Saradise Lost & Found© - Chapter 17: The Quitter at the Reagan Ranch, Performs Unnatural Acts in Public

Part One:

Part Two:

Gryph at The Immoral Minority has more.

And at Politics USA, they aren't praising this lame, self-centered speech. Here's the headline:

On His Birthday, Sarah Palin Sodomizes the Legacy of Ronald Reagan

Their thorough deconstruction of Palin's rant ends with this:

Tonight Sarah Palin didn’t celebrate the legacy of Ronald Reagan. She sodomized it with a snarl, a wink, and a smile.

The greatest disservice of all to Ronald Reagan’s legacy came in the form of having a speaker like Sarah Palin who represents everything Ronald Reagan rejected. Even on a stage designed to honor Reagan, Palin could not contain her urges to appeal to worst in America by hatred and division. Where Reagan saw a shining city on a hill, Palin sees blood libel. The biggest insult to Ronald Reagan tonight was the lack of hope, optimism, and belief in America that Palin expressed.

Sarah Palin, you are no Ronald Reagan.

Steve Aufrecht on UAA Chancellor Tom Case Appointment

Retired University of Alaska Anchorage professor Steve Aufrecht has published his second essay on this past week's appointment of retired USAF General Tom Case to replace Fran Ulmer as Chancellor at UAA. His first article, posted at his blog, What Do I Know?, on Tuesday, was titled Alaska's Military-Industrial Complex - Gen. Tom Case To Be UAA Chancellor. It was, as is usual with Steve's essays, a thorough analysis of all available information on this appointment, with comparisons to the history of such appointments there, and in the wider University Alaska system.

I forwarded a link to the article to several colleagues and friends at UAA. Through the week, we learned that the UAA Faculty Senate was disappointed in how the appointment process had played out.

Early this morning, Steve published a followup article, UAA Faculty Senate Upset about Chancellor Appointment Process. Aufrecht prefaces the article with this short statement:

[Some people I've talked to this week said they really aren't aware much of the University. That's a shame because it has a large budget and its mission is to educate the people who will be Alaska's future. The ADN simply cut and pasted a brief version of the University's press release.]

All too often the ADN, with a staff somewhat smaller than your local MacDonalds, has to resort to either cut-and-paste of local or national apparatchiks' public relations stunts, or - an even worse policy - craft some sort of "bootlicking ode."

Aufrecht's coverage of the reaction to Case's appointment is, among other things, a censuring chronicle of how the UA administration let almost a year pass between being informed by Fran Ulmer of her impending retirement, and then acting in a way entirely at odds with the known concerns voiced by educators' representatives at UAA. His description of Friday's Faculty Senate meeting is, in spite of Steve's nuanced, empathic writing style, quite damning of the anti-democratic and autocratic tendencies by the UA administration in this matter. "We don't need no goddam democracy in our system," is my take on how this went down.

All this - digesting Steve's outstanding coverage - while listening to one inside-the-beltway pundit after another on early morning National Public Radio declare that Egypt is NOT ready for democracy.

Anchorage Civic Orchestra Winter Concert Tonight

I won't be performing in the Winter Concert - no tuba parts. But I made the poster, and will be conducting the Spring Concert - Russian Pops (on May 14th).

Tonight's concert features three very solid masterpieces. The concert's highlight will no doubt be the performance of Eduard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole by 14-year-old Anchorage violinist, Eunice Kang. Here's a performance of the final movement by a young violinist, Marc Pavelec, accompanied by the Pilsen Conservatory Ochestra:

See you at the concert!

Rep. Kucinich Requests He Be Able to Visit PFC Manning

Here is the text of a letter sent today by Rep. Dennis Kucinich to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:

Dear Secretary Gates:

I write to request that I be able to visit Private First Class Bradley Manning at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. As you know, I am concerned about reports of his treatment while in custody that describe alarming abuses of his constitutional rights and his physical health. A March 2009 article by surgeon Atul Gawande discusses the effects of solitary confinement on prison inmates and prisoners of war: “Without sustained social interaction, the human brain may become as impaired as one that has incurred a traumatic injury.” Studies highlighted that such prisoners, months after being released, revealed severe brain abnormalities mirroring those who had endured significant physical head trauma.

Private Manning’s guilt or innocence is a question for adjudication and his treatment at Quantico severely undermines the presumption of innocence as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and raises questions as to whether he is truly able to stand trial. His care while in the custody of the Department of Defense is the responsibility of the U.S. Government and as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform it is my duty to conduct effective oversight.

Thank you for your attention to this request. I look forward to your prompt reply.

Sincerely,

Dennis J. Kucinich
Member of Congress

On Thursday, Rep. Kucinich had made a detailed query to Gates, and there is no word as to whether or not anyone from the Pentagon responded, prompting today's letter. In Kucinich's Thursday letter, he referenced reports indicating PFC Manning is not only undergoing severe psychological stress caused by the highly unusual routines the young soldier is forced to endure, but also to the recent report in the Washington Post that Manning "was known by the Army to have had mental health problems even before his deployment to Iraq." Yesterday's letter from Kucinich to Gates concluded with this:

Now, reports indicate that the Army has taken Pfc. Manning, a soldier with documented mental health problems, and confined him under conditions that are almost guaranteed to exacerbate his mental health problems. If true, the Army’s treatment would obviously constitute “cruel and unusual punishment” in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

If these reports are true, the Army must end the extreme conditions of Private Manning’s confinement, and provide him with the mental health treatment that the Army recognized he needed even before his deployment to Iraq. At the very least, the Army must explain the justification for confining someone with mental health problems under conditions that are virtually certain to exacerbate those problems and explain the danger he now presents that only these extreme conditions of confinement can avoid.

Saradise Lost™ - Book 5 - Chapter 36- WTF?©

®OFLMAO on this one:

Sarah Palin, possibly the Queen of all media lately, has become an industry all to herself. Therefore Palin decided to protect herself as a commercial brand and filed for a trademark on for the name “Sarah Palin” on November 5th of 2010. The description of the goods and services that this trademark will protect is “Information about political elections; Providing a website featuring information about political issues.” There is however some bad news for the former Alaska governor. The US Patent and Trademark office examiner assigned to the application has sent an Office Action letter to Palin’s legal team stating the following issue with her trademark: “specimens are not acceptable because they do not show use of the applied-for mark in connection with any of the services specified in the application.”

In layman’s terms, the examiner seems to feel that the documents submitted to prove that Palin’s trademark needs are insufficient. Supporting documents, known as “proof of use” must show the applicant offering a commercial service. What her representatives submitted were screenshots of her Facebook page, an article from the Washington Speakers Bureau and a Fox News article advertising her as a contributor to the network.

Generally a trademark will only be registered if it protects a commercial use in commerce. The specimens submitted to the USPTO do not show that Palin charges for her services in interstate commerce, they don’t appear to indicate much more than the fact that Palin is famous. Palin has 6 months to respond to the trademark office to argue that the trademark is for a legitimate use in commerce.

Perhaps Palin has reason to apply for this trademark. There has already been a trademark filing for wine called “Sarah Palin’s going rouge rouge.” It certainly doesn’t appear to have been filed by Palin. Perhaps it sparked Palin to claim exclusive rights to her name as a brand. Speculation aside, there is sure to be more news on this trademark filing in the coming months, and we will be keeping a close eye on it.

A List of Some of the Foreign Journalists Attacked by Mubarak Thugs, Police and Military in Cairo This Week

Apparently it is rapidly getting worse, as Omar Suleiman's security forces and thugs are singling out any reporters they can find. I know some of the people on this list, compiled by ABC:

APTN had their satellite dish agressively dismantled, leaving them and many other journalists who rely on their feed point no way to feed material.

ABC News international correspondent Christiane Amanpour said that on Wednesday her car was surrounded by men banging on the sides and windows, and a rock was thrown through the windshield, shattering glass on the occupants. They escaped without injury/ (wires)

And ABC Producer and Cameraman driving were carjacked at a checkpoint and driven to a compound where they were surrounded by men who threatened to behead them. They were able to convince the men to release them without any harm.

A group of angry Egyptian men carjacked an ABC News crew and threatened to behead them on Thursday in the latest and most menacing attack on foreign reporters trying to cover the anti-government uprising. Producer Brian Hartman, cameraman Akram Abi-hanna and two other ABC News employees / (link)

ABC/Bloomberg’s Lara Setrakian also attacked by protesters

CNN’s Anderson Cooper said he, a producer and camera operator were set upon by people who began punching them and trying to break their camera. Cooper and team were targeted again on Thursday. “Situation on ground in Egypt very tense,” Cooper tweeted Thursday. “Vehicle I was in attacked. My window smashed. All OK.” / (wires)

Another CNN reporter, Hala Gorani, said she was shoved against a fence when demonstrators rode in on horses and camels, and feared she was going to get trampled/ (wires)

A photojournalist for CNN-IBN, Rajesh Bhardwaj, was detained in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the site of bloody clashes between supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak. He was taken away by the Egyptian Army and later released, but only after his identification card and tapes were destroyed / (link)

Fox Business Channel’s Ashley Webster reported that security officials burst into a room where he and a camera operator were observing the demonstration from a balcony. They forced the camera inside the room. He called the situation “very unnerving” and said via Twitter that he was trying to lay low / (wires)

Fox News Channel foreign correspondent Greg Palkot and producer Olaf Wiig were hospitalized in Cairo after being attacked by protestors.

CBS News’ Katie Couric harassed by protesters (link)

CBS newsman Mark Strassman said he and a camera operator were attacked as they attempted to get close to the rock-throwing and take pictures. The camera operator, who he would not name, was punched repeatedly and hit in the face with Mace. / (wires)

CBS News’ Lara Logan, was detained along with her crew by Egyptian police outside Cairo’s Israeli embassy. / (link)

Two New York Times journalists have been arrested. (A Times spokeswoman said that the two journalists were “detained by military police overnight in Cairo and are now free.” ) (link)

Washington Post foreign editor Douglas Jehl wrote Thursday that witnesses say Leila Fadel, the paper’s Cairo bureau chief, and photographer Linda Davidson “were among two dozen journalists arrested this morning by the Egyptian Military Police. They were later released.” / (link)

Wall Street Journal photographer Peter van Agtmael said he was attacked Wednesday by a group of supporters of Mr. Mubarak near Tahrir Square, where several clashes have broken between backers of the regime and protesters demanding Mr. Mubarak’s resignation after nearly 30 years in power / (link)

BBC’s Jerome Boehm also targeted by protesters / (link)

BBC also reported their correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes’ car was forced off the road in Cairo “by a group of angry men.” He has detained by the men, who handed him off to secret police agents who handcuffed and blindfolded him and an unnamed colleague and took them to an interrogation room. They were released after three hours. / (link)

BBC reporter Wyre Davies in Alexandria – Attacked and driven off by locals several times in the past few days / (link)

BBC foreign editor Jon Williams said via Twitter that security forces seized the network’s equipment in a Cairo Hilton hotel in an attempt to stop it broadcasting / (link)

Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times of London said she was approached by a gang of men with knives in Imbaba, a poor neighborhood of Cairo. Another group of men, who also were strangers to her, pushed her into a store and locked it to protect her, she said/ (link)

Joan Roura, a correspondent for TV3, a Catalan public television station, was attacked by men who tried to steal his mobile phone while he was conducting a live broadcast for the 24 hours news channel. Assaults were also reported against Sal Emergui, a correspondent for Catalan radio RAC1; Gemma Saura, a correspondent for the newspaper La Vanguardia; and Mikel Ayestaran, a correspondent for the newspaper Vocento

/ (link)

Reporter Jean-Francois Lepine of Canada’s CBC all-French RDI network said that he and a cameraman were surrounded by a mob that began hitting them, until they were rescued by the Egyptian army / (wires)

CBC Radio’s Margaret Evans was on air Thursday morning reporting that her crew’s camera equipment had been seized by police and that they were stuck in their hotel, reporting from a balcony that overlooked Tahrir Square / (link)

The Toronto Globe and Mail said on its website that reporter Sonia Verma and Patrick Martin said the military had “commandeered us and our car” in Cairo. / (link)

Two Associated Press correspondents were also roughed up. AP’s Nasser Gamil mentioned in one article (unclear if he was one of the original 2 mentioned) / wires and (link)

Reuters’ Simon Hanna tweeted today that a “gang of thugs” stormed the news organization’s Cairo office and smashed windows / (link)

Voice Of America reporters in the capital were surrounded by several people who prevented them from traveling to Tahrir Square / (link)

Vice magazine’s Cairo correspondent Rachel Pollock gets roughed up trying to cover the protests / (link)

David Degner, a Cairo-based photographer, said five of his journalist friends has been “beaten and had their equipment confiscated” as clashes between the two groups escalated

Andrew Burton, a photographer on assignment, wrote this account of being engulfed and beaten by a pro-Mubarak crowd yesterday. “I dont know a single journalist heading out on the ground today,” he says / (link)

The website of Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper said Belgian reporter Serge Dumont, whose real name is Maurice Sarfatti, was beaten Wednesday / (wires)

Jon Bjorgvinsson, a correspondent for RUV, Iceland’s national broadcaster, but on assignment for Swiss television in Cairo, was attacked on Tuesday as he and a crew were filming/ (link)

Danish media reported that Danish senior Middle East Correspondent Steffen Jensen was beaten today by pro-Mubarak supporters with clubs while reporting live on the phone to Danish TV2 News from Cairo / (link)

Two Japanese freelance photographers were attacked while covering the protests in Cairo, and one of them was slightly injured, the Kyodo News agency reported/ (link)

Two Swedish reporters (from Aftonbladet tabloid) / (link)

epa photojournalist; German ZDF; German ARD / (link)

A reporter for Turkey’s Fox TV, his Egyptian cameraman and their driver were abducted by men with knives while filming protests Wednesday, but Egyptian police later rescued them, said Anatolia, a Turkish news agency / (link)

Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT, said its Egypt correspondent, Metin Turan, was beaten / (link)

Several Turkish journalists were attacked by Mubarak supporters, according to news reports. Cumali Önal of Cihan News Agency and Doğan Ertuğrul of the Turkish Star Daily were attacked and beaten by pro-Mubarak supporters on Wednesday. Both were in stable condition today / (link)

The Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini said one of its reporters, Petros Papaconstantinou, was beaten by protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Papaconstantinou was clubbed in the head with a baton and stabbed in the foot, either with a knife or a screwdriver / (link)

A Greek freelance photographer punched in the face by a group of men who stopped him on the street near Tahrir Square and smashed some of his equipment / (wires)

In addition, five Chinese journalists were briefly detained after authorities found bullet proof vests in their luggage, along with more than 20 walkie-talkies and satellite phones, the officials said. They were allowed to leave after the equipment was confiscated. / (wires)

RT TV crew injured (link)

A correspondent and a cameraman working for Russia’s Zvezda television channel were detained by men in plainclothes and held overnight Tuesday, Anastasiya Popova of Vesti state television and radio said on air from Cairo / (link)

French international news channel France 24 said three of its journalists had been detained while covering protests in Egypt and were being held by “military intelligence services”. (link)

French photojournalist from SIPA Press agency Alfred Yaghobzadeh is being treated by anti-government protestors after being wounded during clashes between pro-government supporters and anti-government protestors / (link)

Police arrested four Israeli journalists for allegedly violating the curfew in Cairo and for entering the country on tourist visas, according to news reports. / (link)

Al Jazeera reported Thursday that two of its reporters were attacked en route to Cairo airport, along with cameraman being assaulted near Tahrir Square / (link)

al Arabiya’s Ahmed Abdullah (and station was stormed) / (link)

ALSO - Al-Arabiya correspondent, Ahmed Bajano, in Cairo, was beaten while covering a pro-Mubarak demonstration. Another unidentified correspondent was also attacked. Another network reporter said on the air that her colleague Ahmad Abdel Hadi was seized by what appeared to be pro-Mubarak supporters near Tahrir Square, forced in a car, and driven away. / (link)

Men in plainclothes surrounded the office of Sawsan Abu Hussein, deputy editor of the Egyptian magazine October after she called in to a television program to report on violence against protesters (link)

A group of men described as “plainclothes police” attacked the headquarters of the independent daily Al-Shorouk in Cairo today, the paper reported. Reporter Mohamed Khayal and photographer Magdi Ibrahim were injured/ (link)

Bloggers, too, have become targets: The popular Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey has reportedly been arrested (it’s unclear by whom) / (link)

- Compiled by ABC’s Erin McGlaughlin and Joanna Suarez

BDS Bieber

I'm getting ready to challenge Alaska AIPAC head, David Gottstein, to a debate at the Bartlett Club this spring on BDS.

Bubble gum pop phenom Justin Bieber agreed late last year to an Israel tour. I'm sure there are a lot of people hoping he will stay there a long time.

Here's a compelling video on his move:


And here's an Israeli-produced interview with Bieber from last year:


I'm in favor of boycotting Israeli products tied to the occupation of the West Bank or are tied of support of egregious practices by Israel and its military, but am reluctant to be totally critical of artists who perform in Israel.

Saradise Lost - Book 5 - Chapter 35: How's Sarah Going to Beat Huckabee's Israel Statements?

First of all, what a series of dumb statements in this clip:


Jonathan Pollard compromised our launch codes for Europe-based Pershing missiles to the Israelis, who sold them to the Soviet Union. That alone should be enough to keep him in prison for his entire life. His statements in Israel, which are in opposition to the positions of every American president since Lyndon Johnson, regarding the occupied West Bank, are typical of right-wing Evangelical Christians when they go to Israel or the occupied territories. Huckabee has been to Israel 15 times now, so he's probably made similar statements in the past.

Here's a clip of Evangelical Christian coverage of his trip and his statements:


Some of my Palestinian friends can date their family's residence in Palestine back to the time of the Phoenicians. Some are Christian. Some are Muslim. The only solution to this seemingly intractable set of problems, at least in my view, is a one-state, secular solution. I hate governments that give one religion priority over others. Including mine, when it comes to this.

Palin is going to Israel in late winter or early spring. She's going to have to be even more over-the-top on these same issues than Huckabee to gain back the inroads into her base base he has made with this trip. What's she going to do?

Accuse Obama of being a Communist for not nominating Jonathan Pollard for a Presidential Medal of Freedom?

Demand the Arab nations accept the entire Palestinian populations from the West Bank, Gaza and Israel itself, or be nuked?

Who knows what she will propose. Meanwhile, expect her to announce the formation of her exploratory committee for the 2012 presidential race very soon.

"Ugly" Native Prayers?

--- by Writing Raven

I must admit, I'm still not used to the amount of ignorance people can come up with when talking about Native people and issues.

I read this excellent article from Indian Country Today about a blessing Dr. Carlos Gonzales, Pascua Yaqui, gave for Rep. Giffords.

At first I was wondering if there was really such a wide negative reaction to a simple Native prayer given. But even Googling the blessing and the video above, I came across some truly ignorant and hateful people talking about his pagan, wierd, ugly prayer (namely conservative bloggers and Fox.)

Hearing Fox News analyst Brit Hume dismiss the blessing as, “most peculiar” was disturbing, but not surprising for anyone who monitors how Indians have been treated in mainstream media coverage. Syndicated columnist and ever-present TV commentator Michelle Malkin live-blogging, “Mercy,” and complaining that Gonzales was “[babbling] about two-legged and four-legged creatures” was rude, but it was far from unfamiliar. Several conservative websites, including Power Line, which described the prayer as “ugly,” were outraged. CNSNews.com, another right-wing news site, interviewed Gonzales, and in its write-up, offered a snide report that listed the word “blessing” in quotes and made mention of the fact that Gonzales had used the word “creator” but not God—an apparently unforgivable offense.

Seriously? Yeah... Listen to the prayer. I gaurantee it's nothing shocking.

I was honored to spend the last week in the company of a variety of Native people from all over the country. Daily, usually two or three times daily, the groups would offer prayers, smudging, and traditional ceremony. I participated in most, not totally understanding most ceremonies. They weren't my tradition. There were others who opted out entirely of participating in the ceremonies, as they didn't believe in them, or didn't want to participate in a spiritual activity they didn't understand.

But guess what? They were able to do it respectfully. They didn't believe those who had different beliefs, and different customs, were inferior, or ignorant.

It's amazing to me that in 2011, this issue of respecting beliefs still comes up. I have a faith that no one can take from me, and I'm not threatened by those who don't share it. Learning about others' beliefs ad traditions doesn't threaten or take away from my own - it enriches it.

I know I should be immune to the many, many times I've heard Native ways and traditions, even art, described as crude or backwards. But I'm not. I don't believe the Catholic across from me, though I don't share most traditions, is of a rudimentary mind. I don't believe the Muslim beside me has a lower I.Q. I'm not sure why it's so acceptable to think the same of my culture's traditions, but it is.

In the meantime, I'm encouraged by the time I spent with so many of my Native brothers and sisters down south. Learning about them changed me, spending time with them was a humbling experience.

Haa Shagéinyaa x’atuwóos' haa shagóoni has du latséeni haa too yei anga.oo.

Two Million or More March in Cairo

This may end up being the largest anti-government demonstration in history.

My favorite tweet this morning from Cairo:

If you want people to stay at home and do nothing, you should turn the internet back on.