”My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying”:  By Buffy Sainte-Marie

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, January 19, 2012

The land is… – Films from Survival International

from zia sheilds
Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, January 19, 2012

NYT Op-Eds (6)

"Martin Luther King would see a nation that judges people by the size of their paychecks" (Krugman); "It's obvious that governing was never the point of the Tea Party" (Egan); "The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an international as well as an American icon. But his legacy was used to serve a range of purposes" (Guest Op-Ed); "An influential critic says banking regulations are too complex, and she offers some solutions" (Nocera); "As Jon Huntsman exits the presidential race, he reverts to familiar partisan hypocrisy" (Bruni); "On a visit to South Carolina just days before the primary, getting a feel for what people on the scene are thinking about the candidates" (Brooks)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Tuesday, January 17, 2012

NYT (11): Editorials, Op-Eds, Letters

"Mitt Romney and the Republican Party fear talking about income inequality in the campaign" (Editorial); "In a sound ruling, the National Labor Relations Board concluded that employees’ federal right to engage in concerted action trumps any arbitration agreement that bars group claims" (Editorial); "The Tea Party’s influence is diminishing as conservatives seem to be inching toward nominating Mitt Romney" (Guest Op-Ed); "Presidential candidates are just like you. You plus multiple homes and millions" (Bruni); "There has yet to be any discussion over the one quality that has subtly driven Mitt Romney's candidacy: his race" (Guest Op-Ed); "The private equity revolution of Mitt Romney and others helped keep America competitive, but the human costs must be acknowledged, too" (Douthat); "In fashion next fall: enigmatic, elusive, analytical Harvard grads" (Dowd); "For those in the news media who covered the slow-motion collapse of the Soviet Union, this moment feels familiar" (Guest Op-Ed); "As a new government takes shape, Egyptians are finding their voices again and rediscovering their neighbors" (Friedman); "Medieval Europe had barbarian hordes, famine and plague. We have millions of people on Xanax" (Guest Op-Ed); "Sunday Dialogue: Mobility and Inequality in Today’s America" (Letters)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, January 15, 2012

NYT Op-Eds (6)

"Mitt Romney says that President Obama has been a job destroyer, while he was a job-creating businessman. But those claims border on dishonesty" (Krugman); "Big surprise. Some of the Republican presidential candidates are once again using race to pander to the right" (Blow); "Pro forma Senate sessions present an unconstitutional interference with the president’s irreducible power and duty" (Tribe); "Rick Santorum’s ideas may need some massaging, but their roots offer an important seedbed for a new 21st-century philosophy of government" (Brooks); "Good news, people! For our latest meeting of the Presidential Primary Book Club, I read Rick Santorum’s 'It Takes a Family' so you won’t have to" (Collins); "Rather than bringing power to secular revolutionaries, the Arab Spring is producing flowers of a decidedly Islamist hue" (Guest Op-Ed)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, January 7, 2012

NYT (3): National News

DOJ blocks SC voter law; Keystone XL probably dead - for now; No surprise as internal Pentagon review shows no "fault" in using military personnel in media.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, December 24, 2011

NYT (9): National News

Finally, it's the GOP that caves; Once again, FCC looks to ease media ownership rule; Judge blocks large part of SC immigration law; After death of G.I., military "hazing" is investigated; NYC's campaign finance law survives another challenge; Black women enlisting at remarkably high rate; Unseasonably warm weather has drawback - no snow for skiing; Man sentenced to 14 years for arson in response to election of Obama; Earthquake damage to Washington Monument more extensive than initially thought.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, December 23, 2011

NYT Editorials, Op-Eds Letters (11)

"Medicare reforms could save hundreds of billions of dollars without scrapping the system" (Editorial); "Alabama’s stance on its extremist immigration law is shifting from defiance to damage control, as Gov. Robert Bentley admits that the law needs fixing" (Editorial); "Should President Obama sell $53 million worth of arms to Bahrain when it continues to violently repress its citizens?" (Kristof); "Leaders are learning that war no longer pays. And more important, there is a growing repugnance toward institutionalized violence" (Guest Op-Ed); "Environmental groups are in a stage of transition toward local, grass-roots efforts" (Guest Op-Ed); "As a black man in my 20s, I’ve incorporated into my daily life the sense that I might be pushed against a wall or thrown to the ground by a police officer at any time" (Guest Op-Ed); "Many politicians are full of themselves. Gingrich is overstuffed" (Bruni); "Art reflecting life or life reflecting art? The end of the Iraq war and Season 1 of 'Homeland' have everyone on edge" (Dowd); "Looking for some leaders with the know-how and willingness to govern from the bottom up" (Friedman); "Why so many Christians loved Christopher Hitchens" (Douthat); "When Marijuana is Used as Medicine" (Letters)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, December 18, 2011

NYT (8): National News

IL court reverses conviction of 19-year inmate; What's going on with the air in the Southwest?; A book on "debt" by the man at the forefront of the Occupy movement; A new book on William F. Buckley Jr.; New books by Bill Clinton and Condoleezza Rice; A new book on African American history by Henry Louis Gates Jr.; and a book on the 70s music scene at CBGB's et al.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, December 11, 2011

Democracy Now: Mumia Abu-Jamal Spared Death Penalty After Prosecutors Drop 30-Year Bid for Execution

Posted by Mike Blaxill, Thursday, December 8, 2011

NYT (13): National News

Blacks hit hardest by lack of public sector jobs; Increase in "near poor" means increase in line for free school lunches; Support for TP is waning; Barney Frank will retire; Cain may throw in the towel; Judge rejects settlement agreement b/w SEC and Citigroup; Suit to void NYS marriage act can go forward; SCOTUS to hear fairness in sentencing re crack vs. powder cocaine; FTC settles privacy issue with Facebook; NY City Council to sue Bloomberg over noxious rule re homeless; Jackson doctor gets four years; Ken Russell dies.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Wednesday, November 30, 2011

NYT (5): National News

Occupy Philly to be evicted; "The Dwindling Power of a College Degree"; Starting early, anti-Obama attack ads are hopelessly misleading; In CA, Brown refuses to give up on bullet train; Two new books on the KKK.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, November 27, 2011

NYT Op-Eds & Letters (6)

"Instead of importing so many fruits and vegetables, let's grow them" (Bittman); "The quest to legalize same-sex marriage has met particular resistance from African-Americans" (Bruni); "The most troubling problems that leave many Americans at a disadvantage have gotten lost in the debate over the top 1 percent of earners vs. the bottom 99 percent" (Brooks); "European leaders have focused on treating the symptoms of what ails the common currency, rather than the disease itself" (Guest Op-Ed); "Herman Cain’s media narrative: from 'is he legitimate?' to 'will this ruin his legitimacy?'" (Dowd); "The Road Ahead for Occupy Wall Street" (Letters)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Wednesday, November 2, 2011

NYT Op-Eds & Letters (9)

"Thank you, Occupy Wall Street movement, for putting a spotlight on the dire income inequality in this country" (Kristof); "Occupy Wall Street is a potent reminder of the ancient civic ideal of public space, and how far we have drifted from it in the modern era" (Guest Op-Ed); "Even as other countries take action, [global warming] is fading from the American agenda" (Guest Op-Ed); "Nowhere have the pressures of globalization been more intense than in the manufacturing sector" (Guest Op-Ed); "A case involving racial preference in university admissions is headed to the Supreme Court and could mean the end of affirmative action at public universities" (Liptak); "In a blistering political climate, cooler heads don’t prevail" (Bruni); "Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s agenda in Chicago is a microcosm of what the nation needs to do: invest wisely and cut spending at the same time" (Friedman); "The truth about Medicare: what it pays for is not what most recipients need or want" (Guest Op-Ed); "Is the perceived lack of a clear leader and agenda a shortcoming, or a key to the movement’s appeal?" (Letters)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, October 16, 2011

Cornel West Speaks at #OccupyWallSt

"We the people have found our voice!"
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Live Blog of #OccupyWallStreet, Other US Cities Launch Occupations

From Firedoglake ..

The grotesque murder of Troy Davis by the state of Georgia and corruption on Wall Street may have been separate issues, but last night the separation ended, at least temporarily. Occupy Wall Street, which had been showing solidarity with Davis, converged with a march in support of Troy Davis in a cathartic and compelling moment that the police did not expect. More than a thousand people were now overrunning the streets of lower Manhattan, and they were able to push their way on to Wall Street together

.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Friday, September 23, 2011

NYT (10): National News

Davis is executed, as SCOTUS bid fails; Udall and Wyden say public is being misled by Justice Dept re use of Patriot Act; "Obamacare" shows signs of success; Fed judge rejects AL lawsuit re constitutionality of part of Voting Rights Act; Not surprisingly, lobbyists look to sway special debt committee; House GOP, split over spending, loses in House; Fed to try to ease credit; Poverty in NYC skyrockets; Folk Art Museum gets reprieve; and R.E.M. is R.I.P.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, September 22, 2011

Democracy Now: Cornel West on 40th Anniversary of Attica Prison Rebellion

Cornel's speech last Friday night at Riverside Church was incredible - just go watch it ..

40 years later, we come back to commemorate this struggle against the historical backdrop of a people who have been so terrorized and traumatized and stigmatized that we have been taught to be scared, intimidated, always afraid, distrustful of one another, and disrespectful of one another. But the Attica’s rebellion was a countermove in that direction. I call it the niggerization of a people, not just black people, because America been niggerized since 9/11. When you’re niggerized, you’re unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, hated for who you are. You become so scared that you defer to the powers that be, and you’re willing to consent to your own domination

.. watch video
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Tuesday, September 13, 2011

NYT (5): National News

"What the Left doesn't understand about Obama"; As GOP candidates turn on one another, three of them - Perry, Romney, Huntsman - may have hard time running against their records, particularly on health care; With Obama's support of oil pipeline and cave-in on air quality regs, environmentalists are understandably pissed off; and a new book on "the persistence of the color line" in politics.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, September 4, 2011

NYT Editorial & Op-Eds (4)

"A court needs to take a very hard look at the stop-and-frisk police tactic" (Editorial); "States’ efforts to outlaw Islamic law resemble 19th-century anti-Semitism" (Guest Op-Ed); "Political leaders must recognize that we cannot progress either by ignoring race or focusing exclusively on it" (Guest Op-Ed); "To get our best and brightest to teach, we need to stop maligning the profession and start showing it some respect" (Blow)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, September 3, 2011

NYT (6): National News

CA will pass its own "DREAM" Act; Palin still toying with candidacy; Could Buffett investment in BOA backfire?; In blow to alternative energy, federally-funded solar firm goes under; Judge allows racial profiling lawsuit against NYPD; and the (Scientology) empire strikes back at The New Yorker.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, September 1, 2011

NYT (7): National News

Justice Dept moves to block ATT/T-Mobile merger; At $7-$10 billion, Irene may be in top ten most expensive disasters; NJ bullying law is toughest in nation; Head of ATF loses job over gun fiasco; White existential angst validated as minorities account for 98% of population growth in large cities; Boundary for compensation re 9/11 is extended in NYC; Charities finally taking hit due to economy.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Wednesday, August 31, 2011

NYT Op-Eds (3)

"We have a growing crisis among the nation’s children, yet our policies ignore that reality at best and exacerbate it at worst" (Blow); "New election laws limit minority voting rights" (Guest Op-Ed); "The Brits seem to be all for wind power, but just try to put a wind turbine near someone’s backyard" (Cohen)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, August 27, 2011

NYT Op-Eds (4)

"The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. never conflated a flesh-and-blood sacrifice with a stone-and-mortar edifice" (West); "Political intimidation has forced the Fed into inaction and is killing our last remaining hope for economic recovery" (Krugman); "The rise of the Republican presidential candidate reflects fundamental shifts in the electorate, and it’s time to take him seriously" (Brooks); "Most state constitutions guarantee all students a sound, basic public education, rights that cannot be put on hold, even in tough times" (Guest Op-Ed)
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, August 26, 2011

NYT (8): National News

Protests lead to change in Obama deportation plan; Exchange student incident goes from kerfuffle to debacle; Racism in NIH grant process?; Montana's Tester being tested in critical race; NYS AG Schneiderman subpoena's energy companies; Cuomo and Christie force Port Authority to accept less drastic toll increases; Silence is deafening as mosque opens on Staten Island; Liberty Media buys $200 million stake in B&N.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, August 19, 2011