WHAT? 'Most British media are racist'

A leading British journalist and writer says most of the media in Britain have right-wing, nationalistic and even racist viewpoints.

Julian Petley said at the unveiling ceremony of his latest book Pointing the Finger: Islam and Muslims in the Contemporary UK Media that newspapers in Britain are more inclined toward right-wing perspectives than TV and Radio networks.

Petley said British newspapers have traditionally right-wing, nationalistic and even racist tendencies, that is why people can even see racist hatred against the Scots in the British media, IRNA reported.

Keynote Addresses: Professor Julian Petley

Petley who is a professor of Screen Media and Journalism at London's Brunel University and has widely published on the subject said among the British newspapers only The Guardian and The Independentare “to some extent” liberal though the two have a tiny circulation compared with right-wing papers.

Petley added that Radio and TV news networks are generally more liberal than the print media yet the situation is changing as the private sector -- especially media linked to Rupert Murdock -- takes hold in the industry.

Petley further stressed that even the BBC is joining the rightists as TV and Radio networks including the BBC are rapidly moving toward Islamophobic and anti-Muslim racist content in line with the ongoing process of shift in the media atmosphere.

WikipediaIslamophobia is the fear and/or hatred of Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture. Islamophobia can be characterised by the belief that all or most Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-Muslims, and reject as directly opposed to Islam such concepts as equality, tolerance, and democracy.

It is viewed as a new form of racism whereby Muslims, an ethno-religious group, not a race, are nevertheless constructed as a race.  A set of negative assumptions are made of the entire group to the detriment of members of that group.

Petley said the four beliefs are: all Muslims are the same, all Muslims are under the influence of religious teachings, all of them are lower than other people in moral, human, cultural and political terms and “all of them are considered a threat”.

Pointing the Finger: Islam and Muslims in the Contemporary UK Media is an edited collection by Julian Petley and Robin Richardson which was unveiled at a London university earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the unveiling ceremony featured a speech by AbdoolKarim Vakil the joint editor of Thinking Through Islamophobia: global perspectives and a professor at King's College, London.   Vakil said in his address that Islamophobia is effectively a new form of racism that tries to reduce Muslims to a race.more

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Ashamed to be British

5/24/2011 1:30:12 AM

The British media makes me ashamed to be British. It makes me feel like I am living in an uncivilized country

If you consider this ‘family time’ you need your head checked.

I’ve only actually seen this commercial on TV twice, but it makes me angry and sick that they consider ‘family time’ is playing a game be it (Wii, PSP, ect.). I call it ‘plastic crack’ and I don’t consider this family time at all. Get a board game, have conversations, debates. cook together, go for walks, read a book together. Have face to face interaction with each other. Shera~

Possible Whiskey Rebellion of 2011?

The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794

There was an uprising in Pennsylvania counties after Alexander Hamilton began taxing Whiskey in 1791. Scottish and Irish settlers resented the tax. Whiskey was an important economic commodity to them.

Rioting broke out in 1794 and the president at the time, none other than George Washington, sent troops to quell the rioting. Hamilton hoped to set an example using two rebels, whom he convicted for treason, but Washington later pardoned them.  Hamilton's tax was repealed in 1802.More at source

Possible Whiskey Rebellion of 2011?

Kentucky lawmakers, citing the singular downside to aged whiskey, have proposed a bill aimed at correcting what they claim is unfair treatment in the tax code toward bourbon distillers.

The Aged Distilled Spirits Competitiveness Act of 2011, backed by the entire Kentucky House delegation, would overhaul a provision they say puts bourbon distillers at a competitive disadvantage against other sectors of the liquor industry.

The tax provision requires distillers to carry over costs associated with their inventory until the bourbon is ready to be poured into bottles -- meaning the distillers can't deduct those expenses until then.  But that process can take as long as 18 years. The more complex the flavor, the more costly the tax implications.

Bourbon manufacturers who lobbied for the bill say, with nearly 5 million barrels currently in the aging process in Kentucky, their industry is not on a level playing field with manufacturers of spirits that don't require natural aging -- like vodka or gin.

"Not only does it make our cost structure higher than it should be here in the U.S., but it affects our ability to be competing on the world markets," said Max Shapira, president of the Heaven Hill Distilleries.

Under the proposed law, distillers could deduct the interest expense to finance their inventory as it's incurred.  Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., who introduced the bill along with Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky., described it as a measure to "protect jobs in one of the commonwealth's signature industries."

Kentucky produces most of the world's bourbon -- a product and industry the Kentucky Distillers' Association estimates is responsible for nearly 10,000 jobs in the state. The association, which supports the new bill, estimates Kentucky's distilleries ship $1.5 billion worth of the stuff ever year.more

'Genderless' Baby Highlights Gender Role Anxiety

Though there are no solid answers, experts on gender say whether a child identifies as a male or female comes from a mix of biology, environment and something deep inside themselves. And at the end of the day, the "genderless" baby, a 4-month old named Storm, will more than likely figure out which gender he or she identifies with.

Raising a child without a public gender is indeed unusual (In 2009, a Swedish newspaper reported a couple doing the same thing with their 2-year-old, nicknamed Pop), and experts say the jury is out on how or if the doing so will influence Storm's development. But the response to the case has revealed how deeply gender issues resonate, said Diane Ehrensaft, a California psychologist and author of  "Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children" (The Experiment, 2011).

"It makes people mad, like you've tricked them," Ehrensaft told LiveScience, adding, "There's a real division between those who want to hold onto our traditional gender norms and those who say, 'What for? They've only limited people's lives."

Case in point: Hundreds of outraged comments all around the Web reacting to Storm's parents' choice.

Bringing up baby

Storm's parents know their child's sex, as do Storm's older brothers. The goal of keeping the information inside the family, Storm's parents told the Toronto Star, is to limit messages that tell young children how to act based on their sex.

"We thought if we delayed sharing that information, in this case, hopefully, we might knock off a couple million of those messagesby the time Storm decides Storm would like to share [his or her gender]," Storm's mom Kathy Witterick told the Toronto Star. [Read: America's Most Hated Baby Names]

It's unclear whether the experiment will work out, said KatrinaKarkazis, an anthropologist at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University and author of "Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority and Lived Experience" (Duke University Press, 2008). That's because gender messages are inescapable in our society,

Gender and biology

None of this is to say that gender identity, separate from gender behavior, is a social construct. Gender is "nature, nurture and culture" woven together, Ehrensaft said. And regardless of what they're told and how they're treated, kids usually identify their own gender early.

"There are children who are assigned male on the birth certificate who say, 'Hey, I'm not. I'm a girl,'" Ehrensaft said. "That's not because anyone told them who they are. It comes from inside."

For that reason, it's unlikely that Storm's genderless status will go on for long, Karkazis said.

"You'd have to give an extraordinary amount of power, all power really, to nurture [rather than nature] to say that this will without a doubt shape all sense of if this child is male or female and his or her behavior," she said. "We'd have to give no space for biology."

Storm is growing up in a household and a culture in which almost everyone identifies as male or female, Karkazis said. And because babies pick up on gender cues early — by age 1 or so, studies suggest — by the time Storm starts talking, he or she will likely have something to say about his or her own gender.more

14 kg Ecstasy Smuggled through YVR by non-white security screeners

Of the two security screeners at Vancouver International Airport facing drug trafficking charges, one has a prior conviction – raising serious questions about how he was able to keep his job.

Screeners Gurvinder Singh Pahl and Ajitpal Singh Judge are among three men allegedly involved in a plot to smuggle more than 14 kilograms of the drug ecstasy through YVR earlier this month.  CTV News has learned that 24-year-old Pahl, a Richmond, B.C. resident, was on probation for credit card fraud at the time. Despite his conviction, he was not fired.

Liberal Senator Colin Kenny says the incident highlights a clear gap in the system that must be closed. He says security screeners are only subjected to criminal record checks every five years.

"An awful lot can happen in a five-year period, and someone who has a clean record this year might not have one two years from now," Kenny said.

He also believes similar smuggling attempts fly under the radar on a weekly, if not daily basis in Canada.

"This is definitely the tip of the iceberg," he said.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents screeners at YVR, says the charges are disappointing. They come as the union is working to rally public opposition to Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) decision to lay off screeners across Canada.

"There are 800 employees out here. I hope two don't taint the reputation of the other 798," said union representative Ronald Fontaine.more from ctv

Why An Italian Debt Crisis Should Scare The Crap Out Of Everyone

If the Greek debt crisis is a tough pickle to solve, it would be nothing compared to a crisis in Italy, which is falling hard after a warning on its debt from S&P.

This chart (via FT) confirms that bank exposure to Italy absolutely dwarfs exposure to Greece and even Spain.

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Just when we thought seeing Malcom X everywhere was a thing of the past, Watch Out

I Am Malcolm X
by: Darius Dionte Randle

The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Rev. Al Sharpton, Malik Zulu Shabazz (New Black Panthers), James Cone, Pastor Freddy Haynes, and so many more liberation theologians and homiletical geniuses and socialists like Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Dr. Cornel West; all have one thing in common, they all benefitted greatly from the work of our beloved brotha, our prince of Harlem, and prophet who spoke up for black suffering and brought a new conscious to the thought, none like no other Malcolm X

I wasnt born when Malcolm was around, but I know from what I read that Malcolm was a bad brotha. It's a new book out on him, but I dont care too much about his sex life, who he knew, and all the dirt, but I care most about the brotha was his ability to transform his life in prison, and then rise up to be this voice of the people. This voice for black nationalism, this voice for black conscious and the popular black liberation theology America condemned and judged Rev. Jeremiah Wright when he spoke to black suffering and the hypocrisy of America, Rev. Wright quoted Malcolm X when he said; "America's chickens are coming home to roost". 

This same quote which Malcolm stated to the press on the assassination of JFK which got Malcolm silenced by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and marked for death afterwards. I am Malcolm because I speak out, I stand up and dont mind dealing with the controversy that comes with the territory of speaking up, standing out and speaking truth to power. Few preachers, have the sense to guide their people off this type of preaching or theology because it's viewed as dangerous, when black men sit every Sunday in pews looking more from preacher than just; "wont he do it, and aint he alright", but speak to my suffering brotha preacher! Speak to the injustice in society, talk about poverty, talk about mass incarceration, talk about HIV/AIDS, talk about political sell outs who we elect and then sell us out for butter biscuits and fried chicken! We need those who will speak truth to power! That's why I am never scared! Malcolm taught us not to be. 

Malcolm dressed well, he wore these black eye glasses, he had brown hair and a goatee and made it appealing to look this way. The brotha can put a sentence together, the brotha studied the dictionary which made me more adapt to words the white folks couldnt even pronounce. Malcolm had a following, which made Elijah Muhammad and his boys nervous; they was nervous because they knew Malcolm had enough followers to start his own movement; and when he split with Elijah, the holy Apostle had to order his death because he couldnt have his own student turning on the teacher. But Malcolm stood his ground, held his beliefs and was that martyr who didnt mind dying in defense of his freedom and black nationalism. He believed in seperation, and not integration; but later on believed that white people do play a part in the liberation of blacks, but couldnt officially become what we were. I get the "I Am Malcolm X" idea from Spike Lee's film at the end when all the African kids started standing up and saying; "I AM MALCOLM X" then Nelson Mandela said; "We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary". 

When you say you are Malcolm X, you declare your right to be treated as a human being, as a black man, as a black woman, as a man of God or Allah! Malcolm may be gone but his legacy lives on, it lives on through people like me who have the courage to tell the truth to a dying world in need of some truth who would like to hear it. It lives on in Cornel West, as much as we disagree with his position on President Obama, but who's to say Cornel is wrong, when Cornel is doing just what Malcolm did,

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