No, We’re Not A Broken People

Up through 2008, it was extremely unusual for questions from the audience to consist of pure defeatism. In 2009, it was rare to get through a Q&A session without being asked what the point was of trying. And the defeatism is so contagious that it will be hard for me to make it through 2010 if people don’t shut up about how doomed we are.
If current trends continue, by 2011 the only people showing up at forums on peace and justice will all be old enough to tell my grandparents they’re too young to understand how pointless it is to try.

Polanski Lawyer Says Client Will Face Only One Charge If He Returns to LA

Demonstrating the same lack of self-esteem as prisoners who beat up child molesters, noisy segments of the American population continue to hyperventilate over Roman Polanski as if the sexual abuse of minors were not already sufficiently condemned by our society. Among those who believe there is compelling evidence Polanski committed the various offenses (such as rape, sodomy and furnishing a minor with drugs) he was initially charged with, few express criticism of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for its decision not to prosecute the defendant for those alleged crimes.

Success of Afghanistan Troop Surge Doubted

“There isn’t the slightest possibility that the course laid out by Barack Obama in his Dec. 1 speech (at West Point) will halt or even slow the downward spiral toward defeat in Afghanistan,” writes Thomas Johnson in the current “Foreign Policy” magazine. And for emphasis, he adds the word “None.”

Krugman’s Health Care Sell-Out: The Health ‘Reform’ Bill in Congress Is Worse than Nothing

Paul Krugman, one of the few liberal columnists writing for the New York Times, claims that at some point in the hoary past when he “began writing a lot about health care,” he was in favor of a Canadian-style single-payer health care system. He adds that even today if he thought there was “any chance of creating Medicare for All any time in the next decade,” he would be “pushing for single-payer now.”

An ‘Avatar’ Awakening

Let’s face it, if James Cameron had made a movie with the Iraqi resistance as the heroes and the U.S. military as the enemies, and had set it in Iraq or anywhere else on planet earth, the packed theaters viewing “Avatar” would have been replaced by a screening in a living room for eight people and a dog. Nineteen years ago, Americans packed theaters for “Dances with Wolves” in which Native Americans became the heroes, but the story was set in a previous century and the message understated.

Alabama AG: Sen. Nelson’s Medicaid Provision May Be Unconstitutional

Foreign Interpreters Hurt in Battle Find U.S. Insurance Benefits Wanting

An insurance program funded by American taxpayers was supposed to provide a safety net for Iraqi interpreters and their families in the event of injury or death. Yet for many, the benefits have fallen painfully short of what was promised.

Out-FOXed: Bill O’Reilly Bites The RT Bullet

RT came under attack from Fox News talk show host Bill O’Reilly last week. He lashed out at an interview with former radical anti-war activist, now professor, Bill Ayers who was speaking to RT’s Anastasia ChUrkina. She now puts American mainstream television in the spotlight to see if its spinning too far from the truth.

Constitutional Challenges to Health Care Reform

Does the United States Constitution allow Congress to force people to purchase a product (health insurance) from a private corporation, and fine them or tax them if they refuse? The answer is a matter of debate, but there is little dispute that such an act of Congress would be unprecedented. Sheldon Laskin, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Baltimore Law School who has argued that the Constitution forbids such a move, describes the new and dangerous can of worms it would open up.

Who Are The Four Afghan Detainees Released From Guantanamo?

Over the weekend, 12 prisoners were released from Guantánamo, as the Justice Department announced in a press release on December 20. I have previously reported the stories of the two Somalis who were released — emphasizing how nothing about their cases demonstrated that they were “the worst of the worst” — and will soon be reporting the stories of the six Yemenis transferred to the custody of the Yemeni government.