US Appears Set to Boycott UN Session on Racism
by Michael A. Fletcher
Conference Stance on Israel Is at Issue; Advocacy Groups Criticize White HouseThe Obama administration appears to be standing by its decision to boycott the World Conference Against Racism next week in Geneva, despite efforts to focus and tone down language in a draft conference document viewed as hostile toward Israel. |
The Bush Six to Be Indicted
by Scott Horton
Spanish prosecutors will seek criminal charges against Alberto Gonzales and five high-ranking Bush administration officials for sanctioning torture at Guantánamo.Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, several reliable sources close to the investigation have told The Daily Beast. Their decision is expected to be announced on Tuesday before the Spanish central criminal court, the Audencia Nacional, in Madrid. But the decision is likely to raise concerns with the human-rights community on other points: They will seek to have the case referred to a different judge. |
Palin filmmaker calls award to Couric 'an outrage'
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Many people have fond memories of the interview CBS News anchor Katie Couric did last September with then-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin -- during which Palin had difficulty answering questions, such as one asking her to name recent Supreme Court decisions with which she disagreed -- as well as of the memorable spoof of that interview by Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live. |
Harvard economist: Legalize all drugs to eliminate violence
by David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron believes that legalizing all drugs, not just marijuana, is the only way to eliminate drug-related violence.Miron argued during an appearance Monday on CNN, "Prohibition ... hasn't prevented kids from getting access to heroin, including very, very cheap heroin. ... At the same time, we're getting all the ancillary costs of drug prohibition, such as the violence in Mexico that spills over into the United States." |
Right-wing pundits fall out: Limbaugh eviscerates Goldberg
by Muriel Kane
The infighting among conservatives has been notched up another degree, with Rush Limbaugh attempting to blast Jonah Goldberg out of the water for daring to suggest that President Obama deserves congratulations for the successful rescue of an American captain from Somali pirates. |
Glenn Beck staff thought guest's collapse was a stunt
by David Edwards
Staff at the Glenn Beck show did not know to react after Columbia University professor David Buckner suddenly passed out during a discussion on Monday.Beck explained that his staff initially didn't assist the man because they thought it was another Beck stunt. "You know what was funny? Everybody on the set -- I finally had to say, 'Can I get some help here?' Nobody moved from their place because everybody thought [it was part of the show,]" explained Beck. |
The American Way
by Bob Herbert
Late in the afternoon on Good Friday, in a cold, steady rain, a gray-haired 60-year-old woman sat shivering and praying on a stone step outside of 1016 Fairfield St., which is where the terrible shooting had occurred. She read from a prayer book and from time to time would take a drag on a soggy Newport cigarette. A candle flickered beside her as she prayed. |
Obama Takes Up The White Man's Burden
by Eric Margolis
"The White Man's Burden" is a poem by the English poet Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published in the popular magazine McClure's in 1899, with the subtitle The United States and the Philippine Islands. Although Kipling's poem mixed exhortation to empire with sober warnings of the costs involved, imperialists within the United States latched onto the phrase "white man's burden" as a characterization for imperialism that justified the policy as a noble enterprise. --Wikipedia. |
Gay Marriage and the Right's Selective Attacks on Democratic Institutions
by David Sirota
I appeared on CNN this weekend to discuss a bunch of different topics, including - most interestingly - gay marriage. You can watch the clip here.I say "most interestingly," because you'll see in the debate that the conservative du jour - a guy named Ben Ferguson - pulls the Right's now-standard tactic of blaming the process for any policy outcome the Right does not like. In this case, Ferguson insists that state legislatures and courts - major branches of our democracy - have no right to pass bills legalizing/issue court rulings legalizing gay marriage in a democracy. According to Ferguson, the only legitimate way to legalize gay marriage is through voter referenda. |
Why do Sarah Palin's bizarre religious beliefs continue to get a pass from the mainstream media?
by Bill Berkowitz
Last spring, when the mainstream media's feasted on Pastor John Hagee's anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic sermons, Senator McCain was forced to repudiate the Pastor's endorsement. Why then did the mainstream media give Sarah Palin a pass regarding her -- some would say -- astonishing religious beliefs and affiliations? |
One Wrong Move and the Bank Gets It !
by Stephen Pizzo
Remember when GW Bush told us (ad nauseum) how he would "listen to the generals on the ground," in formulating his actions in Iraq? Remember how well all that worked?Fast forward, new administration, same kind of misplaced trust.President Obama is repeating Bush's mistake by delegating critical tasks to the wrong people. I'm not taling about Iraq here, but closer to home -- the bank bailout. The "generals" Barack Obama says he's listening to in this case are Larry Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither. |
Bag the Tea Bagging
by David Swanson
The Charlottesville Daily Progress, my local newspaper, like yours, has a resident rightwinger. In this case: Bryan McKenzie (imagine if they had a leftist too, the additional readers they could pick up!). McKenzie, like the guy at your paper, is taking his marching orders from Fox News and promoting a teabagging tax day tea party on April 15th. (In this case: at the Charlottesville Pavilion from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday.) |
America is Simply Losing It, Folks
by Dave Lindorff
Reading the latest AP report on how American citizens are being snatched up, detained and deported (sic) by the Immigration and Naturalization Service has reminded me just what a screwed up place this country has become.Ever since September 11, 2001, the country has simply lost it. |
China publishes its first 'National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010).'
by Aimee Kligman
Beijing's action earned a headline in Chinese weekly Nanfang Zhoumo which read: 'National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010) published'.It went on to explain that this is the first time the Chinese government implemented such an action plan, defining its human rights policy for the next two years. The 22,000 word document clarifies the objectives and the specific measures taken by the Chinese government in the development and the protection of human rights, business, social and cultural laws, civil rights, citizens' political rights, the rights of ethnic minorities, women's and children's rights, rights of the elderly and handicapped. |
Sarah Palin Suffers Massive Political Fallout from Her Latest Nutcase Nominee
by Max Blumenthal
The governor is reeling after nominating for attorney general a man who allegedly defended the right of men to rape their wives.— from The Daily BeastWhile priming her political machine for a likely 2012 presidential primary run, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has fomented a scandal that threatens to further erode her reputation in the Last Frontier. |
Debt is Not Money
by Thom Hartmann
"Everything predicted by the enemies of banks, in the beginning, is now coming to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper. It is cruel that such revolutions in private fortunes should be at the mercy of avaricious adventurers, who, instead of employing their capital, if any they have, in manufactures, commerce, and other useful pursuits, make it an instrument to burden all the interchanges of property with their swindling profits, profits which are the price of no useful industry of theirs." |
LOON WATCH: Right-wing bets against U.S. in pirate standoff
by Jed Lewison
Here’s how desperate Republicans are to find a winning issue: conservatives from Newt Gingrich to Glenn Beck to the rest of Fox News all bet against the Obama administration’s ability to rescue Richard Phillips, the American ship captain who was taken hostage by Somali pirates last Wednesday. |
