Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 41

Bloody Sunday

Four black girls died in bombing of Birmingham, Ala. church 51 years ago today, which galvanized civil rights activists.  Song by Richard Farina, later made famous by Joan Baez and others.

Stars for Slaughter

Over 300 Hollywood stars, directors, other industry figures and related celebs sign NYT ad specifically defending Israel bombing schools and hospitals in Gaza, which led to dozens of civilian deaths among a total of 550 kids and over 1000 other civilians during the air campaign.  Since they accept the targeting of schools (shelters) and hospital, one presumes they're okay with the bombing of apartment towers, entire city blocks and neighborhoods, and so forth.  Yes, the list includes the GOP likes of Sylvester Stallone, Kelsey Grammer and Arnold S but also noted liberals Sarah Silverman, Josh Charles, Aaron Sorkin, Bill Maher and Roseanne Barr.  And Ziggy Marley! Also Harvey and Bob Weinstein.  "Hospitals are for healing, not for hiding weapons. Schools are for learning, not for launching missiles. Children are our hope, not our human shields.”

It should be noted:  Unless I missed it, there has not been one clearly documented case of any rockets launched from an occupied, as opposed to empty, school or shelter.  But schools that were used as active shelters were targeted with Israeli bombs, killing dozens of children and other civilians. 

More names: Tom Arnold, Lou Adler, Carol Bayer Sager, William Friedkin, Sherry Lansing, Jon Lovitz,  Jamie Lynn Sigler, Rob Morrow, D.B. Sweeney,  Fisher Stevens, Jerry Weintraub.  Full list. 

Cosimo's Factory

One of the most important figures in the history of rock 'n roll, Cosimo Matassa, has died at 88.  Huh? Who's he?   He only engineered nearly every hit record that came out of New Orleans from the late-1940s to the 1960s, or they emerged from his studio, and then kept going--Tim White interviewed him for me at Crawdaddy around 1976.  Two of the songs often cited as the "first true rock 'n roll records" both came out of his studio.  And dozens of classic from Fats to Little Richard to Ray Charles to Irma Thomas to Dr. John and "Sea Cruise" and Allen Toussaint and beyond. See Times-Picayune obit for more.  And then there was the Professor in 1950  (whistling now used in Subaru commercial):

David Bowie Counts the Number of Actual 'Moderate' Rebels in Syria

"Rebel, Rebel."

When FDR Shafted Uprton Sinclair

As Ken Burns series starts on PBS:  The following happened 80 years ago this month,  just after "Uppie," the former Socialist, swept the Democratic primary for governor of California leading one of great grassroots movements ever,  EPIC (End Poverty in California)--and seemed headed for victory in November.  His meeting with a very friendly FDR at Hyde Park seemed to clinch the deal.  They even chatted about Teddy Roosevelt's response to Upton's The Jungle 30 years back.  Then Roosevelt and his top aides screwed him, backing his right-wing dullard GOP opponent. And the dirtiest, and one of the most influential, campaigns in USA history--it virtually created the modern campaign--emerged to defeat him.  Hollywood took its first all-out plunge into politics and the saintly Irving Thalberg created the very attack ads for the screen.  See a trailer for my book on what led to all this:

As Ken Burns Series Opens

Woody Guthrie's tribute at death of FDR, "Dear Mrs. Roosevelt."   Or as Woody put it, "I could see he was a cripple/but he taught my soul to walk."   The most famed version came from Bob Dylan--backed by The Band before they were officially The Band--in Woody tribute concert at Carnegie Hall in 1967, Bob's first appearance after his motorcycle accident, which re-assured fans that he had not died.  Here it is with the boys, especially Richard Manuel key on piano, in support.

The Lives of Others--in Israel

I've followed the story of those veterans of a crack Israeli unit who have publicly declared they won't serve in reserves there based on what they saw and did, mainly relating to unchecked surveillance of Palestinians.  But it took my wife today to point me to this NYT story--naturally, they were late to it--which closes with one of them explaining what inspired his move--seeing my favorite movie of the past decade, The Lives of Others (the German Academy Award winner).  The film inspired my obsession (and book and my work on film) and my upcoming book.

And Now: Child Abuse

NFL superstar running back Adrian Peterson indicted on child abuse and negligence this afternoon.   Not known in first report if related to death of his kid, age 2, last year, in a beating by another man, but updates make clear that's not true.  This CBS report has conflicting reports, including a TMZ:  "Sources connected to Peterson tell us (that) the alleged victim is a male child from Minnesota who was visiting (Peterson) back in May at the running back's Texas home. We're told the child returned home to his mother in Minnesota who noticed injuries and took the child to a doctor. A short time later, the doctor contacted authorities in Texas to report Peterson."

TMZ claims source say child was 4, others say 11  and may be his son.  Deadspin with more and claim that son was beaten with "a switch" (that's old school, use of a branch from a tree). UPDATE from NYT.

And these sickening details of injuries and Peterson's texts to mom from CBS in Houston.  It's as open and shut as Ray Rice with no video needed.

The beating allegedly resulted in numerous injuries to the child, including cuts and bruises to the child’s back, buttocks, ankles, legs and scrotum, along with defensive wounds to the child’s hands. Peterson then texted the boy’s mother, saying that one wound in particular would make her “mad at me about his leg. I got kinda good wit the tail end of the switch.”

Peterson also allegedly said via text message to the child’s mother that he “felt bad after the fact when I notice the switch was wrapping around hitting I (sic) thigh” and also acknowledged the injury to the child’s scrotum in a text message, saying, “Got him in nuts once I noticed. But I felt so bad, n I’m all tearing that butt up when needed! I start putting them in timeout. N save the whooping for needed memories!”

 

Jon Stewart on Obama Speech

My view: He could have just said, you say ISIL, I saw ISIS, let's call the whole damn thing off.

Walk Hard But Carry a Soft Stick?

Juan Cole, an expert on the region, responds a little different than many, to the Obama ready-for-war speech--claiming that actually it may just be plea to calm down while he takes weeks to maybe do little and then back off as the hysteria declines.  Well, maybe.  Must-reading in any case.

What if Obama is a sharper reader of the Middle East than his critics give him credit for? He knows ISIL is likely not going away, just as, after 13 years, the Taliban have not. US military action may even prolong the lifetime of these groups (that is one argument about AQAP) even as it keeps them from taking more territory.

Don’t listen to his expansive four-stage program or his retooled, stage-managed John Wayne rhetoric. Look at his metaphors. He is telling those who have ears to hear that he is pulling a Yemen in Iraq and Syria. He knows very well what that implies. It is a sort of desultory, staccato containment from the air with a variety of grassroots and governmental forces joining in. Yemen is widely regarded as a failure, but perhaps it is only not a success. And perhaps that is all Obama can realistically hope for.