Weekly Roundup

I know the Pentagon's got to be shitting itself over this flash video.

Yet another overview of the controversy around the Walt/Mearsheimer paper (thorough but nothing new for those who've been following it) and a more interesting account of the workings of AIPAC and its effectiveness as a lobby:
[Michael Massing, "The Storm over the Israel Lobby," New York Review of Books, Volume 53, Number 10, June 8, 2006. Backup link here.]

An open letter from Minnesota Democrat and House Representative Betty McCollum to the executive director of AIPAC:
[Betty McCollum, "A LETTER TO AIPAC," New York Review of Books, Volume 53, Number 10, June 8, 2006]

A good overview of the immigrants' rights movement in LA:
[Sonali Kolhatkar, "LA's New Immigrant Movement," May 05, 2006]

This scandal has not received nearly as much attention as it should, perhaps under the venerable journalistic defense that an inconvenient story such as this is "old news" even though it's never reported on adequately in the first place so that it's hardly old news to the general public:
["Chicago's Abu Ghraib: UN Committee Against Torture Hears Report on How Police Tortured Over 135 African-American Men Inside Chicago Jails," Democracy Now!, May 9th, 2006]

Porter's brief analysis here mentions several valuable facts and documents:
[Gareth Porter, "Iran Nuclear Conflict Is About U.S. Dominance," Inter Press Service, May 11, 2006. Backup link here.]

This report chronicles the experiences of youth detained in the New Orleans juvenile justice system during the flooding resulting from Hurricane Katrina and the horrendous treatment they received:
["Treated Like Trash," Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana]
Just a few excerpts of a report full of horrific anecdotes:

For those who decided not to drink the floodwater and waited until they were removed from the facility, there was often no relief for hours, or even days. P.O., a 15 year-old boy, reported he saw a boy get "maced" by guards when he asked for drinking water while waiting to be evacuated from the Broad Street Bridge.
***
C.S., a 15 year-old boy, "We had human feces floating around us in the water ... we was forced to survive in for 3 days. I still have little sores on my skin. I can'’t seem to get that smell out of my skin. ... [M]aybe it'’s all in my head but that smell will be with me, and be in my head for a very long time."
***
O.S., a 14 year-old boy, stated once they arrived at the Broad Street Bridge, the children were threatened armed, uniformed officers whom O.S. believed were from the New Orleans Police Department. "They had guns. ... They told us that the mayor said '‘We can shoot to kill.'’ There was military there, too, but it was NOPD. NOPD beat up an adult prisoner. They busted open his head. ... You could see the meat."
***
T.J., a 17 year-old boy, stated, "Guards told [us] while [we] were being evacuated, 'You'’re not juveniles no more. You are in an adult jail. If you move the wrong way, we'’re gonna shoot you.'" T.J. also recalls, "One man was maced and beat up really badly. His head was busted. ... They let the dogs loose on that man. ... The dogs were biting him all over. They told people they would kill them if they moved. ... The worst thing I saw was the guards beating that man while everyone was just sitting there. ... Those people need to go to jail or something."

And in case you were wondering, yes Thomas Friedman is still vapid:
["Tom Friedman's Flexible Deadlines," FAIR, 5/16/06]

Tags: [Katrina, juveniles, Thomas Friedman, Gareth Porter, Iran, Chicago, torture, McCollum, AIPAC]