Vinalhaven, Maine rejects fluoride

By Shlomit Auciello
The Herald Gazette Reporter

VINALHAVEN (June 10): Vinalhaven voters on Tuesday filled two selectman positions, two school board posts and one post on the Vinalhaven Water District. All the positions are for three years.

... In addition to those elected positions, voters decided on fluoridation and the SAD 8 budget.

This was the second time in less than a year that VInalhaven has voted on the following question:

"Shall fluoride be added to the public water supply for the intended purpose of reducing tooth decay?"

At the November 2008 presidential balloting, the count was 423 in favor of the chemical additive and 320 against. Tuesday's vote reversed that decision by a 3 to 1 margin, with 99 votes for adding the treatment and 317 against.

Vinalhaven resident and mother of two Jessica Farrelly said Wednesday that a loophole in the law allowed her and other concerned citizens to petition the town to reconsider last year's fluoride vote.

Gathering more than 100 signatures, Farrelly's group returned the question to the ballot. She said her concerns were primarily financial.

"The question didn't explain the risks and costs," she said, adding that the specific language of the question was mandated by the state. Farrelly said the town's water system is in need of line replacements and other upgrades, and many of those voting in Vinalhaven live outside the water district. "They won't pay for it or drink it," she said.

In discussing health concerns raised during her research on the issue, Farrelly said individuals need to make their own decisions. She added that the chemical is used as a pesticide and can be found in many common foods...

Obama urged to investigate US sponsored torture

From The Lead

The Rev. Ed Bacon, Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA, met with members of the Obama administration at the White House yesterday along with a number of other religious leaders. They were taking part in the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) at the White House, and asked Obama consider sponsoring a fact-finding commission dedicated to investigating U.S.-sanctioned torture incidents that have happened since September 11, 2001.

Here is the text of the letter:

June 11, 2009

The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As senior religious leaders in the United States , we write to give voice to the compelling need for a comprehensive investigation into U.S.-sponsored torture since 9/11. We believe the most credible way to conduct such an investigation is by establishing an independent, non-partisan Commission of Inquiry. Such a Commission is necessary to: (1) uncover the whole truth about U.S. torture policies and practices; (2) mobilize a national consensus, and (3) build support for the requisite safeguards to ensure that U.S.-sponsored torture never happens again.

We know that you share with us the understanding that torture is wrong – without exception, that it is illegal and immoral. You have stated this unequivocally. You matched your words with action on the second full day of your Administration when you signed the executive order banning torture. With that order, you signaled to our nation, as well as to the world, your determination to return the United States to the rule of law and to begin the process of restoring our nation’s moral stature in the global community. We are profoundly grateful for your swift and decisive action in signing this executive order.

But an executive order is not enough. It can be superseded by laws, and, as we’ve seen, even laws are in jeopardy of being superseded by national emergencies. Our nation can guarantee the abolition of torture only if and when we put in place safeguards to prevent once and for all the future twisting and abrogation of the existing laws that prohibit torture.

You have publicly announced your opposition to a Commission of Inquiry, stating that our existing institutions are adequate for investigating what went wrong. You have expressed your desire to look forward, not backward. We agree we must look forward — forward to a future where torture will never happen again. But we believe that the only avenue to, and guarantee of, such a future is a Commission of Inquiry. An investigation of U.S.-sponsored torture will only be credible and thorough if conducted by a Commission comprised of citizens who are well-respected, non-partisan, and independent-minded.

The reality is that our nation is now shackled to a shameful history of torture. As people of faith we know that only the truth can set us free. We must therefore, as a nation, be mature and honest enough to examine fully and disclose completely the wrong doing that has been committed. The transparency and openness of a Commission of Inquiry will help to hold us all accountable for the policies and acts of torture carried out in our name. Accountability is essential in a nation of laws.

Recent polls show that many people of faith have been persuaded that the use of torture can be justified in some situations. These findings weigh heavily on us, as religious leaders. We have more work to do to educate our people. We accept our responsibility to bear bold and compelling witness to the sanctity of the divine image in all people and to the fact that torture in every instance defiles and desecrates this divine image. We commit ourselves anew to great faithfulness in preaching to and teaching our members.

We beseech you, in furtherance of your responsibility to restore, protect, and preserve the sanctity and rule of law in this nation, to commit yourself to the creation of a Commission of Inquiry that will uncover the truth, identify and establish legal safeguards, and guarantee for our children and grand-children a future in this country free of torture, without exceptions.

We pray for you “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of God” (Isaiah 11:2). And we look to you to lead our nation back to the path of truth and justice.

The letter was signed by at least 33 leaders representing many denominations and religious organizations representing a variety of religions and traditions, including Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

The NRCAT press release says:

“We were pleased to have the opportunity today to meet with Obama administration officials to discuss our strong support for the establishment of an independent, non-partisan Commission of Inquiry to investigate the development and implementation of a program of torture by the United States in the years after 9/11,” Kilmer said. “Unfortunately, as is known publicly, President Obama does not currently support the establishment of an investigative Commission. However, the officials with whom we met heard our concerns and welcomed our input. This is not the end of this process; it is merely the beginning. As events continue to unfold, we will advocate for a Commission of Inquiry that can uncover all of the facts. We cannot simply bury our past for as the Bible says, ‘the truth shall make us free.’”

Read the rest here.

Well, we can certainly say Finland ain't Telletubbyland....

Celebrating diversity: one in a series of posters for the Green Party of Finland:

Anne Frank centre stage on 80th 'birthday'

Had she survived, Anne Frank would have celebrated her 80th birthday today.

From DutchNews.nl

Friday 12 June 2009

The diaries and other writing by Jewish teenager Anne Frank, who hid in a secret attic in Amsterdam for two years during World War II are to go on permanent display, the government announced on Thursday.

'Her diaries and writing will come home,' to the museum now housed in her former home, the statement said.

Three diaries, a note book of short stories and a collection of her favourite quotes will go on show from November 1.

The documents have been donated to the museum by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation, which was given them by Anne's father Otto. He was the only one of the family to survive the concentration camps and died in 1980.

Short life

Anne would have turned 80 on Friday if she had survived the war and a number of events have been planned to mark the occasion. On Friday evening there will be a live tv broadcast from the Prinsengracht museum with guests from the Netherlands and abroad.

At Madame Tussauds waxworks museum, artist Silvester Peperkamp is painting a portrait of how Anne may have looked if she was alive today.

Meanwhile, the shed at Westerbork transit camp, where Anne was put to work dismantling batteries after her capture in 1944, is to be rebuilt on its original location.

The shed has been used for agricultural storage in Veendam since 1957.

For a list of international events click here

[Cross posted at Andemedius and The Peace Tree.]

A Native American thanksgiving

This is lovely - from Speaking to the Soul.

Daily Reading for June 12 • Enmegahbowh, Priest and Missionary, 1902

Leader: For our ancestors who built nations and cultures; who thrived and prospered long before the coming of strangers; for the forfeit of their lives, their homes, their lands, and their freedoms sacrificed to the rise of new nations and new worlds.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.

Leader: For the wealth of our lands; for minerals in the earth; for the plants and waters and animals on the earth; for the birds, the clouds and rain; for the sun and moon in the sky and the gifts they gave to our people that enabled the rise of new world economics. All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.

Leader: For oceans, streams, rivers, lakes, and other waters of our lands that provide bountifully for us; for clams, lobsters, salmon, trout, shrimp, and abalone; for the pathways the waters have provided.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.

Leader: For the friendship that first welcomed all to our shores; for the courage of those who watched their worlds change and disappear and for those who led in the search for new lives; for our leaders today who fight with courage and great heart for us.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.

Leader: For the strength and beauty of our diverse Native cultures; for the traditions that give structure to our lives, that define who we are; for the skills of our artists and craftspeople and the gifts of their hands.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.

Leader: For the spirituality and vision that gave our people the courage and faith to endure; that brought many to an understanding and acceptance of the love of Christ, our Brother and Savior.
All: We offer a song of honor and thanks.

Leader: Accept, O God, Creator, our honor song, and make our hearts thankful for what we have been given. Make us humble for what we have taken. Make us glad as we return some measure of what we have been given. Strengthen our faith and make us strong in the service of our people, in the name of our Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ, your Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

From “A Native American Thanksgiving for the Americas and Their People” offered at the National Cathedral in 1992 and quoted in The Wideness of God’s Mercy: Litanies to Enlarge Our Prayer, revised and updated edition, compiled and adapted by Jeffery Rowthorn with W. Alfred Tisdale. Copyright © 2007. Used by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY. www.churchpublishing.org

Behind the screen

By Katie Sherrod in Desert's Child

During the 1890’s Dr. M. Carey Thomas, later president of Bryn Mawr College, asked to attend a class at Johns Hopkins University school of medicine in Baltimore. No woman had ever before been permitted to attend the lectures, and Dr. Thomas was granted her request only on condition that she sit behind a screen so as not to offend and distract the male students.

In 1893, Florence Bascom was the first woman to to receive a PhD from Johns Hopkins. However, she too had to sit behind a screen so the male students would not know she was there and be offended or distracted.

British-born Charlotte Angas Scott (1858-1931) was pivotal in the development of mathematics education in the United States. She was among the first faculty members at Bryn Mawr College and the school's first head mathematics teacher. Scott was awarded a scholarship to Hitchin College (now Girton College, the women's division of Cambridge University). She and the other women in her class were all required to sit behind a screen that separated them from the male students and obscured their view of the blackboard. Women also were not permitted to be at the commencement exercises.

But that was all so long ago. Right? Well, requiring women students to sit behind a screen or even out in a hallway at schools, universities and seminaries continued in some schools in the U.S. right up until the early to mid part of the last century. The people in charge did not want the male students to be offended or distracted.

African Americans endured even worse indignities as white America enacted laws designed to keep them "in their place" so they could not offend the sensibilities of white people. That's what segregation and then the Jim Crow laws were all about.

Even recognized heroes were not immune to the insults. In 1971, after a 40-year career in baseball, Leroy “Satchel” Paige became the first Negro League Player voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But Baseball Commissioner, Bowie Kuhn announced that Paige would be the first member of a Negro wing of the Hall of Fame. Sports writers exploded, saying that having a "Negro wing" was perpetuating the bad old separate-and-NOT-equal days of segregation. Outrage grew, and Kuhn finally convinced the board of the Hall of Fame that putting Paige in a separate corridor was a really bad idea. So Paige's plaque and those of other "Negro" players were put with all the rest.

It seems that any time those on the margins seek to be included, those in charge have moved to include them only after making sure the sensibilities of people like themselves [historically straight white men] are not offended.

That is what is happening in the Episcopal Church right now with our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters in Christ. After years of steady pressure, the church is slowly making moves to include them, but only if they will in essence sit behind a screen so as not to offend any of the people already inside the room.

That's why Gene Robinson was not invited to Lambeth, although the Archbishop of Canterbury did offer to let him speak in an exhibit hall of the Marketplace . . .

That is what B033 was and is all about -- making sure that the presence of LGBT Episcopalians in our church won't offend anyone anywhere who is made the slightest bit uncomfortable by their presence.

And that is why the closeted panel that is studying same sex relationships wants to keep itself secret "for a season." We apparently even have to study LGBT folk from behind a screen.

Someday our children will read of this time in our history and be just as amazed and outraged as you were when you read the first paragraph of this blog.

I hope some of those children will still be in the Episcopal Church.

The Golden Girls on Marriage Equality

Eyewitnesses to the wreckage of Gaza

Two video reports--

Via Media Lens Message Board

Phil Weiss was part of a recent CodePink delegaton to Gaza. He filmed this video of a tour through the industrial zone east of Gaza. The extent of the destruction is incredible, and Israel continues to refuse to permit materials needed for reconstruction to enter the Strip.

Via Guardian Films

Nearly six months since the devastating war in Gaza, Palestinians are still living amid the rubble. Despite stirring talk of reconstruction efforts, little has changed. Inigo Gilmore visits the devastated neighbourhoods to see how families are coping.

Midweek: Dance!

Eyewitness to the wreckage of Iraq

With all the media outlets talking about US domestic concerns (health care, the economy, the war on drugs, the SCOTUS nomination), let's not forget there is still the tragedy of Iraq:

Eyewitness to the wreckage of Iraq

By Sabah Jawad Socialist Worker, June 9, 2009

When you step out on the streets of Baghdad you notice immediately that all is not right in Iraq.

Thousands of concrete barricades divide city neighbourhoods into small cantons.

Everywhere are reminders that this is a country under occupation. It is a bleak vision of this ancient city.

This pattern repeats itself at a smaller scale too. Even in local areas roads are blocked by concrete barriers.

Everywhere there are checkpoints manned by the Iraqi security forces.

They are set up at will and prevent people from moving around freely. There are constant traffic jams and no traffic lights.

After six years of occupation there is still a huge shortage of drinking water.

Electricity is often off for more than 12 hours a day—which is unbearable in the heat of the summer.

Baghdad is in a worse state than during my last visit in October 2003.

The dust that covers the city is an indication of a huge environmental disaster taking place.

Contamination and falling levels of water in Iraq’s two major rivers are turning huge swathes of agricultural land into a desert.

The country was once capable of feeding its people. But now Iraqi fruit and vegetables have disappeared from the markets.

The situation is even worse in southern cities like Basra, which was once a beautiful place.

Its famous network of streams and small rivers are now open sewers. The stench hits you as soon as you enter this great city.

This not the image that the US paints of Iraq.

The occupiers claim that reconstruction is taking place, and that they have created a democratic state with a system based on consensus and power-sharing.

But the US has created a weak and fragmented state, and they want it to stay that way so it is easy to control.

The political process is based on religious sectarianism and division. The constitution is a minefield that is turning region against region.

Ministries are divided on sectarian lines and there is massive nepotism and embezzlement of public funds.

The occupiers have squandered huge amounts of public funds.

The only “achievement” of the occupation is the widespread corruption that is eating away at the Iraqi state.

The former electricity minister Ayham al-Samarrai was accused of embezzling $100 million in a scam involving the import of electricity generators.

He was sentenced by an Iraqi court, but was spirited away from the security of the occupiers’ Green Zone in Baghdad to a new life in the US.

Another notable scandal involved Hazim Shalan, a former defence minister. He was accused of importing non-existent or faulty weapons.

The most recent case involves trade minister Falah al‑Sudani, who resigned last week after being accused of corruption involving hundreds of millions of dollars.

His two brothers are also implicated. They stand accused of fiddling import licences for the rationing system which millions of Iraqis depend on for food.

Occupation forces and Iraqi political parties took control of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces. They divided up the spoils like thieves, and took buildings that belong to the people.

The Al-Fadhila Party took over the huge unfinished Al‑Rahman mosque in Baghdad. It sold off materials bought for the Mosque’s construction to fill its own pockets.

Many people believe that these corrupt and sectarian institutions were created by the US with the aim of keeping Iraq fragmented and weak.

Sabah Jawad is an officer of the Stop the War Coalition and Iraqi Democrats Against the Occupation

Cross posted at Antemedius.

Royal Dutch/Shell settles on $15.5 millon on Saro Wiwa case

From Democracy Now!

The case was brought on behalf of ten plaintiffs who accused Shell of complicity in the 1995 executions of Nigerian writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others.

Of course, Royal Dutch/Shell didn't admit guilt, but the case against them was pretty strong, so they offer a settlement rather than go along with a trial. Anyway, the settlement is simply the cost of doing business for Shell. Does it mean that it will make Shell change any future policies? Even with their PR concerns for the Ogoni people, I seriously doubt it. Shell is a business that puts profits before people, no matter what their PR departments will do to "sell" us. The settlement is the beginning of the process of reconciliation, not the end, as the DN! interviews point out.

Radio Netherlands reports also that Shell faces another court battle.

Another lawsuit was filed last year on behalf of Nigerian plaintiffs by Friends of the Earth Netherlands. The case concerns three specific oil spills that cost several families their livelihoods.

Millions of people in the Niger Delta live in poverty despite the region’s oil riches. Anne van Schaik of Friends of the Earth said the settlement is a sign that large oil companies will start to take responsibility for the actions of their subsidiaries.

“One of the most important things is that people can have a normal way of living. The traditional way of living in the Niger Delta is one of farmers and fishermen, and I think it’s very important that nature is restored back to the original state. Then you have a way of income and from that you can build your life.

“If everything is polluted because of the oil spill and you don’t even have access to clean drinking water, then your whole means of living is destroyed. And that of course is grounds for terrorism and all kinds of other attacks.”

In a statement to Reuters, Shell’s executive director for exploration and production said Shell maintains the allegations are false.

Oprah's Medicine Show: Bringing Charlatans to your TV Screen

I've always been skeptical how Ms Winfrey relentlessly pursues and promotes pseudoscientific bullshit.

Live Your Best Life Ever!

Wish Away Cancer! Get A Lunchtime Face-Lift! Eradicate Autism! Turn Back The Clock! Thin Your Thighs! Cure Menopause! Harness Positive Energy! Erase Wrinkles! Banish Obesity! Live Your Best Life Ever!

From Newsweek

Oprah takes these things very seriously. They are, after all, the answers she hopes to find for herself. If Oprah has an exquisite ear for the cravings and anxieties of her audience, it is because she shares them. Her own lifelong quest for love, meaning and fulfillment plays out on her stage each day. In an age of information overload, she offers herself as a guide through the confusion.

Her audience cannot get enough. After more than two decades on the air, the Oprah franchise continues to expand. Forty million people tune in to watch her television show each week. O magazine, which features her picture on every cover, sells more than 2 million copies each month. She has her own satellite radio channel and a very popular Web site. Forbes puts Oprah's personal fortune at $2.7 billion. Her empire is about to get bigger. Oprah has made a deal to launch her own cable television channel that will reach 70 million homes. It will be called, of course, the Oprah Winfrey Network and will include Oprah-approved programming on health and living well. In announcing the deal, Oprah said, "I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever."[...]

This is where things get tricky. Because the truth is, some of what Oprah promotes isn't good, and a lot of the advice her guests dispense on the show is just bad. The Suzanne Somers episode wasn't an oddball occurrence. This kind of thing happens again and again on Oprah. Some of the many experts who cross her stage offer interesting and useful information (props to you, Dr. Oz). Others gush nonsense. Oprah, who holds up her guests as prophets, can't seem to tell the difference. She has the power to summon the most learned authorities on any subject; who would refuse her? Instead, all too often Oprah winds up putting herself and her trusting audience in the hands of celebrity authors and pop-science artists pitching wonder cures and miracle treatments that are questionable or flat-out wrong, and sometimes dangerous.

Oprah would probably not agree with this assessment. She declined to be interviewed for this article, but in a statement she said, "The guests we feature often share their first-person stories in an effort to inform the audience and put a human face on topics relevant to them. I've been saying for years that people are responsible for their actions and their own well-being. I believe my viewers understand the medical information presented on the show is just that—information—not an endorsement or prescription. Rather, my intention is for our viewers to take the information and engage in a dialogue with their medical practitioners about what may be right for them."

New England: Portland, Maine plans anti-fluoridation drive

Portland Press Herald

Fluoride Leave Our Water will gather signatures to force a vote in Portland Water District towns.
By DENNIS HOEY, Staff Writer June 8, 2009

PORTLAND — The debate over whether adding fluoride to drinking water provides a health benefit is about to begin again, just 13 years after a majority of Cumberland County voters agreed that fluoridation was medically beneficial.

A citizens' group based in Portland will announce today its plans to start a petition drive aimed at forcing the Portland Water District to stop adding fluoride to the drinking water it extracts from Sebago Lake.

That water, which contains 1 part per million of fluoride, flows through the taps of 11 Cumberland County communities. The district serves about 200,000 people.

"Our feeling is that adding fluoride to your drinking water is a decision that should be made by an individual. It should not be left up to the government to self-medicate the people," said Oliver Outerbridge, who is leading the effort.

The Portland resident and restaurant owner heads a group called Fluoride Leave Our Water. FLOW will hold a press conference today at 12:30 p.m. at the GRO Cafe, 437 Congress St., before its volunteers begin canvassing polling places during Tuesday's election.

Outerbridge said the Secretary of State's Office has told him the group must gather at least 8,954 signatures.

If FLOW can get that many signatures, a November referendum question would be presented to voters in the affected communities of Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland, Falmouth, Gorham, Portland, Raymond, Scarborough, South Portland, Standish, Westbrook and Windham.

The group contends that while fluoride may have some value in preventing cavities, the substance is potentially dangerous when ingested in large amounts.

In a press release, Outerbridge said fluoride is "a universally recognized neurotoxin."

FLOW also says that fluoride is used in so many products that adding it to drinking water is excessive.

The Portland Water District began adding fluoride to the drinking water on Aug. 18, 1997, nearly one year after residents in Cumberland County voted 57,136 to 30,075 to add fluoride. In four other votes from 1963 to 1976, the proposal failed.

James Ortengren, a South Portland dentist, led the successful 1996 campaign to add fluoride.

Contacted Sunday night, he said he was surprised it had become an issue again.

Fluoride has been shown to prevent cavities and tooth decay, he said.

"All the science (that it's safe) is there. And there is no question about the science," he said.

Michelle Clements, spokeswoman for the Portland Water District, said the district plans to remain neutral.

"We'd be happy to stop using fluoride if our customers want that," she said.

However, Clements said, the district believes that adding such a small amount of fluoride to the water is safe. The American Dental Association, the U.S. Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control state on their Web sites that they also hold this view.

Massacre in Peru

It's happening right in our southern hemisphere. Democracy Now! this morning had an updated report with interviews of leaders of the indigenous people and eyewitness accounts.

Not suprisingly, the IoS headlined yesterday's story with the number of police killed. (It's an Associated Press story, so it's all about the police, natch!)

But it's Peru's indigenous people who are being massacred. From IndyMedia/Ireland on Saturday:

An ongoing, many month old peaceful protest in the Bagua region of the north western area of Peru was brutally attacked yesterday by state forces, resulting in the deaths of, at least, 25 native Indigenous Amazonian Peruvians. A motorway in the "curve of the devil" region had been blocked by local communities of the area who feel their land, health, livlihood and community is threathened by the governments giveaway of the area, and its precious resources, to multinational oil and gas exploration. They are perhaps right to feel sad, threathened and terrified, knowing how things have faired in neighbouring areas with a similar story, Sion, Equador and beyond...

The Indymedia/Ireland report has many background links.

Listen Up, Traditionalists: A Bible-based Marriage

(H/T to Five Before Chaos.)

D-Day Anniversary

Martin Wisse wrote five years ago about the Dutch contribution to D-Day:

At D-Day, Dutch B-25's bombarded targets in Normandy, including the headquarters of a German armoured division; eight of them were lost on operations in June 1944. The Dutch gunboats Hr. Ms. Soemba and Hr. Ms. Flores supported the invasion, targeting German positions on the landing beaches; they were valued so much by the British they gave them the nick name "The Terrible Twins". To counter the threat of German torpedo boats, the dreaded "Schnellbote", Dutch motor torpedo boats were active, while Dutch minesweepers were making the Normandy coast safe, one of which, the Hr.Ms. Marken was destroyed while doing so on 20th May 1944, sinking with only one survivor. A Dutch cruiser, the Hr. Ms.Sumatra was deliberately sank as a wave breaker for the two artificial harbours the Allies constructed at the Normandy coast. (Some of the caissons built for the construction of those harbours and not needed for them were later used to mend Dutch dykes damaged by Allied bombardement later in the year, as well as after the 1953 flood.) Finally, a large number of Navy and merchant marine people and ships were of course used to transport Allied soldiers and supplies to the beaches.

Today, he writes

Most of the attention today has justifiably been on the English, Canadian, American and French contributions to the invasion, but the other countries that took part in it should not be forgotten: there were Dutch, Belgian, Polish, Czech, Commonwealth soldiers who died that day as well.

And as we remember the Holocaust and D-Day and the victims of 65 years ago let's also remember today's victims of wars of aggression.

Censored by Huffington Post

By Max Blumenthal

On Wednesday, I walked around central Jerusalem with my friend, Joseph Dana, an Israel peace activist who has lived in the country for three years. We interviewed young people on camera about the speech President Barack Obama planned to deliver to the Muslim world the following day in Cairo. Though our questions were not provocative at all – we simply asked, “What do you think of Obama’s speech” – the responses our interview subjects offered comprised some of the most shocking comments I have ever recorded on camera. They were racist, hateful, and incredibly ignorant, and were mostly couched within a Zionist context – “this is our land, Obama!” The following day, we edited an hour of interviews into a 3:30 minute video package and released it on Mondoweiss and on the Huffington Post.

Within a few hours, I received an email from a Huffington Post administrator informing me he had scrubbed my video from the site. “I don't see that it has any real news value,” the administrator told me. “For me it only proves that one can find drunk people willing to say just about anything. Especially drunk, moronic people.” For the first time, the premier clearinghouse for online news and opinions had suppressed one of my posts.[...]

Despite the Huffington Post’s rejection of my video report, it has exploded across the blogosphere. Even the rapper 50 Cent posted it prominently on his official website. It two days it has garnered 100,000 views. I hope those who have watched it, especially those predisposed to dismiss it as anti-Israel propaganda or shock video with “no news value,” will at least ask how vitriolic levels of racism are able to flow through the streets of Jerusalem like sewage, why the grandsons of Holocaust survivors feel compelled to offer the Shoah as justification to behave like fascist street thugs, and how the sons and daughters of successful Jewish American families casually merged Zionist cant with crude white supremacism. The willful avoidance of these painful questions by self-proclaimed supporters of Israel is setting the stage for the complete delegitimization of the country they claim to love. As Obama said, “any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it.”

Local: Oh, Guano!

Burlington is one of a few cities in this country that promotes farming within its borders. (The city-endorsed Intervale farms are recognised nationally.) The Us vs. Them, turf battle mentality that seems to hold sway - and get sensational press - in City Council and commission meetings just didn't escalate to that level at last night's special Board of Health (I'm a member) hearing. "Oink," you say? Well, indeed, it was about pigs, sea gulls and complaints made by residents in the new north end of town, whose houses are adjacent to Mike Petit's farm at the end of Ethan Allen Parkway. Mr Petit raises pigs and chickens on the 88 acres he leases, and his feeding of them has attracted sea gulls which lie in wait on the rooves of the houses before descending on the farm to feast on food scrap left overs after the pigs have been fed. The board heard testimony from the residents, Code Enforcement staff health officers and Mr Petit. Residents were angered by the gatherings of gulls on roofs and the the crap they left - and said that the value of their homes were effected by it. Code Enforcement stated in their request that there was evidence for issuing a health order, which would have put the onus on Mr Petit to get rid of the gulls. Mr Petit, sympathetic to the residents' complaints, said he didn't want the gulls around either and had met the Vermont Dept of Agriculture guidelines to keep the gulls away from his farm. The Board decided not to issue the health order and asked the residents, the farmer and the city to work collaboratively, instead of spending city money in court, to solve the problem.

An Open Appeal to the House of Bishops

From Louie Crew

"Please end the extraordinary insult of lbgt Christians being done in
your name by the Theology Committtee of the House of Bishops.
See their creation of a panel reported on page 51 of the BLUE BOOK 2009.
Many have asked Bishop Parsley to identify the members of the panel, but he
he has steadfastly refused.

"You would not want a secret panel studying your relationships, nor should
you countenance one studying ours.

"The secret star panel is, of course, a smokescreen. The real agenda is to
persuade GC in Anaheim not to pass any resolutions on same-sex unions at
least until this secret study is made public in 2011.

"Susan Russell and Katie Sherrod document how TEC has been using 'study' as a stalling tactic for years. See http://tinyurl.com/p8m2v4.

"Perhaps I should picket Bishop Parsley's office. At 72, I have much less
risk of rape in a Birmingham jail than I do at General Convention.

"Lgbt Christians have been baptized. Our committed relationships are holy.
End this insult."

Dutch Press Review on EU Elections

From Radio Netherlands Worldwide Daily Press Review

No prizes for guessing that the Freedom Party was the biggest winner in Thursday’s European election in the Netherlands. Nrc.next announces the result as if it were a TV show; shining yellow stars surround a blue background like a sign outside a theatre with the party’s initials PVV in big yellow letters in the middle. The inside pages feature a gold cup inscribed with a quote from party leader Geert Wilders: “We are going to get much, much bigger.”

The populist rightwing Freedom Party won four seats in the European Parliament with its clear campaign message on Europe: no. The other winners in the European election were the centre-left D66 party, whose message was equally simple: “Yes to Europe”.

The Christian Democrats were the only party to remain ahead of the anti-Islam Freedom Party. The conservative VVD managed to hold onto 3 seats in spite of predictions of a disastrous result. The big losers were surprisingly the Labour Party, who had difficulty explaining their complicated message to the electorate during the campaign. In Trouw Development Minister Bert Koenders says “‘It is not about whether you are for or against Europe, it is a about what your party wants to do in Europe.” The Socialist Party, Green Left and smaller Christian parties all held on to their two seats. The Animal Rights Party appears to have just missed gaining one seat in the European Parliament.

Elderly voters turn out in vain

AD reports that voters were well informed about the requirement to produce proof of identity in 350 municipalities. Only the elderly had problems as many of them no longer have valid identity papers. Seventy-two-year-old Maria Verbeek tore up her ballot paper when it turned out that she would not be able to vote using her over-65s pass. She questions the wisdom of the new measure, especially as so few people do actually turn out to vote, asking “Have the government gone mad?”

Many elderly people tried to vote using veteran passes, expired passports, or tattered driving licences. One woman submitted an official complaint at her local polling station.

Around 300 people in the town of Nieuwegein were unable to vote early in the morning, as the ballot boxes had not been delivered to the polling stations. A red-faced mayor apologised to voters, saying, “This just shouldn’t happen, we have done everything we can to rectify the situation.” The error was only discovered 15 minutes before polling stations were due to open.