Major General Geoffrey Miller, the American commander in charge of detentions and interrogations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, recently conducted an overnight tour of the facility for journalists. He proudly displayed “Camp Liberty” and “Camp Redemption,” newly renovated in response to the torture scandal unleashed by the release of the disgusting photographs last spring…. Read more »
Review of “Too Late to Die Young: Nearly True Tales From a Life,” Harriet McBryde Johnson,” Henry Holt & Co., 2005, 272 pp. Harriet McBryde Johnson does not suffer fools gladly. She regularly protests Jerry Lewis’s telethon for Muscular Dystrophy. She was appalled at the sight of the newly-crippled Christopher Reeve featured as prime time… Read more »
The nation’s attention is riveted on the fate of one poor woman in a Florida hospice. Terri Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state, with no upper brain function, for 15 years. Ten state courts have upheld Terri’s husband’s request to remove her feeding tube. Those courts have determined by clear and convincing evidence,… Read more »
As we walked out of Hotel Rwanda, my teenage son asked me, “So why did we go into Iraq, but not Rwanda?” This youngster was horrified that the United States not only sat on the sidelines during the genocide that killed 800,000 Rwandans in 1994, but then prevented the United Nations from acting to stop… Read more »
Today, the Court repudiated the misguided idea that the United States can pledge to leave no child behind while simultaneously exiling children to the death chamber.Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International Until March 1, 2005, the United States was the only nation in the world that permitted the execution of children under age… Read more »
With much fanfare, Bush announced on Thursday his nomination of John D. Negroponte as the director of national intelligence. “John’s nomination comes in an historic moment for our intelligence services,” Bush proclaimed ceremoniously. Intelligence, he said, is now “the first line of defense” in the war on terrorism. Bush failed to mention that when Negroponte… Read more »
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.– Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus,Quoted on base of Statue of Liberty The House of Representatives today is debating the REAL… Read more »
The Fifth Annual World Social Forum (WSF) held in Porto Alegre, Brazil from January 26-31 garnered almost no media coverage in the United States. Timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the WSF drew 155,000 activists from 135 countries, who assembled to challenge Bush’s agenda. The weeklong happening, called “Another World… Read more »
The Death of El Cortito The Struggle for the Health and Legal Protection of Farm Workers: El Cortito Maurice “Mo” Jourdane Arte Publico Press, 2004 $34.95. By Marjorie Cohn When Cesar Chvez died in 1995, perched atop his wooden coffin was el cortito – the short-handled hoe. Until it was banned in California in 1975, the… Read more »
When César Chávez died in 1995, perched atop his wooden coffin was el cortito – the short-handled hoe. Until it was banned in California in 1975, the short hoe was responsible for the excruciating pain and permanent disfigurement of hundreds of thousands farm workers. Forced to stoop in the fields as they used the deadly… Read more »