Rockpile "No One Knows" vs Leonard Cohen "Everybody Knows" #GreatSongDebates

In light of current events, the words could better be changed to:

In the tall building
sit the head of all nations
Worthy men from Spain and Siam
All day discussions with the Russians
But they still went ahead
and vetoed the plan
Now up jumped the U.S. representative
She's the one with the steeled eyes
F-15 put her in that condition
Flyin' back from a war keepin' mission

And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it’s going, no one knows.

Meanwhile Leonard Cohen argues, that, actually "Everybody Knows."

Syria and Libya and..... so very much noise and not a peep about the Military Staff Committee, the possible solution

... because none of the "powers" want solutions -- and I'm not sure how much of civil society does either, to be honest....

'The Military Staff Committee (MSC) is the only subsidiary body specifically named in the UN Charter. Eric Grove has called it "a sterile monument to the faded hopes of the founders of the UN", because it is a body that meets every 14 days, mandated to achieve nothing. Giving it a mandate threatens to erupt Cold War indigestion, eliminating it would require Charter reform, so the bi-weekly ritual continues for the sake of form, facilitated by one staff based on the upper floors of the UN building in New York.'

In-Office and Online Internships Available at the Institute for Public Accuracy

Noam Chomsky: "IPA has been regularly providing the media with informed and expert commentary on the crucial events of the day, compensating for the inevitable distortion and significant omissions that trace to reliance on official sources and on a narrow spectrum of opinion, among other factors. Apart from its constructive contributions to media comprehensiveness and accuracy, for individuals who are seeking a better understanding of evolving world events IPA has been an incomparable source of critically important news that had escaped notice or received inadequate or misleading coverage, as well as acute analysis that is hard to find or completely missing in the mainstream. Speaking personally, I have found it invaluable as a source of insight and information, and for leads to pursue that I would otherwise have missed."

The Institute for Public Accuracy -- http://accuracy.org -- is a non-profit organization that increases the reach and capacity of progressive and grassroots organizations (at no cost to them) to address public policy by getting them and their ideas into the mainstream media. IPA gains media access for those whose voices are commonly excluded or drowned out by government or corporate-backed institutions. As a national consortium of independent public-policy researchers, analysts and activists, we widen media exposure for progressive perspectives on many issues including the environment, human rights, foreign policy, and economic justice. 

The typical internship itself involves real hands on-work. Interns work directly with our staff and the experts whom we publicize. Through that interaction they gain valuable insight into how to work with the media and think more critically about the mainstream press. Interns are responsible for researching and compiling our news releases, fielding inquiries from working journalists, publishing our news releases, posting blogs and interviews from our "experts," managing our webpage and building our social media presence.

Our office is located in the National Press Building in the heart of downtown D.C., right next to Metro Center, but coming in might not always be required; we welcome applications from outside the D.C. area. 

We're looking for an intern to be available as soon as possible. Our schedule is flexible, and we can accommodate both full and part-time interns. We're looking for students with an interest in politics who are capable of thinking critically about the media and who can work well under deadlines. 

Responsibilities include:

* Following news to help put out editorial material
* Tracking down experts for news releases and helping put releases together
* Updating IPA's web page
* Building up IPA's online presence including twitter, facebook and a new IPA blog
* Structural improvements to IPA's web presence, such as building an online Daybook
* Using databases to add journalists contacts to IPA's email lists
* Attending and covering events at the National Press Club
* Regularly done for college credit; a modest stipend may be available. 
Contact: Communications Director Sam Husseini at samhusseini at gmail.com, or call him at 202-347-0020.

Etta James "At Last" vs Peggy Lee "Is That All There Is?" #GreatSongDebate

Many have rightly given tribute to Etta James upon her death. I'd much rather associate "At Last" with her directly or with a wonderful scene on Boston Legal when, as I recall, Alan Shore and Tara Wilson finally shack up in a motel with the neon lights strunning into their room than the inauguration abomination. 

Just recently my dear friend Emily introduced me to more of the work of Peggy Lee, and especially "Is That All There Is?" -- which offers an appropriate rebuttal to Etta Lee's classic. Peggy Lee herself died exactly ten years ago yesterday.   

Note: I'd wrongly called Etta James Etta Lee initially, appologies; thanks Steve.

Ron Paul References the Golden Rule and Martin Luther King. We Must Stop This Madman and Deride His Followers

From last night's Republican debate. Transcript and video.

RON PAUL: My — my — my point is, if another country does to us what we do others, we’re not going to like it very much. So I would say that maybe we ought to consider a golden rule in — in foreign policy. Don’t do to other nations…
(BOOING)
… what we don’t want to have them do to us. So we — we endlessly bomb — we endlessly these countries and then we wonder — wonder why they get upset with us? And — and yet it — it continues on and on. I mean, this — this idea…
BAIER: That’s time.
PAUL: This idea that we can’t debate foreign policy, then all we have to do is start another war? I mean, it’s — it’s warmongering. They’re building up for another war against Iran, and people can’t wait to get in another war. This country doesn’t need another war. We need to quit the ones we’re in. We need to save the money and bring our troops home.

...

 

PAUL: Yes. Definitely. There is a disparity. It’s not that it is my opinion, it is very clear. Blacks and minorities who are involved with drugs, are arrested disproportionately. They are tried and imprisoned disproportionately. They suffer the consequence of the death penalty disproportionately. Rich white people don’t get the death penalty very often.
And most of these are victimless crimes. Sometimes people can use drugs and arrested three times and never committed a violent act and they can go to prison for life. And yet we see times just recently we heard where actually murders get out of prison in shorter periods of time. So I think it’s way — way disproportionate.
I don’t think we can do a whole lot about it. I think there’s discrimination in the system, but you have to address the drug war. You know, the drug war is — is very violent on our borders. We have the immigration problem, and I’m all for having, you know, tight immigration policies, but we can’t ignore the border without looking at the drug war.
In the last five years, 47,500 people died in the drug war down there. This is a major thing going on. And it unfairly hits the minorities. This is one thing I am quite sure that Martin Luther King would be in agreement with me on this. As a matter of fact, Martin Luther King he would be in agreement with me on the wars, as well, because he was a strong opponent to the Vietnam War.
So I — I — I would say, yes, the judicial system is probably one of the worst places where — where prejudice and — and discrimination still exists in this country.

Angry Arab: Apparently Not Angry Enough @AngryArabNews

I love As'ad AbuKhalil and angryarab.blogspot.com but I have to say, pretty funny to have these back to back items, ahh the contradictions of media work, "makin out with Judas just to make your bail":


Saudi Arabia on Aljazeera

You know how much Aljazeera has changed when you see how it covered--or not covered--the shooting in `Awamiyyah in Saudi Arabia. The news ticker only reported the "news" that a police vehicle was set on fire. Not a single word about the shootings. Today, it only reported the official statement of the Saudi Ministry of Interior.  This is not the Aljazeera I know.  

Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil at 1:42 AM 
Labels: 

Aljazeera

I shall appear on Min Washington program (from London) on Aljazeera Arabic to speak about US policies.  It is recorded on Tuesday. Check your local listings.

Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil at 1:38 AM 
Labels: 

Honor Martin Luther King By Spreading His Message: Share Text and Audio of His Final Speeches

As corporate media disseminate the image of Martin Luther King as a "dreamer" who simply worked for the rights of "his people," activists, especially those around the occupy movement should get information out about the real Martin Luther King. 

Here's a PDF that people can print and pass out at places of work and worship; on the street or at the parks: "Martin Luther King Denounced Racism -- and Militarism and Exploitation." Audio from his strongest speeches and sermons is available to be played over local radio stations and streamed online. At a recent demonstration in DC, an activist streamed a speech over a phone and blared it through a loudspeaker. 

King first came out publicly against the Vietnam War at the Riverside Church in New York on April 4, 1967, a year to the day before he was killed: 

"A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor -- both black and white -- through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam, and I watched this program broken and eviscerated, as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. ..." He noted that if militarism was not seriously addressed, people would be trying to stop future wars in countless other countries. See full text and audio.

After his Riverside address, King was widely attacked by the U.S. establishment media. Rather than backtracking, he responded even more strongly on April 30, 1967 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church: "I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today -- my own government. ..." 

He then addressed his critics, especially the corporate media: "There is something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you when you say, 'Be nonviolent toward [segregationist sheriff] Jim Clark' but will curse and damn you when you say, 'Be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children' There is something wrong with that press! ... To me, the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. ..." 

He also articulated a broad moral critique of the established economic order: "I'm convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. ... When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies. ... True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. ..." See full text and audio.

The message King articulated has great relevance to many of the ailments that remain with us today and the day set aside in his honor is a great gift to share this with others.