REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons
REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons
SUNDAY
Quote of the Day
March 17, 2013
'[Bradley] Manning's guilty pleas could mean twenty years in prison, on top of the 1,000 days he has languished in pretrial detention (including more than nine months in solitary confinement, often under horribly abusive conditions). But the worst is yet to come: the Obama administration will now prosecute Manning for the most serious charges he faces, including "aiding and abetting the enemy." It's a scorched earth move, designed "to terrorize future national security whistleblowers" and journalists alike, in the words of Harvard law professor Yochai Benkler. It's also a story that merits deeper concern from the Washington press-the kind of story that in another age might have interested Bob Woodward.'
The Editors
The Nation
March 25, 2013
Toon of the Day
Austerity
Paresh - Khaleej Times (Dubai)
MONDAY
Quote of the Day
'Obviously the risk with the Cyprus bank tax is that it'll lead to mass panic in other countries dependent on EU lifelines (Portugal, Spain, Ireland) which in turn will spark secondary panic in Spain and Italy and the whole edifice of European monetary union will collapse in chaos. But while I suppose yesterday's news makes that somewhat marginally more likely, I think everyone ought to be affirming the basic reality that runs and panics are unlikely and unnecessary.
'The real issue here is that your typical middle class Cypriot seems to be getting royally screwed.'
Columnist Matthew Yglesias
MoneyBox - Slate
March 17, 2013
Toon of the Day
Remember Newtown?
Tony Auth
TUESDAY
Quote of the Day
'When the United States invaded Iraq, a New York Times/CBS News survey estimated that 42 percent of the American public believed that Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And an ABC News poll said that 55 percent of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein directly supported al-Qaeda. None of this opinion is based on evidence, because there isn't any. All of it is based on insinuation or to suggestion and outright lies circulated by the U.S. corporate media, otherwise known as the "free press," that hollow pillar on which contemporary American democracy rests. Public support in the U.S. for the war against Iraq was founded on a multitiered edifice of falsehood and deceit, coordinated by the U.S. government and faithfully amplified by the corporate media.'
Award-winning writer and activist
Arundhati Roy. Quoted in 'Bush
May Be Gone, But "Psychosis" of
U.S. Foreign Policy Prevails,"
conversation with Amy Goodman.
Democracy Now!
March 18, 2013
Toon of the Day
A Modest Proposal
Matt Wuerker
WEDNESDAY
Quote of the Day
'But it is important to note the impact of the peace movement as a formidable stumbling block and complicating factor for future imperial plans. It's a tragedy that the peace movement could not be consolidated after Iraq into a version of the NAACP, NOW or the AFL-CIO. The millions raised by Move.ong were not reinvested in a lasting peace constituency. There was no Soros endowment. The political consultants turned a blind eye to the existence of the obvious peace bloc that was critical to winning. To this day, the peace movement is an unrecognized constituent force in the country. Its voice is utterly excluded from the inner circles of national security discussions.
'Until this imbalance is corrected, the spectrum of "legitimate" opinion always will tilt toward the military option. And like the legend of Sisyphus, peace advocates always will start at the bottom of the hill.
'Long wars require a long peace movement.'
Tom Hayden
The Nation
March 19, 2013
Toon of the Day
Grim
Tom Toles - Washington Post
THURSDAY
Quote of the Day
'Here lies the central danger of the visit. The Israeli government and public could conclude, based on the polite tone of the president and the lack of a threat or demonstrative pressure, that Israel is now exempt from having to initiate steps toward resuming the peace process.
'This would be a horrible conclusion. Obama and the United States are not a party to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The president of the United States is not the one who must live in a society that is being transformed as a result of the occupation and pushed to the margins of the international community. Netanyahu is correct in saying, as Washington has made clear many times, that the United States cannot want peace more than the parties themselves. But the weakness the Americans have demonstrated until now in every way over the peace process actually proves that it is Israel that must offer new plans and proposals and advance
the implementation of the agreed two-state formula.
'Obama can and must make clear to Israel how the continuation of the occupation could affect bilateral relations, harm the U.S. position in the region and erode the American public's support for Israel. He owes this to Israel and to the citizens of his country. Netanyahu, on his part, cannot settle for "surviving" the visit or for mutual pats on the back. He is responsible for renewing negotiations with the Palestinians. '
Editorial
Haaretz (Israel)
March 21, 2013
Toon of the Day
GOP Do Over
Ben Sargent
FRIDAY
Quote of the Day
'"The point of my observations should be quite clear by now, that ('Heart of Darkness' author Joseph) Conrad was a bloody racist. That this simple truth is glossed over in criticism of his work is due to the fact white racism against Africa is such a normal way of thinking that its manifestations go completely undetected."
From "An Image of Africa." by Chinua Achebe, the pioneering African writer, government critic and advocate for African storytelling, who died today. A native of Ogidi, Nigeria, he is best known for his first novel, "Things Fall Apart," which has sold more than 10 million copies and been translated into 45 different languages.
New York Times
March 22, 2013
Toon of the Day
Neocon Party
Jim Morin - Miami Herald
SATURDAY
Quote of the Day
'This city cannot destroy that many schools at one time; and, we contend that no school should be closed in the city of Chicago. These actions will not only put our students' safety and academics careers at risk but also further destabilize our neighborhoods.
'This is why we intend to rally, united and strong, on Wednesday, March 27 to send a signal that we are sick and tired of being bullied and betrayed. Some of us are going to put our bodies on the line-because a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And when we declare the victory, some of us will sit back and sing the lines of one of Mahaila Jackson's songs-"How I Got Over.' 'Rahm Emanuel has become the "murder mayor." He is murdering public services. Murdering our ability to maintain public sector jobs and now he has set his sights on our public schools. But we have news for him: We don't intend to die. This is not Detroit. We are the city of big shoulders and so we intend to put up a fight. We don't know if we can win, but if you don't fight, you will never win at all.
'The people of this city can no longer sit back and allow this mayor, his school board and his corporate cronies to run roughshod over democracy. They've turned their backs on affordable housing; turned their backs on job creation; and, now they're turning their backs on our students, their families and our schools. We are tired of playing their school reform games. But who are the winners and losers? Who made the rules? And what do they keep telling the losers to keep them playing their games?'
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis
March 22, 2013
Toon of the Day
Where Are They Now?
Ted Rall