27.Oct.2012 - Tax-Dodging Hypocrites, Changing Face of American Empire, Student Debt Crisis, Armed Forces Special Powers Act, U.S. Drone Program War Crimes, 4 More Years of War, Federalism and the Election, Army Suicides Exceed Combat Deaths, 4 Billion Israel Loan, Israel Lobby's War, World Abandoning U.S. Economy, TSA Bad at Security, NSA's Utah Data Center
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10 Filthy-Rich, Tax-Dodging Hypocrites Pushing Disastrous Austerity on America
The Fix the Debt coalition is using the so-called “fiscal cliff” to push the same old corporate agenda of more tax breaks while shifting the burden on to the rest of us.
UN Official: Aspects Of US Drone Program Clearly 'War Crimes'
The UN's special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights announced Thursday that the Human Rights Council at the UN will likely initiate an investigation into civilian deaths caused by the CIA and US military's use of drones and other targeted killing programs, and said that if certain allegations against the US prove true, he considers them serious enough to call "war crimes".
Stop Criminalising The Activists Fighting For People’s Rights
It is hard to believe that Dr Sunilam who fought valiantly the battle of farmers in Multai in Madhya Pradesh as criminal and that too the one who deserve life imprisonment. Sunilam is a socialist by thought and action was leading a farmer’s struggle in Multai in 1998 in which the police had to fire on the farmers. 18 farmers died in the police firing including one police personnel.
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act : The Lawlessness Of A Law
Despite being a state in the throes of modernization, the Indian law and law enforcement agencies have had a soft corner for its colonial legacy. Many of these colonial era laws have made a splash on the national scene recently, the most famous of them being the Sedition act of 1870 which was used to put India against Corruption cartoonist Aseem Trivedi behind the bars.
The idea of arming a favored side in a civil war has become popular among U.S. policymakers chastened by the disastrous Iraq War, but there are grave dangers in that approach, too, especially the uncertainty of who might get the weapons and how they might be used, says the Independent Institute’s Ivan Eland.
Daniel Ellsberg and 14 Nuclear Protesters Are Victorious in Federal Court
ederal Magistrate judge Rita Federman last Wednesday allowed the U.S. government to dismiss all trespassing charges against the "Vandenberg 15," a group of citizens who in February conducted a civil disobedience action at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The group was attempting to stop a testing of the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile that later reached a target in the Marshall Islands (without a nuclear warhead). The group was urging the base commander to stop the testing of thermonuclear warhead delivery vehicles and to eliminate land-based missiles in the U.S.
UN Official: Aspects of US Drone Program Clearly 'War Crimes'
The UN's special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights announced Thursday that the Human Rights Council at the UN will likely initiate an investigation into civilian deaths caused by the CIA and US military's use of drones and other targeted killing programs, and said that if certain allegations against the US prove true, he considers them serious enough to call "war crimes".
California Proposition 37 to label foods containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is up for a vote on Tuesday, November 6. It enjoyed broad popular support as of September, with a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll showing support by 61 percentof registered voters.
Journalism in the Obama Age Shows the Real Media Bias
Last month, Vanity Fair featured a major profile of President Obama by Michael Lewis, who was given what the New York Times called "rare" and "extraordinary access". Lewis "conducted multiple interviews with the president"; "rode in the official presidential limousine"; "was given a special lapel pin that identified him to the Secret Service as someone who was allowed to be in close proximity to the president"; and "flew with the president on several foreign and domestic trips" -- "not with the rest of the press corps in the back of Air Force One, but near the front." And, noted the Times, "the president even allowed Mr. Lewis to play on his basketball team."
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, David Rivkin and Elizabeth Price Foley highlight a major issue that has received little attention in the presidential race.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security over restrictions on taking photos and recording video at ports of entry, saying the policy prohibits the public from documenting possible misconduct by authorities.
Supreme Court to Hear Electronic Surveillance Case
Larry Siems is a human rights advocate fighting a secret government program that he believes violates his constitutional rights. But before he can get into court with his claim, he has to clear a major hurdle.
The United States agreed on Wednesday to extend its $4 billion loan guarantee program to Israel until 2016, a gesture that shows continued commitment to the Jewish state less than two weeks before the American presidential elections. The move allows the United States to provide up to $3.8 billion in future loan guarantees, as part of a $9 billion commitment made by the US in 2003.
Army Suicides This Year Exceed 2012 Combat Deaths in Afghanistan
The number of suicides among U.S. Army active duty and reserve personnel in 2012 is higher than the total combined military fatalities from Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan over the same timeframe.
UN: Israeli forces killed 2,300 & injured 7,700 people in Gaza under blockade
Israeli forces have killed nearly 2,300 Palestinians and injured 7,700 in Gaza over the last five years, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Thursday.
The Israel Lobby’s War on America’s Middle East Oil Dependence
On October 15, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) website published an op-ed piece by FDD senior fellow John Hannah tellingly entitled “How Oil Dependence Undermines America’s Effort to Stop the Iranian Bomb.” Citing the neocon-mentored Mitt Romney’s campaign promise of achieving “North American energy independence,” Hannah goes on to argue that dependence on Middle East oil not only endangers U.S. economic security but also serves as a constraint on its strategic freedom of movement in the region. “Concerns about oil prices,” claims Hannah, “have often badly distorted U.S. policy toward the Middle East.”
Is The Obama Drone Policy an Impeachable Offense? (an interview with Medea Benjamin)
I spoke with activist, journalist and co-founder of Code Pink, Medea Benjamin whose book Drone warfare, killing by remote control, is available at CodePink.org and I asked her about her recent experience leading a peace delegation to Pakistan.
War Crimes And U.S. Threats To Withdraw Financial Support For Palestinians
THE US State Department is circulating a confidential letter urging European Union (EU) members and other "friendly" countries to help block Palestinian attempts to secure non-member Observer State status at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
Go to any university, any center of equities trade, any meeting place for financial academia, any fiscal think tank, and they will tell you without the slightest hint of doubt in their eyes that the U.S. economy is essential to the survival of the world. To even broach the possibility that the U.S. could be dropped or replaced as the central pillar of trade on the planet is greeted with sneers and even anger. But let’s set aside what we think (or what we assume) we know about the American financial juggernaut and consider the sordid history of the money powerhouse myth.
TSA Bad At Security; Leaves Security Status Data On Boarding Passes Unencrypted
You would think, given that "Security" is literally the organization's middle name, that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would actually have some sort of clue about the basics of security. Apparently not. This week, someone noticed a ridiculous security flaw in the TSA's pre-screening process for "expedited" lines. This is the program where frequent travelers can pay extra to get them in special faster security lines, and where they can skip some of the worst aspects of airport screening: they don't have to take their laptop out, or take off their shoes or belt, and they can bring more liquid than mere peons.
