Posts

Showing posts from August, 2015

"An American In Syria" by guest blogger John Mesler

Image
An American in Syria John Mesler 8/30/2015 In 1955 Alcoa was the first big sponsor to drop the Edward R. Murrow Show. Alcoa didn't just make aluminum cans. They made parts for our military fighter jets. Murrow spoke out against the communism fear mongering tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy and eventually more corporations dropped his show. Now those companies such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, GE, and Honeywell, to name just a few, own the mainstream media TV and papers and decide what "news" we, the American public get to hear . By 1961 we were warned by President Eisenhower about the Military Industrial Complex but not enough of us were paying attention. The truth does eventually get out, however. As I write this piece, recently retired Lt. General Flynn (who also served as chief of the Department Intelligence Agency), admitted that the US has been supporting al-Qaeda with money and weaponry. Isn't that the same group we held respon

SPEAKING TRUTH TO EMPIRE with DAN YASSEEN

Image
On “Speaking Truth to Empire” on KFCF 88.1 Free Speech Radio for Central California. Dan Yaseen interviews Finian Cunningham; he is an author, columnist and a media commentator who was expelled from Bahrain in June 2011 for his critical journalism in which he highlighted human rights violations by the Western-backed regime. Now based in East Africa, he writes extensively on international affairs. His articles appear on many websites; Global Research, Counterpunch, information Clearing House, Veterans News Now and RT. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

Governor Cuomo is Afraid of Nipples | Mickey Z.

Image
Photo credit: Mickey Z. Mickey Z. -- World News Trust. Aug. 23, 2015 The Aug .19 Newsday headline blared : CUOMO JOINS IN CALL FOR CRACKDOWN ON TIMES SQUARE’S TOPLESS HUSTLERS From these 11 words, we can first learn that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo doesn’t know the laws in his home state. (A 1992 decision by New York State's top court ruled women have the legal right to go topless, yet Cuomo recently declared, “I believe it’s illegal.”) More importantly, we can also learn that Cuomo is afraid of nipples. Female nipples, to be more precise. Wait… who am I kidding? It’s not just fear, it’s hatred.  Cuomo -- like so, so, so many humans dwelling within the confines of a misogynist, male supremacist, patriarchal dominant culture -- hates women. (As does Newsday .) Here’s what has everyone so riled up: Women wearing body paint instead of a shirt have joined the countless -- the seemingly incalculable -- characters hitting up touris

Vegan Misanthropy is Specieist and Ignores Patriarchy by Mickey Z.

Image
Mickey Z. -- World News Trust Aug. 20, 2015 Every now and then, goddesses help me, I make the rounds of high- and low-profile vegan and animal rights social media pages.  Without fail, I am greeted with a wide array of “humans suck” or “I only care about animals” posts. I guess many of these compassionate, ahimsa types take their cues from St. Gary of Misanthropy: (deep sigh) Vegans , if you actually want your “movement” to advance beyond intolerable fringe status, it might help to recognize that advocating for human extinction is not the most effective form of outreach.  In addition, you boast of your anti-speciesist status but, um…you’re publicly and consistently expressing contempt or even hatred for an entire species .  Most importantly, though, is what you’re not saying. Yes, the dominant culture is responsible for raining down 24/7 carnage upon all forms of life, but to lump all humans together without analysis or

"What is, Is." by Cindy Sheehan

Image
Andy Sheehan kissing the coffin of Casey Sheehan before it is lowered into the grave "What is, is" by Cindy Sheehan August 16, 2015 Obviously, April 04, 2004 changed my life forever.  Even if I hadn't become an internationally (in)famous peace activist, I still never would have been the same after my oldest child, my son, Casey was killed in another Imperial war for profit and domination of natural resources. If a person hasn't had the dreadful experience of being "regretfully" (yeah, right) informed that he/she has unnaturally outlived a child, I will try to explain it to you: it's like having your heart ripped out of your chest, spindled, mutilated, stomped on, yet, somehow, you survive that profound shock. As a mother, I can assure you, dear reader, that childdeath is far more painful than childbirth.  Anyway, I survived the initial shock and the numbness (and alcohol consumption) that got me through the first week: Case

Jimmy Carter: Just Like All the Rest | Mickey Z.

Image
Mickey Z. -- World News Trust LINE UP OF WAR CRIMINALS Aug. 16, 2015 Former president Jimmy Carter recently revealed he’s been diagnosed with cancer, so please let me clarify: this is not an article designed to kick anyone when they’re down or celebrate such a diagnosis for anyone. On the contrary, I wish him well in his journey through the cancer industry . So, why am I choosing this particular time to address the Carter hagiography? Well, firstly, he’s back in the news and that means the whitewashing in is full effect -- and with Bernie Sanders currently riding the latest wave of liberal delusion, it’s as dangerous as ever to ignore historical reality.  Also, when even an anti-TransPacific Partnership (TPP) page is misrepresenting Carter’s record , it’s time to provide context before anyone else lionizes him -- or any Democrat .   Soul Man   During the Carter Administration, the United States had a president who claimed that human

Another Mother Bear (Part 2) (SOAPBOX PODCAST/ AUGUST 16, 2015)

Image
GUEST: Leslie Boyd TOPIC: US DEATH CARE SYSTEM Leslie  Today, Cindy again chats with Leslie Boyd . Leslie's son Michael Danforth died on April 1, 2008 due to lack of health insurance and access to quality care. Leslie has become a healthcare advocate from her loss and has founded Western North Carolina Health Advocates

Nationalist Faith by Anthony Freda

Image
Why is truth so unpopular?   I always naively thought that most people would value and seek out the truth. I thought that when the lies that took us to Vietnam and Iraq were exposed that people would give a closer and more skeptical inspection of the pretexts that are contrived to  manufacture our consent to the next war.   I thought that people would see through the discredited propaganda techniques used to exploit our fears and atavistic tribal instincts by the war makers.   People would surely see the same perverse playbook is used again and again to convince us that the immoral, irrational and counterproductive solution of war is a moral, rational and effective way to solve problems, right? As an infamous war maker once said  'I got it wrong.' I thought that God and country were separate, but they are merged into a religio-politcal cult in reality.   God has sanctified the US as his representative on Earth, and our wars are physical

BLM, Activism on Demand by Mickey Z.

Image
PHOTO CREDIT: MICKEY Z. Aug. 12, 2015 “ The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.” (Frederick Douglass) Sunday, Aug. 9 marked one year since Police Officer Darren Wilson murdered Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. There was a rally to honor the occasion in Brooklyn. I planned to attend the rally, I really did (not that my presence would’ve mattered even a tiny bit) but I ended up skipping it. Why, you may wonder? Well, it could be the spate of usual suspects (often in matching shirts) hawking newspapers, sniffing out fresh recruits, and seeking new ways to co-opt.  It could be the inevitable sound of white activists drowning out the voices of PoC as they unselfconsciously chant slogans like “hands up, don’t shoot” and “I can’t breathe.” It could be all those white male activists proving ( sic ) their manhood ( sic ) by boldly ( sic ) screaming and cursing at cops , knowing full well those same cops wi

Update on Dede Miller

Image
Dede, Cindy, Amy Branham: On the Road to Crawford August 9, 2015 Dear Friends, Many of you write me to ask how my sister Dede is doing. She has been under treatment up here in Northern California for about six weeks now. Dede actually lives in Los Angeles County, but had been denied treatment for her aggressive breast cancer at LA County/USC hospital--so she came up to stay with me here in Vacaville while we explored our options.  In June, I had to rush Dede to the hospital because her tumor had started to bleed badly and she was admitted and stayed six days at North Bay Medical Center in Fairfield and, since then, has been undergoing chemotherapy there. Dede spent another five days in the hospital in July when I, again, had to rush her to the hospital ont the 4th when she contracted a fever after her first chemo (suppressed immune system). Due to amazing support from our dear friends, Dede is also able to go to an integrative clinic to receive vital vitamin c infusions

ROL, USA: NUMBER 91, JULY-AUGUST, 2015

Image
RAY O’ LIGHT     NEWSLETTER                               July-August 2015        Number 91   Publication of the Revolutionary Organization of Labor, USA   ************************************************************** The Massacre of the Charleston 9, Obama’s Treachery and the Urgent Need for Afro-American National Liberation by RAY LIGHT On June 17 th , any remnant of the illusion that the USA is a “post racial” society was smashed with the brutal mass murder by an avowed white supremacist of nine Afro-American participants in a Bible study at historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. What could be more innocent than folks attending bible study?! What sanctuary from white supremacist violence remains for the oppressed Afro-American people? What is to be done to defend the Afro-American people today? Over the past few years, following the cold blooded murder of young Trayvon Martin in Florida by a wannabe cop, there