Acknowledge Some Bad Things, Ignore Others

June 7 Editorial

This past week, The People's Republic of China celebrated the 20th anniversary of brutally suppressing a movement of the people by purchasing Hummer.

Danny Schechter ran an interesting letter from an individual by the name of Ann Lau a few days ago on the Tiananmen Square anniversary topic, and I think it is interesting:

The blood of Tiananmen became a salvation for the people in Eastern Europe. For on July 7, 1989, in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, Gorbachev signaled to the Eastern bloc leaders that the Soviet Union would not use force to interfere with reform. Aware of worldwide condemnation of the PRC, Gorbachev did not want another Tiananmen massacre.

Just as the Tiananmen students began by asking for an end to corruption, the demonstrators in East Germany asked for the freedom to travel. The Tiananmen students showed the world the power of peaceful demonstration and the citizens of the Eastern bloc took notice. By November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell.

We remember the dream, we remember the hope, we remember that time in the Spring of 1989 when the Chinese people, led by the students gave each other a gift, the gift of freedom, the freedom from fear.

May the memories of Tiananmen Spring live and will one day flourish.

- - -

Would The Oklahoman ever concede that it was anything beyond Ronald Reagan blinking an eyelash that could have been a factor in something like this? I doubt it quite sincerely.

So anyway, today the lovers of human rights also known as The Editorial Staff of The Oklahoman are talking about how "...Pretending Tiananmen Square didn’t occur is a reminder that true freedom — the freedom for people to disagree with their government — still is withheld from billions of Chinese by leaders accountable only to themselves."

As I wrote yesterday, people in Israel are standing up to Avigdor Lieberman and the other small handful of radicals in Israel proposing laws to criminalize people who commemorate the Nakba. It is serious business, and exactly the kind of thing the Editorial staff discusses in this piece. However to this date they haven't mentioned this subject. I can only assume that either they agree with the racist Lieberman and his small circle of friends, or that they are too stupid to even know this is going on over there.

There are other things like this, for example Turkey's refusal to admit to the genocide of the Armenian's in WWI. They pretend it didn't happen which is certainly ironic in that the man who coined the term "Genocide", Raphael Lemkin initially took interest in these things and became an amazing lifetime activist because of what Turkey did (read Samantha Power's excellent book "Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" for more). The Oklahoman Editorial staff from a quick search does not talk about that either.

The Editors also write, ignoring things they've supported in recent years (The invasion and occupation of Iraq, the re-writing of their perfectly servicable constitution so their industries could be handed over to multi-nationals comes immediatley to mind) "...The (PRC) government says the violence was necessary to maintain social order, which paved the way for market-oriented policies that turned China into an economic dynamo." When we do it, it's no big deal. When they do, big problems.

But it shouldn't surprise anyone that they are willing to discuss China's disgraceful response to their crimes while ignoring many others. Remember, this is a paper that wont publish anyone left of Sally Kern's letter to the editor all the while publishing hundreds from Ronald Bouwman.

Today's Cartoon

Media Matters has a good commentary on the
Fox-manufactured Obama "apology tour"

Can The Oklahoman write or run anything that is an original idea, even if it is a bunch of crap?

What Wouldn't Brandon Dutcher Do?

June 5 Commentary

I have discussed this chap Brandon Dutcher a few times in previous blogs. He is a nice fellow who works at the local Heritage Foundation spin-off "The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs". He is always ranting and raving about school's here being overly-funded and teachers being paid too much, all the while for drawing a $82,500 salary (more than Amy Goodman makes at DemocracyNow!) for doing little more than "tweeting" and attending a few elegant dinner parties.

The Oklahoman turns to him frequently, when they need to prove that schools here need to be handed over to Wal-Mart and Jerry Falwell, as every opinion he gives is so fantastic and while not backed by facts, well, we all know what his hero said about those things... "Facts are stupid....I mean...stubborn things.."

I have been known to rant and rave about the "Paid to think by the makers of tanks" 501c(3) crowd, and to be honest I probably am a bit jealous of them . It must be nice to get paid to get paid big bucks to do this stuff that really is about 1/100th as hard as working at the store, fixing cars, waiting tables and so on, positions that are paid a fraction and with no benefits. And although the not for profit industrial complex (critiuqed quite nicely in the book "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded") is way too large and in many ways is there to preserve the status-quo, some good things are being done.

I would like to point out this article in Ha'aretz today, and encourage you to read some of the responses from Israeli's and American Jews, which are almost all positive. I post this because The Oklahoman Editorial staff pretends to know things about Israel, yet I am quite convinced that is was people like them who led Israel into it's first defeat in a couple thousand years in '06 (read about the massive lobbies from radical-right "Christian groups" who demanded their reps support an Israeli attack on Lebanon...stuff from Hagee et al if you like).

The piece "Are teachers introducing Nakba to students against state's wishes?" By Or Kashti discusses the good work of "... Zochrot, a non-government organization, and is meant to serve the Jewish educational system for pupils aged 15 and above, and includes history plus literary and personal views on the Nakba, as well as discussion of the ways the issue has been sidelined in public discourse."

This is very important stuff. You might have heard of a bill proposed by the radical Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that bans commemorating the Nakba, and will jail those who participate in events commemorating it up to three years. It has passed the initial stages and will be decided quite soon, luckily though good people like Zochrot are fighting the good fight.

I don't think anyone here would argue that The Trail of Tears should not be discussed in American schools, and this is no different. These are the things a good paper should occasionally discuss. And these are the things monied, influential people like Dutcher should look into if they really care about Israel, and if they really care about good education. We need a good paper. Maybe some day we will have one.