Tasini not only failed in his bid to take down Hillary (let alone hold her accountable for her unwavering support for the war in Iraq) he is now failing the movement against the war in Iraq by refusing to endorse an antiwar candidate in November's contest. In an interview with Elizabeth Benjamin of the Times Union on September 19, Tasini confirmed that he would not be endorsing the only visible antiwar alternative to Hillary Clinton in the state, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.
"I am a Democrat. I ran as a Democrat. I decided not to endorse the incumbent, and to stay out of endorsing anyone else. Between now and November, that could change. Something could happen and she (Sen. Hillary Clinton) could decide the war was really bad and wrong, and then I would reconsider."
That's the kind of garbage you'll hear from a Democrat even if they oppose the war in Iraq. Party loyalty matters far more than any antiwar ethic. Undeniably, Tasini did his job quite well this past summer. By running a losing campaign in the Democratic Primary he drew attention and support away from Howie Hawkins and other independent antiwar candidates. Instead of helping build a viable antiwar campaign that would be on the ballot in November when it will matter most, Tasini played right into Hillary's hands by not challenging her all the way up to November -- even if by proxy through another antiwar campaign.
the above is from joshua frank's 'How Jonathan Tasini Helped Hillary Clinton and Distracted the Antiwar Movement' (counterpunch) and community member third party sent it to me wondering if i would note it? absolutely. i like it when frank does a piece like this calling someone out. (he does that with moveon.org quite often.) i heard him being interviewed, probably on kpfa when i was visiting c.i., and probably by larry bensky, and just thought, who let him come on the air like that. with laura flanders, he was more together. with bensky, he was all over the place and didn't seem to have done any work. i didn't think bensky was asking harder questions than flanders so maybe it's just that he's not a morning person (though it shouldn't have been morning for tasini since he was on the east coast).
third party asked if i would note that when there was all the 'oh my god! they won't let jonathan debate hillary!' stuff going on, no 1 was even noting that there was a green in the race. third party was very upset about that and among the 1s pointing that out to c.i. which is why c.i. did make a point to note that there was a green in the race.
anytime any community member who is a green wants something noted, i'm happy to. but let me warn you, and this is probably true for most of the sites, just raising an issue won't cut it with me. it's not going to leave an impression. i'm not c.i. who can and will read between the lines. i'll assume you're just noting something to talk. if you want it noted up here, you need to be clear about that in your e-mail. if you are, i'll gladly note it.
what do i think should have happened? you endorse the green.
tasini got no support from the dem establishment, was supposed to be opposed to the war and now he's out of the race. he needs to endorse the green. i'm not sure how much that would help because tasini had a lot of negatives (on the east coast and the west coast and that was 1 of the things effecting fundraising). i never heard an anti-war candidate trashed at c.i.'s like i did with him. (not by c.i. c.i.'s remained neutral online about the race and neutral offline. if asked offline, c.i. would note the pluses and minuses of tasini and not offer an opinion either way. which might mean c.i. didn't care for tasini but it also might mean c.i. supported the run. i have no idea. when people doubt that c.i. can do the site once the dem primary starts and not offer 'horse racing' or endorsements, they really need to just wait and see because c.i. really can do that offline and usually does. after presidential primaries, i'll usually find out who c.i. was for, not during.) but tasini had negatives in the entertainment community. if hillary had been spoken of positvely, i would have assumed that's what it was (some sort of lingering clintonista effect). but she wasn't spoken of positively and the people complaining about tasini were saying they wished there was a strong candidate.
(and to any tasini supporters, i did not write a thing against him or for him while the race was going on. if i had written during the race, i would have noted the againsts. so don't bother to e-mail saying 'you are trashing him.' i'm not. the race is over and he ran a bad campaign and had high negatives.)
it's a real shame that the attention efforts were spent on him and not on howie hawkins or on both of them. tasini is out of the race now. hawkins could use the attention but it will probably strike some, since hawkins wasn't promoted this summer, as though hawkins is the candidate to 'settle' for. that's a shame because i have heard good things about him.
what else did i hear?
house parties are the big thing this weekend. every 1's picking movies and/or music for gatherings to discuss the war.
liz wondered if that was enough and i understand what she's talking about but the fact of the matter is it's not like we've had the media addressing iraq all summer long. so i think this is a good starting point. (restarting point.) she's showing a film that her parents love called hearts and minds. hold on and i'll ask c.i. who directed it. (we're all together today, tomorrow, through sunday actually, to demonstrate and say no to war.)
okay, hearts & minds is a documentary directed by peter davis. it's about vietnam and it won an oscar for best documentary. there was a great deal more (huge praise) but i told c.i. 'i'm not writing a research paper!' seriously, we're all a little tired tonight. i did ask if this was the film with the wonderful hues and colors. i really love this film. i wasn't able to place it by the title but when c.i. started discussing it, i remembered the pastel look of the film. it's a great film. it's remastered on dvd, c.i. said, so i'm going to make a point to get that 1. it really is a powerful film and it's also an eye catching 1.
so that was the new film. also being shown, listed with the most mentioned going 1st, are:
sir! no sir! (i know that link so i'm putting it in.)
you can't be neutral on a moving train (this is great film about howard zinn)
caught in the crossfire: the untold story of falluja (important documentary about what actually happened in falluja, directed by mark manning)
and with 1 mention a piece:
orwell rolls over in his grave (a documentary)
control room (documentary about the war and al jazeera)
wmd: weapons of mass distraction (danny schecter documentary and you can find out more about that by using the button on my blog roll for the film)
coming home (jane fonda and jon voight won oscars for this film set during vietnam)
platoon (this is an oliver stone film starring charlie sheen and others)
the thin red line (sean penn, george clooney and more)
john & yoko's year of peace (documentary on john lennon and yoko ono)
the dreamers (film directed with bernardo berolucci that's rated nc-17)
bush family fortunes (greg palast documentary about how the bully boy ended up in the oval office)
uncovered: the whole truth about the iraq war (robert greenwald documentary)
so that's some of what people are showing. listening to? there's a real love for green day and their american idiot. in addition there are two 'spontaneous' actions planned for school on friday. 'spontaneous' because both have been told that they will not be allowed to protest or even note the war. if that's happening at your school as well, you might want to consider a 'spontaneous' event.
going to bed. here's c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Wednesday, September 20, 2006. Violence and chaos continue in Iraq with the Associated Press estimating at least 45 have died and the United Nations estimating that July and August saw the death of 6.5 thousand Iraqis; a British prosecutor argues an admitted war criminal heard the sounds of torture and compared them to a a choir singing; Camp Democracy continues in Washington DC on Women's Peace day;
and Iraqi vet and war resister Darrell Anderson discusses a planned September 29th return to the United States: "I just want to put my uniform back on and then tell them no to their face that 'I'm not going to participate in your war. Do whatever you want to me because I'm right and this is how I feel.' I've never had the chance to do that."
AFP reports that the United Nations, noting the increase in reported deaths since the start of July, has estimated that "[a]t least 6,599 civilians were killed across war-torn Iraq in the months of July and August".
And the violence goes on.
Bombings?
AFP notes six dead and thirty-seven wounded in Samarra "when a suicide bomber carried out the bloodiest attack by ramming his car into the house of a tribal leader" and, in Baghdad, three dead from a "suicide bomber driving a truck" in an attack on "a police station near an oil refinery". AP notes that seven were killed in the truck bombing attack on the police headquarters and that a police officer and two civilians were killed in a mortar attack in Baghdad. AP also notes that a roadside bomb claimed one life and left "two more wounded in east Baghdad".
Shootings?
AP reports that "a U.S. soldier was killed Wednesday by small arms fire in northeastern Baghdad" (we'll note US soldiers' death in a moment).
Corpses?
AP notes the "mutilated" corpse of a police officer was discovered in Kut. Reuters notes 35 corpses discovered in Baghdad "in the last 24 hours"
Iraq in microcosm. Sudarsan Raghavan (Washington Post) looks at the farming of dates in Iraq and speaks to Iraqi farmer Aboud Ahdim Abbas Mohammad ("whose family has grown dates here since the 18th century") and "U.S. Army Maj. Marcus Snow, a member of the State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team in Dayala, . . . stockbroker from Lancaster, PA". Mohammad states his intent to remain in Iraq despite threats on his life and Snow can't stop raving about a desire for "better accounting, production and marketing practices . . . better packaging and transportion systems" and increasing the cost of exported dates by 10 percent. As malnutrition continues throughout Iraq (the alarming increase in malnutrition among children is only one population segment effected), the US occupation sees profit-motive and the people continue to go hungry.
Larger picture? Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily (IPS) report on the continued destruction of Ramadi and "collective punishment of civilians in several cities across the al-Anbar province". They report on those teaching and attending the University of al-Anbar where: "Nearly every week we face raids by the Americans or their Iraqi colleagues" (a professor) and "The infrastructure destruction is huge around the governorate building in downtown Ramadi." They also quote Fayiq al-Dilaimy, an engineer "who was on the rebuilding committee set up after the November 2004 U.S.-led operation which destroyed approximately 75 percent of the city" who states:
"Infrastructure rebuilding is just a joke that nobody laughs at. People of this city could rebuild their city in six months if given a real chance. Now look at it and how sorrowful it looks under the boots of the 'liberators'."
In England, a court martial goes on against seven British soldiers. One, Donald Payne pleaded guilty to war crimes yesterday. The BBC reports that Payne, while copping to war crimes, "denied a further charge of perverting the course of justice." Devika Bhat (Times of London) notes that the argument made today was that Payne "enjoyed beating his prisoners until they became a 'choir,' of pain". The BBC quotes prosuctor Julian Bevan telling the court martial Payne was the "conducter": "The choir consisted of Cpl Payne systematically assaulting each detainee in turn by, for instance, hitting in their stomachs, kicking them and punching them wherever on their bodies, causing them to shriek out or groan in pain, their various noises constituting the music".
As noted above, a US soldier died from "small arms fire" in Baghdad. This is in addition to ones noted earlier today. Prior to the one who died from "small arms fire," as David Rising (AP) notes, "the US military [had] announced the deaths of four other soldiers in Iraq. On was killed Tuesday by a suicide car bombing, which also wounded two other soldiers. Antoher two soldiers were killed Sunday -- one by small arms fire and the other by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. A fourth soldier, assigned to a medical task force, died Monday of non-combat related injuries in the capital." Those four, the one who died from "small arms fire" and "an American soldier was killed by a roadside blast northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday." The current total of American fatalities since the beginning of the illegal war is 2691. Proving that he can at least recognize an increase, Giddy in the Greenzone William B. Caldwell IV has noted the obvious --- "Attacks against U.S. troops have increased".
In peace news, Armina Ligaya (Globe & Mail) spoke with war resister Darrell Anderson who was "one of the first of about 225 U.S. soldiers to flee to Canada since 2004". Courage to Resist has noted that Anderson is planning to return to the United States. Anderson explains to Ligaya that there are options prior to his planned return to the US which could explain Canada granting him refugee status or approving his sponsorship claim (Anderson is married to Canadian citizen Gail Greer.) Anderson doesn't have hopes of either happening by September 29th.
Today is Women's Peace Day and NOW and CODEPINK are joint-sponsoring events at Camp Democracy which is where the Troops Home Fast ends today on Day 78. An estimated 5,023 people are participating today and people have grabbed one-day only, one-day each week and longterm fasts through the 78 days. In addition, The Feminist Wire notes: "Other activities on Wednesday include a discussion on how to end violence in Iraq, an update on the violence against women in Juarez, a panel discussion by military women, and a history workshop led by Howard Zinn."
Tomorrow (Thursday Sept. 21st) is International Peace Day and Camp Democracy notes: "We will encourage Camp Democracy participants on this day to engage in activities organized by the Declaration of Peace, including a press conference at 10:30 a.m. or 11 a.m. followed by an action at the White House."
Actions will be going on around the US (Corvallis Gazette-Times notes a gathering Thursday, Sept. 21st, at the Benton County Courthouse, 120 N.W. Fourth St., Corvallis, OR) and around the world.)
A complete schedule can be found here.
In California, Martin Snapp (Contra Costa Times) reports the the Berkeley City Council "unanimously passed a resolution supporting Lt. Ehren Watada, an Army officer who is facing a court martial for refusing to go to Iraq." George Coates (Berkeley Daily Planet) writes of Berkeley mayor Tom Bates: "Now Bates is up for re-election at a time when many high school-age students are learning that the U.S. military is monitoring their MySpace pages and targeting potential recruits. The plight of soldiers like Lt. Erhen Watada, the first commissioned officer to go AWOL from duty in Iraq, has also triggered fears that a national draft could be reinstated if the number of volunteer enlistments continue to decline as the war threatens to widen. Progressive Berkeley City Councilmember Dona Spring's effort to pass a resolution in support of Lt. Watada is important because if it succeeds the city will have deepened its stance against the war and candidates for mayor will have heard the message: Sanctuary for war resisters is a local issue that no serious candidate for mayor can evade."
More information on Watada can be found at Courage to Resist and ThankYouLt.org.
