From: Al Jazeera English [mailto:newsletters=aljazeera.net@mail14.us1.mcsv.net] On Behalf Of Al Jazeera English
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 7:42 AM
To: epearlag@earthlink.net
Subject: Gaddafi Served; Tahrir Re-ignites; Austerity and Anger in Greece
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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/yes_to_violence_no_to_sex_20110629/
Truthdig: June 29, 2011
This American life of ours has long been pro-violence and anti-sex, unless the two can be merged so that violence is the dominant theme. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that historical record on Monday in declaring California’s ban on the sale of violent video games to minors unconstitutional while continuing to deny constitutional protection to purely prurient sexual material for either minors or adults.
The California law that the court struck down prohibited the sale or rental of violent games to minors “in which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being,” unless the work, taken as a whole, possessed redeeming literary, artistic or social value—qualities that limit censorship of sexually “obscene” material.
The Supreme Court, in essence, said no—“sexually assaulting an image of a human being” is protected speech, but depicting graphic sexual activity that is nonviolent and consensual is not. “
As Scalia put the prevailing argument that says yes to violence and no to sex, it is only violence that possesses deep cultural roots going back to our favorite fairy tales. Arguing that “violence is not part of the obscenity that the Constitution permits to be regulated,” Scalia made clear that the problem is with the sex and not the violent or misogynist behavior that some critics argue will result from material the court defines as obscene: “Because speech about violence is not obscene, it is of no consequence that California’s statute mimics the New York statute regulating obscenity-for-minors that we upheld in Ginsberg v.
Scalia’s opinion is actually quite thrilling in enunciating an extremely broad definition of the free speech rights of minors. But it is simply bizarre in dismissing the claimed harmful effects of violent depictions while still insisting on the strictest puritanical view of the dangers of sexual imagery. “No doubt a State possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm, but that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed,” he said. Unless sex is involved, in which case, as Scalia quotes an earlier court decision: “Speech that is neither obscene as to youths nor subject to some other legitimate proscription cannot be suppressed solely to protect the young from ideas or images that a legislative body thinks unsuitable for them.”
In that regard, Scalia’s view is a vast improvement over that of Clarence Thomas, who held in his dissent that minors have no First Amendment rights at all. But Scalia is unnerving in his dismissal of the concurring opinion of Justice Samuel Alito Jr., in which Chief Justice John Roberts joined. Alito argued that the
Scalia’s withering dismissal of Alito’s concerns is revealing of his tolerance for violent imagery as opposed to that which is merely sexual: “Justice Alito has done considerable independent research to identify video games in which ‘the violence is astounding. … Victims are dismembered, decapitated, disemboweled, set on fire, and chopped into little pieces. … Blood gushes, splatters, and pools.’ Justice Alito recounts all these disgusting video games in order to disgust us—but disgust is not a valid basis for restricting expression. … Thus, ironically, Justice Alito’s argument highlights the precise danger posed by the California Act: that the ideas expressed by speech—whether it be violence, or gore, or racism—and not its objective effects, may be the real reason for governmental proscription.”
Hear, hear to such a bold defense of the right of minors to consider a full range of controversial thought, but if the claimed harmful effects of minors’ exposure to violence, gore and racism do not warrant a governmental limitation on free speech, why isn’t sexually prurient material—for adults if not minors—deserving of equal First Amendment protection? The unspoken answer that runs through Scalia’s opinion, and that of the court down though the ages, is that violence is normal while sex is obscene.
From: rad-green- On Behalf Of Sid Shniad
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 3:21 PM
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/06/28/11/greece-gripped-gen
eral-strike
Greece gripped by general strike
by Roddy Thomson
Agence France-Presse: 06/28/2011
ATHENS, Greece - Greece ground to a halt Tuesday as angry workers
launched a 48-hour general strike against an austerity drive ordered by its
bankruptcy-threatened government in exchange for a European bailout.
Crowds converged early on Syntagma Square, where parliament will vote on
sweeping spending cuts as planes, ships and most public transport came to a
halt.
Europe's economic tsar Olli Rehn in Brussels warned that Greece faced "a
critical juncture" and the austerity programme was the "only way to avoid
immediate default."
But that view was not shared by protestors, determined to block passage of
the package.
"We don't want your money Europe," Iamando, 36, told AFP on the square where
police were already out in force at 11:00 am (0800 GMT). "Leave us alone --
please, please, please."
The number of police in the centre of the capital rose to 4,000, according
to the authorities, with traffic unable to circulate in central Athens.
Public transport was halted in Athens for the fourth general strike called
this year by the country's two biggest unions, with the exception of the
metro whose drivers decided not to strike so as to allow Athenians to swell
protest numbers.
In the port of Pireus, near Athens, which links most Greek islands with the
mainland as the peak tourist season gets under way, around 200 militant
unionists staged a picket to prevent ferries from leaving the port.
Banks, too, were closed and even hospitals were operating on reduced
staffing while at airports action by air traffic controllers saw domestic
flights cancelled by Greek airlines Olympic Air and Aegean and international
departures delayed.
A string of rallies got under way, led by a 4,000-strong Communist march to
the parliament square -- a magnet for tens of thousands of protesters and an
'indignants' camp where some of thousands involved said they have clocked up
38 straight days.
"We're like the donkey -- the more you hit it, the more determined it gets,"
one of those who keeps coming back to the square, Omiros (Homer), 29, told
AFP.
An employee of the soon-to-be privatized electricity company, he spoke for a
generation of Greeks educated abroad -- Bath, England, in his case.
"If they sold the power company in the UK, it wouldn't be for pennies, and
they wouldn't hit you with 300 percent price rises," he added of the other
principal gripe among a generation of Greeks earning just hundreds of euros
per month.
Prime Minister George Papandreou begged lawmakers Monday night to back his
plans to slice 28.6 billion euros from government spending by 2015, and sell
off the national silver to meet EU and IMF demands for reform.
In Brussels, EU economic affairs chief Rehn urged the Greek parliament to
adopt the austerity programme.
"Both the future of the country and financial stability in Europe are at
stake," Rehn said in a statement. "The only way to avoid immediate default
is for parliament to endorse the revised economic programme."
In a rare criticism of the government, the governor of the Bank of Greece,
Giorgos Provopoulos told Tuesday's Kathimerini daily that "piling more taxes
on taxpayers has reached its limit."
He said the new plan "does not place enough emphasis on the containment of
spending."
Approval of the austerity measures by lawmakers would unblock 12 billion
euros of emergency loans from last year's 110-billion-euro bailout and free
eurozone finance ministers to start drawing up a second bailout for as much
again at talks Sunday in Brussels.
But even a former IMF board member, economist Miranda Xafa of Geneva-based
investment managers IJ Partners, says the plan is deeply flawed.
"In the last year, 250,000 people lost their jobs in the private sector --
and none in the public sector," she told AFP.
"Now the country is bankrupt so it has no choice," she said.
She was sceptical about a plan announced by French President Nicolas Sarkozy
to persuade private sector creditors to extend their exposure to Greek
public debt for the next 30 years, another condition for more eurozone
government aid.
She said it would almost certainly be seen by the key international rating
agencies as a "selective" default.
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Hi. Bernie has the knack for presenting complicated ideas in common, understandable language.
But he do run on, as we say in
cut it about half way. Click on the URL, just below for the whole megilla.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/27-11
Published on Monday, June 27, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
Prepared Remarks by Senator Bernie Sanders
The following are the prepared remarks of US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), delivered (video) on the floor of the
Mr. President, this is a pivotal moment in the history of our country. In the coming days and weeks, decisions will be made about our national budget that will impact the lives of virtually every American in this country for decades to come.
At a time when the richest people and the largest corporations in our country are doing phenomenally well, and, in many cases, have never had it so good, while the middle class is disappearing and poverty is increasing, it is absolutely imperative that a deficit reduction package not include the disastrous cuts in programs for working families, the elderly, the sick, the children and the poor that the Republicans in Congress, dominated by the extreme right wing, are demanding.
In my view, the President of the
Instead of yielding to the incessant, extreme Republican demands, as the President did during last December’s tax cut agreement and this year’s spending negotiations, the President has got to get out of the beltway and rally the American people who already believe that deficit reduction must be about shared sacrifice.
It is time for the President to stand with the millions who have lost their jobs, homes, and life savings, instead of the millionaires, who in many cases, have never had it so good.
Unless the American people by the millions tell the President not to yield one inch to Republican demands to destroy Medicare and Medicaid, while continuing to provide tax breaks to the wealthy and the powerful, I am afraid that is exactly what will happen.
So, I am asking the American people who may be listening today that if you believe that deficit reduction should be about shared sacrifice, if you believe that it is time for the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share, if you believe that we need to reduce unnecessary defense spending, and if you believe that the middle class has already sacrificed enough due to the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, the President needs to hear your voice, and he needs to hear it now.
Go to my website: sanders.senate.gov and send a letter to the President letting him know that enough is enough! Shared sacrifice means that it’s time for the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations in
Mr. President, as you know, this country faces enormous challenges.
The reality is that the middle class in
When we talk about the economy, we have got to be aware that the official government statistics are often misleading. For example, while the official unemployment rate is now 9.1%, that number does not include the large numbers of people who have given up looking for work and people who want to work full-time but are working part time.
And, when you take all of those factors into account, the real unemployment rate is nearly 16%.
Further Mr. President, what we also must understand is that tens of millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages. The reality is that over the last 10 years, median family income has declined by over $2,500.
As a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, which caused this terrible recession, millions more have lost their homes, their pensions, and their retirement savings.
Unless we reverse our current economic course our children will have, for the first time in modern American history, a lower standard of living than their parents.
Mr. President, we throw out a lot of numbers around here. But, I think it is important to understand that behind every grim economic statistic are real Americans who cannot find a decent paying job, and are struggling to feed their families, put a roof over their heads or to just stay afloat.
Last year, I asked my constituents in
Their messages are clear. People are finding it hard to get jobs or are now working for lower wages than they used to earn. Older workers have depleted their life savings and are worried about what will happen to them when they retire. Young adults in their 20s and 30s are not earning enough to pay down college debt. People of all ages, all walks of life, from each corner of
Let me just read a few of these letters:
The first is from a 51 year old woman from
A gentlemen in his mid-50's from Orange County, Vermont wrote: "After being unemployed three times since 1999 due to global trade agreements, I now find myself managing a hazardous waste transfer facility that pays about 25% less than what I was making in 1999. My wife's children have moved back in, unemployed. And we are saving very little for retirement. If things don't improve soon we will likely have to work until we die. We consider ourselves lucky that we are employed. Our children's friends tend to show up around meal time. They are skinny. We feed them. This is no recession, it's a modern day depression."
A woman in her late 40s from
And a 26 year old young man from
Mr. President, just over the last two weeks, nearly 500 people from
Mr. President, when the Republicans are talking about trillions of dollars in savage cuts this is what they are talking about. They're talking about throwing millions and millions of people off of Medicaid. Let me tell you what that means.
Earlier this year
They're talking about making it impossible for working class families to send their kids to college. They're talking about cuts in nutrition programs which will increase the amount of hunger in
Mr. President, this is a lot of pain that the Republicans are tossing out while they want to protect their rich and powerful friends. In my view, the president has got to stand tall, take the case to the American people, and hold the Republicans responsible if the debt ceiling is not raised and the repercussions of that.
That, Mr. President, is what's going on in the real world. People fighting to keep their homes from falling into foreclosure; struggling with credit card debt; marriages have been postponed; lives have been derailed; and retirement savings have been raided to pay for college tuition, to keep their businesses afloat, or simply to keep gas in their car and pay their bills. That is what is going on in the real world.
And, Mr. President, while the middle class disappears and poverty is increasing, there is another reality and that is that the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider. The
Today, the top one percent earns over 20 percent of all income in this country, which is more than the bottom 50 percent earns. Over a recent 25 year period, 80 percent of all new income went to the top one percent. In terms of the distribution of wealth, as hard as it may be to believe, the richest 400 Americans own more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class continues to disappear. That is what is going on in this country in the year 2011, and we have all got to understand that.
Mr. President, everybody knows this country faces a major deficit crisis and we have a national debt of over $14 trillion. What has not been widely discussed, however, is how we got into this situation in the first place. A huge deficit and huge national debt did not happen by accident. It did not happen overnight. It happened, in fact, as a result of a number of policy decisions made over the last decade and votes that were cast right here on the floor of the Senate and in the House.
Let's never forget, as we talk about the deficit situation; that in January of 2001, when President Clinton left office, this country had an annual federal budget surplus of $236 billion with projected budget surpluses as far as the eye could see. That was when
What has happened in the ensuing years? How did we go from huge projected surpluses into horrendous debt? The answer, frankly, is not complicated. The CBO has documented it. There was an interesting article on the front page of the Washington Post on April 30, talking about it as well. Here is what happened.
When we spend over $1 trillion on wars in
Further, Mr. President, the deficit was also driven up by the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, which caused the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans lost their jobs and revenue was significantly reduced as a result.
Mr. President, the end result of all of these unpaid-for policies and actions – year after year of the deficits I just described – is a staggering amount of debt. When President Bush left office, President Obama inherited an annual deficit of $1.3 trillion with deficits as far as the eye could see, and the national debt more than doubled from when President Bush took office.
The reality is Mr. President, if we did not go to war in Iraq, if we did not pass huge tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, who didn’t need them, if we did not pass a prescription drug program with no cost control written by the drug and insurance companies, and if we did not deregulate Wall Street, we would not be in the fiscal mess that we find ourselves in today. It really is that simple.
For more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/27-11
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey Blankfort [mailto:jblankfort@earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 9:06 AM
IMPORTANT: NPR's Morning Edition had a terrific report on the Free Gaza Mvt
Ed, this morning NPR's Morning Edition had a terrific report on the Free
Gaza Mvt and Audacity featuring Alice Walker, Ann Wright and Medea with
Silvia Poggioli in
countering statements. This is sure to get them riled up so NPR needs
to get support for doing this. Here's the link to the story:
Jeff
***
June 28, 2011
[5 min 19 sec]
· Download
Petros Giannakouris/AP
June 28, 2011
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists from the
The hub of this year's operation is
Some 50 American activists of Operation USTOGAZA are holding workshops in an
Petros Giannakouris/AP
One of the most prominent American participants in the flotilla is Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple.
She gave her reason for taking part in a video on the group's website: "I actually love children and I love water, and I love trees, good food, and I love parents who are happy and children who are happy and all this wonderful life that has been completely disrupted and degraded by the Israeli treatment of the Palestinian people in Gaza."
The American vessel has been renamed The Audacity of Hope, after the title of President Obama's autobiography. But organizers won't reveal where it's docked, or when they'll set sail. They claim Greek authorities have imposed administrative delays under pressure from
But it's not just
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said aid should be delivered to
The Obama administration has also strongly urged
Enlarge Petros Giannakouris/AP
Ann Wright, a former U.S. State Department official who plans to sail on a vessel named "The Audacity of Hope" after the title of a book by President Obama, speaks during Monday's news conference about the international flotilla to
Petros Giannakouris/AP
Ann Wright, a former U.S. State Department official who plans to sail on a vessel named "The Audacity of Hope" after the title of a book by President Obama, speaks during Monday's news conference about the international flotilla to
Ann Wright, a retired State Department official and former army colonel, took part in last year's attempt to break the
"Israelis have been very clear: They intend to stop us from going to
The Americans — whose ages range from the mid-20s to mid-80s — say their ship will carry only written messages and letters to the Palestinian people. Other ships — from Europe and
Activists see
Last year's attempt to break the blockade was intercepted by Israeli naval commandos and resulted in the deaths of nine activists.
The Americans in
"We put in a number of hours learning how to respond to that kind of an assault," Levy says, "and I guess most of us on the boat are sailing with the recognition that that is a real possibility and how do we best protect ourselves under those circumstances."
In another hall of the hotel, a group of women wearing T-shirts with the words "I am an unarmed citizen" and "Stay human" is discussing possible scenarios.
Medea Benjamin is the founder of Code Pink, a women's anti-war group.
"Some of us are Jews; we are certainly not against the Israeli people," Benjamin says. "Our idea is we are part of a historical movement that has deep roots in Gandhi, deep roots in Martin Luther King, deep roots in civil resistance movements throughout history."
The American activists alternate their training with song sessions — to the tune of "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore," they've adapted the lyrics to their
On Monday, the Israeli government said it would act with determination to stop the flotilla from reaching its destination, but, it added, with minimal confrontation, as far as possible, between Israeli forces and passengers.
