Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Protests continue, occupation continues and New York Times continues to spin for the Bully Boy

Good evening, lots to cover so let's get started with Democracy Now! and be glad Groan Day is already behind us.

Father of Slain Contractor Among 50 Arrested at Anti-War Protest
Back in the United States, anti-war protests continued to mark the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion. In Washington, hundreds of people marched on the Pentagon, carrying a mock coffin they intended to give to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The demonstrators were met with a steel barrier erected by police to bar their entry. About 50 people were arrested when they managed to cross the fence. Among them was Michael Berg, whose son Nicolas Berg was beheaded by Iraqi kidnappers in 2004. Before his arrest, Michael Berg said: "My son was killed out of revenge for the atrocities that Americans committed at the Abu Ghraib prison; murdering, raping, and torturing prisoners there. So for me to say look how horrible what they did to my son certainly I'm entitled to revenge well there are people who can say the same thing because there are people over there in Iraq who lost their sons and daughters in that prison and there are a 100,000 people in Iraq dead and think of all the families there that think they're entitled to revenge. I don't think revenge is justified under any circumstances. revenge is an endless cycle and it has to stop somewhere and it stops with me."

I'm glad the protests get coverage outside of corporate media because there's really been nothing on them at all.

C.I. noted this today:

The protests and demonstrations didn't end on Sunday. For instance . . .
In Los Angeles on Monday, eight people were arrested protesting the war at Dianne Feinstein's offices -- while in San Francisco, seventeen were arrested outside of Feinstein's offices there. Seventeen arrested protesting at Ron Wyden's office in Eugene, Oregon. And at the Pentagon yesterday, twenty were arrested as they protested the war and "hoisted" a "symbolic coffin . . . over the fence" representing those who have died in Bully Boy's illegal war of choice. The New York Timid couldn't find a protest. Which is perfectly in keeping with other news the paper of record misses. However, protests did go on across the country marking the third anniversary of the invasion.

The links go to indymedia and "arrested" takes you to some video so check them out.


27 Killed in Attack on Iraq Jail
In the latest violence from Iraq, 17 police officers were killed today when gunmen stormed a prison north of Baghdad. Almost three dozen prisoners were freed in the attack, which also left 10 of the gunmen dead. The prison was left in flames. The assaults came one day after at least 39 people were killed in violence around the country.

Violence just continues but Bully Boy is "optimistic." Of course he is, he's not over there dying. It's Iraqis and troops that suffer. Bully Boy? He's AWOL from reality just like he was AWOL from the National Guard. Guess who else is AWOL? The New York Times. C.I. already covered that this morning, noting that they have no time to cover the violence, just to offer you a lame non-trend story that they think is a trend (200 people in the whole country have bought 'terror insurance'). Like Bully Boy, they are "optimistic" and AWOL from reality. Well Bully Boy couldn't sell the illegal war without the corporate press and he can't continue the illegal occupation without their help. Obviously, the New York Times wants to sign up for another 'tour of lying.' Safe in their green zone.

Unlike the paper of misrecord, Rebecca noted the reality yesterday. I don't think the paper of misrecord even cares about covering Iraq anymore. Probably doesn't help that their award winner is now pretty much thought to be a liar. If you read Amy Goodman and David Goodman's The Exception to the Rulers, you know this is nothing new for the New York Times. They also sold the nukes as good by lying about what happened at Hiroshima. They've always sold war for the government and they're quite comfortable presenting lies if it helps the government.



I wish I'd known about this Monday:

On Monday morning, March 20, at around 11:00am, 10 protesters gathered outside the Northeastern University Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) office on Huntington Avenue to protest the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. "We wanted to make sure nobody forgets that both Iraqi civilians and American soldiers are dying everyday," said one protester. The protesters used colorful chalk to transform the sidewalk into a collage of messages such as "100,000 Dead for what?", "Military recruiters out of our schools," "Death zone," and "Recruiting the poor to die for the rich." Protesters also drew chalk body outlines to represent the dead, both Iraqi and American.


That's from "Anti-Recruitment Demonstrations Mark Third Anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq" at Boston Indymedia and Tony showed it to me. (I called C.I. right after Tony showed it to me and thank you to C.I. for including it at The Common Ills.)

I think Bully Boy's a bigger idiot than any of us could have guessed if he thinks the American people are just going to go along with the occupation lasting four more years.

Nina wanted me to note The Third Estate Sunday Review's "One voice applauded, one not heard?" because she's wondering if part of the reason nobody noted what happened on ER had to do with the fact that it was a woman and a nonwhite woman at that? Here's part of that:

The one we expected everyone to catch occurred on Thursday's ER.'
Parminder Nagra's Dr. Neela Rasgotra is married to a man serving in Iraq (Michael). Near the end of the episode, she met up with the spouses of others serving. In that gathering, as talk of Iraq floated around endlessly, Neela made it clear that she wasn't for the war in Iraq. She stated that she supported the troops but not the war. Much to the shock of some assembled. Attempts to press her into altering her statement only resulted in her firm statement that she was pacifist. Futhermore, she said she refused "to be brainwashed into falling in line with some psuedo-patrictic vision."
In the jingo-jingo land of corporate entertainment, very few voices of resistance break through. Thursday night, one did. But does it break through if no one notices?
Is that too much like "If a tree falls when no one's around . . ."?
Neela may not be "manly" but we found her voice more than strong enough. Especially at a time when war games and war continue to be the main meals served up the networks.

Let me note Ma's latest because Nina didn't think I could make it and I could and did. "Charro Beans in the Kitchen" went up Saturday night and Sunday evening Nina was over for dinner and saying I couldn't fix them. So I soaked the beans Sunday night and cooked it yesterday. It's really easy to cook. Ma wrote about how when I wasn't old enough, in her mind, to use the skillet, I started cooking bacon in the oven on a cookie sheet. (All by myself if I do trumpet my own horn.) I still cook it that way because since then I've added foil and you can just roll up the foil after instead of having to scrub and clean a skillet.

I didn't realize Dave Zirin had a new column up until Stephen e-mailed me about it. It's called
"A Whole New Ball Game:"

The World Baseball Classic, an unprecedented international tournament involving teams from sixteen nations, is looking both like an autopsy of the current state of Major League Baseball and a glimpse into an alternative future for Major League Baseball.
There's a lot to like about this competition: It gives fans a taste of real baseball weeks before opening day. Plus, it offers a new form of roots baseball, in which the Seattle Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki plays for Team Japan, and Boston's David Ortiz plays for the Dominican Republic. Neverthless, before the first pitch was tossed March 3, we had to endure the passive-aggressive griping of George Steinbrenner, the canker sore who owns the New York Yankees. "It was [Commissioner Bud] Selig's idea and he wants to do it, so I suppose we're going to do it," he said. Then, in front of the Yankees spring-training complex in Florida, a passive-aggressive sign was erected that read: "The New York Yankess [yes, the sign was misspelled] did not vote to support this event. Any comments you have regarding the World Baseball Classic should be directed to either The Commissioner of Major League Baseball or The Major League Baseball Players Assoc."
Big George looked at the World Baseball Classic and saw an exercise in superfluous drivel. But Major League Baseball's aspirations for the heavily hyped tournament extend beyond The Boss's narrow perception. The official line from Selig's office is that the WBC intends to "promote grassroots development in traditional and non-traditional baseball nations. The tournament's primary objectives are to increase global interest and introduce new fans and players to the game."

I missed most of it because of protesting and working on The Third Estate Sunday Review but I did see some of it. Japan won, by the way. Forgot to put this in, check out Like Maria Said Paz for Elaine's thoughts.










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