Gay film star Jack Wrangler dies; Florida's new "Solar City"; strip searching 13 year olds and D.A. filing pornography charges against teenage "sexters"; Progressives, Liberals, Lies and Democrats; Obama Report -- wading even deeper into Afpakistan quagmire and his Republican-heavy hedge fund Administration; latest on Israel's war crimes in Gaza.
For the second time, Blogtalk censors have taken their axe to my show description. Note how their filter rejected my use of the word pornography in the above description and forced me to change it on blogtalk to "***nography" to get past the filter. Orwellian and Stalinesque, huh? Also stupid.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Solar Cells, Terrorist Sympathizer, Challenging Dem Incumbents, Israeli War Crimes, Jewish Dems Kill National Intelligence Appointment
Guest Jeff Hauser of new Accountability Now PAC supporting leftish challengers in Democratic primaries. Now there's an idea. Rooftop solar cells and distributed grid green electricity. Gainesville is first city in U.S. to pay over-market for renewable energy. Why Florida House Republican leader Adam Hasner is a demagogic terrorist sympathizer as Amnesty Int'l documents Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Jewish Democrats trash Obama's truth-telling national intelligence council appointment.
Charles Schumer and Steve Israel (NY), among many others, forced the Obama Administration to withdraw the nomination of Charles Freeman as Chair of the National Intelligence Council for talking truthfully about the Israeli government's foreign policies. Freeman would have been in charge of the administration's all-important National Intelligence Estimates. Freeman says "the tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assasination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods and an utter disregard for the truth."
Watch for cooked intelligence regarding the Mid East coming from his successor nominee. What's so outrageous about this is that the Israeli government apologists consistently use these tactics against anyone who challenges their distorted worldview -- including me and you if we ever get their attention. I keep hearing this stuff time and again as I follow these issues. This is what they do to Jimmy Carter even. Be prepared to fight back!
Charles Schumer and Steve Israel (NY), among many others, forced the Obama Administration to withdraw the nomination of Charles Freeman as Chair of the National Intelligence Council for talking truthfully about the Israeli government's foreign policies. Freeman would have been in charge of the administration's all-important National Intelligence Estimates. Freeman says "the tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assasination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods and an utter disregard for the truth."
Watch for cooked intelligence regarding the Mid East coming from his successor nominee. What's so outrageous about this is that the Israeli government apologists consistently use these tactics against anyone who challenges their distorted worldview -- including me and you if we ever get their attention. I keep hearing this stuff time and again as I follow these issues. This is what they do to Jimmy Carter even. Be prepared to fight back!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Adam Hasner is a Terrorist Sympathizer
We know that Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner’s logic is wingnut sick and he must be denounced for his McCarthyite attacks on Adam Bedier and United Voices for America, but if you apply his own logic to himself, one has to say that, by his own definition, he is probably a terrorist sympathizer. He condones, justifies, even applauds Israel’s assault on Gaza, which killed 1300 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, women, children. You watched it on TV. You ought to know. Bill Moyers rightfully called it “state terrorism”. Amnesty International just came out with a report documenting numerous war crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces. Check it out. The IDF dropped white phosphorous on civilians. They bombed UN schools, even the headquarters. They killed children with Hellfire missiles “Made in Orlando”. Adam Hasner is a terrorist sympathizer. Prove me wrong. But don’t prove to me that he is justified being a terrorist sympathizer. There’s a big difference. Every editorial board in this state ought to be denouncing him for the obvious. He is a terrorist sympathizer.
Hasner calls Adam Bedier a “known terrorist sympathizer” because Adam has defended University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian, who was coerced into plea bargaining guilty and is now serving five years on charges related to his making donations to charities related to Hamas. From the press accounts at the time it sure looked to me like al-Arian was convicted of a political “crime”. I think he’s the classic example of a political prisoner. Yes, it does happen here in the U.S. in-denial police state.
Now let’s assume for a moment, I’m sure Hasner would verify this if you ask him, that Hasner donates to Jewish charities in Israel. I would hope he does. By his own logic, and the logic of the U.S. police state prosecutors, such money may work its way to families with members serving in the Israel Defense Forces, or replace money that is used such. I’m sure Hasner would love it if it did and would tell you so. “Support the troops,” you know. That aside, Hasner supports U.S. military aid to the Israel Defense Forces that finances the wanton attacks on civilians. So Hasner provides “material support for state terrorism” doesn’t he? Doesn’t he? Say yes. You need to break through the rightwing brainwashing you are under and it helps by verbalizing the new modes of thinking. Out loud.
We all have to start denouncing the disingenuous hypocritical distorted demonizations of Hamas as a terrorist organization. Hamas is a complex political party with a military wing and a political wing. Like our political parties it has moderates and radicals (like Hasner). Hamas provides social services, education, garbage pickup, etc., which al-Arian was probably contributing to. Hamas won the majority of seats in the 2006 parliamentary elections in what international observers called free and fair. Some of Hamas’ leaders and members engage in isolated attacks on Israeli civilians as part of their war to stop Israel’s land confiscations of their land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (Just last week Israel demolished 88 Palestininan homes in Arab Jerusalem, which can be construed as more state terrorism only using bulldozers instead of bombs.) But Hamas is no more a terrorist organization than the Israeli government is. If I were a radical, I would get down in the radical mud with Hasner and call ISRAEL the terrorist organization. But being a moderate, I know that it’s not constructive to solutions. Israel is no more a terrorist organization than Hamas is.
People, you can’t let the rightwingers, even those in the Democratic Party who keep repeating and reinforcing the demonizations of Hamas, keep clubbing you into submission with their intimidation and use of fear. Every time someone reduces Hamas to a terrorist organization you must interrupt the conversation and correct them. Every time you see it in print or on TV, you must get on the horn and demand that the media stop spreading rightwing distortions as if they were facts.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Matt Damon for U.S. Senate
Segment I: Matt Damon for U.S. Senate (D-FL)? With Meek and Gelber running neocon echo chamber debate in Florida senate race, we need a progressive in the race. Demand hearings on Obama's Afpakistan escalation. Blogtalk server dumps me off air.
Segment Two: It's time to stop using the neocon construct of "terrorism." The Depression intensifies and Obama muddles. (Show picks up after blogtalk server dump).
We Need Hearings on Obama's Afpakistan Escalation!
Segment Two: It's time to stop using the neocon construct of "terrorism." The Depression intensifies and Obama muddles. (Show picks up after blogtalk server dump).
We Need Hearings on Obama's Afpakistan Escalation!
Quick, make a phone call today to your Congressmember (and Dan Gelber), particularly our Senate candidates Meek and Gelber (and heck, Matt Damon while you’re at it). Get them on the record on this. Get your DEC to pass a resolution. With President Obama escalating drone attacks into Pakistan, which are further destabilizing the country, and in the process of DOUBLING the number of our troops in Afghanistan, and his “envoy” Richard Holbrooke talking paranoid neocon nonsense about how our Reagan-era-funded Taliban allies are now a “threat” to Washington and Islamabad, and the U.S. slowly wading deeper into a $trillion dollar$ Vietnam style quagmire (kind of makes you long for Bush’s relative neglect, huh?) while our nation sinks into a Depression, why are there no Congressional hearings on the next Iraq?
We need hearings on what we’re getting into. Televised.
Demand hearings. Why aren’t there any hearings????????????????????????????????????
Post their responses, or get them to post their position on hearings on the FPC.
We need to know so we know who Accountability Now needs to run anti-war candidates against in the primaries.
Next, and quickly, we need them to sponsor resolutions calling upon Obama to halt troop escalations and deployments into Afpakistan. Me, I don’t need to wait for hearings. I’m already up on this stuff. But the nation needs hearings.
Matt Damon for U.S. Senate
With Democratic Party career politicians Gelber and Meek repeating the same tired old imperial foreign policy platitudes as the Republicans on the Middle East that will keep us in perpetual war that is draining our economy at the very time we are sinking into another Depression, the Democratic nomination race for U.S. Senate is shaping up as just another right wing echo chamber that shuts out any discussion of an alternative foreign policy and will deny Florida voters a fundamental choice that is at stake in next year’s election.
Matt Damon has the potential to add that voice to the debate, and actually be electable. He’s smarter (Harvard) than Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarnegger (and to my knowledge does not have a naked picture published in a body building magazine with his body all oiled up) and has been involved in numerous humanitarian civic causes. He knows public policy. If potty mouth Al Franken (another pro-war Democrat unfortunately) can win in Minnesota …. I rest my case.
From the point of view of us on the True Left, there are two major questions surrounding a Damon candidacy.
One is if he believes this country needs to turn away from the militaristic Bush-Obama-Gelber-Meek-McCain foreign policy (escalating war in Afpakistan, overarming Israel with no constraints and condoning its Gaza slaughter and war crimes (see last week’s Amnesty International report), threatening the bombing of Iran, ever engorging Pentagon budgets, the futile pursuit of a phoney war on “terror”, and on and on). His political sensibilities indicate he may, although he will have to do some crash coursework on foreign policy, just as Dan Gelber is no doubt doing).
Matt, if you believe in a new foreign policy, call me. I will brief you and point you to resources. And most importantly I will guide you to people who will help you frame and advocate a new foreign policy in a way that is electable. 305 893-1566. You can also email me at mwshow@bellsouth.net. You might want to wade through the archive of the Mark Weaver Show, indexed by topics.
The second question is how Matt Damon can win. Matt, I can give you some (partial) advice on this too. You will need a team of consultants more expert than I on campaign strategy, but there is some uber-advice I can give you: be careful who you pick. There are many Democratic Party consultants who view winning above ALL ELSE. Avoid them. You need to win, but you can do that while holding true to your values and principles. Too many consultants will trick you into selling out. There are consultants out there (in and out of the party) who truly want to make politics more progressive rather than just hitching themselves to the candidate they think is going to win and add to their resume. Obviously they are not on the Meek and Gelber teams. Also, there are many powerful interests out there who will try to use you as a vehicle to advance their interests, just like I am, except I’m not powerful. Some of these groups have worthwhile agendas, others don’t. I only hope that you too want a new foreign policy for the U.S. If not, I hope you don’t run. A Senator Matt Damon advocating the same policies as Gelber and Meek is pointless.
Domestic policy will be easier for you since you seem to be within the generic Democratic Party consensus on domestic issues. I can advise you on some tweaking on that to refine more True Progressive positions that address the populist issues of the Florida lower and middle classes AND how to message these.
You will have to neutralize the anti-celebrity reaction to your candidacy, but that will be easy if you study the issues, are serious and meet the editorial boards of all the newspapers in the state in addition to the leadership and meetings of the major interest groups.
One concern I have about Matt’s electability (although something like this did not stop Al Franken or Arnold), is this video. It’s not going to go over well in Ocala, but then again he’d probably pull more votes there than Gelber or Meek in the general, even with the video circulating).
This video is hilarious. And it shows what a great sense of humor and how charismatic candidate Damon would be. He could be our Ronald Reagan, our Schwarznegger.
If any of you know anybody who knows Matt Damon, please get this to him.
Matt, I live near you. Let’s take a four hour walk up Miami Beach and talk about this stuff.
Matt Damon for U.S. Senate. Maybe.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Orlando Hellfire Missiles Used in Israeli War Crimes in Gaza
(This is a post, not a show.)
Who’d a thunk. While children are in delight at Disney World, children in Gaza are being killed by Hellfire missiles made a few miles away, courtesy of the Florida Congressional delegation (including Senate candidate Kendrick Meek) and, as soon as he can get his thumb on the Senate electronic voting lever, Dan “Israel Can Do No Wrong” Gelber.
A just-out report by Amnesty International documents that Israeli forces used white phosphorus and other weapons supplied by the USA, such as an AGM 114 Hellfire missile made by Hellfire Systems of Orlando (wonderful corporate name, huh?) which killed three paramedics and a child, to carry out serious violations of international humanitarian law including war crimes. The attacks resulted in the death of hundreds of children and other civilians and destroyed homes on a massive scale. The Israeli aggression, which Bill Moyers has called “state terror”, killed 1300 Gazans in response to Palestinian rocket attacks in Israel which killed 7 Israelis over the past four years, attacks which were in response to the Israeli blockade of Gaza over the past 20 months and its continued building of settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank.
The report also accuses Hamas of war crimes for firing rockets into civilian areas of Israel and calls for a comprehensive arms embargo of both Israel and Hamas.
The Mark Weaver Show is looking for an activist to research the campaign contributions of Hellfire Systems executives and give an on-air report. We need to know if Hellfire has given contributions to Meek and Gelber and to monitor Meek and Gelber’s campaign contributions from armament companies for their Senate campaigns. You can email mwshow@bellsouth.net.
Regardless, Meek and Gelber must be stopped from getting the Democratic Senate nomination. The Democratic Party must stop offering up Republican war clones on foreign policy issues. We need a candidate who will at least signal some desire to put the brakes on the over-arming of Israel and its military aggressions against its neighbors, not to mention the entire militaristic Imperial foreign policy of the U.S.
If you have not already seen this, you can read the full text of Meek and Gelber’s justifying statements on Israel’s “incursions” on my previous posts on this issue in January. Just look up Mark Weaver posts.
Have a nice day. I’m not.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Terror in Gaza
Israeli terrorists attack Gaza. Guest Chris Toensing, editor of Middle East Report. We trace how U.S. is funding and supplying Israel's attack, how Florida Liberal Democrats support and condone this, Israel's 18 month blockade of Gaza, how the U.S. and Israel have tried to overturn Hamas' 2006 election victory and deconstruct the Israeli government propaganda campaign of lies and distortions.
NOTE: blogtalk radio server problems with two disruptions but show goes three hours. Drag slider through two interruptions, one of ten+ minutes. Disruptions capture a little of the chaos of Gaza.
NOTE: blogtalk radio server problems with two disruptions but show goes three hours. Drag slider through two interruptions, one of ten+ minutes. Disruptions capture a little of the chaos of Gaza.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Top 8 Shows of 2008!
Everybody has their favorite Mark Weaver Show. Here are mine. Like fine red wine, these are actually better in retrospect than the day I did them.
#1 (Best show of 2008)
All About Impeachment (March 8th)
One of those serendipitous moments where everything coalesces. Guests were Rep. Pat Schroeder of the House Judiciary Committee that impeached Richard Nixon with an amazing perspective on George Bush. Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild laid out the case for impeachment. And David Swanson of Democrats.com talked about the politics of impeaching Bush including commentary on Rep. Robert Wexler. All still relevant even as Obama sweeps the crimes of the Bush administration under his centrist rug. I was damn good too!
#2 Opposing Barack Obama (July 20, 2008)
As Obama shifted further and further to the right after the decisive Indiana primary which sealed his nomination I had to speak out and denounce his nomination with 16 reasons (that went off script during the show and grew to 20) why real progressives could no longer “go along” with the pathetic shadow Republican nominees the Democratic Party keeps serving up. If it weren’t for the amazing guests on my impeachment show, this one would have been best of year hands down. In light of the past month, dare I say, “I told you so.”
#3 Florida Liberal Democrats Pushing War on Iran (July 12, 2008)
Like most of you, I was naive. I admit it. I thought the Democrats were the “good guys” who were resisting the warmonger Republicans when they could. But it turns out they just have different wars they want to fight. I became concerned in fall 2007 when I discovered that Florida liberal Democrats lead by State Rep. Ted Deutsch (with Rep. Dan Gelber cosponsoring among many others) were actually taking the lead pushing resolutions and sanctions through the Florida legislature falsely portraying, distorting and demonizing Iran, laying the intellectual and propaganda groundwork to sow the field of Florida public opinion for an attack on Iran. Turns out this was a run up to a wider Mideast war with most Florida Democrats’ sickening cheer leading for Israel’s war crimes and killing spree in Gaza.
#4 Sea Level Rise in Florida (May 31, 2008)
Another scary classic. We really should call it The Mark Weaver Horror Show. I reviewed the studies predicting sea level rise on Florida. I linked to maps of Jacksonville, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami Beach. Huge areas are going to be under water by 2100.
#5 Cuba’s Top Performing Education System (July 26, 2008)
July was a hot month. Three of the top five shows, must have been the heat. I discovered a Stanford Professor (my alma mater) who studied Latin American education systems, found that Cuba’s was the top performing and has heard stories that Cuban immigrants in Dade County are performing better than their American counterparts. But he couldn’t get a grant for a comparative study. Go figure. As policy wonks we’re always looking for models for Florida’s education system. Right? Viva Fidel!
#6 Bullies, the War on Drugs and the Fascist Shift (May 3, 2008)
This show encompassed serials I was doing on ending the war on drugs and the slow fascist shift in the U.S. since 1968. I started talking about bullies and what an under rated social problem they are and how school bullies grow up to be fascists and war mongers who use government to bully us and bully other countries when a very smart teacher from Oklahoma called in for a great conversation.
#7 Live From the Cone of Hurricane Ike (September 6, 2008)
One of the themes of the Mark Weaver Shows is hurricanes and public policy. This one got out of hand and bizarre when it looked like Cat 4 Hurricane Ike might actually hit Miami in 3 days. Feel the fear.
#8 Almost Banned by Blogtalkradio (May 24, 2008)
This was the show that Blogtalkradio, which turns out to be just another corporate, ad revenue driven, truth and controversy-adverse, mainstream media outlet, threatened to cancel my show over. Their official objected to me calling the Bush Administration a terrorist organization in my posted description of the show, which I had to “tone down”. Hey, Bush was killing civilians right and left in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan as “collateral damage” and sometimes wantonly by rogue troops and Blackwater mercenaries. And the U.S. labels Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranians Quds terrorist organizations for doing the same thing with different means. The right wing finger-pointing hand usually has three fingers pointing back at it, doesn’t it?
There were a lot of honorable mentions in 2008. Just check the index to find a topic that hits you.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The Ponzi Age
Guest is Danny Schechter (M.A., London School of Economics) author of "Plunder", co-founder of Globalvision and former news producer for CNN and ABC 20/20 talking on The Ponzi Age. Plus: Obama's center-right Administration: financial-deregulation advocates of the 1990s now in charge of "fixing" the catastrophe they created. Go figure. Environmentalists give thumbs down to new Interior Secretary Salazar and thumbs up to Carol Browner; former Dallas mayor and free trader Ron Kirk now U.S. Trade Representative, Labor Secretary gets thumbs up with Hilda Solis and to top it all off anti-gay bigot Rick Warren to give invocation at inauguration. Also, more on the war on the war on terror, U.S. and New Zealand two biggest pot smoking countries on Earth, and the possible destruction of Europe or the Eastern U.S. by asteroid on Easter Sunday 2036.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
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