Palestinian Nonviolence

Here is an excellent blog from Amnesty International about the Palestinian nonviolence movement. It is a side of the Palestinian struggle that we in America never see. The only images we see in the media of Palestinians are of violent people blowing themselves up or hijacking airplanes. There is never any media coverage of Palestinians who are nonviolent.
Here's the first couple of paragraphs of the article, along with the link for the rest of it:

"Remarks made by Bono , New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof and President Barack Obama stating they hoped Palestinians would find their Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) or Gandhi completely ignore Palestinian nonviolent resistance to brutal oppression.

The presumption that the Palestinian struggle is mainly violent is disturbing. And the dismissal of the people who have sacrificed time, money and even their lives to fight injustice with nonviolence is callous.

Although Palestinian nonviolent resistance dates back to the early 1900’s, the image of armed and violent Palestinians still prevails.   In the 1970’s and 80’s, Palestinian refugees from camps in foreign countries, seeing no resolution after decades of displacement, chose armed struggle and  more recent suicide bombings in Israel  reinforced the perception.

Several factors have hindered a single, iconic figure from emerging or a cohesive civil disobedience movement from blooming despite its continued use by different sectors of Palestinian society......"

http://blog.amnestyusa.org/middle-east/palestinian-nonviolent-resistance-has-strong-roots/

SC Politician compares poor people to Feeding Stray Animals

     At a town hall meeting last Thursday, South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer compared people getting government assistants to stray animals. "My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that."
     The negative reaction so far seems to be mainly from Democrats. However, Bauer has a large following among the religious Republican base. For his part, Bauer says that he doesn't regret his words except maybe the stray animals part. Bauer is now running for the governorship against 8 other people.

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The End of the Tea Party?

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     Over the past few days, I've been reading a sudden influx of articles about the end of the "populist" tea parties. These articles are reacting to the many troubles the Tea Party Convention seems to be having. Perhaps the convention organizers are beginning to find out that it's easy to be angry but it's difficult to organize that anger into a legitimate political force.
     Of course, the same people who are saying that the party is over are the same people who said that the Republican Party was dead after the election of 2008. Instead, in the major political races within the last 5 months, the Republicans have made a clean sweep, including two governorships, a mayoral race in the largest city in America, & the senate seat of the man who was the Liberal Lion of the Senate for over 50 years.
     There may be a little truth to this death theory, though. Within the last few days, President Obama has been sounding like a populist. He's been going hard after the banks & has now even ordered a bipartisan committee to attack the outrageous federal deficit. If the President's latest tone catches on, the Tea Party people may be backed into a corner.

Violence in Nigeria

For the past 6 days, Muslims & Christians have clashed in Northern Nigeria. Human Rights Watch says that assailants attacked & killed over 120 Muslims (including at least 20 children) in the city of Kuru Karama. Here's the story:

Ebony Power 150

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     A couple of months ago, Ebony Magazine put out its issue of the 150 most powerful African Americans in the country. There were the obvious people on the list. President & Mrs Obama, Jay Z, Beyonce, etc. However, there were two names that I believe were purposely left off of the list, mainly due to their conservative politics.
     Michael Steele is the chairman of the Republican party. Think about this for a minute. A Black man is the head of the Republican party. That means that Black men are the leaders of the two biggest political parties in America. Only one made Ebony's list, though.
     The other man who's missing from this list is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He's the only African American on the most powerful court in America. Yet, he doesn't make the Power 150.
     I'm not a big fan of either of these two men; far from it. However, Ebony should respect the fact that both men made it to posts that African Americans had only dreamed about not too many years ago. Both deserve to be on Ebony's list. Shame on Ebony for not even considering them.

Pentagon Report Says Prisoners Return to Fight

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     According to a classified Pentagon report, one out of every five prisoners who is released from Guantanamo Bay returns to fight for Al Qaida. First off, if this is a classified report, why do we know about it? Second, when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense logically.
     Imagine for one minute that you've been locked up for almost a decade & possibly tortured. Even if you were completely innocent when you went there, you now have hatred for for captors. When you leave, aren't you going to want revenge? I know I would. I'd join the fight in a minute. Why this report surprises people amazes me. In fact, I'm surprised the number isn't actually higher than one in five. It's just basic human nature.

Article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34735908/ns/us_news-security/

Slovakians, Irish, & Bombs

     Apparently, a few days ago, Slovakian security people decided to do a test of airport security. Their idea? To put bomb parts in an innocent passenger's bag. The man flew to Ireland, unknowingly carrying the bombs with him. Once authorities discovered the parts, the man was held for several hours, then released. The Slovakian government told the Irish what they had done a few days after the fact.
     When you think about it, this was amazingly stupid. I feel really bad for the passenger. Who do you sue for something like this? All I know is that when I travel, my bags are never leaving my sight.

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