- Linux Computers
- DVDs & Films
- Writings & Reports
- Arab Spring
- Libyan Revolution
- Libyans spilled blood for us!
- NATO killed 60 civilians in Libya
- ANSWER Libya Forum
- Battle to Liberate Tripoli
- Behind the Green Curtain
- NATO's Game Plan in Libya
- How They Won
- Abdul Fattah Younis
- Abdul Rahman
- Amy gets it wrong
- CCDS on Libya
- Chris Hedges on Libya
- Current Events in Libya
- Doha summit
- Racism in Libya
- On Libya & Glenn Greenwald
- NATO's intervention in Libya
- Gilbert Achcar on Libya
- Tripoli's Long Night
- Green Sq Reality Check
- Qaddafi's Million Man March
- Lockerbie Bomber Lie
- Kucinich & Qaddafi Regime
- NATO over Tripoli
- Libya & Syria: Dueling Rallies
- AI on Libya again
- Situation in Libya
- ANSWER answers me
- Libya in the news today
- Tripoli Burn Notice
- Libya on PressTV
- Throwing babies out
- Libyans killed by NATO
- Libyans, Palestinians & Israelis
- Africa Rising
- The Occupy Movement
- The Year in Review
- Occupy Oakland on Jan. 28
- How Occupy LA got itself evicted
- Why Villaraigosa kicked us out
- Demonization of Mario
- Was DHS behind the eviction
- OccupyLA Eviction
- Did 1st Amend protect OLA
- Bandits of America
- OccupyLA Day 48
- Hard Block Cafe
- 10K March with OccupyLA
- OccupyLA - Day 8
- OccupyLA - Day 7
- OccupyLA - Day 6
- OccupyLA - Day 5
- OccupyLA - Day 4
- OccupyLA – Day 3
- OccupyLA - Day 2
- OccupyLA - Day 1
- Occupy Los Angeles Starts
- Arab Spring Comes to LA
- OccupyLA on 10/1
- G20 Road Trip
- The Decisive Decade
- Anonymous & WikiLeaks
- US Wars
- Why the US didn't find WMD
- US troops pose with bodies
- Haditha & USMC
- Louis Proyect reviews VAH
- Announcing Premiere of VAH
- Vietnam War was holocaust
- What Is A Holocaust?
- Winter Soldier Southwest
- Ex-Marine Corps Serial Killer
- Another Day In Iraq
- The Liberation of Viet Nam
- Hearing Cpl. Ryan
- Ahmadinejad @ Columbia
- Executing Afghan Kids
- How War Started
- Agent Orange in Iraq
- US Killing in Yemen
- Happy New Years Iraq!
- US Politics
- Too Big To Fail?
- Liberty Bell Destroyed!
- Xmas Carol for Obama
- Obama on Vietnam
- Stop This Oil Leak
- Karl Marx on TV!
- BP Dome won't work
- Rick Santorum
- Bill Clinton Rips GOP
- Laid off Census Worker
- Severe Conservative?
- This Week: Sen. John McCain
- Newspaper Death Spiral
- Sarah Palin
- Sotomayor Experience
- "Everyone is Disapearing"
- Racism in the US
- Internet Freedom & Open Source
- My Best Tweets
- Android make Google Money?
- Country Codes for the Internet?
- End of the Internet
- Free Press would this Illegal!
- Free Press Agenda?
- Google Verizon Deal
- Keith Olbermann's Deception
- Obama versus Google
- What are these RMT Alerts?
- Verizon's Rebate Challenge
- Victory is Sweet
- Why I like Google
- Would Net Neutrality Stop WikiLeaks?
- e- G8 plans for Internet
- Al Franken on Network Neutrality
- Cyber War Report
- FCC Internet Rules
- Google Must Be Evil
- Google\Verizon Net Neutrality
- Internet Engineers
- Julian Assange on Threat
- Let a 100 Websites Blossom
- Mountain comes to Mohammad
- Net Neutrality's Trojan Horse
- Obama's Internet Coup d'état
- Victory on Internet Censorship
- Daily Kos Diaries
- Stubborn Things
- WL Central Writings
Does PDA Support Qaddafi?
What's wrong with this picture? While Mummar Qaddafi was shelling unarmed protesters in the Tajoura neighborhood of Tripoli, Progressive Democrats of America was giving his chief American supporter, Cynthia McKinney, an award in the Santa Monica mountains.
This Saturday, August 20, 2011, the Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains held their 6th Annual PDA Birthday Party and Fundraiser. The event was organized by Dorothy Reik and was billed as "an afternoon and evening of politics, food and music atop beautiful Topanga Canyon." The requested donation was $50, which is one of the reasons I did not attend.
The centerpiece of the event was the Teddi Winograd Courage Award recipients for Activism in the Pursuit of Peace and Justice. This was given to Ron Kovic and Cynthia McKinney.
Ron Kovic, who fought in Vietnam and wrote "Born on the 4th of July" certainly deserved the award. Ron is a good friend and also honorary co-chair, together with Martin Sheen, of the fundraising committee for my current film project, Vietnam: People's Victory. Ron, like me, was an early supporter of the Arab Spring and an avid viewer of Al Jazzeera/English.
Cynthia McKinney, on the other hand, is a different matter. While she has certainly supported progressive causes in the past, and I strongly supported her, even joining her group Dignity, what she has been doing lately is shilling for Mummar Qaddafi. She had taken a Dignity delegation to Tripoli to support Qaddafi, had just completed a nationwide ANSWER Coalition sponsored speaking tour "Eyewitness Libya" and was in the middle of another 21 city Libya tour sponsored by International Action Committee.
She had just flown into L.A. for the award on Saturday after speaking on behalf of the one she calls "Brother Qaddafi" on Friday in St. Louis and had to fly right back out again to speak in support of Qaddafi again on Sunday in Pittsburgh. If she was running true to form, on Friday she was spouting Qaddafi propaganda such as:
Libya's Revolution brought free health care and education to the people and subsidized housing. In fact, students in Libya can study there or abroad and the government gives them a monthly stipend while they are in school and they pay no tuition.
and
Libyans govern themselves by The Green Book, a form of direct democracy based on the African Constitution concept that the people are the first and final source of all power.
None of the above is true BTW and I would be very curious as to what she had to say on Sunday with Qaddafi on the run and two of his sons under arrest.
As it turned out, about the same time PDA was starting their event in Topanga Canyon, the Libyan opposition was beginning their final push to take Tripoli which they called Operation Mermaid Dawn. All across Tripoli people came out into the streets in spontaneous demonstrations. Although these protesters were mostly un-armed, Qaddafi responded with a vengeance. In the Tajoura neighborhood of Tripoli, he used tanks to slaughter the people. It is likely hundreds were killed. On this audio recoding you can hear the shells exploding and the people screaming.
It must gave been about the same time PDA was giving it's award to Cynthia McKinney.
[ ]
In a related development we have this:
Breaking Story: Libya, Intelligence Officer Defects, Records of Payments to Journalists/Activists by Gaddafi
Just In: Payment Records to Media/Bloggers/Activists by Gaddafi in Rebel Hands
Reliable sources in Libya, both with rebel forces and in Tripoli have verified that records of payments made to activists, journalists, bloggers and other media personnel by Gaddafi have been turned over to rebel forces.
...
Included is a list of names, some very well known, some less well known, including records of payments, email correspondence and lists of specific articles.Some named are still in Tripoli while others have are in the US, Britain and Western Europe. Received from representatives of the National Transitional Council, the recognized government of Libya:
We’ve received a number of documents detailing rates for articles published and blogposts posted, with the highest rates being paid for articles that make it into the mainstream media (2,000 USD per article) and the lowest (500 USD per item) for blogposts of more than 700 words. Those who XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX are paid 15,000 USD per day spent there, plus 3,000 USD per article datelined Tripoli or another Gaddafi-held area.
As some of the people implicated are still in Libya, no names are being released until all are out of harms way. I can't wait. Soon we may find that Cynthia McKinney abd others have been motivated by more than ideology. Were those appearances on Libya State TV paid endorsements?
It sound like some journalists and activists should be prepared to be embarrassed and possible a great deal more were they found to be unregistered foreign agents.
For more background on the Libyan Revolution and links to lots of information see my other writings at the DailyKos and WikiLeaks Central:
BREAKING: Operation Mermaid Dawn, the Battle to Liberate Tripoli is JoinedHelter Skelter: Qaddafi's African Adventure
Qaddafi's Long Arm
SCOOP: My Lai or Qaddafi Lie? More on the 85 Civilians presumed killed by NATO
Did NATO kill 85 Libyan Villagers As Qaddafi Regime Contends?
CCDS Statement on Libya - a Critique
The Assassination of General Abdul Fattah Younis
NATO over Tripoli - Air Strikes in the Age of Twitter
How Many Libyans has NATO Killed?
Qaddafi Terror Files Start to Trickle Out!
Have Libyan Rebels Committed Human Rights Abuses?
Tripoli Green Square Reality Check
Behind the Green Curtain: Libya Today
Gilbert Achcar on the Libyan situation and the Left
NATO slammed for Libya civilian deaths NOT!
2011-07-01 Qaddafi's Million Man March
NATO's Game Plan in Libya
February 21st - Tripoli's Long Night
Did Qaddafi Bomb Peaceful Protesters?
Tripoli Burn Notice
Libyans, Palestinians & Israelis
'Brother' Qaddafi Indicted plus Libya & Syria: Dueling Rally Photofinishs
An Open Letter to ANSWER
ANSWER answers me
2011-06-22 No Libyans allowed at ANSWER Libya Forum
Are they throwing babies out of incubators yet?
Continuing Discussion with a Gaddafi Supporter
Boston Globe oped supports Gaddafi with fraudulent journalism
2011-04-13 Doha summit supports Libyan rebels
Current Events in Libya
Amonpour Plays Softball with Gaddafi
Arming Gaddfi
North African Revolution Continues
Is Libya Next? Anonymous Debates New Operation
- Printer-friendly version
- Login or register to post comments