01/28/10

Permalink Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

[A Palestinian woman waves her national flag in front of Israeli soldier during a peaceful demonstration organized in protest to the construction of the Annexation Wall in al-Ma'sara village, south of Bethlehem] Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks against Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Two Palestinian civilians were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank. IOF conducted 19 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. IOF arrested 29 Palestinian civilians, including two women and a child, in the West Bank. IOF stormed houses of a number of activists against the construction of the Annexation Wall. Israel has continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world. IOF troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank arrested 3 Palestinian civilians (two journalists and a child). Israel has continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property. IOF ordered a number of Palestinian farmers to the east of 'Aqraba village near Nablus to evacuate their property. Israeli settlers uprooted 15 olive trees in Deir Nizam village near Ramallah.


Permalink Presidential assassinations of U.S. citizens

The Washington Post's Dana Priest today reports that "U.S. military teams and intelligence agencies are deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops who in the past six weeks have killed scores of people." That's no surprise, of course, as Yemen is now another predominantly Muslim country (along with Somalia and Pakistan) in which our military is secretly involved to some unknown degree in combat operations without any declaration of war, without any public debate, and arguably (though not clearly) without any Congressional authorization. The exact role played by the U.S. in the late-December missile attacks in Yemen, which killed numerous civilians, is still unknown. AWIP: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mulls Legality of Assassinating US-Born Cleric.


Permalink DEMAGOGUE 101: State Of The Union Speeches

Can't speak for others, but how he can get me back? Lots and lots of jobs and ending the wars. Ball's in your court, Mr. President. My reaction? As always, an excellent speech. Said all the right things, challenged the banks, proposed things we very much need. But I already thought this. I want to see him willing to fight for all this now. And when I say fight, I mean fight. HuffPo: State Of The Union 2010 (FULL TEXT). CNN: Reaction to the State of the Union address. SF Gate: Analysis: Amid pleas for unity, President Obama riles both left and right. Politico: Reality check: President Obama gropes for a strategy. BAGnews Notes: SOTU: Pic of the Night. AntiWar: Obama Ignores Key Afghan Warning - Sadly, the inevitable conclusion is that, although Obama is not as dumb as his predecessor, he is no less willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for political gain. BAR: Guns For the Pentagon, Butter For Wall Street, A Spending Freeze For You.


Permalink 80% of Germans against troop surge in Afghanistan

A recent survey by the Independent Polling Institute Forsa indicates that four out of five Germans disagree with Berlin having a stronger military role in Afghanistan. Forsa indicated even among supporters of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Union, 77 percent said they objected to adding soldiers to the 4,300-strong force currently in the war-ravaged country. The survey says 32 percent of Germans are calling for an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan.


Permalink Climategate gives lord of the sceptics plenty of ammunition -Video

The visit to Australia this week of Lord Christopher Monckton - the world's most effective global warming sceptic - couldn't have been better timed. Hot on the heels of the "Climategate" email leak, which called into question the "tricks" used to sex up the case for the war against global warming, have come back-to-back revelations tarnishing the reputation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. GlobalWarming.org: EPA Suppresses Internal Global Warming Study. Examiner: The Silence of the Warmists: 'Who's defending UN IPCC's Pachauri? Gore? RealClimate.org? Hansen? Romm? EU? 'None of them have spoken out defending Pachauri': Climate skeptic websites, such as Marc Morano's Climate Depot, are monitoring the blogosphere for attacks on Rajendra Pachauri, head of the IPCC, who through a series of tone-deaf statements and inability to realise that the uncovery of a series of mistakes in IPCC reports is actually serious, topped by revelations of financial connections of his that have benefited from climate alarmism, is considered a candidate for unemployment insurance. They have trumpeted Andrew Weaver 's (a prominent climatologist and IPCC Lead Author) call for Pachauri's resignation, and Mick Hulme of East Anglia University's more measured statement about the possible need for new leadership, as signs of his imminent demise. They're looking in the wrong place. When a high bureaucrat is in trouble, what you need to look for is who's defending him.


Permalink Confirmation News Network

A new poll finds that Fox is now the most trusted name in news. This is not, shall we say, an intuitive finding. And if you guessed there’s a catch: You’re right. “Most trusted,” in the context of this particular poll means a 49%/37% trust/don’t trust split — meaning Fox beats out CNN at 39/41, NBC at 35/44, CBS at 32/46, and ABC at 31/46. And, unsurprisingly, that 49% number for Fox is driven not by widespread trust, but by partisan polarization: 74% of Republicans trust Fox News, but no more than 23% of Republicans trust any of the other four sources. Democrats are the mirror image, with a majority trusting all of the other outlets and only 30% trusting Fox.


Permalink Howard Zinn, historian who challenged status quo, dies at 87

Howard Zinn died today in Santa Monica, Calif, where he was traveling. He suffered a heart attack. He was 87. Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and whose books, such as "A People's History of the United States," inspired young and old to rethink the way textbooks present the American experience. "He's made an amazing contribution to American intellectual and moral culture," Noam Chomsky, the left-wing activist and MIT professor, said tonight. "He's changed the conscience of America in a highly constructive way. I really can't think of anyone I can compare him to in this respect." Chomsky added that Dr. Zinn's writings "simply changed perspective and understanding for a whole generation. He opened up approaches to history that were novel and highly significant. Both by his actions, and his writings for 50 years, he played a powerful role in helping and in many ways inspiring the Civil rights movement and the anti-war movement." For Dr. Zinn, activism was a natural extension of the revisionist brand of history he taught. "A People’s History of the United States" (1980), his best-known book, had for its heroes not the Founding Fathers -- many of them slaveholders and deeply attached to the status quo, as Dr. Zinn was quick to point out -- but rather the farmers of Shays' Rebellion and union organizers of the 1930s. WaPo: 'People's History' author Howard Zinn dies at 87.


Permalink Secret detention may amount to crime against humanity: UN experts

"If resorted to in a widespread and systematic manner, secret detention might reach the threshold of a crime against humanity," the authors cautioned in their executive summary. The study, which is due to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in March, listed 66 states that have been involved in secret detentions, mainly over the past nine years. In spite of international norms protecting individual rights, "secret detention continues to be used in the name of countering terrorism around the world," the report added.


Permalink Park In Your Yard, Pay A Fine

"We don't own anything anymore. If the city can come in, City Council comes and says, 'you cannot do this, you cannot do that on your property, because this is just the beginning,'" said John W. Ford, Sr. Ford is fuming over a new ordinance that prohibits him from parking in his own grass. People say there's simply not enough room to park in the driveway, so they park in the yard instead.


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