We all say that things are moving in a good direction. Well, in power politics, here's a disastrous story: The Daily News reports on three New York politicians joining a campaign to investigate Gaza flotilla activists who are coming here to speak. And not just any New York pols, but Christine Quinn, who we thought was good on the issue, and Congress people Charlie Rangel and Carolyn Maloney, who ought to know better. Grim news. A real bow to extremists, and reminiscent of the 1950s. Imagine them trying this with the civil rights movement...
Local officials are demanding that the State Department investigate the visa applications of Gaza flotilla activists before two of them speak at a Brooklyn church.
"We have an obligation to protect our borders against Hamas," Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/Queens) said at a Times Square press conference Monday that included City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea) and Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-Harlem). "Use extra caution. Take this threat seriously."
She and other members of New York's congressional delegation pledged to deliver a petition with more than 23,000 signatures demanding the State Department do visa checks of Mavi Marmara ship passengers planning a speaking tour that includes a stop at the House of the Lord Church in Boerum Hill on Thursday.
“3 NY pols calls for investigations of flotilla activists”
Perhaps it’s time to snip off new york and make it a separate country. They could join in alliance with nat new country of texas.
I forgot about arizona. They’d make an ideal 3rd party to this “axis of…”.
Though the new yorkies and texies would have to repect arizona’s “special” travel “rules”.
Ah….title change.
If only they were equally inflamed about the death of an American citizen from upstate NY, a 19 year old Turkish American who was a executed with four bullets to the head. Sickening.
He was not Turkish American. He was American. He did not have a Turkish passport.
Speaking of the 1950′s, the list of terrorist organizations increasingly looks like the Attorney General’s list of subversive organizations back in the McCarthyite time. Totally political.
“the Attorney General’s list of subversive organizations back in the McCarthyite time.”
Like those “no-fly” lists of “terrorists”. The u.s. has been in a rehash of the mccarthy times for quite a while now. Conservatively, I’d say at least since bush, jr. was [s]elected.
The list included Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Maybe Rangel ought to remember this.
“The list included Dr Martin Luther King Jr.”
You forget, King was an evil commie bent on causing racial strife in communities where there had been racial harmony for centuries. When the Soviets took a dive in the 90′s, all the evil commies became evil Muslims (or PETA activists), so their names were transferred over to the new “bad guy” lists and are now called terrorists.
But since King has been dead for many years, so his listing was probably a mix-up between homeland security and the health dept. One cant allow dead people flying on air liners with the living. It’s unhealthy. These dead people need to use separate flights.
I’ll bet Paul Robeson was also on the no fly lists for the very same reason.
Robeson was on the no-travel list; he had his passport taken away for years.
Also W.E.B. DuBois, until the whole practice of denying passports to political dissidents was struck down by the Warren Court in Kent v. Dulles, 357 U.S. 116 (1958) (“Kent” being Rockwell Kent.)
Apparently the practice is still alive in Australia, who recently confiscated the passport of a political dissident.
Here’s the press release issued in response to the attacks by the organizers of the event:
AL-AWDA NY , THE PALESTINE RIGHT TO RETURN COALITION
info@al-awdany.org 718-228-8636
Don’t Let Enemies of Freedom Suppress the Truth About
Israel’s Attack on a Humanitarian Aid Ship!
All Out to the House of the Lord Church 415 Atlantic Ave. Thursday June 17, 7 pm
MAVI MARMARA SURVIVORS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HEARD!
Two weeks ago Israeli naval commandos stormed a Turkish ship loaded with humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. They murdered 9 unarmed passengers. The oldest, Ibrahim Bilgen, was 61. the youngest, Furkan Dogan, a U.S. citizen born in Troy , N.Y., was just 19.
On Thursday, June 17, two eyewitnesses to this horror, U.S. filmmaker Iara Lee and British political organizer Kevin Ovenden, and Ahmet Unsal, a former Member of Turkey’s Parliament, have been invited to tell their views and stories at a public forum at Brooklyn’s historic House of the Lord Church. The meeting is cosponsored by dozens of organizations.
They come with nothing but words. But words of truth strike fear into the hearts of certain hate-filled New York politicians who have voted time and again to turn U.S. taxpayers’ dollars into missiles and bombs for Israel’s war machine.
On June 14, City Council speaker Christine Quinn, Reps. Jerry Nadler, Anthony Weiner, Carolyn Mahoney, Charles Rangel and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer gathered in Times Square at the behest of the so-called “Jewish Community Relations Council.” They shamelessly demanded that the State Department investigate the invited speakers for “ties to terrorism.” They want to prevent or delay their entry the United States. This is a clear attempt to not only deny the passengers’ right to speak but to deny the people of the United States the right to hear their words.
The group of politicians who issued this call have supported every act of terror by the Israeli state against the native people of Palestine and its neighbors. They cheered the 2008-9 terror bombing and invasion of Gaza that slaughtered 1,400 people, including hundreds of children. They applauded Israel’s 2006 mass murder of 900 Lebanese civilians. They hail the cruel blockade that denies food, medicine, electricity and sanitation to the people of Gaza and they dare to support the killing and kidnapping of Turkish, U.S., British and Irish citizens who tried to break that blockade.
These political hacks now attack our very right to learn and discuss the issues involved. They seek to pin the label of “terrorist†on any who oppose the vicious and immoral blockade of Gaza and the endless stream of U.S. guns and dollars to Israel’s brutal war machine. And they want to hide the truth about what happened that bloody night on the Mavi Marmara.
We call upon all people who believe in justice and freedom to resist this attack on our rights. Let your elected representative know that you have the right to hear what the courageous survivors of the Mavi Marmara have to say. And let’s pack the House of the Lord Church Thursday night. Let’s answer this vile attempt at intimidation with a powerful mass meeting.
Sponsors include Muslim American Society, International Action Center, National Lawyers Guild-NYC, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, American Muslims For Palestine, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, NYC Labor Against the War, Arab Muslim American Federation, Labor For Palestine, FIST, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Action for a Progressive Pakistan, ANSWER Coalition, Anakbayan, Bayan USA, Creative Nonviolent Resistance against Injustice, Gabriela USA, International League of Peoples Struggle–NY/LOC, Middle East Crisis Response, El Beireh Society, The Indypendent, Socialist Action, International Socialist Organization, Westchester Peoples Action Coalition, American-Iranian Friendship Committee
LET THE TRUTH BE HEARD! Please Forward Widely
The movement to break the siege won’t be stopped. So far, 15 ships from various Middle East countries are confirmed participants in flotilla 2 to sail for Gaza between July 15th and August 11th, the start of Ramadan. Early indications are talking about the fleet totalling about 40 ships, maybe more.
That’s a lot of ships.
Similar problems with understanding reality in the UK:
Israel’s “Friends” Still Shamelessly Supporting Israel at Westminster
by Stuart Littlewood / June 15th, 2010
link to dissidentvoice.org
I agree with some of Littlewood’s comments but I deny that we in the UK should be dismayed by the prospect of a PM who happened to be Jewish. If (s)he were like many of the Jewish contributors here the welcome would be very warm. The obscurity of the Conservative MPs who signed the letter is actually a mildly good sign.
“If (s)he were like many of the Jewish contributors here the welcome would be very warm.”
That’s a huge “if”, given the circumstances of current British politics.
Caroline Maloney:
“We have an obligation to protect our borders against Hamas,”
Really?
Now they’re targeting the US since Jerry Nadler says “IHH has long been known for its affiliations with Hamas and Al Qaeda”.
Expect to hear more from Pete King and Anthony Wiener.
Bulldog Quinn was off her leash for once.
She’s Bloomberg’s right arm when the cameras are rolling.
“long been known” is really no connection at all.
Lies breed in shit, like flies.
King already spouted off at his press conference. Of course no surprise in him taking the most reactionary stance. Quinn, ehh, she’s “very” concerned with Gay rights, she’s run the Council like Stalin. But “the Democrats are kind of better” show me where. Scoundrels. We all know where Prince Bloomberg’s “heart” is. Maybe he’ll take Commisioner Kelly back to Jerusalem and wail at the wall. Have I mentioned how much I despise these people today?
Salon had a good report yesterday on this Democratic press conference:
HTTP://WWW.SALON.COM/NEWS/POLITICS/WAR_ROOM/2010/06/14/TIMES_SQUARE_FLOTILLA/INDEX.HTML
Aipac likes to keep close tabs on their u.s. “investments”:
Updated June 14, 2010 – 4:15 PM
Congressional Statements on the Gaza Flotilla Incident
link to aipac.org
He who pays the piper, calls the tune.
Grayson’s line is good. “what they did was to protect their people and honestly we would have done the same thing”
Yeah ok, Pal. Just calm down you crazy liberal.
True enough, but do they have to dance with such abandon?
“True enough, but do they have to dance with such abandon?”
Absolute, total loyalty is required.
With Christians like these doing such things in order to get to heaven, one wonders what it takes to go to hell which is where I presume all the men, women, and children victims of Operation Cast Lead are.
Walt – Turkey and the Neocons
link to walt.foreignpolicy.com
“Walt – Turkey and the Neocons”
The zionist control is really quite obvious there.
Everybody, read comedienne Katie Halper’s piece at TPM Cafe:
Retire Ari Fleischer, Chuck Schumer & More: Bigots & Hypocrites Who Sent Helen Thomas Packing Now Need to Pack Their Own Bags
link to tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com
wonderful
Thanks. We needed that.
Thanks for the recommendation. A very incisive collection of strange stuff. It’s the vein of religious mania running through it that seems most horrifying.
Maybe Katie Halper is behind the times in calling herself ‘self-hating’ – I think that the official term for the moment is ‘deracinated’, which has a sound of lifelessness about it.
Christine Quinn, Charlie Rangel and Carolyn Maloney are enemies of democracy and traitors to America. They are simply corrupt to the core politicians.
blah blah blah,
The Russians are coming ! No, wait, I meant the Cubans! No, I meant the Libyans! Uh, hold on there, no, it’s the Nicaraguans, uuuuh, Al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, Hamas, mushroom clown, BOOM!
Let’s “move forward”, “secure the realm” and “promote peace, democracy”.
(* Leave the checks with my secretary, thanks *)
blah blah blah
Rinse, repeat.
You forgot the Yemenis. Do you WANT to be a dhimmi? I happen to think there’s still a lot of good in America, including the fact that we’re even allowed to have this discussion, which wouldn’t be permitted anywhere in the Middle East because they don’t have freedom of speech! So really LRB, why do you hate American soldiers?
OMG, you’re so right. What was I thinking? I surrender.
Handcuff me right now – I’ll walk to Guantanamo myself – give me a small cell – with a Bible!
Don’t Let Enemies of Freedom Suppress the Truth about Israel’s Attack on a Humanitarian Aid Ship!
by Al-Awda-New York: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Don’t Let Enemies of Freedom Suppress the Truth about
Israel’s Attack on a Humanitarian Aid Ship!
All Out to the House of the Lord Church, 415 Atlantic Ave.
Thursday June 17, 7 pm
MAVI MARMARA SURVIVORS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HEARD!
Two weeks ago Israeli naval commandos stormed a Turkish ship loaded with humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. They murdered 9 unarmed passengers. The oldest, Ibrahim Bilgen, was 61. The youngest, Furkan Dogan, a U.S. citizen born in Troy, N.Y., was just 19.
On Thursday, June 17, two eyewitnesses to this horror, U.S. filmmaker Iara Lee and British political organizer Kevin Ovenden, and Ahmet Unsal, a former Member of Turkey’s Parliament, have been invited to tell their views and stories at a public forum at Brooklyn’s historic House of the Lord Church. The meeting is cosponsored by dozens of organizations.
They come with nothing but words. But words of truth strike fear into the hearts of certain hate-filled New York politicians who have voted time and again to turn U.S. taxpayers’ dollars into missiles and bombs for Israel’s war machine.
On June 14, City Council speaker Christine Quinn, Reps. Jerry Nadler, Anthony Weiner, Carolyn Mahoney, Charles Rangel, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer gathered in Times Square at the behest of the so-called “Jewish Community Relations Council.” They shamelessly demanded that the State Department investigate the invited speakers for “ties to terrorism.” They want to prevent or delay their entry in the United States. This is a clear attempt to not only deny the passengers’ right to speak but to deny the people of the United States the right to hear their words.
The group of politicians who issued this call have supported every act of terror by the Israeli state against the native people of Palestine and its neighbors. They cheered the 2008-9 terror bombing and invasion of Gaza that slaughtered 1,400 people, including hundreds of children. They applauded Israel’s 2006 mass murder of 900 Lebanese civilians. They hail the cruel blockade that denies food, medicine, electricity, and sanitation to the people of Gaza and they dare to support the killing and kidnapping of Turkish, U.S., British, and Irish citizens who tried to break that blockade.
These political hacks now attack our very right to learn and discuss the issues involved. They seek to pin the label of “terrorist” on any who oppose the vicious and immoral blockade of Gaza and the endless stream of U.S. guns and dollars to Israel’s brutal war machine. And they want to hide the truth about what happened that bloody night on the Mavi Marmara.
We call upon all people who believe in justice and freedom to resist this attack on our rights. Let your elected representative know that you have the right to hear what the courageous survivors of the Mavi Marmara have to say. And let’s pack the House of the Lord Church Thursday night. Let’s answer this vile attempt at intimidation with a powerful mass meeting.
LET THE TRUTH BE HEARD!
Send statements supporting the right of the survivors to be heard to:
info@al-awdany.org
Contact: info@al-awdany.org; 718-228-8636. Web site: http://www.al-awdany.org
Let them investigate. Let them block entry into the U.S. We don’t live in the 90s do we? Get all the Flotilla survivors together outside the U.S. and have the church set up a teleconference. In fact, they should do a teleconference speaking tour. There can be Q&A, etc. Not as optimal as a live speaking tour, but it can work.
Er, maybe I’m stuck in the 90s. I meant video conference, web-cam, etc.
MarkF, not sure of your point. Why are American tax dollars being squandered in an “investigation” of non-violent aid workers? Why not an investigation into the execution of a 19 year old American citizen with four shots point blank to the head? After all, the kid was born in New York state, shouldnt the NY reps be focus on their own constituents instead of impinging on free speech?
Oscar, I agree with everything you wrote. It makes my blood boil knowing these jokers are defending a foreign country that just, as you accurately put it, executed an American. What the NY reps are doing is indefensible and shameful, but they have no shame.
I just wanted to point out that we shouldn’t allow them to silence the survivors and that if they manage to block entry into the U.S. there is a means to get their message heard ive with personal interaction at minimal cost. It’s an end-around if needed.
These jokers are henchman to the corporate system. and I feel like the US political system, regarding Israel, behaves as a corporation. Towing the corporate message [Israel is great] is the first priority and it supersedes any moral obligations [apartheid].
The bottom line here would be are the shareholders happy with the companies performance [congress]?
Why is Israel so supremely important to the corporatists? Are they able to do things there and through that country that otherwise they cannot do?
It all goes beyond economics or the rational desire to promote a brand. I can only understand the relationship as a matter of a religion – redemption, righteous blood, tainted blood.
Turns out Furkan Dogan was only 18 years old (Turkish states ages as one greater than we do: Dogan was in his 19th year, hence 19.)
Sure, I’m not happy, you’re not happy, but they keep getting vetted and voted in.
I tout a simple/naive solution – ban corporate and foreign govt. lobbies. It’ll never happen though, will it?
Hmm, that’s a good one – Israel Inc. I wonder how that saying would poll?
hayate June 16, 2010 at 2:17 am
“Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
The post is an announcement of a demo for tomorrow and time is important here. So I will repost it without all the links. Hopefully that is all delaying it up here.
Don’t Let Enemies of Freedom Suppress the Truth about Israel’s Attack on a Humanitarian Aid Ship!
by Al-Awda-New York: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Don’t Let Enemies of Freedom Suppress the Truth about
Israel’s Attack on a Humanitarian Aid Ship!
All Out to the House of the Lord Church, 415 Atlantic Ave.
Thursday June 17, 7 pm
MAVI MARMARA SURVIVORS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE HEARD!
Two weeks ago Israeli naval commandos stormed a Turkish ship loaded with humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza. They murdered 9 unarmed passengers. The oldest, Ibrahim Bilgen, was 61. The youngest, Furkan Dogan, a U.S. citizen born in Troy, N.Y., was just 19.
On Thursday, June 17, two eyewitnesses to this horror, U.S. filmmaker Iara Lee and British political organizer Kevin Ovenden, and Ahmet Unsal, a former Member of Turkey’s Parliament, have been invited to tell their views and stories at a public forum at Brooklyn’s historic House of the Lord Church. The meeting is cosponsored by dozens of organizations.
Contact: info@al-awdany.org; 718-228-8636.
Web site: http://www.al-awdany.org
I wonder when the U.S. will follow this step by Israel: Israel adds Turkish organizers of Gaza flotilla to terror watch list.
That Ha’aretz article seems to indicate Israel now considers Lebanon an “enemy state”:
Whereas other countries which have sent boats to Gaza have diplomatic relations with Israel, neither Lebanon nor Iran have diplomatic relations. (Technically neither country is at war with Israel, I think, although that might be just a question of an armistice and certainly no peace treaty has been signed.)
Larry Derfner in today’s Jerusalem Post has an op ed piece which demonstrates the difficult position in which Israel finds itself: Derfner opposes the siege on Gaza because it is causing the Palestinians who live there to suffer, yet he does not wish to strengthen Hamas. He proposes strengthening Abbas and Fayad instead.
link to jpost.com
Israel is already causing suffering in Gaza. It’s a luxury to kill people and decide in-motion, whether you (in theory, since it’s some writer in the paper) should keep killing them.
All that power, and Israel still ‘finds itself’ in a difficult position? BS. More ‘victim-hood’ and narcissism.