Noam Chomsky: Drones Are Murder Without Trial + We Live In A Plutocracy

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Dandelion Salad

with Noam Chomsky

Jason Liosatos on May 17, 2013

My interview with Noam Chomsky. We talk about ethical compromises, and government actions without vision or wisdom which is creating terrible consequences and feedback loops. We also talk about the Drone killings, the US terrorist manufacturing campaigns, the dangerous indoctrination and conditioning of soldiers and the public, Navy Seals killing Bin Laden who was only a suspect and the Polio vaccine horror in Pakistan, Sadistic Guantanamo torture, fear, and the great danger of our government and collective psychosis…and more.

Rule Britannia for Global Crimes by Finian Cunningham

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
May 8, 2013

It’s an anthem that is usually sung with chest-thumping pride and misty eyes by British imperialists. “Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves”. This jingoistic celebration of Britain’s former global conquest may yet degenerate into “Rue Britannia, Britannia rues the waves”.

This is because, as The Guardian newspaper reports this week, the London government has at long last been forced into recognizing compensation payments for as many as 50,000 Kenyan nationals who were victims of torture and other crimes against humanity during that country’s independence struggle in the 1950s. The eventual bill for compensation could run up to tens of millions of pounds.

The Struggle For Justice In Manipur by Graham Peebles

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
May 3, 2013

The primary colours of any civil democracy are we would agree, social justice, freedom of expression, freedom to protest and participation. India, with a population of 1.3 billion people is regularly hailed as the largest democracy in the world. At first glance the governments pretentions to democracy would appear to be justified, after all there is, on paper at least, an independent judiciary, a free press – freely owned from top to toe by corporations – a thriving civil society and, of course, the cornerstone of any democratic state: the haloed parliamentary elections, totally funded and (therefore) fully owned, top to toe, by the same corporations that count the national and regional newspapers, radio and television networks as their own, as well as growing portfolios of natural assets; rivers, forests, water supplies, mountains (full of bauxite), and other mineral resources.

Barack Obama Is Comfortable with Bush’s Inferno by Ralph Nader + ABA White Papers

Dandelion Salad

Image by World Can’t Wait via Flickr

by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
April 19, 2013

George W. Bush is riding high. A megamillionaire, from the taxpayer-subsidized Texas Rangers company, he makes $150,000 to $200,000 per speech, receives a large presidential pension and support facilities and is about to dedicate the $500 million George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on April 25.

Guantanamo Exposes Reality of US Fascism by Finian Cunningham

Image by World Can’t Wait via Flickr

by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
March 26, 2013

They are essentially dead men who just happen to breathe. That is the grim assessment of the legal representative for the inmates in the American concentration camp, otherwise known as Guantanamo Bay.

Rape and Torture as a Weapon of Control by Graham Peebles

Warning

This article may contain language depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be read by a mature audience.

by Graham Peebles
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London
March 7, 2013

The Pain of the Ogaden Somali People

Image by CharlesFred via Flickr

Hiding from the truth

“Every night, they took all of us girls to [interrogations]. They would separate us and beat us. The second time they took me, they raped me… All three of the men raped me, consecutively”. Along with 15 other female students, Human Rights Watch (HRW)[i] report in Collective Punishment, this innocent 17 year-old Ogaden Somali girl, was held captive for three months in a “dark hole in the ground” and raped 13 times.

The Shock Doctrine in Texas Prisons by Kenneth Foster

Dandelion Salad

by Kenneth Foster
SocialistWorker.org
March 21, 2013

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Kenneth Foster is a prisoner in Texas. Despite the fact that he wasn’t convicted of being responsible for a murder–only of being present–he was sent to death row in 1996 and came within three hours of execution 11 years later before his sentence was commuted. Both before and after this victory, Kenneth was an outspoken activist and writer, not only on his own behalf, but against the criminal justice system as a whole.

Dahr Jamail Returns to Iraq to Find Rampant Torture and a Failed State Living in “Utter Devastation” + Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers

Dandelion Salad

Image by mugley via Flickr

democracynow·Mar 20, 2013

www.democracynow.org/ - Investigative journalist Dahr Jamail reported for Democracy Now! throughout the early stages of the U.S. invasion of Iraq 10 years ago. Now with Al Jazeera, Jamail has just returned from Iraq once again, finding what he calls a “failed state” living in “utter devastation.” In part one of our interview, Jamail discusses the harrowing security situation for Iraqis living in fear of bombings, executions, and kidnappings, the widespread torture in Iraq’s prisons, and the breakdown of security in what he calls a “a lawless state.”

The Shame of America’s Gulag by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
March 18, 2013

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

If, as Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons” then we are a nation of barbarians. Our vast network of federal and state prisons, with some 2.3 million inmates, rivals the gulags of totalitarian states. Once you disappear behind prison walls you become prey. Rape. Torture. Beatings. Prolonged isolation. Sensory deprivation. Racial profiling. Chain gangs. Forced labor. Rancid food. Children imprisoned as adults. Prisoners forced to take medications to induce lethargy. Inadequate heating and ventilation. Poor health care. Draconian sentences for nonviolent crimes. Endemic violence.

Documentary Exposes US Role in Iraq Sectarian Conflict + Revealed: Pentagon’s link to Iraqi torture centres

Dandelion Salad

Warning

These videos may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.

Image by pixieclipx via Flickr

TheRealNews·Mar 15, 2013

Maggie O’Kane, Executive Producer, tells the story revealed by the Guardian documentary about the role of Col. James Steele in supporting torture, death squads and brutal sectarian conflict during the height of the Iraq war. Steel’s reports went directly to Rumsfeld and Cheney.

America’s Disappeared by Andy Worthington

by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
February 23, 2013

Image by Shrieking Tree via Flickr

Injustices do not become any less unjust the longer they are not addressed, and when it comes to the “war on terror” launched by President Bush following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, those injustices continue to fester, and to poison America’s soul.

One of those injustices is Guantánamo, where 166 men are still imprisoned, even though 86 of them were cleared for release by a task force established by the President four years ago, and another is Bagram in Afghanistan (renamed and rebranded the Parwan Detention Facility),

“The Terror Courts”: An Inside Look at Rough Justice, Torture at Guantánamo Bay

Dandelion Salad

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democracynow·Feb 22, 2013

www.democracynow.org – Wall Street Journal journalist Jess Bravin reports on the controversial military commissions at Guantanamo. Describing it as “the most important legal story in decades,” Bravin uncovers how the Bush administration quickly drew up an alternative legal system to try men captured abroad after the Sept. 11 attacks. Soon evidence obtained by torture was being used to prosecute prisoners, but some military officers refused to take part.

Civil Disobedience: The Only “Weapon” We Have Remaining? By Camillo “Mac” Bica (#NDAA)

Dandelion Salad

By Camillo “Mac” Bica
Information Clearing House
February 16, 2013

Image by Lauriel-Arwen via Flickr

Mario Cuomo, commenting on the political process, once observed, “You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.” Though candidates for public office frequently campaign on a platform of change, when elected, promises remain unfulfilled and what they inevitably deliver is more of the same. Beholden to the special interests and the Super PACS, they govern solely in the interest of the wealthy and the privileged, and remain blatantly unresponsive to the general will, the needs of the majority of the people, and to the dictates of law and morality.

Thomas Drake: Corporations and the US Government–It’s An Unholy Alliance

Dandelion Salad

Image by Lydia Tremont via Flickr

breakingtheset· Feb 8, 2013

Abby Martin sits down with former NSA whistleblower, Thomas Drake, about his personal story as a whistleblower and what he describes as a ‘total betrayal’ by part of the government.

CODEPINK Protesters Shutdown War Criminal John Brennan’s Opening Statement At CIA Director Nominee Hearing

Dandelion Salad

Updated Feb. 8, 2013 and Feb. 9, 2013

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CODEPINK Action at Brennan’s Confirmation Hearing

codepinkaction·Feb 7, 2013

Watch CODEPINK’s demonstration outside Hart Senate Building before John Brennan’s hearing and afterwards, at the hearing itself. 8 CODEPINK members were arrested for speaking out and Senator Feinstein ordered all “CODEPINK” associates be “evicted” from the hearing.