Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
THE SURPRISING HISTORY OF GUN CONTROL, SCHOOL SHOOTING MYTHS, AND MORE
- Untold Story of Guns- black Panthers and Gun control
- How Myths Form Around School Shooting
- Speculating about Adam Lanza's Mind
- Interviewing Kids After Tragedy
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Dr. Martin Luther King in 1967: "We as a Nation Must Undergo a Radical Revolution of Values
REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin—we must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life’s roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Obama’s New Year’s Resolution: Protect the Status Quo
by Amy Goodman
Amidst the White House and congressional theatrics surrounding the so-called fiscal-cliff negotiations, a number of bills were signed into law by President Barack Obama that renew some of the worst excesses of the Bush years. Largely ignored by the media, these laws further entrench odious policies like indefinite detention, warrantless wiretapping and the continued operation of the U.S. gulag in Guantanamo. The deal to avert the fiscal cliff itself increases the likelihood that President Obama may yet scuttle an unprecedented cut in the Pentagon’s bloated budget. It’s not such a happy new year, after all.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Bahraini Opposition Vows Continued Protest after Sentences Upheld
Opposition activists in Bahrain are vowing to continue protests despite a court’s decision to uphold the prison terms of 13 top dissidents. The activists were sentenced by a military court in 2011, eight of them to life behind bars, after leading massive protests against Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy. Their terms were upheld by Bahrain’s top court on Monday, ending their legal options. Sheikh Ali Salman of the Bahraini opposition party Al Wefaq said protests will continue undeterred.
Sheikh Ali Salman: "Demonstrations will continue following this type of ruling in the courts. And this kind of ruling will further build the strength for the people who are seeking democracy. We hope that a political solution emerges that gives priority to democracy, human rights and freedom, that will benefit everyone in Bahrain."
Bahrain is a key U.S. government ally, hosting the Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
A former adviser to Obama on security issues has forcefully come out against drone warfare, saying it is encouraging arms proliferation worldwide while causing unknown civilian casualties. Writing in this month’s issue of International Affairs, La Salle University’s Michael Boyle, an adviser on the Obama campaign’s counterterrorism expert group in 2007 and 2008, writes: "[Obama] has been just as ruthless and indifferent to the rule of law as his predecessor. ... The consequences can be seen in the targeting of mosques or funeral processions that kill non-combatants and tear at the social fabric of the regions where they occur. No one really knows the number of deaths caused by drones in these distant, sometimes ungoverned, lands."
McChrystal, Ex-Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, Questions Drone Warfare
Speaking to Reuters, the former commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, retired General Stanley McChrystal, became one of the highest-ranking former military officials to publicly question the drone attacks, saying: "The resentment created by American use of unmanned strikes ... is much greater than the average American appreciates. They are hated on a visceral level, even by people who’ve never seen one or seen the effects of one."
(Democracy Now)
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