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Throwing Our Energy at Impossible Dreams
by P. F. Henshaw, March 2010
"Still, where is the cognitive path? Humanity clearly believes in and is devoting its most concentrated efforts on making its growth machine more efficient, to grow its way out of the earth's ever more severe physical constraints..."
Copenhagen Failed Us. What Do We Do Next?
by Nicholas C. Arguimbau, March 2010
"In short, the silver-tongued Obama flipped the bird to the enormous majority of U.S. voters, who had voted for him because he promised "change;" to the countless young idealists who'd worked for him, to the United Nations and to the overwhelming majority of climate researchers, who said action to reduce GHG emissions was critical."
The Great Oxymoron
by Ronald West, March 2010
"Nobody in the White Academic world knew how to create a Native Studies Program because in fact to postulate a program as such in the western classroom was oxymoron. Hell, they did not even know that."
Night of the Living Dead: The Party of Palin: An Unguided Anabolic Verboid For Reverdy Gliddon and Karl Johnson
by Jim Chaffee, March 2010
'Note that these people are not fiscal conservatives; fiscal conservatism is incompatible with militarism. Militarists spend whatever is necessary to build military dominance to terrify other nations. That a significant portion of this spending is for bluster value is evidenced by the lack of US military success in actual warfare. Consider the fact that when the US went to war in Iraq, its too-few troops were poorly equipped despite the billions spent on "defense."'
Rampaging Climate Deniers' Losing Battle
by Lorna Salzman, January 2010
'But "alternative" views are not necessarily credible or true. In the case of evolution, creationist belief in a deity is an article of faith reached by individuals outside the scientific process that involves peer review and rigorous independent impartial testing before any claim of "truth" or verification can be reached.'
Kevin Cooper: A Victim of American Injustice
by Stephen Lendman, January 2010
'"There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing and flouted our direction to perform" the proper tests. It "also impeded and obstructed Cooper's attorneys at every turn as they sought to develop the record." Unreasonable testing conditions were imposed, as well as "refused discovery that should have been available as a matter of course, limited testimony that should not have been limited, and found fact unreasonably, based on truncated and distorted record."'
Legalizing Crime
by Sam Vaknin, January 2010
"Criminal laws pertaining to property have malignantly proliferated and pervaded every economic and private interaction. The result is a bewildering multitude of laws, regulations statutes, and acts.
"The average Babylonian could have memorized and assimilated the Hammurabic Code thirty-seven centuries ago—it was short, simple, and intuitively just."
Resisting an Underlying Moral Vacuum
by Emily Spence, January 2010
"So, even as the "United Nations and Afghan officials have launched an awareness campaign that plans to educate over six million children about the dangers of landmines, which kill and injure over 60 people (more than half being children) in [Afghanistan] alone each month", there is little hope that such programs can be as constructive as originally planned."
What the World Needs to Know about Mordechai Vanunu
by Eileen Fleming, January 2010
"I'm not a traitor. I'm a man with a conscience who did what he did out of a deep belief after much thought and many doubts. But I knew that I had to do it, that I had no choice...somebody had to do it...I contributed my share by making public what the public ought to know and they shut my mouth behind the prison walls."
Report from Cop-enhagen
by David Rovics, December 2009
'A new law was passed in preparation for the climate summit which makes this kind of mass preemptive arrest perfectly legal — all the police need to do is arbitrarily determine that an area is designated as a "riot zone" and then they can arrest whoever they want. Any non-Danes arrested can be held for 40 days (including people who were born in Denmark but are not citizens, a reality for many here that may seem surprising to those in the US reading this).'
What's at Stake in the Deal for Gilad Shalit
by Jonathan Ben Efrat, December 2009
"...should Israel release 450 "heavyweight" prisoners in exchange for just one Gilad? In the TV studios the question swung between the personal and the national: on the personal level, everyone stands shoulder to shoulder with Noam and Aviva, Shalit's parents. But on a national level, many saw the price as too high. And even worse is the lesson the Palestinians may learn from the deal: that it pays to kidnap soldiers."
The Money Dream
by Stephen Muret, December 2009
'"This is the worst crisis in fifteen years," they said in ninety-nine. "This is black Monday. That was black Wednesday." The economic commentators are saying things like "I feel your pain" and "We all took a blow today." And you just shake your head. Nothing in your life has changed. You are at the bottom of the capitalist food chain, way down at the bottom, and you look up at the storms above you and they just don't affect you.'
Towards Resolving Thanksgiving Contradictions
by Emily Spence, December 2009
'I am sure that many European immigrants, who came to America during the last three hundred years, thought that they, too, were carrying out positive actions when they eradicated indigenous tribes at the behest of their community leaders. I am, also, convinced that many of those conducting the killings felt relieved that such a strange scourge (as the "dirty savages" seemed to be) was systematically obliterated.'
Notes from a Season at the Center of the Universe: Cecil Taylor at the Take 3
by Robert Levin, December 2009
"This is 1962. An increasing number of us live with the conviction that a seismic change in human consciousness is both possible and imminent. We also share a belief that the New Jazz, in its break with established forms and procedures, and with its resurrection of ancient black methodologies, is showing the way."
Anatomy of American Ignorance
Part Two by Bill Noxid, November 2009
"These are the people Obama continuously tries to "reach out" to. If Obama himself was being honest about the origin of this country and it's true history ( instead of the self-serving propaganda offered by the American educational system ), he would understand what motivates this unalterable hatred, and would recognize why these people will never accept him as President."
Running out of Fossil Fuels: A Cause for Glee?
by Emily Spence, November 2009
Imagine manufacturers trying to provide enough necessary (as opposed to frivolous) products, such as cans for preserved food, without the inordinate amount of energy that is, currently, being used in their creation. Imagine police, fire, school and hospital departments trying to run without electrical power. Imagine the seemingly endless miles and miles of farms across the globe trying to operate without the provision of manmade herbicides and pesticides (developed out of oil), as well as devoid of their gargantuan planting and culling machinery."
The Goldstone Report: Fierce but Toothless
by Yacov Ben Efrat, November 2009
"As things look now, the Goldstone Report will go to the shelf, the Occupation will continue, and so will Palestinian suffering. To cope with the present reality is more complex than putting people on the stand for war crimes. The reality is that Israel is ruled by the Right, which is nowadays attracting part of the Left. On the Palestinian side, the reality is a war between two rival factions that care more for power than for their people."
IF Stone: An Iconic Radical Journalist
by Stephen Lendman, November 2009
"ABC's Peter Jennings called him "a journalist's journalist." The New York Times featured his death on its front page (usually reserved for the rich and powerful) in a Peter Flint obituary titled, "IF Stone, Iconoclast of Journalism, Is Dead at 81." A quintessential muckraker, he described him as "the independent, radical pamphleteer of American journalism hailed by his admirers for his scholarship, wit and lucidity" over a career spanning 67 years."
A Eulogy for Simon Vinkenoog: Shamanism, Prophecy, and the Poetry of the 20th Century
by Louise Landes Levi, October 2009
"The prophet of the social realms reaches into the utopian
traditions & creates it for his time. The shaman, by definition, liberates
his listener, the qualifications between chant (or mantra), song & the common word are absolved."
The Police Are Rioting: Reflections on Pittsburg
by David Rovics, October 2009
"Ostensibly this great democracy had had the Bill of Rights enshrined in law for quite a long time now. Yet in 1914 a supporter of labor unionism could not make a soapbox speech on a sidewalk in this country without being beaten and arrested by police for the crime of disturbing the peace, blocking the sidewalk or whatever other nonsense the cops made up at the time."
Hearing Voices
by Billy Marshall Stoneking, September 2009
"When the dramatist, Arthur Miller, remarked that he couldn't write a character until he could hear a character he articulated what is probably the single most important insight concerning the nature of mediumistic storytelling: the process of discovering character — of entering a character's inner life, and allowing your life to be entered by it — is and always has been, in essence, an aural experience."
A-Salaam Aleykom
by Yacob Ben Efrat, September 2009
"The words A-Salaam Aleykom go far deeper than their literal meaning. They express reconciliation, recognition, humbleness, and especially, they go hand in hand with Islam and its holy book — The Koran. Obama has decided to fight fundamentalist Islam with its own weapon, The Koran. He came to Cairo armed with verses from The Koran and their latest explanations proving that there is no reason for the schism dividing America and Islam."
Anatomy of American Ignorance
by Bill Noxid, September 2009
"It's generally not hard to find examples of the totality of mind control in this country, but last week produced a couple of rare examples. Arlen Specter's Town Hall meeting was evidently an important "test case" for the organizers of disingenuous dissent, and we got to see a variety of the false arguments. Just look at the two most obvious incidents..."
Why Won't Universal Healthcare Be Provided?
by Emily Spence, September 2009
"This additional difficulty concerned a way to dispose of the bodies since the majority of the deceased persons' kinfolk did not have sufficient funds to carry out burials or cremations. As such, the waterway served another function, which was corpse recipient, and Linda noted that, nearly every day, bloated water-logged remains could be seen quietly gliding downstream."
On America and Nobility
Editor's Note for the July 4th Issue, 2009
"My name is Jonathan Penton, I am a poetry editor from Texas, and I love America. I am variably proud of and ashamed by this love. I am aware that both feelings are pointless. I also love oranges, strawberries, strawberry Cisco, swordfish, chili, metaphysical conceits, and a host of humans who would rather I not. These are simple facts which do not require the adornments of pride or shame."
Constitutional Rubbish
by Joel S. Hirschhorn, July 2009
"Americans need a civics lesson. And so do politicians. Of all the wrong and delusional thinking about the US Constitution the one that is most thoroughly incorrect and routinely used for political propaganda purposes is that there are three coequal branches of the federal government."
FDA Throws Life Line to Antipsychotic Pushers
by Evelyn Pringle, July 2009
'In April 2009, Gabriel Meyers, a seven year old Florida boy, committed suicide by hanging in the bathroom of a foster care home. In the last few days of his life: "He was told his mother no longer had visitation rights, that he would probably be going back to Ohio, where he alleged he had been abused; the doctor changed his medication, he changed foster homes and he got a new counselor..."'
The Overpass
by Dean Kisling, July 2009
"The horror of the overpass is that it is so utterly ordinary, business as usual, another day in the life, accepted and taken for granted in all its grotesque ugliness, its assault on the senses and the world. All these strange floating containers of sheet metal and glass, and these creatures with their arms raised like zombies, with steering wheels in their fists, with their eyes pointed straight ahead..."
People. People Who Don't Need People
by Walter Brasch, July 2009
"From a pool of about seven billion, those hard-working geniuses at People magazine have managed to find the 100 most beautiful people in the whole wide world. And—get ready for the surprise—almost all of those beautiful people are rich American celebrities."
It's Time for the Madness to Stop
by Sheila Samples, July 2009
"They continued to march even after Henry Kissinger belched out the truth that Duty—Honor—Country is a one-way street because "Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used" as pawns for foreign policy. And, it has long been a dead-end street for those captured or left behind on foreign soil..."
Obama and Bibi: Political Divergence, Strategic Symbiosis
by Yacov Ben Efrat, June 2009
"Netanyahu's agenda is clear: in American terms, he represents Republican-style positions on two fronts: he is politically right wing and economically neoliberal. Obama's agenda, by contrast, is for change: to break away from the conceptions and traditions of his predecessor, George W. Bush."
The Queensberry Rules of Discourse
by Iftekar Sayeed, June 2009
"Although I have so far never had sufficient cause to regret the day I taught myself logic, I fear the event may not be too far into the future. For I have found that men and women are as apt to hit below the belt in argument as a pair of unrefereed pugilists in the ring. And, of course, the experience can be excruciating! The analogy fortunately ends before one reaches the lower parts of the anatomy; it is a cultivated soft spot."
Over the Rainbow
by Stephen Lendman, June 2009
"In 1891, Baum moved to Chicago where he associated with reform elements. He saw the fallout of the 1893 depression, sided with working class people, consistently voted Democrat, then later marched in "torch-like parades" for William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 election. Yet he wasn't a political activist despite his sympathies with populist causes."
Obama and the Denial of Genocide: An Interview with David Boyajian
by Mickey Z., June 2009
'President Obama visited Turkey from April 6 to 7, where he did not use the word "genocide" when referring to the 1.5 million murders committed by the Turkish Ottoman Empire against its Armenian citizens from 1915-1923. As a candidate, Obama had promised several times to do so. His statement in Turkey that he had "not changed his views"—implying he still believes it was genocide—was still a clear breach of his promise to use the "G word."'
Why I Hate Twilight and My Life Sux: or Bite This, a (sort of) rebuttal of the Bitch article "Bite Me"
by Anne McMillen, June 2009
"This is a disemboweled woman being attacked for the crime of what...ignorance? Of living the American Dream of squirting out a couple of pups and then turning one of her possibly only pleasures—her escape into vampire fingerbang masturbation fantasies—into a 3000 page bonanza (or excuse me, I mean writing the next Great American Novel)?"
Against the Tortured Logic of Obama's Placebo Presidency: A Call for the Audacity of Hopelessness
by Phil Rockstroh, June 2009
"And not an uptick in public optimism, nor a surge of euphoria on Wall Street, nor the "invisible hand of the marketplace" sprinkling pixie dust will bring back the Olympian days of 2005, when the wise men of Washington and Wall Street knew the force of gravity was just a myth believed in by those embittered prophets of doom whose only joy in life is fantasizing the fall of their wealthy betters."
The Mill-Race: Overproduction, Interrupted
by Norman Ball, May 2009
"Overproduction is the phenomenon caused by capitalism's need to engage in perpetual labor-cost reductions in order to remain competitive. The effects of this downward spiral are ultimately self-destructive as they eliminate the worker's ability to purchase the fruits of his own labor. A society where the vast majority of citizens lack the wherewithal to consume much beyond a subsistence level becomes a plutocracy in a hurry."
The Economics of Turning People into Things
by Nitasha Kaul, May 2009
"Under conditions of economic uncertainty and social instability, a predictable pecking order gains credence — and those most vulnerable (low skilled, manual or factory labour, women and children, new immigrants) suffer disproportionately greatest through a circumscribing of the opportunities available to them."
Disney, Casino Capitalism and the Politics of Stealing Innocence
by Henry A. Giroux, May 2009
'Disney's recent attempts to "figure out the boys' entertainment market" include the services of Kelly Peña, described as "the kid whisperer," who in an attempt to understand what makes young boys tick, uses her anthropological skills to convince young boys and their parents to allow her to look into the kids' closets, go shopping with young boys and pay them $75 to be interviewed. Ms. Pena, with no irony intended, prides herself on the fact that "Children ... open up to her."'
Embracing Confusion's Alchemy: Rejecting the Seduction of Pseudo-Understanding
by Andrew P., May 2009
'High Strangeness, a book by Laura Knight-Jadczyk, paints a dire future for humankind as literal "food" for a reptilian alien race that has bred us for this gastronomic purpose, in much the same way as humans breed cattle for food. In this calamitous time of transition, centred around the year 2012, according to Knight-Jadczyk we will come to realize this terrible truth, and up to 94% of the human race will be "recycled" to make way for a new race.'
