By David Swanson
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What to Do About the Torturers?By David ColeNew York Review of Books Volume 56, Number 1 . January 15, 2009http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22232Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values by Philippe SandsPalgrave Macmillan, 254 pp., $26.95 The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld: A Prosecution by Book by Michael Ratner and the Center for Constitutional Rights [...]
Remembering Voices of Resistanceby Amy Goodmanhttp://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/430297Distributed by Common Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/02-7Strong voices for peace have left us this year, people who used their art for social change, often at a high personal price.Odetta was a legendary folk singer of the civil rights movement.Considered the "Queen of American Folk Music," Odetta introduced audiences worldwide to African-American folk, blues and gospel music. [...]
Destroying Gaza, Delaying PalestineBashir Abu-MannehT h e B u l l e t A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 174 ... January 4, 2009
Greening Portugal:Mega Solar Power Plant Begins to OperateBy Mario de Queiroz Inter Press Service News Agency January 4, 2009http://progressivesforobama.net/wp-content/uploads/2009 /01/solar-portugal-moura.jpg>AMARELEJA, PortugalThe most ambitious and innovative solar power project in the world kicked off Monday in this white-walled village in the southern Portuguese municipality of Moura, one of the most impoverished areas in the European Union. [...]
Molten LeadUri Avnery's Column1/03/09http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1230937462JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT, Aljazeera’s Arabic channel was reporting on events in Gaza. Suddenly the camera was pointing upwards towards the dark sky. The screen was pitch black. Nothing could be seen, but there was a sound to be heard: the noise of airplanes, a frightening, a terrifying droning. [...]
For the Blind, Technology Does What A Guide Dog Can'tBy Miguel HelftNew York Times January 3, 2009http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/business/04blind.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=allT. V. Raman was a bookish child who developed a love of math and puzzles at an early age.That passion didn't change after glaucoma took his eyesight at the age of 14. What changed is the role that technology - and his own innovations - played in helping him pursue his interests. [...]
Sri Lanka Faces A Grim New Year Seizing Kilinochchi was done at a fearful human cost - comparisons with Gaza are not amissJonathan SteeleGuardian Friday 2 January 2009 16.30 GMThttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/02/srilanka-kilinochchi-tamil-tigersThe loss of Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka's capital, is a major blow to the Tamil Tiger movement fighting for autonomy in the Sinhalese-dominated country. But the army's success in capturing the town yesterday does not mark the death of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). [...]
Did a Comet Hit Earth 12,000 Years Ago? Nanodiamonds found across North America suggest that major climate change could have been cosmically instigatedBy David BielloScientific American January 2, 2009http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=did-a-comet-hit-earth-12900-years-ago
Smithsonian Notable Books For Children 2008 Surprising, inspiring and outstanding titles for youngsters and the grownups that read to themBy Kathleen BurkeSmithsonian.com December 19, 2008http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Smithsonian-Notable-Books-For-Children-2008.html
The Number-Cruncher-in-Chief When it comes to major policy reforms, cost matters. Luckily, Obama's budget guru knows how to change the price tag.Ezra Klein The American ProspectDecember 15, 2008 http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=numbercruncherinchief
After five days of citizen voting at President-elect Obama's Change.gov website, the top-ranked question seeks a non-partisan Special Prosecutor to investigate the crimes of the Bush Administration:
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WHAT: A long column of figures dressed all in black with white death masks and bearing the names of those killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine. The march will be followed by a dramatic nonviolent action intended to awaken Congress to the need to end the wars.
WHEN: March from noon to 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. Additional dramatic action 2:15 p.m.
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Thousands Protest in Europe at Gaza OffensiveBy Adrian Croft Adrian Reuters January 3, 2008http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_palestinians_israel_protestsLONDONThousands of chanting, banner-waving demonstrators marched in cities across Europe on Saturday to demand a halt to Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip.Protests were held in Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey as the Israeli offensive entered its second week, and before Israel confirmed ground forces had entered Gaza. [...]
REWIND - A Week of Quotes & CartoonsSUNDAYQuote of the Day December 28, 2008'The dozens of wage-and-hour suits against Wal-Mart accused the company and its managers of various illegal tactics. Those included forcing employees to work unpaid off the clock, erasing hours from time cards and preventing workers from taking lunch and other breaks that were promised by the company or guaranteed by state laws. [...]
A Trillion Dollar RecoveryBy: Katrina vanden Heuvel The Nation December 31, 2009http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/392672/a_trillion_dollar_recovery?rel=hp_picks
End The Slaughter in Gaza NowStatement of National Executive Committee, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and SocialismDecember 30, 2008
Stars Call for Ceasefire in GazaCampaigners including Annie Lennox and Alexei Sayle voiced their concernsBBC January 2, 2008http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7808231.stm[Video:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7808005.stm]Singer Annie Lennox has joined high-profile campaigners to call for an end to Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip.At a news conference in London, she said TV footage of the attacks, which have killed more than 400 people, had left her "shaken to the core". [...]
America's Hidden Role in Hamas's Rise to PowerBy Stephen Zunes, AlterNet January 3, 2009http://www.alternet.org/audits/116855/?page=3No one in the mainstream media or government is willing to acknowledge America's sordid role interfering in Palestinian politics.The United States bears much of the blame for the ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza Strip and nearby parts of Israel. Indeed, were it not for misguided Israeli and American policies, Hamas would not be in control of the territory in the first place. [...]
By David Swanson
"It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners."
— Albert Camus
Washington Post editorial writer Ruth Marcus has joined the side of the executioners and provided a clear example of how that is respectably done in our time and place.
Her recent column begins:
"Should Bush administration officials be put on trial for crimes such as authorizing torture?"
