. A supply of switchblades, slingshots, metal balls and metal bats was later confiscated from the boat.
The Israeli soldiers' response included killing nine (9) persons aboard the ship.
In my opinion, based on the sketchy facts available to me, the men who attacked the Israeli soldiers were not "activists", but trained provocateurs, and the Israel soldiers were (a) justified in exercising force, including deadly force, but (b) not justified in using the degree of force that was used.
Iran Revolutionary Guard
On June 6th Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced it would like to accompany additional ships breaking the blockade. Although these well known "human rights activists" specialize in torture and rape of the defenseless, and are therefore highly unlikely to cross swords with the Israel Defense Force, their announcement demonstrates what is really at play, which is the war of Islamic radicals against the 7.5 million Jewish people who live in Israel.
I certainly can't imagine anyone with weaker credentials as "human rights" activists.
This announcement should make people think about what it would be like to live in a world controlled by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and its allies, and about who's really running the show for the flotilla.
(I don't think this will ever come to pass, by the way. Clearly, were the "Revolutionary Guard" to carry through on their threat, their boats would be blown out of the water, and no one -- not even their own countrymen -- would shed a single tear.)
As more information becomes available to me, I will update this post if I think any of my above preliminary conclusions warrant revision.
For discussion of the legal issues, see "Q&A: Is Israel's naval blockade of Gaza legal? (Reuters)"
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
My International Womens Day tweets, collected #IWD
(On March 8th, International Womens Day, at about 10 minutes to midnight I realized that although I had tweeted all day about womens' rights issues, I hadn't said anything personal about women. So I ran off these 15 tweets, and have collected them here so they'll be in one place.)
Well it's still International Womens Day, I should say a few words about women.
http://is.gd/a7Q6u
I don't understand women, & I wouldn't want to be one.
http://is.gd/a7Quu
But they are the central force in the human race.
http://is.gd/a7QxK
They are what keeps it together, they are the primary teachers.
http://is.gd/a7QBw
They are transmitters of values, for good or for evil.
http://is.gd/a7QEf
They are magical people, and they represent the life force.
http://is.gd/a7QIU
Any man who would lay hands on a woman is not a man.
http://is.gd/a7QNu
Women need to stick up for other women, and for kids, and for their menfolk too.
http://is.gd/a7QS7
I don't get them... but I sure like them... especially those that stick up for something.
http://is.gd/a7QWz
And don't let go.
http://is.gd/a7QZx
Women like Eleanor Roosevelt, and Barbara Jordan, and Shirley Chisholm.
http://is.gd/a7R2f
Women like Sojourner Truth, and Bella Abzug, and our @joancbaez
http://is.gd/a7R6a
So my hat's off to women, especially to those who refuse to sit in the back of the bus.
http://is.gd/a7RcV
On International Womens Day I just want to say...
http://is.gd/a7RgV
thank you ladies for all you do and all you will do to make the world a better place
http://is.gd/a7Rl0
Well it's still International Womens Day, I should say a few words about women.
http://is.gd/a7Q6u
I don't understand women, & I wouldn't want to be one.
http://is.gd/a7Quu
But they are the central force in the human race.
http://is.gd/a7QxK
They are what keeps it together, they are the primary teachers.
http://is.gd/a7QBw
They are transmitters of values, for good or for evil.
http://is.gd/a7QEf
They are magical people, and they represent the life force.
http://is.gd/a7QIU
Any man who would lay hands on a woman is not a man.
http://is.gd/a7QNu
Women need to stick up for other women, and for kids, and for their menfolk too.
http://is.gd/a7QS7
I don't get them... but I sure like them... especially those that stick up for something.
http://is.gd/a7QWz
And don't let go.
http://is.gd/a7QZx
Women like Eleanor Roosevelt, and Barbara Jordan, and Shirley Chisholm.
http://is.gd/a7R2f
Women like Sojourner Truth, and Bella Abzug, and our @joancbaez
http://is.gd/a7R6a
So my hat's off to women, especially to those who refuse to sit in the back of the bus.
http://is.gd/a7RcV
On International Womens Day I just want to say...
http://is.gd/a7RgV
thank you ladies for all you do and all you will do to make the world a better place
http://is.gd/a7Rl0
Monday, March 1, 2010
My home-cooked dinner in New Mexico
Once, on a one-week vacation to New Mexico, we were privileged to be invited into the home of a Native American family on a feast day at a reservation.
The ladies who prepared our wonderful bounty reminded me so much of my grandmother, an Eastern European Jewish immigrant, living in a walkup apartment in a crowded building in the Bronx.
These were Native American women whose forebears had probably arrived here on foot 10,000 years ago.
But certain things are universal.
These ladies are the nurturers. The givers, the preservers, the protectors of lives.
You take a little old lady anywhere, give her some water, a flame, and something edible -- and through the magic of her love -- she turns it into a bounteous feast, which warms your stomach, warms your soul, gives nutrition, comforts us, keeps families alive, keep families together, steels us against the adversity and challenge the outside world heaps upon us.
And they are in every society that exists or has existed since mankind made its appearance.
No matter where you are -- in what country, what century, what religion -- no matter what your skin tone is, or your language -- we are basically all the same.
We need to think of the victims and potential victims of the bad things we do as our mother, our grandmother, our child. Because they are. We are one family.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Irish Blasphemy Law Goes into Effect Today
via @firedoglake
Lisa Derrick Friday January 1, 2010 8:35 am
Where would humor be if you couldn’t tell the one about a priest, a rabbi and a witch walking into bar or watch an episode of South Park about a litigious, celebrity-filled space alien cult or their classic “All About Mormons“? Where would art, music literature and film be without reactions against religion?
But as of today in the Irish Republic–a nation known for its poets, authors, musicians and artists, a nation which has had tens of thousands of its citizens beset upon by pedophile priests who’ve now been ordered to pay $242 million in victims’ aid to the children they raped, and nuns who systematically abused children and have since offered to pay $193 million in restitution–blasphemy is punishable by a € 25,000 fine–about $40,000.
Complete article + video
Lisa Derrick Friday January 1, 2010 8:35 am
Where would humor be if you couldn’t tell the one about a priest, a rabbi and a witch walking into bar or watch an episode of South Park about a litigious, celebrity-filled space alien cult or their classic “All About Mormons“? Where would art, music literature and film be without reactions against religion?
But as of today in the Irish Republic–a nation known for its poets, authors, musicians and artists, a nation which has had tens of thousands of its citizens beset upon by pedophile priests who’ve now been ordered to pay $242 million in victims’ aid to the children they raped, and nuns who systematically abused children and have since offered to pay $193 million in restitution–blasphemy is punishable by a € 25,000 fine–about $40,000.
Complete article + video
Brazil Announces National Policy on Climate Change
Via Environmental News Network:
Brazil's President introduced national legislation that will guide efforts to reduce projected emissions by 36.1 to 38.9 percent by 2020. This legislation comes on the heels of the COP-15 climate change conference held in Copenhagen earlier this month, and demonstrates Brazil's eagerness to make significant and immediate progress against global climate change.
Complete article
Brazil's President introduced national legislation that will guide efforts to reduce projected emissions by 36.1 to 38.9 percent by 2020. This legislation comes on the heels of the COP-15 climate change conference held in Copenhagen earlier this month, and demonstrates Brazil's eagerness to make significant and immediate progress against global climate change.
Complete article
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