Below the surface of oil hemorrhage by Roxanne Amico

by Roxanne Amico
Dandelion Salad
Spiritmorph Studio
May 15, 2010

This post is an update of the post about the Gulf of Mexico 25-days-old oil hemorrhage post I did nearly two weeks ago.  This time, I worked to organize it into a comprehensive and coherent collection for easier access of specific information.  I tried to be chronological, but that didn’t work and I decided that didn’t matter, since this is so urgent.  This is not a hobby…  And although it is an obsession, (there are 89 articles / sites linked here) the basis for it is this:  To be an active participant in the revolutionary work necessary to stopping the destruction of the world I love, I have to know what is being done, and what the direction of events with a given incident is.  Without that information any planning and strategizing for that new culture is useless…  This oil volcano that BP caused has impacts we must try to comprehend in executing our intentional work for a better world.

In the Beginning and the Now of Nakba by Eileen Fleming

by Eileen Fleming
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
15 May, 2010

Every May 15^th since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Palestinian Exodus from the Holy Land, known as Nakba, meaning their “day of the catastrophe” is commemorated as the day the expulsions and flight of Palestinians from their towns and villages began when Israeli troops forced them from their land and created over 750,000 refugees who are still denied the right to return to their property.

Dr. Pappe, an Israeli historian and author of A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples, spoke in occupied East Jerusalem, 0n Nov. 8, 2006 at the Notre Dame Conference center during Sabeel’s 6th International Conference: The Forgotten Faithful: Palestinian Christians.

Government Semantics and Stupid Americans By Timothy V. Gatto

By Timothy V. Gatto
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
liberalpro.blogspot.com
May 15, 2010

The words bandied about by the government and the U.S. media surely must give those of us that can still think for ourselves a great deal of pause.  It appears that just about everyone that opposes U.S. intervention in any country becomes an “insurgent”. Those that actually attack our troops in foreign countries automatically become “terrorists”. It doesn’t matter what pretext we storm into a country with U.S. troops with, those that oppose us are automatically dumped in the same category.

This is a deliberate attempt by the U.S. government, with mainstream media help, to frame the conflicts we find ourselves in.  Just like in a debate we frame our ideas and opinions to score points with the judges and to back our opponents into a tightly weaved box. Our government does the same thing with describing those that differ with them.  Rome described all peoples that didn’t belong to the Roman Empire as “barbarians”. America seems to have learned this lesson well. It worked so well for Rome, many people to this day believe that these civilizations, even those that were well advanced, were barbarians. Language is that powerful.

The Tea Party’s Mass White Appeal by Glen Ford

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Black Agenda Radio Commentaries
May 11, 2010

Weasel corporate media operatives strain to erase the stain of racism from the Tea Party “movement” – largely a media creation – while white nationalist leaders hide the hoods and nooses in the darker recesses of their bunkers. Yet the data seem to show that racism is what gives the Tea Party mass appeal (45 percent approval) among whites.

by Helen Cox, used with permission

© All rights reserved.

“A near majority of whites approve of the Tea Party, and majorities of them subscribe to the most debased stereotypes of Black people.”

Alice in Videoland By William Bowles

By William Bowles
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Creative-i
crossposted at Strategic Culture Foundation
15 May, 2010

“The fantasy of the faraway place, the fantasy of the skin, the fantasy of being somebody else” — John Berger, ‘Ways of Seeing’

Sometimes, and not often enough, insights, understandings and new ideas just pop into your mind, unbidden. How? I have no idea but as the brain apparently operates somewhere on the quantum level, figuring out how it happens I suspect is and always will be impossible. And somehow, watching television interferes with this process, specifically the bit (or is it bits?) of the brain that can distinguish between fantasy and reality.

So anyway I’m watching TV, flicking through the channels and come across yet another ‘reality’ show (if ever there’s case for misleading labeling this is it). This time it’s yet another refreeze of the courageous ‘entrepreneur’ genre called ‘High Street Dreams’ (BBC1, 10 May, 2010).