Someone called me a “chick” today–just after she accused me of being a “leftist gatekeeper.” My generation of feminists didn’t use language like that to describe other women–even if we hated their guts. We weren’t into that reclaiming hate language crap because we considered it a concession to our oppression–& because we understood that language matters. So we rejected bitch, chick, slut, whore, bimbo, & the entire panoply of demeaning terms for women.

Jackass is a gender-neutral term & quite frankly cuts much more quickly to the chase. But I must say, when you’re 70, being called a chick has a certain appeal to it.

Many people vote lesser-evil because they see it as the only alternative but they harbor deep misgivings since they know it doesn’t work. Obama was the last lesser evil candidate. And he wasn’t just the lesser-evil guy; he was regarded as the coming of the messiah.

But after nearly eight years of his regime, there are several more US wars & troop deployments; US military meddling against the Arab democratic uprisings to reverse them; two carpet bombing sieges over Gaza bankrolled by the Pentagon under commander-in-chief Obama; serious inroads against the US Bill of Rights, including especially in the Black community; more immigrant deportations than under George Bush. The greater evil couldn’t have done worse.

While the majority of people who vote lesser-evil have misgivings & reluctance—actually the majority of eligible voters don’t even register or if they do, don’t bother to vote—radicals who call themselves revolutionaries jump whole-hog into campaigning for the lesser-evil with a simple-minded credulity that never fails to appall. But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t abandon political principles in the ballot box because if you do that’s called expedience. And expedience has always proven the enemy of justice.

Comedian Sarah Silverman introduced Bernie Sanders to the Los Angeles rally last night that drew 28,000 people. She praised him for his “moral compass & sense of values” that always “put him on the right side of history.” Just like Silverman, who signed a public statement in the midst of Israel’s carpet bombing siege over Gaza (last summer) supporting Israel by saying “Hamas cannot be allowed to rain rockets on Israeli cities.”

Israeli apartheid is what yokes the comedian & the shill. That’s the problem of lesser-evil politics. You lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

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This post from August 24, 2014 explains the statement Silverman signed:

Big news today from the conservative Jerusalem Post is that “hundreds” of Hollywood “A-listers” signed a statement written & published for trade journals by Creative Community For Peace (CCFP), “an organization of prominent entertainment industry executives devoted to using art & music to build bridges for peace.” Turns out the “hundreds” are only 193 people, maybe prominent agents & producers in the industry but hardly A-listers except for Seth Rogen, Schwarzenegger, Roseanne Barr, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Arnold, Sarah Silverman, Ivan Reitman, Bill Maher, Sylvester Stallone, Minnie Driver, Kathy Ireland, Mayim Bialik, & Ziggy Marley. These are hardly the people one turns to for political counsel unless you also consider Jon Voight a political guru & look to candy manufacturers for nutritional advice.

Creative Community for Peace was founded in 2011 as a pro-Israel, anti-BDS group of music executives & agents to counter the growing influence of Palestinian solidarity & the refusal of prominent entertainers to perform in Israel. The executives who run CCFP orchestrate the careers of people like Aerosmith, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber. When media announced the formation of CCFP, the headline read, “Music moguls to artists: Don’t boycott Israel” which could be taken as a threat.

Though the website has a flashy video announcing “Music speaks its mind & knows no borders” & has a petition titled “Don’t Let Israel’s Detractors Politicize Art”, the group was formed to support Israel, defame Palestinians, & counter the influence of BDS among performers. It’s not about bringing people together with music but an attempt to hijack pop culture in the service of Israeli apartheid. As one of the organizers said at the founding meeting, “It’s all a question of image. For many in the younger generation, being associated with the anti-Israel cause can be way more cool.” The cultural attache for the Israel Consulate who was also at the founding meeting said, “We need to make Israel cool.”

CCFP spokespersons claim BDS is about ‘undermining Israel’s right to be a state for Jews’. In fact, the BDS campaign organizers accept the 1967 borders & a two-state solution. Many BDS activists do not accept those borders, think the very concept is a dried up old prune, & believe Palestinian justice demands a democratic secular state where Jews & Palestinians live as brothers & sisters.

No one challenges the right of Hollywood performers & agents to be politically reactionary; this is still a free country, as they say, so you can be as stupid as you like. But you’d have to be naive not to recognize there is coercion involved–the kind of coercion that forced Penelope Cruz & Javier Bardem to back down on their outspoken support for Gaza, the kind of coercion that says (sub rosa, of course) “support Israel or you’ll never work in this town again.”

What is most despicable about this public statement from CCFP is the claim “Hamas cannot be allowed to rain rockets on Israeli cities, nor can it be allowed to hold its own people hostage. Hospitals are for healing, not for hiding weapons. Schools are for learning, not for launching missiles. Children are our hope, not our human shields.” Eely-Oily Weasel writ large!

CCFP says they’re heartened at the enormous response in the industry to their arm-twisting & expect the list of signatories to grow beyond the little group of right-wing flunkies whose flagging careers are all washed up. That only means they’ve got some real muscle planned. So while they support Israeli apartheid with bully-boy tactics, let us continue to reach out to the highest aspirations of human beings for peace & justice. We don’t hold the young in such contempt & don’t think it’s about making BDS cool but about making apartheid decidedly uncool & making justice prominent in the hearts & minds of young & old.

This is a photo of Gaza City yesterday where Israel continues it’s bombing rampage. CCFP wants musicians to provide the music score to this carnage.

(Photo of Gaza during August 2014 Israeli bombing siege by Roberto Schmidt/AFP)

Authorities have declared a State of Emergency in Ferguson, Missouri. Media will portray it as a necessary police response to rioting & criminal misconduct in the Black community. It is a militarized attempt to deny the Bill of Rights to Black activists protesting continuing violence & commemorating the death of Michael Brown. Hundreds have been arrested; one young man was shot & killed.

Our fullest solidarity with the Black community in Ferguson.

How can Betty look so calm when British jihadis are plotting to blow her up next weekend along with Phil, who she’s always called her “anus horribilis,” & some of her worthless kids? British authorities say they have it on good authority that the plot is being masterminded from Syria by Islamic State commanders.

No arrests have been made so far but counter-terrorism officers are monitoring the plot’s development closely. Well what the hell are they waiting for? The jihadis to land at Heathrow & start chopping off heads?

Following in the footsteps of the ink cartridge & underwear bombers, the ISIL guys will be detonating a pressure cooker bomb in Central London. So if you’re walking out & about in Central London next weekend you might want to avoid any guys ambling with a Kalashnikov rifle in one hand & a pressure cooker in the other–& clear the area around Betty & her entourage.