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Strategic negotiation is not appeasement
Mary Shaw
The media are abuzz with the news that President Obama acknowledges that we are not winning the war in Afghanistan and is thinking about reaching out to moderate elements of the Taliban.
And the right-wingers are jumping all over it. To them, it's proof that Obama likes to pal around with terrorists.
By contrast, their hero and dear leader -- George W. Bush -- would always swagger and smirk and talk about how we don't negotiate with terrorists. How macho.
Former Accused Iraqi Agent Susan Lindauer, Secret Charges and The Patriot Act in Action
Former Accused Iraqi Agent
Susan Lindauer, Secret Charges and
The Patriot Act in Action
The Executioner and Justice - John Heartfield
Susan Lindauer Interviewed by Michael Collins
'Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." Herman Goering, Interview at Nuremburg Trials, April 14, 1946
From Lincoln to Limbaugh
Mary Shaw
It seems to be official: Rush Limbaugh is the new unofficial head of the floundering Republican Party.
The media have been all over it in the past few days.
The GOP leadership grovels.
And the dittoheads rejoice, even as they fail to realize that this could be their Waterloo.
Health Care Reform, Obama Style
Stephen Lendman
On February 26, The New York Times headlined: "Obama Offers Broad Plan to Revamp Health Care....a (down payment $634 billion "reserve fund" for the next decade) toward his goal of covering the uninsured, and he would pay for it in part by cutting federal payments to hospitals, insurance companies and drug companies." More on that below.
Details so far are sketchy, but here's what The Times and others reported:
-- $634 billion as a "down payment....additional funding will be needed;"
-- increased prescription drug premiums for higher income Medicare recipients;
The Martyrdom of Mordechai Vanunu
Eileen Fleming
The best understanding of a martyr is one who chooses to suffer, to die rather than renounce their principles. A martyr is also one who has given themselves up as a witness. The essence of Christianity is to bear witness to what Jesus was always on about; forgiveness, love, reconciliation and the intrinsic equality of all people.
Within days of the announcement of a record 205 nominations for 2009’s Nobel Peace Prize, [one of several prizes endowed by Swedish industrialist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel] perpetual nominee Mordechai Vanunu declined the honor in a letter to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo:
I am asking the committee to remove my name from the nominations…I cannot be part of a list of laureates that includes Simon Peres…Peres established and developed the atomic weapon program in Dimona in Israel…Peres was the man who ordered [my] kidnapping…he continues to oppose my freedom and release…WHAT I WANT IS FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM….FREEDOM AND ONLY FREEDOM I NEED NOW.
They have no shame
Stuart Littlewood
Instead of saying ‘sorry’ Israel’s stooges keep pumping out the poison.
In January, while Israel's military was pulverising Gaza for 22 days and nights and incinerating its women and children with phosphor bombs, the Liberal Democrat Party in the UK published an article by its Friends of Israel wing, entitled 'Israel has no option but to defend itself against Hamas and Iran'.
Guantanamo Under Obama
Stephen Lendman
As The New York Times reported on January 22, Barack Obama signed Executive Orders (EOs) banning torture and "directing the CIA to shut what remains of its network of secret prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantanamo detention camp within a year, government official said."
The closure EO is titled: "Executive Order -- Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities."
U.S. women should be grateful for Obama
Mary Shaw
I am writing this on March 8 -- International Women's Day.
And on this day I am thinking about the status of women in these United States of America, and I thank my fellow voters for waking up last November and putting Barack Obama in the White House. The Obama administration will be much kinder and fairer to women than a McCain administration would have. In fact, that's already been proven.
The first piece of legislation that President Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which removed a ridiculous loophole that allowed employers to pay women less than their male counterparts for equal work and get away with it.
Four Integrity Tests for President Obama
Joel S. Hirschhorn
A great smile does not make a truth teller. A talker of change does not define a reformer. Make no mistake, for the good of the nation I want President Obama to succeed in getting us out of the scandalous economic meltdown we are immersed in. But I do not like many of his actions, policies and strategies for accomplishing this, nor does the stock market.
I always had my doubts that he was a true agent of change and reformer when it came to the structure of the political and government system. He took an awful lot of money from the very rich and powerful in his campaign. Sure, with his superb speaking skills he has the capacity to win public approval, but most Americans are not deep, critical thinkers, nor do most have the best detailed information. What if he is just another untrustworthy politician? What if he does not keep his promises? With these questions in mind, I have examined four areas where I find President Obama’s behavior disappointing.
Modern Slavery in America
Stephen Lendman
Called human trafficking or forced labor, modern slavery thrives in America, largely below the radar. A 2004 UC Berkeley study cites it mainly in five sectors:
-- prostitution and sex services - 46%;
-- domestic service - 27%;
-- agriculture - 10%;
-- sweatshops or factories - 5%;
-- restaurant and hotel work - 4%; with the remainder coming from:
-- sexual exploitation of children, entertainment, and mail-order brides.
It persists for lack of regulation, work condition monitoring, and a growing demand for cheap labor enabling unscrupulous employers and criminal networks to exploit powerless workers for profit.
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