“Whatever happens to American ground troops who eventually, yes, will be withdrawn, will make no difference to the significance of the American presence, the violent American presence in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and in Iraq. The whole region is being crafted, if you like, for a very, very long American colonial presence.” John Pilger
Watch the interview.
“Today, words like ‘Progress’ and ‘Development’ have become interchangeable with economic ‘Reforms’, Deregulation and Privatisation. ‘Freedom’ has come to mean ‘choice’. It has less to do with the human spirit than with different brands of deodorant. ‘Market’ no longer means a place where you go to buy provisions. The ‘Market’ is a de-territorialised space where faceless corporations do business, including buying and selling ‘futures’. ‘Justice’ has come to mean ‘human rights’ (and of those, as they say, ‘a few will do’). This theft of language, this technique of usurping words and deploying them like weapons, of using them to mask intent and to mean exactly the opposite of what they have traditionally meant, has been one of the most brilliant strategic victories of the Tsars of the new dispensation.” Arundhati Roy.
Read full article.
Damn those ungrateful Pakistanis. After U.S. drone attacks killed more than 600 of their people since 2006—most of them civilians—it seems they think they have some right to say they don’t want the U.S. flying its “aid” planes to Swat and other “tribal areas.” The New York Times reports that “the Pakistani authorities have refused to allow American workers or planes to distribute the aid in the camps for displaced people.” Full article.
Despite no college education or a medical background, a rugged American named Todd Shea runs a charity hospital in Kashmir, where a 2005 earthquake killed 80,000 people.
“I AM but a common man, I am not a speaker but I have spoken. I am not all that tall, but I have stood up. I am not a philosopher or poet or a singer or any of those things that particularly inspire people, but the one thing that I am is the evidence that this country lied when they said there was justice for all…” Leonard Peltier
Read the full article.
Obama’s argument for preventive detention “violates basic American values and is likely unconstitutional,” warned Sen. Russ Feingold in a recent letter to the President, cautioning that detention without trial “is a hallmark of abusive systems that we have historically criticized around the world.” Advancing such a controversial precedent on American soil, without the participation of Congress or the American people, would be disastrous. Full article.
pls watch this video. it’s done in our name…
“we need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children.” (howard zinn)
As of 11:15am, Caracas time, President Zelaya is speaking live on Telesur from San Jose, Costa Rica. He has verified the soldiers entered his residence in the early morning hours, firing guns and threatening to kill him and his family if he resisted the coup. He was forced to go with the soldiers who took him to the air base and flew him to Costa Rica. He has requested the U.S. Government make a public statement condemning the coup, otherwise, it will indicate their compliance. Full article.
TORTURE: Be sure to also read this transcript of Abu Zubaydeh’s description of his experiences while being held in detention in Afghanistan. Writes award-winning investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill: “Every US Citizen Should Read This, It Was Done in Your Name.” Full article.
disgusting.
“Obama administration officials, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, are crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.” Full article.
RETHINK AFGHANISTAN: Exclusive footage from the recent US airstrikes in Afghanistan provides a sobering look at the dire situation on the ground. The footage will be incorporated in part four of Brave New Foundation’s documentary, “Rethink Afghanistan.”
every american should watch this interview: the attack on dissent (animal rights activism, environmentalism, just being a muslim) under the guise of fighting terrorism. scary.
In a Democracy Now! exclusive interview, we speak with Andrew Stepanian, an animal rights activist who was jailed at a secretive prison known as a Communication Management Unit, or CMU. Stepanian is believed to be the first prisoner released from a CMU and will talk about his experience there for the first time. He was sentenced to three years along with six other activists for violating a controversial law known as the Animal Enterprise Protection Act. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of CMUs. We also speak with Stepanian’s lawyer and a reporter covering the story. Watch the interview on Democracy Now!
Some of the banks should be allowed to die because they are so insolvent and holding so much in toxic assets that they will forever need to be on taxpayer-funded life support. The problem is, this life support is sucking the life out of the taxpayer in the process, as it weighs them down with ever-increasing debt. On top of that, the money could be used to restructure the economy in a way that is less reliant on the financial sector. Full article.
