Sunday, October 06, 2013
Rally for political prisoner Lynne Stewart on Tuesday
Lynne Stewart. is a political prisoner in the United States. For the 'crime' of issuing a press release, she was eventually tossed in prison. The 'crime' happened on Attorney General Janet Reno's watch. Reno has her detractors who think she was far too tough as Attorney General. She also has her supporters who see her as a moderate. No one saw her as 'soft.' Reno had her Justice Department review what happened. There was no talk of a trial because there was no crime. No law was broken. The Justice Department imposes guidelines -- not written by Congress, so not laws -- on attorneys. Lynne was made to review the guidelines and told not to break it again. That was her 'punishment' under Janet Reno. Bully Boy Bush comes into office and the already decided incident becomes a way for Attorney General John Ashcroft to try to build a name for himself. He goes on David Letterman's show to announce, after 9-11, that they're prosecuting Lynne for terrorism.
Eventually tossed in prison? Even Bully Boy Bush allowed Lynne to remain out on appeal. It's only when Barack Obama becomes president that Lynne gets tossed in prison. It's only under Barack that the US Justice Depart disputes the judge's sentence and demands a harsher one (under the original sentence Lynne would be out now). Lynne's cancer has returned.
She needs to be home with her family. Her time is limited and it needs to be spent with her loved ones. Lynne's a threat to no one -- not today, not ten years ago. She's a 73-year-old grandmother who has dedicated her life to being there for people who would otherwise have no defenders. Even now in prison, she shows compassion towards those who have had none for her. Barack Obama needs to order her immediate release. If he fails to do so, then it should be a permanent stain on his record.
There will be demonstrations in support of Lynne this Tuesday.
Lynne notes:
From Deep in the Belly of the Beast ... that is, Texas.
Now another month has passed and I am getting increasingly irritable that these jokers are so cavalier with my life and what time I have left. (I also am getting weaker.)
My application for compassionate release is moving but glacially (Are there any glaciers left?
Only in the bureaucracy...). We learned that the request has left the General Counsel's office of the Bureau of Prisons in Washington and is now being considered by an "Independent Committee" (whatever that means). From there it will ostensibly go to the Director, Mr. Samuels, for the final recommendation and request for a motion to the Judge.
As you can appreciate there is still plenty of room for slips between cup and lip. I truly understand that I, with the strong and consistent support of all 30,000+ of you, do constitute a "threat" in their small universe. That is to say that, the will of the People cannot be ignored forever. With that in mind, I want to urge everyone to come on out on
OCTOBER 8, TUESDAY, MY 74th BIRTHDAY
FOR A LOCAL SHOW OF OUR COLLECTIVE WILL
IN OPPOSITION TO THE '"DEATH PENALTY "
ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE
YOU AND YOUR COMRADES, FRIENDS, ACQUAINTANCES CAN GATHER AT YOUR LOCAL FEDERAL (U.S.) COURTHOUSE OR POST OFFICE TO REMIND THEM THAT WE WILL NOT LET ME DIE IN A JAIL CELL!!!
If you can do this please notify Ralph of your location by sending an email to my web site [1lawyerleft at gmail.com] or to this site. We hope this will be nationwide and we can spread the word of the senseless cruelty in the way the Bureau of Prisons administers a program that is supposed to be compassionate. I may be the "poster child" but this is done on behalf of all the prisoners who are languishing, in pain or worse, trying to go home.
Be out there on October 8. It is already an historic day. Let's make it More So!!! Let's Win.
Can We Go Home? Protest on Monday
Joan Wile, the author of Grandmothers Against the War: Getting Off Our Fannies and Standing Up for Peace and one of the Raging Grannies, will be among those taking part in the following action on October 7th:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Lionelle Hamanaka, 212-662-5011; Vicki McFadyen,646-8245506; Joan Wile, 917-441-0651
CAN WE GO HOME NOW?
PROTESTERS TO ASK ON 12TH ANNIVERSARY OF AFGHANISTAN WAR
On Oct. 7, 2013, a number of NYC peace
groups will mark the 12th year of our invasion of Afghanistan by
rallying at Union Square to demand an end to the war, to ask the
question, "Can We Go Home Now?"
Names of the 2,272 fallen U.S, military killed in Afghanistan will be read.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to capture Osama bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
Mission accomplished!
· Osama bin Laden is dead
· There are fewer than 100 Al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan.
The protesters believe there is nothing more to be gained by remaining in Afghanistan.
- The government we installed after overthrowing the Taliban is hopelessly corrupt;
- It is clear that some in the current Afghanistan government are in cahoots with the Taliban and are undermining NATO efforts ;
- Prolonged occupation inevitably creates anti-U.S. resentment, just as we would resent a foreign occupation force within our borders; Our attempts to "nation-build" a country we don't understand has cost U.S. thousands of casualties and tens of thousands of Afghan civilian deaths, which has only served to radicalize more of the population;
- The cost of the war is now $120 billion per year, money that should fund new priorities reflecting urgent human needs.
DATE: Monday, Oct. 7
TIME: 4:30 - 7 p.m.
LOCATION: 60 E. 14th St., opposite Union Square
SPONSORED BY (partial list): Military
Families Speak Out (Metro), War Resisters League NY, Code Pink NY,
Granny Peace Brigade, Brooklyn For Peace, Grandmothers Against the War,
Manhattan Peace Action, Peace Action NYS
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, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.
"Mia and the meanings for America" -- by a huge margin, this was the choice of highlight of the week by readers of this site as tabulated by Ty. This piece highlighting Mia Farrow, press stupidity and more a was also very popular with us. Ann wanted this to be a Truest " Mia has always represented a trash culture aspect of America. That
remains true today as the message appears to be: When Bravo won't send
cameras, you create your own tacky TV reality show." And we also thought this qualified, "Democrats need to grow up. The first step is stop gobbling the comfort
food. You're not being challenged, your brain is atrophying and your
spirit is in decay."
"Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Destroying The Privacy Wall" -- an unmade Feinstein is far worse to see than an unmade bed.
"Kat's Korner: Jack Johnson learns what really make..." -- Kat reviews the latest from Jack Johnson. Please note, she's already exceeded her agreed to yearly number of reviews. So no more until her year-end piece? No, she plans at least one more, possibly two.
"Iraq snapshot" -- C.I. reports on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
"Iraq snapshot" -- C.I. reports on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
"Nachos in the Kitchen" -- Trina offers a nacho lover's recipe.
"Popcorn,"
"Marshmallows,"
"Junior Mints and nachos,"
"pudding,"
"Graham crackers,"
"Fudge,"
"Cracker Jacks,"
"Pickles."
"Heck Of A Job (Snow Cones),"
"Sea Salt and Vinegar," and
"Cold pizza" -- Thursday was theme post night. Julia e-mailed Stan with a question the week prior and we were looking for a topic for a theme post. Her question was favorite snack? You'll note that Isaiah dipped into the archives and also took part in the snack issue. You'll also note that Elaine participated even though she usually takes Thursdays off (she's doing her new veterans group session in Hawaii). A lot of great choices.
"scandal's so-so opening," "Revolution: Charlie the 'action' damsel in distress," "The Mindy Project meets Happy Endings," "revenge", "revenge (the good parts)," "The Simpsons,""Revolution: It's all White, er, right," "Antiwoman NBC," "Tina Fey owes gays and lesbians an apology," "The Good Wife" and "NBC hates women" -- Rebecca, Marcia, Ann, Kat, Stan and Elaine cover TV.
"Iraq snapshot" and "The Cowardly Ryan is also a liar" -- C.I. and Ruth call out Tim Ryan's Congressional floor nonsense.
"Why is Target screwing over Cher?" -- Kat reports.
"Gravity," "A trashy writer learns that her career is ending" and "Emilio Estevez" -- Stan and Elaine go to the movies.
"Idiot of the week" -- Mike picks the Idiot of the Week though he probably could have also gone with
"That idiot Joel Wing."
"Maybe people don't know what they're doing?" -- Betty raises a basic point about websites. Confession, we didn't. There's an edition this summer where, if you click on it, all these videos start streaming. We didn't intend that. The next week, when doing videos, Ty raised the complaints that had come in on that edition and C.I. said, "It's the programming code. Someone must have embedded the wrong code. I'll put the videos in and we'll do a tutorial while I do." Which is why we not longer have that problem.
"Tom Clancy" -- Ruth notes a passing.
"On ObamaCare and the shut down," "The shutdown," "What shutdown?," "Thoughts on shutdown,"
"Barry O loses snow day" and "THIS JUST IN! WHAT WILL HE SAY? WILL HIS ASS ALSO SPEAK?," "A girl loves to dance" and "THIS JUST IN! BARRY, BARRY, BARRY'S OUT OF TIME?," "Jesse Jackson, shut up" and "Where is the leadership?" and "THIS JUST IN! STILL DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS!" -- shutdown coverage from Trina, Ruth, Cedric, Wally and Betty.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Truest statement of the week
Do you think Obama's been judged by any rational standards? Has Guantanamo closed? Is a war over? Is anyone paying any attention to Iraq? Is he seriously talking about going into Syria? We are not doing so well in the 80 wars we are in right now, what the hell does he want to go into another one for. What's going on [with journalists]?
-- Seymour Hersh to Lisa O'Carroll, "Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media" (Guardian).
-- Seymour Hersh to Lisa O'Carroll, "Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media" (Guardian).
Truest statement of the week II
It's pathetic, they are more than
obsequious, they are afraid to pick on this guy [Obama].
-- Seymour Hersh to Lisa O'Carroll, "Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media" (Guardian).
-- Seymour Hersh to Lisa O'Carroll, "Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media" (Guardian).
A note to our readers
Hey --
Another Sunday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes 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),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
We thank them all. What did we come up with?
We went with Seymour Hersh . . .
For both truests. In fact, we almost did three Truests. If we had, he would have gotten all three. May everyone listen to what he's saying. Especially cheap whores like Ani Di Franco.
This was the last piece we wrote. C.I. and I (Jim) led on this.
Ava and C.I. wrote two TV pieces this week. This one focuses on NBC's problems which include homophobia, sexism and promoting police torture. This is a strong piece.
One of three short pieces this edition. Dona always cries for them. Noting that they break up the look of the site and that they are a nice balance for longer articles. She's right. We had three this edition. Two looked at the White House ad for ObamaCare -- posted on the White House website. This one pointed out that all the people featured are Anglo White.
Another short feature. We've been doing Tweet of the Week for some time now. Last week, it was noted that someone was copying us. We're flattered.
I respond to Joel Wing. The idiot Joel Wing. By the way, our e-mail address is thethirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com and my name is Jim if you're writing me.
Our last short feature. This is also on the ObamaCare cartoon which feels the need to emphasize a man's cock and balls. Can we get a TV-MA rating on this?
Ava and C.I. wrote two articles. They were cheating and watching NBC on satellite -- to get the show the East Coast got because they were ready to start writing. On the NBC feed, after SNL went off, this show came on. Did it come on elsewhere? Ava and C.I. couldn't even find a promotion of this Arcade Five TV special on the Arcade Five website. But they watched it -- in a continual state of disbelief and felt someone had to report on it.
A friend of ours from college got screwed over by "Trash" (as Ava calls the woman). This is important to us because it's our friend. It's also important to us because we think the relationship was verbally abusive and could easily have crossed into physical abuse (and, honestly, we don't believe Trash pushed our friend down the stairs -- breaking his finger -- by accident so we think it was already abusive). Our friend's a guy. Throughout, he was wondering what he was doing wrong. We think this speaks to abusive relationships everywhere.
Dona weighs in here on what Ty weighed in above. Ava and Jess have already gone so I'll wrap up this feature on abusive Trash next week. I was supposed to go this week but wanted to instead focus on Joel Wing.
Elaine's rightly pointed out ("So has C.I.," Jess just added) that the war on Syria is not gone. It's still a dream of Barack and John's so we need to be paying attention to this. Parker and Flounders have some strong points.
As does Mumia in our second repost from Workers World.
Mike and the gang wrote this. We thank them for it.
And as Nanci Griffith's singing "We are leaving the harbor . . .," we wrap up a note. The previous two weeks were heavy editions and people weren't in the mood. Actually, that was true of 2 Sundays ago. Last week was easier in many ways but Ava, Jess and C.I. were partying and not wanting to participate in 'a note.' I barely got C.I. to participate in the feature that so unhinged Joel Wing. :D
But we've got a note this week. Next week, we plan to grab comics. Had hoped to get to them this week but there wasn't time.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Another Sunday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes 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),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
We thank them all. What did we come up with?
We went with Seymour Hersh . . .
For both truests. In fact, we almost did three Truests. If we had, he would have gotten all three. May everyone listen to what he's saying. Especially cheap whores like Ani Di Franco.
This was the last piece we wrote. C.I. and I (Jim) led on this.
Ava and C.I. wrote two TV pieces this week. This one focuses on NBC's problems which include homophobia, sexism and promoting police torture. This is a strong piece.
One of three short pieces this edition. Dona always cries for them. Noting that they break up the look of the site and that they are a nice balance for longer articles. She's right. We had three this edition. Two looked at the White House ad for ObamaCare -- posted on the White House website. This one pointed out that all the people featured are Anglo White.
Another short feature. We've been doing Tweet of the Week for some time now. Last week, it was noted that someone was copying us. We're flattered.
I respond to Joel Wing. The idiot Joel Wing. By the way, our e-mail address is thethirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com and my name is Jim if you're writing me.
Our last short feature. This is also on the ObamaCare cartoon which feels the need to emphasize a man's cock and balls. Can we get a TV-MA rating on this?
Ava and C.I. wrote two articles. They were cheating and watching NBC on satellite -- to get the show the East Coast got because they were ready to start writing. On the NBC feed, after SNL went off, this show came on. Did it come on elsewhere? Ava and C.I. couldn't even find a promotion of this Arcade Five TV special on the Arcade Five website. But they watched it -- in a continual state of disbelief and felt someone had to report on it.
A friend of ours from college got screwed over by "Trash" (as Ava calls the woman). This is important to us because it's our friend. It's also important to us because we think the relationship was verbally abusive and could easily have crossed into physical abuse (and, honestly, we don't believe Trash pushed our friend down the stairs -- breaking his finger -- by accident so we think it was already abusive). Our friend's a guy. Throughout, he was wondering what he was doing wrong. We think this speaks to abusive relationships everywhere.
Dona weighs in here on what Ty weighed in above. Ava and Jess have already gone so I'll wrap up this feature on abusive Trash next week. I was supposed to go this week but wanted to instead focus on Joel Wing.
Elaine's rightly pointed out ("So has C.I.," Jess just added) that the war on Syria is not gone. It's still a dream of Barack and John's so we need to be paying attention to this. Parker and Flounders have some strong points.
As does Mumia in our second repost from Workers World.
Mike and the gang wrote this. We thank them for it.
And as Nanci Griffith's singing "We are leaving the harbor . . .," we wrap up a note. The previous two weeks were heavy editions and people weren't in the mood. Actually, that was true of 2 Sundays ago. Last week was easier in many ways but Ava, Jess and C.I. were partying and not wanting to participate in 'a note.' I barely got C.I. to participate in the feature that so unhinged Joel Wing. :D
But we've got a note this week. Next week, we plan to grab comics. Had hoped to get to them this week but there wasn't time.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: The assassination of Ammar Jassam Theyabi
National Iraqi News Agency reported a Ramadi sticky bombing claimed the life of "Ammar Theyabi, one of the organizers of the Anbar protests." Alsumaria revealed that Ammar was crossing a bridge when the bomb went off. Iraqi Spring MC states the attack bears the characteristics of one carried out by government intelligence agents.If so, it wouldn't be the first time Nouri's forces had attacked and killed peaceful protesters.
But the world looks the other way.
US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry publicly rage over a chemical attack in Syria that they clearly know nothing about and yet they say nothing of the April 23rd massacre of a sit-in in Hawija resulted from Nouri's federal forces storming in. Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk) announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault. AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead. UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).
And Barack Obama has, to this day, never said one word. In May of 1970, the Kent State massacre ("Four dead in Ohio," as Neil Young wrote in the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young hit "Ohio") outraged a nation. In 2013, most Americans were never informed what Nouri's forces did or that Nouri's forces killed 8 children.
What was it like to be there? To be a peaceful protester who is suddenly attacked by government forces? The US media hasn't shown in any interest in supplying the answer to that question. But BRussells Tribunal did. They carried an eye witness report:
I am Thamer Hussein Mousa from the village of Mansuriya in the district
of Hawija. I am disabled. My left arm was amputated from the shoulder
and my left leg amputated from the hip, my right leg is paralyzed due to
a sciatic nerve injury, and I have lost sight in my left eye.
I have five daughters and one son. My son’s name is Mohammed Thamer. I am no different to any other Iraqi citizen. I love what is good for my people and would like to see an end to the injustice in my country.
When we heard about the peaceful protests in Al-Hawija, taking place at ‘dignity and honor square’, I began attending with my son to reclaim our usurped rights. We attended the protests every day, but last Friday the area of protest was besieged before my son and I could leave; just like all the other protestors there.
Food and drink were forbidden to be brought into the area….
On the day of the massacre (Tuesday 23 April 2013) we were caught by surprise when Al-Maliki forces started to raid the area. They began by spraying boiling water on the protestors, followed by heavy helicopter shelling. My little son stood beside me. We were both injured due to the shelling.
My son, who stood next to my wheelchair, refused to leave me alone. He told me that he was afraid and that we needed to get out of the area. We tried to leave. My son pushed my wheelchair and all around us, people were falling to the ground.
Shortly after that, two men dressed in military uniforms approached us. One of them spoke to us in Persian; therefore we didn’t understand what he said. His partner then translated. It was nothing but insults and curses. He then asked me “Handicapped, what do you want?” I did not reply. Finally I said to him, “Kill me, but please spare my son”. My son interrupted me and said, “No, kill me but spare my father”. Again I told him “Please, spare my son. His mother is waiting for him and I am just a tired, disabled man. Kill me, but please leave my son”. The man replied “No, I will kill your son first and then you. This will serve you as a lesson.” He then took my son and killed him right in front of my eyes. He fired bullets into his chest and then fired more rounds. I can’t recall anything after that. I lost consciousness and only woke up in the hospital, where I underwent surgery as my intestines were hanging out of my body as a result of the shot.
After all of what has happened to me and my little son – my only son, the son who I was waiting for to grow up so he could help me – after all that, I was surprised to hear Ali Ghaidan (Lieutenant General, Commander of all Iraqi Army Ground Forces) saying on television, “We killed terrorists” and displaying a list of names, among them my name: Thamer Hussein Mousa.
I ask you by the name of God, I appeal to everyone who has a shred of humanity. Is it reasonable to label me a terrorist while I am in this situation, with this arm, and with this paralyzed leg and a blind eye?
I ask you by the name of God, is it reasonable to label me a terrorist? I appeal to all civil society and human rights organizations, the League of Arab States and the Conference of Islamic States to consider my situation; all alone with my five baby daughters, with no one to support us but God. I was waiting for my son to grow up and he was killed in this horrifying way.
I have five daughters and one son. My son’s name is Mohammed Thamer. I am no different to any other Iraqi citizen. I love what is good for my people and would like to see an end to the injustice in my country.
When we heard about the peaceful protests in Al-Hawija, taking place at ‘dignity and honor square’, I began attending with my son to reclaim our usurped rights. We attended the protests every day, but last Friday the area of protest was besieged before my son and I could leave; just like all the other protestors there.
Food and drink were forbidden to be brought into the area….
On the day of the massacre (Tuesday 23 April 2013) we were caught by surprise when Al-Maliki forces started to raid the area. They began by spraying boiling water on the protestors, followed by heavy helicopter shelling. My little son stood beside me. We were both injured due to the shelling.
My son, who stood next to my wheelchair, refused to leave me alone. He told me that he was afraid and that we needed to get out of the area. We tried to leave. My son pushed my wheelchair and all around us, people were falling to the ground.
Shortly after that, two men dressed in military uniforms approached us. One of them spoke to us in Persian; therefore we didn’t understand what he said. His partner then translated. It was nothing but insults and curses. He then asked me “Handicapped, what do you want?” I did not reply. Finally I said to him, “Kill me, but please spare my son”. My son interrupted me and said, “No, kill me but spare my father”. Again I told him “Please, spare my son. His mother is waiting for him and I am just a tired, disabled man. Kill me, but please leave my son”. The man replied “No, I will kill your son first and then you. This will serve you as a lesson.” He then took my son and killed him right in front of my eyes. He fired bullets into his chest and then fired more rounds. I can’t recall anything after that. I lost consciousness and only woke up in the hospital, where I underwent surgery as my intestines were hanging out of my body as a result of the shot.
After all of what has happened to me and my little son – my only son, the son who I was waiting for to grow up so he could help me – after all that, I was surprised to hear Ali Ghaidan (Lieutenant General, Commander of all Iraqi Army Ground Forces) saying on television, “We killed terrorists” and displaying a list of names, among them my name: Thamer Hussein Mousa.
I ask you by the name of God, I appeal to everyone who has a shred of humanity. Is it reasonable to label me a terrorist while I am in this situation, with this arm, and with this paralyzed leg and a blind eye?
I ask you by the name of God, is it reasonable to label me a terrorist? I appeal to all civil society and human rights organizations, the League of Arab States and the Conference of Islamic States to consider my situation; all alone with my five baby daughters, with no one to support us but God. I was waiting for my son to grow up and he was killed in this horrifying way.
I hold Obama responsible for this act because he is the one who gave
them these weapons. The weapons and aircrafts they used and fired upon
us were American weapons. I also hold the United States of America
responsible for this criminal act, above all, Obama.
Iraqi Spring MC published the photo of Ammar. They remembered him. He's one of many they've lost in their ongoing protests which passed the nine month Friday, September 20th. You didn't hear about that from the US press either.
But grasp that this ongoing silence doesn't mean that the brave Iraqis who have stood up like Ammar, who continue to stand up despite Ammar's assassination, grasp that the silence from the US media about them does not mean that they are worthless. They are strong. They are brave. It's the US media that's worthless.
TV: The sewer that is NBC
Tina Fey's 'triumphant' return to Saturday Night Live took place last night. Sage Stossel (The Atlantic) struck us as giddy (and uninformed), Mike Ryan (Huffington Post) was a little more reasoned (but just as uninformed), and it only got worse from there. The lack of awareness struck us as the real issue of the broadcast.
See, NBC has been airing public service announcements [PSAs] for so long, we half expect to come across a vintage one featuring Alf and McLean Stevenson taped on board Supertrain.
The More You Know is the PSA and NBC kicked it off in 1989 and they like to point out:
THE MORE YOU KNOW was honored with two National Education Association Awards for the Advancement of Learning Through Broadcasting. This honor marks the first time in the NEA's history that a television network ever won twice for the same effort.
Yeah, well maybe it's time for NBC to start returning those awards?
Especially the one they won in 2004:
NBC UNIVERSAL, BRAVO, AND 'THE MORE YOU KNOW' CAMPAIGN HONORED AT THE 2004 LAMBDA LEGAL LIBERTY AWARDS
BURBANK, Calif. -- October 4, 2004 -- NBC Universal, Bravo, and "The More You Know" campaign were honored at this year's 2004 LAMBDA Legal Liberty Awards on September 30 in Los Angeles.
LAMBDA Legal honors individuals and companies that deal with LGBT issues and promote diversity and tolerance. NBC Universal, Bravo, and "The More You Know" campaign were recognized for presenting diverse and positive portrayals of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community through programs such as "Will & Grace," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," "Boy Meets Boy," and the numerous "The More Your Know" public service announcements that have focused on prejudice, diversity and tolerance.
Frances Berwick, Bravo Senior Vice President of Programming and Production and Emmy Award-winner, accepted the award on behalf of NBC Universal, Bravo, and "The More You Know" campaign. James Getzlaff, star of Bravo's hit "Boy Meets Boy," presented the award.
Yeah, that award especially needs to be returned.
The PSAs? They don't appear to have made a difference with TV critics who surely must have seen them and, even worse, it appears NBC employees missed the point as well.
In her monologue, Tina Fey barely managed to string together a few so-so jokes before expressing homophobia. This took place when she brought the five men and one woman who joined the cast this episode on stage and made them dance, thrust their crotches and shake their asses, while she declared, "It's a right of passage that couldn't be gayer."
What did that 'comic' just say?
Wanda Sykes: Please don't say that. Say that something is "gay" when you mean that something is dumb or stupid. It's insulting. It's like if I thought this pepper shaker was stupid and I said, "Man, this pepper shaker is so 16-year-old boy with a cheesy mustache." Just sayin'. When you say "that's so gay," do you realize what you say? Knock if off.
That's a PSA Wanda did in 2008. In 2013, in the debut show of the season, Saturday Night Live, in the opening monologue, thought "that couldn't be gayer" was appropriate and Tina Fey -- who has a long history of homophobia via the portrayals and 'jokes' on 30 Rock (click here and here for two pieces we wrote on that in 2011 and 2012) -- was just the host to deliver the line.
As Wanda said five years ago, knock it off.
It's not funny.
But it's amazing because we read 23 pieces on last night's show and not one reviewer mentioned the line, let alone called it out. Shame on them.
They create the climate for homophobia to grow.
And NBC really needs to be called out.
Ironside premiers Wednesday. We love Blair Underwood. Love seeing him on TV. He was great at Mr. Harris on The New Adventures of Old Christine and as President Elias Martinez on The Event. We raised our eyebrows at the thought of a reboot of this crime drama but Blair in the lead role, the one Raymond Burr played in the 60s and 70s? That might make the show worth watching.
And then we watched.
And were so appalled, we thought about not even mentioning it.
Kicking off the new season with a review slamming a new show?
It just seemed . . . so very us.
And we've done it and we wanted to do something different.
But then 'liberal' Tina Fey shows up on SNL last night and she's spreading homophobia and it just seems like NBC can't get their act together anymore.
Maybe you noticed their line up this fall? And how little women matter in it?
On Sundays, for example, you will see women. You will see them shake that ass and shake their pom-poms as NBC airs football. First, on Football Night in America, you will see Bob Costas . . . and seven other men offer analysis. You will see no woman.
After that, you'll get NBC Sunday Night Football. Bob Costas will be back for that one along with Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Hines Ward, Scott Pioli and, yes, Michele Tafoya. Tafoya is the sole woman. So in the first half of it's football line up, NBC will feature 8 men and no women as hosts and commentators, and in the second half you'll get eight men and one woman. Sunday nights on NBC, not worth watching.
Monday's is two hours of The Voice and the laughable James Spader vehicle known as The Blacklist.
(We'll be going to town on that bad show real soon.) The Voice is allegedly a woman's program (talk to NBC, not us, we're not making that claim). A woman's show? That must be why this year's judges are three men (Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton) and one woman (Christina Aguilera), right?
Tuesday is another hour of The Voice followed by the new sitcom About A Boy (Minnie Driver is one of two women in the cast of this male-dominated show about how women dampen men's spirits) and then more crap entitled Growing Up Fisher. Two episodes into the latter, you'll be praising Parker Posey for dumping the show when NBC picked it up. You'll also be wondering why Jenna Elfman elected to then take the role. If there's any justice, this will be the fourth failed sitcom Elfman will have been in since Dharma & Greg. She is one of two women in a cast of five. NBC closes out the night with Chicago Fire and its eleven main characters -- only three of which are women.
Continuing the anti-woman sentiment: Revolution on Wednesday. They had a year to move beyond sexism. They don't appear to have done so. As Marcia's pointed out, the whole point of science fiction is reconfiguring the world. Instead, the NBC series just offers tired roles of women as victims with the token young female of faux-action (rescued repeatedly). You then get Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. If you go to "about" on the show's website, you'll find the series stars Mariska Hargitay, Ice T, Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Kelli Giddish, Danny Pino and Raul Esparza. In other words, the show stars five men and two women? Is this 1913 or 2013?
Thursday night may be when NBC really runs off viewers as it seeks to ensure that not one woman between the ages of 20 and 50 appear as a happy single woman. 'Wait, wait! There's the great Rashida Jones!" Rashida is great but Parks and Recreation lost interest in her character at the start of last season and Rashida is leaving the show after the first eight episodes. (Hate to break it to Parks, but when Rashida goes, so does the show.) More importantly, she's really not single this season and we're not just referring to Ann's pregnancy. Welcome to the Family follows. It is a family sitcom. Outside of The Cosby Show, NBC's never really had any success with those in some time. Credit Mike Sikowitz and Jamie Tarses with the fact that this show looks like it was filmed this century. Mary McCormack fans, prepare yourself, she's created a completely different character than any you've seen her play before. (We mean that as high praise and we thought she was great in In Plain Sight.) But this is one of four sitcoms. It's followed by Sean Saves The World and the question there is: For whom? Yes, Megan Hilty and Linda Lavin are in the cast. Megan's strictly second banana. (We're referring to her emphasis, not her talent.) Lavin gets a little bit more to do. There are six adults in the cast -- only two are women. Again, whom is Sean saving the world for? (Don't bring up the child actor. We've been on the beat forever and, in 2005, once covered a child's acting abilities. A friend then called us on that. We've never reviewed child actors since.) There are eight cast members of The Michael J. Fox Show. Two are children. (The actress playing Fox's daughter just turned 18 seven days ago. We're calling her a child.) That leaves three males, three females. And Candice Bergen will be joining the cast as Fox's mother! Yes, and NBC demanded that. They also want Katie Finneran fired and her character (Fox's sister) written off the show. (Her character, it should be noted, is the latest in TV's supporting characters of the female gender that date back to Rose Marie on The Dick Van Dyke Show -- man hungry and unable to interest any men.) Closing out the night, the 'drama' Parenthood featuring six adult women and five adult men -- and the generic and sexist outlook of Ron Howard and Brian Glaser but, remember, no one's ever supposed to notice that.
Friday and Saturday, this fall, NBC takes the night off.
And a grateful nation screams, "Thank you for that!"
Why is it that we're the only critics noticing how adult actresses are being screwed over this season and that NBC is not offering one show fronted and led by a woman. Not one. There is, for instance, no The Justine Bateman Show. But we do have The Michael J. Fox Show. Three years ago, while the Water Cooler Set were frothing over the 'trend' where women were taking over TV (we wish!), we were left to note that it was three sitcoms with female leads (see "TV: The perverts still drool over Shirley Temple"). It would be really nice if the other lazy asses could maybe stop joking at the Water Cooler and actually do their damn job.
In case they've forgotten, that job is to review TV.
NBC offers not one female led show this season. It disappears women on nearly every night (most so on Sundays) and not one peep from the critics.
And are we really going to be the only TV critics in the country who are going to object to David Bianculli's sexist take on TV that he presented on Fresh Air (NPR) last week which name checked 9 men in television but couldn't mention one woman while supposedly reviewing TV this fall? Eight minutes that segment went on (and on and on) and he couldn't mention one damn woman.
Why does TV often suck so bad? Because of the men reviewing it. Never forget that fact.
Fun fact, the original TV show Ironside kicked off in September 1967 (after a TV movie the previous March) starring Raymond Burr and three other actors -- two men and one woman. Four years shy of fifty years later, Ironside returns with a cast of six -- and only one of them is a woman.
We're going a long way, baby -- a long way backwards.
Again, where the hell are the supposed TV critics?
It's not just the inability to put women on the screen that harms NBC and Ironside.
It's also the embrace of torture and abuse.
The series will open Wednesday night with Blair's character in the back of a car with a suspect. Blair will taunt and insult the man and beat him up.
A police officer will object.
Blair will point to a little girl being pulled from the trunk as a result of his torture and abuse.
The objecting officer will fall silent.
We're embarrassed for Blair Underwood and we made that very clear to three friends with the show. We found it outrageous that (a) this would happen to Ironside and (b) this is how NBC and the producers chose to portray an African-American male lead.
We are aware, aren't we, that Kerry Washington only just became the first African-American lead of a successful hour long TV show, right? (Scandal returns with new episodes during the last hour of prime time this Thursday on ABC.) And yet this is how NBC chooses to present their highest profile Black character?
As a little thug who beats up suspects because he's too dumb to figure out how to interrogate them? Because he's too stupid to know how to do police work?
We're getting really fed up with TV and its insistence on selling police brutality as normal, on showing police breaking the law as a good thing.
We really think it's time that these shows were pulled from television.
They exist to destroy our rights as citizens and to glorify official abuse.
There is nothing funny or entertaining about it.
NBC uses the PSAs to pretend they're contributing to tolerance and education. But this season's just begun and NBC's already promoting sexism, homophobia and, yes, police brutality. The More You Know indeed.
See, NBC has been airing public service announcements [PSAs] for so long, we half expect to come across a vintage one featuring Alf and McLean Stevenson taped on board Supertrain.
The More You Know is the PSA and NBC kicked it off in 1989 and they like to point out:
THE MORE YOU KNOW was honored with two National Education Association Awards for the Advancement of Learning Through Broadcasting. This honor marks the first time in the NEA's history that a television network ever won twice for the same effort.
Yeah, well maybe it's time for NBC to start returning those awards?
Especially the one they won in 2004:
NBC UNIVERSAL, BRAVO, AND 'THE MORE YOU KNOW' CAMPAIGN HONORED AT THE 2004 LAMBDA LEGAL LIBERTY AWARDS
BURBANK, Calif. -- October 4, 2004 -- NBC Universal, Bravo, and "The More You Know" campaign were honored at this year's 2004 LAMBDA Legal Liberty Awards on September 30 in Los Angeles.
LAMBDA Legal honors individuals and companies that deal with LGBT issues and promote diversity and tolerance. NBC Universal, Bravo, and "The More You Know" campaign were recognized for presenting diverse and positive portrayals of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community through programs such as "Will & Grace," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," "Boy Meets Boy," and the numerous "The More Your Know" public service announcements that have focused on prejudice, diversity and tolerance.
Frances Berwick, Bravo Senior Vice President of Programming and Production and Emmy Award-winner, accepted the award on behalf of NBC Universal, Bravo, and "The More You Know" campaign. James Getzlaff, star of Bravo's hit "Boy Meets Boy," presented the award.
Yeah, that award especially needs to be returned.
The PSAs? They don't appear to have made a difference with TV critics who surely must have seen them and, even worse, it appears NBC employees missed the point as well.
In her monologue, Tina Fey barely managed to string together a few so-so jokes before expressing homophobia. This took place when she brought the five men and one woman who joined the cast this episode on stage and made them dance, thrust their crotches and shake their asses, while she declared, "It's a right of passage that couldn't be gayer."
What did that 'comic' just say?
Wanda Sykes: Please don't say that. Say that something is "gay" when you mean that something is dumb or stupid. It's insulting. It's like if I thought this pepper shaker was stupid and I said, "Man, this pepper shaker is so 16-year-old boy with a cheesy mustache." Just sayin'. When you say "that's so gay," do you realize what you say? Knock if off.
That's a PSA Wanda did in 2008. In 2013, in the debut show of the season, Saturday Night Live, in the opening monologue, thought "that couldn't be gayer" was appropriate and Tina Fey -- who has a long history of homophobia via the portrayals and 'jokes' on 30 Rock (click here and here for two pieces we wrote on that in 2011 and 2012) -- was just the host to deliver the line.
As Wanda said five years ago, knock it off.
It's not funny.
But it's amazing because we read 23 pieces on last night's show and not one reviewer mentioned the line, let alone called it out. Shame on them.
They create the climate for homophobia to grow.
And NBC really needs to be called out.
Ironside premiers Wednesday. We love Blair Underwood. Love seeing him on TV. He was great at Mr. Harris on The New Adventures of Old Christine and as President Elias Martinez on The Event. We raised our eyebrows at the thought of a reboot of this crime drama but Blair in the lead role, the one Raymond Burr played in the 60s and 70s? That might make the show worth watching.
And then we watched.
And were so appalled, we thought about not even mentioning it.
Kicking off the new season with a review slamming a new show?
It just seemed . . . so very us.
And we've done it and we wanted to do something different.
But then 'liberal' Tina Fey shows up on SNL last night and she's spreading homophobia and it just seems like NBC can't get their act together anymore.
Maybe you noticed their line up this fall? And how little women matter in it?
On Sundays, for example, you will see women. You will see them shake that ass and shake their pom-poms as NBC airs football. First, on Football Night in America, you will see Bob Costas . . . and seven other men offer analysis. You will see no woman.
After that, you'll get NBC Sunday Night Football. Bob Costas will be back for that one along with Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Hines Ward, Scott Pioli and, yes, Michele Tafoya. Tafoya is the sole woman. So in the first half of it's football line up, NBC will feature 8 men and no women as hosts and commentators, and in the second half you'll get eight men and one woman. Sunday nights on NBC, not worth watching.
Monday's is two hours of The Voice and the laughable James Spader vehicle known as The Blacklist.
(We'll be going to town on that bad show real soon.) The Voice is allegedly a woman's program (talk to NBC, not us, we're not making that claim). A woman's show? That must be why this year's judges are three men (Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton) and one woman (Christina Aguilera), right?
Tuesday is another hour of The Voice followed by the new sitcom About A Boy (Minnie Driver is one of two women in the cast of this male-dominated show about how women dampen men's spirits) and then more crap entitled Growing Up Fisher. Two episodes into the latter, you'll be praising Parker Posey for dumping the show when NBC picked it up. You'll also be wondering why Jenna Elfman elected to then take the role. If there's any justice, this will be the fourth failed sitcom Elfman will have been in since Dharma & Greg. She is one of two women in a cast of five. NBC closes out the night with Chicago Fire and its eleven main characters -- only three of which are women.
Continuing the anti-woman sentiment: Revolution on Wednesday. They had a year to move beyond sexism. They don't appear to have done so. As Marcia's pointed out, the whole point of science fiction is reconfiguring the world. Instead, the NBC series just offers tired roles of women as victims with the token young female of faux-action (rescued repeatedly). You then get Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. If you go to "about" on the show's website, you'll find the series stars Mariska Hargitay, Ice T, Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Kelli Giddish, Danny Pino and Raul Esparza. In other words, the show stars five men and two women? Is this 1913 or 2013?
Thursday night may be when NBC really runs off viewers as it seeks to ensure that not one woman between the ages of 20 and 50 appear as a happy single woman. 'Wait, wait! There's the great Rashida Jones!" Rashida is great but Parks and Recreation lost interest in her character at the start of last season and Rashida is leaving the show after the first eight episodes. (Hate to break it to Parks, but when Rashida goes, so does the show.) More importantly, she's really not single this season and we're not just referring to Ann's pregnancy. Welcome to the Family follows. It is a family sitcom. Outside of The Cosby Show, NBC's never really had any success with those in some time. Credit Mike Sikowitz and Jamie Tarses with the fact that this show looks like it was filmed this century. Mary McCormack fans, prepare yourself, she's created a completely different character than any you've seen her play before. (We mean that as high praise and we thought she was great in In Plain Sight.) But this is one of four sitcoms. It's followed by Sean Saves The World and the question there is: For whom? Yes, Megan Hilty and Linda Lavin are in the cast. Megan's strictly second banana. (We're referring to her emphasis, not her talent.) Lavin gets a little bit more to do. There are six adults in the cast -- only two are women. Again, whom is Sean saving the world for? (Don't bring up the child actor. We've been on the beat forever and, in 2005, once covered a child's acting abilities. A friend then called us on that. We've never reviewed child actors since.) There are eight cast members of The Michael J. Fox Show. Two are children. (The actress playing Fox's daughter just turned 18 seven days ago. We're calling her a child.) That leaves three males, three females. And Candice Bergen will be joining the cast as Fox's mother! Yes, and NBC demanded that. They also want Katie Finneran fired and her character (Fox's sister) written off the show. (Her character, it should be noted, is the latest in TV's supporting characters of the female gender that date back to Rose Marie on The Dick Van Dyke Show -- man hungry and unable to interest any men.) Closing out the night, the 'drama' Parenthood featuring six adult women and five adult men -- and the generic and sexist outlook of Ron Howard and Brian Glaser but, remember, no one's ever supposed to notice that.
Friday and Saturday, this fall, NBC takes the night off.
And a grateful nation screams, "Thank you for that!"
Why is it that we're the only critics noticing how adult actresses are being screwed over this season and that NBC is not offering one show fronted and led by a woman. Not one. There is, for instance, no The Justine Bateman Show. But we do have The Michael J. Fox Show. Three years ago, while the Water Cooler Set were frothing over the 'trend' where women were taking over TV (we wish!), we were left to note that it was three sitcoms with female leads (see "TV: The perverts still drool over Shirley Temple"). It would be really nice if the other lazy asses could maybe stop joking at the Water Cooler and actually do their damn job.
In case they've forgotten, that job is to review TV.
NBC offers not one female led show this season. It disappears women on nearly every night (most so on Sundays) and not one peep from the critics.
And are we really going to be the only TV critics in the country who are going to object to David Bianculli's sexist take on TV that he presented on Fresh Air (NPR) last week which name checked 9 men in television but couldn't mention one woman while supposedly reviewing TV this fall? Eight minutes that segment went on (and on and on) and he couldn't mention one damn woman.
Why does TV often suck so bad? Because of the men reviewing it. Never forget that fact.
Fun fact, the original TV show Ironside kicked off in September 1967 (after a TV movie the previous March) starring Raymond Burr and three other actors -- two men and one woman. Four years shy of fifty years later, Ironside returns with a cast of six -- and only one of them is a woman.
We're going a long way, baby -- a long way backwards.
Again, where the hell are the supposed TV critics?
It's not just the inability to put women on the screen that harms NBC and Ironside.
It's also the embrace of torture and abuse.
The series will open Wednesday night with Blair's character in the back of a car with a suspect. Blair will taunt and insult the man and beat him up.
A police officer will object.
Blair will point to a little girl being pulled from the trunk as a result of his torture and abuse.
The objecting officer will fall silent.
We're embarrassed for Blair Underwood and we made that very clear to three friends with the show. We found it outrageous that (a) this would happen to Ironside and (b) this is how NBC and the producers chose to portray an African-American male lead.
We are aware, aren't we, that Kerry Washington only just became the first African-American lead of a successful hour long TV show, right? (Scandal returns with new episodes during the last hour of prime time this Thursday on ABC.) And yet this is how NBC chooses to present their highest profile Black character?
As a little thug who beats up suspects because he's too dumb to figure out how to interrogate them? Because he's too stupid to know how to do police work?
We're getting really fed up with TV and its insistence on selling police brutality as normal, on showing police breaking the law as a good thing.
We really think it's time that these shows were pulled from television.
They exist to destroy our rights as citizens and to glorify official abuse.
There is nothing funny or entertaining about it.
NBC uses the PSAs to pretend they're contributing to tolerance and education. But this season's just begun and NBC's already promoting sexism, homophobia and, yes, police brutality. The More You Know indeed.
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