Month: February 2014

Posted by Bob Lord

An interesting pair of opinion pieces in today's NY Times, Losing the Propaganda War, and Why Israel Fears the Boycott. It's not clear if they were intended as point and counter-point. They're juxtaposed in a manner suggesting they are and one is written by an Israeli while the other is written by a Palestinian. But in important ways they're somewhat aligned. Both are sharply critical of Israel. Both acknowledge the increasing effectiveness of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, movement.

Decades ago, the economic boycott of South Africa was crucial in bringing an end to apartheid. So it is with apartheid in Israel. 

Omar Barghouti, the Palestinian writer, reaches a logical conclusion about the survival of Israel if the BDS movement succeeds in brining an end to apartheid in Israel:

Would justice and equal rights for all really destroy Israel? Did equality destroy the American South? Or South Africa? Certainly, it destroyed the discriminatory racial order that had prevailed in both places, but it did not destroy the people or the country.

Likewise, only Israel’s unjust order is threatened by boycotts, divestment and sanctions.

Hirsh Goodman, the Israeli writer, ultimately arrives in a similar place:

By Tom Prezelski

Re-posted from Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

For Arizonans, the rise of the TEA Party nationally has only meant that we now have a convenient name for a strain of Republicans who have always menaced the political scene and been, to at least some extent, an obstacle to our progress as a state. Back in the 80s and early 90s, we called them Mechamites, after our not-so-esteemed Governor Evan Mecham. This particular breed was already decades old by this time, as even Arizona’s first Governor, George W.P. Hunt referred to the “standpat reactionary furies” in what we now call The East Valley as the chief obstacle to his progressive agenda.

These days, there is little question that this crowd is driving the Republican agenda, and they made a spectacularly successful effort to embarrass us as a state this week. The thing that got most of the attention was a resolution by the Arizona Republican Party condemning Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) for attempting to be an effective legislator. The author of the resolution, a failed candidate for legislature and noticeably less than telegenic fellow, stumbled through an interview with Chris Matthews, refusing to admit that the President was lawfully elected and lecturing the former chief of staff to House Speaker Tip O’Neill about Ronald Reagan. Apparently he was unaware that Matthews worked with and personally knew President Reagan, and if you wait long enough, he will even tell you about the book he wrote about him.

All of this begs the question: given that the Republican Party runs the state, shouldn’t they be able to find a more effective spokesman than this guy?

What got a little less attention was a resolution calling for the repeal of the 17th Amendment, the 1913 revision to the United States Constitution that calls for the direct election of Senators rather than having them elected by the state legislatures. Stephen Lemons at the New Times was one of the few reporters who gave this more than passing mention, but he failed to give it the proper context.

By Karl Reiner

Arizona's legislature has allocated $100,000 to fight subpoenas involving the passage of SB 1070. Passed in 2010, the law is Arizona's belligerent attempt to get more involved in the area of federal immigration law enforcement. Brushing aside suggestions that the lawsuits would go away if the parts SB 1070 not already negated by the courts were repealed, the Republicans (not fiscally conservative in this case) decided funds needed to be allocated to protect their fuzzy concept of what characterizes Arizona's sanctified legislative process. The petulant Republican legislators don't like, and perhaps fear, the insinuation in the subpoena that SB 1070 was motivated partly by racial bias. Given SB 1070's unsympathetic scope, it is quite understandable how a large number of people could arrive at that conclusion.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the Arizona AFL-CIO:

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from Arizona List: Arizona List's    10th Anniversary Celebrations March 1, 2014 Tucson – Luncheon 11:00 am Marriott Hotel, 880 E. 2nd Street Phoenix – Cocktail Reception 5:00 pm Alwun House, 1204 E. Roosevelt       Arizona List celebrates 10 years  with  Political Strategist Celinda Lake "Super-strategist or, better yet, … Read more