Helen Thomas has the reputation among journalists for asking the uncomfortable question – and fortunate for us her target is the President of the United States. She has covered every White House administration since John F. Kennedy, becoming in 1960 the first female member of the White House press corps.
While she wrote for the news service, United Press International, Thomas’ tenure was honored with the first question during White House briefings. In more recent years, her journalism has turned to commentaries in newspapers and books, her most recent being “Watchdogs of Democracy?
The Waning Washington Press Corps and How it has Failed the Public.” Thomas now prepares to cover her 10th administration, and in a recent interview shortly before the inauguration, she reflected on the Bush administration, and her hopes for her newest target – Barack Obama.
Joanne Zuhl: Today you attended the last press briefing of President Bush, and you weren’t called on. If you had been called on, what would you have asked?
Helen Thomas: I was going to ask about Gaza and the very fact that he has played a big role in giving the Israelis F-16s, bombers, Apache gunships, cluster bombs, God knows what else, maybe phosphorous and so-forth, used on a helpless people. He complains about smuggling for the Palestinians — we’re doing wholesale weaponry to the Israelis to kill.
J.Z.: Was that addressed during the conference?
H.T.: No. It was very nostalgic. I think the questions were good about how he felt about things and so forth, so it was very warm and sympathetic, and he had his say, which was very self-serving.
J.Z.: You have been among the throngs of people very critical of the White House Press Corps. You titled your 2007 book “Watchdogs of Democracy? The Waning Washington Press Corps and How it Has Failed the Public.” Why do you say the press corps failed the public?
H.T.: Because they did. They let this country go to war without asking why.
Read more after the jump
J.Z.: You had asked why and the answer wasn’t really an answer, was it?
H.T.: That’s right. Because any reason they had was unacceptable, whether it’s oil, or Daddy or Israel or whatever — you don’t give people’s lives.
J.Z.: But there was a great deal of coverage over the build up of the war, but it was seen by many in hindsight as toeing the administration’s line. What stories would you have like to have seen covered that perhaps could have altered history in that sense?
H.T.: I would like to have had the truth to see what was worth dying for. You don’t take a country to war unless you have some good reason? Unless your defending — unless it’s the truth. There were so many lies told. There were no weapons of mass destruction, no Iraqis in 9/11, no ties between Iraq and al Qaeda and the terrorist organization, so called. Everything was a falsehood. And everybody got away with it, and scared the hell out of the American people for how many years now? Since 2003. Thousands and thousands and thousands are dead.
J.Z.: Could the media have altered that? Do you think we’d be in a different situation if they media would have reported on that?
H.T.: Absolutely. The media is very powerful if they come out with the truth and let people know. Outrage the people. You have to have a reason to go to war, to kill 10, 000 miles away, who you don’t know, who have done nothing to you.
J.Z.: You covered the Kennedy administration and every administration since then, and we had wars during that period as well. How is this different?
H.T.: I would never justify the Vietnam War. I was against it every inch of the way. And also I think President Kennedy was right to turn around and not invade Cuba during the Bay of Pigs. I also think that he played his cards right, along with Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader. Both had known war. Both knew to step back and be statesmen instead and save the world. Each had nuclear arsenals and could have blown us all up.
J.Z.: The coverage then was much more hard core. What the media was covering back then, leading up to the Vietnam War and the Cold War — it was much more of a watchdog role than it is today. Can you compare the situation, the way the media reacted and why is there that difference?
H.T.: 9/11 scared the hell out of everybody. Reporters didn’t want to be called un-American, and unpatriotic and so forth. So you had to go along with what the administration was saying and don’t even question the patriotism. Don’t question if it’s really true. Don’t ask for an exhibition of the arms that they said they had.
J.Z.: You’ve been the target of that. In questioning Bush’s intentions in going to war you’ve been labeled anti-American and bias. You’ve questioned Isreal’s actions against Palestinians and you’ve been called anti-Israel. Recently you questioned the policies in Iraq and you were accused of denigrating the military. Isn’t that always the price of asking the uncomfortable question, or is this something different?
H.T.: Well, I do write an opinion column, so I probably wouldn’t ask it the same way if I was still working for a wire service. But I do have an opinion and I’m allowed to have it.
J.Z.: But do those kinds of labels really have a stifling effect on the media.
H.T.: I think it’s really bad to call somebody a name because you don’t agree with them. But that has become our way of life. If you don’t believe in what you’re saying then you cave to that kind of attack. I’ve been called Hezbollah and everything else. I don’t say it doesn’t effect me but I must say I don’t retreat. Why should I? I have a right to my opinion in this country.
J.Z.: Looking back over the past eight years under the Bush administration, what do you think are the biggest botched stories? What did the media miss and do wrong?
H.T.: I think the media retreated, they should have fought the administration which locked them out of any photographs of coffins and the war itself. They submitted meekly totally, to everything that was really happening abroad. They tried to act like it wasn’t happening at all. People were unaware of what we did in Iraq. We destroyed a country.
J.Z.: Your parents were immigrants from Syria, and you’ve written about your own experience as a youth dealing with prejudice and bigotry. I wonder how that shaped your viewpoint in the aftermath of 9/11 when Arab-Americans were being targeted for investigations, interrogation and arrest?
H.T.: I think that my background, obviously, I’m much more interested than the average person on what goes on in the Middle East, but I can assure you that I was born here, I grew up on the whole idea of what it means to be an American, and I believe in the Bill of Rights, and I believe in fighting against injustice across the board.
J.Z.: I want to look now into some of the news that has happened under the Bush administration, and one of the biggest stories of the past year has been the politicizing of the Justice Department, which resulted ultimately in the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. President-elect Obama has now nominated former deputy attorney general Eric Holder to the position, but he comes with a familiar controversy in that in 1999, Holder is accused of pushing subordinates to drop their opposition to clemency to members of Puerto Rican terrorist organization. What’s your assessment of this appointment?
H.T.: I think he’ll be a good attorney general. I think he has a good sense of honor and law. Obviously everybody is going to be fought. The Republicans are gearing up to make trouble. They don’t have the power, but they can do it. Gonzales was probably just awful. I mean, torture? Secret prisons? And all the justice department people, not all, but many approved of such a horror. They way he hung that albatross around the neck of every American - secret prisons, torture, water boarding.
J.Z.: With Holder’s nomination, and the other appointments that President-elect Obama is making, what does that tell you, with all your years of experience, about what the tone is for this administration and what it is going to be doing?
H.T.: Not gonna be bold. He’s going to walk down the middle line. He’s going to be as careful and cautious as he was in the campaign. He’s going to try to be all things to everyone, and he doesn’t understand, he needs courage… The whole idea is that people want him, but they want him to do the right thing. And he has the possibility, he has so much power in this presidency to do the right thing. He should not compromise and he should not keep his promises to his big donors.
J.Z.: You mentioned earlier about Gaza. Obama has said that there’s only one president at a time…
H.T.: Oh bull. Why didn’t he say that during the campaign? He sure has been silent. You’re never silent when people are being slaughtered.
J.Z.: Looking forward, what’s the first question you’re going to ask President Obama?
H.T.: Well, I think he’ll be asked many questions about the economy, and I would say how soon is he going to stop the killing across the world that we’re involved in? I think that his answer will be very cautious, that we’re trying and so forth. We plan to get out of Iraq in 16 months and I’ll tell him why not now. If you know you’re leaving, then get out.
J.Z.: What do you think are the major stories that the media needs to jump on in the coming years?
H.T.: I think they will jump on the economy, what’s being done. So many people are suffering in this country. But I think we’ll be able to test him in many ways in terms of what he does in foreign policy. If he’s going to run scared, and follow Bush’s model, we’re in trouble.
J.Z.: The relationship between The Bush administration and the press corps has certainly been strained and in many ways been shut down. Is that the way business is going to be done from here on out. Are we every going to see it go back to the Fourth Estate that the media once was?
H.T.: I think so. It’s possible. I think the press is going to very kind to him. So that’s good. But I don’t think they should be easy on him.
J.Z.: Is it good to be kind to the president?
H.T.: No. I mean, you can be civil and you should be polite. You have one chance in the barrel. It’s a privilege to ask the president a question, and he should take the question. And the question should be important to everybody in the world.
J.Z.: You’ve been doing this for nearly 50 years now. Why is it important for you to continue working into what will be your 10th administration?
H.T.: For one thing, it’s important for me to keep learning. There’s nothing that can replace being there and asking the questions I know should be asked.
J.Z.: If you don’t ask those questions, who will?
H.T.: There’s nobody around now. I’m looking. When I was going back and forth with Dana Perino, and she said they killed people, they did this and that, and I said, ‘so do we.’ When it was over, I stood up and I said ‘where is everybody?’ And this was on an open mic. There was silence in the press room. And then when I went back to my office. I got many calls and they said, ‘We’re here. We’re here.’
J.Z.: But you don’t see, then, the people who are ready to step.
H.T.: They perhaps don’t have my causes. And my causes are peace, helping people, help the poor, the sick, the maimed. What other purpose should we have? Why should we help bankers who are multi-millionaires, and not help people who are hungry and need shelter? I don’t understand why this wouldn’t be of interest to every one.
J.Z.: Do you have high hopes for the media or are you concerned for its well being?
H.T.: I have very high hopes for them, but I know that everyone’s under the gun, in the sense that they don’t have a job. Lots of jobs have been lost and newspapers are folding, so I can’t ask others to do what I might not do. The point is that a lot of the publishers are selling their papers because they’re not making a 25 percent profit, and they have never made that kind of money. If you were a publisher, newspapers used to be your contribution to the community. Usually you made your money in other fields. I think we’ve lost it because it got to Wall Street and Wall Street doesn’t know or care anything about our right to know. You can’t have a democracy without an informed people and that’s where it comes from — newspapers. But I don’t think those who buy up newspapers care particularly anymore of keeping the people informed. They care about their pockets.
J.Z.: What do you think then about the internet media where you have a much more free and open source of information.
H.T.: I don’t want everyone with a laptop thinking they’re a journalist, when they don’t have any of our standards or principles, or the sense that you give everyone a chance. And you can ruin lives, ruin reputations. You have a lot of freedom to say anything. At a newspaper at least, you have editors, you have people knowing you have to toe the line, you have to be honorable.
This interview was originally broadcast on “We The People” on KBOO FM, 90.7. To hear the complete interview, go to kboo.fm/WethePeople
Hafizullah's held in GITMO with no trial is Innocent (duhh!) Mood: on fire Now Playing: Fucked up USA policy holds innocent man in Cuba prison - this is a war crime Topic: TORTURE
MJ article on Obama and Poverty - Sounds like some Hope to this Joe Anybody Mood: bright Now Playing: Mother Jones Report: "Harlem's Man With the Plan" Topic: HUMANITY
Z3 Readers... let me say I didnt vote for the two party corrupt system. In fact I hate teh system , I hate Obama's view on the middle east and his pro war attitude. BUT... I do like some of his "social" plans and attitudes...here is a good article on Poverty and helping kids. I must say I am proud to have a president concerned about these topics for a change.
Harlem on election night was, predictably, a little nuts. At 11 p.m., when the networks declared that Barack Obama would be the next president, church bells rang and champagne flowed. Old women hollered. Young men wept.
There was, quite literally, dancing in the streets. Among the people parading down 125th Street that night, Obama's victory was seen as a deliverance, not just for the nation but for the neighborhood as well. And Harlem has long needed delivering.
Poverty has always been a fact of life in the United States, but the concentrated urban poverty that Harlem—along with sections of every American city—has experienced in the past half-century is a relatively new phenomenon. In the 1950s and 1960s, middle-class blacks, less constrained by restrictions on where they could live, began to move out of neighborhoods like Harlem in great numbers. At the same time, the postwar decline of the country's manufacturing economy deprived the urban African American families who remained of the jobs that had sustained them.
As a result, the number of poor people living in neighborhoods with at least a 40 percent poverty rate almost tripled during the 1970s in the five largest American cities. These areas became a brand-new kind of urban ghetto, almost all poor and all black.The hope spilling out along 125th Street on the night of November 4 was for change of all kinds, from a more productive economy to a more benign foreign policy.
But it was also a hope that President-elect Obama would be able, finally, to find a lasting solution to the kind of entrenched urban poverty that has engulfed Harlem and neighborhoods like it for decades.During the Democratic primaries, Obama didn't talk about poverty as much as John Edwards did. And in the general election, it was John McCain, not Obama, who took a weeklong "poverty tour" of blighted cities like New Orleans and Youngstown, Ohio.
But Obama's unique background—food stamps as a child, community organizing as a young man—seems to have given him an unusually sophisticated understanding of poverty's causes and potential solutions. His poverty plan includes some basic Democratic solutions, like raising the minimum wage and increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit.
But Obama has also proposed more targeted policies: guaranteed sick days to protect low-wage workers, for whom a bad cold can often lead directly to a pink slip; transportation subsidies to help inner-city workers get to better-paying jobs in the suburbs; child care programs to make it easier for single parents to hold down a job.Beyond those more short-term measures, Obama promises an ambitious suite of programs intended to attack the deeper roots of inner-city poverty. The dismal employment situation in neighborhoods like Harlem doesn't only have to do with the lack of good jobs.
It also has to do with the fact that many poor people lack the skills necessary to get and keep those jobs, everything from basic math and reading ability to more subtle noncognitive skills, like patience and perseverance. Some of those deficits can be filled in through job training programs like Job Corps—but many of them cannot.
In recent years, economists, social scientists, and neurologists have shown that the skills gap between rich kids and poor kids opens up very early, and the later you wait to address those deficits, the harder it becomes to turn things around.
The good news from this research, though, is that certain interventions do work, provided they start early and continue throughout childhood. One of the most rigorously evaluated is the Nurse-Family Partnership, a program, now operating in 350 counties across the nation, that sends registered nurses to conduct regular home visits with low-income women who are having their first child.
The nurses act as mentors and counselors, encouraging the mothers to quit smoking, go back to school, and find constructive ways to deal with the stresses of new parenthood. The results are encouraging, even many years down the road—at age 15, kids whose mothers went through the program are 59 percent less likely to have an arrest record than teens in a control group. Currently, the program serves nearly 16,000 mothers; Obama has pledged to expand it to all low-income first-time mothers.Even more ambitious is Obama's plan to replicate the Harlem Children's Zone, a program that I profile in my book, Whatever It Takes.
The Zone is the brainchild of Geoffrey Canada, an African American man in his mid-50s who grew up in extreme poverty in the South Bronx. Canada escaped the inner city for Bowdoin and Harvard and then returned to New York to try to create better options for kids like the ones he grew up with.
In the mid-'90s, he was running a decent-size nonprofit for teenagers in Harlem, and everyone told him how successful he was. But he could see only the kids he wasn't helping. Poor children in Harlem faced so many disadvantages, he realized, that it didn't make sense to address just one or two and ignore the rest.
A great after-school program wouldn't do much good if the school itself were lousy. And even the best school would have a hard time succeeding without help from the parents.
Canada's solution was to take on all those problems simultaneously. The Harlem Children's Zone takes a holistic approach, following children from cradle to college, mimicking the cocoon of stimulation and support that surrounds middle-class children. The Zone now enrolls more than 8,000 children a year in its various programs, which cover a 97-block section of central Harlem. "We're not interested in saving 100 kids," Canada told me once. "Even 300 kids. Even 1,000 kids to me is not going to do it. We want to be able to talk about how you save kids by the tens of thousands, because that's how we're losing them. We're losing kids by the tens of thousands."
Canada believes that many poor parents aren't doing enough to prepare their kids for school—not because they don't care, but because they simply don't know the importance of early childhood stimulation. So the Zone starts with Baby College, nine weeks of parenting classes that focus on discipline and brain development. It continues with language-intensive prekindergarten, which feeds into a rigorous K-12 charter school with an extended day and an extended year.
That academic "conveyor belt," as Canada calls it, is supplemented by social programs: family counseling, a free health clinic, after-school tutoring, and a drop-in arts center for teenagers.Canada's early childhood programs are in many ways a response to research showing that the vocabularies of poor children usually lag significantly behind those of middle-class children. At the Harlem Gems prekindergarten, I watched as the four-year-olds were bombarded with books, stories, and flash cards—including some in French.
The parents were enlisted, too; one morning, I went with a few families on a field trip to a local supermarket organized by the Harlem Children's Zone. The point wasn't to learn about nutrition, but rather about language—how to fill an everyday shopping trip with the kind of nonstop chatter that has become second nature to most upper-middle-class parents, full of questions about numbers and colors and letters and names.
That chatter, social scientists have shown, has a huge effect on vocabulary and reading ability. And as we walked through the aisles, those conversations were going on everywhere: Is the carrot bumpy or smooth? What color is that apple? How many should we buy?So far, Canada's vision has yielded impressive results. Last year, the first conveyor-belt students reached the third grade and took their first statewide standardized tests.
In reading, they scored above the New York City average, and in math they scored well above the state average.Obama's proposal is to replicate the Harlem Children's Zone in 20 cities across the country.
In his speech announcing the plan, he proposed that each new zone operate as a 50-50 partnership between the federal government and local philanthropists, businesses, and governments, and he estimated that the federal share of the cost would come to "a few billion dollars a year." It's an undertaking that would mark a seismic change in the way that we approach poverty. Over the last few months, as I've talked to a variety of audiences about Canada's program, I've heard one question over and over: Can it really be reproduced?
It's true that it took a leader with Canada's unique qualities and personal history to create the first Harlem Children's Zone, to inspire donors enough to expand it from a modest community organization into a nonprofit powerhouse with a $68 million annual budget. But replicating the Zone, especially with federal backing, will require a different and more attainable set of skills. In fact, as leaders around the country create their own versions of the Zone, they'll likely improve on the model Canada has created—as well as, inevitably, make a few missteps.
The bigger question is whether Obama, once in office, will conclude that the government can't now afford this kind of bold initiative. It may be that the plan will be put on hold for a year or two, until the worst of the downturn passes. But Obama, drawing on the research of his Hyde Park neighbor, the economist James Heckman, has made the point that programs like the Harlem Children's Zone are not giveaways; they're investments that will pay for themselves in reduced spending on welfare, job training, and the criminal justice system.
As Obama put it, "We will find the money to do this because we can't afford not to."Obama concluded his speech with a story. "The idea for the Harlem Children's Zone began with a list," he said. "It was a waiting list that Geoffrey Canada kept of all the children who couldn't get into his program back when it was just a few blocks wide.
It was 500 people long. And one day he looked at that list and thought, Why shouldn't those 500 kids get the same chance in life as the 500 who were already in the program? Why not expand it to include those 500? Why not 5,000?
Why not?"
And that, of course," he continued, "is the final question about poverty in America. It's the hopeful one that Bobby Kennedy was also famous for asking. Why not? It leaves the cynics without an answer, and it calls on the rest of us to get to work."
Paul Tough is an editor for the New York Times Magazine and author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America.
Martin Luther King - Obama - and the year 2009 Mood: celebratory Now Playing: Day of Service Topic: CIVIL RIGHTS
I love the concept of the Obama family doing the ‘ordinary citizen’ bit by rolling up their sleeves and jumping into their new neighborhood’s many issues in Washington D.C., AND using social media (cool Facebook app here) to show people via USA Service.org and Google map how YOU can volunteer in your OWN local community.
Using the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” Here’s the official MLK Day.gov site complete with radio PSAs featuring Dr. King’s voice, latest news feeds, media and mobilization for what’s shaping up to be the largest effort ever.
Yah, yah, I know, I’m an idealist, yadayada, the kids want to spend their holiday sledding in the snow or whatever, but I say put a viral ‘youth action’ spin on it so kids can make a difference meeting like-minded peer to peer positive influence and you’ve got a teen scene social nudge capable of sparking the ‘hope and change’ fuel everyone seems so longing to ignite!
Personally, I’m hoping this is a sign of an era of hands-on, ‘make no excuses’ accountability, where youth and parents meet on the same page to quit power-whining and DO something if they don’t like what they see…
I was always a fan of Colin Powell’s America’s Promise, and his ability to form alliances across party lines. I’ve been fortunate to hear him speak several times advocating for a universal call to service which always has made SO much common sense to me.
Beyond charisma, poise and intellect, Powell and Obama join Dr. King himself in cycle-breaking efforts to get people off their duffs to mobilize and (dare I say it?) ‘Just do it.’
I’d say it’s only been THIS year that the brand new USA Service.org site and viral video smart mob crew of social media has piqued the nation’s interest beyond the ‘usual suspects’ of ‘Have Fun, Do Good’-ers and the youth empowerment posse! Whether it’s a local eco-clean up or an inner-city painting project, I love the whole notion of keeping it relevant by keeping it close to home.
One of the things that’s always irked me about service project deployment is that many stereotype volunteering as being only about ‘underserved areas’ and ‘risky business’ which often creates a needless chasm of conflict between “exposure vs. need” where kids are concerned.
Often you end up with either “nervous-nellies” patting themselves on the back like they’ve entered some commando-condition fortress, or do-gooders who can’t necessarily relate to the community’s experience as a whole.
I even include myself in that last crew, recalling one of my counter-marketing sessions with 5th graders using cookie cutters to ‘build a healthier Lunchable’ only to find the whole class staring at me blankly during the hands-on phase. (um, oops; they’d never even SEEN cookie cutters before, much less know what to do with them)
So rather than get service helpers who ‘boldly go where no one’s gone before’ only to become conversational fodder, rarely to enter the environs again, kids can do a great job in their OWN communities dispelling myths and legends to boot. (‘yes, Sally Surbanite, there are schools in need locally in non-urban pockets too, and even youth homeless, etc.)
So…check out the Find an Event/USA Service.org maps and resources of what’s going on in YOUR local community. The Obama bunch has made it easy for us with turnkey social media mapping and access to a plethora of projects right in your own zip code.
Btw, this is a nonpartisan, national day of service, folks.
At left is the handy Facebook ‘choose, pledge, act, report’ process to pay it forward via social media.
I also received a solid recap of info from MoveOn.org about the Obama administration’s goal to expand national service orgs like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps and create new ones including:
—a Classroom Corps to help underserved schools;
—a Health Corps to serve in the nation’s clinics and hospitals;
—a Clean Energy Corps to achieve the goal of energy independence; and
—a Veterans Corps to support the Americans who serve in harm’s way.
I’m energized just seeing it put on paper for follow-through!
I love the ‘in your shoes’ format to find the right fit for your own interests and personality. It’s always been a Shaping Youth favorite, prompting kids to lose the lip-service and hop right in to the experiential, character-building, hands-on process of ‘getting it,’ with the freedom to choose what that ‘it’ may be.
After all, we’re not a ‘cookie cutter’ society.
What’s common and form fitting to some may be completely foreign and hard-edged to others. I’ve sure learned that and shaped up my own outreach efforts.
One thing I DO know about cookie cutters now is that anyone can learn to cut out a star for themselves. And they’ll feel good about doing it, too.
See you out there on Monday! What will you be doing? Want to share any of your ideas? Add links to other cool service orgs? Send ‘em along…Photos too if you want?
Here are more related resources/volunteer opportunities:
Say PANTS to Patriarchy! (repost) Mood: irritated Now Playing: the Sri Ram Sena (Army of Lord Ram) group attacked women in Magalore in Southern India Topic: HUMANITY
There are few things that I like better in life than going to the pub with my friends and drinking whiskey whilst putting the world to rights. Indeed, I think the right to go to the pub is one of those things which should be enshrined in every country's constitution.
Last month, the Sri Ram Sena (Army of Lord Ram) group attacked women in Magalore in Southern India who they saw out drinking, and who they deemed to be acting disgracefully. The attack was filmed, was filmed and then broadcast on national television, showing men chasing and beating up panicking women. Some of the women, who tripped and fell, were kicked viciously by the men. Because, you know, beating the living shit out a woman daring to express her individuality by living her life the way she chooses to is a really good way to win people over to your cause.
The group are also planning to protest against Valentines Day this Saturday, believing that a harmless commercial celebration of hearts and flowers will slowly erode away moral dignity and the fabric of society.
Indian women, however, are fighting back. Last Thursday, The Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women was formed on Facebook, which encourages women to to "walk to your nearest pub and buy a drink" this Valentines Day. Their blog is also encouraging people across the globe to send the Sri Ram Sena pairs of knickers. Pink knickers to be exact. The pinker, cheaper and dirtier the better.
Why knickers instead of...say...dog turds? Because in India chaddis is a colloquial term for underwear. And it alludes to a prominent Hindu right-wing group whose khaki-shorts-wearing cadres were often derisively called "chaddi wallahs" (chaddi wearers).
Why should I waste a perfectly good pair of Primark knickers on those close minded twats? you ask? Well, because it draws attention to the fact that in a part of the world where women have enough curbs on their lives as it is, they are choosing to fight back against a set of social constructs trying (once again) to put them in their place.
So, if you happen to be a woman in India on Valentines Day, be sure to buy yourself a pint. Or, indeed whatever tipple takes your fancy (mine's a Jamieson's, straight with ice if you're buying). Or, if you just wish to find out more about the campaign, direct your brower to the Consortium's blog, at thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com
suicides in the Army on the rise January 2009 Mood: incredulous Now Playing: The cries in the night are like screams - Can you hear them? Topic: WAR
Z3 Friends & Family, this is an ugly report but it needs to be read and understood. The horror of war is relentless. We as sane reasonable individuals need to demand that all wars end ... and to quit using humans to kill each other for insidious reasons.
These military solider who are struggling to survive and cope need each and all of us to lean on. Our country sent them into hell, they are gonna need some help coming back. Veterans for Peace and IVAW are two great groups, but there are more n more and there needs to be even more.
This insane war<s> that we (USA) are involved with need to cease NOW!
The support and engagement we have drug so many good people through needs to stop NOW!
The need to ease the pain, stop the madness, and "train for peace" is imminent.
With much sadness I pass along this fact full article, and my friendly peace loving Z3 Readers, its not good news. Read it and then think ...."What are we gonna do to help?"
For if its not we ... "us" ...you and me? ...then who will it be, who is gonna stop the screams from in the night, who can hear them, and dare try to make change?
The numbers are rising... and with that I say, the fact of the matter is, there should be "no numbers". I can hear the cry and I say "no more!"
~Joe Anybody
Army reports alarming spike in suicides last month
By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer
Suicides among active duty soldiers hit a record high last year ...
WASHINGTON - The Army is investigating an unexplained and stunning spike in suicides in January. The count is likely to surpass the number of combat deaths reported last month by all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the fight against terrorism.
"In January, we lost more soldiers to suicide than to al-Qaida," said Paul Rieckhoff, director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He urged "bold and immediate action" by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.
According to figures obtained by The Associated Press, there were seven confirmed suicides last month, compared with five a year earlier. An additional 17 cases from January are under investigation.
There was no detailed breakdown available for January, such as the percentage of suicides that occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan or information about the dead. But just one base -- Fort Campbell in Kentucky -- reported that four soldiers killed themselves near the installation, where 14,000 soldiers from the two war have returned from duty since October.
Some Fort Campbell soldiers have done three or four tours of duty in the wars. "They come back and they really need to be in a supportive environment," said Dr. Bret Logan, a commander at the base's Blanchfield Army Community Hospital. "They really need to be nourished back to normalcy because they have been in a very extreme experience that makes them vulnerable to all kinds of problems."
Officials said they did not know what caused the rise in suicides last month and that it often takes time to fully investigate a number of the deaths. "There is no way to know -- we have not identified any particular problem," said Lt. Col. Mike Moose, a spokesman for Army personnel issues.
Yearly suicides have risen steadily since 2004 amid increasing stress on the force from long and repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The service has rarely, if ever, released a month-by-month update on suicides. But officials said Thursday they wanted to re-emphasize "the urgency and seriousness necessary for preventive action at all levels" of the force.
The seven confirmed suicides and 17 other suspected suicides in January were far above the toll for most months. Self-inflicted deaths were at 12 or fewer for each of nine months in 2008, Army data showed. The highest monthly number last year was 14 in August.
Usually the vast majority of suspected suicides are eventually confirmed. If that holds true, it would mean that self-inflicted deaths in January surpassed the 16 combat deaths reported last month in all branches of the armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and other nations considered part of the global fight against terrorism.
Army leaders took the unusual step of briefing congressional leaders on the information Thursday.
An annual report last week showed that soldiers killed themselves at the highest rate on record in 2008. The toll for all of last year -- 128 confirmed and 15 pending investigation -- was an increase for the fourth straight year. It even surpassed the civilian rate adjusted to reflect the age and gender differences in the military.
"The trend and trajectory seen in January further heightens the seriousness and urgency that all of us must have in preventing suicides," Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff, said Thursday.
The other services did not immediately provide information on their suicide figures for January. But the Army in the past few years has posted a consistently higher rate of suicides than the Navy, Air Force and Marines as it has carried the largest burden of the two largely ground wars.
In announcing the 2008 figures last week, the Army said it would hold special training from Feb. 15 to March 15 to help troops recognize suicidal behaviors and to intervene if they see such behavior in a buddy. After that, the Army also plans a suicide prevention program for all soldiers from the top of the chain of command down.
Yearly increases in suicides have been recorded since 2004, when there were 64 all year. Officials have said over the years that they found that the most common factors were soldiers suffering problems with their personal relationships, legal or financial issues and problems on the job.
But Army Secretary Pete Geren acknowledged last week that officials have been stumped by the spiraling number of cases.
The relentless rise in suicides has frustrated the service, which has tried to address the issue through additional suicide prevention training, the hiring of more psychiatrists and other mental health staff, and other programs both at home and at the battlefront for troops and their families.
In October, the Army and the National Institute of Mental Health signed an agreement to do a five-year study to identify factors affecting the mental and behavioral health of soldiers and come up with intervention strategies at intervals along the way.
___
Associated Press writer Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.
_____________________________________________
Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it.
911 Truth - A Must Read Update Mood: on fire Now Playing: Rescue Me 911 Topic: 911 TRUTH
Old School Z3 Readers will know that 911 Truth was where it all began for me and getting active in Politics. I smelled a rat when i started to look into how and why 911 happened.
So here is a big long "copy/paste" of as great article from the 911blogger website:
So read all of this and watch the Google video
Peace n Truth & Justice: ________________________
________________________
Rescue Me Works 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Into Its Plot - Gothamist.com 2-2-09
Rescue Me Works 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Into Its Plot
Word has leaked that in an episode for the upcoming season of the FX firefighter drama Rescue Me, the womanizing fireman Franco—one of the show's main characters—espouses theories that 9/11 was an inside job, carried out as part of a neoconservative plot to change the definition of "preemptive attack" and control the world's oil. The Times says that it marks "the first fictional presentation of 9/11 conspiracy theories by a mainstream media company." Star of the show Denis Leary says that the scene is not far off from scenes in actual fire houses "where some of the younger members don’t even have to completely buy into the theory of 9/11 being an inside job, but want to discuss it."
What is more striking than the fictional plot line is that the show is using the real-life conspiracy beliefs of the actor who plays Franco, Daniel Sunjata, to promote the storyline. In a press tour, Sunjata said that he “absolutely, 100 percent” supports the assertion that “9/11 was an inside job.”
The Kansas City Star dug further and discovered that Sunjata's beliefs don't stop there. Last year at a rally for Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, the actor stated the following in a speech:
"A government that will tell you that air is safe to breathe after a national emergency when they know that there is asbestos floating around in the air...is a government that has no regard for human life...If they do that to open Wall Street just three days after the 9/11 attacks...it's not a far leap to think that they would have pulled off the attack themselves. Obviously they're psychopathic sadists with absolutely no regard for human life...(During 9/11 memorial telecasts), you know that there's somebody sitting back—some media executive, some military intelligence expert...knowing that they themselves had a hand in carrying it off, in planning it, in murdering the very people."
Executive Producer Peter Tolan says that the show thought it would be interesting to use subject matter that Sunjata (a Tony nominee who also played Reggie Jackson in The Bronx is Burning) was so well-read and passionate about. Below is the clip of Sunjata's entire speech from the campaign rally.
Former NJ Governor Christie Todd Whitman was found not to be liable for asserting that air was safe following the attacks. A report last year addressed one of Sunjata's main criticisms, the alleged destruction of Tower 7. And last summer celebrities such as Ed Asner and musical group Arrested Development allied themselves with the group 911 Truth in calling for a new 9/11 investigation.
Celebrities who work in the MSM are subject to the legal constraints defined by their contracts. Below is an example taken from Jesse Ventura's interview on the Howard Stern Show. Ironically, Jesse Ventura is now associated with TruTV on a 9/11 Truth project. Imagine the legal gag order in his contract.
Here's an excert from his interview.
HS: "You know why we haven't seen Jesse Ventura for awhile. He signed a deal with MSNBC for three years, and then, according to you [Jesse Ventura], they cancelled your show when you opposed the Iraq war, and because you were under contract you couldn't appear anywhere else."
JV: "That's absolutely true."
HS: "So are you a free agent?"
JV: "I had a contract that didn't allow me to do any news shows, nor anything on cable or satellite."
HS: "Wow, and they silenced you."
JV: "Yeah, well obviously they did, because if you recall back, remember when Phil Donahue was on for that short time?
HS: "Yes."
JV: "Okay Howard, you know ratings. The highest rated show on their network they ever had and they pulled him."
HS: "No kidding?"
Robin Quivers: "He opposed the war."
JV: "He opposed the war. Nobody was allowed to be on the air in this country who was opposed to the invasion of Iraq."
HS: "Isn't that horrible? I remember even the Dixie Chicks took so much crap because they opposed the war and they spoke out against President Bush." Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Submitted by JohnnyMo on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 10:00am.
thanks for this post.. fascinating interview with jesse ventura. do you have a url link for it, and do you know the full name of HS conducting the interview?
rosie and charlie sheen were two other examples of celebs silenced.. but thankfully they have not neutralized the truth totally. And now the celebrity truth community is stepping forth. Daniel Sunjata has eyes wide open, and knows his role is with the people he is portraying rather than for the almighty buck. , thank goodness.. and that a television network is participating now is likely, partly due to the results of the 2008 election and ragged constitution that finally got got the corrupt Bush regime out of office. How much are they still pulling the strings? This article regarding the financial undertow can illuminate some of the scope of such problems confronting us:
[[http://worldreports.org/news/188_obama_being_used_as_a_false_front_by_the_crooks|OBAMA Being Used As A False Front By The Crooks]].
Truth is leaking out and will inevitably breach the dam of denial and betrayal. I would welcome the whole truth to come out, all the false flags, blunders and all.
Another article I would recommend reading an article on Truth & Reconciliation from an interview with David Ray Griffin. It shows a possible way to help expose and heal from the events of September 11, 2001.
How we deal with the truth is just as, or perhaps, even more critical than simply just exposing the truth. We got to find as many win/wins as possible like in South Africa to end apartheid. Truth and justice must go hand in hand. Crazy people with fingers on pandemics and WMDs must be dealt with consciously to make sure we have the chance to deal with our problems from a humane perspective. At least that is my hope.
jonathan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fit to transmit in the post Cassini flyby era <>~<>~ www.FlybyNews.com ~<>~<> <> for life's survival in the 21st Century <> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Submitted by jonathan mark on Tue, 02/03/2009 - 11:38am.
Ed Asner has been a fearless voice in the 9/11 Truth Movement for a bit longer than since last summer, and so has Daniel Sunjata. Gothamist also neglects to mention Martin and Charlie Sheen, Rosie, Willie Nelson and so many others, no doubt due to space limitations!
www.patriotsquestion911.com Ed Asner – Seven-time Emmy Award-winning actor. Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant, Roots, Rich Man, Poor Man.
Open letter 4/26/04: " I would like to suggest to you emphatically that the 9-11 truth movement is the most pressing issue of the peace & justice movement today. ...
There are many disturbing issues around 9-11 that have yet to be examined in any meaningful way by our media, Congress, and even by the 9-11 Commission. These include accountability for the massive breakdown of air defense and plane intercept procedures as described in FAA and DOD regulations, which were violated on 9-11.
This breakdown and astounding unpreparedness by U.S. domestic defense agencies is puzzling to say the least, given the detailed reports our government had of the coming attacks, that were bizarrely suppressed by key officials. ...
I urge all to read The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11 by David Ray Griffin, and endorsed by Howard Zinn, and to view "The Great Deception" documentary by acclaimed Canadian television journalist Barrie Zwicker. ...
We must look deeply at the events leading up to, on and since 9-11. We must demand full 9-11 truth."
Signatory: Petition requesting a reinvestigation of 9/11: "We want truthful answers to question. … As Americans of conscience, we ask for four things: An immediate investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Immediate investigation in Congressional Hearings. Media attention to scrutinize and investigate the evidence. The formation of a truly independent citizens-based inquiry."
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
Shameful - Wall Street Bailout Mood: d'oh Now Playing: Say "no" to letting the Wall Street Crooks do whatever they want Topic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT
Z3 Readers I received this email on Wednesday (today)
Let us stand in solidarity for accountability … afterall it is “our money”!
Please send a comment to congress – just click the link in below
Last week, when President Obama heard that some Wall Street banks that have been propped up with taxpayer funds might be using the bailout money to pay executive bonuses, he called it "shameful."
Shameful is right, but most of these executives have no shame. So while being called out by the president might make them uncomfortable, it's not going to stop them.
That's why, next week, our staff and members from across the country will be meeting with dozens of members of Congress to ask them to hold banks and their regulators accountable and to pass measures to prevent the need for future bailouts.
So Where did the money go?
Last year Congress and President Bush gave Wall Street an unprecedented $700 billion taxpayer bailout to stabilize the economy. The first $350 billion has been spent with nothing to show for it. Not only is the economy getting worse, but the government has no idea what the banks did with the money.
Please sign our petition urging your Representative to help us Secure America’s Financial Future.
I’m urging you to fix the Wall Street bailout and take steps to guarantee that it never happens again. Financial reform legislation must include:
• Accountability: Hold both banks and their regulators accountable. Require greater disclosure and oversight for all the taxpayer money they’re spending.
• Consumer Protection: Establish a Consumer Credit Safety Commission to ensure that credit cards, bank loans and mortgages are safe for consumers and homeowners.
• Comprehensive Regulation: Close the loopholes that have allowed investment banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and others that sell risky, unregulated products to take advantage of the federal safety net and taxpayer bailouts without accountability.
Media Matters - But CNN piss's on them Mood: chatty Now Playing: Contact CNN and demand truth in journalism (not 1/2 truths) Topic: MEDIA
Z3 Readers I wanted to make sure you saw this and were able to take some action on it as I did - Just follow the links...
~joe
Last week, CNN's Ed Henry joined a growing media chorus echoing conservative talking points about President Obama's economic stimulus package.
Referring to a partial analysis from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Henry claimed it "showed" that President Obama's stimulus package "may not really stimulate the economy." Henry failed to mention the fact that the CBO did not assess the president's overall package -- in fact, it looked at less than half of his plan.
Last night on Lou Dobbs Tonight, responding to our critique of his initial report, Henry conceded that the CBO analysis assessed only a portion of the president's plan. Meanwhile, Dobbs resorted to name-calling, attacking Media Matters as "a partisan bunch of hacks trying to play games."
During his rant, Dobbs falsely claimed that Media Matters tried to "conflate the Office of Management and Budget numbers as somehow superior with the Congressional Budget Office." Media Matters did no such thing, merely pointing out that according to OMB director Peter Orszag, the CBO conducted only a partial analysis of the bill.
Mr President please call off your "terrorist pot police" 1/23/09 Mood: loud Now Playing: Obama needs to call in his medical marijuana thugs Topic: FAILURE by the GOVERNMENT
Can you believe that DEA would act so quickly to undermine and disregard the statements made by President Obama?
Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration, currently staffed by officials from the Bush Administration, raided a medical cannabis dispensary in South Lake Tahoe, California. They did so knowing full well that President Obama has repeatedly pledged to end federal threats, arrests, and prosecutions of patients and their providers in medical cannabis states.
We are shocked and awed! For DEA to act with such brazen arrogance and in direct conflict with the new President’s pledge to end federal raids is deeply concerning. With only weeks left in office, it is clear that top DEA officials are using this transitional period to exploit the differences in policy between the old and new administration.
We need you to act… and we need you to act NOW!
Call President Obama and urge that he issue an immediate suspension to all federal funds used to investigate, intimidate, arrest, and prosecute individuals who use or provide medical cannabis in accordance with their state laws. Call the White House at (202) 456-1111 and say:
"Hi, my name is _____________. Today, the Drug Enforcement Agency raided a medical cannabis dispensary in Tahoe, California. The dispensary was raided by DEA despite numerous statements by President Obama saying he would end federal interference with state medical cannabis laws. I'm very concerned about outgoing DEA officials undermining these state laws and aggressively threatening innocent Americans. I'm also concerned about DEA taking action that is an affront to President Obama's position. I am pleading with President Obama to issue an immediate suspension of all federal funds used to investigate, intimidate, arrest, or prosecute individuals who use or provide medical cannabis in accordance with their state laws. We are being threatened by our own DEA. Please help us. "
President Obama's position on medical marijuana is no secret. This is the single most important action you have been asked to take this year. We need President Obama's support. Once you’ve made this phone call, please forward this message to friends and family. Then visit www. whitehouse. gov/contact to copy and paste the above message.
Sincerely,
Americans for Safe Access 1322 Webster Street, Ste. 402 Oakland, CA 94612 Phone: 510-251-1856
caffeinated
on fire
bright
celebratory
irritated
incredulous
Joe Anybody 
d'oh
chatty
loud
"Rescue Me" link. (Dig the music)
"Rescue Me" link--> http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/rescueme/#/cast-and-crew/
NORTH TEXANS FOR 9/11 TRUTH
http://www.northtexas911truth.com/
(We have distributed more than 30,000 DVDs)