17 September, 2008

Quote for the Moment

Reading: Reveille for Radicals and Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky

"The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." -Thomas Paine

15 September, 2008

In response to the Republican platform plank mocking community organizing

Photo montage by me. Some of the faces are famous, some aren't. You don't become a community organizer for the fame and fortune. What is a community organizer and what have they done for you and others? Well, for one thing, without community organizers (see Cady-Stanton and Anthony above and Google Lucretia Mott) women wouldn't have won the right to vote in 1920, which means without community organizers there would be no GOVERNOR Sarah Palin.

Salaam.

By the way, community organizing can be on the right, left or in the center...the Wikipedia entry for CO includes a reference to Pat Robertson.

Hate, delivered straight to your door

Hate is alive, well and being delivered to your very door! Not to mention misinformation, far-mongering....

This morning, our local paper (The Palm Beach Post) delivered to every home a copy of the hideously inflammatory hate film Obsession, which claims to be an expose on radical Islam, which is, of course, code for Islam in general. We're actually going to try to sit through the whole thing, but it's hard to stomach a film that intersperses images of Muslim children with images of Nazis. Proud to report that Mom, the subscriber, complained by email and phone and canceled her subscription to the paper. Even Olberman picked up on the story tonight on Countdown as it seems the DVD went out via several newspaper outlets nationwide. Frighteningly, it was also distributed free at BOTH the Democratic and Republican conventions. The American Muslim has a detailed background story on the film and the mass distribution of 28 million copies of the DVD and resources for how you can respond. For more information go to Obsession Watch. If you received a copy, please take a few minutes to demand that your newspaper to not take part in spreading hate and misinformation.

Salaam.

Update: Mom's on a roll and has emailed the president of Cox Newspapers, which published The Post, and the head of Cox's advertising department to complain to them as well. It's not that people should be deprived of their right of free speech, no matter how disturbing. It's that by being distributed by a newspaper, a supposed bastion of truth and unbiased information, the publishers lend credence to the filmmakers, their backers and their message. I hope others with cancel their subscriptions. To ignore is to condone!

Mondo Bizarro World Redux

I believe I have awoken inside some sort of mirror realm. Both Carl "El Diablo" Rove AND Fox News called the McCain camp out on the lies their campaign has been spewing. (Shakes head violently to try to reboot brain in face of confusion) With not much time left until election day, I am hoping that all these people so excited by "relatable" Gov. Palin, who have so obviously been sipping from the same Kool Aid that had folks saying that then-candidate Bush43 was somebody they could "relate to" - because can't we ALL relate to a guy whose dad ran the CIA? - will wake up. Things are getting bizarre and I agree with my mother who is calling this election as another squeaker. I can't take another election night like 2000 - going to bed satisfied and waking up to a nightmare.

But, hey, on the bright side, today's financial disasters aside, don't worry. McCain said this morning that the foundation of our economy is sound. Seriously?

Salaam.