I got the news from the Jewish Federation, in an email a friend passed along:
Dear [---]
Thanks to the efforts of the Jewish Federation, and our partners at the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, and StandWithUs NW – as well as the many supporters and concerned citizens in the community who contacted elected officials and Metro representatives – we are pleased to share that the County Executive and Metro have announced an interim policy that will not allow non-commercial advertising on buses.
In short, there will be no anti-Israel ads appearing on Seattle buses.
The full text of their press release follows below.
As we approach the end of the calendar year, your support of our strategic response to these provocative ads – as well as your overall support of the Jewish Federation and our efforts in the community – is very much appreciated. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Richard Fruchter
President and CEO
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
King County News Release
Citing potential for disruption to transit service, Executive implements interim Metro policy restricting new non-commercial advertising on buses.Citing the potential for disruption to transit service, King County Executive Dow Constantine today approved an interim policy from Metro Transit that calls for a halt to the acceptance of any new non-commercial advertising on King County buses. Under provisions of the previous policy, Metro officials today also rejected a proposed ad from the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign and the proposed response ads from two other groups.
"The escalation of this issue from one of 12 local bus placards to a widespread and often vitriolic international debate introduces new and significant security concerns that compel reassessment," said Executive Constantine.
"My job is to deliver essential services to the people of King County, including transit service," he added. "I have consulted with federal and local law enforcement authorities who have expressed concern, in the context of this international debate, that our public transportation system could be vulnerable to disruption.
"Metro sells advertising to raise revenues to provide transit service. Metro's existing policy restricts advertising that can be reasonably foreseen to result in harm to, disruption of, or interference with the transportation system. Given the dramatic escalation of debate in the past few days over these proposed ads, and the submission of inflammatory response ads, there is now an unacceptable risk of harm to or disruption of service to our customers should these ads run."
In light of the recent escalation of events, Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond today asked his advertising consultant to notify the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign that Metro is rejecting its proposed ad, and for the consultant to notify the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the American Freedom Defense Initiative that Metro will not accept their proposed ads, as posing an unacceptable risk of harm to, disruption of, or interference with bus service, as defined under current policies.
In response to the Executive's directive on Monday to review current policies, Desmond today also recommended an interim transit advertising policy that adds non-commercial ads to the list of current restrictions, with an exception for governmental entities that advance specific government purposes. Non-commercial ads that met the previous policy and for which contracts have already been signed are not affected, and ads already in place will remain.
"We cannot and would not favor one point of view over another, so the entire category of non-commercial advertising will be eliminated until a permanent policy can be completed that I can propose to the King County Council for adoption," said the Executive. "Further work during the coming weeks will help determine what constitutionally-valid policy is best for the safety and well-being of the transit-riding public, our drivers and personnel, and the community at large.
"I thank everyone who has reached out to us to express their interests on this matter."
Metro expects to complete work on a permanent transit advertising policy by the end of January, for the Executive to transmit to the County Council for adoption.
Wow. Well, your people are mighty, Phil. What else can you say?
mighty what?
I hate to sound like a complete A-whole, but ‘our’ movement was successful in stopping an ad from running on a municipal bus for thousands to see, your movement can’t get a second brand of hummus on a college campus.
BDS!
mighty what? mighty powerful? just say it.
I hate to sound like a complete A-whole
no you don’t. you like gloating.
Annie, you do know that mighty is an adjective as well as an adverb, right?
Sheesh.
Yonira, that’s exactly how the Nazis gloated to the young White Rose kids about their attempt to distribute protest leaflets in the heart of the Third Reich. Bully for you.
Yonira’s boasting about the power of the lobby and it’s ability to impose censorship.
Anjoy your fascist movement Yonira. You’ve become what you claim you despise.
OK yonira, have it your way, how about covering ourselves in blood at your meeting doorsteps? You want it to escalate, now you’ve done it, we will blast it over sound systems through the streets. You want a rumble? Seems like you did not learn from the last battle in Seattle, you need more – and unrelenting this time. Better make lots of room at the jail, because those who will not allow a “civil” manner of address, will get what they deserve. The reason why you will receive it is because you come from the same well spring, so lets see how much militancy your city can stand before they say enough, we know who and what you serve –
SERVITUDE
Oh, forgot the lyrics, lyrics should always be written with songs –
“Who, Who do you serve?
For whose empire and for whose whims?
Is your honor judged by men?
Will you lie?
Will you lie if they say it’s their will?
Will you die or continue to kill?
Until the generals all ahve their fill
Craven Cowards
Armchair Warriors
You will serve Them well
What, what will you write?
For whose pleasure, for whose delight?
Will your readers see your light?
Will you say…That the singer can’t blow you away?
That we hate people just ’cause they’re gay
Women and children all stay away
To whom, whom do you pray?
Do dollars wash your sins away?
Does God love cold hard cash?
Do you say…If we all just continue to pay
All our ailments will go away
And our souls will be saved
God’s not with you
“Holy Roller”
Your heart dwells in Hell
Why, Why do you run?
Our awareness has spoiled your fun
Our eyes see you too clear
Will you hide
From the joy of expressing our pride
For the leaders and people who’ve died
While combating your genocide
Chains are breaking
Minds are waking
Soon we’ll serve no more..”
livid, i am livid.
What did the Lobby have to do with it? I have a hang nail, can I blame the Lobby for that too?
Whatever you say Mr. Garlasco.
Wow VR, wtf are you talking about man? I don’t want to fight you man.
I haven’t been to Seattle since ’03. Nor have I been in jail. Once you come down from your anarchrack high, lets talk ok?
For those who are not familiar with the equation, let me formulate for you. They bow to this community because they are organized and represent interest in the area, so, even if you tried to match them with equal like pressure – calling, writing, etc. it would not be listened to. However, when you bring it to the streets, suddenly everyone will see and start to listen – as it increases in militancy, this push against a settler colonial state, and it does not recede but becomes more vocal, fear starts to set in.
So the Zionists think they are slick with their traditional ways of redress, and that they will shut down resistance – what they do not know is that it engenders more anger and push back – the question is, does it? Because if it does not you will be at a stand still using these traditional means, because you push against an entrenched status quo. What has to transpire is that which effects the whole community, in this instance, in Seattle. Private battles will not win, and if you keep turning to these common means you do not understand what you are up against – you have to use other means. Sometimes the essence of teaching is repetition
THE MIX THAT WORKS
Goodn point,
These Hasbarats insist that protest is civil, but then the turn around and mock it as ineffective and a faiure when it is civil.
It appears the Zionist only understand ione thing. Force.
“Thanks to the efforts of the Jewish Federation, and our partners at the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League…”
So it’s ‘vulgar anti-semitism’ to address the issue of Zionist power/control in America, but it’s ok to brag about it?
Yonira is a troll. This is no victory for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. It’s a spend of limited political capital. The last thing Yank Zionists need is attention and this is a very expensive way to deal with the problem.
This sort of issue will crop up everywhere in the US and there is no coherent response.
I wouldn’t be so pessimistic, VR.
Zionism is weaker now than it was 5 years ago. The ideology is flawed and vulnerable today . Israel is losing the kids. Just do a search on Youtube for Zionism.
2010 was an important year for activism in the US and Zionism was weakened in the US this year even though it may seem all powerful.
LOL! Funniest lie you told all day.
And when official channels are blocked there are always non-official channels like street art, posters and currency, eg:
link to ukfpi.org
Yonira, just blame your usual fictional scapegoat, “anti-semitism” for your hang nail.
Let’s all note what the Jewish Federation of Seattle singled out to its members and fellow travelers as
most fraudulent about the 12 bus ads to inspire them to rise up as one to slay the lying jew-haters:
“Federation Response to Anti-Israel Bus Ads
Posted on Monday Dec 20, 2010 5:40 PM
As you may be aware, an anti-Israel ad campaign is scheduled to begin on Dec. 27. The ads, which accuse Israel of war crimes and purport that $30 billion is given to Israel in foreign aid, will run on twelve Seattle-area buses for the next month.”
Purport? The US congress expressly resolved in documentation
to give Israel $30 billion US tax dollars–the passed legislation is available on the internet from the usual site presenting US bills verbatim in the US congress and record of passage.
The $30 billion agreement between US & Israel was signed in 2007. link to huffingtonpost.com
Of course this is only the tip of the iceberg as to what Israel gets for free from the US: www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf
God forbid the average American tax payer gets wind of this giant give-away to a rogue state while taking a bus in Seattle, hoping to get a job or heading for the local government unemployment office.
Hey when you own the U.S. congress etc what are you going to do.
Yonira there is no turning back. The cat is out of the bag, the BDS movement is growing, people are becoming far more aware. As Mearsheimer and others have said… the reality of Israell prestently being an apartheid state is becoming clearer and clearer to millions. No going back
“Anjoy your fascist movement Yonira. You’ve become what you claim you despise.”
“despise”? IS
Wonder what Yonira would say about what happened in Chicago and San Fran?
Wonder if we will see this Seattle issue end up in the courts?
I’ll donate to that for sure
2010 was an important year for activism in the US and Zionism was weakened in the US this year even though it may seem all powerful.
write about it seafoid, and send it here now:
weissphilip@yahoo.com and mondoawards@gmail.com
You are the lobby, yonira.
Citizen, how much of that is spent on US armaments to which stimulates our economy and provides American jobs?
Talk about misleading.
There’s nothing misleading at the source I referenced for you, yonira. Here, try reading it this time before you toss off a glib sentence saying real Americans should be happy to have jobs
working away to help Israel murder Palestinian children as a side effect of all we give Israel for free: link to fas.org
U.S. military aid to Israel supports roughly 20,000 US jobs directly. It also supports tons of jobs in Israel since only Israel is allowed to spend a quarter plus of US aid on its own product industry (A unique provision in the YS-Israel aid agreement allows Israel to spend a significant portion of U.S. aid in Israel; at minimum, roughly 26 percent of the money [making up an estimated 20 percent of Israel's defense budget]). Fewer US jobs are created by the US investing in the military as compared with other US sectors, such as health care, education and mass transit, all of which sectors are in far dire need of US governmental help than the military.
Also, Israel’s use of U.S.-made weapons violates the US Arms Control Export Act and makes the U.S. complicit in Israeli atrocities. It should be stopped on that basis alone. Yeah, we Americans should all be happy we are getting some jobs by giving weapons to Israeli child-murderers when we should be getting those jobs from our government to help our own desperate citizens.
The fall of Israel is going to tear apart the Jewish community in the US. They don’t want to address any of the facts because it’s going to turn into a civil war without guns.
Giving in to the thugs of Zionism was always a dumb idea. Putting the whole community behind them was a tragedy. Foxman and the Dersh will be dead but the damage their work has done will live for generations after.
Mighty scared.
Cuz they can feel Seattle’s growing love for Palestine.
mighty cowardly cuz they can’t take a public debate.
Any indication that this “free speech” issue will end up in the courts?
Wow Gellian,
You’ve stopped pretending to be an impratial and are now proudly wearing your Zionist colors.
At last you”ve come out of the closet. Good for you.
exactly
I don’t get this–I’m not sure what Gellian meant, but unlike yonira it didn’t sound like he was gloating, but just expressing the fact that the pro-Israel groups got their way.
Exactly Donald,
in fact I would think that Gellian’s comment (even if put in a way that shows he is expressing awe) only further highlights the power of the Israel lobby.
Yup. You got it. I have no idea why these other folks are so convinced I’m Dr. Evil, but they are darn sure it’s true. Then again, when I have to explain that ‘mighty’ is an adjective, I realize that a little critical thinking might be in short supply around here at times.
You have a strange way with words sometimes, Gell.
And no, at no time is there a shortage of critical thinking here, but there is a lot of outrage and righteous indignation.
Phil’s article just records that Seattle will not allow any more political ads until in January when it gives out its new policy in this matter, which apparently will have striven to reflect some enumerated balance between free speech and public safety.
The first comment response was, “Wow. Well, your people are mighty, Phil. What else can you say?”
The first response to that comment was, “mighty what?”
The first commenter interpreted that comment as reflecting an inability to tell an adjective from an adverb, in this case, regarding his usage of the word “mighty.”
In the context of the content of the article itself and Phil’s banner
presenting it, it seems reasonable to me to take the first comment as meaning exactly the contrary of what it literally says as a stand alone text object. This comment seeks to remove all doubt:
“I hate to sound like a complete A-whole, but ‘our’ movement was successful in stopping an ad from running on a municipal bus for thousands to see, your movement can’t get a second brand of hummus on a college campus.
BDS!”
I don’t see how Gellian jumps from this sequence to “I realize that a little critical thinking might be in short supply around here at times.”
oh gee, and we wonder why palestine isn’t free. way to cave in metro
cowards
here’s their contact page, and my rant.
caving in to the lobby again, no wonder this problem has been going on for decades, we aren’t supposed to talk about it.
way to cave in metro. what’s a little human rights got to do w/it? why should palestinians have any voice in america? they don’t count. millions of them, just brown people w/no country, no vote and no rights.
thanks for nothing.
I got the same email from the Jewish Federation because I filled in their protest template (with my own take).
Damn depressing. Wonder if any political ads have been on those buses before… Vacation To Israel ads?
Thanks, annie. Here’s mine:
Dear fellow citizens employed by Metro Transit,
I think it’s a good thing when initiative is taken with the aid of a public utility, in this case by those 12 bus ads, to inform the American taxpayers what their money is being spent on when that information is muzzled by the mainstream press. A democracy without the informed consent of its citizens is one in name only.I am very disappointed you caved in so quickly to the local branch of the Jewish Federation.
What is political about a vacation to Israel ad, I saw an ad for the Dead Sea Scrolls when they were displayed in our town, is that political also?
I am very disappointed you caved in so quickly to the local branch of the Jewish Federation.
WHAT!!!! I thought it was the Lobby?
It is the lobby. Do you think the JF and AIPAC are at cross purposes?
Apparently yonira needs to read M&W’s definition of “Israel Lobby.”
“loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively work to steer U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction”
“the boundaries of the Israel lobby cannot be identified precisely”, it “has a core consisting of organizations whose declared purpose is to encourage the U.S. government and the American public to provide material aid to Israel and to support its government’s policies, as well as influential individuals for whom these goals are also a top priority”.[6] They note that “not..every American with a favorable attitude to Israel is part of the lobby”,[7] and that although “the bulk of the lobby is comprised of Jewish Americans”,[8] there are many American Jews who are not part of the lobby, and the lobby also includes Christian Zionists.[9] They also claim a drift of important groups in “the lobby” to the right,[10] and overlap with the neoconservatives.”
ISRAEL LOBBY
His pretend ignorance could also benefit from the Wikileaks guy’s description of such coalitions and how they work–Wikileaks’s whole approach is an attempt to more effectively expose them because nothing else has worked to date.
It wasn’t the voice of Palestinians though annie, it was lefties like yourself with ulterior motives. (You have your Lobby ‘conspiracy’ I have my anti-semitism conspiracy)
Do you mean “ulterior motives” as in advocating peace, international law, human rights and justice Yonira?
Yeah, truly insidious. We can’t have that now can we?
Lefties have ulterior motives, huh? Any luck finding those WMDs in Iraq yet, right wing-nut? We’re still waiting.
Chaos, now they are saying the WMDs have magically moved to Iran.
It wasn’t the voice of Palestinians though annie…
Maybe because the Zionist gangs silenced all the Palestinian voices there? And Yonira what is the difference, do you think that Palestinians would oppose exposing the oppressors?
I don’t see any balance in your tit4tat conspiracy theory, yonira–how many Palestinian babies and children were killed or wounded in OP Cast Lead? How many Jewish youngsters were subject to pogroms in the streets of the USA during the same period? How many were even subject to non-PC name-calling in the sandlots?
It’s another cave in, Annie, but it’s a far less assured play by the Zionist
establishment. Cast Lead was another victory for Israel but a very expensive one in terms of exposure and this looks like the same thing.
Thanks for the contact page. This total lack of courage made me angry, so here’s mine (a little long, sorry) :
For your edification :
I have taken the time to write because I was alerted to the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign’s current efforts to adorn King County buses with an ad, critical of US foreign policy, by a web site consecrated to bringing to light and solving the problems plaguing the people of the Middle East, and more specifically, Israel/Palestine.
As regards Israel/Palestine, it has been shown repeatedly by several institutions that the state of Israel is engaging in unlawful and violent behavior against the Palestinian people, especially in the occupied West Bank and Gaza (which Israel has been occupying and illegally transferring its population to since 1967, as several UN resolutions attest to).
The Arms Export Control Act (PL 90-629) of 1976 contains several passages restricting the flow of arms from the US to foreign countries which engage regularly in human rights violations, and by this is called upon to set an example. The fact that it rarely lives up to this example should not curb any efforts in this direction.
I equally draw your attention to the Amnesty International report entitled “Foreign Arms Supplies To Israel/Gaza Fueling Conflict”, in which it is stated :
“Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that “no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights” which includes “acts of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges and trial, causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction and clandestine detention of those persons, and other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of person.” Section 4 of the Arms Export Control Act authorizes the supply of US military equipment and training only for lawful purposes of internal security, “legitimate self-defense,” or participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations or other operations consistent with the U.N. Charter.”
also :
“Amnesty International found that the Israeli army used white phosphorus, a weapon with a highly incendiary effect, in densely-populated civilian residential areas in and around Gaza City, and in the north and south of the Gaza Strip. The organization’s delegates found white phosphorus still burning in residential areas throughout Gaza days after the ceasefire came into effect on 18 January – that is, up to three weeks after the white phosphorus artillery shells had been fired by Israeli forces. Amnesty International considers that the repeated use of white phosphorus in this way in densely-populated civilian areas constitutes a form of indiscriminate attack, and amounts to a war crime.”
The report can be found here :
link to amnestyusa.org
I equally draw your attention to the UN report, headed by the eminent judge Richard Goldstone, on the Gaza invasion of 2008/2009, in which there was extensive evidence drawn up of war crimes committed by the IDF against the population of Gaza.
The ads would not have been part of a campaign to spread hatred, but rather the opposite – if this reality shows unfortunate and violent events, then all the more reason to raise public awareness about them, as the US public is partly financially responsible for them.
The report can be found linked to here :
link to un.org
Amidst the growing awareness in the American community of US foreign policy and its nefarious consequences around the world, and the 3 billion dollars in annual aid to the state of Israel, it would be nice if some actually accepted to open the debate and address the problems it presents – especially for the victims.
In short, we are asking you to follow the law, and to not be afraid to stand up for the 1st amendment. This should not be very controversial.
Your reaction to intimidation from right-wing groups is revealing of your attitude of :
“We don’t want any trouble, folks”.
Silence and keeping the status quo is far preferable to addressing real political and humanitarian problems.
T.S. Eliot said, “Humankind cannot bear very much reality”. It seems here that it’s King County Metro Transit that cannot bear very much reality.
It’s a simple, but effective intimidation tactic to raise a big stink anytime something like this is proposed because most people (in America) just prefer to avoid any kind of conflict. In other words, you have revealed the GUIDING PRINICIPLE in the generally spineless American culture as regards foreign policy and politics in general : no cojones.
Yours,
I got the same email from the Jewish Federation because I filled in their protest template (with my own take).
Damn depressing. Wonder if any political ads have been on those buses before… Vacation To Israel ads?
i hope this provokes a law suit.
The legal basis of such a law suit is well established. The 1st Amendment’s right of free speech’s function is to protect controversial free speech. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been added to our Constitution in the literally first place, Amendment #1 in our Bill Of Rights. Metro Transit’s justification for suspending the ads giving notice to bus travelers and passer-bys to find out what their tax dollars are being spent for in Israel is no constitutional justification at all because Metro admits all those ads do is stir up controvery, more debate–the very justification for the right of free speech in the first place. By banning all political ads (and not just those “inflammatory response ads”) Metro effectively extends the “shouting fire in a crowded theatre” model to all of America as if all of America was literally one tiny literal theatre. That amounts to abolishing the protection afforded by the First Amendment. Now public buses across the land if Metro’s decision is taken as good public policy, rule, law, what’s next? Banning “No Tax Dollars for Israel” from the t-shirts of all US citizens’ governmental and quasi governmental time and space?
Pay close attention to the language. At least King County had admitted that they backtracked under threat of violence. I optimistically expected the ads to run and realistically expected them to be vandalized.
By whom?
By whom?
That’s a good point, Colin. I wondered about that myself when I read that sentence and I thought, “How could ads possibly disrupt transit?”
In all likelihood, though one can’t be certain, the city of Seattle must have received a few threatening phone calls — or death threats — from Zionist thugs.
And they say that in America the government doesn’t bow down to terrorists.
Looks like Metro actually pinpointed the likely projected cause of possible future transit disruption–”the submission of inflammatory response ads.” The ad originally at issue merely escalated debate, as Metro acknowledges–the whole point of the 1st Amendment’s free speech right. Americans have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent. Running the original bus ad is not crying fire in a crowded theatre. The Zionist Lobby of Seattle, speaking via the local Jewish Federation conduit, wants the whole USA to be regarded as a crowded theatre when it comes to any criticism of the US special relation with Israel due to Israel’s conduct. This course, if it continues to be supported by Metro via an interim suspension of its characterized ads that will de facto go on forever, effectively abolishes the 1st Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech–when it comes to any speech critical of Israeli conduct and on-going US support of such conduct. Free speech rights target controversial subjects. Otherwise there’d be no need for such rights in the first place.
In other words, it sounds like a terrorist threat.
Why isn’t the DHS and FBI not investigating this?
King County Metro doesn’t want to have another April 22nd, 1947 on their hands.
That is terrorism. They have capitulated after a terrorist threat, yet the terrorists are allowed to go free and brag about their success.
What cowards, those Seattle Metro board.
It appears that the Jewish groups threatened to disrupt services if the ads ran (judging by Metro board executive Constantine’s statement). I.e., they or someone made threats of disruption in order to suppress political free speech.
John Hagee and the Christian Zionists got really involved yesterday as well. Here is an email that was sent out to “Christians United for Israel” last night:
“At 2:00 EST today, we [CUFI] issued an action alert asking all of our members to e-mail officials in King County, Washington, with an urgent request to block the following inciteful ad from appearing on Seattle buses. Your response was overwhelming. In the week leading up to our action alert, King county officials had received 2,000 e-mails to asking them to reject this ad. Within five hours — by 7:00 pm EST — our action alert had generated three times as many e-mails — almost 6,000 — to these same government officials.
We are thrilled to report that your voices have been heard and that your efforts have paid off. At 7:00 p.m. EST today, King County Executive Dow Constatine announced a new policy governing advertising on buses that, among other things, will block the proposed anti-Israel ad from appearing on city buses. Now that the anti-Israel ad will not run, we no longer see the need to respond with our own ad telling the truth about Israel.”
And Zionists don’t control American media though, huh.
shut shut, they will call you anti-semi … Crazy SAD WORLD
“We don’t want any trouble, folks”.
Silence and keeping the status quo is far preferable to addressing real political and humanitarian problems.
T.S. Eliot said, “Humankind cannot bear very much reality”. It seems here that it’s King County Metro Transit that cannot bear very much reality.
It’s a simple, but effective intimidation tactic to raise a big stink anytime something like this is proposed because most people (in America) just prefer to avoid any kind of conflict. In other words, no cojones.
‘Federal and local law enforcement authorities … have expressed concern, in the context of this international debate, that our public transportation system could be vulnerable to disruption.’
This is a classic example of how the amorphous threat of terrorism (presumably from pro-Israel groups, in this case) can be used so effortlessly to stifle democratic debate. Now the police decide what can be discussed. So is this a police state yet?
It’s also an ugly example of how federal funding gives the fedgov an effective veto over local policies which (in the case of King County, Wash.) might have been more tolerant of heterodox debate than in the ideologically conformist federal capital, where the unwritten rule is that public service requires taking an oath of loyalty to Israel (and, optionally, the US constitution).
The controversy has probably already done more to publicize the ad than the actual ad would have done.
Now, the money refunded from the bus company can be used to buy a full-page ad or placement on a billboard, pointing out what Jewish pressure didn’t want them to see.
What happened to the billboard ads that caused similar controversy in NM in April of ’09, if memory serves? Phil and Adam both wrote articles on the one in Alburquque, if memory serves. The same organization was behind them, with one of its founders a former AIPAC guy? Stop30billion? I couldn’t find any follow up on that earlier attempt. BTW, the ADL entered the fray from afar in this attempt in Seattle, backing shutdown of free speech related to how US tax dollars are spent of course. Just another part of the “loose coalition” described in The Israel Lobby.