Clipmarks | masbury's clips

"Forget a two-state solution"

Wed, 14 May 2008 04:49:10 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Palestinians must have right of return and Jewish presence in occupied territories grows 3X faster than Israel itself. The mix is here to stay. Only a single, democratic, secular, multi-cultural state can protect the rights of all.

Clip Source: www.counterpunch.org

There is no longer a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel has irreversibly cemented its grip on the land on which a Palestinian state might have been created

almost 40% of the West Bank is now taken up by Israeli infrastructure

largely off-limits to Palestinians

Jewish settler population in the occupied territories, already approaching half a million

is growing at a rate three times greater than the rate of Israel's population

At no time since the negotiations began in the early 1990s has Israel significantly suspended the settlement process

The violence will end, and a just peace will come, only when each side realizes that the other is there to stay

an increasing number are willing to give up on the idea of an independent Palestinian state and embrace instead the concept of a single democratic, secular and multicultural state, which they would share equally with Israeli Jews.

By no stretch of the imagination is Israel a genuine democracy

equal rights for all citizens

Tags: palestine, israel, zionism, foreign policy

Tell the truth about race in America

Wed, 14 May 2008 04:23:28 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "to talk today requires a different and perhaps deeper courage when confronted with so many mirages of equality. It is tempting to be confused by these oases of opportunity and forget the desert of inequality through which most people are still struggling."
"The demand for justice is divisive and culturally closed: it divides those who seek justice from the unjust. It rejects a culture that promotes individual or corporate profit at any cost."
"Too many people want to take the short cut. They want African-Americans to reconcile themselves to a government, which does not represent them, actively disenfranchises them, destroys their homes (and whole cities if need be), imprisons their children and ships the rest off to war, and never ask why or who is responsible. This is the reconciliation „on the cheap“ -- cheap for white and corporate America that is." - Brother Bede Vincent

Clip Source: www.counterpunch.org

It is not black liberation theology or Black Nationalism that causes division in the US, but rich, white minority and corporate rule. Even Martin Luther King found that just before he was murdered there was a point at which Christian faith required speaking the truth and not only talking about justice but naming the sources of injustice. People cannot fight "injustice", they have to fight those whose actions cause or maintain it (not mythical terrorists or Sadam Hussein but, the upper 10 percent of the US that controls most of the country’s wealth). King was shredded for his Riverside Church sermon, esp. by his middle-class supporters. Soon after that he was dead.

Until white Americans have a practical, lived notion of justice, based on recognition of their country’s history of systemic injustice maintained to this day by those who rule the US, how will they ever get beyond the empty phrases of that pledge each school child is supposed to take?

Tags: racism, politics

ACLU members double during Bush years

Tue, 13 May 2008 21:50:21 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: he ACLU counted about 250,000 members in the final year of Bill Clinton’s presidency. Today, the organization has about 500,000 card-carriers

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

ACLU Says Membership Has Doubled — Thanks To Bush Presidency

Surveillance. Rendition. Torture.

By many measures, the Bush administration has been bad for civil liberties.

Yet the past seven years have been particularly good for the American Civil Liberties Union. National membership in the organization, which fights for freedom of speech and religion, equal protection, due process and privacy, has doubled since Bush took office in 2001 - an extraordinary spurt of growth for the 88-year-old institution.

“I think it’s very much a reflection of the fact that there was a very aggressive assault on civil liberties,” said ACLU national deputy executive director Dorothy Ehrlich. “Over the past seven years, many Americans felt their own cherished values were under attack, and they didn’t want to sit by.”

The ACLU counted about 250,000 members in the final year of Bill Clinton’s presidency. Today, the organization has about 500,000 card-carriers, 2,500 of them in Utah.

Tags: civil rights, human rights, news

Why FL & MI mustn't be Clinton wins

Tue, 13 May 2008 21:04:15 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Having been told their votes would not count, many stayed home - or voted differently than they would have otherwise. Here's an example.

Clip Source: blog.mlive.com

I voted for Hillary Clinton back in January.

I had to. My guy, Barack Obama, wasn't on the ballot, thanks to Obama himself, the Michigan Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee.

I could have not voted at all

But I feel so strongly about the direction George W. Bush and the Republicans have taken this country in that I wanted to have a say, even if it wasn't going to count.

So I went and I voted for Hillary.

Now I regret it.

So I would like to take this opportunity to formally renounce my vote. Strike it from the record! Give me a do-over! I'll vote for Ralph Nader if I have to.

Tags: clinton, elections, politics, obama, fl, mi

Obama's Israel position too conditional for neocons

Tue, 13 May 2008 19:25:36 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: BHO: "That does not mean that I would agree with every action of the state of Israel ... " Neocon Bushite calls him guilty of being "cavalier with Israel's security" for saying it.
Keep saying it, BHO.

Clip Source: www.salon.com

David Frum complained yesterday that while Obama embraced the notion that "the Zionist idea has justice on its side," he followed that up with a "disclaimer." What was the "disclaimer" that so upset Frum? This:

OBAMA: That does not mean that I would agree with every action of the state of Israel, because it's a government and it has politicians, and as a politician myself I am deeply mindful that we are imperfect creatures and don’t always act with justice uppermost on our minds.

Frum generously declares that Obama is not anti-semitic, but finds him guilty of being "cavalier with Israel's security"

"I do not believe that the man hates Israel, but he doesn't love it either"

A recent Gallup poll found that among American Jewish voters, Obama destroys McCain (61-32%)

The neoconservative views of Frum, a former Bush speechwriter, are representative only of a small minority of American Jews

there is no issue that permits less free debate than ones related to Israel

Tags: neoconservative, jewish, obama, zionist, elections

Clinton final strategy: overturn the will of the voters

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:34:07 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: "The Clinton campaign is hoping to draw enough voter support in the final primaries so it can have the opportunity to overturn the will of the voters."

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

On Fox News Sunday, Howard Wolfson, the communications director for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, dismissed talk of Clinton quitting the race and declared, "The voters are going to decide this."

But that's not the true stance of the Clinton campaign. Its plan, as the campaign acknowledged last week, is to persuade the superdelegates that Clinton would be the best candidate in the fall against John McCain. That is, its position is that the superdelegates ought to vote for Clinton no matter what the voters in the Democratic primaries and caucuses decide. And given that it's essentially a mathematical certainty that Obama will end up with more voter-determined delegates, this means that the Clinton camp is actually insisting that superdelegates, not voters, determine the winner.

The Clinton campaign is hoping to draw enough voter support in the final primaries so it can have the opportunity to overturn the will of the voters.

Tags: clinton, elections, politics

May 13: 4 more Obama supers; 150 to go

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:25:59 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Allen, Strazar, Akaka, Roark

Clip Source: www.dailykos.com

Obama Adds Four More Superdelegate Endorsements Updated X2

First up this morning was US Senate candidate, Tom Allen, of Portland Maine.

And just moments ago, Hawaii Superdelegate Dolly Strazar, announced her support for Obama as well.

U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka from Hawaii endorsed Barack Obama for President. Akaka is the 280th superdelegate to endorse Obama, who is now 151 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination.

Idaho Superdelegate Keith Roark endorsed Barack Obama for President. Roark is the 281st superdelegate to endorse Obama, who is 150 delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination.

Gallup: Obama pulling away

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:16:52 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Up 7% nationally over Clinton now; also pulls away from McCain

Clip Source: www.gallup.com

Gallup Daily: Obama Pulls Ahead of Clinton, 50% to 43%

PRINCETON, NJ -- For the first time in nearly three weeks, the statistical tie between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Gallup Poll Daily tracking of national Democratic preferences has been broken, with Obama now ahead by seven percentage points, 50% to 43%.

Tags: elections, mccain, clinton, obama, politics

"If Cheney were a regular American, he'd probably be dead"

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:11:27 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: despite four major heart attacks and other serious coronary issues, Cheney "can't be denied health insurance no matter how serious his heart condition is" because he is a U.S. government employee. But you'd be dead.

Clip Source: rawstory.com

The report cites the high quality, condition-free medical insurance enjoyed by the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney, who, despite four major heart attacks and other serious coronary issues, "can't be denied health insurance no matter how serious his heart condition is" because he is a U.S. government employee.

The California Nurses Association (CNA) criticizes such "Cadillac healthcare" favoritism and contrasts it to the limited options afforded to the majority of Americans. The CNA has launched an ad campaign saying that "if Cheney were just a regular American, he'd probably be dead by now."

The CNA's executive director rues the "double standard," saying, "There should be an excellence in care that applies to all people. We, as the public, pay for Dick Cheney's care. ... Why is the government not providing the same type of care to all Americans?"

Tags: healthcare, news

US drops charges against "20th hijacker"

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:06:37 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Yet again. May have been tortured.

Clip Source: www.democraticunderground.com

The Pentagon has dropped charges against a Saudi at Guantanamo who was alleged to have been the so-called "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11 attacks, his U.S. military defense lawyer said Monday.

Mohammed al-Qahtani was one of six men charged by the military in February with murder and war crimes for their alleged roles in the 2001 attacks. Authorities say al-Qahtani missed out on taking part in the attacks because he was denied entry to the U.S. by an immigration agent.

But in reviewing the case, the convening authority for military commissions, Susan Crawford, decided to dismiss the charges against al-Qahtani and proceed with the arraignment for the other five, said Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles, the Saudi's military lawyer.

Officials previously said al-Qahtani had been subjected to a harsh interrogation authorized by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Tags: gitmo, justice, trial, war