Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

Listen to internet radio with GreenTeaParty on Blog Talk Radio

By Roberto Lovato, New America Media Posted on March 3, 2009, Printed on March 3, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/129674/ At a time when racial conflict and discrimination are on the rise around the world, the Administration of the world's first black U.S. president will not be attending the world's most important conference on race and racism. In what may signal a dangerous new, "post-racial" approach to global race relations, President Barack Obama's Administration announced that it will not attend the second World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Geneva next April. According to this article in the New York Times, the Administration will boycott the conference to protest what it deems the unfair equation of Zionism with racism in the outcome documents of the first conference held in Durban, South Africa, and now the second conference, also known as "Durban II, as well." Other concerns cited by A...

Today we protested AIPAC at their Washington office building, 251 H Street NW. We were confronted by an FBI agent who apparently works at the building (had a pass card for the building). We were there to identify their location (no identification on or around the building) and to raise awareness about one of the 10 most influential lobbies. They continually press for war against the Palestinian people and the denial of their basic human rights, two good reasons to protest against this organization. AIPAC has an annual budget of more than $16 million and lobbies Congress for militaristic policies in the Middle East, including the $3 Billion military aid sent to Israel every year. The powerful voice of people for peace is ultimately stronger than any lobby for war. Together we must call for an end to US aid to Israel and justice for Palestinians suffering under military occupation. We want our political leaders to create policies that support human rights and peace for all. We will be re...

By Zaid Nabulsi I lost my gloves one day in a coffee shop in Geneva, and I tell you, it’s difficult to ride a motorcycle without them when it’s really cold. So as I was paying for a new pair with a credit card, the salesman - who I knew was from Israel - asked me what my family name means. I told him that it relates to the city of Nablus where my family is originally from. Suddenly, the most bewildered look got plastered on his face. “Where is Nablus?” he asked, “I’ve never heard of it”. Then he pretended to remember. “Ah, Shkheim you mean?” With my insistence not to learn these ugly sounding names that the Zionists have dug up from oblivion to erase our identity, that name certainly didn’t ring a bell. Now it was my turn. Although I knew where he was from, I asked: “And you’re… from?” As he smiled, I replicated the look on his face moments ago. “Israel? Where is that?” Then after a brief pause: “Ah, the land of Canaan you mean. Palestine.” You see, if you want to get biblical, there w...

High school seniors send Olmert Barak letter saying they refuse to enlist in army carrying out Israel's policy of 'segregation, oppression, killing in occupied territories'; army reacts quickly, arrests teen at his Herzliya home a day after he was set to enlist. Dozens of Israeli high school seniors who are looking to evade mandatory military service on moral grounds sent a letter Wednesday to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Education Minister Yuli Tamir and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi in protest of Israel's policy of "segregation, killing and oppression in the occupied territories". As opposed to previous protests by the defiant teens, also known as refuseniks, the IDF responded harshly and arrested 18-year-old Udi Nir at his Herzliya home a day after he was supposed to enlist in the army. The teen was subsequently brought before a military judge. Tali Lerner of the New Profile movement, which backs the refuseniks cam...

By Nadia Hijab, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies Beyond the histrionics of US foreign policy, the real issue concerning an Iranian development of nuclear weapons is international nonproliferation – and, indeed, a world free of all nuclear weapons, argues Nadia Hijab. Whatever else it is, Iran’s nuclear quest is not short on drama. Israel and Iran have just flexed their military muscles in highly publicized exercises and tests. The P5+1 - the US, Britain, France, Russia, and China, all permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany - just brandished another acre of carrots and rainforest of sticks at Iran. In the US Congress, resolutions to impose a naval blockade against Iran, among other measures, have been cosponsored by nearly half the House and a third of the Senate, in complete disregard of the 2007 US National Intelligence Estimate that says Iran no longer has an active nuclear weapons program. These histrionics have cloaked the elephant in the roo...