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Ex-Bush Official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: "I am Willing to Testify" If Dick Cheney is Put on Trial

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 30 (Interview) - s former Vice President Dick Cheney publishes his long-awaited memoir, we speak to Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "This is a book written out of fear, fear that one day someone will 'Pinochet' Dick Cheney," says Wilkerson, alluding to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested for war crimes. Wilkerson also calls for George W. Bush and Cheney to be held accountable for their crimes in office. "I’d be willing to testify, and I’d be willing to take any punishment I’m due," Wilkerson said.

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Guess How Much More Wall St. Spends on Bonuses Than on Penalties for Torpedoing the Economy? | | AlterNet

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Nomi Prins - Jun. 29 (Opinion) - Are you enraged about JPM Chase’s puny $156.3 million fine? The fine was part of an SEC settlement in which the firm "neither admits nor denies" any wrong-doing. Translation: Stuffing assets with carefully selected crap is not wrong. Creating the crap loans to begin with:

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The day the drug war really started

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Jonathan Easley - Jun. 19 (Interview) - On June 19, 1986, 25 years ago Sunday, University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias died of cocaine intoxication. Many believed the 6-foot 7, 220-pound small forward possessed a level of talent equal to that of Michael Jordan, and only two days earlier he'd been selected as the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA draft by the reigning champion Boston Celtics.

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40 Years of Drug War Failure - LEAP's Neill Franklin

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Reason Magazine - By Nick Gillespie, Joshua Swain - Jun. 17 (Interview) - As the reform group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) documents in a new comprehensive study, the drug war has destroyed lives and property, shredded the constitution, and distorted American education, health care, and even foreign policy. That's why, notes LEAP, fully 75 percent of Americans and 69 percent of police chiefs agree that the drug war has failed.

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Too Big to Jail

Wed, 25 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Danny Schechter - May. 25 (Opinion) - 'The truth is that most of the bigger banks have emerged from the financial crisis stronger than ever, with executives cashing in with higher salaries and bigger bonuses. That old saying about criminals who 'laughed all the way to the bank' has to be revised because in this case they never left the bank.' Danny Schechter, Reader Supported News

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The Fight over Coal Mining is a “Fight About Democracy”: New Documentary with Robert Kennedy, Jr. Chronicles Campaign to Halt Mountaintop Removal

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Amy Goodman - May. 23 (Interview) - We speak with environmental activist Robert Kennedy, Jr., and filmmaker Bill Haney about the new documentary, _The Last Mountain_, which premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The film chronicles the fight against coal mining across Appalachia and Massey Energy’s devastating practice of mountaintop removal to extract layers of coal. "They have to break the law to do this. They cannot survive in the marketplace without violating the law. They violate labor laws. They violate health and safety laws. And by their own records, they've had some 67,000 violations of just one of the environmental statutes," says Kennedy of the coal giant that has tremendous political influence at the state and federal level. “It’s not just about the environmental destruction, it’s also about subverting democracy.” [includes rush transcript]

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Manning Marable’s Controversial New Biography Refuels Debate on Life and Legacy of Malcolm X

Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 19 (Interview) - To discuss Dr. Marable’s biography, we host a roundtable discussion with three guests. Amiri Baraka is an acclaimed poet, playwright, music historian and activist based in Newark, New Jersey. Herb Boyd is a Harlem-based activist, teacher and author who edits the online publication, The Black World Today, and writes for several publications, including Amsterdam News. Michael Eric Dyson is a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and is the author of numerous books, including Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X.

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Jon Stewart Compares Head Of IMF's Sex Scandal To Bin Laden Porn Story (VIDEO)

Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jon Stewart - May. 17 (Comedy News) - "You know you're in bad shape when your sex scandal comes out the same weekend as Osama bin laden's, and you're the one that looks like an a**hole," Stewart said.

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Harkin Floor Statement on Attacks on National Labor Relations Board

Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

senate.gov - By Tom Harkin - May. 11 (Statement) - Today, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, spoke on the Senate floor to address recent attacks on the National Labor Relations Board regarding its handling of a complaint against Boeing.

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U.S. Assassination Campaign Continues as CIA Drone Targets U.S.-Born Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen

Mon, 09 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 09 (Interview) - The Obama administration launched a drone strike in Yemen last week in an attempt to assassinate a U.S.-born Muslim cleric who has never been convicted of a crime. Anwar al-Awlaki survived the attack, but two suspected members of al-Qaeda died. It was reported to be the first U.S. drone strike in Yemen in nine years. “It's illegal to kill a U.S. citizen in Yemen, outside of armed conflict, without any due process,” says Maria LaHood of the Center for Constitutional Rights. The attempted assassination of al-Awlaki comes just days after U.S. special forces executed Osama bin Laden and NATO planes bombed Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s compound, killing his son and three grandchildren. [includes rush transcript]

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Bradley Manning Humiliated and Abused: Why Is Exposing a War Crime More Dangerous Than Committing One?

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Medea Benjamin, Charles Davis - Mar. 08 (Opinion) - Bradley Manning is accused of humiliating the political establishment by revealing the complicity of top U.S. officials in carrying out and covering up war crimes. In return for his act of conscience, the U.S. government is holding him in abusive solitary confinement, humiliating him and trying to keep him behind bars for life. The lesson is clear, and soldiers take note: You're better off committing a war crime than exposing one.

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Michael Hastings: Army Deploys Psychological Operations on U.S. Senators in Afghanistan

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman; Michael Hastings - Mar. 04 (Interview) - Federal law prohibits the military from using propaganda and psychological tactics on U.S. citizens, but that is exactly what may have happened in Afghanistan according to reporter Michael Hastings, who joins us to speak about his recent expose for _Rolling Stone_ magazine is called, "Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-ops on U.S. senators." In the article, Hastings writes that Lt. General William Caldwell, the commander of NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, illegally employed psychological operations to manipulate visiting U.S. senators into providing more troops and funding for the war effort. “It show how far-off the rails the entire operation has gone,” Hasting says. “The most important battlefield isn’t in Afghanistan, it is in Washington.”

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Environmentalist Tim DeChristopher Found Guilty of Sabotaging Oil and Gas Auction; Faces Up To 10 Years in Jail

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Tim DeChristopher - Mar. 04 (Interview) - A federal jury in Salt Lake City has convicted environmental activist Tim DeChristopher of two felony counts for disrupting the auction of more than 100,000 acres of federal land for oil and gas drilling. DeChristopher was charged in December 2008 with infiltrating a public auction and disrupting the Bush administration’s last-minute move to auction off oil and gas exploitation rights on vast swaths of federal land. A student at the time, DeChristopher posed as a bidder and bought 22,000 acres of land with no intent to pay in an attempt to save the property from drilling. He faces up to ten years in prison. DeChristopher joins us today to talk about the verdict.

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Throw Clarence Thomas Off the Bench

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The Daily Beast - By Paul Campos - Mar. 04 (Opinion) - The Supreme Court justice broke the law by not disclosing his wife's $700K think-tank payday. Paul Campos on Clarence Thomas' "preposterous" defense and why he likely won't be punished.

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Serious doubt cast on FBI's anthrax case against Bruce Ivins

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - Feb. 16 (Opinion) - That there's so much lingering doubt about who was responsible for this indescribably consequential attack is astonishing, and it ought to be unacceptable.

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What the "right to bear arms" really means

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Salon - By Saul Cornell - Jan. 16 (Opinion) - After an immediate cathartic and emotional response, the two sides in the gun debate fall into their familiar postures. Proposals for new gun regulation are made, prompting push-back from gun rights advocates, who circle their wagons, issue warnings about the threats to our Second Amendment rights, and -- in a more recent twist -- begin calling for a relaxation of existing gun regulation so that citizens can more easily defend themselves.

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Giffords Shooting Is Evidence of Conservative Policy Failures, Too

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

American Prospect - By Pema Levy - Jan. 11 (Opinion) - Since Jared Loughner's attempted assassination of Gabrielle Giffords, Republicans have united behind the idea that this was an isolated act by a crazy person. They argue that because Loughner was mentally unstable, their political rhetoric, often filled with guns and other violent intimations, is not to blame. Loughner probably was a mentally ill person with no coherent political agenda, but that's actually a good indictment of the conservative policy failures that allowed the shooting to take place.

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Solitary Confinement is Torture

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Dr. Atul Gawande, Amy Goodman - Jan. 05 (Interview) - The physical and psychological effects experienced by people held for extended periods in solitary confinement is a topic Dr. Atul Gawande has written extensively about. Yesterday, four prisoners in the supermax Ohio State Penitentiary launched a hunger strike to protest being held for more than 17 years years of solitary confinement. The alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower, U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, has also been held in solitary confinement for much of the past seven months. "People experience solitary confinement as even more damaging than physical torture," says Dr. Gwande.

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Julian Assange on WikiLeaks, War and Resisting Government Crackdown

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Julian Assange, AMY GOODMAN - Dec. 31 (Interview) - 2010 can be defined as the year of WikiLeaks. The whisteblowing website first made headlines around the world in April when it released a video of a U.S. helicopter gunship indiscriminately firing on Iraqi civilians killing 12 people, including two Reuters news staff. In July, WikiLeaks created a bigger firestorm when it published more than 90,000 classified U.S. military war logs of the war in Afghanistan. Then in October, WikiLeaks published some 390,000 classified U.S. documents on the war in Iraq -- the largest intelligence leak in U.S. history and the greatest internal account of any war on public record. And in November WikiLeaks began releasing a giant trove of confidential State Department cables that sent shockwaves through the global diplomatic establishment. Throughout it all, WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange were targeted by the U.S. and other governments around the world. We play our interviews with Assange and with Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. [includes rush transcript]

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Tortured Until Proven Guilty: Bradley Manning and the Case Against Solitary Confinement

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Lynn Parramore - Dec. 31 (Opinion) - In 1890, the United States Supreme Court nearly declared the punishment unconstitutional. It is banned by the Geneva Convention, condemned by the United Nations, and either prohibited or restricted in most civilized countries. And yet today, as Atul Gawande revealed in his gut-wrenching 2009 New Yorker article, tens of thousands of Americans are tortured in this fashion every day, out of sight, in the "Supermax" prisons that have popped up like poisoned mushrooms on the American landscape since the 1980s. Some prisoners are consigned to these Houses of Unholiness for violations - both major and minor -- of prison rules. Some for gang activity. Others for trying to escape. Or for violent behavior. Some are placed there because they are mentally ill and there is nowhere else to put them -- the equivalent of casting a sufferer of pneumonia onto an Arctic tundra.

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Son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: "My Parents Were Executed Under the Unconstitutional Espionage Act -- Here's Why We Must Fight to Protect Julian Assange"

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Robert Meeropol, Amy Goodman - Dec. 30 (Interview) - U.S. officials have said Julian Assange could be charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 and suggested laws could be amended to overcome any legal obstacles to his prosecution. Well, the potential use of the Espionage Act has special significance for our next guest. In a moment we’ll speak with Robert Meeropol. He’s the younger son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They’re the only U.S. citizens to be executed for conspiracy to commit espionage, described as the most controversial death sentence in U.S. history.

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"Deepwater Horizon's Final Hours" - The Explosion That Killed 11 Workers and Led to the Worst Oil Spill in U.S. History

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By David Barstow, Amy Goodman - Dec. 30 (Interview) - It has been eight months since the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Eleven workers were killed and more than 200 million gallons of oil were dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. A major investigation by _The New York Times_ takes an in-depth look into how explosion occurred. Based on interviews with 21 crewmembers and testimony from 94 others, the investigation concludes every single one of the rig’s defenses failed. We speak with Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist David Barstow.

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Naomi Wolf vs. Jaclyn Friedman: Feminists Debate on the Sexual Allegations Against Julian Assange

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Jaclyn Friedman, Naomi Wolf - Dec. 20 (Interview) - As more details emerge about the sex crimes allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, we host a debate between two feminists: Jaclyn Friedman argues the sexual assault allegations shouldn't be dismissed just because they're politically motivated, while Naomi Wolf says by going after Assange, the state is not embracing feminism, it's "pimping" it.

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Dear Government of Sweden...

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Michael Moore - Dec. 17 (Opinion) - Dear Swedish Government: Hi there -- or as you all say, Hallå! You know, all of us here in the U.S. love your country. Your Volvos, your meatballs, your hard-to-put-together furniture -- we can't get enough! There's just one thing that bothers me -- why has Amnesty International, in a special report, declared that Sweden refuses to deal with the very real tragedy of rape?

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As WikiLeaks' Assange Freed on Bail, Alleged Military Leaker Bradley Manning Imprisoned Under Inhumane Conditions

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Glenn Greenwald, Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez - Dec. 16 (Interview) - A High court in London has upheld a decision to grant bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. But what about US Army Private Bradley Manning? The army intelligence analyst has been held for the last seven months on suspicion of leaking the massive trove of government documents to WikiLeaks. Manning. Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald says Manning is being held under conditions that constitute cruel and inhumane treatment -- and even torture.

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