Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Kagan's Israeli Connection
US Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s hero, Israeli High Court Justice Aharon Barak, is a leading proponent of torture and apartheid.
Down on Luck
One of our key volunteers at Public Good Project is down on his luck. Disabled, unemployed, on the verge of becoming homeless. Any donations will be promptly sent his way.
Gulag Goldman
If you liked the big O's performance on bank bailouts, healthcare, warfare, and the Gulf oil disaster, you'll be thrilled to learn the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security just gave him the authority to shut down the Internet. That's right, big O will soon have full command of communications infrastructure -- telephone and Internet -- and any emergency he deems sufficient (like too much criticism or just the need to look in charge) triggers lockdown for all of us upright good citizens.
Welcome to Gulag Goldman.
Welcome to Gulag Goldman.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Totalitarian Trajectory
Yesterday, the US Supreme Court split 5-4 upholding the UC Hastings School of Law prohibition against subsidizing student organizations that practice discrimination. Think about that. The highest court in our land is divided almost evenly between justices who support legalized Christian bigotry against gays, and those who do not.
Located in the Civic Center of San Francisco, Hastings support for equality under the law was not surprising, but the atmosphere in our country’s capitol is very disturbing. Viewed from a San Francisco perspective, the dissenting opinion on Christian Legal Society v Martinez reminded me of another troubling attitude.
Back in 2006, San Francisco’s US Senator Dianne Feinstein sponsored a bill criminalizing any type of activism targeted at corporations. While this bill was not in support of bigotry, it does serve as a corollary to Christian bigotry in that both are oriented in favor of totalitarian government — one theocratic, one fascist. And as we have seen in the states of Israel, Iran, and Indonesia, the two are not necessarily exclusive.
Located in the Civic Center of San Francisco, Hastings support for equality under the law was not surprising, but the atmosphere in our country’s capitol is very disturbing. Viewed from a San Francisco perspective, the dissenting opinion on Christian Legal Society v Martinez reminded me of another troubling attitude.
Back in 2006, San Francisco’s US Senator Dianne Feinstein sponsored a bill criminalizing any type of activism targeted at corporations. While this bill was not in support of bigotry, it does serve as a corollary to Christian bigotry in that both are oriented in favor of totalitarian government — one theocratic, one fascist. And as we have seen in the states of Israel, Iran, and Indonesia, the two are not necessarily exclusive.
Pwogland
Monday, June 28, 2010
Law of the Land
US Supreme Court upholds UC Hastings School of Law prohibition on subsidizing student organizations that practice discrimination.
Criminal Intent
Now that we've pretty much aired the topic of prostitution and the relevant politics of San Francisco, we'll return to the facts pertinent to the battle against Craigslist:
So legalizing prostitution is legalizing slavery, slavery that demands new bodies trafficked from all corners of the globe, wherever desperate poverty lures the innocent into a living hell. But prostitution is not legal here, and Craigslist has chosen to profit from the human misery associated with it. By their choice, Craigslist has demonstrated callous disregard for humanity as well as criminal intent.
Let the battle begin.
1. Prostitution is for the most part slavery.
2. Prostitution is run by organized crime.
3. Prostitution demand is supplied by human trafficking.
4. Prostitution is marketed on Craigslist.
5. Prostitution on Craigslist includes children.
So legalizing prostitution is legalizing slavery, slavery that demands new bodies trafficked from all corners of the globe, wherever desperate poverty lures the innocent into a living hell. But prostitution is not legal here, and Craigslist has chosen to profit from the human misery associated with it. By their choice, Craigslist has demonstrated callous disregard for humanity as well as criminal intent.
Let the battle begin.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Gay Male Establishment
From what information I've been able to gather, it appears that the hub of support for legalizing prostitution and protecting sex trafficking in San Francisco is the gay male political establishment led by California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano. Former California Senator Carole Migden is apparently afraid to oppose this faction, as is the San Francisco Democratic Party she once chaired.
What I was somewhat surprised to learn, though, is that San Francisco Supervisor and past President of the Board of Education Eric Mar caters to this faction on this issue as well. Of course, he is an ambitious politician, but he also has a young daughter. Neutralizing him with the incontrovertible child sex trafficking facts might work. Who knows.
What I was somewhat surprised to learn, though, is that San Francisco Supervisor and past President of the Board of Education Eric Mar caters to this faction on this issue as well. Of course, he is an ambitious politician, but he also has a young daughter. Neutralizing him with the incontrovertible child sex trafficking facts might work. Who knows.
Making Dissent Invisible
As Amanda Wilson observes in The Dominion, preventing public participation in global policy development isn't limited to the United States and Canada, but fits a pattern of keeping democracy down used by all members of the G8. By looking at the various G8 summits, Wilson illuminates the strategy of making dissent invisible, as well as the totalitarian tactics that make that goal achievable.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Shut Down Sex Trafficking
After years of research documenting harms perpetrated against those in prostitution, Prostitution Research and Education, along with many other groups, is seeking accountability from Craigslist for facilitating online trafficking of women and children. Coalition Against Trafficking Women (CATW) and Prostitution Research and Education (PRE) are planning a protest July 8 at the Craigslist San Francisco headquarters. For more information see this announcement.
Ball of Fire
Crow's Eye rounds up the latest on the Gulf disaster and looming catastrophe.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
8
Jury of Fears
A study by Equal Justice Initiative reveals widespread racial discrimination in jury selection in eight Southern states.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Against Their Will
Prostitution is a much misunderstood topic, and as such, attitudes about the proper social response to it vary greatly. Unfortunately, the happy Hollywood hooker fantasy is not the reality of an industry where 85% of prostitutes are violently coerced into selling their bodies, and 100,000 underage girls held in bondage are pimped online in the Adult Services section of Craigslist.
Ideologies and fantasies aside, if we are going to walk the talk of freedom, we cannot allow women and children to be trafficked for sex and held in slave conditions against their will.
While it is wrong to blame the victims of this modern slavery, it is equally wrong to perpetuate this crime against humanity with our silence. We can start by taking the time to become informed; after all, it's possible our perceptions are skewed.
Ideologies and fantasies aside, if we are going to walk the talk of freedom, we cannot allow women and children to be trafficked for sex and held in slave conditions against their will.
While it is wrong to blame the victims of this modern slavery, it is equally wrong to perpetuate this crime against humanity with our silence. We can start by taking the time to become informed; after all, it's possible our perceptions are skewed.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
SOP
US soldier in WikiLeaks video says indiscriminate slaughter of civilians in Iraq is standard operating procedure.
G8
Martin Lukacs and Dru Oja Jay have compiled a useful infographic on the G8 and its infamous spawn the G20, including highlights of its debt collection agencies, the IMF and World Bank.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Shocking
According to the UN, Transnational Organized Crime is a growth industry, and the banks are involved.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
A Fighting Spirit
The Dominion's Dawn Paley looks at the fighting spirit of grassroots indigenous activism, and the potential for the anti-globalization movement to benefit from mutual effort.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Rank Criminality
Rolling Stone exposes the rank criminality of the U.S. Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service that led to the BP spill--an agency deeply in bed with the oil industry, including BP. With the worst safety record in the industry -- 760 citations since 2007 for "egregious and willful" safety violations -- BP was nevertheless allowed free rein by Bush and Obama. Indeed, as Obama unveiled his plan for the greatest expansion of offshore drilling in history, his campaign promise to cleanup MMS corruption was scuttled; since the spill began, White House resources have been mobilized not to cleanup, but to coverup.
A Dissonant Experience
Overcoming indoctrination from school and TV requires an inquisitive mind. Sometimes that happens as a result of a dissonant experience, sometimes by hearing someone else relate theirs. Showing others by example is best.
Before the Internet, I occasionally walked down to city hall and the county courthouse to gather evidence from public records, which my friends and I would then use to make flyers, ads, and articles to influence elections and public policy. People were astounded by how effective this was.
Decades later, we put the lessons we learned online.
Before the Internet, I occasionally walked down to city hall and the county courthouse to gather evidence from public records, which my friends and I would then use to make flyers, ads, and articles to influence elections and public policy. People were astounded by how effective this was.
Decades later, we put the lessons we learned online.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wasteland
Watching the American Empire dissemble before our eyes reveals hints of our dystopian future. Albeit clouded by the fog of advertising and propaganda, we can catch glimpses of the path ahead, one where our mercenary military consumes more petroleum than it plunders abroad, leaving our homeland in utter ruin.
As Charles Davis observes, gone are the glory days of conquering countries for oil, while happy idiots back home cruise the interstate in land yachts. Having hollowed out the economy that supported such profligacy, the beneficiaries of public largesse are now cannibalizing the assets of our empire, leaving the rest of us in wasteland.
Ironically, when the process is complete, there will be lots of oil everywhere; every river, every bay, every beach.
As Charles Davis observes, gone are the glory days of conquering countries for oil, while happy idiots back home cruise the interstate in land yachts. Having hollowed out the economy that supported such profligacy, the beneficiaries of public largesse are now cannibalizing the assets of our empire, leaving the rest of us in wasteland.
Ironically, when the process is complete, there will be lots of oil everywhere; every river, every bay, every beach.
Intentional Confusion
Parroting cliches can be a useful part of learning by rote, and is indeed incorporated into schooling, but what happens when through confusion cliches are misused? As we see regularly on the news, inappropriate metaphors can lead consumers to jump to wildly incorrect conclusions. These conclusions in turn lead to horrible assumptions about citizenship and public policy. Lacking a foundation in logical and critical thinking, of course, means consumers are oblivious to this dilemma, which is probably what was intended.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Easy Dig
As noted at Dead Horse blog, Obama was key to making the Gulf oil spill happen, and it wasn't all that hard to find out.
Without Our Consent
In his recent profile of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, The New Yorker‘s Raffi Khatchadourian lauds Assange’s exposing injustice, but suggests his efforts should be limited to fighting authoritarian regimes, not legitimate democratic states, whose secrets, says Khatchadourian, are justified by the consent of the governed. Of course, all states are authoritarian, while some are totalitarian. All of them lie, cheat, and steal without our consent—something that apparently escaped Khatchadourian.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Info War
Whistleblowing on the Web
The Pentagon and White House are going to have their hands full trying to plug leaks of war crimes evidence. After releasing video footage of US Army massacres in Iraq, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has canceled his public appearances for security reasons.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Bypassing the Gatekeepers
Over the last decade, millions of Americans have found ways to inform themselves unmediated by institutions or markets. Indeed, online communication through ad hoc networks has led to the formation of such things as media co-ops, indigenous news digests, and weblogs offering independent analysis and expose.
As hundreds of millions worldwide are now able to share information, despite institutional censorship and market retaliation, controlling what we know and think has become an impossible task for bureaucracies and enterprises designed for that purpose.
As more and more wean themselves from the soothing bromides of broadcast TV, and seek to learn what is really going on, society, politics, and global consciousness are bound to evolve in ways the previous gatekeepers of information cannot imagine. But then, imagination is not something usually found within the confines of market madness and military intelligence milieus.
As hundreds of millions worldwide are now able to share information, despite institutional censorship and market retaliation, controlling what we know and think has become an impossible task for bureaucracies and enterprises designed for that purpose.
As more and more wean themselves from the soothing bromides of broadcast TV, and seek to learn what is really going on, society, politics, and global consciousness are bound to evolve in ways the previous gatekeepers of information cannot imagine. But then, imagination is not something usually found within the confines of market madness and military intelligence milieus.
Invading Inuit
The Arctic development plan is part of an ongoing psychotic initiative led by the G8/G20 nations to exploit the world’s last remaining pristine ecosystems for energy and raw resources.
-- Clayton Thomas-Muller, Indigenous Environmental Network
The Dominion continues its coverage of the industrialization of the Arctic and its impact on the Inuit.
Intercontinental Cry follows the Innu in action.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Tilt and Wobble
I've often remarked that indigenous connections with landscape reflect a continuity of both location and observance recorded in aboriginal memory systems. Reading Sahara: A Natural History by Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle, I am struck by how little understanding we display today of the vacillations of landscape associated with long atmospheric cycles, erratic orbits, and abrupt variations in the axial tilt and wobble of our planet.
Noting the sudden change of the Sahara from vast savanna to world's largest desert a short time prior to the emergence of the Roman Empire, de Villiers and Hirtle bring to life the reality of climate changes -- over millions, thousands, and even hundreds of years -- that demanded significant adaptation by earlier civilizations, long before fossil fuels entered humanity's lexicon. Recalling that one of the most pressing points raised in current statements by indigenous organizations working on climate change protocols is retaining options in order to adapt to the unexpected, I can see more clearly the value of long-tended indigenous knowledge. Indeed, as de Villiers quotes Martin Claussen regarding the Sahara, "It all happened very fast...well within the limits of cultural memory."
Given the shortest cycles are often tens of thousands of years or longer, the ability to observe patterns and develop adaptive cultures is no small achievement--something the Tuareg and other indigenous peoples worldwide came to appreciate. As we exacerbate cataclysmic change due in part to fossil fuel societies, preserving adaptability seems like a good idea.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Rapacious Revival Roadshow
As Shamus Cooke observes, the bipartisan fiscal future fanfare is nothing less than a rapacious revival. Sponsored by the inheritors of unearned wealth, this latest roadshow is not surprisingly designed to rip off those of us who will depend on Medicare and Social Security in our senior years. For the privileged elites who hollowed out our economy and public treasury through private equity manipulations, Social Security is their final foray in re-establishing a feudal society.
As Mr. Cooke notes, the foregone conclusions of stacked studies, crony commissions and phony philanthropy are that the rich are endlessly worthy, while the rest of us are undeserving.
As Mr. Cooke notes, the foregone conclusions of stacked studies, crony commissions and phony philanthropy are that the rich are endlessly worthy, while the rest of us are undeserving.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Killing Kyoto
Bolivia believes that on an issue that affects the whole of humanity, we cannot make decisions in small unrepresentative forums, whether it is a group of 20 nations or in secret dinners behind the UN facade as we saw in Copenhagen.
--Pablo Solon, Bolivia’s chief envoy to the United Nations
Anke Weisheit
If you think food, medicine, and indigenous knowledge are serious subjects, then you might be interested in the work of CWIS Associate Scholar, Anke Weisheit. Anke is clearly someone who makes things happen.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Obstacle to Change
It is no secret that the United States government has been an obstacle to indigenous peoples’ direct participation in the global Climate Change treaty negotiations. A principal reason for US obstructionism has been it’s 34-year long opposition to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Center for World Indigenous Studies, National Congress of American Indians, Indian Law Resource Center and other indigenous organizations in the US and several tribal leaders have urged the Obama administration for more than a year to change it’s position and endorse UNDRIP. The Center for World Indigenous Studies position has been that the US cannot in its domestic legislation nor in its positions internationally responsibly advance policies to mitigate and adapt to the adverse affects of climate change unless and until it fully embraces the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The US government could quickly change the dynamics and stalled mess that is now passing as climate change negotiations with an affirmative endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples this summer. Then as swiftly, the US government must begin considering implementation legislation that fulfills the promise of this important document.
--Rudolph C. Ryser, Chair, Center for World Indigenous Studies
Monday, June 07, 2010
Mass Murderer
Ordering the cluster bombing of a Yemeni village, says Amnesty International, was grossly irresponsible of President Obama. Charles Davis extends the criticism, noting that whatever we might think about Obama personally, by his conduct he is in fact a war criminal.
Execution at Sea
As noted on Crow's Eye, five of the nine aid workers -- assassinated by Israeli commandos that attacked the humanitarian convoy to Gaza -- were shot in the back of the head at close range. As Jack Crow implies, were the Iranian Navy to conduct a similar execution at sea of international human rights activists, the United States would already be bombing Tehran.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Landing Strip for Jesus
Christian Zionists, esp. of the dispensationalist sort, need Israel destroyed before God can turn the region into a landing strip for Jesus.
They have a vested interest in (a) destroying the world, and (b) getting most of the world’s Jews killed on the way to Armageddon, since their prophecies demand it.
That would be Hagee and his ilk, as well as a number of old Bush family allies.
Curiously, the equally noxious Reconstructionists (Rushdoony’s followers) take the exact opposite opinion. And while they would love a homegrown theocracy where homosexuals are stoned in the street (I do not exaggerate), they hate the dispensationalists’ attempt to get Israel destroyed on the way to a Jesusian Return.
Sarah Palin’s breed of Charismatic, Latter Rain theology, splits the difference and takes the worst of both – desiring both World’s End, and an end times theocracy, to enact the Holy Nation Perfection which will induce God to send Jesus back.
That’s about 25% of the US population, right there.
And they all need Jews to behave a certain way (up to and including dying off) in order to get God to notice all the nice white people in the States, who want into heaven.
Scary shit, especially bundled up with depression level job losses, increasing marginalization, oil catastrophes and a Democratic Party hell bent on provoking armed resistance.
–Jack Crow
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Pithy and Poignant
The Dirty Greenie Hippy blog consistently catalogues the irreverent and chastises the complacent. Their lineup of Dirty Hippies produces some of the most pithy and poignant commentary on the web.
At a time when the empire has consolidated its prospects in the hapless charades of bipartisanship, the hippies might be our only hope for reviving democracy on our shores. If for no other reason, they deserve our undivided attention.
At a time when the empire has consolidated its prospects in the hapless charades of bipartisanship, the hippies might be our only hope for reviving democracy on our shores. If for no other reason, they deserve our undivided attention.
All that Glitters
Barrick Gold, the largest mining company in the world, is the subject of a new report by Amnesty International. Implicated in generating police brutality against indigenous inhabitants of Papua New Guinea, Barrick was also the subject of a book about state and corporate abuse of human rights in Africa. As a Canadian corporation, Barrick is subject to human rights standards Amnesty International claims they've violated.
Friday, June 04, 2010
Canada's Forked Tongue
Amnesty International joins the Assembly of First Nations in bringing the Canadian government before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. Canada, which currently discriminates against Indian children in providing social services, claims it does not violate their human rights to receive 20% less per child than non-indigenous children.
Onnery Oracles
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Not What They Seem
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Property in Palestine
While our attention is drawn once again to Gaza, readers might find interesting this interactive map and database on the history of the State of Israel's expropriation of land from the Palestinian people. Crow's Eye zeros in on the ethnic cleansing cartography of the West Bank.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Unprovoked Aggression
Sinn Fein leads the Irish response to Israel's unprovoked aggression toward humanitarian aid workers.
Undeterred
