Netroots Nation: Roll Call & A Suggestion for Organizers
Earlier today, Brainwrap put up a diary sadly announcing that s/he would be unable to use the registration that had been purchased for Netroots Nation, and wanted to sell it to someone at the...
View ArticleUS Cmdr in Iraq: Human Rights Law Doesn't Apply
I'm in kind of a cranky mood. I don't have much to say about this article, and I'm sure many of you have already read it: Iraqi court rulings stop at U.S. detention sites. BushCo are masters at trying...
View ArticleFBI Ordered to Shut Down GTMO "War Crimes" File
(h/t to GreyHawk for pointing to this story. GH's post at epluribus media.) Yes, the FBI kept a "War Crimes" file about GTMO. So reports the NY Times in Report Details Dissent on Guantánamo Tactics:...
View ArticleBushCo to EU: Just Trust Us
A Saturday morning quickie. Just read this article in the International Herald Tribune: U.S. and EU near deal on sharing data and thought in light of the FISA news here, it might be of particular...
View ArticleAbu Ghraib Detainees Sue U.S. Contractors for Torture
The call for justice should never cease. While we hold slim hope of justice being done and BushCo and all the participants in the torture policy being held accountable, the call for justice should...
View ArticleAnother Middle Way
He is moving to the center, so they say. The pragmatists, so-called, recognize a strategic need for this move to the middle and, trusting Obama, applaud it; the purists so-called, wonder what we're...
View ArticleThe Abortion "Flap": Everyone is Missing the Point
Obama swung to the right! No, he didn't! Blah blah blah blah blah. Obama has the same opinion has Feingold! Great! No. Bad. They're both wrong. Here's the real point: The passage of the so-called...
View ArticlePresident of Sudan to Be Charged With Genocide
This is the first time that the International Criminal Court will bring charges against a sitting leader for genocide and crimes against humanity. UNITED NATIONS, July 10 -- The chief prosecutor of the...
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We're Number 5!
Number 5 out of the Top 10 Executing Countries in 2007, per Amnesty International (PDF):
View ArticleMilitary Admits Troops Killed Civilians in Iraq and Covered-Up
BAGHDAD — The American military admitted Sunday night that a platoon of soldiers raked a car of innocent Iraqi civilians with hundreds of rounds of gunfire and that the military then issued a news...
View ArticleDE-AL: Send this possum to Washington D.C.
I'm honored to participate in this blogathon for my friend, Jerry Northington, dK's own possum. But I must say, in the midsts of so many illustrious bloggers, and coming about a dozen diaries in to the...
View ArticleOctober 1st: FBI Strengthens Police State
On October 1st, the FBI grants broad new investigative powers to its 12,000 agents. Changes in authority that threaten our civil liberties and the lifeblood of democracy. The rules changes, supposedly...
View ArticleAs if blame and future policy were unrelated ...
I'm glad to see the Democrats pushing back against the $700 billion blank check demanded by BushCo to deal with the crisis that they themselves create. Their policies fostered the culture of greed and...
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Poll on the Bailout: Obama is the only one with a positive rating
I've been somewhat cranky and very busy lately. Not a great combo, I admit. In any event, I may have missed a post about this; if so, sorry about that. I just wanted to share it, because it made me...
View ArticleObama to Investigate Bush Torture Policy
According to Salon, the Obama team is pushing ahead with plans for an investigation: Nov. 13, 2008 | WASHINGTON -- With growing talk in Washington that President Bush may be considering an...
View ArticleWhat I heard tonight would have made me choke on my drink if I had one
I don't go to parties very much anymore. But tonight, a group I'm involved with was having a book party to celebrate the first two books in our new series. We're a bunch of scary leftists, probably...
View ArticleThe Tension of Justice and Peace; Or, What We Owe the World
Many on the left in these United States are well acquainted with the protest cry: NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE! This chant presumes that when there is justice, there will be peace. Not only will the protesters...
View ArticlePolitico: Gates agrees to stay on under Obama
ABCNews earlier reported this is a "done deal," as diaried by bugscuffle. Now Politico seems to confirm this: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has agreed to stay on under President-elect Obama,...
View ArticleOne Man's Military-Industrial-Media Complex
According to a scathing 7 page article in the NY Times, that man is General Barry McCaffrey, "a retired four-star Army general and military analyst for NBC News" ... and consultant to defense...
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Filling Empty Bowls: 36 Hours for Feeding America (5) Feeding the needy, not...
New York, New York, a helluva a town. My hometown. Great cosmopolis. A jewel. And the site of a scandalous truth. In one of the cities with the greatest concentration of wealth in America and the...
View ArticlePardons. Yes or no?
Do you think that Bush will issue a blanket pardon to protect all the architects of the torture policy, illegal spying, etc? I tend to think so, despite the fact that it may tarnish his "legacy." From...
View ArticleState Department Panel: Drop Blackwater in Iraq
This is just coming in over the wires. According to a US official, a State Department panel has recommended dropping Blackwater in Iraq. This news comes on the heels of the indictment of five guards...
View ArticleHuman Rights Watch to IDF: Stop Using White Phosphorus Now
Human Rights Watch Press Release, January 10, 2009: (Jerusalem) – Israel should stop using white phosphorus in military operations in densely populated areas of Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. On...
View ArticleJudges grant Obama request to suspend Gitmo trials (update)
So reports the AP: GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – A judge on Wednesday quickly granted President Barack Obama's request to suspend the war crimes trial of a young Canadian in what may be the...
View ArticleIt's Final. Caroline Kennedy makes a statement: She's out
So says a just posted report at MSNBC.com: ALBANY, New York - Caroline Kennedy said she has withdrawn her name from consideration for the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton, in a statement...
View ArticleChris Matthews: BushCo Should Be Prosecuted
I was just watching Hardball and the last segment with Jonathan Capeheart of The Washington Post and John Heilemann of New York Magazine was extremely interesting: Should Obama Investigate Bush...
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Filling Empty Bowls X: Almost 1/2 of NYCers are having trouble affording food
In our first blogathon for Feeding America in early December, I highlighted the hunger problem in New York City. At that time the most recent data revealed that 1 in 6 New Yorkers were experiencing...
View ArticleNorth Korea Launches Missile (updated)
So says Japan according to this report: SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea appeared to launch a rocket on Sunday, the Japanese government said, defying calls from world leaders to scrap a plan that has...
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Unexpected Optimism
September 1, 2009. Bought a new unlimited MetroCard. $89 gets me all the subway and busrides I want for 30 days. Sweet. Expensive, but sweet. Got me something else today too. Look what's on the flip.
View ArticleHow srkp23 lost her virginity ...
her writing-a-rec-fest-diary virginity, to be exact ... I lost it because of this amazing entry by long-time community member, but first-time diarist, evelette. The modest title of her diary debut,...
View ArticleVolcker Op-Ed: Look out, big banks. Change is coming
Paul Volcker, chairman of the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, contributes an important op-ed to today's NY Times. And the message to big banks is clear: Your "too-big-to-fail" ass has...
View ArticleFeeding America: Hunger Politics and Poetics
Hunger. The statistics are staggering. One in six in this nation are "food insecure"--they cannot afford enough to eat. By some estimates, it is closer to one in five. And by all estimates, children...
View ArticleFeeding America #4: More than Calories
Food. Our energy source. Essential for life. You may have experienced hunger, not necessarily long-term food insecurity, but you may have experienced hunger in your day to day life. The gnawing pangs,...
View ArticleNYT: Beautiful! "House Majority Remains Uncertain, Rs Say"
At the bodega this morning, getting myself two large coffees and a huge bottle of water to slap myself into consciousness, I noticed the top story in the dead trees edition of the Sunday Times. The...
View ArticleHyberbole and a Half
It is not hyberbole to say it is a joy that Allie is back in the internetz! If you don't read Hyberbole and a Half, you should!It is not hyberbole to say that Allie's new post on her long absence, her...
View ArticleStanford University Divests from Coal
Good News, short and sweet. Stanford to Purge $18 Billion Endowment of Coal StockStanford University announced Tuesday that it would divest its $18.7 billion endowment of stock in coal-mining...
View ArticleWhat we can learn from Google + and the New Coke
Google+ cost $585 million. Lord knows, how they hyped it up, tried to shove it down our throats, and actually went for forced integration. Well, guess what? They failed and Google has now de facto...
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The Geography of Poverty
Tonight in Manhattan, walking across 110th Street alongside the stunning granite retaining wall alongside Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC, I saw an arresting display of magnificent large black...
View ArticleI Think All Bernie Sanders Diaries Should Include this ... and The Hillary...
Just a quickie diary. Key points:I support Bernie.Not a huuuge (or is that yuuuge?) fan of Hillary, even though she was one of my Senators. Yes, I believe we live in an oligarchy, but still I want...
View ArticleFirst-Time Voters in New York Registered in Record-Breaking Numbers
Just a quickie with some good news from NY about voter registration:While the registration period for voters in the state of New York has now passed, the surge of last minute registers seems to bode...
View ArticleThe Bronx is Berning
FYI:Breaking News: The Bronx is Berning—Bernie Sanders is Coming To The BronxThis Thursday in St Mary’s Park in the heart of The South Bronx, Bernie Sanders is bringing his political revolution to our...
View ArticleThis Bernie supporter understands the math, but...
Three statements from me and a one question:The Statements:1) I am a fervent Bernie supporter.2) If HRC is our nominee, I will vote for her. 3) I believe the math that it looks nearly impossible for my...
View ArticleNYT: Two Iraqi Refugees Detained at JFK Airport; Lawsuits Filed
Not only is the new administration putting into place reprehensible policies, the way in which they are doing it is completely amateurish and not thought through. When the ban on refugees was put into...
View ArticleBritish Citizen, A Teacher who happens to be Muslim, Denied Entry to the U.S.
The Guardian reports:A British Muslim schoolteacher travelling to New York last week as a member of a school party from south Wales was denied entry to the United States.Juhel Miah and a group of...
View ArticleReading This Made Me Sicker Than My Parasites
Half of the year I live in Nepal. It’s a wonderful, terrible, beautiful place, and the absolute best place for me to live as a dedicated student of Tibetan Buddhism. Due to lack of good water supply...
View ArticleTrump Administration to Deny Visas to Same-Sex Partners of Diplomats, U.N....
We’re lost in a sea of Kavanaugh. How could we not be, when it is such a travesty that such a person even be nominated for a life-time appointment to the highest court in the land?… but many stories of...
View ArticleWhere are we? "Americans Strongly Dislike PC Culture"
I don’t know what to think about the current moment in American politics anymore. All bets are off. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and can’t grasp the generational differences anymore. Maybe it’s...
View ArticleLeaders move past Trump to protect world from climate change
Now that climate deniers are in power in the US and Trump has pulled out of the Paris Treaty, the rest of the world can’t currently count on US leadership to help the world mitigate the potentially...
View ArticleSad News: OPOL has passed away
Although he hasn’t blogged here in a long while, and I too have mostly been a lurker for many years, I felt I had to come here to share the sad news that OPOL has passed away suddenly after a massive...
View ArticleNYT: "Trump Moves Tulsa Rally Date From Juneteenth After Sharp Criticism"
The Orange Man backs down:President Trump bowed to pressure on Friday night and announced that he would delay his upcoming campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., rather than hold it on the day that honors the...
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