Tom Hall: Is there anything “free” about a ‘free press’ that is controlled so as to eliminate serious discussion about an industry that leads to the death of tens of thousands of people every year?
The Right to Shirk
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John T. Cumbler: Indiana ’s proposed “Right to Work” Act is not just anti-union, it is anti-democratic. Under the law if a majority of workers in a plant vote for a union, those who opposed the union would not have to contribute dues to the union.
Economic Independence: Bedrock of Freedom
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Wendy McElroy: Even laws intended to protect women, like the civil service restriction, ended up privileging one class of women at the expense of another.
Free Speech: The Outrage Override
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Carl Cohen: But the freedom to speak on matters of public concern is not divisible by topic or party. We will protect that freedom for everyone, including nasty and disgusting folks, or we will lose it.
Why Conservatives Need to Support the #OccupyWallStreet Movement
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David Love: Conservatives proclaim that they believe in freedom and the free market. But freedom never meant the right of a handful to steal most of the nation’s wealth, run roughshod over the rest of us and wreck the country for a buck.
Torture Victims: From DC to Damascus
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Julie Gutman: One of the most profound contributions we can make to the cause of freedom, democracy and human dignity is to rebuild the lives of those who have sacrificed so much in the defense of these ideals — the very principles upon which our country was founded.
My Passover Odyssey
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Ruth Broyde Sharone: Perhaps the most memorable Seder I filmed, however, which ultimately had a profound influence on my life and my career, was led by a Black Pastor, Charles C. Queen, for 600 African Americans. “The Israelites were getting out of Egypt,” he intoned. “They were going to be free people!”
Julian Assange: The Man Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest
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Jonathan David Farley: I have felt for years that the last defenders of our freedom would be the cyber-anarchists. We are not at freedom’s end yet, but cameras capture the average Briton 300 times daily. The Lord of Flies even wishes to invade our minds, to determine when we are lying to him.
Freedom of Deplorable Speech
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Tina Dupuy: Pastor Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church congregation – also known as the “God Hates Fags” picketers – have no place in a polite society. But we don’t live in a polite society. We live in this one. And in this one we are guaranteed the freedom of speech.
WikiLeaks and Freedom of the Press
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Anthony Samad: Government agencies (particularly the FBI and CIA) use leaks to discredit those they don’t like or who they see as threats to the public disclosures of government betrayal. Why should the press not be able to do the same when it becomes obvious that government has not been forthcoming in its dealing and has violated the public trust? That’s what the WikiLeaks debate is really about.
The Internet Changes Nothing
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Marshall Poe: In the end, the message is the message, and the message transmitted over virtually all modern media, the Internet included, is this: buy something. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just the way things are in our world. It’s time to face it—the Internet changes nothing.
Midterm Choice: Profiteers or Bureaucrats
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Tina Dupuy: When Republicans talk about freedom, they don’t mean the freedom to be able to drink clean water piped into your home. When they talk about freedom, they don’t mean a job that pays enough to live on. When they talk about freedom, they don’t mean not being a victim of predatory lending.
Two Civil Rights Movies Find the Cost of Freedom
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Ed Rampell: The documentary Neshoba and musical Bran Nue Dae remind us of how far we’ve come – and, like Willie en route from Perth to Broome – how far we still have to go before we overcome and that Brand New Day of equality dawns.
Fast 4 Freedom
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Diane Lefer: AB900 was a huge victory for the prison-industrial complex. “People are making a profit out of putting people in cages,” said Geri Silva.
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Friday Feedback: Freedom from Fossil Fuels
Friday Feedback: The “fact” is we cannot wean ourselves from fossil fuel because there is nothing to replace it in terms of scalability. It is woven into the fabric of almost every aspect of our existence.