Chomsky on Al Jazeera

Nader on Obama

Today's talking point.

Today the US Supreme court rejected the application of the death penalty to child rapists. The ones that rape children not children that rape. I can imagine, since pedophiles are rightly condemned, many people will be saying this was a terrible decision. They will say these people do not deserve to remain alive.
So the talking point is, if child rapists know that they may get the death penalty, if the abused child talks, then they will not allow the child to talk. In other words they would murder the child, since either way if it talks he gets the death penalty or if he kills it, and is caught, then he gets the death penalty. In killing the child he makes it more plausible that he could get away.
Now I would much prefer the chance to recover from being raped as a child as opposed to attempting to recover from being murdered. No amount of counseling is going to bring a murder victim back to life.
Oh ya, and the death penalty has never been shown to be a deterrent.

R.I.P.

The Israelis are fucking monsters!

Ya right.

SO Tim Russert died on Friday and the accolades haven't stopped yet. The one problem I have is this narrative that he was a good journalist. THis notion that he asked the "hard" questions. One example they showed was him asking Cheney what if we aren't greeted as liberators in Iraq but instead as occupiers. Cheney responds that he doesn't see that happening and, that is it, no more questions. I remember because I was watching that Sunday and I remember screaming at the TV.
IT is amazing how quickly convenient myths are created. Years from now the story will be that we had bad intelligence on Iraq and there were no dissenting voices in the Intelligence Community. Nothing about the VIce President's office setting up its own intelligence group to create 'intelligence" about Iraq or Cheney personally visiting the CIA.
I just love the bullshit fairy tale about how America always tries to do the right thing for the right reason but sometimes we accidentally slaughter 3.2 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans.
What is sad is that American, who must live in total denial at all times, accept it.

Finkelstein

Here a student asks Dr. Finkelstein if he attended the Holocaust Denial Conference in Iran.

Go Moyers

One Billion Dollars Gone

Interesting fact

Obama will accept the Democratic nomination for President exactly 45 years to the day that Dr. King delivered his "I have a dream" speech.

My letter to the Journal Sentinel

Letter writer David Hughes showed the goals of American conservatives when he asked, "Why should I have to pay a tax for something I don't use?" in his rant against mass transit ("Don't fund transit," June 1). It seems to be the goal of American conservatives to tear up the social contract and attempt to hammer any human solidarity out of us. Basically, he is asking why he should care about others in society.

Another prime example of this thinking was the attempt to privatize Social Security. That's basically asking why we should care if the old widow across town has enough to eat.

If human beings are social animals, and reciprocal altruism is the basis of our advancement into a highly scientific civilization, do American conservatives suffer from some unknown malady that makes them go against human nature?

Justin Loper
Shorewood
Link to Journal Sentinel

Chutzpah

Today I was watching Good Morning America and they had a story about the children of soldiers. It was about a couple of women who make dolls with pictures of the children's father. Of course, it was such a heartfelt story from the media. The only problem is that they are guilty, the american media, for this war. Had they done their job and challenged the lies being put forth by the Bush Administration the war would have never been waged. All they had to do was pick up a copy of The Nation, Zmag, et al and they could have found plenty of sources and facts. But no.

Who's Afraid of Norman Finkelstein?

05.27.2008 | Haaretz
By Haaretz Editorial

On Friday morning, the State of Israel refused to allow Prof. Norman Finkelstein, an American Jewish political scientist, to enter the country. Finkelstein was arrested at the airport and questioned by the Shin Bet security service for several hours. A day later, it became known that he had been banned from entering Israel for 10 years, for security reasons. Finkelstein managed to meet with a lawyer, who told him his chances of changing the decision were slim. When the Shin Bet decides that someone constitutes a security risk, the courts do not intervene.

According to the law, both in Israel and in other countries, no one has an intrinsic right to enter a country of which he is not a citizen. Immigration authorities have the power to keep a tourist from entering the country for reasons known only to themselves, and do not even need to provide an explanation. In Finkelstein's case, the disturbing issue is neither the legality of keeping him out nor the authority to do so, but the reasonableness of the decision. Considering his unusual and extremely critical views, one cannot avoid the suspicion that refusing to allow him to enter Israel was a punishment rather than a precaution.

It is difficult to sympathize with Finkelstein's opinions and preferences, especially since he decided to support Hezbollah, meet with its fighters and visit the graves of some of its slain operatives. But that does not mean he should be banned from entering Israel, since meetings with Hezbollah operatives do not in themselves constitute a security risk. True, the right to enter Israel is not guaranteed to noncitizens, but the right of Israeli citizens to hear unusual views is one that should be fought for. It is not for the government to decide which views should be heard here and which ones should not.

The decision to ban Finkelstein hurts us more than it hurts him. Every once in a while, the state suffers an attack of excessive sensitivity regarding its visitors. In 2002, it was Romanian flautist Gheorghe Zamfir who was kept out of the country by the Interior Ministry. The interior minister at the time, Eli Yishai, explained that Zamfir had expressed anti-Semitic views and that his entry into Israel would "hurt Holocaust survivors." Avraham Poraz, who succeeded Yishai, overturned the decision.

When the person refused entry is Jewish, the absurdity is even greater. After all, Finkelstein could realize his right to immigrate to Israel as a Jew, in accordance with the Law of Return. Since he is Jewish and has no criminal past, it is doubtful whether he could be prevented from receiving Israeli citizenship.

The Shin Bet argues that Finkelstein constitutes a security risk. But it is more reasonable to assume that Finkelstein is persona non grata and that the Shin Bet, whose influence has increased to frightening proportions, latched onto his meetings with Hezbollah operatives in order to punish him.

And the decision is all the more surprising when one recalls the ease with which right-wing activists from the Meir Kahane camp - the kind whose activities pose a security threat that no longer requires further proof - are able to enter the country.

Interview w/Finkelstein

Last week Political Scientist Norman Finkelstein was detained at Tel Aviv airport. He was interviewed for a few hours and then spent the night in jail. He later was deported and banned from the state of Israel for ten years.
Here is an interview with him about the incident.
This isn't the best audio but worthwhile.

Haaretz Editorial
Association for Civil Rights in Israel weighs in

More Uncle Noam

quick thought

The Left in America is kind of paralyzed by Islam. On the one hand they hate Islamic fundamentalism and its dislike for secular values and lack of protection for minorities. Yet they don’t feel comfortable discussing that topic because they are so afraid of the Right and its desire to smash things, since the Muslims sit on so much oil, so they keep quiet. In the end they end up using cultural relativism in an attempt to not agree with the xenophobic Right and they fail.
The Right in America ends up siding with the fanatic Muslims on the issues. They both hate Fags (because God hates them just ask Fred Phelps or any other preachers) and human rights. They hate due process. They both hate the separation of church and state.
I think the Left would be better off showing the similarities between the Right in America and the Islamists. Show intolerance as intolerance. Show how the two agree on so many fronts. Two sides of the same coin.

Hahahahahaha

Not bad for a bunch old men.

My friend Jeremy just introduced me to this band and my life has been greatly enriched. I am unsure how I functioned without knowing about this "punk rock supergroup." I once saw Watt and Nels CLine, ten years ago or so, in Portland and Cline had a guitar solo where he was strumming so fast his hand was just a blur. I was fucking floored.
Here are some samplings from Watt's 50th Birthday party. Unfortunately they are also kinda commercials for whoever is recording but that is a minor inconvenience.

Israeli Rock

Here is the Israeli rock band the Genders singing about Americans Jews who move to the Occupied Territories.

A quick thought.

It is exactly the separation of church and state, that so many radical Christians want to abandon, that has allowed radical Christian sects to flourish in this country. Without such a separation their wacko churches wouldn’t have been allowed. Instead we would all be Catholic or Lutheran.
Then again, trying to talk sense to those people is pointless.