Global
I understand that the NAACP and other “Black” organizations are fighting for quality education, fair minimum wages, etc; but they are overlooking the key element of all successful communities – and that is an intact family unit. Child Protective Service agencies (CPS) are destroying minority families from coast to coast. The fabric or foundation of our country, the family unit, is being completely torn apart and destroyed. How can we expect to continue as a Global Superpower when our nation’s children are being emotionally and physically abused by the very government that will one day expect these children to be productive members of society. I would like to see the NAACP, The Rev. Jessie Jackson, Oprah, Montel, Tavis Smiley, and ALL powerful Black leaders and concerned citizens join us in our fight to put an end to the unnecessary destruction of American children and their parents. It is time to put the NAACP Image Awards, the BET Awards, etc., on hold and start tackling this very serious issue.
He was a tough kid and determined to take what they could give him, but the dirty needle was too much.
Join the Marines, spit up blood.
Talk about a military that's strained to the breaking point. They're enforcing stop-loss orders, calling up the reserves, extending the enlistment age (in a recent spoof of a recruitment ad on "The Daily Show," doddering oldsters were lured to sign up with the phrase, "Remember, when you have a gun in your hands, they have to listen to your stories"). This is the paradox of waging an unpopular, morally ambiguous war.
What happened to 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Matt Solowynsky at the beginning of this year shows another aspect of the strain. The process of dehumanizing the enemy - the sine qua non of every war in human history, and crushingly obvious when a war grinds on without a clear strategic objective - sooner or later backs up on itself.
Join the Marines, spit up blood.
Talk about a military that's strained to the breaking point. They're enforcing stop-loss orders, calling up the reserves, extending the enlistment age (in a recent spoof of a recruitment ad on "The Daily Show," doddering oldsters were lured to sign up with the phrase, "Remember, when you have a gun in your hands, they have to listen to your stories"). This is the paradox of waging an unpopular, morally ambiguous war.
What happened to 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Matt Solowynsky at the beginning of this year shows another aspect of the strain. The process of dehumanizing the enemy - the sine qua non of every war in human history, and crushingly obvious when a war grinds on without a clear strategic objective - sooner or later backs up on itself.
Five years into the “war on terror,” it’s still at the core of
American media and politics.
Yeah, I’ve seen the recent polls showing a drop in public support for President Bush’s “war on terror” claims. And I’ve read a spate of commentaries about Bush’s current lack of political traction on the terrorism issue, like the New York Times piece by Frank Rich on Aug. 20 triumphantly proclaiming that “the era of Americans’ fearing fear itself is over.”
That’s a comforting thought, hovering somewhere between complacent and delusional.
Reflexive fear may be on vacation, but it hasn’t quit. The “war on terror” motif is fraying -- but it remains close at hand as a mighty pretext for present and future warfare.
Yeah, I’ve seen the recent polls showing a drop in public support for President Bush’s “war on terror” claims. And I’ve read a spate of commentaries about Bush’s current lack of political traction on the terrorism issue, like the New York Times piece by Frank Rich on Aug. 20 triumphantly proclaiming that “the era of Americans’ fearing fear itself is over.”
That’s a comforting thought, hovering somewhere between complacent and delusional.
Reflexive fear may be on vacation, but it hasn’t quit. The “war on terror” motif is fraying -- but it remains close at hand as a mighty pretext for present and future warfare.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Another bee-you-ti-ful example of the right-wing media getting it all wrong. Here they are having the nerve to mutter in public about "activist judges" because Judge Anna Diggs Taylor has pointed out that spying without a warrant is illegal in this country -- so warrantless telephone tapping is illegal in this country.
Improbably enough, the first complaint of many of these (SET ITAL) soi-disant (END ITAL) legal scholars is that Taylor's decision is not well written. No judicial masterpiece, they sneer. Nevertheless, warrantless spying is illegal. Did it ever occur to these literary critics that Taylor has a lay-down hand? The National Security Agency program is flat unconstitutional, and for those who insist this means Osama bin Laden wins, it's also ridiculously easy to fix so that it is constitutional.
Conservatives in this country have been yipping in chorus for years about "activist judges," and frankly, like fools, many of you bought into the phony political rhetoric about those terrible jurists.
Improbably enough, the first complaint of many of these (SET ITAL) soi-disant (END ITAL) legal scholars is that Taylor's decision is not well written. No judicial masterpiece, they sneer. Nevertheless, warrantless spying is illegal. Did it ever occur to these literary critics that Taylor has a lay-down hand? The National Security Agency program is flat unconstitutional, and for those who insist this means Osama bin Laden wins, it's also ridiculously easy to fix so that it is constitutional.
Conservatives in this country have been yipping in chorus for years about "activist judges," and frankly, like fools, many of you bought into the phony political rhetoric about those terrible jurists.
CORNUCOPIA: Organic livestock farmers may soon have access to additional medicines to treat their animals for common ailments. The USDA’s National Organic Program has proposed rule changes to add thirteen new materials to the “National List” of approved substances for organic producers and is accepting public comments through September 15th.
That $100-a-bottle perfume that inconvenienced passengers tossed into airport trash cans last week, along with the lip gloss, toothpaste and shampoo, added the missing element of home-front sacrifice to the war on terror, which may explain why initial media coverage was so enthusiastic and skepticism-free.
It was a story everyone understood - us vs. them, wise-cracking stoicism, a big jolt of fear - and for a while the nation could return to its pre-quagmire delusions of Pearl Harbor/Good War redux. That's the story the media have tried to cover all along.
And, oh, they keep trying: "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation." That was our president, of course, still reading "The Pet Goat" to the nation, still quoted straight up as he simplifies a complex world for us. The fanatics who hate freedom will even try to detonate our Prell, our Crest, our Fiji Water, our Eau de Toilette.
It was a story everyone understood - us vs. them, wise-cracking stoicism, a big jolt of fear - and for a while the nation could return to its pre-quagmire delusions of Pearl Harbor/Good War redux. That's the story the media have tried to cover all along.
And, oh, they keep trying: "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation." That was our president, of course, still reading "The Pet Goat" to the nation, still quoted straight up as he simplifies a complex world for us. The fanatics who hate freedom will even try to detonate our Prell, our Crest, our Fiji Water, our Eau de Toilette.
Tim Kettler, Green Party candidate for Secretary of State today submitted a complaint with both the Coshocton County Sheriff's department and the Coshocton County Prosecutor alleging misconduct during the 2004 Presidential Vote Recount. Those named in the complaint include the Directors and Members of the Coshocton County Board of Election, as well as Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and at least three of his employees. The complaint also demands the appointment of a special prosecutor and a court order to preserve documents.
"With voter confidence and participation at an all-time low it is imperative that our election officials conduct our elections with transparency and integrity. The Republicans and Democrats presently in control of the process have failed to live up to that responsibility and voters demand accountability for this failure", Kettler said on Wednesday.
Kettler's platform calls for the inclusion of Independents and Third Parties at the local board level and the use of hand counted paper ballots to insure a verifiable record of votes cast.
"With voter confidence and participation at an all-time low it is imperative that our election officials conduct our elections with transparency and integrity. The Republicans and Democrats presently in control of the process have failed to live up to that responsibility and voters demand accountability for this failure", Kettler said on Wednesday.
Kettler's platform calls for the inclusion of Independents and Third Parties at the local board level and the use of hand counted paper ballots to insure a verifiable record of votes cast.
Quite often these days, I feel the sort of ecstatic incredulity that the Goths and the Vandals must have felt in the Fifth Century A.D., rejoicing in the stupidity of the Roman Emperor Theodosius II, a fanatical Christian monophysite and book-burner who presided over the accelerating decline of the Empire, and who eventually died at the age of 49 by tumbling off his horse. The Vandals and Goths didn't anxiously scan the news bulletins from Rome hoping for news of a "better" imperial candidate who would revive the Empire's fortunes and consolidate the iron rule of Rome under the slogan Back to Augustus. Neither should we.
Insulated though they are from reality, one would have thought that Bush and his entourage would have noticed that their military adventure in Iraq has been faring poorly, and possibly even tiptoed toward the conclusion offered earlier by the Vietnam experience that a contest with a determined guerrilla force backed by a supportive population may not necessarily turn out well for the invading party.
Insulated though they are from reality, one would have thought that Bush and his entourage would have noticed that their military adventure in Iraq has been faring poorly, and possibly even tiptoed toward the conclusion offered earlier by the Vietnam experience that a contest with a determined guerrilla force backed by a supportive population may not necessarily turn out well for the invading party.