gdp's Comments

Frontpage Magazine : Sodomy 'For the Sake of Islam'

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 19:09:13 +0000

Whatever you say... Tarek Fatah has backed away from it. https://twitter.com/TarekFatah/status/22383024562... The Advocate has begun to back away from it. http://www.advocate.com/politics/military/2012/07... Gay Star News has also declared Ibrahim's claims to be wrong. http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/anus-gay-terro...

Frontpage Magazine : Sodomy 'For the Sake of Islam'

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 06:24:57 +0000

Busted. This story is a complete hoax. http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/benjamin-dohe...

Antiwar.com Original Articles : Israel Lobby Creates Anti-Iran Astroturf Group

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 04:10:50 +0000

Thanks for covering this story Antiwar.com! I've written three posts about Iran180 and they can all be found at http://electronicintifada.net/tags/iran180

MRZine :

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:30:45 +0000

No. She works or worked for Vital Voices. See http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/events/201... and http://www.narconews.com/Issue67/article4335.html

MRZine :

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:31:24 +0000

Early this morning while I was still sleeping, I received information that explains the LinkedIn profile. Maria Dayton described the LinkedIn profile in a recent message to the OWS movement building group this way:

an outdated LinkedIn page that I was required to create by HR a few years ago when I received a short-term contract from Parker Tide – a contracting firm – to write a manual for NGOs. The State Department was a contractor for this publication – which was designed for distribution to all NGOs receiving any US funding.

Max Ajl : Olmert, Heckling, and the Wavering Middle

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:47:38 +0000

What do you mean by liberal Zionists? Do you mean liberal Israelis? Liberal American (Zionist) Jews?

Max Ajl : Olmert, Heckling, and the Wavering Middle

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:40:44 +0000

Thanks for your thoughtful analysis. I appreciate that you are concerned with efficacy of the actions, and every action is an opportunity to learn.

Max Ajl : The Trouble with Heckling Olmert

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:02:33 +0000

(I got a bit confused by the commenting system. I'm with it now!) Not all of the people in the audience were these dispassionate liberals... there were many committed pro-Israel, Friends of Israel (the campus group), and pro-Israel media (the northside ethnic Jewish press like the Jewish Star). These liberal elites will fall into the zeitgeist when it suits them. Until then, they will continue to put on their finest clothes for events like this. The goal of the protest was to show people in Gaza and Lebanon that we're in solidarity and to show the University that the arguments about free expression hold no water.

Max Ajl : The Trouble with Heckling Olmert

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:48:28 +0000

My free speech points were responding to Kepler. The people who attended the speech were liberals who reflexively attend these events without any specific conviction in support of Olmert. We were not trying to convince anyone in that room of anything other than there is vocal visceral resistance to this man. Our protest was aimed at the people in Gaza and Lebanon. We did this so they can see that Palestinians and other Americans in Chicago do not forget about them and will take risks to be in solidarity with them. Al Jazeera showed the protests and played the report hourly for the entire day yesterday.

Womanist Musings : Gay Man Not Welcome In Graveyard And Exhumed Twice

Sat, 9 May 2009 13:57:15 +0000

"Mohammedans?" This is a racist, Orientalist term. The Senegalese Penal Code is itself a legacy of colonialism, and the creation of these laws by French colonial rulers is one part of the story where European homophobia was imported into Africa. They may have created the laws to appease and incite local prejudices as a means of maintaining their legitimacy as rulers of someone else's country. Who thinks that Africans wrote these laws? People who have resisted colonialism may see the international (European) "human rights" movement that promotes the Western notion of commodified sexual identities, individualism and consumerism as a continuation of the outside control of their lives. It's a sad story. But let's put a "Europe" and "white people" label on this post. Don't dump this at the feet of Senegal.

Womanist Musings : White Men Need Not Apply

Sat, 2 May 2009 05:56:05 +0000

Wait and see: Obama may still appoint a white man anyway. Refer to his leadership at the Harvard Law Review. He was elected by liberal, African American, and female students, but he packed the Law Review with members of the Federalist society.

Womanist Musings : Your Brain On Whiteness

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:21:53 +0000

I don't mean to sound naive, but... I'm literally dumbstruck. Unrapeable?

Womanist Musings : Your Brain On Whiteness

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:20:24 +0000

Thanks. I'm keen to hear more about this point: Using WOC as anecdotal evidence of sexism is also a racist act but to hear white people tell it they are “being inclusive”. Perhaps you've written more about it (and I'll look around) but I am curious about what you're emphasizing here. Are you saying that the cursory regard for women of color ("anecdotal evidence") in dominant white discourses about sexism is racist? Or is it the fact of talking about women of color at all in a discourse that attempts to "purely" address sexism without other contexts? Whites who talk about being victims of racism really have no idea what racism is. Racism is about power. I'm sure there may be non-white people who have some superstitious or misunderstandings about white people, but it simply doesn't add up to racism if there's no power behind it. In fact, these stories people tell about white people probably reveal some truths about a community's experience of white racism.

Womanist Musings : Woman Is The Nigger Of the World

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:54:25 +0000

The song comes from an earlier generation than I do. I wonder if we can read the song for its art? Is it bad art? What I see is a white guy trying to use an analogy to express his attempt at understanding of something outside his own experience. Can we discuss whether his use of power-laden language was successful? Or is there an underlying assumption that he simply shouldn't use the word? (I'm a white guy, and I never use the word even when talking about the word itself.) The power of this piece of art is evident in the long and interesting discussion and debate it has provoked. It's legitimate to talk about the artist, too: if a non-white, non-man had sung it, how would the meaning change? Would our appreciation of it be different? It's troubling that this analysis here completely neglects the artist and artistic freedom. I do not defend his specific choices, and I think we're entitled (and invited!) to have a very passionate and deep reaction to it. "We make her paint her face and dance" is a really stunning line for what it says about the status of women and the status of Africans and the diaspora. So is it BAD ART? Or do we think there should be limits on what artists can say, based on their race and gender?