Motley Moose – Archive

Crossposted from here…

Guest lodge at Virunga National Park.

Virunga National Park is the jewel of the African rainforest. It is perhaps the most biologically and geographically diverse area on the planet. Its borders contain a vast array of species and lakes, as well as tropical forest, savannahs, and volcanoes. A UNESCO World Heritage Center, this park has come to represent the African forest that supports the planet.

And it’s in trouble.

Aside from the continuing African World War that is being fought inside its borders, a corrupt charcoal trade that is toppling its trees, and rampant poaching that’s endangered its unique species, Virunga National Park has another rival: SOCO International. This park — that is intended to be some of the most protected land on the planet — sits on top of a store of oil. And yes, SOCO set its sites on drilling there. They are exploring as we speak.

If you care about climate, you care about Congo.

Despite not being constitutionally eligible to seek the office of President of the United States, Alexander Arefyev, the coach of the Russian men’s ski jumping team, staked out a position that would certainly give him a claim on the nomination.  Explaining his opposition to women’s ski jumping, an event being added to the Olympic program for the first time this year, Arefyev said:

“I admit, I do not advocate women’s ski jumping,” he said in Russian. “It is quite heavy and traumatic sport. If a man were seriously injured, it is not fatal, but for all women may end up far worse. If I had a daughter, never would give in jumping – it’s too hard work. Women have a different purpose – to have children, do housework, to create a family home. (emphasis my own)“

I guess that means women should be off to pop out the babies, cook dinner, wash the dishes and clean the floor?  Given the high level of social conservatism in Russia, is it any surprise that he would feel so free to make this statement about women’s “different purpose,” by which it’s really meant that women shouldn’t stray from their “proper place?”

I don’t know about what other people might think, but that sounds a lot like what many Republicans would like given the degree to which they want to regulate women’s bodies.  The only difference is that very few of them are that explicit about it.  And if a Republican candidate was explicit about it, I sadly have no doubt that he would immediately shoot to the top of the polls for saying what so many were already thinking.

They’re all wrong about the fact that a woman’s place is in the house.  Nope, a woman’s place is in the House (and, hopefully come 2016, the White House too).

Chemical weapons are a terrible thing.  I disagree with the assertion that dead is dead.  They are a torturous method of killing innocent civilians.  They cause civilians to die a gruesome and slow death.  Those that survive are permanently disfigured.  With conventional weapons, yes, they leave the person dead, but they tend to be considerably quicker in bringing about that death.

In the modern era of warfare, militaries can effectively protect soldiers against their use.  That leaves them as nothing more than a weapon of civilian murder – a weapon that kills slowly and gruesomely.  A strong moral argument exists that when such weapons are used, the world has a responsibility to take those actions necessary to prevent their further use and punish the perpetrators.  This can include military action.

At the same time, war is war and we should not enter it without serious discussion (the exception being in response to a military attack; think Pearl Harbor and us declaring war on Japan the next day).  What happened with the Iraq war represented a severe failure of this process and we cannot afford a repeat of that hear.  We need to see the evidence put out there.  We need to have the discussion.  We need to enter this with our eyes open.  Remember, even limited strikes put our men and women in uniform in the line of danger and cost us money in a time when we really don’t have the money to spare – especially on another war.

Jackie Robinson with his son David at the March on Washington for Jobs & Freedom, August 28, 1963. Photo credit from @BeschlossDC .

This is your Sunday night news.  Look for more news in MOTs and any open threads from JanF.  

FEATURED STUFF

Mandela Day

 Following the success of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations in London’s Hyde Park in June 2008, it was decided that there could be nothing more fitting than to celebrate Mr Mandela’s birthday each year with a day dedicated to his life’s work and that of his charitable organisations, and to ensure his legacy continues forever.

The Mandela Day campaign message is simple: Mr Mandela gave 67 years of his life fighting for the rights of humanity. All we are asking is that everyone gives 67 minutes of their time, whether it’s supporting your chosen charity or serving your local community.

Mandela Day is a call to action for individuals – for people everywhere – to take responsibility for changing the world into a better place, one small step at a time, just as Mr Mandela did.

Sometime this week, please spend 67 minutes doing something for a neighbor.  

Diary title refers to this parable from Jesus:

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Notes:  v. 27 is found in the Hebrew scriptures of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  

It’s easy to be a news junkie.  Refresh, look at other sites, look at twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.  After this week, I wanted to share this passage.  And with Mandela Day coming this week, I wanted to ask all of you to be a neighbor.  Whatever that means to you.  

Hawaiian Sunset.  Very likely Kam3 beach, Maui.  

   I tend to look at newspapers’ web sites around the world and country.  I especially look for not the headline, but a separate aspect of the story.  And I love followups.  

Any thoughts on news?  

(last year)

Declaration of Independence

A few protestors in Egypt, photo credit here.  

Massive Protests Hit Egypt

MATT BRADLEY And REEM ABDELLATIF, Wall Street Journal

Egyptians took to the streets on Sunday for nationwide protests against President Mohammed Morsi, presenting a massive popular opposition that rivaled the size of demonstrations that toppled President Hosni Mubarak more than two years ago.

By early evening, legions of protesters had crowded into Cairo’s Tahrir Square and filled several city blocks in front of Ittihadiya Palace, the president’s main residence, demanding that Mr. Morsi step down and call early elections.

In most protest areas, the atmosphere was ebullient. Families walked with children in tow, some with their faces painted, munching on snacks and waving Egyptian flags. Passing motorists honked their horns, lending a festival aspect to the marches despite weeks of concern over the potential for violence.

H/T to @hrana – This is only the smallest slice of news about a very large event.  Some of the tweets look grim.  

I had some open tabs.  Now I am sharing.  

Please comment, share, and enjoy.  

This monument to Nelson Mandela is by Marco Cianfanelli.

Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for 2013

CCRI announcement

Mr. Joel Pett, President of the Board of Directors of the Cartoonists Rights Network International announces that the recipient of the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning for 2013 is Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan.

Mr. Raslan was arrested by Syrian authorities at the offices of his newspaper, Al-Fida in the city of Hama, Syria approximately 6 months ago.  He has been held incommunicado since then.  A reliable source reports that he has been tortured and abused, deprived of any legal counsel, and is now to be put on trial in a special court that has been created for enemies of the state.

CRNI gives Akram Aslan our annual Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning in recognition of his extraordinary courage in confronting the forces of violence with cartoons that told only the truth.

The cartoonists are coming!  The cartoonists are coming to my town!  

AAEC 2013 Convention  The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists

Pat Bagley: Editorial Cartoonists Convention On his process, the convention and cartooning in Utah

City Weekly; Rachel Piper

Brace for scrutiny, Salt Lakers: The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is holding its 2013 convention here at the end of the month (June 27-29, EditorialCartoonists.com).

You’ve been on hiatus from your daily cartoon in preparation for the conference. Is it odd?

I was listening to the radio on the way over, and I heard something about Nelson Mandela. And I was thinking, “If he dies, and I’m not there to do a cartoon about it, that would be bad.” There are things that could bring me to do another cartoon.

What’s your process for generating a cartoon every day since 1979?

As you go through life, you stash away information-whatever you read, whatever you watch on television, what you see in the movies, it’s just more material that goes in your attic. The messier your attic is, the more material you’ve got to go through. You think about this and that, and you can maybe make some odd connections. But it’s hard to say what makes that connection. All I can say is, expose yourself to a lot of stuff, intellectually. I like history, and I read a lot, and I think that helps.

I do it all kinds of ways. Sometimes I just want to draw a dinosaur that day, and I’ll doodle until I come up with a caption.

Has there ever been a day when you’re just like, “I got nothin.”?

Oh God, yeah. It’s only happened four times in the 30, 40 years I’ve been there. You can always do a bad cartoon.

National Archives, US Gov’t.  Navajo man and family.  

All The News is a semi-regular feature here in purple.  I select articles from news sites around the world, and use other social media for possible stories too.  Please share stories you find interesting or comment on anything included here.  

Judge: Obama sex assault comments ‘unlawful command influence’

Stars & Stripes; Eric Slavin

Two defendants in military sexual assault cases cannot be punitively discharged, if found guilty, because of “unlawful command influence” derived from comments made by President Barack Obama, a judge ruled in a Hawaii military court this week.

Navy Judge Cmdr. Marcus Fulton ruled during pretrial hearings in two sexual assault cases – U.S. vs. Johnson and U.S. vs. Fuentes – that comments made by Obama as commander in chief would unduly influence any potential sentencing, according to a court documents obtained by Stars and Stripes.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Fulton approved the pretrial defense motions, which used as evidence comments that Obama made about sexual assault at a May 7 news conference.

…

The judge’s pretrial ruling means that if either defendant is found guilty, whether by a jury or a military judge, they cannot receive a bad conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. Sailors found guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice’s Article 120, which covers several sexual crimes including assault and rape, generally receive punitive discharges.

The ruling sets the stage for defense attorneys to use the same arguments in sexual assault cases throughout the military.

Obama makes policy comments.  Defense lawyer says “oh noes!!!!”  Judge rules no one may be discharged for bad conduct?  #wtf