FOREIGN POLICY: Leading Iranian opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a statement warning of “tyranny” Saturday after a tense night in Iran in which state organs proclaimed that incumbent hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won a “landslide” victory by a two-to-one margin, a statistic that defied the belief of many analysts. Voter turnout was an unprecedented 84%. Meantime, reports from western-based Iranians late Saturday said that several people had been arrested in Iran, including the campaign manager for another reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi, and the brother of former reformist Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, Reza Khatami. Mousavi’s Twitter […]
LIVE AND DIRECT: Faux News From The Faux War
NEW YORK TIMES: CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — It was Sunday night in Baghdad, and President Obama was ordering Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of the American troops here, to shave Stephen Colbert’s head. (Not to give everything away, but the general is not as brutal with an electric razor as one would expect a bald man to be; Mr. Colbert’s hairdresser, on the other hand, has a merciless streak.) War, as things go, is a fairly unironic exercise. Sure, there are endless incongruities to be found and parodied in the speeches about war from politicians, generals and heads of state. […]
AXIS OF EVIL: North Korea Sentences Two Female American Journalists To 12 Years Hard Labor
VOICE OF AMERICA: North Korea’s state news agency says a court has sentenced two female American journalists to 12 years of hard labor. The Korean Central News Agency said Monday that the court found the two women guilty of committing an unspecified “grave crime” and illegally crossing into North Korea. Last Thursday, North Korean state media announced the start of the trial of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for the U.S. media company Current TV. North Korean authorities arrested Lee and Ling in March while they were working on a story near the Chinese-North Korean border. U.S. State Department […]
Sometimes Good Things DO Happen To Good People
As you may have heard, Woodshop Films/Scrapple TV founder Marc Brodzik, our partner in New Media crime, has been awarded a Pew Grant for media art. We could not be more proud or horny. For those unfamiliar with the Big Man, here’s his Pew bio: Marc Brodzik, media arts Born 1967 Marc Brodzik is a documentary filmmaker interested in filming portraits of the common man. In a recent documentary he focuses on small family owned coal mines and the struggles they face to stay in business in today’s market dominated by large corporations. His work has been screened at the […]
NJ State Assembly Approves Medical Marijuana Bill
UPDATE: New Jersey moved closer to allowing chronically ill patients to smoke marijuana to relieve symptoms of pain and nausea. The Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee approved the medical marijuana bill by an 8-1 vote with two abstentions Thursday. New Jersey would become the 14th state with such a law if it passes the Legislature and Gov. Jon Corzine signs it. Corzine has said he would. MORE THE EXAMINER: Just when we thought that New Jersey would be the fourteenth state to ratify laws lifting the ban on medical marijuana, a new obstacle has appeared to slow it down. […]
POTUS IN CAIRO: A New Beginning?
Complete transcript after the jump…
POTUS: Arabian Nights
ASSOCIATED PRESS: President Barack Obama is beginning his latest bid to open a dialogue with the Muslim world by paying a call on Saudi King Abdullah, guardian of Islam’s sacred sites in Mecca and Medina. The monarch of Saudi Arabia plans to greet Obama at Riyadh’s main airport with coffee and ceremony when he arrives Wednesday after an overnight flight from Washington. Saudi Arabia is a stopover en route to Cairo, where Obama is to set deliver a speech that he’s been promising since last year’s election campaign — aiming to set a new tone in America’s often-strained dealings with […]
LIVE AND DIRECT: The Inky Yoo Torture Protest
Photo by PHILLYBITS BY KYLEE MESSNER “Phoo on you, we hate Yoo,” chanted Norman Koener, head member of Philadelphia’s World Can’t Wait chapter. Unfortunately for Koener, a crowd of photographers and Delaware Valley War Veterans were the only ears listening to World Can’t Wait’s pleas to stop torture. Sporting a mask resembling torture lawyer John Yoo, Koener and WCW carried on with their protest against torture and waterboarding demonstration as planned for the National Day Against Torture. Hoping to gain support for prosecution against those responsible for committing torture at, the organization laid their attacks on the U.S. government as […]
TONITE: When I Say ‘Obama!’ U Say ‘Ayers!’
Come to Moonstone Arts Center tonight. Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn will be in Philly TONIGHT for a discussion and signing of their new book RACE COURSE: AGAINST WHITE SUPREMACY, along with activist and poet Haki R. Madhubuti, who will read from and sign copies of his latest release LIBERATION NARRATIVES: NEW AND COLLECTED POEMS 1966-2009. And, I’ll be there! How could you miss out? Bill and Bernardine will discuss how systemic racial inequality in the criminal justice system, education, and housing illustrate the powerful pull of bigotry in our times. Open Q & A with the audience will follow. […]
SPECIAL REPORT: The Good News Flower Hour
SPECIAL REPORT: GNFH #23 Today is SAY NO TO U.S. TORTURE POLICY Day. We made this reminder so you don’t forget. You’re welcome. RELATED: Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged. At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently shows a female prisoner having […]
EARLY WORD: Stop The Death Star, I Wanna Get Off
TORTURE IS A WAR CRIME! FIRE, DISBAR AND PROSECUTE TORTURE ARCHITECT JOHN YOO! RELEASE THE PHOTOS! PROSECUTE THE WAR CRIMINALS! EVENT: Press Conference and Waterboarding Demonstration When: Thursday, May 28th, 2009 4:30 PM Where: The Philadelphia Inquirer 400 N. Broad Street (Philadelphia, PA) — In the face of the Obama administration’s refusal to release a reported 2,000 more photographs of detainee abuse — in spite of being ordered by a federal court to do so — torture opponents in fifteen (15) U.S. cities will hold visible protests to demand that the government make the […]
ALL THAT YOU CAN’T LEAVE BEHIND: Sniffing Out The Paper Trail Of Prez Obama’s SCOTUS Pick
NEW YORK TIMES: Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s judicial opinions are marked by diligence, depth and unflashy competence. If they are not always a pleasure to read, they are usually models of modern judicial craftsmanship, which prizes careful attention to the facts in the record and a methodical application of layers of legal principles. Judge Sotomayor, whom President Obama announced Tuesday as his choice for the Supreme Court, has issued no major decisions concerning abortion, the death penalty, gay rights or national security. In cases involving criminal defendants, employment discrimination and free speech, her rulings are more liberal than not.But they reveal […]
THIS JUST IN: All Men Not Created Equal
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8’s ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law. The decision virtually ensures another fight at the ballot box over marriage rights for gays. Gay rights activists say they may ask voters to repeal the marriage ban as early as next year, and opponents have pledged to fight any such effort. Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote. Although the court split 6-1 on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the justices were unanimous in […]