Showing posts with label cults. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 2

@dustcirclenews - Free DOCUMENTARIES: Debt, Street Politics 101, Consumed, Quantum Revolution, Bully Project, Mega Man, Evacuate Earth, Ireland's Secret Cults, Hungry for Change, Rise of the Superbugs, Discovering Deep Space, Recycling

View the videos at: http://www.dustcircle.com

Debt: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

You may think that money is invented to make exchange easier. You could imagine that at some point in prehistory. A hunter just shot a deer and a farmer has some carrots and they want to exchange but the meat is worth much more than the carrots. They need to invent something to pay each other the difference. In this story, that’s something would be money, be it in the form of shells or lumps of gold or silver or whatever.

Street Politics 101

In the spring of 2012, a massive student strike in opposition to a tuition hike rocked the streets of the Montréal for over six months. Protests and militant street actions became part of the daily and nightly reality of this Canadian metropolis. Several times during this tumultuous spring, the numbers in the streets would reach over one hundred thousand. Police routinely clubbed students and their allies, and arrested them by the hundreds.

Consumed

Consumerism has become the cornerstone of the post-industrial age. Using theories of evolutionary psychology to underpin a bold narrative of our times, this film takes a whirlwind tour through the “weird mental illness of consumerism”, showing how our insatiable appetite has driven us into “the jaws of the beast”.

Quantum Revolution

Professor Michio Kaku, famous Theoretical Physicist and one of the inventors of Light Cone String Field Theory (one of the Relativistic forms of M-Theory), hosts a documentary on the use of the body of scientific knowledge on quantum mechanics that will lead to “The Quantum Revolution”.

The Bully Project

The Bully Project is a documentary film that covers events during the 2009–2010 school year and follows students and their families from Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, Iowa and Oklahoma.

Mega Man

Kim Dotcom claims he wants to protect internet privacy. The United States claims he’s the internet’s biggest pirate. This film meets the man, as the future of the internet and $500m in copyright claims hang in the balance.

Evacuate Earth

Evacuate Earth is a National Geographic Channel documentary that tells the what-if story of the evacuation of the planet Earth which is due to be destroyed by a rogue Neutron Star. The documentary goes into the technical and social complications of building an Ark to save humanity and other Earth life and moving them to a planet in another star system.

Exposed: Ireland’s Secret Cults

Exposed: Ireland’s Secret Cults is a documentary from TV3 that looks into a number of religious ‘cults’ in Ireland like the ‘Palmarians’, ‘The House of Prayer’ and ‘Scientologists’. This film explores who goes to these churches, who runs them, how they get money, and who they target as new ‘recruits’, talking to ex-cult members who have left these churches.

Video Not Working?

HUNGRY FOR CHANGE IN NEW YORK

Food is at the core of human survival – it can be at the heart of a family’s traditions and the key to a nation’s cultural identity.

RISE OF THE SUPERBUGS

Antibiotics are the wonder drugs of modern medicine. They’ve allowed doctors to save and extend life by killing infection and enabling ground breaking surgery. But imagine a world where antibiotics don’t work – that would be a place dominated by superbugs, bacteria that don’t respond to antibiotics. Scientists say this would end many modern medical procedures and they claim the threat is greater than we realise.

DISCOVERING DEEP SPACE

Around the world, a new generation of astronomers are hunting for the most mysterious objects in the universe. Young stars, black holes, even other forms of life. They have created a dazzling new set of super-telescopes that promise to rewrite the story of the heavens.

RECYCLING: HOW A USED BOTTLE BECOMES A NEW BOTTLE

The rise of curbside recycling programs over the past few decades has meant more glass recycling. But for a long time, many recycling centers didn’t have the technology to turn recycled glass into the raw material for new bottles. Instead, recycled glass often wound up being used as a cheap construction material, or even to cover landfills.

Tuesday, January 29

29.Jan.2013 - DOCUMENTARIES: Overview Effect, Secrets in Plain Sight, Gift for the Hackers, Flouridegate, Slab City, Secrets of Scientology, Facade of the American Dream, Frankensteer

Greetings from The Dissenting Heretic!This is a free service, and done in free time. If you'd like to donate to us, even $1.00 helps maintain the site. Click the WePay link on the website to donate any amount. Thank you!

The Overview Effect

On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.

The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment.

Secrets in Plain Sight

2010ConspiracyLeave a Comment

Secrets In Plain Sight is an awe inspiring exploration of great art, architecture, and urban design which skillfully unveils an unlikely intersection of geometry, politics, numerical philosophy, religious mysticism, new physics, music, astronomy, and history.

Exploring key monuments and their positions in Egypt, Stonehenge, Jerusalem, Rome, Paris, London, Edinburgh, Washington DC, New York, and San Francisco brings to light a secret obsession shared by pharaohs, philosophers and kings; Templars and Freemasons; great artists and architects; popes and presidents, spanning the whole of recorded history up to the present time.

As the series of videos reveals how profound ancient knowledge inherited from Egypt has been encoded in units of measurement, in famous works of art, in the design of major buildings, in the layout of city streets and public spaces, and in the precise placement of obelisks and other important monuments upon the Earth, the viewer is led to perceive an elegant harmonic system linking the human body with the architectural, urban, planetary, solar, and galactic scales.

Watch the full documentary now - 224 min

A Gift for the Hackers

2013TechnologyLeave a Comment

Increasingly devices like printers and scanners are being connected directly to the Internet. It’s all very convenient, bit is it safe?

Your mobile, your printer, your hard drive, everything is connected… but it’s like a Swiss cheese. Medical files, financial information, and trade secrets, they’re all there for the taking.

It’s shocking, it should not be allowed. It’s a design flaw. Is this vulnerability in tens of thousands of devices compromising your security and your privacy?

Computer security has become a big concern for companies and individuals. As a result it has also become a big business. The world’s number one producer of computers and printers, Hewlett – Packard (HP), has an annual turn over of 127 billion dollars.

Watch the full documentary now - 31 min

Fluoridegate

2013ConspiracyLeave a Comment

Fluoridegate is a new documentary film, made by By Dr. David Kennedy, that reveals the tragedy of how the United States government, industry, and trade associations protect and promote a policy known to cause harm to our country and especially small children, who suffer more than any other segment of the population.

While the basis of their motivation remains uncertain, the outcome is crystal clear: it is destroying our nation.

Dr. Kennedy is the Past President of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology. His BA is in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology from the University of Kansas (1967) and his Doctorate of Dental Surgery is from the University of Missouri (1971).

He is a world lecturer to the dental profession on the safety of dental materials in the human body. His lectures include (among others) addresses to the World Health Organization, the American Dental Society of Europe, the German BGD, and Brazil Rio Eco-Odonto.

Watch the full documentary now - 65 min

Americana: Slab City

2010Society14 Comments

VICE focused on all the crazy environmental issues going on in the Imperial Valley, from the air pollution, to drastic bee die-off, to the sewage-filled rivers, and everything in between.

But during the shoot, they also met a bevy of characters in Slab City, who are just as intriguing as all the eco-problems.

VICE thought it’d be fun to show you what a typical day is like in this bizarre stretch of area loaded with tweakers, eccentrics, army vets, hippies, and just plain old weirdos.

People have been living here for free since the late ’40s. And at one time in the early ’90s, the place was like a giant flea market. And believe or not, this land belongs to the State of California Teachers’ Union.

There is no California culture there at all. There are no strip malls, apartment buildings, dune buggies, off-road racing, crowded freeways, filthy beaches and arrogant politicians.

Watch the full documentary now - 21 min

The Secrets of Scientology

Education, Long (30+min), SocietyTags: BBC, Chruch of Scientology, Religion, Scientology

The Secrets of Scientology is a documentary follow up of John Sweeney’s 2007 investigation into the Church of Scientology and features interviews with former high-ranking members of the organization.

In 2007, while investigating the Church of Scientology for Panorama, reporter John Sweeney had a dramatic on-camera confrontation with a church spokesman named Tommy Davis. The church was accusing the reporter of bias and it attempted to stop the documentary from being broadcast – a campaign backed by Scientology A-lister John Travolta. Sweeney has returned to investigate the church again.

This time, one of those officials has turned whistleblower to help him reveal the dark secrets of the church, which boasts Hollywood A-listers Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its devotees.

claimed by BBC

The Facade of the American Dream

The conditions and life of African Americans in the United States.

A cross section of people discuss the fraud of the American dream and how systemic racism keeps millions of people down while offering others hope and opportunity. Executive producer Dr. Randy Short, M.div. and senior director Marzieh Hashemi’s film gives voice to those who believe That African Americans are far from achieving the American Dream in health, education, welfare, and justice.

The documentary features commentary from Dr. Vernellia Randall, Dr. Wilmer Leon, Rev. Graylan Haigler, Dr. Mary Scott, Dr. Charles Norman, Dr. Joseph Richardson, Glen Ford, Atty. Efia Nwangaza, and Dr. Mary Neal.

FRANKENSTEER

Saturday, January 26

26.Jan.2013 - HEADLINES: Perpetual War, American Violence, Climate, Data Requests, Military Pregnancy, Green Socialism, Empire Power, Drones, Gun Lobby, Walmart & Fast Food, Scientology Cult

Greetings from The Dissenting Heretic!
This is a free service, and done in free time. If you'd like to donate to us, even $1.00 helps maintain the site. Click the WePay link on the website to donate any amount. Thank you!

The President of Perpetual Warhttp://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/25-4

Far-Right Violence in America
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/unreasonablefaith/2013/01/far-right-violence-in-america/

Right-wing blogger tells CNN: Americans will ‘have to get used to’ climate change
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/24/right-wing-blogger-tells-cnn-americans-will-have-to-get-used-to-climate-change/

Google Report Reveals Continued Rise in US Government Requests for Data

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/339-182/15687-google-report-reveals-continued-rise-in-us-government-requests-for-data

Study: Military women experience unintended pregnancy rates at double U.S. average
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/23/study-military-women-experience-unintended-pregnancy-rates-at-double-u-s-average/

What Is ‘Socialist’ About ‘Green Socialism’?
http://www.countercurrents.org/candeias240113.htm

British and American empire: Patterns of power
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/julian-go-alex-doherty/british-and-american-empire-patterns-of-power

U.N. Panel to Investigate Rise in Drone Strikes
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/25/world/europe/un-panel-to-investigate-rise-in-drone-strikes.html

Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33714.htm

How Much Did the Gun Lobby Donate to Your Member of Congress?
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/map_of_the_week/2013/01/map_the_gun_lobby_s_campaign_contributions_by_congressional_district.html
In Walmart and Fast Food, Unions Scaling Up a Strike-First Strategy
http://labornotes.org/2013/01/walmart-and-fast-food-unions-scaling-strike-first-strategy

L. Ron Hubbard's Grandson Blasts Scientology as a Brainwashing 'Cult'
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/l-ron-hubbards-grandson-blasts-scientology-brainwashing-cult

Thursday, January 24

24.Jan.2013 - HEADLINES: Drones, Government Surveillance, Global Warming, Immigrant Citizenship, Obama's War, Customer Beware, Military Suicides, Religion Doomed, Capitalism, Scientology Self-Destructing, Wiretapping Everyone, World's Wealthiest, more.

Greetings from The Dissenting Heretic!
This is a free service, and done in free time. If you'd like to donate to us, even $1.00 helps maintain the site. Click the WePay link on the website to donate any amount. Thank you!

Making ‘Lethal Drones’ Routine
http://consortiumnews.com/2013/01/22/making-lethal-drones-routine/

Google Report Shows 'Disturbing Growth in Government Surveillance'
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/23-8

Global Warming is a Domestic Crisis
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/23-0

Obama's Overlooked War and Lethal Presidency
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33683.htm

Nearly 2/3 of Americans Support for Path to Citizenship for Immigrants -- But Will Obama Step Up?
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/nearly-23-americans-support-path-citizenship-immigrants-will-obama-step

Customer Beware: You Are Being Tracked
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/customer-beware-you-are-being-tracked

Military Suicides Outpace Combat Deaths
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/323-95/15573-military-suicides-outpace-combat-deaths

Does the Internet Spell Doom For Organized Religion?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33630.htm

The Institutionalization of Tyranny
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article33670.htm

The Extremist Cult of Capitalism
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Extremist-Cult-of-Capi-by-Paul-Buchheit-130121-441.html

The case for socialist organization
http://socialistworker.org/2013/01/16/case-for-socialist-organization

After Tragedy, Nonbelievers Find Other Ways To Cope
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/16/168563480/after-tragedy-nonbelievers-find-other-ways-to-cope

Is Scientology self-destructing?
http://machineslikeus.com/news/scientology-self-destructing

How The FBI's Desire To Wiretap Every New Technology Makes Us Less Safe
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130114/20442421683/how-fbis-desire-to-wiretap-every-new-technology-makes-us-less-safe.shtml

Profits of World's 100 Wealthiest Could End Poverty Four Times Over: Report
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/21-0

Texas Public School Teaching Kids That Jews Practice "Flawed Religion" and that Blacks Are "Descended from Ham"
http://www.alternet.org/texas-public-school-teaching-kids-jews-practice-flawed-religion-and-blacks-are-descended-ham

Obama To Approve Drone Assassination Manual
http://www.countercurrents.org/martin210113.htm

Michael Shermer on morality
http://machineslikeus.com/news/michael-shermer-morality

Notable (and Hilarious) Examples of the Christian Right's Failed Prophecieshttp://www.alternet.org/belief/notable-and-hilarious-examples-christian-rights-failed-prophecies

The Myth of Human Progress
http://www.alternet.org/environment/myth-human-progress

Friday, January 18

18.Jan.2013 - The Documentary Issue: Battling the Yakuza, Behind Bars, Ten Commandments of the Mafia, The Death Squads, Skinheads USA, Jonestown

Greetings from The Dissenting Heretic!This is a free service, and done in free time. If you'd like to donate to us, even $1.00 helps maintain the site. Click the WePay link on the website to donate any amount. Thank you!

Battling the Yakuza

2012CrimeLeave a Comment

Organized crime syndicates are deeply entrenched in Japanese history. Known as the Jakuza, they were once seen as gangsters with strict code of honor, helping the police to fight the criminal underworld.

The Yakuza in Japan has links that extend as far back as 400 years to Edo era. But their days of protecting the weak against the strong are long gone.

Today, the Yakuza is a criminal network with nearly 80,000 members operating in 22 crime syndicates, and raking in billions of dollars a year. And Japan’s law enforcement wants to wipe them out once and for all.

With their links to drug and prostitution rings, corporate crimes and deadly shootings, Japanese officials want choke the Yakuza’s existence by starving them financially.

Watch the full documentary now - 25 min

Behind Bars

Crime26 Comments

Another chance to see the BAFTA award winning presenter traveling to northern California to visit America’s notorious San Quentin State Prison.

Built in 1852, San Quentin is one of America’s oldest prisons and suffers from chronic overcrowding. Although famous for its death row the prison’s main task is to house a transient population of 3,000 murderers, sexual predators and small-time criminals.

Louis spends two weeks with these inmates and quickly discovers that they inhabit a strange world within a world with its own rules and its own brutal code of conduct.

He meets amongst others David Silva who is serving 521 years and 11 life sentences and is locked down for 23 hours a day. Silva’s crimes as he describes them ‘would never be forgotten’ and he talks of how he faces up to the prospect of never leaving prison.

Louis meets Deborah and Rob a trans-gender couple who live like husband and wife and how Deborah feels that after 20 years of continual offending, San Quentin now feels like home.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 1 hour)

Ten Commandments of The Mafia

Crime43 Comments

In 2007, Italian police make an astonishing discovery during a raid on a Mafia boss’ villa: a list of the Mafia’s most sacred laws.

It’s an incredible find: a code of conduct for the Mob. Now, for the first time, former Mobsters speak out about the rules that govern their criminal world; and reveal what happened when gangland began to question the so-called Ten Commandments of the Mafia.

The document makes clear that people with police or informers in their family cannot become members of the Mob. And although mobsters’ wives must be respected, they should not expect much support during childbirth: the rules state that “always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty – even if your wife’s about to give birth”.

The Decalogue was discovered along with a large number of other coded documents in a house near Palermo where Mr Lo Piccolo was apprehended after spending more than two decades on the run from police. Investigators say that the documents – including the Ten Commandments – will give them an insight into how the Mafia operates.

The papers also reveal details of companies with Mafia connections and information about the hierarchy within the organization.

Watch the full documentary now (playlist)

The Death Squads

Crime31 Comments

The torture and slaughter of Iraqi civilians is reaching unprecedented heights with estimates of up to 655,000 dead. Night after night death squads rampage through Iraq’s main cities. In Baghdad, up to a hundred bodies a day are dumped on the streets. Often they’ve been tortured with electric drills. Yet those doing the killing have little to do with al Qaeda or Sunni insurgents. The majority of the killings are carried out by Shia death squads who want to turn Iraq into a Shia state aligned to Iran.

This shocking film investigates the links between the death squads and high-ranking Shia politicians. It reveals how the Shia militia that these politicians control have systematically infiltrated and taken over police units and even entire government ministeries. It investigates how these units are closely linked to the death squads, indeed they often are the death squads. And the killers act with impunity – there’s little investigation into their activities.

Watch the full documentary now

Skinheads USA: Soldiers of the Race War

Crime139 Comments

This documentary takes you inside to an actual neo-Nazi Skinhead organization for a extended look at the methods and mentality that fuel the White Power youth movement in America. Focusing on the Alabama-based Aryan National Front and its leader, Bill Riccio, this special features behind-the-scenes footage of group members in their rural commune, at a series of White Power rallies, at a cross-burning Skinhead/KKK “Unification Rally,” and on the brink of extinction following the arrest of Riccio.

Watch the full documentary now

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple

2007Crime61 Comments

Produced for the PBS series American Experience, Stanley Nelson’s Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples’ Temple, written by his frequent collaborator Marcia Smith, examines the infamous religious cult formed by Jim Jones and the events that led to the group’s horrifying mass suicide in 1978. The film traces Jones’ history from his unhappy childhood in rural Indiana.

Witnesses describe a strange, charismatic young man who nursed a seemingly sincere desire for social justice, but also reputedly murdered small animals as a child. Jones’ desire to befriend people across color and class lines alienated his family and neighbors. Eventually, he moved to Indianapolis, where, as a young Pentecostal minister, he started the city’s first integrated church.

Eventually, Jones moved his church to California to escape the racism he perceived in Indiana. In Redwood Valley, his church took on a new life, and he began aggressively recruiting new members. At first, members were required to tithe a percentage of their worth, but eventually, they were expected to relinquish all of their “worldly goods” to the Temple. In 1974, Jones moved to San Francisco, where he acquired some political clout before his high profile caught up with him.

Just before a damaging exposé was published, he moved his people to what was meant to be a “paradise” outside the racism and oppression of America, in Guyana. Nelson interviews eyewitnesses, including many former members of the Temple, and members of Congressman Leo Ryan’s staff who managed to escape when the congressman’s investigatory visit ended in bloodshed. The film had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.

This documentary is available for preview only. Buy the DVD at Amazon.com.

Sunday, December 2

02.Dec.2012 - NYC Shutting Down Occupy Sandy Relief, Organizing McDonalds and WalMart, Banksters = 4th branch of Government? Palestinian Statehood, Modern Day Slavery Victory, Tale of Lost American Liberty, Israel to Expand Settlements, Anti-Choice Zealots, Secret Watergate Files Released, more.

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Don't forget to go to dustcircle.com and sign up for our Newsletter - There's a Donation button, if you're inclined to give toward this site. Also, have you written a book? We'd like to read and review it.

NYC Threatens to Shut Down Occupy Sandy Relief Sites

While the history of relief efforts for Sandy victims in places such as Staten Island and Red Hook is still being written, a move on Friday by New York City will probably go down as one of the stupidest moves any governmental authority EVER made

http://my.firedoglake.com/tobywollin/2012/12/01/nyc-threatens-to-shut-down-occupy-sandy-relief-sites/

Israel Pushes New Settlement Homes After UN Palestine Vote

The West Bank Jewish settlement of Beitar Ilit is seen through a barbed wire fence, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to push for new housing units in response to the UN vote on Palestinian statehood. (photo: Sebastian Scheiner/AP)

he Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has ordered the construction of thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied territories in what will be widely interpreted as retaliation for the United Nations vote to recognise a Palestinian state on Thursday.

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/330-131/14813-israel-pushes-new-settlement-homes-after-un-palestine-vote

Israel/Palestine
No more slaughter in Gaza!
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/6045

Boy Scouts America: Anti Gay, Anti Atheist (BSA Blog Carnival)

The Boy Scouts Association of America not only promotes religion within their ranks, it explicitly states that without God in their lives, the children could never grow to become good people. This comes from the Boy Scout Handbook, in an archived version of the BSALegal.org website

http://martinspribble.com/archives/3554

Organizing McDonalds and Walmart

hat does the drama in Washington over the "fiscal cliff" have to do with strikes and work stoppages among America's lowest-paid workers at Walmart, McDonald's, Burger King, and Domino's Pizza? Everything.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/14814-organizing-mcdonalds-and-walmart

Will the West Survive Climate Change?
This year, summer came on like a grudge, with record-breaking heat, inescapable drought, and the sense that the effects of climate change had arrived - and that life in America's mythic frontier might never be the same.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/271-38/14812-will-the-west-survive-climate-change

Are Banksters and the Fed Becoming the Fourth Branch of Our Government?

Despite its pathetic propaganda encouraging us to practice doublethink, the Federal Reserve freely admits that it is privately owned, is a monopoly empowered by Congress, and that it operates independently from -- above? -- Congress and the president. Yet it pays its private undisclosed shareholders/owners huge rewards . . that it extracts from U.S. taxpayers!

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Are-Banksters--the-Fed-Be-by-Richard-Clark-121201-585.html

For Amish, fastest-growing faith group in US, life is changing
As the Amish population in the US grows – forecast to hit 1 million by 2050 – the decline of farmland is forcing the community to spread to new areas and to evolve its agrarian culture.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/1130/For-Amish-fastest-growing-faith-group-in-US-life-is-changing

Is it Time for Evangelicals to Stop Opposing Gay Marriage?

I asked this question of Jim Daly – head of Focus on the Family — about eighteen months ago. Jim is a famously irenic figure: earnest, thoroughly likable, palpably compassionate, and absolutely devoted to causes such as adoption and immigration reform and opposing human trafficking. He also helms an organization that, its reputation on the Left notwithstanding, devotes the vast majority of its resources into serving families and children and only a tiny proportion to political advocacy.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/philosophicalfragments/2012/11/26/is-it-time-for-evangelicals-to-stop-opposing-gay-marriage/

Now What? The State Of Palestinian Statehood

Palestinian children play in the rubble of a house that was hit by an Israeli strike during Israel's recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip Saturday.

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution Thursday that changed Palestinians' status to a "non-member observer state." It's a significant step in Palestinian-Israeli relations, but whether backward or forward depends on who's talking.

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/01/166313016/the-state-of-palestinian-statehood

Is The Voting Rights Act Outdated?

For more than four decades, the Voting Rights Act never lost a court decision as it cut a path for minorities' increased participation in elections.

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/01/166226641/is-the-voting-rights-act-outdated

Revolution is female: the uprising of women in the Arab world
The Arabic word for revolution, thawra, has a female gender. So does the word ’huriya (freedom), and so does the word intifada (uprising). Sara Abbas talks to the social media revolutionaries behind The Uprising of Women in the Arab World, a facebook group that is taking patriarchy head-on
http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/sara-abbas/revolution-is-female-uprising-of-women-in-arab-world

A victory against modern day slavery
The ILO Domestic Workers Convention was unthinkable just a few years ago. It represents the culmination of years of effort by domestic workers, advocates, and officials to shine a spotlight on a long-ignored but significant sector of the workforce, says Nisha Varia
http://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/nisha-varia/victory-against-modern-day-slavery

Abortion Rates Drop By 5 Percent In US

Good news! The US abortion rate fell 5 percent between 2008 and 2009. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the details for 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available, and noted that this was the biggest one-year decline in at least a decade.
http://www.care2.com/causes/abortion-rates-drop-by-5-precent-in-us.html

Bradley Manning: A Tale of Liberty Lost in America
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.

'The repressive treatment of Bradley Manning is one of the disgraces of Obama’s first term.' Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

http://prisonradio.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/bradley-manning-a-tale-of-liberty-lost-in-america/

Science, an essential part of culture
When peace was restored after the end of the Second World War, 44 countries convened in London to debate how to reconstruct educational systems and to enable countries to work together. Spurred on by France and Britain, the delegates decided to create an organization that would embody a culture of peace with the ultimate aim of preventing another world war. This was originally intended to be an educational and cultural organization, but two British biologists, Julian Huxley and Joseph Needham, proposed adding science to its agenda.
http://areycorneja.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/science-an-essential-part-of-culture/

Israel to expand settlements after UN vote on Palestine

The right-wing Zionist government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued the go-ahead for the construction of 3,000 new housing units in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and is putting 1,000 more on a fast track for permits. These moves are in retaliation for the United Nations General Assembly vote late Thursday night recognizing the Palestine Liberation Organization as a nonmember state.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/dec2012/pale-d01.shtml

What's Next for Anti-Choice Zealots?

After an election night thrashing, the movement hopes to make its message more palatable to the public.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/whats-next-anti-choice-zealots

8 Reasons Wall Street Greed Is the Cause, and the Solution, To Phony Fiscal Cliff Crisis

Big Finance is once again getting a free pass.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/eight-reasons-wall-street-greed-cause-and-solution-phony-fiscal-cliff-crisis

Strike Launches Largest Union Drive in US Fast Food History

Fast food workers across New York City stood up Thursday against the $200 billion fast food industry. (photo: Press TV)

hile the emblems of Wendy's, McDonald's, KFC, Domino's and other greasy dynasties are hard to escape in the American landscape, those who cook, clean, ring up orders and otherwise serve as the fulcrum of these franchises often go unnoticed. These workers, however, were hard to miss today as they stepped off burger assembly lines across New York City and into the street, picketing in front of their workplaces. The strike, which took place at numerous restaurants across the city, is the start of the largest effort to unionize fast food workers in American history. Organizers are calling the campaign Fast Food Forward.

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/315-19/14801-strike-launches-largest-union-drive-in-us-fast-food-history

Watergate Scandal: Secret Files Released

he US government has released more than 850 pages from the Watergate political scandal, providing new insights on privileged legal conversations and prison evaluations of several of the burglars in the case. A federal judge had decided earlier in November to unseal some material, but other records still remain off limits.

http://rsnorg.org/news-section2/318-66/14824--watergate-scandal-secret-files-released
New Orleans: Blaming the victims

The Army Corps of Engineers caught in (another) lie