Progressives at Conference are "Fed Up" With Their Own Pick for The White House

Thanks to Tennessee Guerilla Women for keeping us apprised of the goings on at a particular Progressive Conference this week.

Apparently....

The ACLU chief is "disgusted."

Nancy Pelosi is being heckled.

And other Progressives have discovered that "Hope is Not Enough."

In fact, the "Quote of the Day" comes from Robert Borosage speaking at aforementioned conference:

"Progressives have grown ever more dissatisfied, and for good reason. Our hopes or illusions were shattered: escalation in Afghanistan, retreat on Guantanamo, no movement on worker rights or comprehensive immigration reform, dithering on 'don't ask, don't tell,' reverses on choice, delay on climate change and new energy."


Well.... wah, wah and wah ... ya damned fools. In the future you will, perhaps remember, that your lusting after golden boys with razor thin resumes HURTS US ALL!

SYD

Photo credit: Reuters

Nobel Prize Committee: "Let's Go Out and Get Us a MAN that No One Could Possibly Question. You Know, An American Idol Type!"

So the plot thickens, over at the Nobel Peace Prize Committee's quarters. With Bloomberg reporting that the two top contenders this year were women.

HOW CAN THAT BE? WOMEN?? WTF???

"Let's go out and get us a man that no one could possibly question. You know. An American Idol!"

Considering that "The Prize" has now become little more than a hefty piece of propaganda that's no surprise, really.

Is it?

As the truth reveals itself, we find that few women have ever been allowed into the ranks of Nobel Peace Prize Winners, no matter how spectacular may have been their Contributions. Quoting now, from Bloomberg:

[Few Women

Issues of gender, identity and regional representation will play into the considerations,” Berg Harpviken said. “There’ve been rather few female candidates on the long list of Noble Peace Prize laureates.”

In the prize’s history, 12 winners have been women and 84 men. Organizations have also been honored, including the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1917, 1944 and 1963. Some years no prize was awarded.]

Guess this means that, no matter what peace accord Secretary Clinton rescues her name is "off the table." Just like Obama's withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. But who cares. Right? I mean... why can't "The American Idol" ramp up a war with one hand, while accepting a "Peace Prize" with the other?? He's an American, after all. And part of the ruling elite.

Too bad Piedad Cordoba and Sima Simar weren't born men, in the United States. Huh?



UPDATE: More on Sima Simar HERE. (Thanks Rev. Amy.)

SNL on Obama's Failures: Has the Merger With Comcast Changed NBC's Take on "The One?" (Ya don't say...)

Uh-oh. When NBC starts making fun of The One.... he's got trouble...
Or have they actually been acquired by Comcast already??

This should be veddy, veddy interestingggggg......

Former S.O.S. Lawrence Eagleburger on The Foreign Policy Differences Between Presidents Obama and Clinton: Afghanistan

Speaks for itself:


H/T to No Quarter for the link. Interesting discussion there as well.

It really cannot be overstated, the difference between Obama's and Bill Clinton's administrations where foreign policy is concerned.

Remember When Van Jones Accused Bill Clinton of "Wagging the Dog?"

OK. I've changed my mind.

Yesterday I said I wasn't going to weigh in on the Van Jones situation.

Today I found THIS and thought it worth noting here.

``This is using dead Third World bodies to cover up his own unzipped pants,'' declared Van Jones, director of Bay Area PoliceWatch, an organization that until now has focused on alleged misconduct by law enforcement officers. Jones spoke at a demonstration at Powell and Market streets in San Francisco that drew 400 people, according to police estimates.

The theme that Clinton took military action to distract public attention from the Monica Lewinsky affair was highlighted in a protester's sign in Palo Alto that read, ``Don't let a wartime incursion be Clinton's diversion.''

Snip...

(Of course) There was scant mention in any of the demonstrations about the events that precipitated Clinton's action: the terrorist bombs that exploded at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on August 7 that killed 251 Africans and 12 Americans.

I'm still not going to take a stand on the Van Jones "removal." I don't see any reason to. His mere presence among Obama's Czars speaks for itself.

I will say this much, though. Take it for what it is worth... If any PUMA is standing against Jones, and behind the Obama administration on this "dismissal"... I will understand.

(Oh and, I might add, this group of "Czars" in the White House??? Not anything I recognize as coming from *my* party of 30 years.)

SYD

Women in Middle Eastern Music, Part Six: Morocco, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Beyond.

I will be traveling for the next several days. I am taking a pilgrimage to Boston, Seneca Falls, the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House, and the Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester. To celebrate Independence Day, and bring my oldest son back from Harvard.

I have decided NOT to take a computer. As I really do need a break from the politics of the hour. So, this is my final blog entry for a while. Thus ends my series on the Women of Middle Eastern Music. When I return I will probably do a series on Unitarian Universalist Feminists, here in the U.S. During the "First Wave." (Cady-Stanton and Anthony would happen to be two of them.)

This series that I am completing now leaves me saddened. Alas, it appears that the influence of radical Islam is making life very difficult for woman musicians in a variety of countries. The crackdown seems to be deepening and spreading. Many professional female performers find themselves in exile ... in places like France or Norway. Either that or dead.

But what of the millions of women who just want to sing for their own sake? To teach their daughters lullabyes, or celebrate a wedding with a rousing Miserlou?

I was able to find this little bit of encouraging news from Morocco:

During an era of galloping globalization where cultural distinctions and nuances are flattened out, the Beyond Harmony project seeks to dispel the ubiquitous stereotype of oppressed, infantilized Muslim women who are constrained from contributing to society. Women like Rahuoum El-Bekkali have become international musical heroines, proving that musical and poetic expression can be a truly empowering female experience. Not only do these songs depict religious poems, invocations and popular songs, but they shed light onto important cultural traditions that have been passed down from grandmother to mother to daughter. With each successive generation these incredible women strengthen their identity as women, Moroccans, and Muslims.

But was immediately returned to some disappointing news out of Nigeria:

A lower Shari'ah Court in Shira Local Government Area of Bauchi State has sentenced a 34 year old female singer, Talatu Mai-Gurmi, to two months imprisonment or N5,000 fine for staging a traditional musical concert.

and

I should add that if the sharia enforcers are going to try to suppress music in Nigeria they have their work cut out for them: even the Wikipedia article is enough to indicate that the peoples of Nigeria, both the Islamised tribes and the non-Muslims, have an enormous, rich, deeply-rooted and endlessly mutating musical practice and tradition.

The situation in Afghanistan appears tenuous at best:

Music is opening a new world to 18 Afghan girls and young women enrolled in a cultural program in northern Afghanistan. The United Nations, which is helping to implement the program, says it is aimed at strengthening the voice of women in society. But conservative Islamic clerics in Mazar-e Sharif say the Koran forbids women from singing or learning to play musical instruments.

There are many other stories. And I am sure there will be more. For now, though, I want to end my journey into the world of middle eastern music by thanking all of the women who put their lives on the line, daily, so that we may all be enriched.

Peace,

SYD