Saturday, March 12, 2011
'The Hill' article rightly admonishes 'Muslim Trials'.
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Pete King's hearings ignore extremism in a different hue
- 03/10/11 01:19 PM ET
It’s ironic that today on one end of Pennsylvania Avenue we have a White House summit on bullying, which, as my MSNBC colleague Jonathan Capehart points out, is focused on addressing the problem in its full scope, tools that are available to students, teachers, administrators and parents, and fostering understanding about how this happens and identifying effective solutions. Yet on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, there is a bully who also happens to be a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, abusing his power and the platform it provides to promote racism, bigotry and hate, rather than understanding the full scope of the problem and identifying solutions.
Recent discussions about Rep. Pete King’s (R-N.Y.) hearings have felt a lot like the week leading up to the Rev. Terry Jones’s threat to burn a Quran. Like King, Jones cited concerns regarding 9/11 and the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, as examples of why we should be afraid, grafting the actions of a few onto a whole group of people. Following King’s logic, we should assume that all Baptists are extremists like Terry Jones, or that anti-abortion extremists who use violence and murder as part of their cause are representative of everyone who might in the least bit oppose abortion.
Concerns about the increase in extremism and radicalization in America are absolutely legitimate. Data does show an increase in domestic terrorism. The responsible thing for our leaders to do is to examine the whole picture in terms of causes and solutions. Singling out one group, demonizing and ignoring other relevant factors, is not only irresponsible, it leaves other extremist groups to keep doing what they are doing without consequence. On its website, the FBI says this about post-9/11 domestic terrorism:
“Nothing before or since has come close to the terror attacks of 9/11 in terms of lives lost, scope and impact. And we know that al Qaeda-led and -inspired operatives still seek to strike our homeland — including with weapons of mass destruction. Which is why globally fueled terrorism continues to occupy much of our time and attention these days. And yet, as we were reminded by shootings in Kansas, Arkansas and the nation’s capital over just 11 days this spring, the threat of domestic terror — Americans attacking Americans based on U.S.-based extremist ideologies — is alive and well. Today’s domestic terror threats run the gamut, from hate-filled white supremacists … to highly destructive eco-terrorists … to violence-prone anti-government extremists … to radical separatist groups.”
So if the real goal of these hearings really were to examine domestic terror threats, you would expect these other groups to be included in the discussion and hearings. Ignoring the full picture, and King’s determination to home in on one group, only makes it clear that the real objective here is to stoke fear, perhaps for a cheap headline or fundraising. Using fear to scapegoat and divide Americans is an old tactic in the GOP playbook — we’ve seen it in action against illegal immigrants and gay people most recently. But a rejection of bigotry crosses party lines, just as the disgust toward King crosses party lines, regions, religions and geography.
In an op-ed published in Newsday in December 2010, King made a number of unsubstantiated claims, including that “Federal and local law enforcement officials throughout the country told me they received little or — in most cases — no cooperation from Muslim leaders and imams.”
Yet not one member of law enforcement, from local police to the FBI, was willing to testify in support of that claim. Not one. What we have heard from law enforcement is that time and again, the American Muslim community has played an invaluable role in our anti-terrorism efforts. And while authorities say the threats posed by homegrown Islamic extremism are growing, the FBI has reported that roughly two-thirds of terrorism in the United States was conducted by non-Islamic American extremists from 1980 to 2001; and from 2002 to 2005, it went up to 95 percent.
Two-thirds of terrorism in the United States from non-Islamic American extremists is a lot to ignore. So again, we have to ask: Why aren’t any representatives from these groups appearing before King today? There certainly are plenty to choose from. As the Southern Poverty Law Center pointed out in a report released just last week, for the first time since 1980, when the SCLC started tracking, the number of hate groups in America is over 1,000, representing a staggering increase from the estimated 602 groups in 2000. One such group, known as the Sovereign Citizens, two members of which were responsible for the deaths of two police officers in West Memphis, Ark., is now estimated to have 300,000 members nationwide. Two of the most notorious groups are on both the FBI and SCLC list:
• The Ku Klux Klan — Klan groups in the U.S. increased significantly in 2008, from 155 chapters to 186. It is broken down into smaller sub units, with the Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (BOK) one of the fastest-growing, with 17 new chapters added in 2008.
• Neo-Nazis — There are around 300 different groups, including the two largest — the American National Socialist Workers Party and the National Socialist Movement. Other white supremacist groups include: the Hammerskin Nation Volksfront, Blood & Honour American Division, Atlantic City Skins and the American Front.
Why is King avoiding the threat these groups pose to American citizens and law enforcement? Is it because their skin is a different hue?
Let’s be honest with ourselves. King’s hearing exemplifies the ugly truth, that since 9/11 there’s been a level of acceptance of racism aimed at Arab Muslims, men in particular, in America. We have been vulnerable to our post-9/11 fears and collective ignorance about the people and religion, and to those who promote fear of “otherness,” that seems particularly potent against men with dark skin. This continues even now, despite the images we’ve seen over the past weeks of Arabs — Muslim and Christian — working together in a non-violent struggle for freedom in Tunisia, Egypt and across the region.
It’s the same kind of fearmongering that lies at the heart of what Mike Huckabee meant when he essentially equated being an American with having participated in Little League and Boy Scouts. "This is not a kid who grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and playing Little League baseball in a small town." Otherness. It's also what GOP leaders like Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour are speaking to when they use the old code phrase “states' rights” or say that some Americans feel like they “just don’t recognize our country anymore.” Otherness.
America is changing. There are many who were more comfortable or miss the old ways, now questioning where they fit in and afraid of the changes they see around them — a black president, gay couples proudly walking hand in hand, marriages where the woman makes more money than her husband, who stays home with the kids, a woman who chooses to have a child on her own, or people trying to follow in the footsteps of the Irish, Italians, Polish, Russians, etc., and emigrate to America.
What they refuse to accept or understand is that like it or not, from our inception, the definition of the American experience and what it is to be an American has been evolving and expanding to include people of all shapes, sizes, colors, abilities and faiths who love America and pledge allegiance to our flag. In other words, we can all fit the definition.
Recent discussions about Rep. Pete King’s (R-N.Y.) hearings have felt a lot like the week leading up to the Rev. Terry Jones’s threat to burn a Quran. Like King, Jones cited concerns regarding 9/11 and the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, as examples of why we should be afraid, grafting the actions of a few onto a whole group of people. Following King’s logic, we should assume that all Baptists are extremists like Terry Jones, or that anti-abortion extremists who use violence and murder as part of their cause are representative of everyone who might in the least bit oppose abortion.
Concerns about the increase in extremism and radicalization in America are absolutely legitimate. Data does show an increase in domestic terrorism. The responsible thing for our leaders to do is to examine the whole picture in terms of causes and solutions. Singling out one group, demonizing and ignoring other relevant factors, is not only irresponsible, it leaves other extremist groups to keep doing what they are doing without consequence. On its website, the FBI says this about post-9/11 domestic terrorism:
“Nothing before or since has come close to the terror attacks of 9/11 in terms of lives lost, scope and impact. And we know that al Qaeda-led and -inspired operatives still seek to strike our homeland — including with weapons of mass destruction. Which is why globally fueled terrorism continues to occupy much of our time and attention these days. And yet, as we were reminded by shootings in Kansas, Arkansas and the nation’s capital over just 11 days this spring, the threat of domestic terror — Americans attacking Americans based on U.S.-based extremist ideologies — is alive and well. Today’s domestic terror threats run the gamut, from hate-filled white supremacists … to highly destructive eco-terrorists … to violence-prone anti-government extremists … to radical separatist groups.”
So if the real goal of these hearings really were to examine domestic terror threats, you would expect these other groups to be included in the discussion and hearings. Ignoring the full picture, and King’s determination to home in on one group, only makes it clear that the real objective here is to stoke fear, perhaps for a cheap headline or fundraising. Using fear to scapegoat and divide Americans is an old tactic in the GOP playbook — we’ve seen it in action against illegal immigrants and gay people most recently. But a rejection of bigotry crosses party lines, just as the disgust toward King crosses party lines, regions, religions and geography.
In an op-ed published in Newsday in December 2010, King made a number of unsubstantiated claims, including that “Federal and local law enforcement officials throughout the country told me they received little or — in most cases — no cooperation from Muslim leaders and imams.”
Yet not one member of law enforcement, from local police to the FBI, was willing to testify in support of that claim. Not one. What we have heard from law enforcement is that time and again, the American Muslim community has played an invaluable role in our anti-terrorism efforts. And while authorities say the threats posed by homegrown Islamic extremism are growing, the FBI has reported that roughly two-thirds of terrorism in the United States was conducted by non-Islamic American extremists from 1980 to 2001; and from 2002 to 2005, it went up to 95 percent.
Two-thirds of terrorism in the United States from non-Islamic American extremists is a lot to ignore. So again, we have to ask: Why aren’t any representatives from these groups appearing before King today? There certainly are plenty to choose from. As the Southern Poverty Law Center pointed out in a report released just last week, for the first time since 1980, when the SCLC started tracking, the number of hate groups in America is over 1,000, representing a staggering increase from the estimated 602 groups in 2000. One such group, known as the Sovereign Citizens, two members of which were responsible for the deaths of two police officers in West Memphis, Ark., is now estimated to have 300,000 members nationwide. Two of the most notorious groups are on both the FBI and SCLC list:
• The Ku Klux Klan — Klan groups in the U.S. increased significantly in 2008, from 155 chapters to 186. It is broken down into smaller sub units, with the Brotherhood of Klans Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (BOK) one of the fastest-growing, with 17 new chapters added in 2008.
• Neo-Nazis — There are around 300 different groups, including the two largest — the American National Socialist Workers Party and the National Socialist Movement. Other white supremacist groups include: the Hammerskin Nation Volksfront, Blood & Honour American Division, Atlantic City Skins and the American Front.
Why is King avoiding the threat these groups pose to American citizens and law enforcement? Is it because their skin is a different hue?
Let’s be honest with ourselves. King’s hearing exemplifies the ugly truth, that since 9/11 there’s been a level of acceptance of racism aimed at Arab Muslims, men in particular, in America. We have been vulnerable to our post-9/11 fears and collective ignorance about the people and religion, and to those who promote fear of “otherness,” that seems particularly potent against men with dark skin. This continues even now, despite the images we’ve seen over the past weeks of Arabs — Muslim and Christian — working together in a non-violent struggle for freedom in Tunisia, Egypt and across the region.
It’s the same kind of fearmongering that lies at the heart of what Mike Huckabee meant when he essentially equated being an American with having participated in Little League and Boy Scouts. "This is not a kid who grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and playing Little League baseball in a small town." Otherness. It's also what GOP leaders like Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour are speaking to when they use the old code phrase “states' rights” or say that some Americans feel like they “just don’t recognize our country anymore.” Otherness.
America is changing. There are many who were more comfortable or miss the old ways, now questioning where they fit in and afraid of the changes they see around them — a black president, gay couples proudly walking hand in hand, marriages where the woman makes more money than her husband, who stays home with the kids, a woman who chooses to have a child on her own, or people trying to follow in the footsteps of the Irish, Italians, Polish, Russians, etc., and emigrate to America.
What they refuse to accept or understand is that like it or not, from our inception, the definition of the American experience and what it is to be an American has been evolving and expanding to include people of all shapes, sizes, colors, abilities and faiths who love America and pledge allegiance to our flag. In other words, we can all fit the definition.
"Precious Knowledge" Trailer
For everybody, but especially my Latino brothers & sisters. An in-depth look at the good things going on in a Tucson high school, and the xenophobic efforts of white politicians to shut down ethnic studies.
Precious Knowledge Trailer from Ari Palos on Vimeo.
Precious Knowledge Trailer from Ari Palos on Vimeo.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Shooters walk free, whistleblower jailed
Due to the enormous request Panorama has produced an English version of our film about the alleged WikiLeaks Whistleblower Bradley Manning.
US Soldier Ethan McCord, one of the ground troops to respond to the 'collateral murder' shooting site in Baghdad, talks about the experience. Ray McGovern, CIA Analyst & Presidential Aide, also speaks.
Very powerful video.
http://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/media/panor165.html
US Soldier Ethan McCord, one of the ground troops to respond to the 'collateral murder' shooting site in Baghdad, talks about the experience. Ray McGovern, CIA Analyst & Presidential Aide, also speaks.
Very powerful video.
http://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/media/panor165.html
Monday, March 7, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Robbed at gunpoint.
So I've been considering attending the Art Institute here in San Francisco & I've got a fellow military veteran friend that goes there too. So I sent him an email asking for advice on the place. He responded and told me he was heading to a comedy event in West Oakland where there's a veteran comedian every Sunday & asked if I cared to join. I met him @ the bart station & we rode over to W. Oakland. We were walking the few blocks to the club & talking about Art Institute when we hear footsteps running up behind us. We turn around and there's two guys, one pointing a .357 revolver at my boy Greg. They tell us to give them all our shit, wallets, phones, keys, even my camera. Then they bounced.
Happened so fucking fast. It was (& still is) surreal. Didn't have shit so we rolled over to a corner store to try to use their phone & call the cops, but dude behind the counter was bullshitting us like his phone didn't work. So we walked back to bart & got a bart cop to call Oakland PD. Was there giving police reports for another 45 minutes. They gave us a bart ticket to get back to the city, and luckily I had my bus transfer from the way over.
What can you say? It's pretty comical how easily somebody can do that shit now that I think about it. Even if I had a gun I don't think I'd want to start a shootout over some bullshit possessions... I'm just stoked that my homie & I were unscathed.
Happened so fucking fast. It was (& still is) surreal. Didn't have shit so we rolled over to a corner store to try to use their phone & call the cops, but dude behind the counter was bullshitting us like his phone didn't work. So we walked back to bart & got a bart cop to call Oakland PD. Was there giving police reports for another 45 minutes. They gave us a bart ticket to get back to the city, and luckily I had my bus transfer from the way over.
What can you say? It's pretty comical how easily somebody can do that shit now that I think about it. Even if I had a gun I don't think I'd want to start a shootout over some bullshit possessions... I'm just stoked that my homie & I were unscathed.
Via Truthout: Revisiting the FBI's Dirty War on Black America
Tuesday 22 February 2011
Thanks to a CNN documentary airing this week, the tale of FBI informant Ernest Withers is now well known. The black photographer spent years busily documenting the civil rights movement and capturing candid images of its leaders, most notably Martin Luther King, Jr.
Whether through flattery or the naiveté of his subjects, Withers and his camera were able to get close— very close— to the movement’s inner circles. He got so close that King and others trusted him to record their most intimate moments—ones that Withers would dutifully report back to his FBI handlers.
Withers’s case was not exceptional. At that time, the woods were full informants, both men and women. Their existence was possible not only because of a corrupt, paranoid FBI that was intent on making life hell for civil rights leaders and others during the turbulent 1960s, but because they had the tacit blessing of three U.S. presidents: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. All three men firmly believed that the battle against domestic subversives—that is, communists, socialists, black nationalists, Black Panthers and civil rights leaders, most notably King—justified bending and ultimately breaking the law, civil liberties be damned.
There is also ample evidence in the correspondence, internal memos and discussions made public by historians and former White House staffers, to suggest that Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon never believed moderate civil rights leaders like King posed any real threat to the established order. Yet they still winked and nodded as John Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, launched a top secret and blatantly illegal counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO. It targeted not only the civil rights movement but other more radical leaders and organizations as well.
The mandate of that program, spelled out in the stacks of secret documents released by Senate investigators in 1976, was to "disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and neutralize" groups and individuals the FBI considered politically objectionable. Yet in nearly all of the cases, those targeted by COINTELPRO were neither foreign spies, terrorists nor criminals.
The FBI patterned COINTELPRO on the methods used by its counterintelligence division and internal security sections during the 1940s and '50s. The arsenal of dirty tactics they used included unauthorized wiretaps, agents provocateur, poison-pen letters, “black-bag jobs” (breaking and entering to obtain intelligence) and the compiling of secret dossiers.
Driven by a grotesque mix of personal racism and paranoia, Hoover kicked the program into high gear in the 1960s. The FBI recruited thousands of "ghetto informants," such as Withers for their relentless campaign of harassment and intimidation against African American groups. The bureau even organized its targets into Orwellian categories agents gave such labels as “Rabble Rouser Index,” “Agitator Index” and “Security Index.”
The impact of COINTELPRO on the Civil Rights and Black Power movements was immediate and devastating. Thousands lost their jobs, were expelled from schools, evicted from homes and publicly slandered.
Only a few of those would ever be indicted, convicted or even accused of committing a crime. In fact, FBI documents released in 1976 revealed that the bureau devoted less than 20 percent of its spy activities to infiltrating actual crime syndicates or to solving bank robberies, murders, rapes and interstate theft. By contrast, more than half of all FBI targets were political organizations.
Following the death of Hoover in 1972 and subsequent congressional disclosure of his illegal program, the Justice Department assured the public that operations like COINTELPRO were a thing of the past. The department had clamped down on all illegal FBI activities.
That was not the case.
In the 1980s, the FBI waged a five-year covert spy campaign against dozens of religious and pacifist groups and leaders that opposed American foreign policy in Central America.
In the 1990s, the agency mounted yet another series of covert campaigns against civil rights, environmental and anti-nuclear weapon groups, as well as against Native American and Arab-American political figures and organizations. FBI tactics used against those groups were an exact replica of the covert tactics employed in the 1960s and ’70s – tactics that were supposedly banned.
In 2002, the Bush administration again gave the green light to the FBI to wage a freewheeling campaign against so-called subversives, but this time the new watchword was “terrorist.”
The War on Terror gave the FBI a green light to conduct previously illegal forms of surveillance; plant secret agents in churches, mosques and political groups; and scour the Internet seeking potential subversives.
Just as in the days of J. Edgar Hoover, the rules gave the FBI unbridled power to determine who and what groups and individuals it could target. They could run free, without having to show probable cause of criminal wronging.
Ernest Withers was a pathetic, and now justly reviled figure, one who abused the trust of civil right leaders in order to distort and sully the image of the civil rights movement, while sowing dissent. He didn’t succeed. But he and the thousands like him—with plenty of help from the White House—have managed to ensure that government spying on U.S. citizens is a shameful and undeniable aspect of American life.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He hosts national Capitol Hill broadcast radio talk show on KTYM Radio Los Angeles and WFAX Radio Washington D.C. streamed on ktym.com andwfax.com and internet TV broadcast on thehutchinsonreportnews.com
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He hosts national Capitol Hill broadcast radio talk show on KTYM Radio Los Angeles and WFAX Radio Washington D.C. streamed on ktym.com andwfax.com and internet TV broadcast on thehutchinsonreportnews.com
All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or license.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Tokyo tips I offered this guy who was going.
Japan is the shit man. Lived there two years. You looking to just stay in Tokyo, or move around a bit? Harajuku is cool, full of shops with some really weird shit. The best part is going across the street on Sunday by the Harajuku train station to see the kids all gothed out.
On the weekends (especially nice ones), Yoyogi Park is an awesome place to hang out, see the live rockabilly bands and the dudes sporting absurd pompadours & leather pants, have some beer or chu hi (awesome alcoholic drink available in any 7-11 or Lawry's, etc.). There are often festivals of one kind or another in the park, just check ahead of time.
Shibuya is definitely a worthwhile time. There are cool shopping stores, 'Love hotels' with funny names (Hotels that charge by the hour - I can talk more about those if you're interested, peculiar social dynamic), some good bars & restaurants, and it is home to the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, Shibuya Crossing. I think there's about 8 million people that pass through every day.
Not sure, but you've probably heard about Rappongi. It was nightlife central when I arrived in Tokyo in 2005, but my ex-gf has told me it's really been on the decline due to Japanese government's efforts to clean it up. When I was there it was incredible. Massive multi-level clubs, tons of people from all over the world, and lots of alcohol.
Also nearby is the Tokyo Tower, a tower modeled after the Eiffel Tower, however this one is bright red-orange. You can pay some yen to go to the top deck which offers an incredible view & glass floors. And next to the tower is Zojoji Temple. It's an incredible building, and too close not to look.
A ferry ride down the river to from the Sensoji Temple Asakusa to Odaiba is a really cool way to see the city from another perspective. You go under the Rainbow suspension bridge, and have a great view of the city, especially at night. There you'll find the Fuji TV building that looks like a giant erector set, and if you go inside up into the ball, there will probably be a live taping of an absurd Japanese show. When I was there it was cute Japanese girls sumo wrestling each other. It was a trip. There was a Hawaiian burger joint in the nearby shopping center called 'Hana' (I think), with excellent burgers, and they served beer in giant biggulp-esque cups. The view from the place is easily the best I've ever seen from a burger joint.
Sensoji Temple Asakusa
From Odaiba looking at Tokyo (Not sure why the little statue of liberty...)
And let me give you a word of advice: Spend EXTRA TIME studying the trains. There are two main train lines for getting around the city, JR and Keikyu. There are Local, Express, & Limited Express trains. This means that each has a varying number of stops. The 'local' (Red) stops at every stop, while the express stops only at larger stations, while the limited express (Green) stops at fewer still, like Shinagawa, Tokyo Station, etc. You will probably get on the wrong train at some point, but if you're not in a hurry, just get off at a random station & go explore. I did that a lot and found all kinds of cool shit. Japanese people are often shy with their English, but they are very helpful and if you look lost chances are they will stop to help. Don't hesitate to ask either.
Alright man, good luck.
On the weekends (especially nice ones), Yoyogi Park is an awesome place to hang out, see the live rockabilly bands and the dudes sporting absurd pompadours & leather pants, have some beer or chu hi (awesome alcoholic drink available in any 7-11 or Lawry's, etc.). There are often festivals of one kind or another in the park, just check ahead of time.
Shibuya is definitely a worthwhile time. There are cool shopping stores, 'Love hotels' with funny names (Hotels that charge by the hour - I can talk more about those if you're interested, peculiar social dynamic), some good bars & restaurants, and it is home to the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, Shibuya Crossing. I think there's about 8 million people that pass through every day.
Not sure, but you've probably heard about Rappongi. It was nightlife central when I arrived in Tokyo in 2005, but my ex-gf has told me it's really been on the decline due to Japanese government's efforts to clean it up. When I was there it was incredible. Massive multi-level clubs, tons of people from all over the world, and lots of alcohol.
Also nearby is the Tokyo Tower, a tower modeled after the Eiffel Tower, however this one is bright red-orange. You can pay some yen to go to the top deck which offers an incredible view & glass floors. And next to the tower is Zojoji Temple. It's an incredible building, and too close not to look.
A ferry ride down the river to from the Sensoji Temple Asakusa to Odaiba is a really cool way to see the city from another perspective. You go under the Rainbow suspension bridge, and have a great view of the city, especially at night. There you'll find the Fuji TV building that looks like a giant erector set, and if you go inside up into the ball, there will probably be a live taping of an absurd Japanese show. When I was there it was cute Japanese girls sumo wrestling each other. It was a trip. There was a Hawaiian burger joint in the nearby shopping center called 'Hana' (I think), with excellent burgers, and they served beer in giant biggulp-esque cups. The view from the place is easily the best I've ever seen from a burger joint.
Sensoji Temple Asakusa
From Odaiba looking at Tokyo (Not sure why the little statue of liberty...)
And let me give you a word of advice: Spend EXTRA TIME studying the trains. There are two main train lines for getting around the city, JR and Keikyu. There are Local, Express, & Limited Express trains. This means that each has a varying number of stops. The 'local' (Red) stops at every stop, while the express stops only at larger stations, while the limited express (Green) stops at fewer still, like Shinagawa, Tokyo Station, etc. You will probably get on the wrong train at some point, but if you're not in a hurry, just get off at a random station & go explore. I did that a lot and found all kinds of cool shit. Japanese people are often shy with their English, but they are very helpful and if you look lost chances are they will stop to help. Don't hesitate to ask either.
Alright man, good luck.
Springsteen and Morello perform ‘The Ghost of Tom Joad’
A classic protest song, inspired by the character “Tom Joad” from the film version of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.” If you didn’t know that already, watch the monologue below.
This video is from YouTube user BruceSpringsteenVEVO, published Oct. 2, 2009.
This video is from the 1940 American cinema classic “The Grapes of Wrath,” starring Henry Fonda.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Did Scott Walker Get Crank-Call Pwned? (AUDIO) UPDATE: YES
This is incredible:
He's yet to reply; we'll update when he does. And we'll check with Gov. Walker's office to see what they say, too. In the meantime, have a listen to the tapes. And tell us what you think in the comments.
Did Scott Walker Get Crank-Call Pwned? (AUDIO) UPDATE: YES
| Wed Feb. 23, 2011 2:15 AM PST
UPDATE (1): Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's office confirms that the recording of a call between the governor and an alt-weekly writer posing as David Koch, one of the billionaire GOP financier brothers, is real and that it is actually Walker on the recording. The governor's office has released a statement:
The Governor takes many calls everyday," Walkers spokesman, Cullen Werwie said in a statement. "Throughout this call the Governor maintained his appreciation for and commitment to civil discourse. He continued to say that the budget repair bill is about the budget. The phone call shows that the Governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having.
The Buffalo Beast site, which organized the prank, is down, but you can hear the call below.
UPDATE (2): Ian Murphy, the guy with the catch of the week, responded warmly to our questions about his call to Walker. His comments have been added in the original post below.
ORIGINAL POST: Is that really Scott Walker? [Update: Yep.] A New York-based alt-news editor says he got through to the embattled Wisconsin governor on the phone Tuesday by posing as right-wing financier David Koch...then had a far-ranging 20-minute conversation about the collective bargaining protests. According to the audio, Walker told him:
- That statehouse GOPers were plotting to hold Democratic senators' pay until they returned to vote on the controversial union-busting bill.
- That Walker was looking to nail Dems on ethics violations if they took meals or lodging from union supporters.
- That he'd take "Koch" up on this offer: "[O]nce you crush these bastards I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."
But was it for real? Check out the details on the guerrilla caller and audio of his conversation below the jump.
According to his Wikipedia entry, Ian Murphy is a gonzo journalist and editor of the BuffaloBeast, an online mag that was founded in 2002 as an alternative biweekly by gonzo Matt Taibbi and a band of colleagues. Murphy's probably best-known for a tough read about America's war dead called "Fuck the Troops." But if his latest Beast post, "Koch Whore," is to be believed, it's likely to be read a lot more widely.
When Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tim Carpenter complained that Walker wouldn't return any of the Dems' calls, Murphy says he wondered: "Who could get through to Gov. Walker? Well, what do we know about Walker and his proposed union-busting, no-bid budget? The obvious candidate was David Koch." Koch, of course, is one of the right-wing brothers behind Americans for Prosperity and a host of other GOP-friendly causes; MoJo's own Andy Kroll broke the news last week on the Koch brothers' past support for Walker and his agenda.
So, Murphy says, he managed to have a phone audience with the governor by posing as Koch. And he taped the whole thing, copied on the videos below. What Walker says on the tape is pretty convincing...and sweeping. There'll be no negotiations with the unions or their legislative supporters, he says; after all, he doesn't need them:
I would be willing to sit down and talk to him, the assembly Democrat leader, plus the other two Republican leaders—talk, not negotiate and listen to what they have to say if they will in turn—but I'll only do it if all 14 of them will come back and sit down in the state assembly…legally, we believe, once they've gone into session, they don't physically have to be there.
At one point in the tape, Walker dismisses the left-leaning MSNBC. "Who watches that? I went on Morning Joe this morning. I like it because I just like being combative with those guys, but, uh. You know they're off the deep end." In fact, Walker did appear on Joe Scarborough's a.m. show Tuesday; if this isn't an authentic recording of the governor, Murphy surely nailed down the little details. But hey, that's gonzo, right? Right?...
There are were plenty of unanswered questions, so we sought out Murphy online late Tuesday night, asking if he was still awake. "Sort of," he tweeted us. "What do you want to know?" We emailed him a list of questions, and he responded early this morning:
Mother Jones: Okay, why should we believe you?
Ian Murphy: Why wouldn't you? I'd send you the recordings, but they're already online. I guess you'd have to consult an audio engineer or mp4 expert or whatever the forensic audio analysis autopsy seance kind of person. It sounds like him to me. Maybe they punked me! Maybe it was Koch who actually answered the phone. Maybe I am living a double life in my sleep as Scott Walker! It's for real. I would have made the dialogue better and the audio worse. What, I am DARPA or some shit over here?
MJ: What number did you call to get through to Walker?
IM: I called the number on their website: http://walker.wi.gov/section.
MJ: Did you really think you'd get through?
IM: I couldn't believe it was that easy. Or why they wouldn't check around or something in between my calls. Or be competent. Or just not completely stupid. I blame it on the cheeseheads.
MJ: Did you ever freak out, almost lose your cool, etc.?
IM: Each time I called i presumed they be like, "Sir, we know you're not Mr. Koch. Please fuck the fuck off." Once Walker got on, I was more shocked than freaked. Now I'm freaked again.
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