Let's be reasonable

Dear Friends-
This topic related to Osama Bin Laden has created a lot of controversy around the world. I am interested in hearing the views of others on it. Beginning with Peter Joseph's remarks, there have been a number of responses thus far, including the response of Edgar Hopida, who represents the Muslim organization C.A.I.R. in the greater San Diego area. He is a very reasonable fellow, usually, and these remarks of his are along those lines. John
_________________________________________________________________



--- On Tue, 5/3/11, Edgar Hopida wrote:

From: Edgar Hopida
Subject: RE: TZM: Response to Media; Death of Osama bin Laden
To: "community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com"
Date: Tuesday, May 3, 2011, 12:36 PM
>Many Muslims didn’t celebrate the tragedy of 9/11. It was a far small number than the over billion of Muslims who equally mourned the loss. In fact approximately 50 American Muslims died in the twin towers. I welcomed the death of bin laden because he has tarnished the image of my faith and has made some Americans very distrustful of Muslims. My opinion editorial was published today in the San Diego UT reflecting that http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/03/for-muslims-in-us-a-sense-of-relief/ . I agree we should not fall to the level of terrorists. We as Americans should be better than this and be at a higher moral ground than them.

Edgar Hopida, Director of Public Relations
Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Diego Chapter

8316 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite 203
San Diego, CA 92111

Telephone/Fax 858-278-4547

Media Requests: 619-913-0719

ehopida@cair.com

---

From: community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com [mailto:community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sandi Whitteker
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 12:24 PM
To: community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: TZM: Response to Media; Death of Osama bin Laden

Ok, I'm engaged. Must respond a little.

I agree and disagree with Walter. I agree completely that I don't appreciate all the chanting and jumping around about this assassination. Isn't that exactly what so many Muslims did when the buildings went down? Isn't that what really hurts, to know how happy so many people were at the demise of 3000 souls in that attack? I'm not comfortable with that image of America to the world. It's beyond immature.

That's not to say I'm not glad for his death. It's a long time coming and he was at the helm when the orders went out for the 9/11. He made a point of videotaping his delight in the success of their mission, as both buildings crumbled to the ground and thousands of lives were lost. It's good to have him off the planet. Just a bit less evil around. But let's not fall to his level in how we celebrate his death. And let's not make him so important, either.

Just one person's opinion.

Sandi

From: community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com [mailto:community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Alex Montoya
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 10:17 AM
To: community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com
Cc: patricia arpajou
Subject: RE: TZM: Response to Media; Death of Osama bin Laden

I respectfully disagree.

I never cheer when someone is injured, killed, or fired from a job, but I felt pretty darn good about this one.

Walter was way off on this one, in my opinion.

From: community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com [mailto:community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Makeda Dread Cheatom
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 8:40 AM
To: community-coalition-event-announcements@googlegroups.com
Cc: patricia arpajou
Subject: Re: TZM: Response to Media; Death of Osama bin Laden

You are this best. This is so needed. You have my support. I could not of said this better. In the spirit of Dr M.King, I love you.

Makeda

Sent from my iPhone

On May 3, 2011, at 8:23 AM, Walter Davis <wdavis@walterdavisenterprises.com> wrote:

For your consideration. Walter FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TZM: Response to Media; Death of Osama bin Laden On May 1, 2011 Pres. Barack Obama appeared on national television with the spontaneous announcement that Osama bin Laden, the purported organizer of the tragic events of September 11th 2001, was killed by military forces in Pakistan . Within moments, a media blitz ran across virtually all television networks in what could only be described as a grotesque celebratory display, reflective of a level of emotional immaturity that borders on cultural psychosis. Depictions of people running through the streets of New York and Washington chanting jingoistic American slogans, waving their flags like the members of some cult, praising the death of another human being, reveals yet another layer of this sickness we call modern society. It is not the scope of this response to address the political usage of such an event or to illuminate the staged orchestration of how public perception was to be controlled by the mainstream media and the United States Government. Rather the point of this article is to express the gross irrationality apparent and how our culture becomes so easily fixed and emotionally charged with respect to surface symbology, rather than true root problems, solutions or rational considerations of circumstance. The first and most obvious point is that the death of Osama bin Laden means nothing when it comes to the problem of international terrorism. His death simply serves as a catharsis for a culture that has a neurotic fixation on revenge and retribution. The very fact that the Government which, from a psychological standpoint, has always served as a paternal figure for it citizens, reinforces the idea that murdering people is a solution to anything should be enough for most of us to take pause and consider the quality of the values coming out of the zeitgeist itself. However, beyond the emotional distortions and tragic, vindictive pattern of rewarding the continuation of human division and violence comes a more practical consideration regarding what the problem really is and the importance of that problem with respect to priority. The death of any human being is of an immeasurable consequence in society. It is never just the death of the individual. It is the death of relationships, companionship, support and the integrity of familial and communal environments. The unnecessary deaths of 3000 people on September 11, 2001 is no more or no less important than the deaths of those during the World Wars, via cancer and disease, accidents or anything else. As a society, it is safe to say that we seek a world that strategically limits all such unnecessary consequences through social approaches that allow for the greatest safety our ingenuity can create. It is in this context that the neurotic obsession with the events of September 11th, 2001 become gravely insulting and detrimental to progress. An environment has now been created where outrageous amounts of money, resources and energy is spent seeking and destroying very small subcultures of human beings that pose ideological differences and act on those differences through violence. Yet, in the United States alone each year, roughly 30,000 people die from automobile accidents, the majority of which could be stopped by very simple structural changes. That's ten 9/11's each year... yet no one seems to pine over this epidemic. Likewise, over 1 million Americans die from heart disease and cancer annually - causes of which are now easily linked to environmental influences in the majority. Yet, regardless of the over 330 9/11's occurring each year in this context, the governmental budget allocations for research on these illnesses is only a small fraction of the money spent on “anti-terrorism” operations. Such a list could go on and on with regard to the perversion of priority when it comes to what it means to truly save and protect human life and I hope many out there can recognize the severe imbalance we have at hand with respect to our values. So, coming back to the point of revenge and retribution, I will conclude this response with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., likely the most brilliant intuitive mind when it came to conflict and the power of non-violence. On September 15, 1963 a Birmingham Alabama church was bombed, killing four little girls attending Sunday school. In a public address, Dr. King stated: “What murdered these four girls? Look around. You will see that many people that you never thought about participated in this evil act. So tonight all of us must leave here with a new determination to struggle. God has a job for us to do. Maybe our mission is to save the soul of America . We can't save the soul of this nation throwing bricks. We can't save the soul of this nation getting our ammunitions and going out shooting physical weapons. We must know that we have something much more powerful. Just take up the ammunition of love.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, 1963 - ~Peter Joseph wwwthezeitgeistmovement.com

Peter Joseph TZM Response to Media; Death of Osama bin Laden

For your consideration.

Walter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TZM: Response to Media; Death of Osama bin Laden

On May 1, 2011 Pres. Barack Obama appeared on national television with the spontaneous announcement that Osama bin Laden, the purported organizer of the tragic events of September 11th 2001, was killed by military forces in Pakistan.

Within moments, a media blitz ran across virtually all television networks in what could only be described as a grotesque celebratory display, reflective of a level of emotional immaturity that borders on cultural psychosis. Depictions of people running through the streets of New York and Washington chanting jingoistic American slogans, waving their flags like the members of some cult, praising the death of another human being, reveals yet another layer of this sickness we call modern society.

It is not the scope of this response to address the political usage of such an event or to illuminate the staged orchestration of how public perception was to be controlled by the mainstream media and the United States Government. Rather the point of this article is to express the gross irrationality apparent and how our culture becomes so easily fixed and emotionally charged with respect to surface symbology, rather than true root problems, solutions or rational considerations of circumstance.

The first and most obvious point is that the death of Osama bin Laden means nothing when it comes to the problem of international terrorism. His death simply serves as a catharsis for a culture that has a neurotic fixation on revenge and retribution. The very fact that the Government which, from a psychological standpoint, has always served as a paternal figure for it citizens, reinforces the idea that murdering people is a solution to anything should be enough for most of us to take pause and consider the quality of the values coming out of the zeitgeist itself.

However, beyond the emotional distortions and tragic, vindictive pattern of rewarding the continuation of human division and violence comes a more practical consideration regarding what the problem really is and the importance of that problem with respect to priority.

The death of any human being is of an immeasurable consequence in society. It is never just the death of the individual. It is the death of relationships, companionship, support and the integrity of familial and communal environments. The unnecessary deaths of 3000 people on September 11, 2001 is no more or no less important than the deaths of those during the World Wars, via cancer and disease, accidents or anything else.

As a society, it is safe to say that we seek a world that strategically limits all such unnecessary consequences through social approaches that allow for the greatest safety our ingenuity can create. It is in this context that the neurotic obsession with the events of September 11th, 2001 become gravely insulting and detrimental to progress. An environment has now been created where outrageous amounts of money, resources and energy is spent seeking and destroying very small subcultures of human beings that pose ideological differences and act on those differences through violence.

Yet, in the United States alone each year, roughly 30,000 people die from automobile accidents, the majority of which could be stopped by very simple structural changes. That's ten 9/11's each year... yet no one seems to pine over this epidemic. Likewise, over 1 million Americans die from heart disease and cancer annually - causes of which are now easily linked to environmental influences in the majority. Yet, regardless of the over 330 9/11's occurring each year in this context, the governmental budget allocations for research on these illnesses is only a small fraction of the money spent on “anti-terrorism” operations.

Such a list could go on and on with regard to the perversion of priority when it comes to what it means to truly save and protect human life and I hope many out there can recognize the severe imbalance we have at hand with respect to our values.

So, coming back to the point of revenge and retribution, I will conclude this response with a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., likely the most brilliant intuitive mind when it came to conflict and the power of non-violence. On September 15, 1963 a Birmingham Alabama church was bombed, killing four little girls attending Sunday school.

In a public address, Dr. King stated:

“What murdered these four girls? Look around. You will see that many people that you never thought about participated in this evil act. So tonight all of us must leave here with a new determination to struggle. God has a job for us to do. Maybe our mission is to save the soul of America. We can't save the soul of this nation throwing bricks. We can't save the soul of this nation getting our ammunitions and going out shooting physical weapons. We must know that we have something much more powerful. Just take up the ammunition of love.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King, 1963 -


~Peter Joseph

wwwthezeitgeistmovement.com

[SDCPJ] Contact Kehoe re. 5/9 vote on linking driver's licenses to a military draft

State Bill Linking Male DRAFT REGISTRATION to Calif. Driver's Licenses faces May 9 Senate Appropriations Committee Vote

 

Senate Bill 251, Selective Service's fifth attempt to pass a bill in California that would link male draft registration to California drivers' licenses, can be stopped on May 9 with enough letters to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee chair, Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego), voted against the bill when it was considered by the Transportation and Housing Committee in April.

 

Selective Service wants the DMV to help register people because 14 percent of male Californians fail to do by their 25th birthday. Such a large number of nonregistrations would make a future military draft less workable.

 

Proposed by Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), Senate Bill 251 originally sought to automatically register all males, age 18 to 26, when they apply for a license. The Senate Transportation and Housing Committee approved the bill (7-2), but only on condition that it be changed so that license applicants would be asked to opt in to be registered with Selective Service. However, even this does not change the fact that it would still be a misuse of CA Dept. of Motor Vehicle resources, which are earmarked by law to promote traffic safety. The estimated start-up cost for a similar bill in 2001 was $250,000-$400,000, plus a $20,000 ongoing expense. The DMV's mission should not be expanded to bail out failing federal agencies.

 

SB 251 will be considered by the senate appropriations committee on May 9. Californians should immediately call or write to:

 

Senate Appropriations Committee
State Capitol, Room 2206, Sacramento, CA 94248
Committee phone: (916) 651-4101
Fax for Senator Kehoe, Appropriations Chair: (916) 327-2188

 

Send a copy of your letter to your state senator at: State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 94248. Look up senators at http://www.legislature.ca.gov/. Ask other people to join you in sending letters. For information about committee hearings and deadlines, contact COMD, 760-753-7518, comdsd@aol.com; or register to receive email notices at the bill's Web site (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html).

[SDCPJ] GAZA - WHAT WE SAW THERE

Please join us for this amazing presentation!
And please share this notice with your friends and email lists ~ thank you!
  
 
Elliott Adams, current President of National Veterans For Peace, and Will Covert, renowned peace activist, present:
 
GAZA - WHAT WE SAW THERE

HEALING WOUNDS THROUGH HUMANITARIAN AID

Tuesday • May 10, 7 PM
San Diego First Church of the Brethren •. 3850 Westgate Place
San Diego, CA 92105

 
In October 2009, Washington Physicians For Social Responsibility sponsored a delegation to the Gaza Strip, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Assisted by Israeli authorities, the 12 delegates spent five days in Gaza. Six of the delegates were physicians who offered medical consultation and provided care with their professional colleagues. One delegate, a nurse with experience in bereavement, provided classes in grief and bereavement for social workers, psychologists and nurses. The five humanitarian delegates (including Elliott Adams and Will covert) toured sites in Gaza and visited human rights professionals, child development centers, and family members. Stories of the ongoing siege and the results of the Israeli war on Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, during the winter of 2008-2009 were central to each encounter. The delegation was hosted by Dr. Eyad El Sarraj, founder of Gaza Community Mental Health Program and a friend of Washington Physicians For Social Responsibility since 1993.

The Presenters:

Elliott Adams
A paratrooper in the infantry serving in Viet Nam, Japan, Korea, and Alaska. He has served his local community in a variety of capacities including: Mayor, President of the School Board, Committee Chair of BSA Explorer Post 17, President of Rotary, Master of the Masonic Lodge. Elliott left politics to become an activist. Attending untold numbers of demonstrations, working at many levels, from stapling signs to doing logistics and organizing work for United For Peace and Justice and War Resisters League , School Of Americas Watch, Peace Has No Borders, Veterans For Peace and many other organizations, at events across the country. Elliott moved from being a soldier to a nonviolent warrior. He is Nonviolent Training Coordinator for Veterans For Peace, is a nonviolence trainer for Creating A culture Of Peace, and is a member of their Leadership Team. He has also done nonviolence and social movement trainings for School Of Americas Watch, Peacemakers of Schoharie, Student Environmental Action Coalition, War Resistors League, and other groups. Elliott has dedicated his life to stopping this war and stopping all war.

Will Covert
In his effort to understand the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and the role the U.S. government plays in the conflict, Will has made five trips to Palestine, including one into Gaza. Will's attended nonviolence facilitator's trainings conducted by Creating a Culture of Peace, the Nonviolent Peaceforce/Michigan Peace Team, and George Lakey's Training For Change. He believes the survival of the Palestinian people, and perhaps of the human species, is inevitably tied to bringing about the paradigm of nonviolent conflict resolution. Will is a US Navy Veteran and is a lifetime member of Veterans For Peace. He is thoroughly committed to the goals and objectives of Veterans For Peace, most specifically the abolishment of war as an instrument of national policy.