BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
READING IS FUNDAMENTAL BUT BEING ILLITERATE DOES EXPLAIN SUPPORT FROM 'PROGRESSIVES' FOR BARACK OBAMA.
HISTORY LESSON, CEDRIC'S BIG MIX STARTED IN 2005. MONTHS LATER CAME THE DAILY JOT. THE TWO MERGED IN THE FALL OF 2006 AS DOWN TIME WAS USED TO BLOCK WALK, REGISTER VOTERS AND MORE TO HELP THE DEMOCRATS TAKE BACK CONGRESS. IN OTHER WORDS, WE WASTE A LOT OF TIME OFFLINE. BUT THE MERGER MEANS IF YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH ONE, YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH BOTH.
UNDERSTAND THAT, TOM HAYDEN? WE'D HATE TO THINK YOU SAW "CEDRIC" AND DECIDED "I'LL SCREAM AT THE BLACK GUY!"
TOM-TOM HAYDEN (AKA THE PIPES OF PEACE) GOT HIS PANTIES IN A WAD ABOUT SOMETHING HE SAW HERE. NOT "READ HERE" BECAUSE READING IS HARD AND TOM-TOM CAN'T MASTER IT.
SINCE TOM-TOM WROTE, WE HAVE SEARCHED THE ARCHIVES AND THIS IS APPARENTLY THE FIRST TIME TOM-TOM HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT BY BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX. CONGRATS TOM-TOM, YOU'RE ALMOST FAMOUS!
NOW EACH DAY WE CARRY SOME STUFF FROM THE COMMON ILLS AND THAT'S NOTED WITH "FROM THE TCI WIRE." FOR INSTANCE, WE ALWAYS INCLUDE THE WAR RESISTERS SECTION BECAUSE THE PATHETIC 'PEACE' 'LEADERS' DON'T WRITE CRAP ABOUT THEM. THEY DON'T COVER THEM. WAIT, WHY ARE WE TELLING YOU THAT? YOU'RE ONE OF THE ONES STAYING PATHETICALLY SILENT! AND ON THE RARE TIMES WHEN YOU DO ADDRESS IT, YOU PUT FORTH THE LIE THAT THE ONLY WAR RESISTERS IN CANADA DURING VIETNAM WERE "DRAFT EVADERS."
MOST ADULTS AND EVEN CHILDREN CAN GRASP WHAT TOM-TOM CAN'T. A FEW DAYS BEFORE HE WROTE, C.I. QUOTED LINDA HIRSHMAN'S SLATE ARTICLE ABOUT WHAT A SEXIST PIG TOM-TOM WAS. THAT APPEARS TO BE WHAT GOT TOM-TOM SO UPSET THAT HE HAD TO GRIPE TO CEDRIC'S BIG MIX.
APPEARS TO?
TOM-TOM NEVER LEARNED THAT WHEN COMPLAINING ABOUT SOMETHING WRITTEN, YOU NEED TO SAY WHEN IT RAN. ONE WONDERS IF HE WRITES TO THE NEW YORK TIMES, "DEAR NEW YORK TIMES, YOU ARE WRONG! THAT WAS MEAN!" AND HONESTLY EXPECTS THEM TO KNOW WHAT THE HELL HE'S WRITING ABOUT? IF SOMETHING UPSET YOU, TOM-TOM, TRY POINTING IT OUT. TRY SAYING WHEN IT RAN AND/OR THE TITLE OF THE REPORT. WHEN YOU'RE WRITING, TRY LETTING PEOPLE KNOW WHAT YOU'RE WRITING ABOUT. AND, THIS CAN BE CONSIDERED PART ONE. WE TOLD AVA AND C.I. ABOUT YOUR E-MAIL AND AVA SAID, "I'M GRABBING A PIECE OF THAT."
TO REVIEW: (1) GRIPING AT ONE OUTLET WHEN THESE ARE JOINT-POSTS MAKES YOU APPEAR RACIST. (2) YOUR INABILITY TO READ IS TROUBLING. (3) WHEN WRITING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT A REPORT, YOU NEED TO NOTE WHEN IT RAN AND/OR THE TITLE. (4) YOUR REFUSAL TO USE YOUR PUBLIC SPACE TO COVER ANYTHING BUT THE CORPORATIST BARACK OBAMA IS NOT ONLY EMBARRASSING, IT'S A BETRAYAL OF WAR RESISTERS AND THEIR BRAVE STANDS. IF THAT'S TOO MUCH FOR YOU, GRAMPS, GO SIT ON THE PORCH AND TELL THE WORLD AGAIN HOW 'TOUGH' VIETNAM WAS FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU HAD TO TAKE AN 'INVASIVE' PHYSICAL. REMEMBER WHEN YOU SAID THAT'S WHAT MOTIVATED WAR RESISTANCE? GUESS C.I., ELAINE AND REBECCA SERVED YOU YOUR SEXIST LUNCH ON THAT ONE. WE'LL TOSS OUT A (6) FOR YOU. "BULLY BOY PRESS" SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOUR CLUE THAT THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HUMOROUS POSTS. NOT LAUGHING, MOVE THE HELL ALONG. OR, IN THE WORDS OF CHER, "IF YOU CAN DIG IT, I'M HAPPY FOR YOU, IF YOU CAN'T, HEY, I'M SORRY."
Starting with war resistance. In a dramatic development for US war resister Corey Glass, currently residing in Canada, there are no charges against him. May 21st was when Corey Glass was told he would be deported. Corey Glass is an Iraq War veteran and a US war resister. He went to Canada seeking asylum -- the kind of welcoming Canada provided to war resisters ("draft dodgers" and "deserters") during Vietnam. After being told he was being deported, he's been 'extended' through July 10th. June 3rd Canada's House of Commons voted (non-binding motion) in favor of Canada being a safe harbor for war resisters. This morning Russell Goldman (ABC News) reported: "Unbeknownst to him and his legion of supporters, Glass, 25, was actually discharged from the U.S. Army shortly after he went AWOL in 2006. . . . According to U.S. Army documents and officials Glass was discharged from the California National Guard on Dec. 1, 2006, four months after he arrived in Canada and six months after he failed to show up to a required muster." Goldman quotes Corey stating, "I had absolutely no idea that I had been discharged. This is insane. This is so weird. There are no warrants? No one is looking for me?" According to Major Nathan Banks, the US military does not consider Glass AWOL or a deserter, there are no charges against Glass and Glass is out of the military.
Events planned are still being held. Corey Glass is not the only US war resister in Canada and he is also not necessarily in the clear. In the US, Courage to Resist is planning "July 9th actions at Canadian Consulates nationwide:" Washington DC - Time TBA - 501 Pennsylvania Ave NW (map). Sponsored by Veterans for Peace. Info: TBA
To pressure the Stephen Harper government to honor the House of Commons vote, Gerry Condon, War Resisters Support Campaign and Courage to Resist all encourage contacting the Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration -- 613.996.4974, phone; 613.996.9749, fax; e-mail finley.d@parl.gc.ca -- that's "finley.d" at "parl.gc.ca") and Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, 613.992.4211, phone; 613.941.6900, fax; e-mail pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's "pm" at "pm.gc.ca"). Courage to Resist collected more than 10,000 letters to send before the vote. Now they've started a new letter you can use online here. The War Resisters Support Campaign's petition can be found here. There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Megan Bean, Chris Bean, Matthis Chiroux, Richard Droste, Michael Barnes, Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Jose Vasquez, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Logan Laituri, Jason Marek, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma). [. . .]
Turning to the US presidential race. Barack Obama continues to attempt to prove he is patriotic. Meanwhile this is how Ralph Nader described the country to Jim Lehrer (PBS' NewsHour) in 2000, "Well there are ups and downs. Obviously the slavery period was counteracted by the antislavery movement, women got the right to vote, workers got the right to form trade unions. They built the middle class. As they say, they gave us our weekend, they gave us benefits. The farmers' popular progressive movement against the banks and railroads companies that leavened power more; it gave people a chance to have more voice. So I think we have to look back at our history and say why is it every time concentrated power got too much and social justice movements opposed them, and the dominant business community opposed a social justice movement and finally lost, America was better as a result. Everybody benefited, including the businesses because democracy tends to expand markets." In 2000 at this time, Nader was coming in at four-percent in most polls. The most recent CNN-Opinion Research Poll found him to be holding at 6%.
On the Iraq War, while Barack wants credit for a speech he 'gave' in 2002 (online recording is a 're-creation'), what has he done since? While Barack was supporting Bully Boy's illegal war throughout 2004 and stating repeatedly that he didn't know how he would have voted if he had been in the Senate, Ralph Nader knew where he stood in 2004: "Every day our exposed military remains in war-torm Iraq, we impreil U.S. security, drain our economy, ignore urgent domestic needs, and prevent Iraqi demonstratic self-rule. We need to announace a withdrawal of our troops, not increase them." In May of 2004, speaking to the Council of/for/from Foreign Relations, he would explain (in the belly of the beast): "After 9-11, it's now become quite clear that whatever emphasis there was on the al Qaeda apparatus, there was a superior emphasis on removing Saddam Hussein from Iraq. What's interesting about this is the following. It illustrated -- in ways perhaps never before illustrated in our country -- the fragility of our democratic institutiatons. Here is a nation run by a tottering dictator presiding over a diplated army, with troops not willing to fight for him, surrounded by hostile Kurds to the north, hostile Shiites to the south, surrounded by three very powerful countries compared to his military ability: Iran, Turkey and Israel. And had he directed one aggressive threat toward any of them, they would have obliterated his regime. And yet Iraq under Hussein was viewed as a threat to the United States? But what was most troubling was the lack of any deliberative process by the US Congress which was stampeded into this situation, lack of any deliberative or investigative process by the mass media which clicked their heels and loved the graphics that they were given, and without a deliberative attentiveness to the perceived concerns of the American people. Before the invasion of Iraq, we tried to have Bush meet with one or more distinct groups in our country who had knowledge and were concerned about the invasion of Iraq. Thirteen of these groups, with very little press attention, wrote open letters to President Bush in February and early March, asking for a meeting. They included letters signed by the National Council of Churches, former military officers, former intelligence officials, student groups, women's peace advocates, a business group, labor group. I don't know of any other impending hostility that had such an ecumentical coming-together, expressing doubt and opposition to the pending move. None of these letters were answered by the White House. There were no meetings. President Bush, being the messianic militarist that we've come to know so well, was not interested in meeting with anyone who was critical of his proposed Iraq policies. That was a severe scar on our democratic fabric."
Meanwhile Steve Holland (Reuters) notes Barack's "flexibility" and "nuance on Iraq". Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report), endorsing Cynthia McKinney (presumed Green Party nominee), observes, " The true voices of peace speak clearly, in simple language. 'The U.S. should withdraw all troops and mercenaries from Iraq in as orderly a fashion as possible,' says former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, candidate for the Green Party's presidential nomination. 'This withdrawal should be quickly accomplished, since the troops and the equipment were all pre-positioned in the area to start with, at the start of the invasion'."
And Team Nader notes:
Here's something you can do right now for Nader/ Gonzalez. Why six dollars, you may ask? Because yesterday, CNN reported that Ralph Nader is at six percent in its most recent national poll. And while the flip-floppers Obama and McCain might look down on six percent, we are excited. Our goal of course is much higher. Right now, our goal is ten percent in the national polls. Why ten percent? Because ten percent gets us into the Google sponsored debates in New Orleans on September 18. If we get on the Google sponsored debates, we're convinced Nader/Gonzalez will move toward 20 percent. At twenty percent, people see a three way race. When people see a three way race, everything is possible. And we believe that in this momentous election year, everything is possible.
But right now our motto is as follows: Get it done. Now, what exactly do we mean by get it done? We mean get Ralph Nader on the ballot in at least 45 states (Ralph was on only 34 in 2004) Here's our ambitious ballot access timetable: Ten states by July 6. Fifteen states by July 20. Thirty states by August 8. Forty states by September 1. Forty five states by September 15. Right now, we're in stage one: ten states by July 6. And we're in the middle of the stage one fundraising campaign. Right now, we need to raise $40,000 by July 6, 2008. Thanks to your generous donations, we're at $27,672. But we want to get to ten states as soon as possible. So, help us blow by our $40,000 goal early. If we can get stage one done early, then we can move onto stage two ahead of schedule. So, please, drop a six spot here now. There's nowhere to go but up. Together, we are making a difference.
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot" |
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Teaching 'progressives'
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