Press Action

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Obama and the Great Depression

By Mickey Z.

No, I don’t mean that Great Depression. I’m talking about the inevitable moment—maybe next week, maybe next year—when the Kool Aid wears off and the Obamatrons wake up to realize their hero offers nothing even approximating hope or change.

The carefully calculated speeches—which have always been filled with empty, hollow phrases—will no longer soothe a battered and desperate populace and the Obamabots will suddenly recognize that the Pope of Hope has never been anything more than a human marketing strategy, a product. This year’s iPhone.

“Yes we can”? Merely the first three words of a longer phrase: “Yes we can continue to work, consume, and obey authority without question.”

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/19.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Spinelessness of Lesser Evilism

The Democrats are spineless. It’s a familiar refrain we hear from some liberals and many leftists. When Democrats support rancid proposals of Republican presidents or fail to aggressively challenge the implementation of odious policies, the spineless term gets trotted out.

Only yesterday on Democracy Now!, Canadian author and social democrat Naomi Klein used the anatomical metaphor during a discussion of the Democrats’ reluctance to challenge the Bush administration on its handling of the $700 billion giveaway to Wall Street.

“So, essentially, what the Bush administration has done is said, you know, ‘We dare you to challenge us and be responsible for the great depression.’ And the Democrats, not known for their firm spines, have so far failed to challenge them in anything other than rhetoric.”

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/18.

Monday, November 17, 2008

News Flash: Obama Hypnotizes Zinn

By Mickey Z.

Let’s say the New York Times hired a charismatic black man in his late 40s to run the newspaper and this popular man promised change. And let’s say I wrote an article that talked about what this man should do, what I hoped he’d do. For example: reduce the business section to a page, add a labor section, start covering people’s movements and protests, refuse advertising dollars from corporations that pollute, and hire me to run the op-ed page. Justifiably, I’d be called delusional and I’d be ridiculed for even suggesting such insane expectations.

Let’s say Perdue hired a charismatic black man in his late 40s to run the company and this popular man promised change. And let’s say I wrote an article that talked about what this man should do, what I hoped he’d do. For example: renounce the chicken slaughter business, shift operations to selling organic, locally-grown vegan food, and donate vast amounts of money to farm sanctuaries. Justifiably, I’d be called delusional and I’d be ridiculed for even suggesting such insane expectations.

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/17.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

In Search of Compassion during Prime Hunting Season

Here’s an excerpt from an impassioned anti-hunting piece published by Cyrano’s Journal Online and authored by David Irving:

Hunting is called a sport. In this so-called sport we pit 10,000 years of civilization and technological advance against creatures that have zero years of technology behind them and possess no means other than their natural instincts by which to defend themselves. The odds are enormously stacked against them. We put out cruel leg-hold traps, lay out decoys, spot and stalk, bait with rotting animal flesh, hide behind blinds or in tree stands, and hunt animals in fenced-in areas where it is impossible for them to escape. Except for expert marksmen, perfect shot placement is a rarity, especially for non-professional hunters and for shots taken at a distance. The consequence is that animals are often shot more than once to try to kill them. They die miserably. Many flee wounded into the woods, as noted above, where they also suffer prolonged, painful deaths. A biologist with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks estimated that more than 3 million wounded ducks go unretrieved every year.

For the full article, please click here (warning: disturbing graphic images accompany article).

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/16.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Obama's First 100 Days Promise Bold, Radical Action

Press Action just received a draft copy of President-elect Obama’s agenda for his first 100 days in office. This draft agenda, received from a trusted source inside the Obama transition team headquarters in Chicago, outlines the top 10 priorities of the Obama administration, effective Jan. 20, 2009.

The document is breathtaking in how the list of priorities goes against almost everything Obama promised (or avoided discussing) during his campaign for president. Kudos to Obama! Let’s hope the reactionary forces in Washington don’t derail these initiatives. Please distribute widely and do whatever you can to support Obama as he works to implement these bold, yet perfectly reasonable, initiatives when he takes office. If this is what he’s planning to implement during his first 100 days in office, imagine what he has planned for his remaining time in office. Here’s the list of priorities. Read it and weep with joy!

1. Immediately cease all military operations in Iraq. Order military commanders to ensure all combat military personnel are transported back to the United States within 30 days. Order military commanders to begin the process of dismantling any infrastructure constructed as part of the occupation of Iraq. U.S. civilian and military leaders must coordinate with Iraqi officials and the public on keeping in place any infrastructure that the Iraqis could use for their benefit. The dismantling of all infrastructure must be completed by July 1.

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Comments (1) | Posted on 11/15.

Some Things Are Bigger Than Any of Us

By Mickey Z.

“One of the good things about everything being so fucked up—about the culture being so ubiquitously destructive—is that no matter where you look—no matter what your gifts, no matter where your heart lies—there’s good and desperately important work to be done.”
- Derrick Jensen

In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed and both Northerners and Southerners were now legally required to turn in runaway slaves. One year later, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin (or Life Among the Lowly) as a serial in an antislavery paper, The National Era. In 1852, the Boston publishing company Jewett published it as a book and, as they are wont to say, the rest is history.

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/15.

Do You Still Consider Yourself an Anarchist?

During the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Bill O’Reilly instructed one of his flunkies to confront Bill Ayres outside his home in Chicago about his ties to Barack Obama. Along with urging Ayres to repent for his work as a member of the Weathermen and Weather Underground, the O’Reilly flunkie asked Ayres if he still considers himself an anarchist.

Ayres didn’t answer the question or respond to any of the other on-camera taunts, except to ask the O’Reilly flunkie to respect his property as he headed to his front door.

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/15.

A Song for Obama

By Mickey Z.

In my younger days, I considered the Village Voice to be required reading. But—like The Nation, Mother Jones, The Progressive, and so many other once useful publications—I no longer find the Voice to be relevant or remotely radical. However, it’s free in NYC and I ride the subways. Thus, I’ll sometimes grab a copy to peruse as I navigate the subterranean tunnels of transportation.

I end up regretting this move…every single time.

As I thumbed through the Nov. 12-18 issue, I came across a loathsome illustration of denial masquerading as a music article. “The Pleasant Dilemma of Hamell on Trial: A post-Obama protest singer deals with victory,” by Rob Harvilla was ostensibly about protest (sic) singer Ed Hamell (a.k.a. “Hamell on Trial”) and others of his liberal ilk but ended up as yet another paean to the beloved Pope of Hope.

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/15.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Driving Mister Barack

By Mickey Z.

As you know, the Empire has selected a new emperor. The Mafia has chosen a new don. The corporation has hired a new CEO. Are you brimming with hope yet? Read on…

According to Reuters, (Nov. 11, 2008), President-Elect Barack Obama has urged President-Select George W. Bush to take “measures to help the ailing (automobile) industry on top of a $25 billion loan packaged approved in September.”

I could easily discuss—yet again—the unspoken reality that America’s version of capitalism relies entirely on socialized costs and privatized profits and all those who righteously decry Big Government are choosing to ignore the massive state subsidies that created and maintain Corporate America and “our way of life.”

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/12.

Protesting Obama's Inauguration

Protesting the inauguration is about protesting two things.

(1) First, it is a protest against the policies being inaugurated, which have been quite clearly spelled out and articulated, so this idea that we need to “wait and see” is grossly misguided. Obama has stated in no uncertain terms where he stands on key issues such as Israel and Jerusalem, Afghanistan, gay marriage, unions and teachers and education, “Rubinomics”, expanding the military in size and mission, and many other issues. If our principles and our willingness to stand up for them are subject to the whims of “propriety,” they aren’t really principles at all.

The idea that because a large number of people are hopeful doesn’t change the facts about where Obama clearly stands on many issues, and when in the past has widespread public support for a particular leader or bad set of policies served as a supposedly legitimate reason for us to set aside our beliefs and actions for the sake of appearances? At best, it’s disingenuous and seems to suggest a degree of embarrassment over how we truly feel and our willingness to fight for what we believe in.

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/12.

Monday, November 10, 2008

What Would Swayze Do?

By Mickey Z.

In the classic 1989 film, Roadhouse, thespian Patrick Swayze inhabits the role of James Dalton, head bouncer at a seedy establishment called the Double Deuce Club. Dalton is armed with a PhD in philosophy from New York University and his three rules of bouncing:

1. Never underestimate your opponent
2. Take it outside
3. Be nice until it’s time to not be nice

Note to those striving for enduring social change: It’s time to not be nice.

Being nice got us a nation that pats itself on the back for its freedom and democracy while relegating most of its citizenry to a life of debt, a life without sufficient health insurance, a life of wiretapping and color-coded terror warnings, a life of undrinkable water, polluted air, and inedible food (sic), etc.

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/10.

Industrial Capitalism Is a Given and the Natural World Is Secondary

Melissa Gragg and Jason Miller Interview Derrick Jensen

11/8/08

“Top priorities may not be any of those five. It may be continuing to stabilize the financial system. We don’t know yet what’s going to happen in January. And none of this can be accomplished if we continue to see a potential meltdown in the banking system or the financial system. So that’s priority number one, making sure that the plumbing works in our capitalist system.”

-President-Elect Barack Obama

Ironically, it is the plumbing of that capitalist system that we are using as we flush the future of life on Earth down the toilet.

We can “elect” a charismatic, intelligent man from a brutally oppressed minority to be our president to purge our collective guilt, mouth “feel good” platitudes, celebrate the triumph of “democracy,” and delude ourselves into believing we are preparing to warp back to a fictitious golden era when America was a benevolent guardian of humanity and the Earth, but that doesn’t change the fact that industrial capitalism is rendering this planet uninhabitable.

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Comments (0) | Posted on 11/10.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Manuel Roig-Franzia Carries on the Tradition of Sleaze at the Washington Post

The Washington Post refuses to cover Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney in its news pages. Instead, the newspapers runs hit pieces, such as this one, about her in its Style section.

Reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia should be ashamed of himself for participating in the disgusting tradition at the Post of mocking and ridiculing anyone who dares to work outside the suffocating confines of the two-party political system. But I assume Roig-Franzia is winning plaudits for his article from his editors and fellow reporters at the Post for daring to reveal the truth about the “Candidate of Mystery.”

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Comments (0) | Posted on 10/27.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Palin heaps praise on unrepentant 'terrorist'

Sarah Palin continues to closely associate with and praise celebrated “terrorist” John McCain, who terrorized the Vietnamese people in the 1960s by participating in bombing campaigns against that nation.

McCain and his colleagues were members of a military that terrorized the Vietnamese through the criminal Operation Rolling Thunder and other bombing campaigns. The U.S. government brutally murdered millions of Vietnamese and other people in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s.

The unrepentant “terrorist” McCain, whose military aircraft was shot down over Hanoi during a bombing run, was released by the Vietnamese government in 1973 after more than five years in prison. Today, a member of a foreign military captured in the United States after engaging in numerous bombing missions over the United States would face, at best, life in prison, marked by continuous torture at the hands of his U.S. captors, or more likely the death penalty.

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Comments (0) | Posted on 10/05.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

No White Flags

Four years ago, many leftists waved a white flag of surrender by abandoning their political principles and embracing Sen. John Kerry’s campaign for president. The Nobody But Kerry crowd lectured disgruntled leftists and anti-imperialists to vote for the Democratic nominee because, even though Kerry was a despicable candidate, his policies would be slightly less fascist and imperialist than George Bush’s. This fraction of a difference between the Democratic and Republican candidates, the Nobody But Kerry supporters argued, perhaps would result in a few more lives spared in foreign countries under attack by the American war machine. It would be irresponsible, they argued, not to take into account the possibility that a Kerry regime would kill a few less Iraqis each year in its occupation of that country and would harass a few less Americans in the so-called war on terrorism.