Saturday, May 12, 2007

Linda Mamoun Who?

Following up on my comments regarding the op-ed of Lebanon's PM in yesterday's NYTimes, I spied this letter (among five altogether there) by Linda Mamoun of
Boulder, Colorado:-

The most striking thing about the reports by human rights organizations documenting Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon last summer is how consistent the findings are. The preponderance of evidence shows that Israel’s targeting of Lebanon’s civilian population was a flagrant violation of international law.

The same goes for Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, its illegal settlements in the occupied territories, its detentions of Palestinian civilians and its house demolitions.

Prime Minister Fuad Siniora’s call for the United States to support the Arab Peace Initiative should be heeded, but we should remember that any enduring resolution will depend on a reasonable settlement for Palestine. Unfortunately, the United States government has historically refused to accept this reality, and everyone in the Middle East has paid the price.


Actually, Linda, the reasonable settlement (what happened to the word 'peace' or 'security'?) was way back in November 1947 when the Jewish National Home that was to be reconstituted was partitioned a second time (the first was the creation of some fictious geopolitical unreality now called Jordan back in 1923) and still the Arabs didn't think that reasonable.

Well, who is Linda?

Seems she's Linda J. Mamoun who was Communications Manager for FSTV (and she could have been reached at lindam@freespeech.org). FSTV (here) stands for Free Speech TV. Did you know that Free Speech TV broadcasts part-time on over 163 public access cable stations in 34 states?

Did you know they've produced a report entitled "Can there be peace and justice in the Middle East if Israel exists as a Jewish State?"

In it, they present numerous firsthand reports on Israel and Palestine and their seemingly endless, dangerous dance between war and peace, justice and repression. Included are videos from FSTV's own reportorial team's 2002 visit to the region, as well as documentaries and analysis from leading filmmakers and experts -- many of them people from the affected region itself.

And you can an Uri Avnery article or watch a video called Imperial Geography that informs you that "the battle over Palestine is one of the most intensely geographic conflicts in the world. Yet most people know nothing of the area and what factors make it so intensely important to the imperialist powers. David Barsamian takes a look at the maps to provide a sweeping history of the current and historic forces that are shaping the so-called "Holy Land," sacred to three of the worlds great religions, a land drenched not with holy water but holy oil."

On 2002, at the National Conference of Arab & Muslim News Media (and by the way Ray Hanania is the executive director of the National Arab Journalists Association) she spoke on the PANEL: Working for a stronger Arab & Muslim Community voice together with Mohammed Al-Araj, communications director United Trust Bank, Bridgeview and Samaa Elibyari, host, Caravan, a weekly bilingual (English/French) radio program dealing in Montreal. On that program, whe was identified thus:
Linda Mamoun discovered Free Speech TV after moving to Boulder, Colorado from Philadelphia in July, 2001. Prior to working at FSTV, she taught sociology as an adjunct instructor at the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University. Raised in Naperville, Illinois, Mamoun attended the University of Illinois, and attended graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. She serves as FSTV Communications Manager supervising a weekly newsletter to members, distributes their weekly program schedule, and conducts outreach with political and cultural organizations around the country, as well as abroad. Working with activists and artists, FSTV uses television to cultivate an informed and active citizenry in order to advance progressive social change. We broadcast nationally to nine million homes on the DISH satellite (channel 9415) and on affiliate cable community access stations all over the US.


Now, however, she seems to be here as Linda Mamoun, (303) 241-1699, linda@sensiblepriorities.org and her mission is to change US budget priorities to reflect a national commitment to education, healthcare, energy independence, job training and deficit reduction -- at no additional taxpayer expense -- by eliminating funding for unneeded Cold War era weapons systems. She believes that America can have a more humane government. We aim to create a political culture, grounded in spiritual and human values, that will not tolerate wasting billions of dollars on nuclear weapons, Star Wars, or other outmoded weapons, while, for example, one out of every six of our own kids live in poverty and millions of children worldwide die each year from hunger-related illnesses.

But it gets better. According to this source, approvingly quoted here, the 36 year old Mamoun said this about Hillary Clinton:

"I believe she is acting like Israel's bitch. She's not at all thinking about what's right but about how she can get the most votes."

And the funniest thing to me is that just last month she was arranging interviews for...Ben Cohen. Yep. Seems Ben Cohen, president of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities (and co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream) has something called PrioritiesNH (New Hampshire) campaign which has posted a “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” game on its Web site. The game allows users to do what Ben does: Shift Oreo cookies along a bar chart of the federal discretionary budget, with each cookie representing $10 billion in spending. After building their ideal budget, players click to the next page, which allows them to send their budget vision and a personal note to their Senators and Congress person. And Interviews with Ben Cohen areavailable through April. Please call Linda Mamoun at (303) 241-1699 to arrange an interview time.

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