[LAAMN] (unknown)

2011-08-26 Thread Romi Elnagar 
Dr. King Weeps From His Grave
By CORNEL WEST
Published: August 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/opinion/martin-luther-king-jr-would-want-a-revolution-not-a-memorial.html?_r=2&src=tp&smid=fb-share



  
James Victore
Related in News
* A Dream Fulfilled, Martin Luther King Memorial Opens (August 23, 
2011) 
* Times Topic: Martin Luther King Jr.
THE Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was to be dedicated on the National 
Mall on Sunday — exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in 
Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and 
Freedom. (Because of Hurricane Irene, the ceremony has been 
postponed.) 
These events constitute major milestones in the turbulent history of 
race and democracy in America, and the undeniable success of the civil 
rights movement — culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 — 
warrants our attention and elation. Yet the prophetic words of Rabbi 
Abraham Joshua Heschel still haunt us: “The whole future of America 
depends on the impact and influence of Dr. King.” 
Rabbi Heschel spoke those words during the last years of King’s life, 
when 72 percent of whites and 55 percent of blacks disapproved of King’s 
opposition to the Vietnam War and his efforts to eradicate poverty in 
America. King’s dream of a more democratic America had become, in his 
words, “a nightmare,” owing to the persistence of “racism, poverty, 
militarism and materialism.” He called America a “sick society.” On the 
Sunday after his assassination, in 1968, he was to have preached a 
sermon titled “Why America May Go to Hell.” 
King did not think that America ought to go to hell, but rather that it 
might go to hell owing to its economic injustice, cultural decay and 
political paralysis. He was not an American Gibbon, chronicling the 
decline and fall of the American empire, but a courageous and visionary 
Christian blues man, fighting with style and love in the face of the 
four catastrophes he identified. 
Militarism is an imperial catastrophe that has produced a 
military-industrial complex and national security state and warped the 
country’s priorities and stature (as with the immoral drones, dropping 
bombs on innocent civilians). Materialism is a spiritual catastrophe, 
promoted by a corporate media multiplex and a culture industry that have 
hardened the hearts of hard-core consumers and coarsened the 
consciences of would-be citizens. Clever gimmicks of mass distraction 
yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists. 
Racism is a moral catastrophe, most graphically seen in the prison 
industrial complex and targeted police surveillance in black and brown 
ghettos rendered invisible in public discourse. Arbitrary uses of the 
law — in the name of the “war” on drugs — have produced, in the legal 
scholar Michelle Alexander’s apt phrase, a new Jim Crow of mass incarceration. 
And poverty is an economic catastrophe, 
inseparable from the power of greedy oligarchs and avaricious plutocrats 
indifferent to the misery of poor children, elderly citizens and 
working people. 
The age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling King’s 
prophetic legacy. Instead of articulating a radical democratic vision 
and fighting for homeowners, workers and poor people in the form of 
mortgage relief, jobs and investment in education, infrastructure and 
housing, the administration gave us bailouts for banks, record profits 
for Wall Street and giant budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable. 
As the talk show host Tavis Smiley and I have said in our national tour 
against poverty, the recent budget deal is only the latest phase of a 
30-year, top-down, one-sided war against the poor and working people in 
the name of a morally bankrupt policy of deregulating markets, lowering 
taxes and cutting spending for those already socially neglected and 
economically abandoned. Our two main political parties, each beholden to big 
money, offer merely alternative versions of oligarchic rule. 
The absence of a King-worthy narrative to reinvigorate poor and working 
people has enabled right-wing populists to seize the moment with 
credible claims about government corruption and ridiculous claims about 
tax cuts’ stimulating growth. This right-wing threat is a catastrophic 
response to King’s four catastrophes; its agenda would lead to hellish 
conditions for most Americans. 
King weeps from his grave. He never confused substance with symbolism. 
He never conflated a flesh and blood sacrifice with a stone and mortar 
edifice. We rightly celebrate his substance and sacrifice because he 
loved us all so deeply. Let us not remain satisfied with symbolism 
because we too often fear the challenge he embraced. Our greatest 
writer, Herman Melville, who spent his life in love with America even as he was 
our most fierce critic of the myth of American exceptionalism, 
noted, “Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; 
hence the con

[LAAMN] Activist Bill McKibben on Why Tar Sands Pipeline Is 'Game Over' for the Climate, Sunday Publication Party for 'Keep on Pushin'

2011-08-26 Thread Ed Pearl 
Hi.  I’ve been remiss in neglecting this subject and the ongoing action in
DC.  Click on the 

URL to see/hear a remarkable, 5 minute video of Bill McKibben, on the Keith
Olbermann show.

It also starkly brought to mind what is now missing on MSNBC’s nightly
programming.  -Ed

 

PS: Chris Hayes subbed for Lawrence O’donnell, last night, and reported the
total number of civil

disobedience arrests now total over 300, with no end is sight.  DN today
says it’s now 332. 

Video...

Activist Bill McKibben on Why Tar Sands Pipeline Is 'Game Over' for the
Climate 
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2011/08/24

Published on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 by Countdown
  With Keith Olbermann /
Current TV 


Activist Bill McKibben on Why Tar Sands Pipeline Is 'Game Over' for the
Climate 


For a fourth straight day outside the White House, environmentalists were
arrested for peacefully protesting a pipeline that would carry acidic crude
oil from Western Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast. Environmentalist and author
Bill McKibben, who spent the weekend with fellow demonstrators in a
Washington jail, discusses the the success of the protest and the
shortcomings of Obama's environmental policy with Keith.

McKibben echoes the warning from NASA's Jim Hansen that if the Tar Sands
project goes forward it will be "essentially game over for the climate."

[thumbnail image: Shadia Fayne Wood/Tar Sands Action

* * *

From: Denise Sullivan [mailto:denisesulli...@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 9:35 AM



What: Publication Party for Keep on Pushin--Hope to see you there!

When: Sunday, August 28th, from 4-7 p.m. (sharp)

Where: Bolívar Café and Gallery, 1741 Ocean Park Blvd at 18th St.

Santa Monica, CA  (310) 581-2344

 

 

Keep on Pushing: Black Power Music From Blues to Hip Hop

by Denise Sullivan

 

"A pleasing survey of soul music, from Lead Belly to Johnny Otis to Michael

Franti to Louis Farrakhan . . . Sullivan offers a welcome exploration of how

African-American popular music became America¹s vernacular."

‹Kirkus Reviews

 

 

"Sullivan . . . combines impressive research and wide-ranging interviews in

a multilayered narrative about the power of music within black liberation,

civil rights, antiwar, and gender-related movements . . . This is for anyone

interested in a thorough analysis of music as a commanding force in change

as well as a continually evolving artistic presence." ‹Library Journal

 

 

"Reaching as well into the areas of punk rock, reggae, and finally hip-hop,

Keep On Pushing admirably points out numerous key developments and

connections throughout a vital, revolutionary element of popular music."

‹Under the Radar

 

http://www.ipgbook.com/keep-on-pushing-products-9781556528170.php?page_id=30

 

http://denisesullivan.wordpress.com/

 

http://www.facebook.com/DeniseSullivanauthor

 

-- End of Forwarded Message

 

 

 

 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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[LAAMN] Syria:Beyond Fallacies, Real Hope Simmers Still!

2011-08-26 Thread Cort Greene 
http://syrianrevolutiondigest.blogspot.com/

Friday, August 26, 2011
   Beyond Fallacies, Real Hope Simmers
Still!
 *Even if we left alone, we will come out victorious. The question is: who
will be our new friends?*

 *Thursday August 25, 2011 *

6 protesters were killed by security forces today: 2 in Jisr Ashoughour and
1 in Jabala Al-Zawiyeh in Idlib Province, 1 in Aleppo, 1 in Al-Rastan and 1,
a woman, in Deir Ezzor (Al-Shaheel). Meanwhile, army troops continued their
sweep operations in Deir Ezzor and northeastern regions, culminating in
storming of Al-Shaheel and al-Basseerah, among other local communities, and
a new raid on Albou Kamal. In Lattakia Province on the coast, security
forces and army troops stormed the city of Jableh and arrested over 150
inhabitants. Several communities in the Hauran/Deraa Province in the south
were also raided by army units, including Al-Mseifrah, Al-Jizah, Al-Taybah
and Al-Sahweh. Other units stormed the community of Al-Rastan near Homs in
central Syria, amidst heavy shelling and machinegun fire and conducted many
arrests. Security forces also raided the suburbs of Midan, Zamalk,
Moadamiyah and Ruknaddine, killing 1 protester in Midan, and arresting
dozens.

In a report by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, more than 80 lawyers
have been detained and tortured in the last 3 months alone in Syria for of
their efforts to document and protest against human rights violations by
Syrian authorities.

*Links*
*How Iran Keeps Assad in Power in
Syria
*
Summary:  Iran sees the Syrian government as the front line of defense
against the United States and Israel. So Tehran is sparing no expense to
help its ally fend off popular protests.
*The US' war of words against
Syria
*
Cutting the head off Syria's Baathist snake can no more create meaningful
change within Syria's political system than hanging Saddam did in Iraq or
jailing Mubarak in Egypt. The underlying ideology remains in place,
reinforced by years of propaganda in the schools and the media. The power
brokers in the military, government ministries and major companies tend to
retain their sinecures long after figureheads are removed. The Arab Spring
has led to personnel changes in Tunisia and Egypt, not revolution.
Revolution is the radical reallocation of power and wealth from one whole
class of elites to another class or classes. Anything short of revolution is
reform; reform isn't enough to fix a broken government.
*Syria’s brave demonstrators: All fired
up
*
Unlike in neighbouring Iraq, sectarian rifts have not so far played a big
role in Syria’s attempt at regime change. They exist, but Syrians pride
themselves on their cosmopolitan history. “We have no problem between us,”
has been a common refrain during the protests.
*Syrian forces beat up political cartoonist Ali
Ferzat
*
In the early hours of Thursday, masked men seized Ferzat from the street and
forced him in to a van. A relative has said that Ferzat's attackers targeted
his hands, breaking them both, and told him it was "just a warning" before
leaving him by the roadside with a bag over his head.
*Iran urges Syria to implement political
reforms
*
Ahmadinejad calls on 'states to acknowledge their people's will for
freedom', cautions Syrian demonstrators that Western powers only want to
protect Israel.
*Western Sanctions May Put Slow Squeeze On
Syria
*
On a recent government-sponsored tour, called "Syria Is Fine," reporters
were shown bustling markets in Damascus where Syrians bought clothes,
electronics and basic necessities. The tour was arranged shortly after the
United States formally called for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down
and banned the import of oil and gas. American officials acknowledge this
will have little impact unless Europe joins in as well. Europe buys nearly
all of Syria's crude exports, and those sales account for about one-third of
Syria's economy.
*A still-open nuclear
file
*
Syria's violations would be grave enough if al-Kibar reflected a Syrian
attempt to build nuclear weapons for itself. They would be graver if Syria
did it to share plutonium with Iran.

*Committing massacres while believing yourself to be the victim is the very
essence the fascist mentality and of fascism as a psychosis. This is what we
are dealing with now in Syria. If there are any expert

[LAAMN] To the Victor Go the SpOILs

2011-08-26 Thread Scott Peden 

Ya know, this is the way it seems to work.

Someone has Oil, and the Western Imperialist nations attack, or at the 
very least interfere with them getting their oil to market. The Oil 
companies then reinvest their profits (as these wars cost them nothing, 
in fact they rape and pillage the citizens of the nations going to war 
by over charging for fuel for the invading forces, who would have used 
NONE should they have STAYED AT HOME) into more Politicians in the 
elections and more control over the general propaganda sources, more 
commonly known as 'news', or Hollywood style movies glorifying the 
victors and demonizing anyone that had stood in the way for the 
Capitalist carpet bagging murders and thieves.

Iran puzzles me, they want nuclear power, as they don't have the oil 
needed to run their power grid, and they've suffered an oil embargo for 
some time. Why the hell does BP want to get in there then, as it is BP 
whose pissed that when the Shaw was ousted that 'their oil' was taken 
away from them. Of course Iran would have nuclear energy as soon as BP's 
boys ran the country again and all of the oil there would cost 4X as 
much as it does now. History shows us this is the norm.

With every attack on an oil producing nation we're told there is a 
shortage and the prices jump, and when the flow resumes, the prices go 
up again, as after all, Capitalism is about controlling the supply of 
anything that they can have a monopoly over the demand, so they can 
create scarcities and raise prices.

We keep talking about nations invading, when in fact the Western Nations 
operate as WW II Italy.
*"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is 
a merger of State and corporate power."
--Benito Mussolini, Fascist dictator of Italy--

Scott*

On 8/25/2011 4:34 PM, Duane Roberts wrote:
>
> TO THE VICTOR GO THE SPOILS
>
> By Duane Roberts
>
> Now that it is becoming increasingly evident the oil wells of Libya
> will soon be liberated from the clutches of that wicked madman,
> Muhammar Gaddafi, a flurry of articles have popped up on news
> websites everywhere explaining the real reasons why Barack
> Obama, our  peacenik Democratic president, spent $896 million
> bombing that country to smithereens.
>
> For example, a piece headlined, “Big Oil Should Win With Gadhafi
> Gone,” posted on InvestorPlace.com, an investment newsletter,
> hints Uncle Sam is meddling in Libya’s internal affairs because
> the baby-eating tyrant  who has led that country for 42 years has
> been a longstanding oppressor of U.S. petroleum firms ever
> since he nationalized the oil industry in 1969.
>
> But now that Obama and the good Christian gentlemen of the North
> Atlantic Treaty Organization have galloped into Libya on their pretty
> white ponies to civilize the heathens, InvestorPlace.com notes
> “ExxonMobil’s luck–and  that of several other big players in oil–in
> Libya might be changing now that dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s
> rule seemingly is at an end."
>
> Click on the following link for the rest of the article:
>
> http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2011/08/to-the-victor-go-the-spoils/
>
>


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