July 26, 2011 | Alternet

Numerous news outlets and commentators initially blamed the attack on Islamic militants. Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper, The Sun, ran a front-page headline titled “‘Al-Qaeda’ Massacre: Norway’s 9/11.” Here in the U.S., Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal also initially blamed jihadists, reporting that, quote, “Norway is targeted for being true to Western norms.” But it was not just the Murdoch empire. On the Washington Post website, Jennifer Rubin wrote, quote, “This is a sobering reminder for those who think it’s too expensive to wage a war against jihadists,” unquote. Once it was revealed that the alleged perpetrator was not a Muslim militant, but a right-wing, anti-Muslim Norwegian nationalist, the New York Times still cited experts as saying, quote, “Even if the authorities ultimately ruled out Islamic terrorism as the cause of Friday’s assaults, other kinds of groups or individuals were mimicking Al Qaeda’s brutality and multiple attacks,” unquote.

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Yousef Munayyer Last Modified: 26 Jul 2011 13:24, Al Jazeera

Dozens of innocents were murdered by a terrorist act in Norway. But not all the casualties were human. Other casualties included some dangerous but commonly-held assumptions about terrorism. Guesses about Islamist involvement came pouring in over the airwaves when news of the bombing broke. These were not seriously questioned by journalists but rather willfully accepted as fact. The bombing in Oslo, the experts said, featured “all the hallmarks” of an al Qaeda attack. Norway, we were told, was on al Qaeda’s hit list both because of its NATO involvement in Afghanistan, and because a Norwegian newspaper republished a controversial Islamophobic cartoon originally published in Denmark.

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Human Rights Watch – July 26, 2011

Australia and Malaysia’s agreement to swap 800 asylum seekers who arrive in Australia for 4,000 refugees living in Malaysia fails to meet minimal standards for refugee burden-sharing.

(Bangkok) – Australia and Malaysia’s agreement to swap 800 asylum seekers who arrive in Australia for 4,000 refugees living in Malaysia fails to meet minimal standards for refugee burden-sharing, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to both countries’ prime ministers. The Arrangement between Australia and Malaysia on Transfer
and Resettlement was signed on July 25, 2011.

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In Lebanon, a new maid-training academy claims to provide a much-needed education for domestic workers who have little experience with etiquette and cannot speak the language of their employers. The House Keeper Training Academy caters to foreigners who come from as far off as South Asian and Africa to work as maids and housekeepers. A four-day training session costs $180. Critics say the school misattributes maid-employer problems in Lebanon and across the Middle East. In reality, they contend, maids are too often the victims of unreported abuse that has nothing to do with language barriers or work experience. The mistreatment is more commonly the result of employers and agencies taking advantage of undocumented workers.

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By Yvonne Yen Liu, Colorlines, Jun. 10 2011

Watch the accompanying video “Silenced Voices” here

Vermont, land of rolling green hills dotted with black and white Holsteins and picturesque red barns. White people, everywhere, lots of them. Home of state-sanctioned town hall meetings that are models for participatory democracy. And now, the first state in our republic to enact universal health care for all. Two weeks ago, Gov. Peter Shumlin signed into law H. 202, “An act relating to a single-payer and unified health system.” It’s the first state to plunge into a single-payer system to implement national health care reform, which Harvard economist William S. Hsiao found was the best method to both reign in spiraling costs and diminish disparities.

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