tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411728433286267922012-01-27T23:17:13.980-06:00purveyor of dissent and pop culture since 2003, and gun toting Commie for much longerDon Duritonoreply@blogger.comBlogger61351100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-37917881831613585432012-01-26T23:51:00.000-06:002012-01-26T23:51:45.917-06:00

Radical simply means "grasping things at the root."-- Angela Davis (born January 26, 1944)

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-83501739363404957492012-01-22T01:46:00.000-06:002012-01-22T01:46:19.433-06:00

That Fat Eb feels Mahogany to me.Matt Lavelle

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-71760802953306641982012-01-21T02:36:00.002-06:002012-01-21T02:36:41.633-06:00

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters. –African Proverb

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-81619249757601963672012-01-11T02:09:00.000-06:002012-01-11T02:09:16.549-06:00

Video h/t Corrente

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-35956157077707630792012-01-10T01:13:00.000-06:002012-01-10T01:13:22.714-06:00

I left Algeria in 1990 to work abroad. In 1997 my family and I moved to Bosnia and Herzegovina at the request of my employer, the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates. I served in the Sarajevo office as director of humanitarian aid for children who had lost relatives to violence during the Balkan conflicts. In 1998, I became a Bosnian citizen. We had a good life, but all of that

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-17514337973646455232012-01-10T01:07:00.000-06:002012-01-10T01:07:30.430-06:00

The bombing of Fallujah in 2004 was at various times compared with that of Dresden and Guernica. One consequence beyond the thousands of dead bodies and the transformation of Fallujah into essentially an open-air prison was the increase in birth defects - noticeable not long after the atrocities themselves had been committed. That's not surprising given the amount of depleted uranium and white

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-12096659241105642312012-01-09T01:55:00.000-06:002012-01-09T01:55:07.675-06:00

Occupy Wall Street Library

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-51049535301574902522012-01-08T21:00:00.000-06:002012-01-08T21:00:20.321-06:00

Notes From a Guantánamo Survivor (Must Read)Trigger Warning for torture/violence/abuse I LEFT Guantánamo Bay much as I had arrived almost five years earlier — shackled hand-to-waist, waist-to-ankles, and ankles to a bolt on the airplane floor. My ears and eyes were goggled, my head hooded, and even though I was the only detainee on the flight this time, I was drugged and guarded by at least

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-79305256845952477702012-01-05T23:04:00.002-06:002012-01-06T01:05:47.352-06:00

The war against women continues. This time, the battle field is Pensacola, Florida: Federal prosecutors say a homeless man charged on Thursday with the New Year’s Day firebombing of a family planning clinic targeted by near-daily protests had acted out of “strong disbelief” in abortion and stood by just long enough to see crackling, popping flames spread. Bobby Joe Rogers, 41, has been

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-67392949582263235632012-01-02T03:07:00.001-06:002012-01-02T03:09:22.009-06:00

Let's make another world possible. Image via i cite

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-91969003922119010232012-01-01T23:37:00.000-06:002012-01-02T01:38:05.179-06:00

Today in History: On January 1, 1994 the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), of the Zapatistas, declared war on the state of Mexico. More than 2,000 native Mayans in the state of Chiapas marched into San Cristobal de las Casas to seize control. The actions came in response to the enacting of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a treaty between the United States, Mexico, and

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-42116578609007075552012-01-01T22:46:00.000-06:002012-01-01T22:46:43.468-06:00

Although SOPA is still not quite dead yet, if it does end up dying in this sorry excuse for a Congress, it will be thanks to online sites like Reddit. Let's keep up the pressure!

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-14768229423819689152011-12-31T02:55:00.000-06:002011-12-31T02:55:36.718-06:00

I know that as this year ends, there is a veritable flood of missives about the year that is now passing - some by writers far more gifted than I. Although I have no intention of duplicating their efforts, I do wish to take a few moments to jot down some impressions that I have formed. A little over a year ago, as 2010 was ending, a young man in Tunisia set himself on fire - an act of protest,

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-58687219138723827612011-12-29T02:47:00.001-06:002011-12-29T02:48:33.591-06:00

"It reminds me of 1848 - another self-propelled revolution which started in one country then spread all over the continent in a short time." For those who once crowded Tahrir Square and are now worried about the fate of their revolution, he has a word of comfort. "Two years after 1848, it looked as if it had all failed. In the long run, it hadn't failed. A good deal of liberal advances had been

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-19374569689898049102011-12-29T02:05:00.000-06:002011-12-29T02:05:57.231-06:00

I am going through the painfully slow process of going through the links, and checking out what still works, and what has ceased to function. I've been purging a number of broken links, and I've begun adding a few newer blogs that I thought were cool. These days, I spend more time in places like Tumblr, and will be adding a few blogs from there as time goes on. In the meantime, stay tuned. I may

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-41502401259251778762011-12-28T13:54:00.000-06:002011-12-28T13:54:21.271-06:00

The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب: Ron Paul: This should be made clear. Ron Paul should not be supported by Arabs or by supporters of the Palestinians.  He may have said things against Israel (although his spokesperson yesterday asserted to the New York Times that he is a "friend" of Israel), but he is a racist and a reactionary and a homophoebe. This is another example

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-32242171729087042602011-12-28T03:28:00.003-06:002011-12-28T03:37:03.402-06:00

Second, the threat of fascism was far more than merely political. What was at issue - and nobody was more aware of this than intellectuals - was the future of an entire civilisation. If fascism stamped out Marx, it equally stamped out Voltaire and John Stuart Mill. It rejected liberalism in all its forms as implacably as socialism and communism. It rejected the entire heritage of the

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-48228706874536587732011-12-23T01:18:00.000-06:002011-12-23T01:18:34.567-06:00

A while back, I picked up a book called Everybody Talks About the Weather...We Don't - a compilation of Ulrike Meinhof's columns during her tenure at konkret prior to her going underground with the RAF. Whatever one may think of her place in history, there is little doubt that she was a sharp writer who had a keen eye for the events that were unfolding during the 1960s. In particular, her

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-88538757610135769142011-12-19T01:09:00.001-06:002011-12-29T02:41:21.865-06:00

Tea Party darling and libertarian Jules Manson just called for the assassination of President Obama and his children on Facebook, but I’m sure it was just a ‘misspeak’ (wink wink). In an unnerving display of racism and violence today, this Ron Paul supporting libertarian, who ran for a seat on the City of Carson’s City council last march, and thankfully failed, wrote: “Assassinate the fucken

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-87685493938785622592011-12-16T15:31:00.001-06:002011-12-17T02:54:10.821-06:00

Via The Sideshow

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-80266968944573261062011-12-16T15:25:00.000-06:002011-12-16T15:25:50.863-06:00

Protest is when I say I don't like this. Resistance is when I put an end to what I don't like. Protest is when I say I refuse to go along with this any more. Resistance is when I make sure everybody else stops going along too. Ulrike Meinhof (from her 1968 column, "From Protest to Resistance") They don't care that we have nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-10230784828704589612011-12-14T22:38:00.002-06:002011-12-14T22:38:34.021-06:00

Fuck Yeah Marxism-Leninism

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-79872542525096248382011-12-08T22:46:00.000-06:002011-12-08T22:46:30.695-06:00

This was from a few days ago. I noticed it was mentioned on a friend's blog late last week, and bookmarked it. Here's what Alex Ross, the person who filmed it, had to say: From an Occupy Wall Street protest at Lincoln Center, on Dec. 1, 2011. A performance of Philip Glass's Satyagraha at the Metropolitan Opera has just ended, and in the first three minutes of the video protesters try to get

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-4185503367247095112011-11-29T01:08:00.000-06:002011-11-29T01:08:18.258-06:00

It seems like every few years some conservative pundit has to come along and makes some baseless assertion about race and IQ. About four years ago it was William Saletan. This year it is Andrew Sullivan. Others who have more time and patience than I have already done a pretty good job handling the latest nonsense, and I don't wish to merely parrot what they said. Ta-Nehisi Coates has a solid

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-43766555966414567202011-11-26T20:46:00.000-06:002011-11-26T20:46:18.603-06:00

Gail Collins from the otherwise bleak New Pravda: Basically, Paul seems to want to revert to the 18th century, when every bank could set its own monetary policy and every community ran its own schools — presuming, of course, the community wanted to pay for them. “The founders of this country were well educated, mostly by being home-schooled or taught in schools associated with a church,” he

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-86077759483813315672011-11-25T21:13:00.000-06:002011-11-25T21:13:04.064-06:00

Jonathan Schwarz sez: I'm Thankful We Have Such a Cohesive International Oligarchy That's what I'm thankful for today. Sure, everybody knows that Gamal Mubarak, Hosni's son and heir apparent, started his career as an investment banker for Bank of America and then set up his own private equity fund. And it's old news that UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi takes time out from pepper-spraying

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-57238773067746650262011-11-24T23:20:00.000-06:002011-11-24T23:20:29.288-06:00

Not sure if I've shared this one before, but it's one that I've found continues to resonate with me.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-49179559840528796772011-11-17T01:32:00.000-06:002011-11-17T01:32:55.394-06:00

Truck Driving and Socialism Revolutionary Flowerpot Society (see especially the post, A Critique of Ideology-phobia, which is a topic I occasionally discuss - albeit less eloquently - every once in a while here)

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-64564993964952065162011-11-11T22:32:00.000-06:002011-11-11T22:32:10.487-06:00

I may not blog much these days, but I do keep up with the current comings and goings. The Occupy Wall Street movement is one of the most exciting developments of my increasingly long life. The movement has clearly resonated with substantial portions of the population, and for good reason. It is precisely because the movement has resonated that we have seen, as Pink Scare noted a few weeks

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-25037987156988806982011-10-16T22:44:00.001-05:002011-10-16T22:51:38.712-05:00

On the evening of the date on which we dedicate the MLK Jr. Memorial, I want to offer a remembrance of my own. Over four decades ago, Dr. King presented the US with his noteworthy anti-Vietnam War speech. The speech, which was indeed a classic - and one from which Americans have yet to learn much of anything - was part of a transformation in his thinking that occurred during the last year of

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-52619407595383890932011-10-08T01:14:00.000-05:002011-10-08T01:14:41.139-05:00

Found at Jodie Dean's site, I cite. Speaking of which, Jodi sez: The NYT has a "debate" over OWS.  The openness of the movement/space invites this kind of debate as people and factions try to contain it or repurpose it to their own ends. The NYT debate participates in packaging the movement, in making it safe for readers of the NYT, many of whom are in the top 1%. Below, I don't mention all

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-59720097135761507262011-10-07T21:17:00.000-05:002011-10-07T21:17:18.200-05:00

A few of us remembered to make note of October 7th, as it marks the tenth anniversary of the commencement of the War On Terra. A decade later, the casualties continue to mount not only in Afghanistan (and neighboring Pakistan), but Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and elsewhere. Sadly, the last decade has been one befitting our bloody history. Image and caption below nicked from Marisacat. October 7, 2001:

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-87211859185666028482011-10-06T22:56:00.001-05:002011-10-06T22:56:49.818-05:00

Via Lenin's Tomb

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-71351606561407493592011-10-06T02:05:00.000-05:002011-10-06T02:05:47.020-05:00

That's pretty much been where I've spent what passes for free time as of late. I really haven't seen much point in blogging per se, as it would be difficult to add much beyond what I've already written over the last several years - at least add much else that might be relevant to those either involved or intrigued by the growing Occupy Wall Street protests. It's there in the archives. I've

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-70886032712647503942011-09-10T14:25:00.000-05:002011-09-10T14:25:11.163-05:00

For ages since Since September 11, 2001, I've published a September 11th tribute intended to illustrate several other 9/11s that have occurred over the last century and a half. Perhaps I might recycle a version of that in a little while if I find myself in the mood to do so. For now I'd like to do something a little different. About ten years ago, just after the Twin Towers fell, a friend of

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-26494471878717023482011-08-24T15:11:00.000-05:002011-08-24T15:11:26.251-05:00

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-15579342107834325662011-08-15T14:01:00.004-05:002011-08-15T14:09:26.603-05:00

George Ciccariello-Maher: Planet of Slums, Age of Riots: Excerpted from Counterpunch: Mob Hysteria When economic violence reaches a certain point, social counter-violence soon follows, and yet it is rarely the bankers or the politicians, the purveyors of global austerity measures, who bear the brunt. It begins with name-calling, and no name has more political and historical resonance

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-63174753107631523612011-08-12T14:13:00.000-05:002011-08-12T14:13:10.609-05:00

I've been saying that for years.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-15889772144205435052011-08-08T02:52:00.000-05:002011-08-08T02:52:16.090-05:00

One is that, as I've written a few times over the last few years, Obama is America's Tony Blair: essentially a mildly rightwing Whig but someone who will use his ability at rhetoric to misdirect and dissemble in an attempt to please the maximum number of prospective voters the largest amount of the time possible. nerdified link

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-74164880378251283882011-08-01T01:20:00.000-05:002011-08-01T01:20:32.502-05:00

A line by Lewis Black seems in order: unbe-fucking-lievable.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-84604376212866094662011-07-22T01:29:00.000-05:002011-07-22T01:29:29.630-05:00

Q: Is there a viable progressive politics that doesn’t hinge on a strong labor movement? A: No H/t BLCKDGRD. Also, as a reminder, let's keep in mind that without labor backing, there probably isn't much of a Democratic Party left here in the US.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-83579561288641139592011-07-21T02:35:00.002-05:002011-07-21T14:30:20.016-05:00

Just a few words by André Gorz from nearly a half century ago: By its very function, technocracy tends therefore to locate itself "above the classes," to deny the necessity for class struggle, to set itself up as mediator and referee and in so doing to enter into contradiction with the classes. The famous "depoliticization" of the mass which technocracy pretends to take note of is not a fact it

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-32233990098275653852011-07-21T01:04:00.000-05:002011-07-21T01:04:58.151-05:00

This month marks the 75th anniversary of the coup that installed Gen. Franco as dictator in Spain. Socialist Worker has a summary of the events prior to the coup.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-1901241036966739632011-07-18T23:59:00.000-05:002011-07-18T23:59:17.607-05:00

Krugman is a sign of the political opportunity this moment presents to socialists to build off of reformist politics and push them left and to reach an audience that may have been hostile to us before 2008. But those connections can only be made if we leave sectarianism and gloating at the door...Certainly there is no room for that when we face such a daunting material reality.  The rest at

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-66609531009336202812011-07-18T23:41:00.000-05:002011-07-18T23:41:26.628-05:00

I saw this over at Crooked Timber (via Memeorandum) and wanted to highlight a bit of it: There is a real phenomenon that you might describe as left neo-liberalism in the US - liberals who came out of the experience of the 1980s convinced that the internal interest group dynamics of the Democratic party were a problem. These people came up with some interesting arguments (but also: Mickey Kaus

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-70639034133937981242011-07-14T03:04:00.000-05:002011-07-14T03:04:22.635-05:00

I've been re-reading writings by such authors as C. Wright Mills, Herbert Marcuse, and André Gorz recently. One thing that strikes me from reading them afresh is just how bad off the left was about a half century ago. Seems like the sorts of nonsense about "the end of ideology" and so on that I would often hear starting in the 1990s was commonplace in the 1950s and 1960s as well. One might argue

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-83944026598913953732011-07-13T15:00:00.000-05:002011-07-13T15:00:38.043-05:00

Thank goodness there are no US troops in Iraq and all is peaceful. Like a lot of center-"left" bloggers, the Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus is calling a day and killing off their blogroll that has been on my left sidebar forever. So even if the US still maintains permanent military bases and a palace-like emabassy in Iraq, we'll just pretend that everything is okay (unless or until a Republican

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-30927454148766968292011-07-11T23:09:00.000-05:002011-07-11T23:09:07.126-05:00

Apparently so hard to do that for every individual who successfully does so, countless others don't.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-79474489555106429082011-07-11T21:52:00.000-05:002011-07-11T21:52:23.595-05:00

The Pope of Hope's new "defense" secretary seems to use the same worn out justification for the invasion and colonization of Iraq used by Bu$hCo. More of that change we can believe in, eh?

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-23619572774029944642011-07-11T20:34:00.000-05:002011-07-11T20:34:24.984-05:00

This is just plain dumb: Lawmaker points loaded gun at reporter in the Senate. Let's highlight part of the article, then I'll offer just a bit of commentary: A state lawmaker known for championing the rights of gun-owners pointed a loaded firearm at the chest of a reporter during a recent interview at the Capitol. Republican Sen. Lori Klein was showing off her raspberry-pink handgun when she

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-43607345008641954812011-07-11T15:48:00.000-05:002011-07-11T15:48:51.146-05:00

The Pope of Hope continues to push austerity. Hate to say it again, but I told you so.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-46079440367921339722011-07-08T23:19:00.002-05:002011-07-08T23:19:39.177-05:00

The Leftist

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-2892324712160108302011-07-07T23:12:00.001-05:002011-07-07T23:36:19.474-05:00

Manifesto for a Left Turn: An Open Letter to US Radicals (note that this is a pdf file) - a useful document explaining how we got here and how we might move forward. On a related note, ladypoverty posts We're talking about practice.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-3526750247404614622011-07-07T22:28:00.003-05:002011-07-07T22:30:32.065-05:00

Why not Marx? Tip o' the hat to BLCKDGRD.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-79793445402470535692011-07-07T20:52:00.000-05:002011-07-07T20:52:53.451-05:00

Jodi Dean sez: In the US during the Clinton years, those who were pushed out of the paid labor force were told to educate themselves. More education was going to be the key for getting ahead. Now the discussion is whether education is worth it. With one hand, states eliminate teachers, slash education budgets, cut student loans, and raise tuition. With another, pundits ask whether education pays

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-82294542947696797332011-07-06T00:50:00.000-05:002011-07-06T00:50:47.204-05:00

US 'hate groups' bolstered by Obama's election

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-56678668536503506972011-07-05T17:05:00.000-05:002011-07-05T17:05:04.998-05:00

There is apparently an increase in overt white supremacists seeking elected offices across the US. Here's a quote from the article: Most aren’t winning—not yet. But they’re drawing levels of support that surprise and alarm groups that keep tabs on the white-power movement (members prefer the terms “racial realist” or “white nationalist”). In May, the National Socialist Movement’s Jeff Hall hit

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-9684023100814153002011-07-04T01:53:00.000-05:002011-07-04T01:53:09.662-05:00

The end for Jim Morrison occurred 40 years ago yesterday. The Doors was one of those bands I listened to a lot as a teen, and would open my mind to a lot of Beat-era writing, etc. Here's a performance of "The End".

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-37760780957846946802011-07-03T22:49:00.000-05:002011-07-03T22:49:05.706-05:00

"We talk of change, What is change? Change is the willingness to look at your system and have the courage to know what is wrong. More is not change. Change is to reorder the values of your life. Change is having a vision of a new hope for society...The system by which we can achieve power for our people and freedom that is a change. The means where people sacrifice now for a great day tomorrow,

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-68723997115032494772011-07-02T00:42:00.001-05:002011-07-02T02:17:23.742-05:00

History Is A Weapon

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-57951300447199171422011-07-01T00:27:00.002-05:002011-07-01T00:30:53.740-05:00

is Michelle Bachmann's husband, Marcus Bachmann. His bigoted remarks on homosexuality are simply more proof that just because you have a "Dr." next to your name doesn't mean you're not full of shit. This dude gives the counseling profession a bad name. His remarks, like those of sectarian extremists generally, are truly barbaric.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-50518270281109766532011-06-29T21:51:00.000-05:002011-06-29T21:51:18.229-05:00

Where does it come from, this silly and feigned idea that it's good to be able to claim a small-town background? -- Christopher Hitchens (writing about Michelle Bachmann) From folks who have obviously never spent any time in small towns.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-49740291522876095522011-06-23T22:44:00.000-05:002011-06-23T22:44:32.702-05:00

John Caruso has some apt words: Here's Ray McGovern writing about his upcoming voyage to Gaza: I also have been cautioned by a source with access to very senior staffers at the National Security Council that not only does the White House plan to do absolutely nothing to protect our boat from Israeli attack or illegal boarding, but that White House officials "would be happy if something

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-66477217658659448102011-06-22T00:54:00.000-05:002011-06-22T00:54:02.857-05:00

Is the Democratic Party an effective means to achieving progressive goals? Seems like a reasonable one to ask. Might serve as a rejoinder to claims that the Democratic Party is our only hope.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-7018130385346255322011-06-15T22:27:00.000-05:002011-06-15T22:27:44.138-05:00

State of the Union - a photo blog chronicling our nation's decay. I got turned onto this blog thanks to the author's latest column in Dissident Voice.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-38019671219510065902011-06-15T00:56:00.000-05:002011-06-15T00:56:38.576-05:00

Richard over at American Leftist provides a brief overview of the latest action to prevent further austerity measures in Greece: ...there is a blockade of the Greek parliament planned for tomorrow to prevent it from approving yet another, more severe austerity plan imposed by the IMF, the EU, and the European Central Bank. For an anti-authoritarian perspective as events unfold, go here.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-3553211111519290312011-06-13T20:47:00.000-05:002011-06-13T20:47:08.071-05:00

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the release of The Pentagon Papers.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-48281623063208883162011-06-13T01:11:00.001-05:002011-06-13T01:13:23.285-05:00

This one's "7 Seconds" by Youssou N'Dour with Neneh Cherry - two beautiful voices. There was some great music from the mid-1990s. Hopefully that will tide you over for a few days. My schedule's a bit tight during the workweeks this month, as I've probably mentioned before, so if I have the time and energy to scrawl a few pithy remarks I'll gladly do so. If the past two weeks are any indicator

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-25775717464727557502011-06-12T13:51:00.000-05:002011-06-12T13:51:21.396-05:00

Ted Rall's latest seems fitting given the context of many of this blog's posts.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-8871805689542904022011-06-12T02:38:00.000-05:002011-06-12T02:38:37.671-05:00

Back when the Pope of Hope was still a mere candidate for the Presidential nomination, there were a few voices in the wilderness who refused to believe in the audacity of the hype. I should know, as I was one of them - whether it was in terms of his views on what we call foreign policy or his apparent fetish for neoliberal economic advisors. As I said, there were other voices in the wilderness.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-74177781558374904932011-06-11T22:37:00.000-05:002011-06-11T22:37:23.142-05:00

Ian Welsh sez: "Note also that Malcolm X makes Martin Luther King possible. Everyone doesn't have to have the strategy, what they must not do is what Arundhati Roy refused to do, they must not condemn others on the same side."H/t Avedon Make sure to read the whole thing. Ian's rather pragmatic taxonomy of approaches to resistance is far from exhaustive, but it does cover the basics.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-81221536437508553212011-06-10T15:13:00.001-05:002011-06-14T00:49:52.280-05:00

That is a question that has come up time and time again in leftist circles, both when discussing our reaction to oppression at home and abroad. Recently the topic has come up again within the context of the "Arab Spring" that led to the relatively expedient overthrow of governments in Tunisia and Egypt, and prolonged unrest and civil war in several other nations (e.g., Libya, Yemen, Syria,

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-79161689759383343582011-06-05T21:47:00.000-05:002011-06-05T21:47:05.090-05:00

This past spring marked the 140th anniversary of the Paris Commune, noteworthy as the first workers' government.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-43576346009989400022011-06-05T20:44:00.000-05:002011-06-05T20:44:52.029-05:00

For those wondering what I might mean by neoliberalism, Sherry Ortner's brief primer is must-reading (h/t BLCKDGRD). She does a decent job, I think, in laying out the historical context in which neoliberalism evolved. She also spends some time noting that if we were to look at writers prior to the start of this century, we'd most likely see a discussion of late capitalism instead (that was the

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-10445135665187794362011-06-05T15:01:00.000-05:002011-06-05T15:01:11.518-05:00

As I was reading Yves' and Avedon's recent missives (roughly around the time I was watching the recent mini-series on Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, or as he is better known, Carlos "The Jackal"), I had one of my deja vu moments. To wit: our "left wing" in US politics is largely nonexistent, but it doesn't have to remain nonexistent. What passes for a "left" has an infrastructure - I suppose if you can

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-61227714729142107952011-06-05T13:19:00.000-05:002011-06-05T13:19:05.924-05:00

You can’t know what small action will have broader ripple effects. And in the end, even if you do not succeed in changing the terms of engagement, you have at least stood up for your dignity. That is the end of a lengthy dispatch by Yves Smith. You really should read the whole thing. Yves is no leftist in any meaningful sense of the term, but she does have a keen understanding of what is very

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-63883887808087340812011-06-05T02:31:00.000-05:002011-06-05T02:31:42.945-05:00

I've long found solace while reading Avedon's fine blog, in large part because she truly grasps and has grasped from the get-go is that the Pope of Hope is no leftist or "progressive" (although what "progressive" really means is open to debate, I suppose), but rather represents "neoliberalism with a happy face". [1] All one needed to do was to take a cursory look at who Obama's economic advisors

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-47038206702371041412011-06-04T23:43:00.000-05:002011-06-04T23:43:18.781-05:00

Bank of America Gets Pad Locked After Homeowner Forecloses On It (h/t Suburban Guerrilla).

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-52304928466827830542011-05-28T22:48:00.000-05:002011-05-28T22:48:45.141-05:00

John Pilger sez: Like the attack on Yugoslavia and the charade of Milosevic’s trial, the International Criminal Court is being used by the US, France and Britain to prosecute Gaddafi while his repeated offers of a ceasefire are ignored. Gaddafi is a Bad Arab. David Cameron’s government and its verbose top general want to eliminate this Bad Arab, like the Obama administration killed a famously

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-9592527521182421552011-05-28T01:13:00.001-05:002011-05-28T01:14:14.988-05:00

Lenin was quoted once as saying the following about speculators: "...speculators must be shot on the spot."That may seem harsh, but then again, as was duly noted at the time here roughly three years ago, the reality for those most affected by the commodities bubble (which included oil) was harsh: deadly harsh in fact. I bring this up because Matt Taibbi has a piece up about Wikileaks uncovering

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-55378414054909740522011-05-27T23:55:00.002-05:002011-05-28T00:29:07.698-05:00

"If you should see a man walking down a crowded street talking aloud to himself, don't run in the opposite direction, but run towards him, because he's a poet. You have nothing to fear from the poet - but the truth." ---Ted Joans from the poem "Jazz Is My Religion"A poet and truth-teller has passed away: Gil Scott-Heron. Since I'm sure a lot of cats will be sharing their personal favorites from

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-22192416363561783452011-05-27T12:59:00.000-05:002011-05-27T12:59:41.251-05:00

A man in Wisconsin who was planning on killing a reproductive health care provider was thankfully arrested before he could actually do any harm. Thankfully his gun accidentally went off in his hotel room. In a more sane society, we would properly label such individuals as terrorists.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-89204790184176291142011-05-23T22:56:00.000-05:002011-05-23T22:56:13.973-05:00

I thought I'd share with you something that definitely brings back memories. One of the regulars at The Culture Kitchen posted a retrospective of a South African band, Juluka, which was prominent during a portion of the 1980s. That band, as well as Johnny Clegg's subsequent band, Savouka, often got categorized as worldbeat. The term "worldbeat" was one we heard quite a bit in the 1980s. Sometimes

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-38402619751640682162011-05-21T21:11:00.000-05:002011-05-21T21:11:01.613-05:00

We do have plenty of partisan Democratic apologists who are more than happy to excoriate the few actual leftists who remain in existence. The spectacle is, of course, pathetic - every bit as pathetic as those who feel the need to defend American Imperium at all costs.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-66046926616282174742011-05-20T16:18:00.000-05:002011-05-20T16:18:23.577-05:00

Over the last few months I've been dusting off a once-thriving community blog, Everybody Comes From Somewhere. The idea behind it was simple enough - a relatively egalitarian, non-hierarchical approach to self-governance could be done even with a large group. The original crew to try this were part of a diaspora of sorts who found the "Gated Community Blogs" (or Big Box Blogs as others might call

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-80510242978994270652011-05-19T23:45:00.000-05:002011-05-19T23:45:02.830-05:00

The Grio offers up a top-ten list of Malcom X quotes. One of my favorites: "Truth is on the side of the oppressed."

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-44979916937791911022011-05-18T00:12:00.000-05:002011-05-18T00:12:53.268-05:00

I find it worth remembering that Arnold Schwarzenegger's sordid history was known well before he reached the CA governor's mansion in a 2003 recall election.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-23694922917398400762011-05-08T23:00:00.000-05:002011-05-08T23:00:29.347-05:00

"For years now I have heard the word "Wait!"...This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never.""  -- MLK, Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-61086583494040690512011-05-06T00:11:00.000-05:002011-05-06T00:11:35.356-05:00

The Flower of the World Will Not Die - a New Zealand blog in support of the Zapatistas.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-5159182007141457892011-05-04T23:07:00.000-05:002011-05-04T23:07:37.318-05:00

Check out The Fallen Republic - a post over at The Crow's Eye. The author places our nation's current atrocities within their broader historical context.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-78409012301146944852011-05-01T00:01:00.010-05:002011-05-01T17:01:54.123-05:00

Today's May Day. If you're curious about the origins of May Day, read here. It may well be the most ancient religious festival worldwide - primarily a homage to fertility goddesses as well as the renewal of life that we see in the spring time. In more modern times, May Day is significant as the original labor day, and is tied with the struggle by organized labor movements to get the 8-hour

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-60233978538503249662011-04-28T01:10:00.000-05:002011-04-28T01:10:57.030-05:00

I've been searching for a few pithy things to say in response to the news that Obama finally dignified a bunch of conspiracy nuts with the release of the coveted "long form" birth certificate. Although one would ordinarily think this would be a non-issue - after all, the birthers' claims had already been thoroughly debunked back in 2008 - the polling data since 2009 clearly tells a different

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-24919977164198747252011-04-24T20:27:00.000-05:002011-04-24T20:27:42.866-05:00

Down With Tyranny has a well-written post on the inspiration for Paul Ryan's horrendous budget plan. If you know one name, Ayn Rand, you probably know all you need to know. As an aside, I recall back in my college days trying to stomach some of the scribblings of Rand and her followers. I certainly knew a few fellow undergrads who had dreams of a Randian utopia. They acted much like those caught

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-34887753893865119802011-04-21T14:13:00.000-05:002011-04-21T14:13:18.260-05:00

For reasons that I will not get into, I am totally swamped, and probably will be for at least a couple more weeks. There are a number of items that I would love to write about in more detail, whether it's Manning's torture, our latest war debacle, or even what zombie films (and post-apocalyptic films more broadly) can tell us about the relative merits of individual and collective actions

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-77858455253931455202011-04-11T23:05:00.001-05:002011-04-12T00:18:18.096-05:00

Find more Headless Chickens songs at Myspace Music Here's another song from a band that was huge in NZ and Australia, and really deserved wider exposure north of the Equator than they received. Of all the acts that Flying Nun Records spawned, Headless Chickens were arguably the most unusual. I don't believe "Railway Surfing" was ever a single, and certainly there is no extant video for it, but

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-48411269791224850162011-04-11T01:51:00.000-05:002011-04-11T01:51:57.017-05:00

Find more artists like Headless Chickens at Myspace Music The first song I heard from this band. They were one of a kind.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-79610915132532707612011-04-08T16:34:00.000-05:002011-04-08T16:34:39.588-05:00

Yesterday, while I was buried with other projects, I noticed that Obama's remarks about gasoline prices had some bloggers up in arms. Whatever else I might think about Obama, his is right that there is very little that the White House can do to reduce gasoline prices short term. I'd go a bit further and suggest that the White House really doesn't have that much pull in the medium to long term

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-43717752739751001962011-03-30T13:44:00.002-05:002011-03-30T13:44:37.911-05:00

see more Funny Graphs

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-82663382952012215882011-03-26T00:01:00.002-05:002011-03-26T00:01:37.725-05:00

Corporate Profits At All-Time High As Recovery Stumbles

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1841172843328626792.post-44800264899751401952011-03-25T13:06:00.000-05:002011-03-25T13:06:01.257-05:00

Rather than accept the inevitability that others might disagree with you, and attempt rebuttals based on reason and evidence, you go all Joe McCarthy/Stalin/Musolini/Ahmadinejad on your opponents and make it personal. You play these bullshit games rather than concentrate on what your constituents wanted: jobs.

Don Duritonoreply@blogger.com0