Motley Moose – Archive

There’s a thought provoking article in the new Vanity Fair by Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winning economist, which evaluates what the current financial situation throughout the world means to America’s position in it.

It is worth reading and thinking about, since it lays most of the responsibility on a “free-market economy” as foisted on the world by a greedy and thoughtless Wall Street, which set very different standards for other countries than it adopted for the U.S. This from the article:

Nearly two years ago, on July 19, 2007, twenty-three South Korean missionaries living and working Afghanistan were kidnapped by the Taliban while traveling by bus from Kabul to their homes in Kandahar.  The Taliban initially demanded the release of twenty-three Taliban prisoners in exchange for the release of the South Koreans.  The US-led alliance of western nations balked and by the time negotiations between the Taliban and the South Korean government resolved the crisis six weeks later, two of the hostages had been executed.  The South Korean government claims to have agreed only to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and ban South Korean missionaries from entering the country again.  Still, other nations criticized Seoul for lending legitimacy to the Taliban and encouraging more kidnappings.

By bizarre coincidence, CG’s timely and provocative diary about Holocaust denial and Facebook, has raised issues of free speech which are a hot button issue today in the UK.

BNP leader Nick Griffin has been pelted with eggs and forced to abandon a press conference outside Parliament.

Dozens of protesters disrupted the event, which follows the British National Party winning its first two seats in the European Parliament.

Chanting anti-Nazi slogans and holding placards they surrounded Mr Griffin as he was bundled into a car.

Mr Griffin was elected for the North West region – a result condemned by parties across the political spectrum.

Mr Griffin and Andrew Brons, who was elected in the Yorkshire and Humber region, staged a press conference on College Green, opposite the Houses of Parliament.

The BNP leader began the event by holding up copies of national newspapers and talking about what he said were media lies about him and his party.

BBC video here. Guardian video here

GLBTQ rights in Uganda have sucked for years, with open persecution by of gay, lesbians and other queers being propagated by hateful and ignorant people in positions of power.  The country has instilled oppressive laws against homosexuality and court cases have challenged these.  The police and mobs have taken to routinely beating, torturing and killing gays, ostensibly to protect the population from immorality.  (Apparently, killing unarmed people who love each other is not immoral in Uganda.  Lucky break, there.)

(Cross-posted at sexgenderbody)

Controversy has been reignited after it emerged that the Facebook has refused to close groups that promote Holocaust denial. Although the social networking site’s position in this matter is not new, this story has seemingly gained some traction recently in the media.

Perhaps one of the loudest voices opposing the corporate line is Brian Cuban who is leading the charge to get Facebook to remove these groups.  After a story from Chris Matyszczyk of CNET covered Cuban on this issue, it drew an official response from Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt:

The bottom line is that, of course, we abhor Nazi ideals and find Holocaust denial repulsive and ignorant. However, we believe people have a right to discuss these ideas and we want Facebook to be a place where ideas, even controversial ideas, can be discussed. Of course, we have some limits.

The topic below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

In the age of Barack Obama, both the Republican Party as well as the South appear marginalized and out of step with the rest of America. Yet it wasn’t so long ago that the South represented the foundation of America’s conservative hegemony. Starting with Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, the Republican Party prevailed in nine out of the next fourteen presidential elections with a reliable Southern base.

Specifically, the Republican Party exploited white Southern resentment against the cause of civil rights and integration. The “Southern strategy” as it was later called, enabled Republicans to end the Democratic Party’s previous domination of the South following the Civil War. A key figure in that realignment was the renowned evangelist Billy Graham.

Perhaps the dominant reason why I am, or lean in the direction of, a liberal, is because of my rejection of religion as a political force. I was born and raised in a conservative Roman Catholic family, but I was also raised to respect the seperation between church and state. I found myself becoming a vocal critic of fascism and theocracy.

So it’s rather ironic that I found my home in Rome of all places

Obama’s speech in Cairo this week was brilliant and the warmth with which he was received was a wonder to behold. However some were disappointed with the length and breadth in which the President touched on human rights and specifically women’s rights. Responding to Obama’s reference to the hijab in his speech, Peter Doau asks:

Is that a joke?

With women being stoned, raped, abused, battered, mutilated, and slaughtered on a daily basis across the globe, violence that is so often perpetrated in the name of religion, the most our president can speak about is protecting their right to wear the hijab? I would have been much more heartened if the preponderance of the speech had been about how in the 21st century, we CANNOT tolerate the pervasive abuse of our mothers and sisters and daughters.

I am old enough to remember what are often called “back-alley” abortions.

My suite mate in college died in a pool of blood from one such procedure, performed by an un-trained medical student.  Back in those days (I was attending an historically black college with strict rules mandating “morality” for young women) if a female student got pregnant, she was expelled from school.  No disciplinary procedures ensued for her impregnator.  This particular tragedy took place in 1965.    

Before we get into this discussion, go toTruthout.org and get the background on Teddy’s Bill: http://www.truthout.org.

Now this is a real winner for the Insurance Companies that are already sucking the money out of the Healthcare system and making it more expensive for the majority of us. For one thing, EVERYONE would be required to buy insurance… and those who couldn’t afford it would get a government subsidy… your tax money in Insurance company pockets.