Left I on the News

Gosh it's been a long time since I visited my favorite pet subject - innumeracy. Here's what stirred me up - discussing the results from the Kentucky primary, AP writes:

Almost nine in 10 ballots were cast by whites, and the former first lady was winning their support overwhelmingly.

As I write this, with 43% 100% of the vote counted, Clinton is at 58% 65%. Now if white voters are 90% of the electorate (and assuming that 58% doesn't change), then it is mathematically impossible for the percentage of Clinton's white support to exceed 64% 72%. In other words, Clinton's "overwhelming" support is pretty much the same (65% or 72%), whether you talk about all voters or just white voters.

It may be true, and quite likely is, that her support from black voters is underwhelming; it could actually be zero. But with 90% of the vote coming from whites, drawing conclusions about her "white" support vs. her support in general simply doesn't hold up.

In an interview with NBC's Richard Engel, George Bush had this to say:

"And when, you know, a leader of Iran says that they want to destroy Israel, you've got to take those words seriously."

Readers know that such words never spoken, and alert readers will even remember that Ahmadinejad actually "clarified" the oft-misquoted (or mistranslated) remarks when he said:

"Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out."

A quote which makes obvious that Ahmadinejad is saying that Israel will collapse under its own weight, not that it will be "wiped out" by an attack from Iran.

So, since the misquoting/mistranslation of Ahmadinejad's remarks has become widely acknowledged, did Engel respond to Bush's misstatement by pointing out the error? Is the Pope Jewish? No, of course not, instead in his next question he threw in a big lie of his own:

"Repeatedly you've talked about Iran and that you don't want to see Iran develop a nuclear weapon. How far away do you think Iran is from developing a nuclear capability?"

I won't repeat the whole story here; here's the latest post which demonstrates that the idea that Iran is "developing a nuclear capability" is utterly without foundation, putting Engel's question into the "when will you stop beating your wife" category of big lies.

No huge surprise in the second part of the headline; the U.S. government not only has ties with a long list of terrorists from Osama bin Laden to Luis Posada Carriles, the CIA actually helped create and finance many of them. Still, it's rare when the proof of such ties is made publicly available, and this is a different kind of case. Cuba presented evidence yesterday that the U.S. government was funneling money to Cuban "dissidents" through the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. That too wouldn't be that big a surprise, since the U.S. does so openly (though in contravention of Cuban law and probably U.S. law - the blockade/embargo - as well) through the National Endowment for "Democracy."

What is news is the source of the funds - Santiago Alvarez, who was sending several thousand dollars a month to various "dissident" (counterrevolutionary) groups in Cuba using Michael Parmly, the head of the U.S. Interests Section, as a go-between. We've mentioned Alvarez here before. First, he helped smuggle an illegal immigrant into this country. That itself is a crime, but what made it an even bigger crime is the name of the person smuggled in - Luis Posada Carriles, a convicted felon and known terrorist (and a wanted criminal, wanted in Venezuela for 73 counts of murder in connection with the mid-air bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976). Second, Alvarez himself is a known terrorist, having participated in, among many others, the string of Havana hotel bombings which killed an Italian tourist, Fabio di Celmo.

And third, Alvarez is currently in prison! Why? Well, first he was serving an absurdly light sentence of 30 months for weapons possession. Why is that "absurdly light"? Because we're not talking about a concealed handgun. We're talking about one of the largest arsenals ever seized in the United States, a true terrorist arsenal. How big was it? He and his partner turned over 14 pounds of plastic explosives, 200 pounds of dynamite, 30 semiautomatic and automatic weapons, and a grenade launcher, among other things; how much more they're still hiding isn't known. That sentence has been served, but Alvarez is still in jail, serving 10 more months for refusing to cooperate with a U.S. government prosecution (a fake one, but still...) by testifying against Luis Posada Carriles (on the question of how Posada entered the country, not on terrorism, for which the U.S. government continues to refuse to extradite or prosecute Posada, as required by international law).

That is the man from whom the U.S. government is taking money and handing it to people in Cuba. In Washington today, a press conference will not only call for the extradition of Posada and the freedom of the Cuban Five (five men who were monitoring the actions of people like Alvarez in order to prevent future acts of terrorism and are now serving long sentences in the U.S.), but will also announce the filing of a FOIA request (pdf) demanding the U.S. government turn over all documents related to the transfer of funds to Cuba.

In South Korea:

Grave by mass grave, South Korea is unearthing the skeletons and buried truths of a cold-blooded slaughter from early in the Korean War, when this nation's U.S.-backed regime killed untold thousands of leftists and hapless peasants in a summer of terror in 1950.

With U.S. military officers sometimes present, and as North Korean invaders pushed down the peninsula, the southern army and police emptied South Korean prisons, lined up detainees and shot them in the head, dumping the bodies into hastily dug trenches. Others were thrown into abandoned mines or into the sea. Women and children were among those killed. Many victims never faced charges or trial.

The mass executions — intended to keep possible southern leftists from reinforcing the northerners — were carried out over mere weeks and were largely hidden from history for a half-century. They were "the most tragic and brutal chapter of the Korean War," said historian Kim Dong-choon, a member of a 2-year-old government commission investigating the killings.

Hundreds of sets of remains have been uncovered so far, but researchers say they are only a tiny fraction of the deaths. The commission estimates at least 100,000 people were executed, in a South Korean population of 20 million.

That estimate is based on projections from local surveys and is "very conservative," said Kim. The true toll may be twice that or more, he told The Associated Press.

Needless to say, the U.S. knew all about this (the picture above is from U.S. Army archives), and has been keeping it secret for 60 years. The U.S., which is always issuing dire warnings about impending "bloodbaths" should their troops leave Vietnam, Iraq, or wherever else they happen to be, which has played a key role in two of the biggest bloodbaths in history - the slaughter of Korean leftists (and, no doubt, many, many who weren't leftists at all) described above, and the massacre of an estimated half million Indonesian Communists (and, again, many, many who just lived in "communist villages") in 1965. Not to mention the bloodbath of civilians that took place in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Tokyo, Fallujah, and so many other places the mind reels.

Update: By the way, this story was buried well inside the pages of the San Jose Mercury News today. On the New York Times online right now, the front page carries a story from South Korea...about two soap opera stars engaged in an extramarital affair. I could find the AP story by searching, but not just by browsing. The situation is the same at the Washington Post, minus the soap opera stars. CNN? Nothing either online or, as far as I can tell from sporadic viewing during the day, on air either.

In Jerusalem, Nancy Pelosi, just like her party's two remaining Presidential contenders, gave explicit support to the Bush doctrine of launching unprovoked, illegal attacks on other countries:

While saying that a military option should not be taken off the table, and adding that an attack by Teheran on Israel certainly "cannot go unanswered," Pelosi said that a preemptive strike on Iran would have consequences that needed to be considered. Among the consequences she listed were the effect such an attack would have in rallying Iranians around their current leadership, what it would do to the price of oil, and the response of the rest of the Muslim world.

So, just as Barack Obama wasn't opposed to the invasion of Iraq on principle (of course, Clinton wasn't opposed to it at all), but only because it wasn't a "good idea," Pelosi espouses the idea that attacking Iran is just fine, and perfectly legal, but we shouldn't do it without "considering the consequences," including the price of oil (!). As with the old sexist joke about the women who wouldn't have sex with a stranger for a dollar but would for a million dollars, it's not a question of arguing about what she is, only about the price. Pelosi's talk about "consequences" actually echoes quite closely Obama's words on Iraq:

"I spoke out against what I called 'a rash war' in Iraq. I worried about, 'an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.'"

And the "other side of the looking-glass" part of the post's title? Try this on for size:

"We owe you a great deal of gratitude," she said, "because in resisting weapons of mass destruction, Israel was not only looking after her own security interests but those of the rest of the world."

"Resisting" weapons of mass destruction? Israel is one of the world's major builders of nuclear weapons, and, outside of the United States, probably the most likely to actually use them.

Not.

The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.

The word "prisoner," however, is used rather loosely, if one holds to the standard definition:

A person held in custody, captivity, or a condition of forcible restraint, especially while on trial or serving a prison sentence.

In fact, of course, virtually none of these people, who would be better described as "kidnap victims," are either "on trial" or "serving a prison sentence":

Some detainees have been held without charge for more than five years, officials said.

Events in the Middle East are generally framed in the shortest of short-term time frames - one side (usually framed as Israel) responded to a "provocation" or attack by the other side (typically Palestinians according to the media). It's rare indeed for any corporate media to even mention the ultimate source of the problem - the "Nakba" which, beginning with the U.N. Resolution partitioning Palestine 60 years and 6 months ago, resulted in the forced expulsion of 300,000 Palestinians by the time Israel declared its independence 60 years ago today, and 3/4 of a million Palestinians by the end of the year. Richard Becker provides an important update on an article he first wrote six months ago, laying out not only that history, but the resulting centrality of the demand of the "right of return."

Which brings us back to the corporate media. Remarkably, in the last week, I have seen three different pieces on BBC World News which gave the viewer an intimate and rarely-seen view of Palestinians who had been evicted from their homes, with Palestinians showing the reporter the deed to their home and discussing their desire (and right) to return to their home. The words "return" or "right of return" were actually mentioned on the air.

In contrast, I haven't seen any such piece, not one, on any American network or cable show. On CNN right now, for example, you not only won't find anything about the ongoing commemoration of Nakba day in Palestine on the front page, you won't find anything even if you drill down to the Middle East page. And actually it's even worse than just omission. Consider this AP piece published today which appears several places, including MSNBC online and the New York Times (online, don't know about print):

Palestinians marked the 60th anniversary of their uprooting with rallies, sirens and black balloons Thursday...Thursday's events commemorated the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who either fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 war over Israel's creation. Palestinians call it their "nakba," Arabic for catastrophe.

So they mentioned what's happening, and even used the word "nakba." What they didn't say is that this wasn't just a "commemoration" of being forced out of their homes, but a demand to return to those homes - the "right of return." Those words, or even the word "return," are nowhere to be found. The uninformed reader might get the idea that the Palestinians are celebrating being kicked out of their homes, and have no interest at all in returning.

Not coincidentally, a few days ago I was listening to a very interesting discussion of a book entitled "The Lemon Tree, about one of those expelled Palestinians, and his experiences getting to know the Israeli family who had come to live in his house. You can read a chapter of the very interesting story here, and listen to the author discuss the book and the man's life at great length here (mp3 file), but let me cheat and tell you part of the ending - the young woman who he originally meets ends up owning the house (her parents die), and when she is going to get married, she wants to give the house back to the Palestinian man. A rare case of the "right of return" actually welcomed by the current occupant of the house! Just one little catch - the racist laws of the State of Israel actually prevent her from doing that!

For closure to this story, listen to David Rovics "The Key" (mp3 file).

I reported below about the outrageous party given in honor of renowned terrorist Luis Posada Carriles in Miami recently, and about the equally outrageous remarks he made at that meeting threatening further terrorist acts against Cuba (which, needless to say, have not brought any rebuke from any Presidential candidates, much less legal action). Now the ANSWER Coalition has re-energized its campaign to demand the extradition of Posada; I encourage readers to click the button above to join in that effort.

In other news of Cuba, the Council on Foreign Relations has just released a report (not online yet) calling for a major change in U.S.-Cuba relations. The report calls for, among other things, the repeal of the Helms-Burton law (but not, as far as I can tell from the summary, the entire embargo, contrary to the headline at the link), and for permitting more Americans, but not all, to travel to Cuba (only those falling into "thirteen categories of licensed people-to-people 'purposeful travel'"). Positions well to the left of all of the Presidential candidates; it remains to be seen if the report has any effect, either before or after the election. Clearly, the vast majority of Democrats acknowledge that the U.S. Cuba policy has "failed"; unfortunately, their definition of "failure" (as seen, for example, in Barack Obama's op-ed in the Miami Herald), is that the policy hasn't succeeded in overturning the Cuban Revolution. And as a result, most join in the approach expressed by Obama in his op-ed, that the cessation of the U.S. economic, political, and yes, physical warfare against Cuba should be relaxed bit by bit as a carrot to lure Cuba into gradually bending its knee before the U.S. empire (phrased of course in noble sounding language about "democracy"). Which means that any such changes are unlikely to come soon, if at all.

In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3. (Source)

Sadly, and unsurprisingly, the battle is far from over, since an amendment to the state Constitution may be on the ballot in November, overturning this decision.

"I didn't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

- George Bush, explaining why he gave up golf in 2003

Yes, because he would never be seen doing something frivolous in times of war, sending the wrong signal...

Is he really so insensitive, or does he think we're that stupid, that we wouldn't notice this pompous and entirely unjustified claim of sensitivity? Probably both.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty guarantees signatories the right to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes; the "non-proliferation" applies to nuclear weapons, not nuclear power. So you might think that a signatory complying with the treaty would be a good thing, as opposed to the four nations which are not signatories which have developed nuclear weapons - Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. But no, you'd be wrong:

The five permanent UN Security Council members claim Iran's uranium enrichment activities undermine the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"This ... imperils prospects for progress on other NPT goals such as nuclear disarmament and hurts prospects for expanding international (civil) nuclear cooperation. The proliferation risks presented by the Iranian nuclear program continue to be a matter of ongoing serious concern to us," they claimed.

Next up: Switzerland's neutrality poses a grave danger to the Geneva Conventions.

Reporting on the NPT story, AP incorrectly claims that "Iran...is under U.N. Security Council sanctions meant to pressure the Tehran government into allowing inspections that will ensure it isn't developing nuclear weapons." This is false. Iran was and is in full compliance with the NPT, and has been allowing inspections. The sanctions were put in place in an attempt to deny Iran its right under the NPT to develop nuclear power. However, since complying with the treaty still resulted in sanctions, Iran has now announced that those inspections are at an end:

An Iranian envoy said Monday his government will not submit to extensive nuclear inspections while Israel stays outside the global treaty to curb the spread of atomic weapons.

"The existing double standard shall not be tolerated anymore by non-nuclear-weapon states," [said] Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh.

At the same meeting, Christopher A. Ford, U.S. special representative for nuclear nonproliferation, decided to give Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice a run for their money in the irony and phony compassion departments, when he talked about "a proud and sophisticated people already suffering from economic turmoil and mismanagement by its regime's leaders." Uh, Chris, have you been home lately, or have you spent the last seven years in Geneva? Because if you're looking to criticize a country for the mismanagement of its leaders and in economic turmoil, you really need to see that your own house is in order before pretending you care about the Iranian people.

My friend and Presidential candidate (of the Party for Socialism & Liberation for sure, and hopefully also of the Peace & Freedom Party in California) Gloria La Riva speaks at the ILWU-sponsored May Day event in San Francisco (she spoke later at the immigrants rights rally as well). Video shot and edited by me:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today on the crisis in Myanmar, calling on the government there to allow more foreign aid workers into the country:

"This is not a matter of politics, this is a matter of a humanitarian crisis and it should be a matter that the government of Burma wants to see its people receive the help that is available to them."

This, of course, is the same Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who refused to allow 1586 much-needed Cuban medical personnel into the United States when a hurricane ravaged New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the same Condoleezza Rice who spent her time shopping for shoes and attending Broadway plays while New Orleans was drowning. Condoleezza Rice no more cares about the fate of the people of Myanmar than she did about the people of New Orleans.

In reality, of course, with Rice and her colleagues it is all politics, and she only wants to use this occasion to score points against the government of Myanmar. Just for starters, if she actually wanted to have the government there listen to her, she might have tried using the name "Myanmar" instead of "Burma."

Perhaps Rice should offer the people of Myanmar the same advice she offered the people of New Orleans, in lieu of actual government aid: "The Lord is going to come on time -- if we just wait."

Many things put the lie to the claim that the United States is fighting a "war on terror," but few do so as effectively as its treatment of one of the world's most notorious terrorists, Luis Posada Carriles, a man responsible for the mid-air bombing of Cubana Flight 455 and the death of its 73 passengers and crew, along with a long string of other terrorist actions, including some as recently as the attempted assassination of Fidel Castro during a visit to Panama in 2000, an action in which Posada was personally involved (and convicted).

And now Posada walks free in Miami, with the U.S. government still refusing to comply with, or even formally acknowledge, an extradition order by Venezuela filed three years ago (Flight 455 originated in Venezuela, and it is in Venezuela where Posada is wanted on 73 counts of murder).

Ah, but that's not enough - now they're having gala parties in his "honor", galas attended by members of other notorious terrorist groups like Alpha 66.

Ah, but that's not enough either. Here's what Posada had to say at that gala Friday night, and let me emphasize that this was not a secret party but a public event, attended by members of the press:

"We must not wait for Fidel Castro to die...for Raul to make mistakes. We must recall the words of [Cuba independence hero] General Antonio Maceo 'liberty is not something we must beg for. It is conquered with the sharp edge of the machete.' We ask God to sharpen our machetes because difficult times are arriving."

So now we have a man in the United States illegally, wanted for murder, with a long string of terrorist activities to his name, being feted in Miami and threatening violence against another country. Will the U.S. government act now against this particular terrorist? No, on the contrary, within the last week, the U.S. State Department issued its latest report once-again labeling (and it's not just "labeling"; there are real consequences) Cuba as a "state sponsor of terrorism," on the basis of completely absurd charges like "The Government of Cuba remained opposed to U.S. counterterrorism policy, and actively and publicly condemned many associated U.S. policies and actions." So Cuba's vocal opposition to the illegal U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, which in reality makes them a state opponent of terrorism, make them a state "sponsor" of terrorism according to the U.S. government.

Who are the most dangerous terrorists in this world? The ones who created, trained, financed, and continue to coddle terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles. The ones who are literally inflicting terror on millions of people in country after country around the world, and killing people by the tens and hundreds of thousands, from Iraq to Afghanistan to Somalia to Palestine. Their headquarters? Washington, D.C., with satellite offices in London, Jerusalem, and elsewhere.