General Shinseki Has a Dream

January 19, 2011 By Brent Budowsky

Brent Bukowsky: Let’s begin a JFK moon-shot program to end homelessness among American veterans within five years, and end homelessness of any American within 10 years.

Why Pentagon Claims MLK Would Love War on Afghanistan

January 19, 2011 By David Swanson

David Swanson: A poll last spring found that 85% of Kandaharis consider the Taliban “our Afghan brothers.” The poll was commissioned by the Pentagon. The same poll found that 94% favored peace negotiations, not war. So, out of the goodness of our racist hearts, we brought them more war.

Prepping Minds for War Against China

January 19, 2011 By Shamus Cooke

Shamus Cooke: The real problem that the U.S. government has with China is twofold: China’s growth is pushing aside U.S. influence/power all over the world, which has negative influence on the profits of U.S. corporations, which are losing contracts to Chinese companies.

Martin Luther King Day: They Never Heard Him Give a Speech

January 18, 2011 By admin

Kafi D. Blumenfield: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This generation of leaders has taken Dr. King’s injunction to heart and they are taking action. They and their peers find common ground by connecting not only through race, gender, sexual orientation or citizenship status, but also, on higher ground, through shared aspirations and hope for the future.

An American Nightmare

January 18, 2011 By Steve Hochstadt

Steve Hochstadt: What does matter in 2011 is that mainstream libertarians and conservatives think a film that portrays Jews as evil monsters bent on world domination is worth showing, praising, and promoting. After decades of retreat, the antisemitism of Ford and Coughlin, and of the Nazis, is back, on a screen near you.

The Pentagon and the King Legacy

January 18, 2011 By William Loren Katz

William Lorenz Katz: Was not Martin Luther King, Jr. reaching beyond Vietnam when he warned of “approaching spiritual death” and called for “a significant and profound change in American life and policy” and insisted “we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.” Was he only speaking of Vietnam when he said, “War is not the answer?”

Haiti’s “Baby Doc” Duvalier Returns: Scare Tactic or Distraction?

January 18, 2011 By Georgianne Nienaber

Georgianne Nienaber: Haiti’s former dictator and many would say “thief,” Jean Claude Duvalier, arrived in Haiti Sunday on an Air France jet–an arrival that seemed almost surreal.

Transition Initiative: Feeding Ourselves Tomorrow

January 18, 2011 By admin

Robert Haw: Climate change is fact. It will bring us great misery if fossil fuel use continues unabated. Perhaps a better name for the phenomena unfolding around us is climate chaos, because “a climate” (as we define it) will no longer exist.

California’s Humpty-Dumpty Law

January 18, 2011 By Gautam Dutta

Gautam Dutta: Although SB 6 is sitting on a wall, its Humpty-Dumpty election rules do not have to fall. In fact, the Legislature could have fixed SB 6′s defects last year – and it still has one last chance to do so before the courts decide SB 6′s fate.

So, Did Anything Unusual Happen Over Last Weekend?

January 17, 2011 By Robert Letcher

Robert Letcher: With all the violence and contempt that seemed “in the air”, it was starting to feel like some “Tucson” was bound to happen, but there wasn’t enough actionable information: no “when”, no “where”. Nor were resources available to “look into the situation”, as they had been to President Bush.

The American Family

January 17, 2011 By Carl Matthes

Carl Matthes: Imagine, in the 21st century, a church orthodoxy which “punishes” life-long, educated adult ministers from loving Christ-centered families for following their conscience. Amazing! I am sure that even Christ had to look away.

AARP’s Magazine Plays Softball in the Bush League

January 17, 2011 By Sherwood Ross

Sherwood Ross: Next to the happy, smiling face of this clueless warmonger are the words: “What he regrets, what he wants next (grandkids!)” — as if Bush is some typical retiree who hadn’t started two wars over resounding global protests and brought misery and death to millions.

The Politics of Hate—and Hate Speech

January 17, 2011 By Walter M. Brasch

Walter Brasch: While most Tea Partiers are White, middle-aged or senior citizens who are angry but not violent, whenever there is violence, whenever there is racism, discrimination, or homophobia, there are Tea Party sympathizers present.

“My Daddy Is a Presbyterian Preacher”

January 17, 2011 By Berry Craig

Berry Craig: My town — and many more like it across the South and in border states like Kentucky — was deeply divided by the color bar. I didn’t see it because it didn’t affect me. Before meeting Cecil Horton, black people were invisible to me, as in the title of Ralph Ellison’s famous novel.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail: Reading As a Remedy for Racial Bias

January 16, 2011 By Charles D. Hayes

Charles D. Hayes: I grew up with a sheltered worldview much in agreement with the same politics and prejudices of my community. It was a world of black-and-white notions of morality, and it was a literal interpretation of racial superiority that white was right. But reading Martin Luther King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail changed my worldview.