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Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
Monday, January 16, 2012 21st Century Racism
The racist roots of our national chaos
Monday, January 2, 2012 Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Into Law (19 comments)
On December 31, when most U.S. citizens were distracted with New Year's holiday plans, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law. This law authorizes the President of the United States to order the U.S. military to arrest and imprison terrorism suspects indefinitely, including U.S. citizens, without charging them or putting them on trial.
Sunday, December 4, 2011 Troy Davis's Sister Succumbs to Cancer (1 comments)
On December 1, Martina Davis Correia lost her long battle with breast cancer. Correia was the sister of Troy Davis, who was executed by the state of Georgia on September 21 amidst worldwide protest.
Sunday, November 27, 2011 Oregon Governor Rightly Suspends Death Penalty (1 comments)
On November 22, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced that he would allow no more executions through the end of his time in office.
Sunday, October 23, 2011 Will Rick Perry Kill Another Innocent Man?
Texas governor and Republican presidential contender Rick Perry has faced criticism from the left (and applause from the right) for his heavy-handed use of the death penalty. And Perry has said that he loses no sleep over the possibility that he may have executed an innocent man. This is despite the fact that it appears that Perry has done just that - and could very likely do it again very soon.
Sunday, September 4, 2011 The Two Faces of Barack Obama (8 comments)
With President Obama running for a second term, I cannot help but wonder which Obama we will see as the reelection campaign heats up over the coming year.
Sunday, August 21, 2011 No True Justice for the West Memphis Three (3 comments)
Now the DNA evidence exists that casts reasonable doubt as to their guilt. Why then were they forced to acknowledge otherwise...?
Sunday, June 5, 2011 Jack Kevorkian Meant Well (3 comments)
"Some people call Kevorkian a murderer and a monster. I call him compassionate..."
Monday, May 16, 2011 US Gets Bad Marks in Amnesty International Annual Report (1 comments)
"The United States of America got some bad marks again this year, primarily related to human rights violations in the 'war on terror' and our continued use of the death penalty..."
Monday, March 14, 2011 In War On Terror, Obama Is Bush Light (7 comments)
We expected Obama to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay as promised and end the unfair military commission system there. But talk is cheap. And now it looks like we've been fooled.
Monday, March 7, 2011 For International Women's Day, The True Recipe For Equality
While women's rights have advanced considerably in a world of still mostly patriarchal cultures, we nevertheless have a long way to go to achieve true equality.
Monday, February 28, 2011 This Is What Democracy Looks Like (1 comments)
Around the world, the frustration of ordinary people with the economy, unemployment, corruption, and repression has reached critical mass...
Monday, February 14, 2011 Rights Groups Weigh In On Mubarak Resignation (1 comments)
This is an impressive victory for the grassroots, but the hard work of building a new government now begins...
Monday, February 7, 2011 More Torture Unpunished (2 comments)
Torture with impunity seems to be a recurring theme in this once-great nation these days...
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 Rights Groups Speak Out On Egyptian Protests
Human rights groups have been weighing in on the protests, defending the people's right to demonstrate, and condemning what appears to be unnecessary violence against the protesters...
Monday, January 17, 2011 What MLK Would See Today
I wonder how the Reverend Dr. King would feel about today's American politics if he were still alive...
Saturday, January 1, 2011 10 Great Progressive Moments of 2010 (1 comments)
2010 was a wild ride. The year had its share of low points for progressives, like the reelection defeats of Senator Russ Feingold and Representative Alan Grayson, the scrapping of a single-payer health care option, Arizona's xenophobic new laws, and the extension of tax breaks for zillionaires. But the year also had some high points...
Monday, December 27, 2010 Bradley Manning's Pre-Trial Punishment (32 comments)
Manning's detention conditions, as described by his attorney, seem like harsh and cruel punishment even for the most violent, most dangerous convicted criminals. But Manning has not been convicted of any crime at this point.
Monday, December 6, 2010 Christian Hypocrisy in the GOP (27 comments)
The Republicans in Washington keep talking about God and "values". They like to make it look like they are on the side of God...
Monday, November 29, 2010 U.S. Gets Human Rights Advice From the World (1 comments)
On November 5, the United States had its first-ever formal evaluation under the Universal Period Review process before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)...
Monday, November 15, 2010 In Mumia Case, Judges Argue Penalty and Sidestep Justice (1 comments)
As the judiciary reconsiders the penalty, many are questioning the legitimacy of the original trial that led to Abu-Jamal's conviction.
Monday, November 8, 2010 The Child Soldier and Gitmo's Kangaroo Court (1 comments)
This is America in the age of the "war on terror", where human rights no longer seem to apply.
Friday, November 5, 2010 Lies, Money, And The Fate Of Our Liberty (2 comments)
Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "Convinced that the people are the only safe depositories of their own liberty, and that they are not safe unless enlightened to a certain degree..."
Monday, November 1, 2010 The Party of Thugs (3 comments)
Very disturbing symptoms of a new culture of hatred and violence on the far right...
Monday, October 25, 2010 If Republicans Win (18 comments)
The stakes are too high to sit back and lick our wounds. The stakes are too high to refuse to fight the greater threat...
Monday, October 18, 2010 Lazy Rich People (9 comments)
And why, I wonder, are rich people rich, George?
Monday, September 27, 2010 On DADT repeal, 2 Steps Forward, 2 or 3 Steps Back (1 comments)
There have been some interesting developments lately for gay men and lesbians who bravely want to serve this nation in the military...
Sunday, September 26, 2010 NJ Governor vs. Women's Health (7 comments)
This is what happens when you have a conservative administration running a state government...
Sunday, September 19, 2010 Tea Party Talking Points, Translated (27 comments)
I wonder if they've actually really thought about the points they're parroting...
Sunday, September 12, 2010 Nine Years After 9/11, Has Al-Qaeda Finally Won? (11 comments)
Al-Qaeda got its holy war. George W. Bush got his crusade. And America has become more divided than it's been in decades...
Monday, September 6, 2010 Dems Must Make Jobs The Message (6 comments)
For far too many Americans, there wasn't much to celebrate this Labor Day holiday...
Monday, August 30, 2010 Will Ohio Execute An Innocent Man? (7 comments)
It appears that there is reasonable doubt as to Kevin Keith's guilt...
Monday, August 23, 2010 Bush Got His Crusade (6 comments)
Islamophobia has grown into a dangerous new culture war that threatens our national security.
Monday, August 16, 2010 Alleged Child Soldier On Trial At Gitmo (3 comments)
This is the first trial before a military commission under the Obama administration.
Monday, August 2, 2010 Immigrants Have Human Rights (6 comments)
Human rights groups weigh in on Arizona's controversial immigration law
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 With Wikileaks, They Want To Shoot The Messenger (5 comments)
Hiding the truth will not undo the damage. And the American people have a right to know how our tax dollars are being misused...
Monday, July 26, 2010 Shirley Sherrod Was Presumed Guilty (1 comments)
No hearing, no trial, just immediate execution. Bam! You're fired!...
Monday, July 19, 2010 No Easy Execution, Just An Illusion Of It (4 comments)
As humankind evolves, we try to find less gruesome ways of executing our criminals. It makes us feel more civilized...
Monday, July 5, 2010 Why Are We Still In Afghanistan? (12 comments)
Obama described McChrystal's departure as "a change in personnel, not a change in policy." But is the unchanging policy really a good one?
Monday, June 21, 2010 Hillary Raises the Stakes on Human Trafficking (3 comments)
Fortunately, the Obama administration is aware of the problem and appears to be making a solid effort to address it...
Monday, June 14, 2010 Did CIA Doctors Commit War Crimes for Bush? (1 comments)
Not only were terrorism suspects tortured under the Bush administration, it now appears that they were used as human guinea pigs as well.
Monday, June 7, 2010 Can Roe Survive? (1 comments)
Roe v. Wade is established law in the United States of America. But that isn't stopping some states from trying to undermine it...
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 Jim Webb's DADT Mistake (2 comments)
To my disappointment, a lone Democrat in the Senate Committee -- Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, a Vietnam veteran -- opposed the act to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", citing Pentagon reluctance.
Monday, May 17, 2010 BP Needs a New Logo (1 comments)
I used to think that BP was rare among oil companies, because its ads expressed a concern for the environment, and the company was allegedly also working on alternative energy sources... But then my bubble burst...
Monday, May 3, 2010 Kevorkian vs. Death Panels: There Is a Huge Difference (5 comments)
He's back: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, aka "Dr. Death" - advocate for euthanasia and assisted suicide, or what many of us see as the right of terminally ill patients to choose a quick and dignified death over a painful, lingering one.
Monday, April 26, 2010 Arizona - The Hate State? (26 comments)
In the past, I never imagined that Arizona was a state full of xenophobic right-wing extremists. But recent events seem to suggest that it is -- at least inside the State Capitol and law enforcement circles.
Monday, April 19, 2010 A Lesson On the Oklahoma Bombing Anniversary (3 comments)
April 19, 2010, marks the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, in which 168 people died (including 19 young children) and more than 680 people were injured. Crazed Muslims? Actually, no...
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 Dawn Johnsen Is a Victim of the War on Terror (2 comments)
On April 9, Dawn Johnsen, President Obama's nominee to lead the Office of Legal Council (OLC), withdrew her nomination. Her nomination had been in various stages of limbo for more than a year.
Monday, April 12, 2010 Dangerous Coal, Neglected Lives
Not only is coal mining hazardous to the workers, it is also deadly to the planet and the population at large.
Monday, April 5, 2010 Racism Then and Now (10 comments)
Even as Barack Obama sits in the Oval Office, we have not yet achieved Dr. King's dream of a post-racial America. Not even close.
Friday, April 2, 2010 How Christian Is the Pope, Really? (8 comments)
The independent and foreign press have written much in the past about the current pope's ongoing cover-ups of clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Now the American mainstream media are finally catching on. But it's long overdue. So here is a history.
Monday, March 29, 2010 Sarah Barracuda Flirts with Violence (5 comments)
Is Palin inciting violence, or merely choosing her words carelessly? In either case, it's inexcusable.
Friday, March 26, 2010 In Death Row Case, Supreme Court Came Through But Texas Remains Guilty
On March 24, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for Texas death row inmate Hank Skinner. The stay will allow the Court more time to consider Skinner's civil rights claim that he is entitled to DNA testing which he believes will prove his innocence. The news came just one hour before Skinner was to be strapped to the gurney.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 The Far-Right Fringe: Armed, Bigoted, and Dangerous (1 comments)
It was scary enough when some people showed up at town hall meetings last summer with loaded guns. But those seemed like isolated incidents. Now, however, even the unarmed tea partiers are resorting to more and more extreme displays of bigotry and hate.
Monday, March 15, 2010 Jihad Blondes Prove Racial Profiling a Waste of Time (4 comments)
Will the cases of Jihad Jane and Jihad Jamie finally convince the knee-jerk, race-obsessed folks on the far right (and their pliant followers) that terrorism is not synonymous with brown skin or an exotic accent?
Monday, March 1, 2010 The Truth About Tort Reform (15 comments)
In reality, it's not about the trial lawyers. It's about the legal rights of everyday people who suddenly find themselves victims of preventable medical errors.
Monday, February 22, 2010 Santorum Continues Bashing Gays in the Military While Ignoring a Real Threat (1 comments)
Former Senator Rick Santorum turned up at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and preached to the choir about the alleged dangers of allowing gays to openly serve in the military.
Monday, February 8, 2010 In Tea Party Address, Palin Stokes the Anti-Rights Fire (15 comments)
On February 6th, Sarah Palin gave the keynote address at a tea party convention in Nashville.
As expected, I disagreed with just about everything Palin said. However, there was one part of her speech in particular that really got my blood boiling: She propagated the lie that the would-be Christmas airline bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, stopped talking after he was read his Miranda rights.
Monday, January 25, 2010 A Giant Leap Towards Fascism (24 comments)
What we have now is not government of the people, by the people, and for the people. What we have now is government of the people, by the corporations, and for the corporations. And that is exactly how Mussolini defined fascism.
Sunday, January 17, 2010 No Excuse for Racial Profiling (1 comments)
The failed attempt on Christmas Day to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane has some people calling for racial profiling. In fact, a recent USA Today/Gallup poll shows that an alarming majority of Americans support ethnic profiling. However, I contend that this is a misguided reaction that can actually be counterproductive. And the attempted Christmas bombing is no excuse for it.
Sunday, January 10, 2010 Marriage vs. Civil Unions: Separate Is Never Equal (8 comments)
Some opponents of same-sex marriage try to justify their discrimination by offering up civil unions as an alternative for gay couples who want to enjoy similar benefits. But they don't want to call it marriage. They want to maintain a heterosexual monopoly on the word "marriage". It's "separate but equal", they might say. But I contend that separate is never equal.
Saturday, January 2, 2010 Obama's New Year's Resolutions (in my dreams) (1 comments)
s far as I can tell, the White House has not released President Obama's list of resolutions for 2010. So I offer the following resolutions for him to consider, unlikely as they are to be adopted.
Saturday, December 26, 2009 With Health Care, Don't Let The Perfect Be The Enemy (16 comments)
Maybe the more radical progressives who condemn the Senate health care bill should take a step back and look at the big picture.
Monday, December 21, 2009 The Salvation Army: It Gets Worse (13 comments)
It's that time of year again. At shopping centers everywhere, representatives from the Salvation Army, dressed in their paramilitary attire, ring their bells and aggressively invite your holiday donations. And I always see people eagerly throwing money into their big red kettles. I suspect that most of these generous individuals aren't aware of what their dollars are actually funding.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 More War But Still No Jobs (2 comments)
It sounds as though President Obama plans to keep us in Afghanistan through most, if not all, of his first term. Is this really the best use of our resources?
Sunday, November 22, 2009 What's Thanksgiving Really All About? (4 comments)
The Thanksgiving holiday is just around the corner, but this year I am tempted to skip the festivities.
Sunday, November 1, 2009 Legislating Inequality: Last year in California, this year in Maine? (1 comments)
If Question 1 passes on Tuesday, Maine -- like California -- will have legislated inequality. In a nation founded on the principle that all men are created equal, the law will now say that gays and lesbians are not so equal. It will officially define gays and lesbians as second-class citizens who are not entitled to equal rights in that state.
Monday, October 26, 2009 It's an Option, Stupid (6 comments)
Debunking the right-wing arguments against a public health care option.
Sunday, October 11, 2009 The Republicans and the Taliban: More alike than Rush will admit (14 comments)
When Obama won the Nobel Prize, Rush Limbaugh pointed out that the Republicans "agree with the Taliban [...] that he doesn't deserve the award." And Limbaugh's words led me to realize that the Republican Party of today has more in common with the Taliban than just a belief that Obama doesn't deserve the Nobel Prize. In fact, the two groups share more views than Limbaugh would probably want to admit.
Monday, October 5, 2009 Texas Executes Innocent Man; Governor Impedes Investigation (5 comments)
We recently learned that the State of Texas probably executed an innocent man. Then, last week, Governor Perry abruptly removed three members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission -- including the commission's chairman -- just two days before they were to meet to review the evidence.
Friday, October 2, 2009 Good News, Bad News on Sex Ed Funding (1 comments)
By pandering to the religious right by funding abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, the Senate Finance Committee is, in effect, trying to forcibly impose an extreme and dangerous set of moral beliefs onto the rest of us who may or may not agree.
Monday, September 28, 2009 Enough in Afghanistan! (1 comments)
October 7 will mark the eighth anniversary of George W. Bush's invasion of Afghanistan. And what have we accomplished there in those eight years? Nothing to be proud of, really.
Saturday, September 19, 2009 Of Course It's About Race (10 comments)
A few days ago, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter noted that racism is likely responsible for much of the anti-Obama sentiment that has monopolized the media in recent weeks. That seems pretty clear to me, too.
