tomfinn2 tom finn
Can barely describe what I'm seeing. Dead people everywhere. Even children.
Monday, 19 September 2011
FBI halts anti-Muslim training
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it has discontinued a lecture that taught counter-terrorism agents that mainstream Muslims were violent.
The move comes after leaked documents revealed the controversial elements in the FBI's training manuals.
According to the FBI documents: most American Muslims are likely to be sympathizers to "terrorist" groups like al-Qaeda.
Spencer Ackerman, the journalist who broke this story for the website Wired dot com, told Al-Jazeera why the FBI teachings are "constitutionally dicey".
"There is still a real ignorance and to some degree a real fear of Islam that has found a surprising home in the FBI," he said.
"If they spend their time and resources going after indicators of violent behavior based on the amount of religiosity a person displays, then first of all they are not going to get actual terrorists, but innocent people."
The move comes after leaked documents revealed the controversial elements in the FBI's training manuals.
According to the FBI documents: most American Muslims are likely to be sympathizers to "terrorist" groups like al-Qaeda.
Spencer Ackerman, the journalist who broke this story for the website Wired dot com, told Al-Jazeera why the FBI teachings are "constitutionally dicey".
"There is still a real ignorance and to some degree a real fear of Islam that has found a surprising home in the FBI," he said.
"If they spend their time and resources going after indicators of violent behavior based on the amount of religiosity a person displays, then first of all they are not going to get actual terrorists, but innocent people."
Cultural Exchange: The diplomatic view of classical music
A few weeks ago WikiLeaks published cables sent by American diplomats who were reporting back to the government on events and people of interest to the United States. The reports are incredibly detailed (we can now confirm that, yes, the president of Turkmenistan did get two extra pineapples on his fruit plate in 1997), which can make for a tedious read.
Put a few classical music keywords in the search box, however, and nuclear-weapon panic gives way to the curious mixture of social chess, pageantry theater and "Fawlty Towers" that is cultural diplomacy.
If the reporting diplomat happens to be a good writer, the extra detail creates a vivid and at times extremely entertaining picture.
Classical music is mentioned most often when the diplomat is discussing an individual's openness to Western culture, his level of sophistication and the cultural health of a region in transition.
It is surprising to discover how classical music performances are used to introduce foreign audiences to American culture. An explanation comes from pianist Michael Sheppard, who won a classical fellowship with the American Pianists Assn. in 2003. The prize included a State Department-sponsored tour of Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Syria, which led to Sheppard's name showing up in a cable.
"The State Department probably uses classical music because there aren't words attached it," he said. "It's hard to be inflammatory when you're just playing piano pieces."
Reading the cables, it seems these concerts are more about what the music represents than the performance. Explained Sheppard, "Music can be a propaganda tool for sure, but I don't think the State Department is thinking, 'Let's use music to get [the audience] to like the U.S.' I'm not trying to push a political agenda at all. Music doesn't have anything to do with the little boundaries that we make."
What follows are excerpts selected to give a glimpse into diplomatic life and the various ways classical music fits in...
Continue reading
Velvet Underground 1965/6
At the Cafe Bizarre
At Delmonico's
At the Architectural Association
(Click to enlarge)
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Girlz With Gunz #156 (Разгром армии Путина)
"While Kremlin polit. tech. are collecting cheap little chickies for national PR, the successful girls are against the party of liars and thieves... "
(Thanx Gennady!)
Occupy Wall Street (contd...)
Saturday's occupation begins at noon in Bowling Green Park. The first people's assembly will start at 3 p.m. at One Chase Manhattan Plaza and continue until our one demand is agreed upon by all. Check out the full schedule of events.
A leaked bulletin from the New York Police Department reveals that they expect at least 5,000, and maybe even 20,000 people to swarm Wall Street tomorrow. That just might be enough for us to pull this off!
A telephone support line has been set up by occupywallst.org. For directions or help call (877) 881-3020 to speak with a local activist. For legal advice, or to report an arrest, call the National Lawyers Guild at (212) 679-6018.
Democracy Now!, Bloomberg News, the Washington Post and CNN covered #OCCUPYWALLSTREET today. The CNN article is a good summary.
When asked about the occupation, the mayor of New York City responded, "People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we’ll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it. As long as they do it where other people’s rights are respected, this is the place where people can speak their minds …"
Anonymous says they will release their new hacktivism tool at 7 a.m. in solidarity with #OCCUPYWALLSTREET.
While Michael Moore and the rest of the mainstream left continues to be largely silent about #OCCUPYWALLSTREET, American rapper Lupe Fiasco has been vocal in his support. Lupe has vowed to donate 50 tents to the occupation and has written a poem celebrating our efforts.
President Obama will be in New York City at a private $38,500 per person fundraising event on Monday, September 19th starting at 5:30 p.m. at 820 Park Avenue. Maybe we can go there and invite him to join our people's assembly?
For those who cannot attend one of the many solidarity events happening in Milan, Madrid, Valencia, London, Lisbon, Athens, San Francisco, Santander, Madison, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and now Algeria and Israel, there will be a live stream of events at: livestream.com/globalrevolution
This is your last chance to send a message to all your friends via Facebook, Twitter and phone asking them to join you tomorrow.
For up-to-date information follow occupywallst.org, nycga.net and @occupywallstnyc
Good luck … Hang in there!
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
@'Adbusters'
Dub... No Frontiers: Nays Atour - War
Punkcast1939-04-01 Adrian Sherwood previews the forthcoming On U Sound album 'Dub... No Frontiers' at Dub Invasion Festival, Dominion NYC, on Sep 9 2011.
(Thanx Joly!)
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