Global
Only a couple of weeks ago, as the nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful “I Have a Dream” speech, I was reminded of the Rev. King’s last birthday, in January 1968.
He combined it with work — a staff meeting, planning for the multiracial Poor People’s March, where we made plans to occupy the National Mall. He spoke to us of the need to march to demand an end to the War in Vietnam and to push for a full commitment to the War on Poverty.
This week — four-and-a-half decades later — the U.S. Census Bureau reported that “the nation’s official poverty rate in 2012 was 15.0 percent, which represents 46.5 million people living at or below the poverty line.” That’s up from 46.2 million in 2011, and translates to a poverty rate of 15 percent — one out of every seven Americans. The Census Bureau says that number includes about 16 million children and almost 4 million seniors. Is anybody listening?
He combined it with work — a staff meeting, planning for the multiracial Poor People’s March, where we made plans to occupy the National Mall. He spoke to us of the need to march to demand an end to the War in Vietnam and to push for a full commitment to the War on Poverty.
This week — four-and-a-half decades later — the U.S. Census Bureau reported that “the nation’s official poverty rate in 2012 was 15.0 percent, which represents 46.5 million people living at or below the poverty line.” That’s up from 46.2 million in 2011, and translates to a poverty rate of 15 percent — one out of every seven Americans. The Census Bureau says that number includes about 16 million children and almost 4 million seniors. Is anybody listening?
Remarks on September 21, 2013, at the Nashville Festival for Peace, Prosperity, and Planet.
Thank you to Elizabeth Barger and the Nashville Peace and Justice Center and to all of you, and happy International Day of Peace!
From a certain angle it doesn't look like a happy day of peace. The U.S. government is engaged in a major war in Afghanistan, dramatically escalated by the current U.S. president, who has been bizarrely given credit for ending it for so long now that a lot of people imagine it is ended.
Thank you to Elizabeth Barger and the Nashville Peace and Justice Center and to all of you, and happy International Day of Peace!
From a certain angle it doesn't look like a happy day of peace. The U.S. government is engaged in a major war in Afghanistan, dramatically escalated by the current U.S. president, who has been bizarrely given credit for ending it for so long now that a lot of people imagine it is ended.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Rich or poor, king or commoner, when some
Buddhists and Hindus die their funeral can include bending the corpse
into an upright fetal position, or burying the body and later burning
the bones in a "double funeral".
Buddhists and Hindus hope to ensure the best possible reincarnation, and eventually escape the cycle of rebirth to achieve nirvana.
Many of Cambodia's traditional rites appeared during week-long ceremonies in the capital, Phnom Penh, when former king Norodom Sihanouk was cremated in February.
Sihanouk was entitled to have an elaborate royal cremation, but had indicated preference for a simpler, albeit relatively grandiose, funeral.
"Before King Sihanouk, the body of a [previous] deceased king, with the help of [cotton] strings, was put in the position of 'a fetus in the mother's womb' and the body was put in a big urn," said Ang Choulean, a professor at the faculty of archeology in the prestigious Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.
Buddhists and Hindus hope to ensure the best possible reincarnation, and eventually escape the cycle of rebirth to achieve nirvana.
Many of Cambodia's traditional rites appeared during week-long ceremonies in the capital, Phnom Penh, when former king Norodom Sihanouk was cremated in February.
Sihanouk was entitled to have an elaborate royal cremation, but had indicated preference for a simpler, albeit relatively grandiose, funeral.
"Before King Sihanouk, the body of a [previous] deceased king, with the help of [cotton] strings, was put in the position of 'a fetus in the mother's womb' and the body was put in a big urn," said Ang Choulean, a professor at the faculty of archeology in the prestigious Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.
In an outrageous affirmation of “he said, she said” journalism, NBC News’s chief White House correspondent and MSNBC host Chuck Todd said that it’s not the media’s job to report the facts or debunk right-wing spin about Obamacare.
Sign the petition to tell Chuck Todd: Journalists are not stenographers. The news media should report the facts.
On “Morning Joe," Todd made the following remark about Americans’ perceptions about Obamacare:
"But more importantly, [Americans would repeat] stuff that Republicans have successfully messaged against [Obamacare.] They don't repeat the other stuff because they haven't even heard the Democratic message. What I always love is people say, 'Well, it's you folks' fault in the media.' No, it's the President of the United States' fault for not selling it."
Chuck Todd seems to think that “reporting the news” is nothing more than “Democrat said X, Republican said Y.”
The news media is supposed to separate truth from spin and report the facts to the American people.
Sign the petition to tell Chuck Todd: Journalists are not stenographers. The news media should report the facts.
On “Morning Joe," Todd made the following remark about Americans’ perceptions about Obamacare:
"But more importantly, [Americans would repeat] stuff that Republicans have successfully messaged against [Obamacare.] They don't repeat the other stuff because they haven't even heard the Democratic message. What I always love is people say, 'Well, it's you folks' fault in the media.' No, it's the President of the United States' fault for not selling it."
Chuck Todd seems to think that “reporting the news” is nothing more than “Democrat said X, Republican said Y.”
The news media is supposed to separate truth from spin and report the facts to the American people.
Last week, the comic industry celebrated the release of the opening chapters of Forever Evil, DC's newest event, and Battle of the Atom, the latest X-Men crossover, as well as the second chapter of Infinity, Marvel's other big event. Luckily, we’re here to help sort out which comics are great, which are okay and which are worth passing.
Forever Evil
You'll like this book if: You like Geoff Johns events.
You'll dislike this book if: You want resolution from DC's last big event, Trinity War.
Tell me if you've read this Geoff Johns event before. We start off with a protagonist being affected by a cataclysmic, worldwide threat, before panning out to show how the rest of the world reacts. By the end, a hero is sacrificed in the opening issue to show how bad the villains are. It's how Johns opened Infinite Crisis, it's how he opened Blackest Night and it’s how he’s opened Forever Evil.
Image
Twice a year Veterans Memorial here in Columbus becomes Memory Lane, a place where you can find every toy you ever owned, every beloved action figure you ever destroyed or your mom ever threw out because you were “too old” or, worst of all, the wrong gender. Now, thanks to the Columbus Toy Show (CTS), you can own them all over again.
We are now within two months of what may be humankind’s most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
There is no excuse for not acting. All the resources our species can muster must be focussed on the fuel pool at Fukushima Unit 4.
Fukushima’s owner, Tokyo Electric (Tepco), says that within as few as 60 days it may begin trying to remove more than 1300 spent fuel rods from a badly damaged pool perched 100 feet in the air. The pool rests on a badly damaged building that is tilting, sinking and could easily come down in the next earthquake, if not on its own.
Some 400 tons of fuel in that pool could spew out more than 15,000 times as much radiation as was released at Hiroshima.
The one thing certain about this crisis is that Tepco does not have the scientific, engineering or financial resources to handle it. Nor does the Japanese government. The situation demands a coordinated worldwide effort of the best scientists and engineers our species can muster.
Why is this so serious?
There is no excuse for not acting. All the resources our species can muster must be focussed on the fuel pool at Fukushima Unit 4.
Fukushima’s owner, Tokyo Electric (Tepco), says that within as few as 60 days it may begin trying to remove more than 1300 spent fuel rods from a badly damaged pool perched 100 feet in the air. The pool rests on a badly damaged building that is tilting, sinking and could easily come down in the next earthquake, if not on its own.
Some 400 tons of fuel in that pool could spew out more than 15,000 times as much radiation as was released at Hiroshima.
The one thing certain about this crisis is that Tepco does not have the scientific, engineering or financial resources to handle it. Nor does the Japanese government. The situation demands a coordinated worldwide effort of the best scientists and engineers our species can muster.
Why is this so serious?
“Imagine if we sent 5,000 well-trained nonviolent peacekeepers from throughout the world to protect civilians and work with local civil society in building the peace."
Indeed, imagine if we knew that doing this was an option.
Mel Duncan, cofounder of an organization called Nonviolent Peaceforce [2], was talking about Syria, the country we almost bombed and maybe still will. In lieu of tossing godlike lightning bolts at Bashar al-Assad, “The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration,” the WashingtonPost [3] reported last week.
“The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear — a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war.”
Indeed, imagine if we knew that doing this was an option.
Mel Duncan, cofounder of an organization called Nonviolent Peaceforce [2], was talking about Syria, the country we almost bombed and maybe still will. In lieu of tossing godlike lightning bolts at Bashar al-Assad, “The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration,” the WashingtonPost [3] reported last week.
“The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear — a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria’s civil war.”
Now that public pressure has foiled U.S. plans to bomb Syria, the next urgent step is to build public pressure for stopping the deluge of weapons into that country.
Top officials in Washington are happy that American “lethal aid” has begun to flow into Syria, and they act as though such arms shipments are unstoppable. In a similar way, just a few short weeks ago, they -- and the conventional wisdom -- insisted that U.S. missile strikes on Syria were imminent and inevitable.
But public opinion, when activated, can screw up the best-laid plans of war-makers. And political conditions are now ripe for cutting off the flow of weaponry to Syria -- again giving new meaning to the adage that “when the people lead, the leaders will follow.”
Top officials in Washington are happy that American “lethal aid” has begun to flow into Syria, and they act as though such arms shipments are unstoppable. In a similar way, just a few short weeks ago, they -- and the conventional wisdom -- insisted that U.S. missile strikes on Syria were imminent and inevitable.
But public opinion, when activated, can screw up the best-laid plans of war-makers. And political conditions are now ripe for cutting off the flow of weaponry to Syria -- again giving new meaning to the adage that “when the people lead, the leaders will follow.”
