And the Katrina goes to . . .

In May of 1985, Phyllis George pretty much ended her news career when she saw fit to ask, "Give us a hug" on CBS' morning news/entertainment program. Who was she asking to hug?

Cathleen Crowell Webb and Gary Dotson. Crowell Webb had falsely accused Dotson of rape. Dotson had been sentenced to 25-years in prison for raping Crowell Webb (whom he'd never met) and had served six years before finally being released after DNA evidence and Crowell Webb's own recanted testimony proved he was innocent. As only the second prisoner to have DNA evidence prove he was wrongly convicted, Dotson was news and CBS decided to book them both so that the 'victim' could explain that she'd had a consensual affair with another man and, rather than admit that, had decided to lie and make up a story when she ended up pregnant. (Director John Waters rightly refers to her as "Liar Mouth Cathleen Crowell Webb" and has skewered Phylis George's handling of that interview in an essay.)

It wasn't just inappropriate, it was jaw droppingly inappropriate for Phyllis George to ask that. It was not something that a news program ever does.

"Give us a hug" became a punch line for weeks and weeks after.

And we say all that for many, many reasons. Among those reasons are there are few such moments of jaw dropping ignorance. When one takes place, it times to hand out a Katrina.

Ruth noted one such incident last week in "Chris Floyd and The Embarrassing Aimee Allison." Chris Hedges was brought on KPFA's The Morning Show to talk about the economic crisis and did so at length, not a surprise, he's well versed in this subject. What was surprising was the ending when Aimee decided to waste everyone's time by grabbing a bow and trying to create a happy ending (just like Phyllis George) by asking Hedges not to leave on such a 'downer' note and to talk about 'hope.' He was booked to talk about the economy. Asking him to find a 'happy thought' in that is a bit like after a school massacre asking a guest to find a 'happy thought 'in that.

It was disgusting, it turned a serious interview into a joke and it never needs to happen again. If reality is too much for Aimee Allison to handle, she should seek other employment. As it is, The Morning Show already has more than enough fluff on it. A little less giggling from Allison and little more attention to the news would greatly improve the show.



Until then, Allison's earned her Katrina.

Acceptance

As expected, last week's "The non-fashion plate" and "Don't Steal These Looks!" resulted in confusion on the part of some.

"How dare you claim that Michelle Obama isn't beautiful!" huffed some who have apparently never actually seen a photograph of the woman.



She's not beautiful, not by any sense of the term.

And she can be plain or ugly by continuing in her attempts to play like she's 20 years younger than she is, chasing after clothes that neither fit her nor suit her. Or she can grow the hell up and find a way to accept who she is.

If and when she does that, she might qualify for pretty because when women stop trying to copy someone else's look and find acceptance with their own, they become a lot more attractive.

The non-feminist 'message' isn't our calling out the myths of "beautiful" and "fashionable" Michelle. The non-feminist message is a woman well over forty-years-old attempting to act like she's Hillary Duff, refusing to accept who she is or the years she has on her which should offer some level of wisdom and experience.

To offer a more telling example, Barbra Streisand is today a very beautiful woman. That resulted not from plastic surgery nor from attempting to copy the hottest look of the day. It resulted from knowing and accepting who she was. The jittery thing in her yearbook picture isn't an ugly woman. It is an awkward young woman and the awkwardness vanishes when she begins to be the best Barbra she can be and accept that that's the most any of us can ask of ourselves..

It's a lesson Michelle could be teaching young women and girls today. Instead, she wants to pretend that someone with her girth can play fashion model. It's not going to work. And it's humiliting not just for her, but for all women.

ETAN

From ETAN:



Groups Urge U.S. Action on West Papua Rights as Security Situation Deteriorates

Contact: John M. Miller, ETAN, +1-718-596-7668
Lynn Barclay, Land is Life, +1-413-320-9510
Ed McWilliams, WPAT, +1-575-648-2078

April 10, 2009 - Human rights organizations have urged the U.S. government and Congress to investigate and act on the continued violations of human rights in West Papua.

The letter from the West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT), Land Is Life, and the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) highlighted the deteriorating security situation in West Papua.

As the letter was being sent, the security situation in West Papua continued to deteriorate, with reports of additional armed clashes in the Papuan capital of Jayapura as well as the cities of Biak, Nabire and Wamena. Violent mass arrests were also taking place.

"These developments underscore the urgency of U.S. Government and Congressional action to address the crisis in West Papua," said Ed McWilliams of WPAT. McWilliams is a retired senior U.S. Foreign Service Officer who served in Jakarta. "Washington must press Jakarta to deal with Papuans fundamental grievances."

The letter called on the U.S. to investigate and condemn recent human rights violations and urged "the U.S. Government and Congress... to press for an internationally facilitated, senior level dialogue between the Indonesian Government and Papuans, including Papuan civil society, to address long-standing Papuan concerns and grievances." Among these are calls for demilitarization of the territory and an end to repression and release of those arrested for peaceful protest, provision of essential services, and self-determination.

The letter was also sent to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and key members of Congress on East Asian and foreign affairs.

A copy of the letter is below.

---

April 9, 2009

Senator John F. Kerry, Chair, Foreign Relations Committee
Rep. Howard L. Berman, Chair, Foreign Affairs Committee

In the past week, the Indonesian military and police have reacted with extreme violence to growing peaceful, public protests in several cities throughout West Papua. On April 6, Brimob police shot at least eleven peaceful protesters, four of whom are in critical condition. A primary-school age child was among the wounded, according to hospital officials. On April 3, police in the West Papua capital Jayapura, broke into the office of the Papuan Customary Council, a legally recognized organization representing over one million Papuans, arresting over a dozen people, an unknown number of whom remained incarcerated. The police also seized Customary Council office files and equipment. In Wamena, the police arrested three Papuan students.

This latest spate of government violence targeting peaceful protesters follows a series of arrests of dissenters under charges of "subversion" and "incitement," two provisions of law dating back to the Dutch colonial era that have been widely criticized by the UN and human rights organizations.

In recent months, Papuans have been demonstrating in support of calls for the release of Papuans detained for peaceful exercise of their rights to assembly and freedom of speech, as documented by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch among others. Demonstrators also have demanded action to afford Papuans their right to self-determination, a right denied them in a referendum organized by the Indonesian government in 1969, widely recognized to have been rigged.

Indonesian military and police continue to restrict international efforts to monitor developments in West Papua. Four Dutch journalists last week were detained and deported notwithstanding the fact they held appropriate visas. Those few international officials who do manage to enter West Papua endure disruption of their itineraries by security forces. The 2007 visit by Congressman Eni Faleomavaega and Ambassador Cameron Hume is one example. Indonesian security forces also threaten many Papuans who seek to communicate with visiting officials such as UN human rights official Hina Jilani in 2007. Even Jakarta-based diplomats face bureaucratic hurdles in attempts to visit West Papua.

The U.S. Government maintains that it respects the territorial integrity of the Indonesian state and, on the basis of this policy position, has been reluctant to address the growing human rights crisis in West Papua. At the same time, the U.S. Government and the international community have a responsibility to protect human rights in those circumstances where a local government either will not protect those rights or is complicit in their violation.

We call on the U.S. Government and Congress to investigate this clear evidence of human rights abuse in West Papua.

The U.S. Government and Congress should also publicly express to the Government of Indonesia in the strongest terms, their opposition to these violations of human rights.

We also urge the U.S. Government and Congress, in concert with others in the international community, to press for an internationally facilitated, senior level dialogue between the Indonesian Government and Papuans, including Papuan civil society, to address long-standing Papuan concerns and grievances. These include calls for demilitarization of West Papua, an end to repression of Papuans exercising their human rights and release from detention of those arrested for peaceful dissent, provision of services essential to health and economic security, and Papuan self-determination.

Sincerely,

John M. Miller
National Coordinator, East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)

Brian Keane
Director, Life is Life

Ed McWilliams
West Papua Advocacy Team

cc: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Relations Committee

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs

Rep. Eni Faleomavega, chair, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment

Rep. Donald A. Manzullo, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment

Sen. James Webb, Chair, Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Sen. Johnny Isakson, Ranking Member, Senate Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs

etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan

ETAN welcomes your financial support. Go to http://etan.org/etan/donate.htm to donate. Thanks.

John M. Miller fbp@igc.org
National Coordinator
East Timor & Indonesia Action Network (ETAN)
PO Box 21873, Brooklyn, NY 11202-1873 USA
Phone: (718)596-7668 Mobile phone: (917)690-4391
Skype: john.m.miller
Web site: http://www.etan.org

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.

"I Hate The War"-- You knew it was the most requested, didn't you?


"Roundtable on Iraq," "Roundtabling Iraq," "the roundtable," "Iraq," "Iraq in the Kitchen," "Roundtable on Iraq," "Talking Iraq," "Iraq," "Talking Iraq roundtable" and "Iraq roundtable" -- Iraq roundtable.

"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "The Pig-Pen Ambassador" -- Isaiah takes on Chris Hill.

"And the war drags on . . ." -- Lori, Kendrick and Jonah all had the same idea, all three e-mailed wondering if they could get this entry noted in the highlights? Yes.

"Kat's Korner: When you build your house . . . " -- Kat reviews Stevie Nicks' latest album. This was to be the last Kat review for several weeks. What happened? Betty's son loves a new album and begged Kat to review it. That review goes up at some point today.

"World's worst reader " -- Each week at his site, Isaiah's offering a brief thought or two on one of his early comics. Why just once a week? He doesn't have a great deal of spare time and he's also not sure about how his archives are set up and working. This week, he offered a Bully Boy cartoon.

"Chuck, ACLU, more" and "heroes" -- Mike and Rebecca cover two of NBC's Monday night shows.

"Chris Hill is not needed" -- Ruth explaining that a woman has been doing the job of Ambassador to Iraq since March.

"Barack's reasons for bowing" & "THIS JUST IN! WHY HE BOWED!" -- Cedric and Wally explain why the president of the United States bowed to a king.

"Gwendolyn Haste," "Helen C. Harris," "marvin bell," "Dorothy Parker and Daniel Brown," "D.A. Levy," "Patricia Smith," "Karoniaktatie," "Katie Ford," "Anne Sexton," "THIS JUST IN! POETRY IN COWARDICE!" & "Barack's yellow fever" -- the Tuesday night group post, theme was poetry.

Truest statement of the week

Obama reads his speeches from the teleprompter so I-I'm sure we'll get the advanced text.

-- Andrei Sitov (Itar-Tass) replying to Susan Page's "What do you expect in his speech Andrei?" on The Diane Rehm Show Wednesday.

Truest statement of the week II

Because Obama is now selling us this never-ending war in Afghanistan and talking about making a deal with the Taliban. He is selling us the worst parts of the Bush Administration's war efforts.

-- Elizabeth DiNovella, "Remember When Afghan Women Mattered?" (The Progressive, a rag she far outclasses).

A note to our readers

Hey --

Sunday and we've got another edition. Somehow Someway. We thank all the people who worked on this edition including Dallas and the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ
and Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends.



And what have we got?

• Truest statement of the week -- We went with one that you really need to hear, for the tone.
• Truest statement of the week II -- And this one was an obvious choice for many reasons.
• Editorial: Where it stands -- The thing with this edition was that everyone wanted to be done quickly. Didn't happen that way for us (Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, C.I. and me, Jim) but everyone else went to bed long, long ago. This piece was the left overs and scraps of about seven pieces and Elaine, who had asked for Abby Road to be played in our final hour of writing, suggested we run it together like the suite on side two (vinyl) of the Beatles Abby Road. It worked.
  
• Katha Pollitt, Bronze Booby Winner -- Why so high up with the Bronze Booby? Well we did get some input. Hadn't planned on it. But Ty's boyfriend was waking up and wondered what we'd come up with. His fresh set of eyes insisted this and the next piece had to be moved up high in the mix. But not that high in the mix!

TV: Skimming the Surface -- As I was typing this, Dona asked me, "You didn't write anything about Ava and C.I., how come?" It's not there. We forgot to publish it. Readers are freaking out right now as I type this asking, "What the f**k? Four years of never missing a week and they do it this week and we don't even get a note of apology or explanation!" Ava and C.I. didn't take the week off. We just rushed through publishing and forgot to post their article. They cover three TV shows in this and, readers, a request from me (Jim), please stop making requests for Ava and C.I. in e-mails. A) It's not happening. B) They've already got friends who are sure that any and every bit of praise online could make the difference in a cancellation or a renewal. Those friends are begging them for mentions. And they're having to say "no" because they've got to work each week with what fits. That's why a planned article that was announced for this week got pushed back to next week. I love this one but, honestly, did have to look up RD Laing. Sorry. I won't pretend I know everything because I don't. Read this and enjoy. I was talking about how everyone wanted to be done quickly this weekend. As a result, that meant short features where possible which meant pushing off on Ava and C.I. We asked them if they could do a lengthy article this week? They hadn't planned on it but managed to pull it off. We thank them.

• The Katrina goes to . . . -- Back to where we were. The Bronze Booby and the Katrina were judged by Ty's boyfriend to be too strong to bury in the mix.
  
• From The (Male) Vault: Sexism rules at Pacifica -- This one is basically a reader e-mail. Ty was hoping to include it in our roundtable but we didn't have time. So we wrote some stuff quickly to run with it and called it a "short article."
  
  
  
• Roundtable -- The roundtable. There were so many things Ty wanted to cover and there was only one topic from the e-mails we got to. But it did make for a very interesting roundtable.
  
  
  
• The non-fashion plate
• -- Mike and C.I. brought this back over. It was actually an idea Betty pitched last week that we wrote and rewrote every way we knew how but couldn't get anything out of it. What was the difference? Two dead soldiers in Iraq (US soldiers) and three pages of fluff in the "international" section of Saturday's New York Times.
  
  No surprise -- Shocked is really a bit much, all things considered.
  
  
• With or without a village, it takes an idiot . . .... -- While Ava and C.I. worked on the TV commentary, we wrote this brief article (and worked on illustrations).
  
  
• Don't Steal These Looks! -- Rebecca and Betty largely did this. We offered them a byline on this because it's really them but they took a pass. We'll credit them here.
  
  
• ETAN -- ETAN article reposted here.
  
  
• Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Betty, Kat, Rebecca, Marcia, Ruth, Cedric, Stan and Wally wrote this and we thank them for it.

And that's what we got. We thank everyone and we're glad to say that even though it was long for us signing the note, we were able to say night-night to everyone else by one in the morning.

And one more thing. Kat's "Kat's Korner: When you build your house . . ." went up this morning. It's epic and about Stevie Nicks' new live album. Don't miss the review, don't miss the album, both are wonderful.

ADDED: And one more article this fine Sunday: F**K YOU, MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD. This was written by Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, C.I., Wally and myself. And Wally typed it up. We hadn't planned on this but an outraged e-mail came in over Matthew Rothschild's latest embarrassment (he really needs to be placed in a home). Ty was reading the e-mail to us right after we finished the note. Wally happened to walk through and as we offered twenty excuses for not writing about it, he said, "I'll type!" With that kind offer, we had to make the time. According to Mad Matty Roth, it is now "McCarthyism" to refuse to allow known bombers -- who do not regret their past actions -- to speak at your facilities. Reality check, in 2008 a lot of people learned a lot of things about Bill and Bernardine which they didn't know before.


-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: Where it stands

Let it be a lesson to you, UPFJ, you can't trash A.N.S.W.E.R. to the press and get away with it. You can't insist to the press that A.N.S.W.E.R. is "controlled by Communists" while hiding your own ties.

Well you can and you did and how'd it work out for you?

You got a little bit of press on your Friday actions. Not much, just a tiny little bit. You might have thought you'd rule the news for your Saturday actions. But no one was interested. Or as Aimee Mann once sang, "No one is watching you now . . ."

Geez, what's the world coming to when closeted Communists can't start a red-baiting whisper campaign against A.N.S.W.E.R. without it biting them in their own useless butts?

As The Red Queen found out in April 2008, piss off the wrong ones and there's hell to pay. So her little event got no coverage. And neither did Leslie's event this year.

Poor UPFJ -- United For Pathetic and Juvenile. Thought they could piss all over A.N.S.W.E.R and, fact of the matter, A.N.S.W.E.R. and other groups turned out a huge crowd in DC for their March event. UPFJ?

Did Saturday's 'crowd' make it to 200?


There's the world of the real and the world of the fake and UPFJ is all about the World of the Fake.

They are far from alone. John Stauber (PR Watch) reported on the Center for American Progress and other front groups last week:

CAP and the five million member liberal lobby group MoveOn were behind Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI), a coalition that spent tens of millions of dollars using Iraq as a political bludgeon against Republican politicians, while refusing to pressure the Democratic Congress to actually cut off funding for the war. AAEI was operated by two of Barack Obama's top political aids, Steve Hildebrand and Paul Tewes, and by Brad Woodhouse of Americans United for Change and USAction. Today Woodhouse is Obama's Director of Communications and Research for the Democratic National Committee. He controls the massive email list called Obama for America composed of the many millions of people who gave money and love to the Democratic peace candidate and might be wondering what the heck he is up to in Afghanistan and Pakistan. MoveOn built its list by organizing vigils and ads for peace and by then supporting Obama for president; today it operates as a full-time cheerleader supporting Obama's policy agenda. Some of us saw this unfolding years ago. Others are probably shocked watching their peace candidate escalating a war and sounding so much like the previous administration in his rationale for doing so.

We're really going to miss John Stauber who's leaving the Center for Media and Democracy. He was always a voice who would call out the faux action, who would refuse to cheer on the do-nothings of WalkOn.org. We need strong voices even more today than we did when Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House.

In fact, they're in such short supply that we debated including Laura Flanders' latest in this editorial. We finally decided that if any of us could quote a full sentence from Flanders' blog post at The Nation without cracking up, we'd include it. None of us could. Because we haven't forgotten the disgrace she made of herself over Barack Obama (starting in November 2007). Haven't forgotten it and can't forgive it until she owns her mistake. She was happy to publicly endorse, she should be happy to publicly apologize.

The Iraq War drags on and on, each and every day. And it does so because faux 'peace' groups derailed the movement. A recent Christian Science Monitor article (no link to trash) attempted to push VoteVets as a peace organization. It's not. It never was. It is a front group which exists solely to elect Democrats.

The same bad article swallowed CODESTINK's claim that they're about 'economic justice' these days. No. They're about being soft and cushy for Barack Obama. Jodi didn't bundle all that money in a (failed) attempt to become a power player for nothing, now did she? (Despite all that money and a PR makeover that's ongoing, Jodi is not and will not be welcome at the White House. As Diana Ross once said to Mary Wilson, "It's taken care of.") So Jodi and Medea got their man into the White House and now they want to pretend that a president's not responsible for a war. Now they want to WalkOn, WalkOn.org.

The same bad article mentions the Out of Iraq Caucus. Here's the question you should ask: How many months will it be before someone speaks publicly about how Barbara Lee sold the caucus out or what it took to buy her off?

John Stauber's leaving at a time when the loss will really be felt but it's also true that the fakes and phonies in the 'anti-war' movement are doing a pretty good job these days of exposing themselves.

The ongoing, illegal war passed the six year mark without Pacifica ever giving it a program of its own. (Flashpoints, for example, began as an attempt to cover the first Gulf War.) But one thing we do have is Cindy Sheehan's internet radio program. And though it will deal with many topics, you can be sure Iraq won't be disappeared from it the way it has been from so many other 'left' programs and magazines.

In the meantime, those who really believe in ending the illegal war will continue pressing on. And take comfort in the fact that we only have to carry ourselves, not the egos of Tom Hayden, Leslie Cagan, Carl Davidson and so many other do-nothings.