Endless Foreign Wars Endless Domestic Crises

Millions out of work
Billions fund wars

U.S. in Middle East - U.S. coast to coast: California to New York Island; Redwood Forest to Gulf Stream waters

Excerpts, editing by 

Carolyn Bennett

Syrian refugees
Bulgaria

War-making creates global crises and domestic crises. Afghans in Turkey-Guatemalans in USA-young Parisians say “STOP DEPORTATION” April 24, 2014,

Palestinian Refugee

Syrian refugees in
Lebanon

WAR-MADE REFUGEES

Libyan refugee

 Ankara, Turkey: “Dozens of Afghan men, women and children protest what they view as UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) failure to review their cases in a timely manner, causing them (the displaced) to wait for longer than expected.

Washington D.C. Hunger Strike
Stop Deportation

Afghans in Turkey

April 24, 2014 Washington, D.C.: While the U.S. President tours eastern Asia, “Undocumented families and their allies hold vigil and hunger strike outside the White House "to put pressure" on the president “to sign an executive order putting a stop to his Administration’s record pace of deportations." Groups from Texas and Arizona came last week to protest on behalf of family members who have either been deported or are currently in immigration detention; this week, delegations came from Massachusetts and Louisiana, took their place and shared their stories with FSRN's Washington correspondent Alice Ollstein.

April 24, 2014 Springfield, Massachusetts, mother and three daughters struggling to keep father/husband Santos Gutierrez from being deported to Guatemala protest in Washington, D.C., after immigration officials took custody of the girls' (sisters ages 7, 11, 13) father. 

April 4, 2014, Des Moines, Iowa, USA: Network for Immigration Reform Now and others host demonstration and press conference for ‘Stop Deportation Now’, Polk County Courthouse, Des Moines.

March 5, 2014 Central Connecticut State University: protests meet the U.S. president with ‘Stop Deportation’ and other signs protesting the president’s “record-setting number of deportations”

Paris, France
Srop Deportation

October 22, 2013, Paris: Thousands of high school students across France mobilized mass demonstrations against the French government’s deporting 15-year-old Roma schoolgirl Leonarda Dibrani and her family to Kosovo, called for resignation of Interior Minister Manuel Valls.  

October 19, 2013 San Francisco, California, Undocumented immigrant activists blocking a bus carrying foreign nationals in the custody of immigration officials faced off with Homeland Security Officials in their protests against deportations.

May Day coming Tacoma, Washington: Hunger strikers now more than forty days are calling for a rally outside Northwest Detention Center (NWDC, where Chicken Pox has broken out alarming detained women) on May 1st at noon, a historical day of action for immigrant and worker rights.

Deportation protests sources

http://kabulblogs.wordpress.com/

http://www.afsc.org/event/stop-deportations-now-rally-set-des-moines

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2014/03/05/obama-deportations-protesters-central-connecticut-state-university/6088643/

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2013/10/19/immigrant-activists-in-california-have-standoff-with-homeland-security/

http://fsrn.org/2014/04/voices-of-white-house-hunger-strikers-against-deportations/

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/04/springfield_family_struggles_t.html

http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/take-action/april-5th-day-of-action-against-deportations/

http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/blog/

http://www.notonemoredeportation.com/event/rally-with-domestic-workers-and-natl-peoples-action/

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/10/22/leon-o22.html

http://palsolidarity.org/2014/01/peaceful-protest-ends-in-deportation-and-imprisonment/

http://www.demotix.com/news/37853/immigration-march-and-war-protest-south-side-chicago#media-37854

http://www.demotix.com/news/37853/immigration-march-and-war-protest-south-side-chicago#media-37855

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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Deliberately disastrous U.S. Anti-Russia Rhetoric

Concerns about American recklessness in talk and actions
Editing by Carolyn Bennett

One voice does not make for truth or understanding but for a tyranny of the few; and of the masses a learned ignorance, a deliberate, oblivious, dangerous ignorance.

This morning I has listening to one of the “oldies” radio stations in my geographical area and had finally had enough from a relatively new (and inappropriate) addition to the station’s music (non-music) lineup, the demonizing pejorative propagandistic commentary of Tom Brokaw; and had to ask the station to ditch the gentlemen. For me, today’s commentary was right over the top in its bashing of the Russian Federation’s head of state Vladimir Putin, calling him what American irresponsible pundits and flacks in the past and present have called leaders such as Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bashar al-Assad, Muammar al- Qaddafi and others ─ “Strongman.” Having framed his subject disparagingly, Brokaw was off on the usual corporate media/government rant. My feedback to “Oldies Rochester” dot com suggested that

Whether or not the actions or styles of leadership of other heads of state are acceptable to us (or expedient in the moment), whether or not we like certain leaders is irrelevant.  

We Americans have no moral or legal standing for condemning any other nations and peoples; and even if we did, this kind of demonizing (immature, deliberately crude) behavior dirties relations among peoples and nations, including the USA.

Then I came across like thinkers. I am not alone in my concerns about the quality and character of U.S. relations with the world; and related to that, the accuracy and unbiased nature of information Americans receive and their depth of knowledge and understanding of other countries and peoples and our connections with them.

Earlier this year during the Winter Games in Sochi, journalist Peter Lavelle was speaking on RT’s Op-Edge program. This is some of what he said: “The level of journalistic malpractice committed against Russia blinds Western electorates, poisons public opinion, and emboldens the reckless political class.… Cheap shots, lazy reporting and maniacal commentary are a form of entertainment served up by Western mainstream media.  

… After the incessant demonization Russia gets from mainstream media, it is quite remarkable that the Kremlin continues to work closely with the West on issues that impact geopolitical stability ─ Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, nuclear proliferation, terrorist threats, food security, and the narcotics trade. 

Western publics rarely, if ever, learn about these kinds cooperation from their media. This is truly regrettable.

A few days ago, in  light of U.S. threats and bashing surrounding the Ukrainian conflict, author and commentator Stephen Lendman continued to raise concerns about the character of U.S. foreign relations, citing the recklessness in U.S. rhetoric. “Reckless comments heighten tensions,” Lendman wrote. “They do so irresponsibly. Rhetoric risks becoming policy…. Great conflicts start this way.… Containing Russia has been the longstanding policy, reflecting U.S. hegemonic ambitions.…   

“In January, Pentagon officials raised concerns about Russian ground-launched cruise missile tests [but they] are silent about their own naked aggression,” which has been endless ─ “killing millions” of people ─ in multiple theaters in the post-9/11 period. “Russia,” Lendman says, “is a powerful force for peace … up against a belligerent monster … headquartered in Washington.…” Its priorities: “Eliminating a major rival [Russia]. Marginalizing, weakening, isolating, and co-opting [Russia].Though “Escalated tensions risk belligerent East/West confrontation, Lendman writes,  

Whenever Washington wages war or plans one, media scoundrels march in lockstep. They regurgitate official propaganda ad nauseam, substituting lies for truth. 

[Reckless rhetoric] is relentless. It persists daily. Big Lies drown out truth.

Sources and notes 

“Journalistic malpractice & the dangers of Russia-bashing,” February 9, 2014, during an earlier period of Western Russia bashing, during the Winter Olympic Games at Sochi, Op-Edge, http://rt.com/op-edge/western-media-russia-bashing-293/

  

United States-born and educated Peter J. Lavelle has lived in Eastern Europe and Russia for more than 25 years, has worked as a lecturer at the University of Warsaw, a market researcher for Colgate-Palmolive, and an investment analyst for brokerage firms, including Russia’s Alfa-Bank. He is journalist and host of CrossTalk, presented by the English-language channel RT (Russia Today) and has hosted RT's programs IMHO and In Context and a monthly business program called “On the Money.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Lavelle

 “Reckless Russia Bashing Persists” by Stephen Lendman, April 5, 2014, http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2014/04/05/reckless-russia-bashing-persists

Stephen Lendman is a writer, syndicated columnist, activist, and broadcaster. Since 2007, he has hosted “a progressive radio show” at The Progressive Radio News Hour on The Progressive Radio Network. Lendman writes for MoneyNewsNow.com and VeteransToday.com and is author of Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity and How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War, http://www.veteranstoday.com/author/lendman/

Clear Channel Communications dominates what we hear over “public” airwaves.  Wikipedia notes 448 stations outside the Top 100 DMA (designated market area) markets plus another 91 stations for sale which may or may not be in the top 100 DMAs. The TV stations formerly owned by Clear Channel were sold to Providence Equity Partners, a private equity firm, on April 23, 2007, with the deal closing in late November 2007. 185 radio stations were to have been sold to GoodRadio.TV LLC until the sale fell apart over financing. and another 177 stations have been sold to other entities. Another 201 stations are up for sale. DMA:  a media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_broadcast_stations_owned_by_Clear_Channel

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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Wasteful wedge: aspiring to relic that doesn't fit

Cons from “Pro-Con Gay Marriage”

Excerpts, minor edits by Carolyn Bennett

Ideas, sensible reasoning, thoughtful reflections interest me. I think these are.

Antiwar dot com Editorial Director Justin Raimondo, August 4, 2011:

[I]f ‘gay pride’ means anything, it means not wanting, needing, or seeking any sort of acceptance, except self-acceptance.

Marriage is a social institution designed by heterosexuals for heterosexuals: why should gay people settle for their cast-off hand-me-downs?

McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law Founding Director Margaret A. Somerville, April 29, 2003:

[Though it] is … argued by those advocating same-sex marriage that excluding same-sex couples from marriage is the same act of discrimination as prohibiting interracial marriage, [the latter] which has rightly been recognized as a serious breach of human rights ─ the argument is incorrect.

An interracial marriage between a man and a woman symbolizes the procreative relationship [and] its prohibition is based on racial discrimination, which is wrong.…

Not extending the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples is not based on the sexual orientation of the partners but on the absence of a feature of their relationship which is an essential feature of marriage.

National Organization for Marriage President Maggie Gallagher [Srivastav], May 22, 2009:

Same-sex unions are not marriages…

That’s Revolting!: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation author Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, May 27, 2008:

...[T]he push for gay marriage has shifted advocacy away from essential services like HIV education, AIDS health care, drug treatment, domestic violence prevention, and homeless care -- all crucial needs for far more queers than marriage could ever be. And this pattern will undoubtedly continue, as millions of dollars will be spent fighting an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment … at a time when social services are being scrapped across the country, and especially in California.

The spectacle around gay marriage draws attention away from critical issues -- like ending U.S. wars on Iraq and Afghanistan, stopping massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the country, and challenging the never-ending assault on anyone living outside of conventional norms.

While many straight people are reaping the benefits of gay liberation and discovering new ways of loving, lusting for and caring for one another, the gay marriage movement is busy fighting for a 1950s model of white-picket fence ‘we’re just like you’ normalcy. And that’s no reason to celebrate.

Sources and notes

“Should Gay Marriage Be Legal?” Pro & Con Quotes, Readers’ Comments (1664)

Pro-Con Gay Marriage, Last updated on: 11/7/2012 3:42:17 PM PST, http://gaymarriage.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001607

Raimondo

Self-described ‘conservative-paleo-libertarian,’ Justin Raimondo is an American politician, author and the editorial director of Antiwar.com. His books include Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement (1993, reissued in 2008); Into the Bosnian Quagmire: The Case against U.S. Intervention in the Balkans (1996); Colin Powell and the Power Elite (1996); An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard (2000); The Terror Enigma: 9/11 and the Israeli Connection (2003). In the 1980s and 1990s, Raimondo ran for public office: California State Assembly and the U. S. House of Representatives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Raimondo

Somerville

Australia-born Margaret Anne Ganley Somerville (AM, FRSC) is founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, Samuel Gale Professor of Law at McGill University, and professor in the university’s faculty of medicine. Honors received by Somerville include Member of the Order of Australia ‘for service to the law and to bioethics’ (1990); Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1991); and first recipient of UNESCO’s Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science, a selection by international jury (2004). She is author of The Ethical Canary: Science, Society, and the Human Spirit (2000); Death Talk: the Case against Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide (2001); The Ethical Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit (2006) [AM: Member of the Order of Australia; FRSC: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Somerville

Srivastav

Margaret Gallagher Srivastav (better known by as Maggie Gallagher), is an American writer, author, syndicated columnist, socially conservative commentator; and president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, a nonprofit organization which lobbies on issues of marriage law. Her books include Enemies of Eros: How the Sexual Revolution Is Killing Family, Marriage, and Sex and What We Can Do About It (1989); The Abolition of Marriage: How We Destroy Lasting Love (1996); The Age of Unwed Mothers: Is Teen Pregnancy the Problem? : A Report to the Nation (1999); with John Corvino, Debating Same-Sex Marriage (2012) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Srivastav; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Gallagher

Sycamore

San Francisco-based author, a novelist, and activist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is a leading critic of “assimilationist” trends in gay culture. She is author of Tricks and Treats: Sex Workers Write About Their Clients (2000); Pulling Taffy (2003); That’s Revolting!: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation (2004); Dangerous Families: Queer Writing on Surviving (2004); Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity (2007); So Many Ways to Sleep Badly (2008); Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform (2012); The End of San Francisco (2013). Sycamore was involved in ACT UP in the early 1990s and Fed Up Queers in the late 1990s; and is one of the instigators of Gay Shame in San Francisco, launched in 2000 and became ‘a year-round direct action extravaganza dedicated to exposing all hypocrites.’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattilda_Bernstein_Sycamore

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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy

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