Saturday, November 28:
Grant Lawrence:
War Crimes, Exploitation, Abuse, and Suffering Brought to You by the 'Big Lies' (1 comments)
In TV reality, the suffering and the exploitation offered by the Military Industrial Complex to the world is ignored or sometimes even applauded by Americans. Unfortunately, Americans can no longer hide behind the entertainment, the booze, and the pills.
Friday, November 27:
Dave Berman:
Book Review: "am I being kind" by Michael J. Chase
Presenting stories of his own imperfect self and spiritual evolution as context, Chase delivers a simple and digestible message influenced by The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, Buddha and Christ (among others), without being cerebral, esoteric or religious.
Stephen Lendman:
Political Prisoner Jalil Muntaqim Denied Parole
Political persecution in America
Robert Davidson:
Are Big Pharma and the PDUFA to Blame for Healthcare Mess? (4 comments)
Recent $2.3 billion Pfizer settlement indicates an underlying systemic malady within the FDA. Since the passage of PDUFA, user fees have played an important role in expediting the drug approval process. The implicit underlying assumption, that expediting the drug approval process is good for public health, is seriously flawed.
Susan Galleymore:
A View from the Faultline (2 comments)
I met a Birther! Here, in the San Francisco Bay Area. My small island town is a mix of people and, until 1997, was home port to one of the largest naval fleets in the Pacific. Many of those who worked on the naval base still live here. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find a real, live person who seriously believes that Barack Obama was born in Mombasa ...and that his presidency will last only one year.
Thursday, November 26:
Michael Roberts:
Generals Not Always Right
Why President Obama Must Take His Time On Afghanistan;32 Years Ago Another Young President Had To Make Similar Decisions
Don Williams:
Go ahead, hug that tree and give thanks (2 comments)
It may be impossible to say anything truer about happiness than this: Giving thanks is the key to happiness.
Wednesday, November 25:
Suzana Megles:
A Presidential Turkey Pardoning
Do we really need to eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day or any other day for that matter? CBS's Sunday Morning Offering this week was all about celebrating Thanksgiving with meat. How disappointing. Don't they have any vegetarian or vegan reporters? Don't they care about the impact of so much animal raising on the environment?
Sheila Dean:
*Fusion center data consolidation effort failing, Texas seeks public input
Since the passage of the PATRIOT Act, data collection has been a part of an ambitious effort to coordinate national security efforts. Many state governments are in the process of developing warehouses for private and public information in centralized digital hubs called fusion centers, over 70 of which have already been established around the country.One fusion center is the North Central Texas Fusion Center (NCTFS).
Ted Newcomen:
New Anti-Islamic Working Class Group Rattles British Government
A new anti-islamic white working class grass-roots organization has got the British political establishment rattled. The English Defense League (EDL)has moved in to fill the vacuum caused by widespread disenchantment with traditional mainstream parties as the UK struggles with the economic recession.
Tuesday, November 24:
Ray McGovern:
Obama: Profile in Courage, or Cave-In? (20 comments)
The choice, in my view, is between courage and cowardice cloaked as politics of the possible. Let me guess what you're thinking—“But that's asking too much of the young President; “cowardice” is too strong a word; Obama cannot possibly face down the entire military establishment.”
John Kennedy did. So the question is whether Barack Obama is “no Jack Kennedy,” or whether he will summon the courage to stand up to
Rabbi Michael Lerner:
Obama's Declining Popularity (13 comments)
While Obama is still hailed around the world in almost messianic tones, recent polls indicate his approval rate is below 50% in the U.S. How could a man who aroused so much hope be losing support so dramatically? And what lessons can be learned for politicians all around the world?
Lawrence Velvel:
Let Us Now Seek Competent Men. (2 comments)
Let us now seek competent men.
Monday, November 23:
Daniel Vojir:
The Manhattan Declaration: The Christian Right Declares Global Warfare, Giving Africa The Gift Of ...Fear (2 comments)
Warren is still nowhere to be seen in regards to criminalizing homosexuality in Africa. However, his imprint is on the Manhattan Declaration - the signed document that purports to speak for all of Christianity with all of its mind-numbing messages of hypocrisy.
Roger C. S. Lin:
Taiwan: Search for a Non-Chinese Identity (1 comments)
The Taiwanese people have been having an identity crisis for decades. Some claim that the island is a renegade province of the "People's Republic of China," while others hold that Taiwan should be admitted to international organizations under the name of "Republic of China."
What both of these groups have in common is the stress on "China." But now a third group has emerged, which is promoting a non-Chinese identity.
Sunday, November 22:
Gustav Wynn:
Is Sean Hannity's Political Talk Hampering Our Children's Critical Thinking? (14 comments)
The Supreme Court will soon be deciding if McCain-Feingold campaign regulation should allow corporations to fund election propaganda. But we already have this going on every day in talk radio, where the #1 broadcasters in the US are openly partisan and supported by corporate contributors like the Heritage Foundation. Should we allow propaganda over public airwaves and if so, what will this do to our children?
Bryant Welch:
Fort Hood: A Harbinger Of Things To Come? (6 comments)
If we can identify the real problem that caused the tragedy at Ford Hood we can possibly prevent such episodes in the future. Our troops have been through enough.
Jason Paz:
The Anti-Death Squad; the Right to Live (1 comments)
Throughout the ages the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have reigned supreme. The chances are the curses of war, pestilence, famine and disease have visited your doorstep. If you were lucky enough to be at work at the time, perhaps they claimed your spouse. In the final analysis they kill all of us, but this is not an excuse to make their mission easier for them.
P. Orin Zack:
Short Story: "Foreclosed Future" (part 11 of a series)
What if corporations were convicted for their crimes? John Frachetti, whose inflammatory blog posts got him accused of being a terrorist, has been laying low in the FW Diner, a chain that was turned into a haven for activists after the union reframed the CEO's scheme to profit from the company's conviction for theft. But after some unplanned publicity, he's gone back underground. Here's a dispatch from the road.
ALONE:
Germany's Sleeping PTSD Crisis (1 comments)
Germany has been keeping quiet about growing PTSD related stress from the nation's various peace keeping duties in recent years.
Saturday, November 21:
Emily Spence:
Towards Resolving Thanksgiving Contradictions (2 comments)
Why not avoid cutesy repugnant myths concerning "Indians" and Pilgrims? Instead, one might consider the suffering that arose after the "New World" became seen as a land of opportunity -- a fresh spot to environmentally plunder while removing natives. One might, also, reflect on the debt that we, connected in myriad ways, owe to each other. Assuredly, it's especially obliged by people who have cornucopian bounty in their lives.
Grant Lawrence:
Would Americans be Pro-Wars if They Had to Pay for Them with Higher Taxes? (11 comments)
I wonder if Americans would opt for blood or revert to the greed if they knew their occupations would hit them right in their own wallet right now.
Ed Tubbs:
The GOP's Limbo Rock and How ‘Low' Can We Go? (1 comments)
In an accent she'd never completely been able to overcome, 'Of course . . . I didn't agree with everything the Nazis did.'
Jason Paz:
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied (2 comments)
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. - Martin Luther King
Susan Galleymore:
Melissa - Raped! -- For Band of Buddies War Series (3 comments)
MELISSA stopped drinking water in the early afternoon so she didn't have to walk to the latrines after dark. Women were being raped by members of their own battalion and she didn't want to risk that. She knew the risk of dehydration in 120 degree heat but " raped by fellow troops? Wasn't going to happen to her.
Ed Tubbs:
Rosaries, Rostrums, and the God's Awful Truth
Looking over the course of history, all the way to today, I don't think we can . . . handle the truth. At least insofar as the truth tends to impale many of our most sacred and endearing beliefs we can't.
Friday, November 27:
Arthur Silber: Once Upon a Time...Wherein We Gaze into Our Inerrant Crystal Ball and Espy a Deadly Rat
Need I remind you that Obama is the commander in chief? It's not complicated in the least. In fact, the United States could leave, within three or six months. Announce the phased withdrawal of all U.S. personnel -- and then do it. We could do the same in Iraq. We won't do it in either case.
John Aravosis on the hypocrisy of alleged pedophile enablers moralizing on gay marriage
From AmericaBlog - not to mention moralizing on abortion!
Thursday, November 26:
Merck's Vioxx scandal widens: Drug maker knew Vioxx was deadly for years before risk was made public (1 comments)
Merck knowingly and maliciously allowed a deadly drug to continue to be sold to patients for years. It's a clear case of profits before patients from a drug company mired in one scandal after another. (Merck is also the maker of Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine.)
Wednesday, November 25:
United States Backs Illegal Elections in Honduras, Betraying Process to Restore Constitutional Order (2 comments)
In declaring that it will recognize the coup regime sponsored elections on November 29 without prior restitution of constitutional order, the United States has emboldened the coup regime, betrayed a lengthy negotiation process and endangered the lives of millions of Honduran citizens who are committed to democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
Monday, November 23:
ZIHOP as Limited Hangout
The Military Industrial Complex did not arise from some flaw in the American character, nor indeed from Zionism. It arose, simply put, because capital requires more capital, power more power still. Powerful states act out. “Small states are virtuous only because of their weakness.” (Bakunin).
Saturday, November 21:
Bob Herbert: An American Catastrophe
Detroit and its environs are suffering the agonies of the economic damned because of policies, crafted at the highest national and corporate levels, that resulted in the implosion of crucially important components of America's manufacturing base. Those decisions have had a profound effect on the fortunes not just of Detroit, or even Michigan, but the entire U.S. economy.
