Greetings! I wanted to let all of you know that there is a new Twitter handle. It is specifically for news, commentary and rights petitions: @DustcircleNews.
Some changes were made to Dustcircle.com: 1) I removed the Conferences page, as there were very few hits on that page.2) I updated the Links page. I know many people don't go to Links pages, but I assure you, this a good reference, sorted by topic. These are websites I frequent for our newsletter, or have mailing lists I'm on.3) I added our new email address: dissentingheretic@inbox.com - Send all questions, book submissions and concerns there. If there are website errors or broken links, let us know.4) I removed some graphics and images, so hopefully the page loads a little faster.5) I started mixing the videos with the text/link news, to have more of a colorful flow of reading and watching. If this format is good or bad, let us know.6) The Facebook page now has 5 moderators. We're growing, so Like us and stay in the know. There is a lot of exclusive articles posted there that aren't posted on the dot-com. Same with our Twitter page.7) And yes, Occupy 2.0 on Reddit is still active and going strong.
Thanks for reading The Dissenting Heretic.
- Steve, Editor
Gay marriage reaches Supreme Court: Justices to review Prop 8., DOMA
The two cases being taken up by the Supreme Court involve a challenge to California’s Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage and a suit from New York City testing the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/1207/Gay-marriage-reaches-Supreme-Court-Justices-to-review-Prop-8.-DOMA
Bradley Manning: A Tale of Liberty Lost in America
The US does nothing to punish those guilty of war crimes or Wall Street fraud, yet demonises the whistleblower
Over the past two and a half years, all of which he has spent in a military prison, much has been said about Bradley Manning, but nothing has been heard from him. That changed on Thursday, when the 23-year-old US army private accused of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks testified at his court martial proceeding about the conditions of his detention.
Five Facts About America's Pathological Wealth Distribution
Most people associate inequality with the income gap. As distorted as the distribution of income may be, our wealth distribution is even more extreme. Americans are beginning to realize that years of preferential tax treatment for the rich, under the guise of "supply-side job creation" nonsense, have bloated the fortunes of the super-rich to a level that would make Rockefeller and Carnegie envious.
TV that watches and listens to YOU
What will they think of next
US Military Facing Fresh Questions Over Targeting of Children in Afghanistan
Outrage grows after senior officer claimed troops in Afghanistan were on the lookout for 'children with potential hostile intent' The US military is facing fresh questions over its targeting policy in Afghanistan after a senior army officer suggested that troops were on the lookout for "children with potential hostile intent".
Republicans are Devolving and Trying to Drag Society Back With Them
There is a process of gradual, peaceful development that occurs in nearly all social or economic structures or institutions known as evolution, and as a motion it is incomplete in itself, but when combined with coordinated motions produces a single action over time. Unless a society is isolated from outside influence and new ideas, changing sensibilities eventually contribute to a culture’s evolution over time and has contributed to both good and bad results.
Amid an escalating drumbeat about a supposed threat that Syria's government is preparing to use chemical weapons against its own people, Washington has deployed a naval armada off the country's coast.
U.S. Air Force in Corrupt Practice
The Governor of Vermont and the Mayor of Burlington have decided to flaunt their corrupt behavior as they engage in a private, lobbyist-paid trip supported by a directly interested party in a charade of investigation designed to bring a nuclear weapons system to Vermont at the expense of the health, welfare, and homes of thousands of Vermonters.
The Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza (4 Videos):
 | Journalists targeted in Israeli attack | |
| This report contains graphic scenes. Viewer discretion is advised. | ||
 | The Privatization of Israeli War | |
| Shir Hever: The attack on Gaza was a show piece for "Iron Dome" technology which Israel wants to sell around the world | ||
 | Rival Factions Hamas and Fatah Say They Will Unite After UN Vote | |
| After years of bloodshed following an election in Gaza, rivals Hamas and Fatah say they will work together following Israel's assault and UNGA vote | ||
 | Netanyahu Forms Alliance with Far Right's Lieberman | |
| Shir Hever: UN Vote and criticism over Gaza attack matter little to Netanyahu who unites with Minister who advocates ethnic cleansing of Palestinian citizens of Israel |
Inequality And Poverty America style
Irrespective of ones circumstances or stage of life, illness is never welcome, in America if your poor it can prove to be a total catastrophe, ending often in personal bankruptcy. “According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60% of the personal bankruptcies in the United States“. Health care insurance an unaffordable luxury, for the 15% or 50 million people now living in ‘official’ poverty in America, anxiously relying on good luck and a poor diet to keep sickness at a bay.
http://www.countercurrents.org/peebles081212.htm
Corporate Push For GMO Food Puts Independent Science In Jeopardy
Science is considered science when it is independent, when it has integrity and when it speaks the truth about its search. It was the integrity, independence and sovereignty of science that drew me and propelled me to study physics. Today, independent science is threatened with extinction. While this is true in every field, it is the field of food and agriculture that I am most concerned about.
http://www.countercurrents.org/shiva081212.htm
Full text of the interview with Khalid Mashaal (2010):
"Our priority is to be free"
![A679FF63EE[1]](http://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/a679ff63ee1.jpg?w=588)
After escaping an assassination attempt in 1997 and being banned from Jordan in 1999, Khaled Mashal, Hamas leader, made his home in Damascus, where Manuela Paraipan interviewed him last week on Hamas’ approach to the current peace negotiations, his view of Hamas’ strengths, its ongoing commitment to resistance, and the importance of principle in politics.
The 6 Economic Facts of Life in America That Allow the Rich to Run off with Our Wealth
Israel indiscriminately annihilating Palestinians: Analyst
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown: What Happened to the "We" Society in America?
Saket Soni: Fighting for a Better Future After Sandy
"The Most Obdurate Bully in the Room": U.S. Widely Criticized for Role at Climate Talks
Climate Change? U.S. Shrugs
FROM TEXAS TO QATAR, U.S. DOES NOTHING TO PROTECT THE PLANET
What We Could Accomplish in the USA with Interest-Free, Government-Issued Currency
The federal government has been paying ever more interest on its ever growing indebtedness for more than 200 years. James Jackson, Congressman from Georgia, predicted in 1790 that this would happen in a speech he made to the First Congress. Jackson warned that passing Alexander Hamilton's plan to base the country's money supply on the existing federal debt of $75 million would "settle upon our posterity a burden which they can neither bear nor relieve themselves from." He further predicted that "in the course of a single century it would be multiplied to an extent we dare not think of."
