“Recent events in the United States have moved us to action. Violence against women is sadly, not a new phenomenon in our country or in the world, however, in the last year, women of color have experienced brutal forms of violence, torture, rape and injustice which have gone unnoticed, received little to no media coverage, or a limited community response.
h/t to changeseeker
tags:domestic terrorism. violence against women, activism, solidarity
most folks know that the situation in darfur is desperate. the news is never good there- and i guess i continue to wonder about how human beings can view other humans as objects to be tortured and killed. i think folks get numbed to the mindless genocide around the world and it is all too easy to write these impoverished places off. the ‘oh well, let them kill each other if they want to’ mentality amazes me- especially from ‘bleeding heart’ liberals and ‘pro-life’ conservatives. we allegedly went into iraq (in the third incarnation of reasons i think) to save those poor folks from the horrors of living under saddam hussein. why, then, are we not preemptively going into darfur to save those folks from the janjaweed? and no- that isn’t a name from a star wars movie. the west has completely ignored africa- except to plunder its natural resources. we bribe or intimidate whoever we have to to get what we want- and to hell with the indigenous peoples.
the un has coalition troops ready to go- but then- we get the news that blackwater has reared its ugly head yet again. yes, since they have done such a fine job in iraq, apparently, they want to make a few billion dollars more in darfur. so, not only do we have to pressure our government to get involved in darfur- we have to pressure them to NOT send the blackwater thugs to darfur. nice.
for some resources and info on darfur- quaker dave at the quaker agitator– has some good ones on his sidebar.
instantkarma.org has information and petitions to sign- but please, take a moment and think about what africa means to the world. we agreed after world war 2 to never allow genocide happen again. more than 2 million people are displaced and hundreds of thousands are living in refugee camps. no hard data exists as to the death toll, but experts are convinced it’s also in the hundreds of thousands. how many folks have to die before it is called a ‘terrorist act?’
amnesty international darfur action guide
tags: darfur, Terrorism, amnesty international
A lot of good and interesting reads in the Reader, this morning.
From Sign of the Times:
Kill of soon? Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest, says new study:
World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.
TSA asks passengers to sneak “fake” bombs through airport security:
At San Diego International Airport, tests are run by passengers whom local TSA managers ask to carry a fake bomb, said screener Cris Soulia, an official in a screeners union. “It’s nobody we would ever expect,” Soulia said.
(Dizzy sez: What happens when a passenger says, “Ummm…no thanks…”?)
Signs Economic Commentary for 22 October 2007:
Summary: Another scary week with oil rising 6% in dollars, briefly passing the $90 mark, gold rising 2%, the dollar falling to more record lows and, this time, even U.S. stocks began to falter, with the Dow falling 4.2%, more than half of that on Friday. Much of this can be attributed to the housing crash in the U.S. and the Bush administration in its death throes threatening to unleash World War III.
With the latest advances in treatment, doctors have discovered that they can successfully neutralise the HIV virus. The so-called ‘combination therapy’ prevents the HIV virus from mutating and spreading, allowing patients to rebuild their immune system to the same levels as the rest of the population.
From Clipmarks:
New “Shield Law” Throws Bloggers to the Sharks:
This week, non-profit journalism advocacy group Reporters Without Borders announced the “Press Freedom Index, its list of countries in which journalists are most threatened. It found that bloggers and other online media are just as threatened as traditional journalists by governments who look to stifle the information they publish. According to the organization, some 26 bloggers and online journalists have been jailed worldwide since September of 2006.
Fearing Crime, Japanese Wear the Hiding Place:
Take the “manhole bag,” a purse that can hide valuables by unfolding to look like a sewer cover. Lay it on the street with your wallet inside, and unwitting thieves are supposed to walk right by. There is also a line of knife-proof high school uniforms made with the same material as Kevlar, and a book with tips on how to dress even the nerdiest children like “pseudohoodlums” to fend off schoolyard bullies.
(Dizzy sez: This gives a whole new meaning to “hiding in plain site”…)
From News Hounds:
During his press conference last Wednesday (October 17, 2007) President George Bush drastically altered his Bush doctrine, indicating that now the mere “knowledge” of how to build a nuclear weapon is sufficient provocation for an attack by the United States. That would mean that M.I.T., Lawrence Livermore lab, any university with a nuclear research program, every country in the world, including Iran, and yours truly, the author of this post, are now fair game for an American air attack. That’s right. Prior to writing this post, I searched for “schematics for a nuclear bomb” and Google returned a list of 1,560,000 sites that would tell me more than I’d like to know about how to blow people off the face of the planet and pollute the atmosphere for millenia. Therefore, I now have the requisite “knowledge” of how to build a nuclear bomb. Should I begin watching the skies and stocking up on rocket launchers to defend my home? With video.
From Morning Martini:
Fred Thompson said that if he is elected as President of the United States he would spend his first hour in the oval office praying. Hell, if that dumb bastard gets elected even the atheists will be praying and with good reason. The idea of Fred Thompson being president, reminds us all that yes, things could get worse.
From Bring It On!:
SCHIP Veto Insults Our Troops (Again)
The SCHIP bill that Bush vetoed — with help from his drones who upheld the veto — contains two provisions for helping the families of soldiers who’ve been critically wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. (I got this link from Christopher Radulich in his comment at this post.)The SCHIP bill would have requir ed one year of employment discriminati on protection for family members caring for a severely injured soldier. And the permitted work leave for these family members would be extended from three months to six.
Finally, from skippy the bush kangaroo:
if there’s anybody failing to meet expectations more than abc’s pushing daisies, it’s the fred thomspon campaign. in fact, “pushing daisies” may be an apt metaphor in more ways than one.
That’s quite enough for today. Now go refill your morning cuppa.
(In case you get lost, you can find this post at Dizzy Dayz and The Katrinacrat blog and The Sirens Chronicles)
Money of course..lots and lots of it. From Glen Greenwald’s column at Salon:
Then again, AT&T is the second largest contributor overall to officials in Congress, having poured into the Beltway a total of $38 million in campaign contributions for the election cycles for which these records are available. Verizon is in 33rd place with over $15 million; BellSouth in 39th place with with over $14 million; Time Warner in 28th place with $17 million; and MCI in 83rd place with $8 million. The Communications Workers of America, which lobbies for all sorts of pro-telecom legislation, is in 13th place with close to $25 million. That’s $118 million of telecom money poured into the coffers of members of Congress, and the real total is much higher since this is only from the top 100. And now Congress, on a more or less bipartisan basis, is passing a law declaring that this industry shall be completely immune from any consequences even if they are found to have broken multiple federal laws in allowing illegal spying on all of their customers.
Now, it all makes sense doesn’t it? Methinks the majority of elected Dem’s are really just Rethugs in sheeple’s clothing.
Tags: Telecoms, Harry Reid, lobbying money
THE FOURTEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF FASCISM PART III: IDENTIFICATION OF ENEMIES (Essay 1: The Cultural War Against Gays By SweetPea (Daniel) SECTION 3
Who Suffers? We Do.
The Inevitable Results of Threats and Hate Speech
The verbal attacks continue. Gays and lesbians are compared to everything from rats to Devil worshipers, which makes me wonder, what kind of effect does this have on the society at large? Well, we a lready know, don’t we? It creates an atmosphere in which those who are less than balanced, in which the highly disturbed feel free to act on their violent impulses. Can you say Matthew Shepherd? Can you say Harvey Milk? They were individuals who were quite literally murdered because of their sexual orientation, and they aren’t the only ones who have suffered such a tragic fate.
*Nicholas Ray West, a 23-year-old Southern Baptist singer was kidnapped, tortured and executed in a gravel pit because he was gay. [21]
*January 1994, Michael Benishek, another gay Texan, was found dead in San Antonio. The coroner was uncertain if he died from a severe blow to his head with a blunt instrument or from a knife slash across his throat. [22]
*February 1994, Tommy Musick, age 48, a gay hairstylist from Midland, Texas, was shot four times in the head. His 18-year-old killer, Ramsey Harrell, received a mere twelve year sentence because the jury held an an obvious bias against gay people. [23]
*In March 1994, police discovered the body of Joe Trevino, another gay man who had been strangled and bludgeoned to death in his home by two teenagers. [24]
those words mean working together for peace. on october 27th, massive demonstrations will take place in boston, chicago, jonesboro, tn, los angeles, new orleans, new york, orlando, philadelphia, salt lake city, san francisco, and seattle- not to mention in other communities across the country. for more info- go to their website- http://www.oct27.org
cross posted at life’s journey
tags: peace movement, iraq war protest, activism
By Donatra
Are you sick and tired of Republican attack ads? Are you sick and tired of verbal assaults on twelve-year-old-boys and two-year-old-girls by rich, white fat men who share a basic contempt for change and who practice rhetorical savagery as a virtue? Yeah. I am too. And I think I finally understand the reason behind all the right wing hate-mongering and vitriol.
For all intents and purposes conservatives tend to view human beings as evil, demented creatures. Several years ago one of our blogging partners found himself involved in a truly visceral school board race in which members of the supposedly Christian Right were trying to take over a local school board. He wasn’t running for office himself, but as an independent thinker and as a child of the 18th Century Enlightenment, he gradually discovered that the individuals with whom he was debating had a very different view of the world than mainstream Christians. As we all know, many right wing Christians believe that human beings are products of the Biblical fall from grace as told in the Book of Genesis. They genuinely believe that because Adam and Eve fell from grace that every subsequent human being on the face of the earth must be a depraved, sinful criminal at heart and that societies need strong, perhaps even repressive forms of government to keep the evil, criminal sides of our natures under strict control. To that end conservatives, especially Fundamentalist Christians, place a greater emphasis on control and regulation and less emphasis on personal freedom, constitutional liberties, and representative forms of government in general. They believe that if you give the people too much freedom that they will act on the depraved, sinful natures, creating chaos and wrecking havoc.
Another in our series on the 14 Characteristics of Fascism and how BushCo and the extreme right use them. This post was authored by SweetPea, a member of the Coalition for a Republican-Free America 
The 14 Characteristics of Fascism
Part III, Identification of Scapegoats
(Distorted Facts: The Cultural War Against Gays)
by SweetPea
SECTION 2
As an out-of-the-closet gay male I am getting a little sick and tired of being compared to everyone and everything from Typhoid Mary to Jeffrey Dahmer. For all intents and purposes gay males are compared to the worst kinds of people that you could ever possibly imagine and the sad truth of the matter is that all too often what the far right promotes as the truth is often picked at random out of their proverbial, theocratic asses.
This is the kind of garbage that we hear on an all to regular basis.
Gays Are Diseased
First let’s get something straight. Homosexuality is not a disease. Countless respected, mainstream organizations will tell you this, including: The American Psychiatric Association, the American Law Institute, American Bar Association, the World Health Organization, The American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the Academy of Pediatrics, and the Council on Child and Adolescent Health. Moreover, in 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, American the Association of School Administrators, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Psychological Association, the American School Health Association, the Interfaith Alliance Foundation, the National Association of school psychologists, the National Association of Social Workers and the National Education Association, issued a document called Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation in which they:
“Expressed concern about harassment of gay and lesbian youth; condemned reparative therapy as potentially harmful and of little or no effectiveness, and describe transformational ministries as representing only one part of Christianity–those faith groups which view homosexuality as outside God’s will. and incompatible with Christianity. The site other denominations as supporting equal rights, and protection against discrimination, for gays and lesbians.”[7]
j.k. rowling announces that albus dumbledore is gay
“Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.”
tags: harry potter, real life, GLBT
Another fine creation from Robert at LeftOfCentrist. Enjoy!If you can’t view it here on Sirens..here is the link.
The Sirens Chronicles 