Good evening, kicking it off with Democracy Now!
Cindy Sheehan Returns to Camp Casey
And Cindy Sheehan and others returned to Crawford Texas to protest outside President Bush's estate. At a sunrise service on Easter Sunday the Rev. Joseph Lowery urged the protesters to keep working for peace.
See Cindy Sheehan makes peace her life and we need to be doing that. You don't just go to an event, you make sure that Iraq is a topic when you and your friends get together. You make sure you're challenging people who still support the war. What are there, fifty-two in the country? More if you count members of Congress. I'm swiping from C.I. to note the Iraq report:
Iraq? The Times of India reports that at least 31 Iraqis died on Sunday with an additional 32 wounded. In Baghdad today, Xinhua reports, the corpse of Taha al-Mutlak, brother of Salih al-Mutlak ("top Sunni policitian"), was found. Also in Baghdad, a gun battle between the Iraqi army and the resistance has resulted in seven civilians wounded and one killed according to the Associated Press.. Still in Baghdad, Reuters notes, a doctor was kidnapped. Still in Baghdad, back to Reuters, the corpses of 12 were found -- seven had bullet holes, three had signs indicating torture. The Associated Press is reporting a bomb exploded today in Ramadi "in front of a U.S. observation post." Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports that Jebail has seen the death of at least three Iraqis and the injury of 10 more. The three dead? Two children and a woman. The cause? "Pacification." They, and the ones wounded, according to "security force spokesman" Mustafa Karrim, were guilty of being in their homes.
C.I.'s been offering that every weekday lately. A way to cancel the Operation Happy Talk. That's in addition to Thursdays and Sundays special entries on the war. And there was a
"And the war drags on" last night so check that out.
120,000 Mark 90th Anniversary of Easter Rising in Ireland
In Ireland, 120,000 people gathered in Dublin Sunday to mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising -- a short-lived 1916 rebellion against British rule. During the uprising, Irish rebels seized parts of Dublin from the British and declared an Irish Republic. The rebellion failed and the British executed 15 leaders. But the uprising inspired the Irish independence movement. Five years later 26 of Ireland's 32 counties became free of British rule.
You know what I'm tired of? Hearing people blame the Irish for everything. There was a report on a man who pleaded guilty. I know some of the coverage on that and I'm willing to be he's innocent. He's been targeted by the administration (and by Clinton's before) because of the war on Arabs. So he had a trial and it came out pretty good for him with him being cleared on a lot of charges and having a hung jury on other charges. But he pleaded guilty. Now Sami Al-Arian is being deported. So this former reporter who is now an editor came on Democracy Now! today, not a columnist, supposed to have been a reporter, John Suggs explains why the guilty plea doesn't mean anything. Then goes on attack Sinn Fein and saying that it and the IRA are the same thing. He doesn't offer any proof. He just says it -- so it must be so.
I think Irish-Americans need to start calling that crap "crap" whenever we hear it. He lost me.
I didn't care about another word he said (and turned off the radio). The New York Times has conducted a war on Ireland and the joke's on them since the big story they just knew was going to get traction and outrage with this country's Irish didn't. Why?
It wasn't about Sinn Fein. A man dies in a bar fight. That's not right but don't try to drag a political party into it. If a member of a party does it, that's a member of a party. Claude Allen loved going into department stores, buying an item, coming back to the store with the receipt, grabbing a new item and returning it as though he'd paid for it. ("See here's my receipt.") That doesn't mean Laura Bush did the same thing. Even though Claude Allen is a Republican, even though he worked for the White House. But a bar fight -- a bar fight -- is suddenly reason to tar and feather a political party?
So when John Suggs started blowing chunks out of his ass, I turned off the radio. I didn't need to hear another word he said because I didn't respect him or his opinions anymore.
Neo-Naxi Supremacist Convicted In WMD Case
In Tennessee, a white supremacist with Neo-Nazi ties has been convicted of attempting to acquire Sarin nerve and C-4 explosives in order to blow up government buildings. The man, Demetrius Van Crocker, once told an FBI informant that he dreamed of riding a motorcycle to Washington D.C. and setting off a dirty nuclear bomb while the House and Senate were in session. Crocker also said he wanted to get a helicopter license so he could bomb or spray poison gas on the African-American neighborhoods in Jackson Tennessee. Crocker was arrested after he bought nerve gas from an undercover agent. His attorney argued Crocker was prone to exaggeration and was a victim of entrapment. Despite the serious charges, the national press has ignored the story. The New York Times, Washington Post or Los Angeles Times have yet to report on Crocker’s arrest or conviction. A recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that the radical right has attempted to carry out at least 60 terrorist plots since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people.
Go check out Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz for her thoughts.
And check out Ava and C.I.'s TV commentary from yesterday. That's pretty amazing and the longest thing ever run at The Third Estate Sunday Review. Here's the conclusion of "TV: Katie Was a Cheerleader:"
If women learned anything from the trashing of Katie Couric last week, it was that today, we're all cheerleaders. In their eyes, we're all cheerleaders. Our own work isn't addressed and there's no desire to familiarize themselves with it before weighing in. Call us when it's our turn to stand trial at the war crimes tribunal.
That's it for tonight. I felt like Suggs pissed over me through the radio speakers and everytime I think about it, I get mad.
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