Here's an anthem for those struggling for reform in Liby, Algeria, Sudan, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco, Yemen and in Madison Wisconsin - hold your ground
Guns Of Brixton (Clash)-cover by Grammy Winners Arcade Fire
Bahrain releases a number of political prisoners and Bahrainians still occupyin Pearl Square
Feb. 23, 2011 Euronews
- The real concern as this Western Media report highlights for the West appears to be not human rights and tyranny but rather the flow and price of oil.
The West has been supporting friendly tyrants for over a century now in the Middle East and Africa and now acts as if these domestic affairs have nothing to do with the West and its historical role in the region.
Gaddafi 'could sabotage oil fields'
BBC 23 February 2011
Middle Eastern media see end of Gaddafi
Arab media commentators hail what they see as the end of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's rule in Libya, although many fear that his latest speech shows he will not quit without further bloodshed.
Many fear that Gaddafi's speech means he will not quit without further bloodshed
Pan-Arab TV channels continue to lead on the story, with even usually reticent Syrian satellite TV noting international calls for Libya to halt attacks on its own people.
The pro-Libyan London newspaper a-Arab al-Alamiyah also reported on the disintegration of Colonel Gaddafi's regime. One Saudi paper criticizes the pan-Arab TV station al-Jazeera, which has led the critical coverage of the Libyan leader, accusing it of behaving unprofessionally.
Iranian comment from left and right sees no way out for Colonel Gaddafi, and one Turkish newspaper columnist said former African, British and US allies cannot save him.
Some writers criticise Arab and other states for having tolerated the Libyan regime for so long, and one Israeli commentator calls for Colonel Gaddafi to be put on trial for genocide and shot
Bush's and Obama and America's friend Gaddafi blames media for encouraging unrest in Libya and telling lies about what is actually taking place in Libya. He especially blames Aljazeera so his hatred and paranoia about Aljazeera mirrors that the Obama administration which also claims Aljazeera is cohoots with pro-democracy movement which many in the US media see as anti-Americanism.
We shoud note that when millions of Americans and tens of millions protested around the globe against the US pending invasion of Iraq the Government and its echo chamber in the Mainstream Media called the numbers of protesters exaggerated and that those opposed to the invasion were anti-American and by their logic therefore pro-terrorists and anti-Western & Anti-Christian.
Libyan officials say Qatar, Al Jazeera arranged revolt Feb. 23
Defiant Gaddafi vows to 'fight on' Aljazeera-Feb. 23
Libyan interior minister resigns- Aljazeera-feb 23
The American Mainstream Media while showing some sympathy for the pro-democracy movements in Libya, Bahrain , Egypt etc. are either ignoring or criticizing pro-union pro-labor demonstrations in Madison Wisconsin and elsewhere in the USA.
American uberconservatives, Tea Party Republicans, Neocons, Neoliberals with a hint of racism and colonialism argue Egypt and other countries fighting for reform are too backward to have real democracy.
US government fears losing its favorite dictators and authoritarian Regimes.
Obama makes excuses rather than pick up the phone and tell these tyrants he's pulling the plug but that 's not the American way.
American hypocrisy in Foreign Affairs
US claims it is in favor of democracy and human rights , civil rights, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly , freedom of association while denying such freedoms to its satellites or colonies.
American colonialism is no better than British, French, German, Italian, or Spanish colonialism.
The US government and its elitist enablers attitude towards the American Empire's client states or colonies is similar to the British Empire's attitude toward the American colonies during America's War of Independence.
The American way in the last 60 years or so has been to cozy up to tyrants and to help quash critics and dissidents-imprison, abuse , torture or kill any citizens demanding reform or democracy.
The people of Bahrain for example are rising up against a tyrannical government which is supported by the USA.
Meanwhile the American 5th fleet is stationed in Bahrain but the USA has done nothing to support the people of Bahrain-
While Obama with a straight face has the Gaul to claim the US does not interfere in the domestic affairs of other nations-Give Me A Freakin Break!!!
Glenn Beck goes after George Soros and Reform Rabbis - anti-semitism or what???
Glenn Beck: Reform Judaism like "radicalized Islam"
BY ALEX PAREENE at Salon.com, Feb. 22, 2011
Glenn Beck said something stupid about Jewish people, today. Just FYI. On his radio program, while discussing George Soros, Beck says Reform Judaism is "almost like" "radicalized Islam."
For example Alex Pareene has focused on the unsavory beliefs of those in the media such Richard Cohen of the Washington Post who believes Egyptians are too backward to be able to set up a real democracy.
In another article below Richard Cohen like other Uberconservatives and the Mainstream Media demonizes Public servants such as teachers, firefighters who want better wages and benefits and the right to collective bargaining.
What he is arguing is that he and his fellow travelers deserve the salaries they draw while teachers and others are supposed to be glad to even have a job and should accept whatever is given to them. (The crumbs from the rich man's table)
Richard Cohen like Glenn Beck, O'Reilly , Sean Hannity and the dedicated members of "The Family"et al want to return to what they see as the good old days when union organizers were tossed into jail and when strikers were met with brute force. This helps explain their ambivalent attitudes towards the uprisings in the Middle East and Africa.
WAR ROOM Richard Cohen: Egyptian democracy will be "a nightmare"
BY ALEX PAREENE at Salon.com feb.1 2011
Nothing saddens Richard Cohen more than the sight of hundreds of thousands of Egyptians peacefully protesting. The longtime Washington Post columnist is sad because those childish Arab Muslims might end up with a democracy, but they don't know how democracy works. Here is how democracy works: We like it unless "the people" want something that complicates our current foreign policy objectives.
Cohen is just broken up about this. "Egypt, once stable if tenuously so, has been pitched into chaos." "The dream of a democratic Egypt," he says, "is sure to produce a nightmare." It is sure to. Such a nightmare it will be. Just not anywhere near as pleasant as these last 30 years of "stability" have been, for everyone.
Cohen is totally an expert on Egypt and Muslims, because he is a longtime opinion columnist for the Washington Post, and not at all a blinkered idiot. Egypt "lacks the civic and political institutions that are necessary for democracy," he tells us. And you can't argue with that. I mean, do Egyptian newspapers even run syndicated Richard Cohen opinion columns? Do they have "Dancing With the Stars," to teach them how voting works?
My take on all this is relentlessly gloomy. I care about Israel. I care about Egypt, too, but its survival is hardly at stake. I care about democratic values, but they are worse than useless in societies that have no tradition of tolerance or respect for minority rights. What we want for Egypt is what we have ourselves. This, though, is an identity crisis. We are not them.
Cohen is concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood -- which "runs the Gaza Strip" under the name "Hamas," he tells us -- will take control of Egypt and attack Israel, at which point "the mob currently in the streets will roar its approval." That "mob" certainly does seem pretty bloodthirsty. They clearly want all-out war with the region's sole nuclear power. Pretty sure that's what these demonstrations are about. "I'm actually pretty cool with Mubarak but I really wish we were waging war against Israel right now" -- An Egyptian protester.
Cohen seems to understand that the Brotherhood, while involved in the demonstrations, did not organize them, and he has been told that the majority of the demonstrators have no ties to the group, but he thinks that might just be because they are sneaky. "It has been underground for generations -- jailed, tortured, infiltrated, but still, somehow, flourishing. Its moment may be approaching." Scary!
And why should we all be super-scared of them? "The Islamists of the Brotherhood do not despise America for what it does but for what it is." Thanks, Richard Cohen, for explaining who these Islamists are, and what they despise about us. It's not our lengthy history of propping up the dictator who brutally repressed them -- they hate us for our freedom. (You may compare Richard Cohen's history of the Muslim Brotherhood to that an an actual expert on the subject, if you wish.)
This column is so full of winning lines, I have to stop myself from quoting the entire thing. There is literally an "I like democracy, but" part: "Majority rule is a worthwhile idea. But so, too, are respect for minorities, freedom of religion, the equality of women and adherence to treaties, such as the one with Israel, the only democracy in the region."
There is literally an "I like democracy, but" part: "Majority rule is a worthwhile idea. But so, too, are respect for minorities, freedom of religion, the equality of women and adherence to treaties, such as the one with Israel, the only democracy in the region."
I'm sorry, I can edit that one to more clearly express Cohen's actual point: "Majority rule is a worthwhile idea. But so, too ... [is] respect for... Israel...."
These are the last lines:
America needs to be on the right side of human rights. But it also needs to be on the right side of history. This time, the two may not be the same.
The "right side of history" might not be the "right side of human rights." Got it? Sometimes you have to be on the "wrong side" of "human rights," and history will totally understand.
Poor Egypt. Maybe you will be grown-up enough in the eyes of Richard Cohen to handle a democracy someday, but right now, it's just not in the cards.
Is this where America is headed and with the blowback with labor and Dems finally taking a stand the US is becoming more polarized as the rights view of reality is becoming nightmarishly delusional but inventive their imaginations running wild.
He believes as other uberconservatives that teachers and other public servants are overpaid and they should one be glad that such dim witted individuals would dare as Oliver dare to ask for more. They believe that the wealthy deserve their wealth and that their wealth should be increased while average workers get paid less and less.
Overpaid newspaper columnist: State employees are too generously compensated
BY ALEX PAREENE via Salon Feb. 22, 2011
The Washington Post's Richard Cohen's "take" on this whole Wisconsin public sector union mess is that public sector employees are retiring with too-generous pensions, in New York, according to some stuff he read in "the local newspapers," which means the right-wing anti-union New York Post. This makes him steaming mad, that a police lieutenant and some teachers have very big pensions. And did you know how many LIRR employees claim to have disabilities? Stupid Wisconsin teachers!
Cohen's been at the Washington Post for more than 40 years. As of 10 years ago, he showed up at the office once a week. His column runs only on Tuesdays. I am willing to bet that -- like many senior Post editorial employees -- he makes comfortably more than six figures a year.
Wisconsin's 2010 "Teacher of the Year" -- the very best teacher in all of the state, who presumably went to work five days a week, at least during the school year, and who helps more people learn more things in one day than Richard Cohen has in 30+ years of opinion-columnizing -- made $54,928.
Or, put another way: Richard Cohen is outraged that cops, firefighters and transit workers make nearly as much in retirement as Richard Cohen does for doing the exact same amount of work on the average day.
"Wisconsin governor's "fireside chat": Not particularly convincing"
BY ALEX PAREENE at Salon.com ,Feb. 22,
Scott Walker claims to not be at war with unions, argues that collective bargaining increased the deficit
President Franklin Roosevelt used "fireside chats" to reassure a Depression-ravaged and war-torn nation that a brighter future was ahead, and to tell people to have faith in American institutions. Tonight, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker had a "fireside chat" to dismiss the claims of protesting Wisconsin public employees and the millions of Americans who sympathize with them in their fight to retain collective-bargaining rights.
Walker warned that outside agitators were being shipped in from Nevada and Chicago. He claimed that his union-busting bill was aimed purely at deficit reduction, and not intended as a "battle with unions." If he'd meant to cripple unions, he said, "we would have eliminated collective bargaining entirely or we would have gone after the private-sector unions."
"Our bill is about protecting the hardworking taxpayer," he said. "Unless the taxpayer is a teacher," he didn't add. "It’s about Wisconsin families trying to make ends meet and help their children," he said. "Although I have no idea how any specific family will be helped by depriving state employees of the right to negotiate for benefits," he also didn't add.
He read a letter from a substitute teacher who disliked the protest, and mentioned a laid-off private sector worker "who asks simply why everyone else has to sacrifice except those in government," because the money class has been setting workers against each other in a resentment-fueled race to the bottom for decades. (Hint, laid-off worker: There is a class of people that no one expects to "sacrifice" anything, and it ain't teachers.)
Walker also begged Democratic state legislators to return to the state, so that he can finish dismantling their base of support. The Senate minority leader declined.
and so it goes,
GORD.
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