Bill Weinberg

Detroit area mosque vandalized —again

Why is there more outrage in the national media about mosques being built than about mosques being vandalized?
From the Detroit News, May 16:

Vandals hit Downriver mosque twice within a week
Brownstown Township — Police are investigating two incidents of vandalism that happened within a week at a local mosque. Windows were broken and doors were smashed at the Masjid Umar-bin-Khattab Mosque on May 9 and again on Saturday, with the second attack caught on videotape, said spokesman Muhammad Khan.

Mosque planned for (two blocks away from) Ground Zero, jingos aghast —again

New York City's kneejerk jingos, already aghast that the hubristic "Freedom Tower" name has been dropped from the new skyscraper going up at Ground Zero, have got a new cause to gripe about. From Fox News, May 14:

Plan to Build Mosque Near Ground Zero Riles Families of 9/11 Victims
Outraged family members and community groups are accusing a Muslim group of trying to rewrite history with its plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center just two blocks from Ground Zero, where Islamic extremists flew two planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Deepwater Horizon: the petro-oligarchs strike back

In the wake of the Louisiana oil spill, Florida's Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Orlando) called for President Barack Obama to reverse his recent executive order to open up areas of the Gulf of Mexico to offshore oil and gas exploration. Nelson also introduced legislation to stop exploration in the Gulf pending an investigation into the Deepwater Horizon incident. The bill would stop the Interior Department from developing a new five-year plan for Gulf drilling and exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf. "Stop the five-year plan on drilling on the offshore continental United States until we get to the bottom of this," he told CNN April 30. (Florida Today, May 1)

Cochabamba: Evo offends global gays

After scoring points with global environmentalists with his World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC) in Cochabamba this week, Bolivian President Evo Morales has got himself in hot water with gay activists across the planet. On April 21, he commented to reporters at the CMPCC on the dangers of factory-farm chicken—but in half-baked (pardon the pun) and homophobic terms. "The chicken we eat is full of feminine hormones," the populist president said. "And therefore when men eat these chickens, they experience deviances in being men."

Cochabamba summit calls for ecological tribunal

The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC) at the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba closed on Earth Day, April 22, issuing several resolutions, including: that the UN adopt a Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth; that an International Committee be organized to hold a global referendum on climate change on Earth Day 2011; that the industrialized nations provide annual financing equivalent to 6% of their GDP to confront climate change in the developing world; and that an International Tribunal on Environmental and Climate Justice be created, with its seat in Bolivia. The conference called for a new global organization to press for these demands, tentatively dubbed the World Movement for Mother Earth—or, by its Spanish acronym, MAMA-Tierra.

Cochabamba: Evo agrees to meet with Table 18

As the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC) convened for a third day April 21 at Tiquipaya, outside the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba, Aymara indigenous leaders and their supporters continued to meet just outside the official summit at the dissident "Table 18," on social conflicts related to climate change. Greivances centered on ecological impacts of mineral projects, including the Japanese-owned San Cristobal mine in southern Potosi department and the state-owned Corocoro mine in La Paz department.

Cochabamba: dissidents push limits of free speech

As the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (CMPCC) convened for a second day April 20 at Tiquipaya, outside the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba, Aymara indigenous leaders held their own dissident "Table 18" on social conflicts related to climate change. Barred by organizers from the official summit grounds on the campus of the University del Valle (Univalle), Aymara elders of the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Cullasuyu (CONAMAQ) and their allies convened the dissident forum in a Brazilian restaurant just off the campus.

Ahmadinejad joins 9-11 conspiranoids

Its been a bad week for the 9-11 conspiranoia set. First, the Pentagon shooter appears to have emerged from within their milieu; now Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad weighs in for their wackiness in the most vulgar terms. From CNN, March 7:

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