gdp's Comments

KABOBfest : Who’d You Rather? Rima Fakih or Shavit Wiesel

Tue, 18 May 2010 00:11:17 +0000

I guess I'll be the party-pooper who finds this series of posts about Miss USA to be pretty embarrassing.

KABOBfest : Noam Chomsky endorses Berkeley divestment

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 05:41:11 +0000

I think this may represent a development or shift in his views. It was certainly a surprise to the people involved.

KABOBfest : Singling out Israel is the right thing to do

Mon, 5 Apr 2010 14:17:49 +0000

I didn't say anything about "singling out" Jews. I am talking about "singling out" Israel, a non-holy, non-sacred, non-taboo modern nation-state like any other in the entire world.

KABOBfest : Basta: After veto of Berkeley divestment, the movement grows

Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:41:42 +0000

Well, there's a process. Some people would be willing to vote for a bill but not necessarily to override a veto. He's not exceeding his authority.

KABOBfest : Basta: After veto of Berkeley divestment, the movement grows

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:40:04 +0000

I have practically nothing to do with this unfortunately.

KABOBfest : UC Berkeley SJP's Urgent Plea

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:25:01 +0000

An override is not impossible. It requires 14 out of 20 votes. The bill originally passed with 16. It may still be overridden.

KABOBfest : UC Berkeley student senate passes divestment resolution

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:36:33 +0000

ASUC has its own investments, which it commits in this bill to purging from companies that profit from the occupation. Additionally it calls on the UC Regents to divest its considerably larger investments along the same lines.

KABOBfest : Palestinian Boycott Leader Challenges SF Jewish Federation

Wed, 3 Mar 2010 18:51:24 +0000

As far as I know, Rabbi Doug Kahn has already turned down the offer.

KABOBfest : A racist who wants to stop Palestinian reproduction, and an ad so bad it might just do it

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 06:43:40 +0000

Considering that the literacy rate in Palestine is 93%, probably all of them. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/oPt.html

KABOBfest : A racist who wants to stop Palestinian reproduction, and an ad so bad it might just do it

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:13:25 +0000

How many people who join or support Hamas read the founding charter?

KABOBfest : The UCI Protests were Clearly Civil Disobedience

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:24:26 +0000

Will, I think there's a problem here. If the students were exercising their 1st Amendment rights, then they were not breaking the law therefore their actions cannot be considered civil disobedience. If they exceeded the bounds of their 1st Amendment rights, then they engaged in civil disobedience because they broke the law for reasons of conscious and not in order to cause harm. There may be another issue here because the point of civil disobedience is not to break any law but only those considered to be unjust -- so, which is the unjust law here? I side with the protestors and I don't think they did anything wrong or broke any law, I just wonder if this is the appropriate framing.

KABOBfest : Civilians we don't regret killing

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:37:36 +0000

I agree with Roop below. If Taliban suicide attacks that kill civilians are morally reprehensible (and I agree they are) then you have to explain why. The way you frame it, the attacks are wrong only because it's the Taliban whose behind them. I think they're wrong because they treat civilians as expendable. The reason American actions are wrong are not because America's doing it -- but for the same reason, that they treat civilians as expendable.

KABOBfest : Sex, Advising and Videotape

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:45:42 +0000

You have to be more specific about corruption. To say that a political system is corrupt is not merely to say that there are officials bending rules. It's to say that the system, and the people within it, act for reasons other than those publicly stated. It means that looking at the formal institutional mechanisms and public pronouncements does not actually explain what is going on. It means the system is fake and that the people acting within it are props for something else. Will is saying that this is corruption "BY DESIGN." That means to call it "corruption," as if corruption is exceptional, is to miss the point about the purpose that this system and its hospitality for corruption serves: to stilt liberation movements/serve Israeli occupation interests. Israel likes Palestinian partners it can control or blackmail. That is a historical fact. Under a one state system, politicians and people would not be of a purer variety, but presumably the system wouldn't have this aspect of mystery to it where what's "really going on" couldn't be explained by looking at the institutions. Of course, this is a really optimistic take on post-revolution governance, seeing as I think we have the same problems in the American context. And I am not talking about affairs and bribes, I am talking about the fact that every word a politician says is a fucking lie and does not explain the strategy for their actions.

KABOBfest : What public discourse? On corporate political speech

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:16:53 +0000

One way to do this is to reproduce articles we want to share/criticize in mainstream media by embedding them in other sites, so advertising revenues go elsewhere, and the context of the site is independent rather than business.

KABOBfest : What public discourse? On corporate political speech

Fri, 5 Feb 2010 17:15:38 +0000

In my experience, people at the core of organizing around Israel boycott and Palestinian advocacy in the US have big picture views and are involved in all kinds of community issues, not just Palestine. However you might be right about the mass of support, ie the Arab American & even Muslim communities in general. That said it would be presumptuous of me to assume that those 2 facts explain why there has not been a more vibrant discussion. It could be better explained better by other things, like my boring writing :)

KABOBfest : At Tampa town hall, Obama confirms that "peace" precludes Palestinian rights

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 18:45:00 +0000

Even if I am... what does this have to do with Palestinian rights?

KABOBfest : At Tampa town hall, Obama confirms that "peace" precludes Palestinian rights

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 05:31:49 +0000

Don't complicate things for him Tom, clearly the Palestinians are responsible for anti-Jewish racism all over the world. Ghoul, I'm sure you also mobilize your energies against discrimination and inequality of Yemeni Jews & other Arab Jews once they reached Israel? Or you only tokenize their plight when you can use it in a misguided attempt to justify Israeli discrimination against Arabs by pointing to discrimination against Jews in other part of the world?

KABOBfest : At Tampa town hall, Obama confirms that "peace" precludes Palestinian rights

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 03:58:59 +0000

Have an imagination. We can talk about equality.

KABOBfest : At Tampa town hall, Obama confirms that "peace" precludes Palestinian rights

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 02:03:22 +0000

Let's not beat around the bush here. Israel has been actively settling the land with demographic purpose since 1948.

KABOBfest : At Tampa town hall, Obama confirms that "peace" precludes Palestinian rights

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:08:51 +0000

Don't blame it on babies...