Global
The government shutdown engineered by the Republican tea party zealots in the House of Representatives is headed into its third week. The damage is spreading. Infants go without nutrition. Children are locked out of pre-school programs. Scientists are losing support and locking up labs.
The people taking the biggest hit, of course, are public employees — the workers who serve the American people. Some 800,000 of them were initially furloughed without pay. Ironically, those deemed the most essential are paying the highest price.
“Essential” government employees are now, as Jeffrey David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, told me on my radio show, essentially “indentured servants.” They’re forced to work without pay. About half of AFGE’s 670,000 members are deemed “essential.” They are required to work, and face disciplinary action if they don’t. But they aren’t getting paid and won’t be until the shutdown ends and Congress decides to vote them retroactive pay.
The people taking the biggest hit, of course, are public employees — the workers who serve the American people. Some 800,000 of them were initially furloughed without pay. Ironically, those deemed the most essential are paying the highest price.
“Essential” government employees are now, as Jeffrey David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, told me on my radio show, essentially “indentured servants.” They’re forced to work without pay. About half of AFGE’s 670,000 members are deemed “essential.” They are required to work, and face disciplinary action if they don’t. But they aren’t getting paid and won’t be until the shutdown ends and Congress decides to vote them retroactive pay.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Saudi Arabian court sentenced four men to
prison for up to 10 years, plus up to 2,000 lashes with a whip, after
they were convicted in what the local media dubbed as the "naked
dancing" case, Al-Sharq newspaper reported.
The four were charged with "dancing on a vehicle in public and posting a video online, encouraging vice, defying norms of the society, and violating public morals," Arabic-language Al-Sharq reported on Oct. 3, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"In a video posted on YouTube, several men appear dancing atop a vehicle in the ultra-conservative province of Qassim. None seemed naked," AFP said.
According to a Google translation of Al-Sharq's website, the men's performance included "dancing and striptease".
The court in Buraydah, Qassim's provincial capital, sentenced one defendant to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes, and another man to seven years in prison plus 1,200 lashes.
Each of the other two men were jailed for three years and 500 lashes.
The four were charged with "dancing on a vehicle in public and posting a video online, encouraging vice, defying norms of the society, and violating public morals," Arabic-language Al-Sharq reported on Oct. 3, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"In a video posted on YouTube, several men appear dancing atop a vehicle in the ultra-conservative province of Qassim. None seemed naked," AFP said.
According to a Google translation of Al-Sharq's website, the men's performance included "dancing and striptease".
The court in Buraydah, Qassim's provincial capital, sentenced one defendant to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes, and another man to seven years in prison plus 1,200 lashes.
Each of the other two men were jailed for three years and 500 lashes.
This article is excerpted from the new book War No More: The Case for Abolition.
In the late eighteenth century the majority of people alive on earth were held in slavery or serfdom (three-quarters of the earth's population, in fact, according to the Encyclopedia of Human Rights from Oxford University Press). The idea of abolishing something so pervasive and long-lasting as slavery was widely considered ridiculous. Slavery had always been with us and always would be. One couldn't wish it away with naive sentiments or ignore the mandates of our human nature, unpleasant though they might be. Religion and science and history and economics all purported to prove slavery's permanence, acceptability, and even desirability. Slavery's existence in the Christian Bible justified it in the eyes of many. In Ephesians 6:5 St. Paul instructed slaves to obey their earthly masters as they obeyed Christ.
In the late eighteenth century the majority of people alive on earth were held in slavery or serfdom (three-quarters of the earth's population, in fact, according to the Encyclopedia of Human Rights from Oxford University Press). The idea of abolishing something so pervasive and long-lasting as slavery was widely considered ridiculous. Slavery had always been with us and always would be. One couldn't wish it away with naive sentiments or ignore the mandates of our human nature, unpleasant though they might be. Religion and science and history and economics all purported to prove slavery's permanence, acceptability, and even desirability. Slavery's existence in the Christian Bible justified it in the eyes of many. In Ephesians 6:5 St. Paul instructed slaves to obey their earthly masters as they obeyed Christ.
National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden, from his asylum in Russia, accepted an award on Wednesday from a group of former U.S. intelligence officials expressing support for his decision to divulge secrets about the NSA's electronic surveillance of Americans and people around the globe.
The award, named in honor of the late CIA analyst Sam Adams, was presented to Snowden at a ceremony in Moscow by previous recipients of the award bestowed by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII). The presenters included former FBI agent Coleen Rowley, former NSA official Thomas Drake, and former Justice Department official Jesselyn Radack, now with the Government Accountability Project. (Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern also took part.)
The award, named in honor of the late CIA analyst Sam Adams, was presented to Snowden at a ceremony in Moscow by previous recipients of the award bestowed by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII). The presenters included former FBI agent Coleen Rowley, former NSA official Thomas Drake, and former Justice Department official Jesselyn Radack, now with the Government Accountability Project. (Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern also took part.)
Although I am an adoptee rights activist I seldom read adoption books outside of topics I have a specific interest in. I almost always avoid memoirs. To be honest, most are awful. It may be good therapy to write your adoption story, but please leave it in your desk drawer!
Michael Allen Potter's The Last Invisible Continent: Essays on Adoption and Identity is quite a different story. I've been familiar with Mike's work for several years. I knew this book (currently on Kindle) would be important.
Unlike the typical weepy adoption memoir this one is hard and gritty. It's of the street, but also of the heart. Mike doesn't pull any punches about his mother's mental illness, his battle with alcohol, or his rotten adoption, which he discusses almost in passing, though it it obviously the core of his essays. He calls his work "brutal yet equatable.”
Michael Allen Potter's The Last Invisible Continent: Essays on Adoption and Identity is quite a different story. I've been familiar with Mike's work for several years. I knew this book (currently on Kindle) would be important.
Unlike the typical weepy adoption memoir this one is hard and gritty. It's of the street, but also of the heart. Mike doesn't pull any punches about his mother's mental illness, his battle with alcohol, or his rotten adoption, which he discusses almost in passing, though it it obviously the core of his essays. He calls his work "brutal yet equatable.”
In an effort to resuscitate its diminished reputation, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee made an intriguing decision this year and delivered the award to an organization in the middle of Syria’s debacle. Although certain recipients of the prize in recent years have caused the award to lose both esteem and meaning among the international community, this year’s designation may prompt a tilt in that trend.
Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Peace Prize in 2009 perhaps did the most damage to the award in modern history. While his achievements at the time were solely rhetorical, President Obama would forever have to enact meaningful policies as a Nobel Peace laureate. When the President decided to move ahead with the troop surge in Afghanistan, for example, he did so as a man of peace. Rendering the Peace Prize either contradictory or moot, Obama is undoubtedly a blemish on the Nobel Committee’s record.
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“A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale.”
The Welcome to Night Vale podcast is like A Prairie Home Companion from a place where every supernatural theory and government conspiracy is horribly and yet mundanely real. The podcast, unusual for being a dramatic fictional production rather than just a couple people conversing into recording software, is done in the format of a radio show: From Night Vale Community Radio, our host Cecil gives the sort of general news and community information you'd hear on any little talk radio station in small-town America.
But it's clear right from the beginning that something is horribly wrong in this little desert town. Cecil tells us in his matter-of-fact way about the new dog park that's opened in town, which is populated by “hooded figures” and no one is to enter or even speak of it under any circumstances. There's a man named Hiram McDaniels who is wanted by the Sheriff’s Secret Police on suspicion of insurance fraud. Wait, did I say man? I mean five-headed dragon. And it looks like he wants to run for mayor!
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Andrew Rickly doesn’t remember having that driving ambition to compete in the Olympics when he was growing up. However, the Lewis Center resident has been working to put his name on the short list for the U.S. men’s gymnastics team.
Rickly was one of the seven gymnasts and the only Ohio native to qualify for the U.S. Senior Development team after a solid performance at the P&G Championships Aug. 15-18 in Hartford, Conn. The Worthington Christian graduate and Ohio State freshman placed second in the all around with 163.6 points behind Dmitri Belanovski (164.8).
“It’s been a dream in development,” Rickly says. “Early on I would’ve never seen that in my future. I just did gymnastics because I enjoyed it. But hard work and great coaching has taken me further than I thought I could go. That (dream of making the Olympic team) keeps me pushing harder and harder every day.”
At the P&G Championships, Rickly was first on the high bar, scoring a 13.95 on the first day and a 14.2 on the second day to score 28.15 points and finish ahead of the University of Illinois’ Chandler Eggleston (27.45).
In an agony of stupidity, the government shuts down.
Only some of it shuts down, of course. The part that stays open is the part that’s at war. “Those of you in uniform will remain on your normal duty status,” the president said. “The threats to our national security have not changed, and we need you to be ready for any contingency. Ongoing military operations, like our efforts in Afghanistan, will continue.”
As I once observed, there’s no such thing as a relaxed nation. It can shut down what it does right, if clumsily, like feeding people, educating them and helping them through difficulty, but it will only shut down its predatory sense of identity in a state of total defeat by a bigger predator. Not letting that happen is its endless obsession.
This is the sly, primitive, irrational part of government: its reptile-brain function. That’s still in full operation. We’re continuing to raid, bomb and terrorize Fourth World countries and pointlessly harvest global metadata. We’re still “completing our mission” in Afghanistan. We’re just phasing out the government functions that have value. Perhaps what we should talk about is a rationality shutdown.
Only some of it shuts down, of course. The part that stays open is the part that’s at war. “Those of you in uniform will remain on your normal duty status,” the president said. “The threats to our national security have not changed, and we need you to be ready for any contingency. Ongoing military operations, like our efforts in Afghanistan, will continue.”
As I once observed, there’s no such thing as a relaxed nation. It can shut down what it does right, if clumsily, like feeding people, educating them and helping them through difficulty, but it will only shut down its predatory sense of identity in a state of total defeat by a bigger predator. Not letting that happen is its endless obsession.
This is the sly, primitive, irrational part of government: its reptile-brain function. That’s still in full operation. We’re continuing to raid, bomb and terrorize Fourth World countries and pointlessly harvest global metadata. We’re still “completing our mission” in Afghanistan. We’re just phasing out the government functions that have value. Perhaps what we should talk about is a rationality shutdown.
This article is the Introduction to the new book War No More: The Case for Abolition, published in October 2013.
As I write this, in September 2013, something extraordinary has just happened. Public pressure has led the British Parliament to refuse a prime minister's demand for war for the first time since the surrender at Yorktown, and the U.S. Congress has followed suit by making clear to the U.S. president that his proposed authorization for war on Syria would not pass through either the Senate or the House.
As I write this, in September 2013, something extraordinary has just happened. Public pressure has led the British Parliament to refuse a prime minister's demand for war for the first time since the surrender at Yorktown, and the U.S. Congress has followed suit by making clear to the U.S. president that his proposed authorization for war on Syria would not pass through either the Senate or the House.