Good Evening from Bellingham, WA. This is Ace Nelson, back again with the second in what's planned to be my ongoing personal op-ed series covering some of the week's top stories here on Daily Kos. As promised, I'm back from work and ready to put the finishing touches on a blisteringly-paced news week. We got everything from unfolding political hatchet-jobs to feel-good, teachable moments and a good plethora of stuff in between. All the news and commentary coming up after the jump as we kick off Ace Nelson's "Current Events" for the week of May 28 - June 3, 2011.
28 May 2011 (Sat.): All Hands to the Bridge
The top story for this week's slate of Current Events come from the Pacific Northwest as a recent assault against Brad Forkner (23) and Christopher Rosevear (25), a homosexual male couple in Portland, OR has inspired a truly humbling and powerful show of solidarity and humanity. On May 29 (this past Sunday), Hands Across Hawthorne saw the walkways on either side of the Hawthorne Bridge, where the couple was attacked, covered with Portlanders of all stripes walking shoulder-to-shoulder, hand-in-hand singing as they stood up to homophobia and stood for their fellow citizens.
Among the speakers at the rally just before the march across the bridge were one of the men attacked as well as the current, openly gay, mayor of Portland, Sam Adams. JayinPortland was at the rally and has some inspiring photos from the day's events as well as further details on the rally and march itself, all found in the diary linked in the above paragraph. An uplifting read there as well as the main source diary for this Current Event. Madd Thanks to Noah Heller for the initial diary. Also in Jay's diary is mentioned that thought the bigots responsible for the attacks remain at large, Detective Kevin Warren of the PPD's Bias Crimes Unit is currently on the case.
Sounds to me like Brad and Chris may see a little justice as well as the outpouring of support from the citizens of Portland and us here in the liberal blogoshpere. Nice. Now that our spirits are lifted a bit... Let's get dirty.
29 May 2011 (Sun.): Oil Fields and Oligarchs
The guy's name is Al-Waleed bin Talal. He is a Saudi Arabian prince. His uncle is Saudi King Abdullah and this little puke is looking to drive down the cost of oil in an attempt to thwart U.S and European investment in alternative energy sources. The diary linked above, posted by sdelear gives a blow-by-blow of how Al-Waleed has thrown his considerable financial weight around in the region to do everything from put down the Arab Spring to even considering donating millions of dollars to disaster relief at Ground Zero in New York after 9/11. The only catch with that donation was that Al-Waleed suggested...
"...the United States must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack, and re-examine its policies in the Middle East."
In hindsight... Hell... Even at the time of the attacks there was a great majority of Americans in the know that were riding the Bush Administration BIG TIME about changing up their newly adopted (and by that I mean newly co-opted from Bush the Elder) foreign policy in regards to the UAE. The simple truth was that the Bush Family from Prescott all the way down to the Frat-Boy-in-Chief were gunning for two things and two things only: Money and Power. The Bush Administration needed no further help from some morally bankrupt despot frantic about keeping his power base to show just how corrupt it was. 2001 - 20 January 2009 was all the proof this country needed.
30 May 2011 (Mon.): Changing the Rules and a Call to Action
I cannot even begin to describe just how vitally important this is, and I mean this in the most urgent sense. If you're reading this blog (hank you, by the way), then you are taking part in the activity of possibly the most expansive and readily evolving form of media and communications on the planet. Ever since the ARPANET was developed back in the 1960's and 70's solely for communications, what eventually became known and widely distributed as the Internet has also become possibly one of the worlds most vital communications tools. The Internet has paved the way for technological innovation ever since its inception. Literally, from day 1. Think back to just how much Daily Kos has changed from its original format to DK4. Think about your email, your freedom to claim your own corner of the ever-expanding net to post your thoughts, share your hobbies and receive news and correspondence without waiting days/weeks/months or braving extreme conditions. Think of that freedom...
Now, think of how restricted that freedom is in places like China and Iran.
Initially, the United States was headed down that road. However, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) forestalled and eventually stopped that headlong descent into madness and 1st Amendment infringement. However, this particular Jabberwocky has evolved (much like its intended victim, the Internet) and reared its ugly head once more. This time, it was given quite the dubious acronym: PROTECT-IP: Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property.
This most certainly does NOT grant any protection from so-called "Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and/or Theft of Intellectual Property." In point of fact, as Dom9000 points out the source diary linked above, it becomes the threat itself. This Eldritch Abomination of a bill can be directed at any website, ISP, search engine, ad provider or payment processor. Yes, you heard me, SEARCH ENGINE. Imagine if some corporation got, say, Clarence Thomas to rubber-stamp their assault on various web domains that Thomas and the corporation see as a mutual enemy. Can you say "We're BONED?"
The petition is live at Demand Progress, and the list of Democratic senators that have signed on to this bill is pretty disheartening.
I implore you. Please, before you even go any further through the remainder of these Current Events, add your name to this petition. Also, if your senator is any of those listed in the source diary (like Franken and Gillibrand), then I personally beg of you to contact him/her and demand they retract their support of this heinous censorship bill. Freedom is at stake, people.
31 May 2011 (Tues.): Speaking of Corrupt Scumbags...
Clarence and Virginia "Ginni" Thomas. If you look up conflict of interest in the dictionary, one would be hard pressed not to expect these two to show up. Of course, you could also expect to find them under "reactionary," "corrupt," and in Ginni's case, "weapons grade CONTEMPTIBLE."
Whew... Okay... Now that that's out of the way, we have the "who."
The "What" is pretty simple. Whereas Ginni Thomas acted as the CEO and president of the far-right wing (Tea Party) PAC, Liberty Central and earned over $150,000 from them and the anti-health care lobbying firm she started, her dear old hubby failed REPEATEDLY to disclose that fact on his yearly Financial Disclosure Form for in upwards of a decade. This was the case until recently and it was at the dogged persistence and commitment to SCOTUS transparency on the part of Anthony Weiner (D, NY-09) that forced Thomas to finally disclose his wife's income. Unfortunately, Thomas refuses to recuse himself from any Supreme Court cases involving the Affordable Care Act and both Thomases are continuing to profit from it. To quote and credit our own Joan McCarter:
Which means basically one thing: more right-wing efforts to smear Weiner.
Which leads me to...
1 June 2011 (Wed.): WeinerGate or Hatchet Jobs Ahoy!
The first reporting on this fiasco came on May 28 via the linked diary above. Over the course of the entire weekend and all through the week, the trio of DKos Superstars MinistryOfTruth, stef, and Stranded Wind have done a phe-freaking-NOMENAL job following up on all the information and stories that literally exploded from this attempted character assassination.
Anthony Weiner can best be described, for those that are unfamiliar, as a real bunker buster. A congressional firebrand that really stands for Progressive ideals, as far as I've seen, has absolutely zero tolerance for GOP bullshit and even less of a problem taking them to the woodshed over it. He sticks to substantive arguments, remains focused on the important issues and dedicated to the People's Work and is the type of CongressCritter that, in my honest opinion, more House Dems should aspire to.
Look this guy up on YouTube. You'll thank me later.
On the other hand, we have the chief peddler of this news-devouring tripe: Andrew Breitbart. Even typing this individual's name makes me slightly physically ill. Breitbart and his various "sources" have stalked and harassed Rep. Weiner for months before unleashing their assault. Much as Breitbart had done with Shirley Sherrod, as Breitbart's Mini-Me James O'Keefe did with ACORN. To get the full, gory details of this conspicuously-timed attack on one of Clarence Thomas' chief congressional arch-nemeses and Breitbart's involvement in spreading the lies, check the other diaries.
What really gets my knuckles itching, though, is the fact that while the bulk of the substantive investigating has been done here on DKos there is one news organization that actually even went so far as to give the Sleazeball of Ill-Repute airtime to further foment his vitriol. I have no doubt that CNN has recieved numerous complaints and MORE regarding their partisan Tea Party hacks... I mean "hosts," Dana Bash, Dana Loesch and Randi Kaye.
And this just in, I mean I just clicked on this diary from the Rec List a few seconds ago... Stef is AT IT AGAIN with a dynamite diary featuring the mugshot of one of WeinerGate's chief architects brought to justice! Yes!
2 June 2011 (Thurs.): Mo' Money, Mo' Problems... Eventually
In a short but sweet diary, BlueAardvark drops a good news dime on us with the revelation reported by the NYTimes via Yahoo News that Goldman Sachs has just received a subpoena from the Manhattan DA's office in regards to the investment firm's role in the financial crisis. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) headed up the Congressional inquiry into the matter and his findings should be on the main desk at the Department of Justice as we speak.
3 June 2011 (Fri.): Raw Deal
I'd like to close this week's Current Event with some personal commentary on the growing spate of recent discussions/diaries/pie-fights regarding religion here on Daily Kos. Bear with me folks, we're on the home stretch. Also, no need to worry about any links in this segment. This is all me. Unfettered, straight up, raw.
I am an atheist. To be more accurate, I could be considered more as a Secular Humanist. I won't place my faith in any sort of deity until I meet him/her/it face-to-face. My morality is based on a sense of empathy. General compassion and respect for others and myself. It also has its roots in tenets that I've, admittedly, cherry-picked from various martial arts disciplines and philosophies as well as my previous academic studies of various religions from around the world. I am a person of nuances, contradictions and interwoven intricacies, constantly learning, constantly growing, yet constant in my adherence to inalienable human rights of self-determination and respect. Paramount in my life are the principles of friendship and honesty. My two Golden Rules are 1.) Treat others as you would wish to be treated, and 2.) Do no harm with malice as your motivation.
Why am I telling you this? Because beyond how I could be labeled, underneath the broad lack of faith in a deity (not to mention general distaste for organized religion in general) I am still a person. An individual who is only worthy of being judged based on my own actions. Don't take me as representative of all atheists. Don't view me from solely one lens of the prism that is me. I'm more than the sum of my diverse lineage, greater than the disciplines that my particular ethical code is derived from. However, until such time as I am appointed a representative role in any governmental body or similar institution or until such time as I sire my first child (if any), I am responsible for only myself. My words and actions are the record I choose to leave behind, and I view others on that same individual basis.
The moral here: Though groups of people may share the same general faith, it's not a person's faith but a person's actions that should, ideally define them. Be you Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Celtic, Inuit or Pastafarian, though your faith may add context to your choice of words or deeds, the choice, the words and the deeds are ultimately yours.
Thank you and see you next week for the Current Event.
This is Ace Nelson.
Peace.