Philly IMC Features RSS

Vigil for Peace in the Middle East, Held 1st & 3rd Fridays of each month

Sun, 05 May 2013 01:37:26 -0400

Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East has a peace vigil from 12-1 PM on the first and third Fridays of each month. Everyone is invited to come. The goal is to encourage respect for people's rights, peace, and reconciliation in the Holy Land. It is held at the corner of 19th & JFK Boulevard.

May Day 2013

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:31:40 -0400

May Day USA celebration at Elmwood Park, Philadelphia. We got some good speeches about how May Day got started back in the late 1880s and how it, and the need for labor unions, continues today. The lefty website Daily Kos started up a labor section in 2011, reflecting the growing closeness of the two groups.

Astonishing Chechnya

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 06:32:52 -0400

RT is airing an incredible documentary on the Republic of Chechnya, known to the outside world for having been practically destroyed by repeated separatist wars with Russia. According to Wikipedia, the Caucasus mini-state is returning to sharia law and all its accoutrements, with some resistance to Russian rule still remaining in the mountains.

Obama’s Historic Assault on Social Security

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 22:04:49 -0400

After four years of maneuvering, President Obama finally has his White Whale, Social Security, within harpooning distance. “Obama has largely neutered Social Security’s traditional congressional defenders, who know perfectly well what their president is up to, but will not directly oppose him.” Update: A statement from an Obama staffer who, well, who seems awfully confused as to what does and doesn't produce economic growth. Oh, and 2.3 million Americans have signed petitions saying they oppose Social Security cuts!

Ten years ago. The Iraq War in retrospect.

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:20:14 -0400

One of Philadelphia's Gold Star Mothers, Celeste Zappala, was interviewed by WHYY on Tuesday, the 19th of March and the tenth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. Zappala lost her son Sherwood Baker in 2004. He was the first National Guard member to lose his life in Iraq. Also, Rachel Maddow presented Hubris on the same subject, of how America got into the war, the full one-hour video in six chunks of about 12 minutes each. Oh, and a review of the 2006 book. WaPo kills critical look at their coverage of the run-up to the war. Includes some seriously sad, pathetic statements.

AFL-CIO’s Own Oil Disaster

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 20:09:32 -0500

With less than transparency, the AFL-CIO just issued a statement endorsing “expanding the nation’s pipeline system.” Although it did not explicitly endorse the Keystone XL pipeline, the labor federation nevertheless managed to extend its blessing to the project while hiding behind vague generalities. However, the logic of its position is unambiguous: the federation is in favor of extending pipelines in general and without qualification; the Keystone XL is a pipeline. Therefore logic compels us to infer that the federation supports the extension of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Review of "Hubris"

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:59:45 -0500

Showed on 9:00pm on Monday 18 February. Rachel Maddow previewed it a few days beforehand. Real Clear Politics presents all of the ten-minute segments of it. I agree with David Swanson, the show has some flaws, but I'm very happy that it was shown. As I've related to many people, I had read appeals before President George W. Bush's UN speech (Made just after the first anniversary of 9-11) to give Bush a chance to make his case for war against Iraq and to not dismiss his case out of hand, so I got the NY Times the day after and read his case from beginning to end. I immediately concluded that Bush was lying and that he had already made up his mind to go to war. I made it to what I believe was the first demonstration opposing the Iraq War.

Enon Tabernacle seeks to counter 'top-down' approach to Philly school closings

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:03:32 -0500

Add the Rev. Alyn Waller, the influential pastor of the 15,000-member Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Northwest Philadelphia, to the growing chorus of critics questioning the School District's plan to close 37 city schools by next fall. "I am not in favor of school closings without merit and without data to support such a drastic decision," Waller said. Waller believes that some "rightsizing" of the city's public school system is necessary. But he doesn't think the District has made its case for many of the specific school closings that have been proposed. He's upset, saying the communities that will be affected by the dramatic changes have not been properly consulted.

Gun safety

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 00:10:49 -0500

Okay, so we get this statement: "Experts Agree Gun Control Works! The Experts Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Qaddafi And More." How historically accurate is this? Also, noted Civil Rights Movement veteran Representative John Lewis (D-GA) responds to Rush Limbaugh's question that "If a lot of African-Americans back in the '60s had guns and the legal right to use them for self-defense, you think they would have needed Selma?" Lewis' answer is that using guns was contrary to the purpose of the movement and would have accomplished nothing. The head of the Independent Women/s Forum, Gayle Trotter, testifies to women using guns to defend themselves. Slight problem, all of the guns used were traditional weapons with small magazines. None of them were rapid-fire assault weapons with large magazines.

At the Debtor’s Assembly

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 18:16:30 -0500

Like most folks I talked with, I had only a vague idea of what “Strike Debt” was before showing up today to the Nov 11 Debtor’s Assembly in Love Park. Like them, having enough crippling debt in my life, the event piqued my interest.