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Isn’t it weird to perform permanent elective surgery on the genitals of male infants? Shouldn’t that be something up to an adult to decide on, since it is his body and maybe as an adult he would want to have his genitals intact?
It’s extra weird that birthers are so concerned with whether Obama is circumcised or not. Because not being circumcised is ‘foreign’.
And it is concerning that there are advocates of mandatory circumcision for all male infants born in the US because of a misapplied study on HIV-transmission done in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. Advocates may soon include the Center for Disease Control… which is scary. This could actually happen. Men, time to rise up!
Read what Smile Pretty & Watch Your Back sez.
See the New York Times article.
Urgent Action Appeal
UNITED KINGDOM: Forced Eviction of Dale Farm
17 August 2009
Dear friends,
More than 100 families living in chalets, mobile-homes and caravans in the largest Romani Gipsy and Irish Traveller community in the United Kingdom, at Dale Farm, Crays Hill and nearby Hovefields, Essex County, are facing imminent forced eviction. Approximately 1,000 people have been residing on the estate for more than seven years, including many children. The community has been resisting forced evictions attempts by Basildon District Council (BDC) since May 2005 when it voted to clear a large part of the settlement. Although all residents hold land ownership titles, sections of the site had no planning permission and Basildon Council has subsequently refused all attempts to regularise the situation, preferring the enforcement option.
Dale Farm community
Enforcement orders have been served by Basildon Council requiring plot owners to remove their homes, although previously much of the site had been licensed as a large scrap-yard from 1978 until 2001. After the BDC voted to take direct action, the residents sought a judicial review of this decision and won in the High Court. This judgment was overturned by the Court of Appeal in January 2009 and an appeal to the House of Lords was denied in May. Despite the fact the UK Government has told Basildon it is required to provide land for a minimum of 62 additional pitches by 2011, no alternative site have been made available by Basildon District Council to which the residents can lawfully move.
The wishes of the residents are to remain where it is and not to be split up. There is a strong communal ethic, with the elderly being cared for by the younger generation and small children protected. No one, young or old, wants to be accommodated in bricks-and-mortar housing. Romanies and Travellers feel that having lost the possibility to follow the old nomadic life-style, it is essential to the preservation of their culture and ethnicity to keep Dale Farm community intact.
In line with the Housing Act 1996, it is incumbent on the BDC to consider the claim of the occupants to not be evicted as the families threatened with forced removal have no place to go.
The community is therefore seeking your support to urge the Basildon Council to:
- Put on hold the forced eviction of the Dale Farm community and engage in meaningful consultation discussions with the residents and their representatives for the purpose of seeking to achieve an amicable solution;
- Consider both the possibility of a) issuing planning permission to allow their permanent residence on their present properties; or b) utilising the 4 million Euro set aside for the eviction to provide an alternative area to which the residents can relocate;
- Respect and protect the housing and property and family rights of the Dale Farm community, and in particular the rights of the children.
Suggested Action
Please send an appeal letter by e-mail or fax to the addresses listed below requesting the Basildon Council to act on this issue. Sample letters and further background information are provided below.
Read the rest of this entry »
This post was written by guest blogger Shenanigans.
So the city council in Kalamazoo, Michigan has already passed an ordinance saying that LGBT individuals should not face discrimination, in particular they should not be evicted from their apartments or fired from their jobs simply for their identity. You know, BASIC RIGHTS such as access to housing and fair employment.
However, less than a month after the ordinance passed, the opposition got enough signatures on their petition to push the non-discrimination ordinance to a ballot vote this November 3. Yes, there apparently are enough people that love them some discriminating so much that they want it to remain legal.
Although this is incredibly upsetting, some awesome people are trying to intervene. The One Kalamazoo campaign is dedicated to rallying supporters and votes to uphold the non-discrimination ordinance. Potentially, this ordinance and the work that the One Kalamazoo campaign accomplishes could be a fantastic example for other cities facing similar struggles.
If you are interested in helping this grassroots effort, please check out:
Like any grassroots effort, One Kalamazoo relies on the support of individuals in the community. If you are in the area and wish to volunteer, check out this page on One Kalamazoo’s website. Help get the word out!
If you are not in the area or are unable to volunteer, you can still help out the cause by donating some money. The One Kalamazoo website allows you to donate using a credit card online. If you would prefer to send a check, you can make one out to One Kalamazoo and send it to:
One Kalamazoo
490 West South Street
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Thank you so much for your interest and help!
The Exciting Times is back with some morsels of news for your brain to chew on.
Is golf unethical?
Yes.
There, that wasn’t hard. But here’s an opinion piece by Randy Cohen in which he mulls over this very question. I found it quite interesting.
A Niqab Ban in Michigan Courts?
Is America inching towards a French-style burqa-ban debate? Ginnah Muhammad, who wears a niqab as the result of sincerely-held religious belief, was brave enough to sue a judge, Paul Paruk, who wouldn’t preside over her case if she didn’t remove portions of her religious clothing he didn’t like. CAIR and the ACLU got involved. She lost. The Michigan courts are going to have a field day with this one.
US Indefinitely Holding Reuters Journalist
Ah yes, the Leader of the Free World is at it again.
‘Reuters is concerned at the continued and protracted incarceration of Ibrahim Jassam, and continues to urge the U.S. military to either charge or release him. Reuters believes that any accusation against a journalist should be aired publicly and dealt with fairly and swiftly, with the journalist having the right to counsel and present a defense.’
…Ibrahim Jassam, 31, is an Iraqi freelance photographer. Since Sept. 2, 2008, when U.S. soldiers seized him at his home near Baghdad, he has been held without charge in American military prisons.
A Program for Juvenile Offenders that Works? IN MISSOURI?
While America’s juvenile system is often criticized for corruption and abuse, Missouri state officials say its juvenile justice solution has saved billions of dollars and reduced the number of repeat offenders…
Known as the Missouri model, the program focuses on therapy, comfortable living conditions and an emphasis on job training and education…
Each offender is placed in a small group of 10 to 15, assigned a case worker and sent to school during the day. Offenders also put on Shakespeare stage productions and play sports. They learn about teamwork through camping and rock climbing.
Apparently the program has a low recidivism rate, a suicide rate of 0%, a high rate of high school graduation, AND saves Missouri hella cash. Who knew that there were benefits to not abusing juveniles’ human rights?
by Bill Quigley & Davida Finger
0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home Community Development Block Grant – compared to 116,708 homeowners.
0. Number of hospitals in New Orleans providing in-patient mental health care as of September 2009 despite post-Katrina increases in suicides and mental health problems.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in murders per capita for 2008.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in percentage of vacant residences.
2. Number of Katrina cottages completed in Louisiana as of beginning of 2009 hurricane season under $74 million dollar federal program.
33. Percent of 134,000 FEMA trailers in which Katrina and Rita storm survivors were housed after the storms which are estimated by federal government to have had formaldehyde problems.
35. Percent of child care facilities re-opened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.
35. Percent increase of demand in 2009 at emergency food programs in Orleans and surrounding parishes, “an increase pinned on the swelling ranks of under-employed and rising food, housing, and fuel costs.”
50. Ranking of Louisiana among states for overall healthcare.
52. Percent increase in rents in New Orleans since Katrina.
52. Percent of federal rebuilding money allocated to New Orleans that has actually been received.
60. Percent of children in New Orleans public schools who attend public charter schools.
88: Percent of the 600 New Orleans residents who will displaced by proposed new hospital complex who are minorities.
160. Number of units which will be public housing eligible in the new St. Bernard area after demolition and rebuilding. St. Bernard was constructed with 1400 public housing apartments. Only a small percentage of the 4000 families in public housing in New Orleans before Katrina will be allowed to live in the new housing being constructed on the site where their apartments were demolished.
27,279. Number of Louisiana homeowners who have applied for federal assistance in repair and rebuilding after Katrina who have been determined eligible for assistance but who have still not received any money.
30,396. Number of children who have not returned to public school in New Orleans since Katrina. This reduction leaves the New Orleans public school population just over half of what it was pre-Katrina.
63,799. Number of Medicaid recipients who have not returned to New Orleans since Katrina.
65,888. Unoccupied addresses in New Orleans. This is 31% of the addresses in the City and nearly as many as Detroit, a city twice the size of New Orleans.
128,341: Number of Louisianians looking for work.
143,193. Fewer people in New Orleans than before Katrina, according to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center estimate of 311,853, the most recent population estimate in Orleans.
9.5 Million. Dollar amount of federal Medicaid stimulus rejected outright by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal which would have expanded temporary Medicaid coverage for families who leave welfare and get a job.
98 million: Dollar amount of unemployment federal stimulus dollars rejected by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal that was available to bolster the unemployment compensation funds to assist 25,000 families in Louisiana.
900 Million: Dollar amount paid to ICF International, the company that was hired by the State of Louisiana to distribute federal Road Home rebuilding dollars.
?. Current vulnerability to storm-related flooding. The Army Corps of Engineers continues work to provide protection from a storm surge that has a 1 percent chance of occurring any given year. However, Katrina was a stronger storm than the system under construction is designed to protect against. Because no updated indicators exist on land loss, coastal restoration and mitigation of flood risk due to human engineering, tracking recovery is, at best, challenging.
Davida Finger is a social justice lawyer and clinical professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill Quigley is a human
rights lawyer on leave from Loyola now serving as legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights. A version of
this article with sources is available if you write to the authors c/o quigley77@gmail.com.
Maybe it won’t be destroyed after all!
To get caught up on the issue, here’s my previous post on the subject.
Facing South reports that in response to community protests, especially from the Native Americans to whom the mound held particular significance, Walmart/Sam’s Club has decided to buy their fill-dirt elsewhere. YAY!
Deep Fried Kudzu reports that “On Sunday, August 30, a protest and reconsecration ceremony has been scheduled at the mound from 2p-5p.”
Photo from Deep Fried Kudzu.
Check out this hilarious Anniston Star article to learn about how Oxford Mayor Leon Smith, who started this shit ball rolling, is an idiot, and check out the Facing South article to learn about how graft was probably involved in this whole fiasco.
Awesome. Anxious Mo-Fo sez:
Wouldn’t it be awesome if, after reading a great book, you could show the world that you’d finished the whole thing by adding a merit badge to your reader scout sash? Wouldn’t it?
Here’s one for the Odyssey:
I did a random and uncharacteristic thing. The context was that I was explaining to a friend how there are plenty of verses in the Bible uplifting the poor, exhorting charity, and condemning wealth that we should use to combat the twisted I-got-mine-screw-you theology of the Religious Right.
Then I sat down and spent my entire Saturday night researching just those kinds of verses in the Bible.
So below you will find some of the gems, which I pulled out because of the incisive or ferocious language or because of their poetic beauty. The Bible can indeed be used for good, as I hope these verses will demonstrate. I grew up Christian, and my first inklings of social justice concepts came from reading Bible verses such as these. Though I am no longer Christian, I still find them inspiring.
Below the fold, you will find a massive compilation of verses that deal with poverty, charity and wealth.
Job 20:15
He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
Job 36:19
Will [God] esteem thy riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength.
Psalm 9:17
[T]he needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
Psalm 39:6
Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain;
he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
Psalm 72:4
He will defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
he will crush the oppressor.
Proverbs 23:5
[R]iches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Proverbs 30:14
There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
Proverbs 31:7
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Ecclesiastes 5:12
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.
Matthew 19:24
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
James 2:6
Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
James 5:1
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
A hella lot more verses below! The majority come from the King James Bible, except where noted. I went with the New International version whenever the language of King James got too obscure for me. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to The Exciting Times, a collection of news items that caught my interest!
*There has been another anti-Latino hate crime in Patchogue, New York, a small town with a history of anti-Latino violence, including the murder of Marcelo Lucero. This time a Latino mad was beaten and robbed by a gang of white men. White dudes: get your shit together over there!
*One of the first things I ever blogged about was that Oklahoma had passed a law mandating ultrasounds for women seeking abortion. Ultrasounds are commonly given before abortions, but it is unusual for the government to mandate normally elective medical procedures. My problem with this that it is almost assuredly just another ploy to make abortion less accessible, and it amounts to mandating medical rape.
Well, HUZZAH, because the law has been repealed! Though kind of on a technicality, and might be back again next year. Apparently the law also included a set of rules mandating that doctors go over the ultrasound with the patient and describe to her how much like a baby it looks. Can’t wait to see this one come back next year.
*Canadian citizen disowned and left in jail in Kenya. The woman, Suaad Hagi Mohamud, had immigrated from Somalia to Canada and is a naturalized citizen. For some reason her passport was “challenged” when she was trying to travel from Kenya to Canada this May. She was detained in Kenya, and when she appealed for help from the Canadian consulate, diplomat Liliane Khadour denied Mohamud was Canadian, claiming falsely that she had “carried out conclusive investigations” and determined that “the person brought to the Canadian High Commission on suspicion of being an imposter is not the rightful holder of the aforementioned passport.”
All’s well that ends well, right? Am I right? Well, Khadour has been “recalled” and Mohamud, after three months, the help of friends, and DNA testing, proved her identity and returned to her country.
*Don’t miss The Women’s Crusade in the NYT Magazine this week. Though I don’t agree with every statement in the article, there are plenty of intriguing points made. For example:
It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine “gendercide” far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.
and
[I]t is emerging that male domination of society is also a risk factor [for turbulence and violence]; the reasons aren’t fully understood, but it may be that when women are marginalized the nation takes on the testosterone-laden culture of a military camp… Indeed, some scholars say they believe the reason Muslim countries have been disproportionately afflicted by terrorism is not Islamic teachings about infidels or violence but rather the low levels of female education and participation in the labor force.
ANNNNnnnd finally:
*Need some fuel to win health care arguments with your backwards-thinking relatives and coworkers? Here are some numbers for you to take a gander at, comparing health data collected from the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. One of these countries doesn’t have nationalized health care. One of these countries also shows significantly worse health and health care than the others. CAN YOU GUESS WHICH??
There used to be a mountain here. A man who lives near this crater told me that if you stood where those people are standing and looked 400 feet up, you would see the top of the mountain.
Instead what we see here is mountain top removal mining on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia. To my understanding, this method of mining involves blowing up a mountain and then looking through the rubble for coal. Apparently, the coal companies say, this is much more efficient than the kind of mining where you just dig holes into the mountain.
How can efficiency always be good if sometimes it means blowing up mountains? Do you think the coal companies put them back when they’re done?
The coal that comes from mountain top removal is of the kind labeled “clean coal”. This means that it is low-sulfur. However, as you can see, this coal is far from “clean”. There is considerable air pollution from the blasts and water pollution from the disposal of slurry, which seeps toxic heavy metals into the local water supply. Residents of West Virginia report that they are seeing unusually high rates of asthma, cancer, and other illnesses that they suspect can be traced to MTR.
While in West Virginia recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Larry Gibson, a native West Virginian and an anti-MTR activist. Here’s his story:
Larry Gibson’s family has lived on or near Kayford Mountain since the late 1700′s. More than 300 relatives are buried in the cemetery on Kayford Mountain. Larry and his family used to live on the lowest lying part of the mountain, and looked “up” to the mountain peaks that surrounded them. Since 1986, the slow motion destruction of Kayford Mountain has been continuous — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Eighteen years after the “mountain top removal” project began, Larry Gibson now occupies the highest point of land around; he is enveloped by a 12,000 acre pancake in what was previously a mountain range.
The coal companies and their workers want Larry off his mountain so they can mine it. He has received numerous threats and been shot at several times. Fortunately, the snipers have missed so far. Larry’s website is: Keeper of the Mountains.
You can go to Larry’s website or any of the ones below to learn about action steps you can take, if interested. Or simply to learn.
Catch more photos at the Stop MTR Photoblog.
Gather more information at:
Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
I Love Mountains Action and Resource Center
Well how about that. There is a post about MTR up on Feministe today. One woman takes on King Coal. And wins.
This is a guest post by Shenanigans
Photo taken in Toronto by Shenanigans
While taking a trip to Toronto this summer, I became aware of Tim Hortons, a fast food chain specializing in coffee and donuts (including “Timbits”). I was simultaneously amused and bewildered by just how many Tim Hortons peppered the Canadian landscape. However, my love of Tim Hortons has turned to horror as I discovered that not only does Tim Hortons mean more litter, but now hatred for the gays and equality.
According to change.org:
The Canadian mega-giant Tim Hortons (which in Canada is the largest coffee chain in the country), has decided to co-sponsor a rally in Rhode Island next week hosted by the National Organization for Marriage. Yup, the same National Organization for Marriage that is currently leading campaigns to take away the civil rights of gays and lesbians in Maine to marry, and the same group fighting marriage equality in places like Washington, D.C., New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.
While the Tim Hortons website says “Serving the community means more than just coffee… your local Tim Hortons is proud to support local initiatives that make a difference,” I am curious just how co-sponsoring a NOM rally serves the community and makes a difference in any way that could be construed as positive? I was not aware that wishing to restrict rights for a selection of the community helped the WHOLE community. Maybe Tim Hortons should change their website to more accurately reflect where they put their money – supporting specific conservative religious heterosexual community members while giving a big fuck you to gays and lesbians, especially those with the crazy idea that they have a right to marriage equality.
Additionally, as the change.org article points out, if Tim Hortons claims to not sponsor religious or political groups, how do they explain co-sponsoring this NOM rally? Last time I checked, The National Organization for Marriage says right up front (plastered all over their website, which I do not care to link to, but you may search for it yourself) that they are “a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect marriage and the FAITH communities that sustain it” (emphasis mine). A quick glance at their website, including a link labeled “Religious Liberty Ad Campaign!” and various remarks about the White House, President Obama, and the need to inform clergy and political leaders, would seem to indicate that NOM, if anything, is VERY religious and political.
I just want to know, what do donuts and anti-gay rallies have in common? Why of all organizations to help promote did Tim Hortons select this one? Can I not just order my Timbits without also receiving a heaping helping of hate?
Update
Tim Hortons has pulled out of the NOM event after ruckus was raised!
Victory!
“Recently, Tim Hortons was approached in Rhode Island to provide free coffee and products for a local event, as we do thousands of times a year across Canada and the United States. For 45 years, Tim Hortons and its store owners have practiced a philosophy of giving back to the communities in which we operate. As a company, our primary focus is on helping children and supporting fundraising events for non-profit organizations and registered charities. For this reason, Tim Hortons has not sponsored those representing religious groups, political affiliates or lobby groups. It has come to our attention that the Rhode Island event organizer and purpose of the event fall outside of our sponsorship guidelines. As such, Tim Hortons can not provide support at the event. Tim Hortons and its store owners have always welcomed all families and communities to its restaurants and will continue to do so. We apologize for any misunderstanding or inconvenience this may have caused.”
I will simply re-post their announcement plus a picture:
THE SHACK DWELLERS MOVEMENT IN NEW YORK – SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, 19th AUGUST, 2009
Meeting with members of DOMESTIC WORKERS UNITED
Founded in 2000, Domestic Workers United [DWU] is an organization of Caribbean, Latina and African nannies, housekeepers, and elderly caregivers in New York, organizing for power, respect, fair labor standards and to help build a movement to end exploitation and oppression for all.
TIME: 11:00AM – 1:00PM
LOCATION: Domestic Workers United office,1201 Broadway, Suite 907 – 908, New York, NY 10001.
PH: (212) 481-5747
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 19TH, 2009
Shack Dwellers Movement from South Africa at the Brecht Forum
DEAR MANDELA (15 min, 2009), a documentary work-in-progress about South Africa’s Shack Dwellers Movement, will be screening at the Brecht forum as part of the Visual Liberation Film Series, curated by Red Channels.
TIME: 7:30PM
ADDRESS: 451 West Street (that’s the West Side Highway) between Bank & Bethune Streets
DIRECTIONS:
A, C, E or L to 14th Street & 8th Ave, walk down 8th Ave. to Bethune, turn right, walk west to the River, turn left
1, 2, 3 or 9 to 14th Street & 7th Ave, get off at south end of station, walk west on 12th Street to 8th Ave. left to Bethune, turn right, walk west to the River, turn left.
THURSDAY, 20th AUGUST, 2009
Panel Discussion & Screening at the Poverty Initiative
Please join the Poverty Initiative at Union Theological Seminary for an evening of discussion and film about Abahlali baseMjondolo (the Shack Dwellers Movement) of South Africa. Two of their leaders, Mazwi Nzimande and Reverend Mavuso Mbhekiseni, will be attending the Poverty Initiative’s Poverty Scholars Leadership School. They then are spending a week in New York sharing experiences from their work and lives, meeting with Poverty Scholars organizations and building relationships of solidarity with similar movements here. There will be a screening of DEAR MANDELA (15 min, 2009), a documentary work-in-progress about the Shack Dwellers Movement, directed by Dara Kell & Christopher Nizza. The evening will also include a discussion with Poverty Initiative leaders about how to build deeper connections across continents.
7:30pm – 9:00pm in Room 205 at Union Theological Seminary, Room 205, New York, NY 10027
LOCATION: Union Theological Seminary is located at 121st Street and Broadway near the Columbia University campus. Take the 1 subway to 116th Street/Columbia University and walk north to 121st Street. When you enter the main entrance at Union Theological Seminary, the guards at the security desk will be able to direct you to Room 205.)
Abahlali baseMjondolo is the largest social movement of the poor in post-apartheid South Africa. The movement’s key demand is for ‘Land & Housing in the City’ but it has also successfully politicized and fought for an end to forced removals and for access to education and the provision of water, electricity, sanitation, health care and refuse removal as well as bottom up popular democracy. Amongst other victories the Abahlali have democratized the governance of many settlements, stopped evictions in a number of settlements, won access to schools and forced numerous government officials to ‘come down to the people’. For more information, visit http://www.abahlali.org
Afghan Husbands Win Right to Starve Wives
…when they don’t supply enough sexxx.
And other horrors. Interestingly, the law was designed in secret.
It’s neat to know that women’s basic human rights, such as, you know, the right to life, are just one bargaining chip amongst many in the game of politics.
When do you think we’ll hear of a country enforcing a woman’s right to starve her husband?
Never? And why exactly would that be?
Thank you soulbrother v.2 for this insightful piece. He explains the connection between whiteness being used to convince poor white farmers to stop protesting against rich landowners alongside poor black farmers in the 1800s, and whiteness being used to play working class white people to protest against health care for the poor. (Almost twice as many white people than black people are impoverished in the USA.)
Looking at the debates through a race lens, things like a town hall participant attacking a poster of Rosa Parks and people comparing health care for the poor to white slavery start to make some sense. Very weird sense, but the trail of bigotry begins to come clear.
And yes, the poster-holder specified white slavery. What do you think that’s supposed to mean?
Monica at TransGriot sez the good white folks at the town halls are protesting…
…at the behest of conservative K Street lobbying firms, Faux News, right wing hate radio, HMO’s who want to stay between you and your doctor and continue to make obscene profits off the current broken system and the GOP who gets paid mad loot to thwart any meaningful legislative reform as they’ve done for decades.
Once again you information challenged people are being played, manipulated, hoodwinked and bamboozled again to vote against your own economic interests because you’re ‘scurred’ of the current occupant of the White House.
And Did You Know, “57% of Republicans either believes or is uncertain about the veracity of the “death panel” claim”?
Now, where ever would they get such an idea? Could it in any way be related to the fact that 65% of Republicans believe Fox News is reliable or that:
Even more interesting, perhaps, is how many Republicans only get their info from Fox, as compared to the other cable networks. A surprising 74% of GOPers “never” watch CNN, and an even higher amount, 89%, never watch MSNBC.
?
“Terrorist fist-jab”, “secret lesbian high school gangs”, birther-movement fueling Fox News. Is. Considered. Reliable by these people.
Sooooo…. is this health care “debate” becoming the 21st century elite’s attempt to divide and conquer the disempowered by race like innumerable incidents in the past? If so, they are showing remarkable success. Of course, there always seems to be enough white people who are eager to find a new excuse to be publicly racist, and politicians seem quite willing to dog whistle them to the fore at the slightest indication they may be useful.
Isn’t it great that France is so enlightened, and such a champion of women’s rights, that its government has begun to specifically target Muslim women for state harassment?
Isn’t that neat? Maybe, if we’re all lucky, they’ll have a “democratic” vote so that the white majority can decide which pieces of clothing to ban from the Muslim minority.
We have French Urban Regeneration Minister Fadela Amara, herself Muslim, saying that she is “in favour of the burka not existing in my country”. Perhaps she will soon take the path of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Muslim-turned-atheist, who’s popularity in European and American conservative circles seems more fueled by Islamophobia than by anything else.
Ali once said, “The whole idea is for 1.2-1.5 billion [Muslim] people living in the world to start thinking, at least, I mean exercising some sort of intellectual activity, which we haven’t been doing…”
But Amara’s statements about burka-banning are not all.
Now it appears that the burkini, a swimsuit that is loose-fitting and covers everything but the face, hands and feet, is also a threat to enlightened France.
Major public health threat.
Here’s a bit from an LA Times article about a woman banned from a swimming pool in Emerainville that is really, well, astounding:
Emerainville’s mayor and the pool management contend that the burkini ban was invoked strictly because of hygiene concerns, just as shorts, rather than Speedos, are not allowed, because they can be worn outside the pool area.
“This has nothing to do with Islam,” Mayor Alain Kelyor told Le Parisien, “because the pool rules prohibit swimming while dressed.
“Besides, Islamic bathing suits don’t exist in the Koran,” he concluded.
Nice one Mayor Kelyor! But if that isn’t islamophobic enough for you….
“This is the tip of the fundamentalist iceberg,” National Assembly member Andre Gerin said of the burkini issue, which he claims is part of a “larger national problem” of growing Islamic extremism in France. Wearing the garment in public is a “clear provocation” and “ridiculous,” while helping “undo years of progress toward equal rights for women.”
Can’t we just burn them as witches already? ARRRG.
Here’s what the offending woman, identified only as Carole, has to say: “My only battle is simply to be able to swim with my children in a pool.” Oh, the evils of Islam! The witch Muslim woman has spawned! THEY ARE TRYING TO OUTBREED WHITES!
I’ve already written a careful explanation of why I hold these opinions on burkas, in a previous post where I outline 10 Reasons a French Burka Ban Is Wrong.
Via Womanist Musings.
Please add to this discussion. However, please do not assume that I know nothing about Islam, women’s oppression in the name of Islam, or what a burka is. Read my 10 Reasons post to get a better idea of my stance.
I swear to GOD, Democrats and the Obama Admin have NO SPINE. They are preparing to give in to angry, incoherent mobs.
Every human has a right to health, and that includes health care. Private insurers do not operate on this foundation. They only provide health care so long as it makes a profit for the owners. Health is not a commodity. It is a human right. Ability to pay should never determine whether you get a long life or not.
When will we see a politician who is a friend of the poor?
The thought that it is “downright evil” to provide health care to the poor?
Linking health care coverage for the poor to Nazism?
“Keep your government hands off my Medicare”?
“True fascism… is happening in this country today”?
“Hitler…called his program the final solution. I kind of wonder what we’re going to call ours”?
And then there’s this, which also leaves me dumbstruck:
During the town hall, one conservative activist turns to his fellow attendees and asks them to raise their hands if they “oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care.” Almost all the hands shot up. Rep Green quickly turned the question on the audience and asked, “How many of you have Medicare?” Nearly half the attendees raised their hands, failing to note the irony.
At another point, a small business owner who supported health reform asks the audience how many people in this room “do not have health insurance of some kind.” Only one hand seemed to be raised. “I think the people who are objecting,” she noted, “are the people who have insurance.”
Check this out. Many New Orleans public housing residents experienced displacement and homelessness because of Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed some public housing and the city’s subsequent demolition of several of the lightly damaged public housing (to make way for private development or mixed income residences with a fraction of space dedicated to affordable housing).
Residents of public housing are beginning to organize to demand their rights. An awesome organization to check out is Mayday New Orleans. Below is one of their recent actions, where you see what happens when they try to go apply for jobs. The nerve of these people!
There are other videos on their Youtube channel.
Spotted by hot tipper Shannon in DC near the Capitol:
The sign reads: Marriage Man + Woman
I don’t know anyone else, but I think I just changed my mind about marriage equality!
Shannon sez:
I took this photo in DC, between the capitol and the art gallery. There were a few other stands spread around, but this stand was the closest to us, plus had the most visible hate, thus we were sold on it.
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