'Speak English' signs OK at Philly shop
by Patrick Walters
The owner of a famous cheesesteak shop did not discriminate when he posted signs asking customers to speak English, a city panel ruled Wednesday.In a 2-1 vote, a Commission on Human Relations panel found that two signs at Geno's Steaks telling customers, "This is America: WHEN ORDERING 'PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,'" do not violate the city's Fair Practices Ordinance. |
Different Standards for Black and White Preachers
by Cenk Uygur
Rudy Giuliani's priest has been accused in grand jury proceedings of molesting several children [1] and covering up the molestation of others. Giuliani would not disavow him on the campaign trail and still works with him.Mitt Romney was part of a church that did not view black Americans as equals and actively discriminated against them [2]. He stayed with that church all the way into his early thirties, until they were finally forced to change their policies to come into compliance with civil rights legislation. Romney never disavowed his church back then or now. He said he was proud of the faith of his fathers. |
The Costs of Freedom
by Monica Benderman
Five years of this war, and no end in sight.I received an email from a friend in Iraq. She was asking me to sign a petition and distribute it as widely as possible. Young Iraqi refugee girls were being forced into prostitution in Syria. She was working to draw attention to their situation and hoped for a global response of help for them. |
Chuck Hagel: Time for a new political party
by CapitolHillBlue.com
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel writes in a new book that the United States needs independent leadership and possibly another political party, while suggesting the Iraq war might be remembered as one of the five biggest blunders in history."In the current impasse, an independent candidate for the presidency, or a bipartisan unity ticket ... could be appealing to Americans," Hagel writes in "America: Our Next Chapter," due in stores Tuesday. The Associated Press obtained an advance copy. |
Media chickens come home to roost
by The Nation
For years, news organizations have failed American viewers and readers in a fundamental way. And now we see the dreadful fallout of the racial denial that exists in the American press.Senator Barack Obama gave a speech on race relations in Philadelphia on Tuesday that is now being called "historic" by many. To those of us who fall into the same age group as Senator Obama, the theme of his speech--that racial discord in the US is entrenched, distracting, and emotional, but not necessarily intractable--was not profound. But the tone, placement, and resonance of his Philadelphia talk is. |
AP president: US arrests journalist in Iraq to 'control' information
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Associated Press president Tom Curley says his news organization does not buy the government's argument that one of its photographers arrested in Iraq was working on behalf of the enemy, and he alleged the US is rounding up journalists in an attempt to control information. |
Why Did the U.S. Invade Iraq?
by Jim Lobe
The official reasons — the threat posed to the U.S. and its allies by Saddam Hussein’s alleged programmes of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the possibility that he would pass along those arms to al Qaeda — have long since been discarded by the overwhelming weight of the evidence, or, more precisely, the lack of evidence that such a threat ever existed. 0319 04 |
Report: Al Qaeda a tougher target for spies than the Kremlin
by Nick Juliano
Efforts to penetrate al Qaeda with undercover spies or convince the terror group's members to turn on their organization has confounded intelligence agencies in the US and its allies, even 10 years after the group founded by Osama bin Laden declared war on America, the Washington Post reports Thursday. |
Soldier electrocutions probed in Iraq
by Raw Story
A U.S. House committee chairman has begun an investigation into the electrocutions of at least 12 service members in Iraq, including that of a Pittsburgh soldier killed in January by a jolt of electricity while showering.Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said Wednesday he has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to hand over documents relating to the management of electrical systems at facilities in Iraq. |
Cheney’s former chief of staff disbarred from practicing law in U.S. capital
by CNN
Former White House adviser Lewis “Scooter” Libby, convicted last year for lying to a grand jury and federal agents probing the leak of a CIA agent’s identity, was disbarred from practicing law in the nation’s capital on Thursday.“When a member of the Bar is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory,” the District of Columbia Court of Appeals wrote in its opinion, which is posted on its Web site. |
Chief justice calls state budget cuts `murder'
by Marc Caputo
In unusually alarming terms, the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court told legislators Thursday that a nearly 10 percent budget cut to the state court system would be tantamount to anything from ''murder'' to ''suicide'' to a ``spear to the heart.'' |
