Warning
This video may contain images depicting the reality and horror of war/violence and should only be viewed by a mature audience.
Frontline
PBS
October 1, 2009 Continue reading
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Day: October 13, 2009
Finding New Homes For 44 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners by Andy Worthington
by Andy Worthington
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.andyworthington.co.uk
13 October 2009
In a recent article, “75 Guantánamo Prisoners Cleared For Release; 31 Could Leave Today,” I examined the implications of an announcement that 75 of the remaining 223 prisoners in Guantánamo have been cleared for release. This came by way of a list posted in the prison, identifying the prisoners by nationality, and a statement by a military spokesman, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brook DeWalt, who explained, “It was an opportunity to just provide better communication. There’s a lot of information out there and you get a lot of things from a lot of different angles. It helps put it in a more succinct context for them [the prisoners].” Continue reading
Dennis Kucinich On Sanctions Against Iran + Military Presence in Afghanistan is Counterproductive
Kucinich: Iran Sanctions would not Help Diplomatic Talks
by Congressman Dennis Kucinich
October 13, 2009
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a long time advocate for peace and nuclear abolition, was today the only Member of Congress to speak out against H.R. 1327 – Iran Sanctions Enabling Act of 2009. Continue reading
Corbett Report: Economics 101 with Richard C. Cook
Interview with Richard C. Cook
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
richardccook.com
October 13, 2009
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
corbettreport
October 13, 2009 Continue reading
Reform Killing, Oligarchic Senate Still ‘Treasonous’ After All These Years by Robert S. Becker
By Robert S. Becker
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.beyondchron.org
rbecker@cal.net
Oct. 13, 2009
Where are our gutsy muckrakers of yesteryear? In a stunning 1906 Cosmopolitan expose, journalist David Graham Phillips made history with his headline, “The Treason of the Senate.” He then justified his condemnation of mercenary senators, in that era cherrypicked by states and owned by nefarious Trusts: Treason is a strong word, but not too strong, rather too weak, to characterize the situation in which the Senate is the eager, resourceful, indefatigable agent of interests as hostile to the American people as any invading army could be.
By 1914, the 17th Amendment mandated senators be popularly elected but, judging by today’s unevolved results, we have hardly salvaged one of the Founders’ blunders. The American replica of the House of Lords, our least democratic, least representative organ, lives on, still oppressive after all these years.
Constitutional Hypocrisy by Joel S. Hirschhorn
by Joel S. Hirschhorn
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
www.foavc.org
Oct. 13, 2009
Millions of Americans are politically informed, smart, active and angry. They see many wrongs in our political and government system. They are fed up with politics as usual, meaning corrosive corruption of politicians by corporate and other special interests. They see little good in either the Democrat or Republican parties. And they almost always share a common bond: They love and honor the US Constitution, even though they may see some flaws in it. Yet they are also constitutional hypocrites.
Why do I say this? Because Americans are overwhelmingly ignorant or misinformed about the constitutional paths for amending the Constitution. Too many, in fact, seem to miss the profoundly important point that the Founders and Framers knew that they had not created a perfect document and blueprint for the US. That is why they placed two specific paths for amending the Constitution.
CBO Report On Medical Malpractice Flawed by Ralph Nader + Nader on the Federal Reserve
Updated: Oct. 14, 2009 added video
by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
Oct. 13, 2009
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Stuart Hagen must either be greatly overworked or possessed of an overwhelmingly monetized mind.
As the author of a Congressional Budget Office’s reply to the request by Senator Orrin G. Hatch (Rep. Utah) for an “updated analysis” of medical malpractice reform, Hagan neglected to mention a salient tragedy. About 100,000 Americans die every year from medical and hospital negligence or worse in hospitals alone. Continue reading
Capitalism: An Apathy Story by Cindy Sheehan
By Cindy Sheehan
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox Blog
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox
Oct. 13, 2009
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
This Thursday, in a move that would make Baron von Louis Rothschild blush with shame (or burst with pride), Goldman Sachs will announce that it is more than doubling its bonus pool: from 11 billion in 2007 to 23 billion in 2008.
I always thought the concept of the “Welfare Queen” was eliminated during the Clinton Regime (where his SecTreas was a former chair of G S) however, Goldman Sachs has received billions of dollars in taxpayer welfare and supposedly paid that back, except for the 13 billion that was funneled through AIG to Goldman through loan guarantees.
Number of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Overlooks Thousands of Support Troops
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 Continue reading
The fishermen of Afghanistan, an allegory on catching insurgents
ourjourneytosmile
October 13, 2009 Continue reading
Misleading by Omission by Bruce Gagnon
by Bruce Gagnon
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Organizing Notes
October 13, 2009
The Washington Post this morning ran a story entitled North Korea Fires Five Missiles in which they intentionally mislead the public.
North Korea did indeed fire five short-range missiles, and they did indeed declare a navigation ban in waters off its eastern and western coasts, but the problem with the Post story is what they did not tell the reader. And this missing piece of information just so happens to explain why North Korea has taken the measures that they have taken. Continue reading
Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn
Image by Anthony Catalano via Flickr
by Howard Zinn
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
October 12, 2009
An excerpt from A People’s History of the United States.
Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island’s beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
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