Arizona Breaks from the Neoliberal Plan for America… Therefore They Must be Nazis

by Scott Creighton

(updates added)

Insiders report Sumner Redner was quoted as saying “Who the fuck is going to clean my theatres?”

Sources tell us Rupert Murdoch raved “You ain’t taking my goddamn slaves! We’ll just see about that”

Bill Clinton couldn’t be reached for comment… he’s picking out drapes for his new plantation down in Haiti. White House anonymous source

And oh how they do so rail against the storm! Both so enveloped in the rapture of their fury as they lash out against the cruel injustice of it all. What of the Constitution! What of the Rights of Man! Is there no Justice!

Thus is the corporate mainstream media attack leveled at one single issue. One single state. Do not expect anyone to be “Fair and Balanced” here. The Washington Consensus is under attack and everyone, from lawmakers to talking heads, to selected blogging pundits must do their part to support the common enemy.

I have never seen the corporate media drop everything else so fast to line up on the same side of an issue like they have over this Arizona anti-illegal immigration thing. All across the fake news spectrum, from Fox News to CNN, the story is the same… Arizona Hates America! Arizona Hates the Constitution! Arizona Hates Your Freedom!!!!!  

President Obama weighed in with “this threatens to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans” (that from the same guy who gave us the banker bailout bill and the insurance bailout bill and who thinks he has the right to kill any U.S. citizen he wants…. overseas….) even as Tom Tancredo had to admit he thought the Arizona law went “too far” (that from the same guy who said “Radical Islam has been the foe of Christendom for centuries.”).

So what is it that brings instant unity to the corporate propaganda mills all across your 200 channels of blathering commercialism? What exactly is it that has so threatened the constitution and our cherished notion of fairness?

Dare we say it? ( ಠ_ಠ  psst… its the ”P” word… shhhh  ಠ_ಠ )

Educating Jon

by Scott Creighton

Absent the naive expectation of any meaningful catharsis on the part of Jon Stewart (after all “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it” Upton Sinclair), the ambition of the following revelations rests primarily in the “hearts and minds” of his audience.  Make no mistake about it, whether by absence of conscious or by sloppy investigational practices (both equally inexcusable), Jon Stewart is peddling neoconservative propaganda disguised as “insightful liberal comedy” and the intended outcome of that propaganda, quite simply, is to create an atmosphere in Progressive America conducive to actions resulting in dire consequences to people all over the world. There will be blood.

Without my having to resort to breathless hyperbole (again), simply allow me to say that in these difficult and dangerous times, Jon Stewart’s cavalier attitude about the deliberately misleading and  inaccurate messages he gives to his audience is so remarkably hypocritical that any self-respecting liberal must either publicly call him to account for his recent behavior, or simply leave him to rot in his own cesspool of deceit. And as his Nielsen ratings drop because his progressive audience has grown tired of hearing his neocon talking points glibly regurgitated and as his network, Comedy Central (Viacom), begins to consider less prominent roles for Stewart in their organization, it is reasonable to expect an entirely new production direction to be laid out for the Daily Show (a “retooling” if you will), complete with a drastically improved vetting process by their writing staff minus the Karl Rovian talking points circa 2003. 

The “market” is a terrible and powerful thing and understanding its nature can be quite useful.

In the ‘news” business and the “fake news” business alike (aren’t both “fake” anyway?), the key to sustainable marketability and ratings points/share growth is credibility. Without it, you have nothing. Without credibility you have no “trust” and without “trust” you have declining market share (Just ask Goldman Sachs what stock value they place in “trust” as they squirm and wiggle from one congressional committee investigation to the next).  It is that declining market share which will ultimately facilitate the title of this article. It is not within this writer’s limited purview to compel one such as Jon Stewart to forgo his darker vocation, but it is well within yours.

Israel’s Big and Small Apartheids: The meaning of a Jewish state

by Jonathan Cook, Global Research

Israel’s apologists are very exercised about the idea that Israel has been singled out for special scrutiny and criticism. I wish to argue, however, that in most discussions of Israel it actually gets off extremely lightly: that many features of the Israeli polity would be considered exceptional or extraordinary in any other democratic state.

That is not surprising because, as I will argue, Israel is neither a liberal democracy nor even a “Jewish and democratic state”, as its supporters claim. It is an apartheid state, not only in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza, but also inside Israel proper. Today, in the occupied territories, the apartheid nature of Israeli rule is irrefutable — if little mentioned by Western politicians or the media. But inside Israel itself, it is largely veiled and hidden. My purpose today is to try to remove the veil a little.

Rabbis Condemn Israel for War Crimes Committed in Gaza: Open Letter to Judge Goldstone

Dear Judge Goldstone,

As rabbis from diverse traditions and locations, we want to extend our warmest mazel tov to you as an elder in our community upon the Bar Mitzvah of your grandson. Bar and Bat Mitzvah is a call to conscience, a call to be responsible for the welfare of others, a call to fulfill the covenant of peace and justice articulated in our tradition.

As rabbis, we note the religious implications of the Report you authored. We are reminded of Shimon Ben Gamliel’s quote, “The world stands on three things: justice, truth, and peace as it says ‘Execute the judgment of truth, and justice and peace will be established in your gates’ (Zaccariah 8:16).” We affirm the truth of the report that bears your name.

Gaza’s Calm Determination

by Norman Finkelstein, Information Clearinghouse

To preserve my sense of purpose, and keep the Palestine struggle from becoming a lifeless abstraction, I need periodically to recharge my moral batteries by reconnecting with the actual people living under occupation and by witnessing firsthand the unfolding tragedy. From each trip I invariably carry away a handful of stark images that I fix in my mind’s eye to dispel the occasional hesitations about staying the course. When the memories begin to fade I know it is time to return.