cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

La Bloguera Yoani Sanchez

Well, to no one's surprise, Cuba wouldn't relent and permit Yoani Sanchez to travel to Spain to receive the Ortega y Gasset prize, despite my post yesterday urging Raul Castro to permit her to go.

Join me across the Bloqueo.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

This past week we were all treated to a proposed executive repeal of the venerable Law of Supply and Demand by McCain and Clinton.  Today, not to be undone, El Presidente made it clear that they were too late, he had already issued an executive order nullifying the Law of Supply and Demand.  And by golly, he was going to take credit for that.

Join me in Hooverville.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

Today, May 1, 2008, in addition to everything else is Law Day in the United States:

Fifty years ago President Eisenhower proclaimed the first Law Day a "day of national dedication to the principle of government under law." The ABA [the American Bar Association] invites you to celebrate this enduring principle during the 50th anniversary of Law Day.

Law Day 2008 will explore the meaning of the rule of law, fostering public understanding of the rule of law through discussion of its role in a free society.

Join me in the Irony Corner.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

On May 1, 2003, exactly 5 years ago, President Bush stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln to mark the end of major combat operations in Iraq.

Join me on the aircraft carrier.  Did you wear your costume?

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

A Memorial To Sean Bell

I'm shaking my head at the verdict Judge Cooperman (without a jury) rendered yesterday in the Sean Bell murder case. I'm saddened and troubled.  I think I understand the roots of his acquittal verdict, and I think there has been an enormous miscarriage of justice in this case. Unfortunately, this kind of injustice probably should have been expected because of the way the law acknowledges and fosters police exceptionalism. The defense lawyers for the detectives knew it, and the prosecutors knew it as well.

Please join me in Kew Gardens.

cross posted from docuDharma

Somebody once told me that yawning was a sign of contempt.  So pardon me while I yawn about the Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Indiana primaries and any other ones that might be coming.  And pardon me while I yawn about those anti-democratic superdelegates and their views  And the polling.  And the delegate counts. And the math. And the diaries about people who won't vote for Obama.  Or Hillary.  And the diaries about how wonderful Hillary is.  And Obama.  And the speculation about the remaining endorsements (Al Gore, John Edwards, Mr. Magoo).  And the talk about the recent ABC "debate."  And the talk about the brokered/open convention.  This stuff has turned into something stronger than Sominex.  Or that drug with the butterfly.  I'm yawning uncontrollably.  I'm amazed, however, that my yawn apparently isn't triggering widespread yawns across the country, throughout left Blogsylvania, and beyond.

Please join me in the clouds.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

The IOC (the "International Olympic Committee"), the group that runs the Olympics, has figured out how to prevent participating athletes from demonstrating for Tibetan freedom and displeasing their Chinese hosts.  The age old tactic: a "chilling effect" on free speech.

It's relatively simple: the IOC tells athletes that they have a right to free speech, but they don't have the right to make "propaganda."  IOC won't define the line between the two.  But if an athlete so much as steps, even with just one toe, into the latter, s/he's out. of. here.  Goodbye.  Put simply, the IOC doesn't need explicitly to forbid certain kinds of free speech.  It can accomplish the same, desired result by harshly and intentionally chilling it.

Join me in Beijing.

cross posted from docuDharma and The Dream Antilles

The New York Times this morning is reporting that Afghanistan is holding secret trials for dozens of Afghan men who were formerly detained by the US in Gitmo and Baghram:

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

The spontaneous demonstrations by monks in March seem to have triggered demonstrations across the world in support of religious freedom and autonomy for Tibet.

Please join me below.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

According to Bloomberg, FARC has now said that it will not allow France's medical mission to treat its most famous hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, whom it has held hostage for more than six years:

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

Ingrid Betancourt In Captivity (11/30/07)

Ingrid Betancourt, while campaigning for the presidency of Colombia, was kidnapped by FARC on February 23, 2002.  More than six years later, she remains a hostage somewhere in Colombia.  She suffers from hepatitis B and leishmaniasis, a skin disease caused by insect bites.  She is also rumored to be losing the will to live. She is the public face of kidnapping in Colombia.  She is the most famous of hundreds of hostages.  Unlike most of the hostages, she has ties outside the country.

Please join me in the selva.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

I'm thinking about times almost forty years ago when I sang, "We Shall Overcome."  I'm remembering how I felt when I sang it, holding hands, swaying, anticipation in the air.  I loved the idea of walking hand in hand, black and white together, and at the same time there was always a tension, a tightness in my jaw and in the pit of my stomach, the presence of fear.  The song's purpose was to get ready to do what had to be done.  I'm committed to nonviolence, I recall thinking, but there are those who are not.  They shot James Meredith, and lynched Emmitt Till, and burned Greyhound buses, and unlike me, they don't want me to be safe.  Uncertainty about what will happen tightens my jaw, while my heart commits me to the cause.

Join me below.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

The beautiful game

This isn't about America's so-called pastime, major league baseball, which begins tonight with the Braves playing the Nats and Commander Codpiece McFlyboy throwing out the ceremonial first ball. No. This is about something smaller, more intimate, and in many ways, much more a game of the People.  It's about futbol, soccer, and how anti-immigrant local legislation in Northern Virginia has destroyed the local leagues.

It's an infuriating story.  I'm angered not just because I love to play this game, but because of the important role it plays in the community.  I doubt you've heard about this before.

Please join me in the goal box.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

Argentinian Farmers Protest

Argentinian farmers, whose strike for more than two weeks has crippled the country, have agreed temporarily to break off their strike, to negotiate with the government.  

Join me in BA.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

The Midway Islands

Recently, I wrote about Si'an Kaan in Mexico and the utter disgrace that its beaches were full of plastic.  Today, it's the Midway Islands and a BBC story that plastic in these islands in the very middle of the Pacific Ocean is killing birds.  That's right.  In the middle of nowhere, plastic is killing the birds.  And turtles.  And fish.  Plastic is everywhere.  It's destroying wildlife.  It's destroying the planet.

Join me in the ocean.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles and docuDharma

Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti

This morning's NY Times has an extremely strange story about Haiti.  The premise is that things are now so bad in Haiti, that some Haitians wish they still had Papa Doc or Baby Doc Duvalier back as their military despot.

Join me in the Caribe.

Don Siegelman, a former, Democratic governor of Alabama and a good guy, was railroaded to a federal prison where he's now serving a 7-year sentence, in a case that has Karl Rove's fingerprints all over it.  The case is a travesty and proof positive not only that there are political prisoners in the US but that Siegelman is one of them.

Yesterday, I wrote a diary about this disgraceful travesty because I wanted to keep the story alive.  I don't want us to forget that this conviction is an example of why there was a US Attorney scandal and why investigation of that scandal must continue.

The best sources of information on Siegelman, if you're not yet familiar with this mockery of justice, is OPOL's Friday diary on the case, a diary with lots of video and background, and Siegelman's web site.

What's any of this got to do with Eliot Spitzer, who has been forced to resign as Governor of New York because of his hiring prostitutes?  Plenty.

Join me across the jump.

cross posted from The Dream Antilles

photo and above text by OPOL
Today I spent several hours reading about a travesty of justice.  I am thoroughly enraged.

Please join me below for the details.