GRITtv with Laura Flanders » July 3, 2008: Patriotism, hot air and blood for oil….

By: Laura Flanders Thursday July 3, 2008 8:00 pm

Barack Obama's been getting no end of grief about it -- so what's your definition of patriotism? In the run up to the holiday that is supposed to celebrate throwing off -- not becoming -- an empire, GRITtv hears from novelist Walter Mosley, Arab American educator Debbie Almontaser, 9-11 responder John Feal and a new citizen with a tense family tie to US empire -- Harry Bishop (a cousin of Maurice, the toppled Grenadan leader.) This is not your standard July 4th Panel: Almontaser was unwillingly forced to resign her post at the Arab American school she'd founded (The Khalil Gibran Academy,) but she's way softer on the US than Mosley... John Feal and Mosley propose a powerful way to mark the holiday this year. And the grief in Bishop's voice is palpable. What's become of US family values?

Also on today's GRITtv, a free bike-ride in the shadow of Lady Liberty; a sneak peak at Reverend Billy's new series: "The Last Televangelist," and this week's documentary in progress is about the storm blown up over one company's plan for wind power off Cape Cod. (GOT DOCS? Send a link to grittv@grittv.org.)

Finally, the STINGER IN THE TAIL. Can we yet say "Blood for Oil?" James Paul of the Global Policy Forum puts shocking flesh and numbers on the latest stories on US oil companies making Iraq policy, and he reveals that National Public Radio still refuses to air the Cassandra-commentary he recorded back in 2003. All that and, oh yes, who designed the war for oil? Paul cites obscure Australian documents that point to one man: Dick Cheney. WOT? GRITtv's NOT breaking news?

One Response to “July 3, 2008: Patriotism, hot air and blood for oil….”

Nettle July 4th, 2008 at 1:32 am

Well, I’m just on the patriotic part. Which usually causes
me no end of reflex. And tonight so.

While most everyone reflects on the break from England, freedoms
for some, there are still outstanding treaties to fulfill and no mention of the destructive orders of George Washington on the First Nations
especially the Six Nations, once he was in office. Prior to that,
England set upon the original inhabitants with all forms of missionary zeal. And this is different now, how? The newly proposed Council of Faith Based Contracts?

How do we keep glossing royally over the history of the occupation
and control over the first inhabitants of what we call the US? It
fluxoms me deeply. And is it that omission what gives our
psyches permission to invade and occupy Iraq, because we forget
the First Nations, the Philippines, Hawaii, Alaska, etc.?

I feel most patriotic when I’m honoring those here long before
any of us. In SD, where I’m from, the Treaty of 1868 is still
valid. Everyone who’s feeling patriotic I hope you’ll come return
the western half of SD to its owners.

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