Globalizing Torture
Amrit Singh, Senior Legal Officer for the Open Society Justice Initiative’s National Security and Counter Terrorism program has just released a exhaustive report on secret detention and extraordinary rendition by the CIA. In an interview she indicated that 54 other nations (more than 25% of all the nations in the world) participated in various aspects [Read More...]
Death Penalty Mistakes & Drone Strikes
Recently it has been irrefutably determined that Carlos DeLuna was innocent of the murder he was accused of committing. He was put to death in Texas in 1989. When one considers the numerous exonerations that have occurred of people on death row, it would be foolish to imagine that this is an isolated incident. How [Read More...]
An Officer & A Gentleman… & A Hero
Some of you may not be aware of a report by Lt. Colonel Daniel Davis, an active duty US Army officer who has had four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan starting in 2005. His latest was a tour in Afghanistan 2010 – 2011. He created 2 reports, one classified and one unclassified. I have read [Read More...]
War Crimes
Remembering the Context of War Crimes: The Crime of War Itself By Camillo “Mac” Bica, posted at TruthOut. One would think that, by now, America would have made the connection between war and atrocity. Or, are we too obsessed with our consumer-driven lifestyles, or too apathetic to even pay attention? Or perhaps we believe the [Read More...]
Winning Hearts & Minds?
We have all heard the euphemism “collateral damage.” To spin the carnage in this way makes the reality of dead women and children more abstract and hence more palatable to the American public. It becomes easier to avoid the fact that in the two acknowledged mideast wars, many more civilians are dead than enemy combatants. [Read More...]
More Bradley Manning Updates
In a DemocracyNow! interview with Daniel Ellsberg (whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers), of Bradley Manning he said, “He’s been effectively punished now, ten-and-a-half months in Quantico in isolation, a kind of torture, according to the U.N. standards and to our own domestic law, that he couldn’t be sentenced to under our amendment to the Bill [Read More...]
Do Private Military Contractors Have Impunity to Torture?
By Laura Raymond Advocacy Program Manager at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Cross posted from Firedoglake. Unbelievably, in 2011 this question has not yet been settled in the courts of the United States. Human rights attorneys are headed back to court in the coming month to argue that, yes, victims of war crimes and [Read More...]
No Logo: Brands, Globalization, Resistance
Free trade is a combined government/corporate construct that promotes an ideal environment for large multi-national companies to maximize profits. It is a system that allows a company that may or may not have begun as a manufacturer of a product to contract with factories, often in developing countries to make the product. This allows a [Read More...]
Vandana Shiva: Understanding the Corporate Takeover
Vandana Shiva is a remarkable individual. She is so articulate about the problems caused by the corporate takeover around the world that the issues become clear. In this video she talks with Laura Flanders of Grit TV about a range of issues such as Monsanto’s despicable activities that result in the loss of biodiversity of [Read More...]
Occupy Wall Street: Official Statement 1
First Official Statement From #OccupyWallStreet Posted: 01 Oct 2011 04:25 PM PDT First Official Statement From #OccupyWallStreet posted at PlutocracyFiles This was unanimously voted on by all members of Occupy Wall Street last night, around 8pm, Sept 29. It is our first official document for release. We have three more underway, that will likely be released [Read More...]
Global Commission On Drug Policy
Our World Report note: You can read the complete UN document here or download the complete report here: UN Commission document as a pdf file. COMMISSIONERS: Asma Jahangir, human rights activist, former UN Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and Summary Executions, Pakistan Carlos Fuentes, writer and public intellectual, Mexico César Gaviria, former President of Colombia [Read More...]
Tim DeChristopher, Where’s the Justice?
Tim DeChristopher was sentenced on Tuesday, July 26th. The only good thing that can be said is the judge didn’t take the prosecution’s recommendations seriously which would have meant 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. Never-the-less, the judge wouldn’t allow testimony that would have shown the land auctions to be illegal. He also [Read More...]
Collateral Murder
U.S. serviceman Ethan McCord talks about his experiences on the ground at the scene of the attack helicopter video released by wikileaks. It is an emotionally charged graphic description of war and what is euphemistically called “collateral damage.” Be forewarned, this video has clips from the original and is disturbing.

Cartoonists For Gun Regulations

Posted by admin

Apr 282013

A video developed by some well-known cartoonists who have joined together to make the case for stricter gun legislation. I liked the thought and was touched by the message but I also recognize that even with 90% of the people wanting even something as simple as universal background checks, the politicians are too beholden to the NRA and gun manufacturers to pass anything meaningful. It's a sad commentary of the political realities of today. Maybe this will act as a wake up call that makes clear who our "representatives" see as their true constituents.

Justice Denied: The Iraq Invasion

Posted by admin

Mar 272013

Most people believe or at least suspect that Bush, Cheney, Rice, and Rumsfeld lied us into the war with Iraq. They all share in the responsibility for thousands of deaths of U.S. military personnel and hundreds of thousands of (some believable estimates as high as 1.2 million) Iraqi people. If it can be shown that they acted in good faith, it becomes only a horrific accident, a misjudgement of epic proportions. To this end, they all claim that they are not culpable because they were fooled by faulty intelligence reports (Cheney has said that even so, he would do it again in a minute). On the other hand, if it can be proved that they purposefully misled the American people and the Congress of the United States, it becomes an entirely different matter. It would and should be considered a crime of epic proportions.

Globalizing Torture

Posted by admin

Feb 082013

Amrit Singh, Senior Legal Officer for the Open Society Justice Initiative’s National Security and Counter Terrorism program has just released a exhaustive report on secret detention and extraordinary rendition by the CIA. In an interview she indicated that 54 other nations (more than 25% of all the nations in the world) participated in various aspects of the secret program.

Child Victims

Posted by admin

Jan 272013

President Obama made an eloquent and heartfelt speech at the prayer vigil for the people who were killed in Connecticut. The fact that the majority of victims were very young children seems to have broken peoples' hearts more than any of the other recent school shootings. I have to ask, does a 6 year old actually have greater intrinsic value than a 14 year old high school student or a promising young adult university student?

People are so affected that gun control is actually being seriously discussed. At least in regards to a ban on military equivalent assault weapons, high capacity clips, and the so-called gun show loophole. Approximately 40% of the guns purchased are sold without background checks. Calling it a loophole makes light of the gaping highway to unrestricted gun ownership. Even some prominent Republicans who previously were against such measures have changed their position.

The prospects of serious gun legislation appears greater than at any time since the 10 years of the assault rifle ban expired in 2004. Maybe it was the deaths of 20 children that was the magic number to get the President to decide that enough is enough. That it must stop.

Shameful Treatment of Whistleblowers

Posted by admin

Jan 232013

President Obama has opposed waterboarding as torture since the 2008 campaign – so why is he sending the man who helped end that practice to prison?

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who helped expose the Bush administration's torture program, recently plead guilty to sharing the name of a colleague to journalists to use as a source. He is expected to receive a sentence of 30 months in prison.¹

It's a cruel irony that the first agent connected to the CIA torture program to go to prison is the whistleblower who spoke out against the heinous practices of our government. From Bradley Manning to Aaron Swartz to John Kiriakou, the government's pattern of overzealously prosecuting activists and whistleblowers has ruined too many lives already. If President Obama wants to show he opposes torture and supports government transparency he should pardon Kiriakou immediately.

Tell President Obama to pardon CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou.

Click here to read and sign the petition

Judge Rules On Abuse In Manning Case

Posted by admin

Jan 102013

I was probably being naive but I held out hope for something positive to happen in Bradley Manning’s legal proceedings. Not that the judge didn’t acknowledge that the military had made mistakes and acted against Navy Rules. She indicated that it “became excessive in relation to legitimate government interests.” However, Judge Lind ruled that 23 hours a day with no human contact wasn’t actually solitary confinement because Bradley could see a portion of the hallway from his cell. This determination identified only 112 days that could be considered abusive.

Gaza Youth

Posted by admin

Nov 282012

This post is a simple letter (the writers call it a manifesto). It is a very powerful statement about life in the Gaza strip for the people in general and specifically for young adults. It was written by a group calling themselves Gaza Youth. They can’t openly meet or be named as a participant. If you have been so indoctrinated into the idea of Israel being blameless that you can’t sense the truth about the hopelessness the authors feels and react with compassion, then I recommend some serious soul searching. See what you think and leave a comment.

GAZAN YOUTH’S MANIFESTO FOR CHANGE

Fuck Hamas. Fuck Israel. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA! We, the youth in Gaza, are so fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights and the indifference of the international community! We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice and indifference like the Israeli F16’s breaking the wall of sound; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of this fucking situation we live in; we are like lice between two nails living a nightmare inside a nightmare, no room for hope, no space for freedom. We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone because they are taking care of their lands; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, Continue reading »

What A Choice

Posted by admin

Nov 042012

I voted my conscience in 2008 and am greatly disappointed. I know about the good Obama’s done & the obstructionist congress. But that doesn’t excuse the surveillance state Obama has created, signing the PATRIOT Act without change as well as the NDAA, (which codified the demise of habeus corpus), and most of all the immoral murders by drone he controls, I can’t bring myself to vote for him again. It would make me complicit with things I find morally repugnant. The truth is I hope Obama wins but if there is enough support for Jill Stein, Obama may be more inclined to behave more in line with her views on climate change, the Keystone Pipeline, health care and what is truly in the best interests of the American people. One can always hope.

A Compelling Need For The Right To Choose

Posted by admin

Sep 152012

It’s not possible that a sane and compassionate person could deny a victim of rape an abortion. Any person who would, is neither sane or compassionate. I won’t dignify the notion as some have suggested of a magical protective force which keeps women from getting pregnant from rape, except to say that each year approximately 30,000 women do get pregnant from being raped.

A Statement About Bradley Manning

Posted by admin

Aug 102012

By the Bradley Manning Support Network Steering Committee. August 3, 2012.

The Bradley Manning Support Network is singularly devoted to freeing heroic whistle-blower PFC Bradley Manning and countering the military’s secretive and aggressive efforts to lock him in jail for life. We’re exceptionally proud to have accepted the responsibility of ensuring Bradley gets the fully funded legal defense of his choosing.

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