NY OBSERVER: ALL MY TRIALS—JOE CONASON ON KSM IN THE BIG APPLE

The loudest voices on the right never tire of telling us that they are the truest patriots. They claim to be the deepest believers in our system, the strongest defenders of our Constitution, the most upbeat, bold and courageous Americans anywhere. But now that the government is finally prepared to put the perpetrators of the 9/11 terror attacks on trial, these same patriots are the first to spread doubt, instigate anxiety and abandon constitutional principles.

When did fearmongering in a time of war become an act of patriotism?

Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to try Al Qaeda strategist Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other residents of the Guantánamo prison in American civilian courts has provoked angry criticism from all the usual sources, from the Wall Street Journal editorial page to the Fox News airwaves. While some of the complaints are thoughtful, many are nothing more than demagogic appeals that seek to undermine the foundations of justice in a democratic society.

NPR: KSM HAS BEEN HERE BEFORE

The professed mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is expected to arrive in New York for trial by the end of the year. But it won’t be his first trip to America. He has been here before, as a college student in the early 1980s.
Mohammed’s first real taste of America came at a small two-year Baptist school called Chowan College in 1983. Nestled among the cotton fields of Murfreesboro, N.C., Mohammed arrived hoping his time at Chowan would become a springboard to an American education.

Back in the 1980s, all Chowan students — and that would have included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — were obliged to study Christianity extensively. That meant prayers, singing and biblical instruction in addition to regular classes. It was an odd requirement for the son of an imam who had been a member of an Islamic group, Muslim Brotherhood, since he was 16.
Dr. Garth Faile was Mohammed’s freshman chemistry teacher. He’s a soft-spoken man from Alabama who has been teaching at Chowan for nearly 40 years. Faile, wearing a tie that shows the elements in the periodic table, pulls out an old blue grade book and finds his former student.

“Let’s see, there he is right there,” he says, pointing to a name in the first column. “Mohammad, Khalid. It is spelled differently there.”

DEMOCRACY NOW: DEFENSE ATTORNEY LYNNE STEWART REPORTS TO PRISON

HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS WIN FIRST TRIAL

Glass Half Full?

CJR: Given the generally grim mood of the American public these days, it might seem like an odd time for Barbara Ehrenreich to publish a book, called Bright-Sided, in which she levels both barrels at the American propensity for positive thinking. Positive Thinking, in Ehrenreich’s formulation, is more than just motivational mush. It is a specific and dangerous ideology that keeps people from seeing what oppresses them. Yet our reviewer, James Surowiecki, argues that the bleakness with which she views the modern world has as much to do with her politics and values as it does with reality.

Twitterers Crash Teaparty Organizing Session

PALIN BOOK INSPIRES ANTI-PALIN BOOK

Don Hazen writes:

This week, the corporate media has inundated us with news of the publication of Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue. This self-serving “auto-biography” is chock-full of lies, fabrications, and fantasies related to Palin’s failings as Governor of Alaska, and her many stumbles as John McCain’s running mate.

In the interest of fairness and truth, O/R Books has published Going Rouge: Sarah Palin – An American Nightmare, edited by Richard Kim and Betsy Reed, both editors at The Nation.

NOEMY WRITES FROM COSTA RICA

ANYTHING that will bring the BUSH/CHENEY REGIME to trial is a WIN WIN for the world whether it is generated by the NY trials or something= else. NOT to prosecute those criminals will be the end of the US…

“Trawling for assassins”: Evangelical Nuts Want Obama Dead

Frank Mankiewicz on today’s lunatic fringe and radical right-wingers
hatlo: Cenk Uygur – dKOS

’2012′ — Religious Right Leader Excoriates His Own for Aiding and Abetting ‘End Of Times’ Hype and Hysteria

By Bill Berkowitz, BuzzFlash, November 18, 2009

Move over Nostradamus, “Rapture” kings and queens, “End Times” prophets, and Y2K hucksters. Here comes the real “end of days,” brought to you by the Mayan calendar: Not! In its first weekend, the film “2012″ was a box office sensation; it took in $225 million — $65 million domestically and $160 million internationally. “2012″ is an special effects spectacular, combining the star power of its cast with the kind of doomsday scenario — derived from the end of the Mayan Calendar – that apparently is being lapped up by movie audiences everywhere. Talk about going global!

In attempt to both explain and neutralize both the hype and the hysteria generated by the film’s doomsday scenario, Gary DeMar, president of an organization called American Vision (“Exercising Servanthood Dominion”), recently wrote a column titled “Avoiding Doomsday Hype and Hysteria.” In the piece, DeMar – who is not so well-known amongst the general public — excoriates those Religious Right leaders that have consistently set a date for the end of time, the rapture, etc.

DXM WRITES:

Funny how the Tea Bagger-types hate Barack, and paint him as a Maoist and accuse him of being a Socialist, while the Chinese loved Obama even before he was elected to the presidency, and thay compare him to their beloved Mao OR One man’s terrorist is another man’s “Obama-Mao” T-shirt – known locally as the “Oba-Mao” – a raging best seller in China…

rightpundits: While the U.S. media has been restrained in identifying Obama with Marxist causes, the Chinese themselves have had no such restraints. They like him, and imagine parallels between ["the (perceived) socialist"] US President Barack Obama and Chairman Mao, the first communist head of state in China.

The Oba-Mao T-shirt:

Obama T-shirt is sold in Beijing

“A picture in a t-shirt featuring US President Barack Obama’s
face replacing China’s former leader Mao Zedong’s face in an
iconic image of the Communist Party and Red Army, on sale in
Beijing, October 30, 2009. The red Chinese characters read
‘Serve the People, (written by) Mao Zedong.’”

Obama-mania Sweeps China

“Oba-Mao T-shirts are readily available and copies of his books can be found in pirate DVD shops, subway stations, and on street corners. Meanwhile, Chinese newspapers, magazines, and television stations are devoting intense, often fawning coverage to his life story—even as these same newspapers and magazines simultaneously give voice to a strident economic nationalism totally at odds with the policies being espoused by Obama’s Administration.”

Personal View: O is A Devout Capitalist Roader.

EVENING JOE

Did anyone see The Daily Show last night? Joe Biden bounced in, all smiles about the way he was whisked through NY Traffic to get there with no nasty rush hour disruptions.

Only he apparently didn’t how that the lead police car in his highly secure caravan hit a car sending the cops and the driver to the hospital. Apparently this is the third accident involving Amtrak Joe’s forays on the road.

Advice: Go slow Joe, not only in traffic, but in making claims about the number of jobs saved or created. He’s been known as a bit of a motor mouth.

Time to be more deliberate and reflective.

And so as we rush towards Thanksgiving, we seem to encountering more crises and controversies. Healthcare reform hangs on a hair; war and more heartbreak seems imminent. More Americans are yelling at each other than ever. What Holiday Cheer.

Your comments welcome. Write Dissector@mediachannel.org