Tuesday Reads: Freedom Riders, Rape as a Weapon of War, Meltdowns, and Trump in Trouble
Posted: May 17, 2011 Filed under: just because 43 Comments
Good Morning!!
Last night I watched an inspiring and moving documentary on PBS’ American Experience about the Freedom Rides of 1961–50 years ago this month. If you didn’t watch it last night, please try to find a way to do so. It was wonderful. There were a number of articles published to coincide with the premiere of the documentary last night.
CNN published a fascinating piece about James Zwerg, who is also interviewed in the PBS documentary. Here’s just a bit of it, but the entire article is well worth reading.
Looking out the window, Zwerg could see men gripping baseball bats, chains and clubs. They had sealed off the streets leading to the bus station and chased away news photographers. They didn’t want anyone to witness what they were about to do.
Zwerg accepted his worst fear: He was going to die today.
Only the night before, Zwerg had prayed for the strength to not strike back in anger. He was among the 18 white and black college students from Nashville who had decided to take the bus trip through the segregated South in 1961. They called themselves Freedom Riders. Their goal was to desegregate public transportation.
[….]
The Greyhound bus doors hissed open. Zwerg had volunteered to go first. The mob swarmed him as he stepped off the bus, yelling, “Nigger lover! Nigger lover!”
Then, as the mob grabbed him, Zwerg closed his eyes and bowed his head to pray. “The Lord is my light and salvation, of whom shall I fear … ”
The mob dragged him away.
John Lewis (L) and James Zwerg, freedom riders
New Orleans was the final destination of the freedom rides, and NOLA.com has an article about a 2011 reenactment organized by PBS to coincide with the documentary. Five of the original freedom riders joined college students for the event.
The Public Broadcasting Service’s Freedom Riders bus pulled into New Orleans Monday with five of the hundreds of people who rode buses through the South in 1961 to test court rulings that had desegregated interstate transportation. Many southern states ignored the rulings, and the first buses never made it to their New Orleans destination because of the violence inflicted from mobs in Alabama.
Forty college students joined them on this year’s ride from May 6 to Monday, retracing the route of the first Freedom Ride from Washington D.C. and completing the unfinished trek.
The 2011 ride was organized by PBS in conjunction with last night’s premiere of a documentary about the Freedom Riders. Both the film and the ride are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first Freedom Ride and subsequent rides it inspired in 1961.
Curtis Valentine at Huffpo asks if the graduating classes of 2011 can be today’s freedom riders. I really hate to be a cynic, but good luck with that. I just hope a few of them watch the documentary. Those students back in 1961 were unbelievably brave and idealistic–and they changed America.
Another truly courageous person, Eman al-Obeidi gave an interview today to one of the journalists (Jonathan Miller) who tried to protect her when she rushed into their headquarters in Tripoli and told them of the ordeal she had suffered after being kidnapped by Gaddafi’s thugs. Here is just a bit of the interview.
She speaks matter-of-factly about the extreme sexual violence to which she claims she was subjected. It is clearly distressing for her to recount her ordeal, but she persists, despite my assurances that she need not go on.
She cannot control the floods of her tears as she talks about why she believes she was singled out. It’s because she was from Benghazi, she says. Her accent and ID card betrayed her.
“They asked me: ‘Where are the men from the east? Let them come and see what we do to their women. Let them see how we rape their women, and humiliate them.’”
She pauses to reach for a tissue as tears continue to roll down her cheeks. “They wanted to take revenge because I’m from the east. Nothing more, nothing less. They were drunk.”
Under international law, the use of rape as a weapon of war is a war crime. Women are protected in both international and internal conflicts under the Geneva Conventions. The Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court also outlaws rape as an act of war.
Here is Jonathan Miller’s report of his first encounter with al-Obeidi:
Finally it is coming out in the mainstream media–the situation at the Fukushima plant is far worse than we have previously been led to believe. At least one of the reactors completely melted down and the cores of three of the reactors are damaged, and there is a good chance that the containments have been breached. From the Wall Street Journal:
The pressure vessel, a cylindrical steel container that holds nuclear fuel, “is likely to be damaged and leaking water at units Nos. 2 and 3,” said Junichi Matsumoto, Tepco spokesman on nuclear issues, in a news briefing Sunday.
He also said there could be far less cooling water in the pressure vessels of Nos. 2 and 3, indicating there are holes at the bottom of these vessels, with thousands of tons of water pumped into these reactors mostly leaking out.
Tepco found the basement of the unit No. 1 reactor building flooded with 4.2 meters of water. It isn’t clear where the water came from, but leaks are suspected in pipes running in and out of the containment vessel, a beaker-shaped steel structure that holds the pressure vessel.
The water flooding the basement is believed to be highly radioactive. Workers were unable to observe the flooding situation because of strong radiation coming out of the water, Tepco said.
Time Magazine asks if Fukushima “was a China syndrome.”
The China Syndrome refers to a scenario in which a molten nuclear reactor core could could fission its way through its containment vessel, melt through the basement of the power plant and down into the earth. While a molten reactor core wouldn’t burn “all the way through to China” it could enter the soil and water table and cause huge contamination in the crops and drinking water around the power plant. It’s a nightmare scenario,the stuff of movies. And it might just have happened at Fukushima.
Last week, plant operator Tepco sent engineers in to recalibrate water level gauges in reactor number 1. They made an alarming discovery: virtually all the fuel in the core had melted down. That means that the zirconium alloy tubes that hold the uranium fuel and the fuel itself lies in a clump—either at the bottom of the pressure vessel, or in the basement below or possibly even outside the containment building. Engineers don’t know for sure, though current temperature readings suggest that fission inside the reactor core has definitely ceased for good (i.e. there will be no further melting).Anecdotal evidence doesn’t bode well for how far the fuel melted: Tepco has been pumping thousands of tons of water onto reactor 1 to try to cool it—yet the water level in the containment vessel is too low to run an emergency cooling system. That means the water is escaping somewhere on a course cut by molten fuel–probably into the basement of the reactor building, though it’s also possible it melted through everything into the earth.
At Huffpo, Michael Shaw says the MSM is still mostly uninterested in the horrible situation at Fukushima. He’s right. The story is just barely breaking through as of now. Our government had to be part of the coverup, because the U.S. had helicopters surveying the damage. If you’d like to read a very good article that spells out the current situation in a clear and fairly calm matter, check out this piece by Chris Martenson. It’s excellent.
I’ll leave you with this piece about Donald Trump by Michael Isakoff: Trump escapes further scrutiny by pulling the presidential plug — Real estate developer faced steady drip of disclosures in dozens of suits.
Donald Trump’s decision not to run for president will permit him to avoid making a full public disclosure of his finances and escape further national media scrutiny of business practices that were being litigated in courtrooms across the country.
[….]
Trump abruptly pulled back over the weekend, just days after receiving private polling numbers from Republican pollster John McLaughlin showing that Republican voters were souring on the idea of his candidacy and that his standing had now fallen into the single digits, according to two Republican consultants who were briefed on the poll results.
The decision also came after an unfavorable court decision in Florida last Friday in which a federal magistrate ordered him to turn over a series of business licensing arrangements for his hotel and office building projects that he has long fought to keep confidential, according to court documents reviewed by NBC News.
Read the Florida court decision (.pdf)
“At the end of the day, he was going to face a degree of scrutiny of his business practices that he’s not accustomed to,” said Kenneth Turkel, a lawyer who is representing a group of condo investors who are suing Trump over a Trump-named project that has gone bust in Tampa, Fla. “We were the tip of the iceberg.”
Personally, I hope all those courts throw the book at him. So what are you reading and blogging about today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Good morning, bb!
As a matter of fact I DVR’s that American Experience episode while watching the Sox. I was just about to give up when they “came alive” during the 6th inning and pulled out another win!
Anyway, thanks to my DVR I am able to go back and watch the program in my leisure. Your coverage makes it sound worthwhile.
And as my grandmother used to say: “Good riddance to bad rubbish” when it comes to Donald Trump. I hope he slinks away for a long time.
The documentary was wonderful, Pat. I know you’ll love it. I heard the Sox won again–Whahooo!!
Thank goodness for a tickle of truth coming out of Trump’s business practices. I recall when he went off on Rosie and how Barbara stood by Trump, when Rosie just happened to mention his business practices and the people that got hurt. I remember the seniors who couldn’t file chapter 11 or 7 because they put their life’s savings into his casino venture…some committed suicide over the loss. I remember, I haven’t forgotten those seniors, nor the loved ones that were left in utter devastation, trying to figure out how they were going to survive financially.
One thing that fascinates me, is how in a severe economic down turn, people like to watch Trump, be mean to people, dress them down and say ‘you’re fired’??? Call me bunkers, but I just don’t get it.
I had decided that I was going to get to bed early last night but, after watching Antiques Roadshow, I caught a few minutes of the American Experience, and so ended my plans to get to bed early. The story about the Freedom Riders was riveting. I doubt that I would have had that kind of courage at that age. I do have hope for the class of 2011, however. My daughter is in that class, and there are some remarkable young people in that class.
That’s good to know about the class of 2011. Best wishes to your daughter!
Thanks for telling me about this, I was out and missed it, but will try and see it on-line.
‘Freedom Riders’ Reenacts Historic Bus Trip Across South
I will always have the greatest respect for Congressman John Lewis, he is my hero, he stood with us, in support of Hillary, because he truly wanted Health Care Reform for All Americans, restoring Civil Liberties and Freedom.
I have met him in person and he truly is warm and kind…he is the real deal.
This was an amazement movement. Too bad we can’t get people to do something this big again to fight back against the new Jane Crow laws and the ones they’ve erected for the GLBT community. No one is free until we all are …
I agree!
Hand to head…smack!
I wanted to see this BB. Made a mental note about it and completely forgot. Damn.
Last night on NHK it reported that reactors 2 and 3 also have melted down. Tried to find the link but it is gone. Here is something from Telegraph:
Japan: meltdown feared at two more Fukushima reactors – Telegraph
I’ve come to the conclusion if TEPCO says they think a meltdown may have occurred, it means definite meltdown.
Leakspinner In Skype Conversation With MrSveddi pt2 15.05.11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCi7Ehf45EU
With Leakspinner on the job, Fukushima is having a serious problem, because the internet doesn’t allow for hiding information, at least not for too long.
This is the same guy that gathered the videos of Gaddafi Crimes Against Humanity… I couldn’t look at them all, they were too horrific to see and gave me nightmares. So, if the main media continues to hold a blackout on the information, trust that this guy will dig and dig for the information.
Strange, the vid showed up, even though I placed words below? Hemm…sorry
I wrote about it in the post, Minx. Be sure to read the long blog post by Chris Martenson–the link is at the end of that section of my post.
I feel very bad for the women that were trashed and abused once more when they stepped forward to tell the truth, some even claimed they were black listed.
Wow. Maria should have dumped him long ago.
it doesn’t sound like Maria knew until after he left office in January.
It gets worse, the employee remained there for another decade to reach her 20 year goal…while mum was the word for the voters and Maria.
The real troubling aspect of this, is that there were 15 women that came forward to say that Arnold groped them, many in the course of their work and many said they were black listed and one had thousands of dollars in legal fees to contend with.
I hope someone starts to investigate their claims and that they hold a hearing on the matter. What is the difference between Ensign and Schwarzenegger ? How did he keep the payments of child support a secret? Did he violate laws because he was making payments under the table to the employee? Were employment laws broken?
The ever sadder part is that the child believed the woman’s husband to be his father, and now has to have his world turned upside down.
15 women rose to state their truth and no one believed them, now spoke up about it, but now one investigated and he was elected Governor. If he marries the employee (He had an affair for years with his staffer.) like Newt Gingrich will the Republicans still seek to amend the Constitution so he can run for president?
No, she didn’t know, but she stood with him, and so did Oprah against the 15 women that came forward…in fact she said to believe her.
I think she now knows or should now that those 15 women wouldn’t have come forward and face attacks for the fun of it. Interestingly, I did note that the press is saying that she has her own identity and that she is working towards women’s rights. OK, but then the question remains, what about the 15 women?
they all got slut slammed
the Oprah crowd fell for James Frey, Barack Obama, and the Terminator. And now Oprah is apologizing to Frey…
If I believed the crap he pulled, so too should have Maria.
Kennedy women are like Maria wives…the last to know
Strange how the worm turns. Not to long ago the girly man was trying to amend the constitution so he could run for President, yup, Arnold Worm’s Bill.
So the media wants us to know that Maria is working towards women’s rights? Really, as noted she got up with Michelle, Oprah, Caroline, and Ed Kennedy to rally for Obama, and NOT THE FEMALE CANDIDATE. She continues to get up there with those men and women who have STAR POWER, and are hip, and young, and super glamorous, and tell you to step out of yourlife and into living history. What bullshit.
It’s the same bullshit Obama pulled when he developed the SH council on Women & Girls, and fugging put Valerie Jarrett to spearhead it, knowing it’s all for show.
None of them, have done a fugging thing for jobs, for health care rights, for pay fairness, and certainly nothing has been done about violence against women.
Maria had the world lragest conference for women, and tell me what was accomplished around the globe, for women like Lara and Elman who raped. Maria can go home for all I care, she sold us out to Obama.
Sheesh. Another family values republican for adultery! He vetoed the same sex marriage law twice and disparaged single women publicly.
I wonder how many abortions Arnold paid for.
probably quite a few
Wow, what hypocrites and to think that he stood up a some sign of ‘morality’, talking down to women, without a ‘man’, for raising, caring for and loving their children.
The LGBT community and single moms and women that believe the women that spoke out about his groping should picket his next project; a children’s book about his life.
When I hear about Arnold, all I smell is piss.
TMZ is reporting that Arnold was having women come around to his office for 5-7 years, that they have heard about. Was there a press blackout on this?
Myself, I’d like to swing about 5/7 shoes at his face.
The press wants access and also, every one treated those women badly during his first campaign. They probably figured no one wanted to hear it.
I’m reading this really great interview at Alternet… thought I’d share if any one is interested.
Good Without God: Why “Non-Religious” Is the Fastest-Growing Preference in America
Authors Phil Goldberg and Greg Epstein share their provocative views on why a quarter of Americans now call themselves agnostic, atheist or nonreligious.
Thanks for this link, gonna read it now.
Here’s a story from FT that says a LOT.
It’s too bad John Edwards had to be the one to popularize the “Two Americas” line. It was damn true.
The Schwarzenegger fiasco would benefit from a post about the attack on women, for whom the GOP is willing to Amend the Constitution and the lack of support for women that speak truth to power.
Amen to that sister voter
Breaking News
Here’s who Feingold ripped:
🙂 Some good news for the day.
RIP Ming Ming. World’s oldest panda dies http://huff.to/jdhr2s