Protect the rights, health and lives of Palestinian prisoners & Ahmad Sa'adat

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday June 25, 2009 · 6:15 PM PDT

2009/06/25 · 18:15

Greetings Friends,

We are asking for your endorsement and that of your organization to
the below letter, inspired by the hunger strike of imprisoned
Palestinian national leader Ahmad Sa'adat, calling upon United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to uphold his responsibilities and take
action to protect the rights, health and lives of Palestinian
prisoners and demand the freedom of all 11,000 Palestinian political
prisoners. This letter will be delivered to Ban Ki-Moon's office on
July 8, 2009. Please send your endorsement as quickly as possible in
order to ensure it is included, preferably before July 5, 2009. This
initiative is being supported by the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat.
Please send endorsements to info@freeahmadsaadat.org. We welcome
endorsements from all organizations, coalitions and institutions in
support of the goals of this letter and the rights and freedom of
Palestinian prisoners.

drlevant

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday May 14, 2009 · 10:11 AM PDT

2009/05/14 · 10:11

My personal hope that the new administration would at least lessen the continuing attacks on Arab and Muslim communities in the name of the War on Terror-- died yesterday. It died with the conviction of 5 poor young African American men convicted of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower. In reality the "plot" was initiated by an FBI agent who posed as a member of al-Qaeda and offered these impoverished men $50,000 in exchange for stating Oaths of loyaty to Al -Qaeda. The agent provided a plan and purchased explosives, guns, boots, a video camera and a van. Prior to this the young men had none of this; instead they had an old warehouse where they offered martial arts classes and other services to their community and practiced their Moorish Science related religion. This conviction marks not merely a continuation of such attacks on Arab and Muslim communities but marks the expansion of this program to African American communities and organizations.

drlevant

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday April 30, 2009 · 8:07 AM PDT

2009/04/30 · 08:07

My spouse has been frustrated by attitudes that seem to imply we should be listening to the governments recommendations and following them to the letter- no more and no less. She tells me she remembers a time when adults made real reasonable decisions.

May of the Networks including MSNBC have running headers like "Joe Biden "Blunder? on Swine Flu" with comments that suggest he indeed made a bunder.

In response, the administration is carefully suggesting he didn't "mean " what he said" after angry letters from the travel and airline industry

Here is my spouse's note to Joe Biden

"Hello, Vice President Biden. I know the news analysts are going to analyze your comments to death, and the administration is probably going to have to do some damage control, and tourism and airline companies are going to be annoyed with you--but THANK YOU! Thank you for saying you'd recommend your family not travel in enclosed places if they don't have to. You've put the decision-making back in the hands of intelligent adults who can weigh the evidence and make our own choices rather than waiting to rely on "officials" for permission.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"

Poll

107 votes Show Results

We should follow cdc guideleines

107 votes Vote Now!

We should follow cdc guideleines

Exactly and to a "T" they are the experts

4 votes

exactly or If we do not the economy will fail

2 votes

Ignore them - we know better

1 vote

Consider the information and make our own decisions- Like Joe did!

100 votes

Yes, Torture IS Effective : Part One

drlevant

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday April 24, 2009 · 8:29 PM PDT

2009/04/24 · 20:29

The revelation of Torture has at various times in various developed nations been a catalyst for a deeper reflection on the nature of humanity, of our social system and of the need and nature of resistance on the part of oppressed people's. Yet current conversations of torture seem limited to abstract questions of ethics, of law and of its "efficacy" in extracting information.

Progressives and leftists are quick to point to the documented lack of effectiveness of torture in extracting reliable and useful intelligence. Some of us are quick to point out that the question of whether torture works should not be the question because to torture is to act against our law based democracy and the humanitarian values and ideals we pride ourselves on.

When put alongside discussions of torture by the likes of Franz Fanon , the Algerian psychologist and revolutionary writer who treated both French torturers and Algerian victims of torture, Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre, the existentialist philosophers whose works of both philosophy and fiction contain deep reflection on how torture works and affects the populations subjected by torture; our discussions seem remarkably shallow.

drlevant

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday March 01, 2009 · 5:23 AM PST

2009/03/01 · 05:23

Exactly what is the current US Plan for Iraq? Yes, President Obama is talking about withdrawing most troops over the next 19 months, leaving a residual force of 35-50,000 and finally withdrawing all troops by 2011.

But there is a big difference between withdrawing troops and ending the occupation and the war with Iraq. The lack of conversation about ending the war in a full and complete manner should cause concern among progressives.

Poll

19 votes Show Results

Is pulling Out Troops Ending the War

19 votes Vote Now!

Is pulling Out Troops Ending the War

Yes, When troops are gone the war is over

4 votes

No, the occupation and all related structures must be abandoned by the US as well

14 votes

other explain in comments

1 vote

Hillary's "Pastor": The Family and The Media

drlevant

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday March 20, 2008 · 12:12 AM PDT

2008/03/20 · 00:12

Perhaps it is time to put pressure on the media to report on Hillary's "The Family" international political right wing spiritual group/cult

In light of recent events we should consider a campaign to get this to the media.

see Barbara Ehrenreich's article on The Huffington Post

which Starts:

Posted March 19, 2008 | 01:11 PM (EST)
There's a reason why Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she's a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that "through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the "Fellowship," aka The Family. But it won't be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet's shocking exposé, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May.

Poll

101 votes Show Results

Should the media Cover This... Should Hillary Comment?

101 votes Vote Now!

Should the media Cover This... Should Hillary Comment?

Yes, She must denounce and reject and Media Should but won't

33 votes

Yes, She must denounce and reject and we should push the media

55 votes

No It's a private matter

6 votes

Yes, but she can account for her relationships in a speech and all will be fine

4 votes

The family is being maligned

3 votes

RSS

Protect the rights, health and lives of Palestinian prisoners & Ahmad Sa'adat

Liberty City 5 Convicted of Sedition & Terrorism Plot

Joe Biden Got it right! (Updated) Video Added

Yes, Torture IS Effective : Part One

Ending Occupation or Just Withdrawing Troops?

Hillary's "Pastor": The Family and The Media