Duty to Warn
In a 1992 CNN interview with Larry King on "Reagan, the Pope, Solidarity
and the Fall of Communism," Time Magazine's Carl Bernstein made a stunning
assertion: the Vatican had offered to help buttress Poland's ailing
pro-Western Solidarity Party and prop up Lech Walesa's torpid presidency in
exchange for a stiffening of conservative values and the establishment of
the Christian Right as a viable political force in the U.S.
Investigations by this writer a year earlier into state-sponsored massacres of Guatemalan and Honduran street children, hinted that a political "fifth column" had indeed taken root in the U.S. and simultaneously sprouted in Central America where U.S. strategic interests continue to be guarded by U.S.-installed puppet regimes. Credible sources that spoke on condition of anonymity added convincing evidence to rumors that politicians, intelligence agencies, religious leaders, charitable organizations and multinational corporations were engaged in a hemispheric cabal aimed at harmonizing global evangelical interests with U.S. foreign policy objectives.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Investigations by this writer a year earlier into state-sponsored massacres of Guatemalan and Honduran street children, hinted that a political "fifth column" had indeed taken root in the U.S. and simultaneously sprouted in Central America where U.S. strategic interests continue to be guarded by U.S.-installed puppet regimes. Credible sources that spoke on condition of anonymity added convincing evidence to rumors that politicians, intelligence agencies, religious leaders, charitable organizations and multinational corporations were engaged in a hemispheric cabal aimed at harmonizing global evangelical interests with U.S. foreign policy objectives.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
When I was a little boy in occupied France, I saw priests sprinkling
holy water on tanks, canons and other instruments of war so that Christians
of one nation -- now divinely empowered -- could slaughter Christians of
another nation. I never forgot the surreal spectacle. I owe it (and the
extermination of nine-tenths of my family in Hitler's gas chambers) a
healthy aloofness toward religion.
Sixty years later, as France, a nominally Catholic democratic republic readies to celebrate nearly 200 years of secularism marked by absolute separation of church and state, the U.S. the ostensible symbol of tolerance and egalitarianism, is unmistakably tilting toward theocratic governance.
Sixty years later, as France, a nominally Catholic democratic republic readies to celebrate nearly 200 years of secularism marked by absolute separation of church and state, the U.S. the ostensible symbol of tolerance and egalitarianism, is unmistakably tilting toward theocratic governance.
Was the melee between NBA players and fans a racial brawl?
The Nov. 19 game between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons resulted in nine players being banned for more than 140 games.
All of the players involved were black and most of the fans they confronted were white.
Initially race was a silent issue. But as pundits of every stripe have weighed in on this incident, discussions of race have become increasingly prominent.
The narrative that is emerging goes something like this: Most professional basketball players are poor black youths from urban America who are socialized in a culture that lacks social graces. They earn exorbitant salaries, live pampered lifestyles and lack the appropriate gratitude for their -- largely unearned -- good fortune.
What's more, these black athletes are performing for predominantly white fans who are affluent enough to afford the high cost of NBA tickets. It's a tricky arrangement.
The Nov. 19 game between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons resulted in nine players being banned for more than 140 games.
All of the players involved were black and most of the fans they confronted were white.
Initially race was a silent issue. But as pundits of every stripe have weighed in on this incident, discussions of race have become increasingly prominent.
The narrative that is emerging goes something like this: Most professional basketball players are poor black youths from urban America who are socialized in a culture that lacks social graces. They earn exorbitant salaries, live pampered lifestyles and lack the appropriate gratitude for their -- largely unearned -- good fortune.
What's more, these black athletes are performing for predominantly white fans who are affluent enough to afford the high cost of NBA tickets. It's a tricky arrangement.
Tavis Smiley’s departure from National Public Radio will be a loss not only to African-Americans, but also to all NPR listeners.
For its part, NPR issued a vague statement that is long on happy talk about Smiley helping to “jumpstart” its effort at reaching African-Americans.
Smiley’s departing letter to local stations asserts that NPR has “failed to meaningfully reach out to a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio.”
Smiley may simply have been tired of banging his head against the racial wall. He told me when I interviewed him a year ago that he was often frustrated and exhausted from doing the work involved in putting together a meaningful show five times a week, while at the same time tussling frequently with NPR over the show’s tone and guests.
“The most difficult thing that I have had to do,” he told me, “is fight a culture at NPR, a culture that is antithetical to the best interests of people of color.”
For its part, NPR issued a vague statement that is long on happy talk about Smiley helping to “jumpstart” its effort at reaching African-Americans.
Smiley’s departing letter to local stations asserts that NPR has “failed to meaningfully reach out to a broad spectrum of Americans who would benefit from public radio.”
Smiley may simply have been tired of banging his head against the racial wall. He told me when I interviewed him a year ago that he was often frustrated and exhausted from doing the work involved in putting together a meaningful show five times a week, while at the same time tussling frequently with NPR over the show’s tone and guests.
“The most difficult thing that I have had to do,” he told me, “is fight a culture at NPR, a culture that is antithetical to the best interests of people of color.”
President Bush's nomination of Alberto Gonzales to the top justice post in the country sends the wrong signal, at home and abroad.
Gonzales, Bush’s White House legal counsel, would become the first Hispanic to become U.S. attorney general if approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But while a number of groups embrace the nomination as a symbolic acceptance of Latinos, Gonzales’s troubling record should disqualify him.
In Texas, as counsel for then-Gov. Bush, he laid the groundwork for a record-breaking number of executions. He prepared more than a third of the case summaries that led to the execution of 150 men and two women in Bush’s six-year tenure -- a number unmatched by any other governor in modern American history.
As an elected member of the Texas Supreme Court, he took huge contributions from the energy giant Enron and Enron's law firm, according to the New York Daily News. And he was known to side with the oil industry. In May 2000, he was author of a state Supreme Court opinion that threw out a class-action suit by 885 Corpus Christi homeowners who were harmed by a 1994 refinery tank explosion.
Gonzales, Bush’s White House legal counsel, would become the first Hispanic to become U.S. attorney general if approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But while a number of groups embrace the nomination as a symbolic acceptance of Latinos, Gonzales’s troubling record should disqualify him.
In Texas, as counsel for then-Gov. Bush, he laid the groundwork for a record-breaking number of executions. He prepared more than a third of the case summaries that led to the execution of 150 men and two women in Bush’s six-year tenure -- a number unmatched by any other governor in modern American history.
As an elected member of the Texas Supreme Court, he took huge contributions from the energy giant Enron and Enron's law firm, according to the New York Daily News. And he was known to side with the oil industry. In May 2000, he was author of a state Supreme Court opinion that threw out a class-action suit by 885 Corpus Christi homeowners who were harmed by a 1994 refinery tank explosion.
More Hispanics may have voted for President Bush in 2004, but the perception that the Hispanic vote has shifted is misleading.
Much has been made about the apparent swing of Hispanic voters from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. Various exit polls claim that, nationally, 44 percent of Hispanic voters chose Bush over Sen. John Kerry. (By comparison, 35 percent voted for Bush over then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000.) There is no unanimity, however, in this figure. Zogby International, for instance, disputes the 2004 total. The polling firm believes the correct percentage for Hispanic support for Bush was somewhere between 33 percent and 38 percent.
But whatever the exact number, we need to get over the assumption that there is one monolithic Hispanic community with a common historical experience and political agenda. Some Hispanics have emigrated from Latin America, while others have come from the Caribbean, Europe or elsewhere.
What’s more, the Bush campaign focused on battleground states such as New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Florida that have sizable Hispanic populations but are not exactly bastions of liberalism.
Much has been made about the apparent swing of Hispanic voters from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. Various exit polls claim that, nationally, 44 percent of Hispanic voters chose Bush over Sen. John Kerry. (By comparison, 35 percent voted for Bush over then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000.) There is no unanimity, however, in this figure. Zogby International, for instance, disputes the 2004 total. The polling firm believes the correct percentage for Hispanic support for Bush was somewhere between 33 percent and 38 percent.
But whatever the exact number, we need to get over the assumption that there is one monolithic Hispanic community with a common historical experience and political agenda. Some Hispanics have emigrated from Latin America, while others have come from the Caribbean, Europe or elsewhere.
What’s more, the Bush campaign focused on battleground states such as New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Florida that have sizable Hispanic populations but are not exactly bastions of liberalism.
Public mass murder by gunfire is as American as apple pie. In fact, public mass murder sometimes involves mom, too, as when Charles Whitman killed his mother and wife the day before he climbed atop the Austin, Texas campus bell tower to pick off sixteen residents with precision sniper action. This last week Texas mourned again when it learned local Arlington metal musician Darrell Abbot (hilariously nicknamed “Dimebag”) was killed at point blank range by a freaked out ex-Marine and semi-pro football player super-fan of heavy band Pantera (Abbot’s first and most famous outfit). The media-described “loner” shot and killed three others after that, firing into the audience of over 200, and was subsequently brought down by police rifle fire. Happily, the law was close enough to the suburban metal ballroom to respond to panicked 911 cell phone calls, sneak through the club’s back door and blast the maniac as he held a hostage in a headlock.
"The failing grade in prevention means thousands of needlessly infected
people," said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg
WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign released a report card today reflecting the U.S.'s response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic to mark World AIDS Day.
"The failing grade in prevention means thousands of needlessly infected people," said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. "As we face a global pandemic, our response to it isn't making the grade." The first annual report card rates the U.S. government's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in four key areas: research; care and treatment; global AIDS; and prevention.
WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign released a report card today reflecting the U.S.'s response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic to mark World AIDS Day.
"The failing grade in prevention means thousands of needlessly infected people," said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. "As we face a global pandemic, our response to it isn't making the grade." The first annual report card rates the U.S. government's response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in four key areas: research; care and treatment; global AIDS; and prevention.
The more politically savvy will know Al Franken from his radio show on Air America, while the Saturday Night Live fans may remember him from his hilarious self-help character Stuart Smalley and his behind the scenes award-winning writing. Both contact points are real touchstones which reveal his wicked satirical genius. Franken is at once mischievous and intelligent.
To illustrate the point, he recently pulled a prank that received the attention of John Ashcroft. Franken sent a note to 27 senior Bush administration officials on the letterhead of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. The mailing list included the U.S. Attorney General himself. The letter asked each to “share a moment when you were tempted to have sex but were able to overcome your urges.” The stories would allegedly be used in a book about public school abstinence programs called “Savin’ It!” No doubt the dour Ashcroft was less than pleased.
To illustrate the point, he recently pulled a prank that received the attention of John Ashcroft. Franken sent a note to 27 senior Bush administration officials on the letterhead of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. The mailing list included the U.S. Attorney General himself. The letter asked each to “share a moment when you were tempted to have sex but were able to overcome your urges.” The stories would allegedly be used in a book about public school abstinence programs called “Savin’ It!” No doubt the dour Ashcroft was less than pleased.
Ohio attorney and prisoner-rights activist Alice Lynd was held in contempt of court and sentenced to jail on November 19 until she agrees to testify before a grand jury about an inmate's purported confession to her that he killed an inmate during the bloody Lucasville prison riot in 1993.
Lynd was released two hours later pending a decision by the Fourth Appellate Court on the issue.
In an emotional hearing before Scioto County Common Pleas Judge William T. Marshall in Portsmouth, Ohio, Lynd, 74, refused to testify about what an inmate she referred to only as "Mr. X" told her about the murder because it would violate attorney-client privilege.
Prosecutors argued that Lynd was not the inmate's attorney and that attorney-client privilege did not apply. Judge Marshall agreed, and sentenced Lynd to jail. He offered to stay the sentence while Lynd's attorney sought a stay from the appeals court if she agreed to testify if the appeals court upheld his ruling. Lynd said she could not, in good conscience, testify about what "Mr. X" told her without his permission under any circumstances.
Lynd was released two hours later pending a decision by the Fourth Appellate Court on the issue.
In an emotional hearing before Scioto County Common Pleas Judge William T. Marshall in Portsmouth, Ohio, Lynd, 74, refused to testify about what an inmate she referred to only as "Mr. X" told her about the murder because it would violate attorney-client privilege.
Prosecutors argued that Lynd was not the inmate's attorney and that attorney-client privilege did not apply. Judge Marshall agreed, and sentenced Lynd to jail. He offered to stay the sentence while Lynd's attorney sought a stay from the appeals court if she agreed to testify if the appeals court upheld his ruling. Lynd said she could not, in good conscience, testify about what "Mr. X" told her without his permission under any circumstances.