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A big day in the bourgeois press today, from Americans being arrested arbitrarily to Glenn Becks 9/12 anniversary. While The Red Phoenix has typically addressed just one primary subject in every article, today we are going to be a bit bolder and briefly address some of today’s top stories.

First, and most importantly, we have Colleen “Jihad Jane” LaRose, the middle-aged Pennsylvanian who was arrested several months ago for the crime of speaking out against bourgeois imperialism on the internet. LaRose is charged with being a “terrorist.” The chief charge is conspiring to murder a Swedish cartoonist who gained notoriety for drawing an image of Islam’s prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog, most likely knowing full well this would put his life in danger well before he released his work. LaRose could face life imprisonment for her “crimes.”

The APL calls for the release of all political prisoners, both overseas, such as Ahmad Sa’adat and other Israeli prisoners of war, and domestically, such as the Cuban Five. Considering this, and given the fact that there does not appear to be any evidence available to the public suggesting LaRose herself actually harmed anyone, nor any evidence that she was actually associated with any specific Islamic resistance organizations, the APL sees fit to call for the immediate release of LaRose and anyone arrested due to their association with her.

Source: http://cbs13.com/national/colleen.larose.kurt.2.1551463.html?detectflash=false

In other news, today was the anniversary of the founding of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 Movement, and as expected the reactionaries at Fox News celebrated with a day of conspiracy and religiously justified reaction.

Glenn Beck’s “movement” or “project” is based on 9 principles and 12 values. The 12 values are pretty generic, but for the benefit of our readers we will paste the 9 principles below:

• I believe in God and He is the center of my life.

• America is good.

• I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

• The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

• If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
• I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

• I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

• It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

• The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

I doubt it is necessary to get too elaborate in pointing out the hypocrisy in the right complaining about being labeled “un-American” for defying authority. Clearly they had no problem labeling such individuals un-American when they did not agree with them in the 1940s and 50s, and as evidenced by the arrest of LaRose, they will continue to have no problem labeling people as such for the remainder of their existence. If the right really has a problem with the notion of opposing authority being “un-American” why do they not repeal the Smith Act, a law which they enacted which makes it illegal to advocate overthrowing the government?

Nor is it necessary to point out the fact that when read aloud these principles sound more like a Nazi oath then a political statement. Nor is it necessary to elaborate on our view that “America,” or we should say the bourgeois and their institutions to which Beck refers, are NOT good. The history of this Party has been dedicated to proving this point.

What is worth mentioning however, is the first and apparently most important principle to Beck is “I believe in God and He is the center of my life.” Like the fascists of old, Beck attempts to mask his hatred and bigotry in religion.

Source: http://www.the912project.com/the-912-2/

Perhaps this explains another story Fox has been covering. They call it the “Texas Textbook Wars,” and it is all the rage among conservatives recently. The “war,” or as it should be more accurately described the “Crusade,” refers to a dispute in Texas over the content of future textbooks, and it appears the conservative crusaders have won key battles. Texas textbooks will now remove references to hip-hop and replace them with references to Jesus, as the conservatives interpret him.

Also up for debate was topics such as the Vietnam, Korean and Cold Wars, as well Civil Rights, Islam and the Great Depression. The goal of course was to remove any and all statements that can potentially damage the bourgeois dictatorship in any way. As stated above, religion was critical in the debate, with the Christian Conservatives as usual using Christianity to justify reaction.

The APL, generally speaking, stands firmly against bourgeois propaganda, especially those aimed at working class children, and hence condemns any attempt to add additional propaganda to textbooks that have plenty of it already.

Source: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/12/tx-curriculum-battle-first-reading-passes/

Lastly, there was the story of Kim Jong Ryul, the so called “shopper” for North Korea’s leaders. Ryul, who has not been to or had any communication with the DPRK in 16 years has now come out of the closet to reveal the “horrors” of the popular regime in the DPRK. According to Ryul, he was asked to purchase elaborate European cars and other luxurious items on behalf of the DPRK.

The first problem with this of course is that there is no evidence to support Ryuls allegations. The second problem is that Ryul claims to have done this under the regime of Kim Il-Sung in the days of the Soviet Union, and his testimony is apparently being used to wrongly convict the DPRK today, which has undergone numerous reforms and changes since the days of Kim Il-Sung. The third problem is that Ryul simply has had more to gain by defecting, changing sides and agreeing to tell his story for notoriety and financial gain.

The truth is there is no reason to take this mans accusations seriously. Ultimately it’s all just propaganda, a side show designed to deter people from fighting for progress, against imperialism, and the numerous benefits enjoyed by citizens of the DPRK.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100309/wl_csm/285981_1

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