International

I may be wrong, but I think Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize because the selection committee was feeling as soul sick as I do at the ebbing of humanity’s great opportunity to corral global militarism and fundamentally reprioritize.

Obama’s election last year rode on global aspirations for — at the very least — a saner world, a humanizing of the values around which nations organize themselves. He fused, or so several billion people believed, the peace, civil rights and environmental movements of the last half century with the realpolitik of presidential elections, and made impossible dreams begin to flicker in the real world.

“If you look at the history of the Peace Prize, we have on many occasions given it to try to enhance what many personalities were trying to do,” said Thorbjorn Jagland, the committee chairman, adding ominously: “It could be too late to respond three years from now.”

Over forty-five members of CMAGE/CWA Local 4502 flooded the Columbus City Council Session last Monday night, October 19th 2009. The Union represents workers from all departments of the City of Columbus, including the Columbus Police and Fire Departments and Parks and Recreation, and includes professional and technical staff and supervisors.

Brian Bellous, President of Local 4502, gave a short presentation to City Council on the collective bargaining contract currently being negotiated between the Union and the City.

According to Bellous, members of CMAGE/CWA Local 4502 have not received a wage increase since August 2007, while other workers received raises in 2008 and 2009. In 2008 the Mayor and his staff, City Council, Firefighters, and AFSCME staff all received a 3% raise. In 2009 firefighters received an additional 4% raise, and AFSCME received a 3% raise, while CWA members got nothing.

Some military coups are still done the old-fashioned way. Tanks surround the capital, generals grab the radio station, the slaughter begins.

Here our the Declaration of Independence scorned King George III for elevating his army over the colonial legislatures. The Founders opposed a standing army. Our first Commander George Washington warned against military entanglements. So did Dwight Eisenhower nearly two centuries later. These "quaint" monuments to civilian rule form the core of our constitutional culture.

So when the Pentagon wants to trash inconvenient opposition and escalate yet another war, it seeks subtler means. For example the "virtual coup" now being staged in league with the New York Times, aimed at plunging us catastrophically deeper into Afghanistan.

It's how they drove us into the abyss in Vietnam and Iraq. It demands we decide who will rule---the Pentagon, or the public.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Newly obtained documents, prepared by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), portray an elaborate sting operation to capture alleged weapons trafficker Viktor Bout in Bangkok, and America's current appeal to extradite him to New York.

But the documents, made public on Tuesday (October 14), do not confirm that Mr. Bout had access to the weapons, or where the arms and ammunition were located.

Mr. Bout, a Russian citizen, has been dubbed "The Merchant of Death" for his long years as an alleged international weapons dealer involved in illegal and legal transfers.

The U.S. indictment said when Mr. Bout was in Bangkok last year, he "agreed to provide the FARC [Colombian rebels] with millions of dollars worth of weapons to be used, among other things, to kill nationals of the United States in Colombia" who are "officers and employees of the United States" on "official duties."

U.S. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said in Bangkok on Tuesday (October 13) that he told Thai officials Mr. Bout "stands charged with extremely serious crimes against Americans."

No one likes being caught in traffic. No one likes being stuck in the same spot and moving five feet at a time for hours. Could you imagine if there were no cars and the only movement going on would be you from one place as a slave to another place as a slave? That would basically be no movement at all. Many women are victims of human trafficking. Many of these women are taken off of the street and away from their families from ages as early as thirteen.

As terrible as these heinous crimes are, there is hope. There are many programs and organizations dedicated to the rehabilitation and protection of human trafficking victims.

“Rahab’s Hideaway” is one of those roganizations Denise Robertson, is one of the managers who is deeply involved and attached to the program. Ms. Robertson described the targeted age group” as eighteen to twenty-five, because they are mostly at a fork in the road.”

A Muslim writer begins an article with, 'who says the campaign for animal rights was started in the West ..' She goes on to argue that Islam provided the original treatise on the humane treatment of animals. Her case was poorly constructed, inadequately executed, although the essence of her idea was to a degree, accurate. Islamic tradition has indeed laid a foundation, with clear boundaries regarding the humane treatment of animals.

But why did the author, like so many others, choose to turn what should have been a constructive argument, into a diatribe? Was it necessary to charge Western discourses, resorting to the ever predictable classification of “us and them”, instead of trying to find a common cause?

The same point can be made regarding other discussions, whether pertaining to human rights (women’s rights in particular), the environment, labor rights, and many others.

In her defense, Amirah Sulaiman was simply following an existing pattern, commonly used to delineate one’s cultural or religious progression, at the expense of another.

Did you know that being a woman is increasingly considered a "pre-existing condition" by health insurance companies? No, we're not kidding. Perhaps the most underreported practice of discrimination in our health care system is that women are regularly denied coverage for "pre-existing conditions" that include pregnancy, a previous C-Section, or being a victim of past domestic abuse.

Tell Congress to stop discriminatory health care practices today

Even when women do get coverage, it isn't cheap. More than 90 percent of the best-selling insurance plans charge women more than men, in some cases charging as much as 48 percent more for the same coverage. These pricey plans don't even include maternity care, vital reproductive health coverage which is nearly impossible to find on the private insurance market.