According to Reuters, Syria's next deadline is November 15, when Syria and the international Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) "must agree to a detailed plan of destruction, including how and where to destroy more than 1,000 metric tonnes of toxic agents and munitions."
So far, so good. Diplomacy seems to be working. No U.S. military strikes were necessary.
I hope this will be a lesson learned.
The OPCW won this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Zeke Johnson, Director of Amnesty International USA's Security with Human Rights campaign, explained that excessive surveillance is a threat to each person's right to privacy and self-expression. "Finally," he said, "Congress has introduced a bill to reform the NSA mass surveillance program that everyone should support. It's not perfect, but it is an important step in the right direction and Congress should pass it."
In a news release today, Amnesty described the favorable and not-so-favorable components of the Act:
"Particularly notable are: the bill's creation of an Office of the Special Advocate, with strong authority to take part in cases and appeal them; an opening for the participation of amici curiae; and new requirements of disclosures of the courts' opinions. Also positive are requirements throughout the bill of greater reporting on what kind of surveillance is used and how many people are affected.For now, we'll take what we can get. But we must keep on fighting for our rights and liberties."However, Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the bill retains discriminatory distinctions between the rights of U.S. citizens and non-citizens. Any final solution to the mass surveillance program must uphold the rights of all people equally without distinction based on national origin or other discriminatory factors."
Ann Burroughs, chair of the Board of Directors for Amnesty International USA, reacted to his death with the following statement:
"With the sad passing of Lou Reed, the human rights movement has lost a powerful voice for humanity and a strong ally in the defense of freedom and justice.RIP."Just as he inspired generations of rock fans with his indelible songs, he was also a passionate proponent for our cause. At his core, he bridled against repression in all its forms and he inspired others to speak up to protect human rights.
"One of his many admirers was the late Czech President and human rights activist Vaclav Havel, who famously smuggled a Velvet Underground album out of New York in the late 1960s. The two men later became friends.
"In 1986, Lou joined with other leading musicians for the first of Amnesty International's 'Human Rights Concerts' series - performing at all six concerts on the 'A Conspiracy Of Hope' U.S. tour. Recently, he very generously supported the release of his historic performances as part of Amnesty's DVD box-set of those concerts.
"We send our deep condolences to his loved ones. He will be greatly missed by the human rights movement that he so strongly and eloquently supported."
It is the true story of a free-born black man living well in upstate New York who was then kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South prior to the Civil War. The movie is based on the book of the same name, which is a memoir by the actual lead character, Solomon Northup.
The movie was difficult to watch at times, due to the brutal violence and humiliation forced upon the enslaved characters, and I still feel quite shaken. But it is a story that needs to be told. And it is a movie that needs to be seen.
Overall, the filmmakers did a very good job of condensing the book (which I recently read) into a powerful 2-hour film.
It will open nationwide next week. Please see it.
Meantime, you can visit the film's official website here.
As usual, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement to mark the occasion.
Here are some excerpts:
United Nations Day is a chance to recognize how much this invaluable Organization contributes to peace and common progress.Amen.It is a time to reflect on what more we can do to realize our vision for a better world.
The fighting in Syria is our biggest security challenge.
Millions of people depend on UN humanitarian personnel for life-saving assistance.
UN experts are working hand-in-hand with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to destroy Syria’s stockpiles.
And we are pushing for a diplomatic solution to end suffering that has gone on far too long.
Our most urgent development challenge is to make sustainability a reality.
The Millennium Development Goals have cut poverty in half.
[...]
We continue to show what collective action can do. We can do even more.
In a world that is more connected, we must be more united.
On United Nations Day, let us pledge to live up to our founding ideals and work together for peace, development, and human rights.
The UN is certainly not perfect, but the world would be far less secure without it.
Today, a memorial in her honor will be dedicated at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where Rachel had taken classes. The memorial features a beautiful bronze and polished steel sculpture of a dove on the tip of a pyramid. The piece, titled "Reflecting on Peace and Justice", was created by international artist and Evergreen graduate Ross Matteson.
See pictures of the lovely sculpture here.
Today, Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights watch (HRW) jointly released two disturbing reports on U.S. drone strikes and other air strikes in Pakistan and Yemen.
The AI report, titled "Will I Be Next?", documents nine drone killings in northwest Pakistan in 2012 and 2013 that "may amount to war crimes or extrajudicial executions, including the killing of a 68-year-old grandmother and 14-year-old boy," according to an AI news release.
The HRW report, titled "Between a Drone and Al-Qaeda", documents six strikes in Yemen from 2009 to 2013, "two of which indiscriminately killed several dozen civilians in violation of the laws of war," according to the same AI news release.
Read the full reports online via these links:
• AI report: "Will I Be Next?"
• HRW report: "Between a Drone and Al-Qaeda"
The AI report documents nine drone killings in northwest Pakistan in 2012 and 2013 that "may amount to war crimes or extrajudicial executions, including the killing of a 68-year-old grandmother and 14-year-old boy," according to an AI news release.
The HRW report documents six strikes in Yemen from 2009 to 2013, "two of which indiscriminately killed several dozen civilians in violation of the laws of war," according to the same AI news release.
I will post links to the reports when they are available online.
Stay tuned.
Update 10/22/2013: Links to the two reports are available here.
Compare this with the fact that 12.6 percent of the U.S. population is African-American (as of the 2010 census).
Those who say that race no longer matters should think again.
Spirit Day, named for the purple stripe of the rainblow flag representing "spirit", was established as an opportunity for people to speak out against the plague of bullying aimed at LGBT youth.
On Spirit Day, please wear purple to show your support. I certainly will, as I do every year. (The photo is of me wearing purple for the first Spirit Day in 2010.)
Do more:
>> Find more Spirit Day actions at www.glaad.org/spiritday.
I've heard some people (mostly older white men) say that they don't find the "Redskins" name offensive at all. But KKK members were probably not offended by the N-word. They're not the targets of those slurs.
The best people to judge the offensiveness of a potential slur are the targets of that slur. In the "Redskins" case, Native Americans.
So I emailed a close friend who had married into a Native American family, and asked how her husband and his family feel about the term.
Her response was brief and straightforward:
"Redskin(s)" is derogatory and racist. Can you imagine any sports team named the N-word?
I rest my case.
But I will not be celebrating. Here are my reasons:
What we learned about Columbus in school was not the whole truth. In some cases, it wasn't the truth at all.
First of all, Columbus did not originate the theory that the earth is round. Such had been known since ancient times.
Columbus also did not discover America. Leif Ericson and his Norsemen had built a settlement in what is now the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador some 500 years before Columbus wandered into the West Indies.
And, once Columbus got here, he enslaved the Native Americans, while helping himself to the new world's gold and other precious resources.
This is what you are really celebrating on Columbus Day.
I consider it a national embarrassment at best.
Fortunately, there has been a steady trend towards abolition in some parts of the world. The death penalty has already been abolished in all European countries except for Belarus. In fact, today over two-thirds of the world's nations - 141 - have ended capital punishment in law or practice. This reflects the growing awareness that there are alternative punishments that are effective and which do not involve state-sponsored killing.
Amnesty International (AI) has called the death penalty "the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights." Indeed, its finality is a huge problem, given so many cases of death row inmates here in the U.S. and around the world who have been exonerated after conviction, based on DNA or other evidence. How many other innocent persons were not lucky enough to be proven innocent prior to their executions? We know of at least a few.
Some proponents of the death penalty believe that it serves as a deterrent. That theory is demonstrably untrue. According to AI, the murder rate in non-death-penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in states with the death penalty.
Others argue that the death penalty is the only way to bring closure to a murder victim's family. But not all such families agree. In fact, so many families oppose the death penalty that some have formed organizations such as Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation and Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, through which they actively work to abolish the death penalty. As noted on the latter organization's website, "MVFHR members have come in different ways and times to the understanding that the death penalty does not help us heal and is not the way to pursue justice for victims." They should know.
The death penalty does not represent justice. It represents revenge - sometimes misdirected revenge.
We as a society need to evolve beyond this kind of thing.
What you can do:
>> Read more about the death penalty - and take action - on the AIUSA site here.
Steven W. Hawkins, the new executive director of Amnesty International USA, marked the occasion with the following statement:
"Amnesty International USA's birthday wish to President Putin is: do not blow out the flame of freedom. The vibrant Olympic celebrations will not obscure the Russian government's vicious assaults on the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association.Indeed."Since Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency in May 2012, punk musicians cannot sing about repression in Russia, LGBTI individuals cannot organize a Pride parade or wear a rainbow ribbon without risking arrests or beatings by police, and peaceful protestors are brutally beaten and detained for expressing their political opposition.
"As the Olympic torch arrives at the stadium celebrating athletic competition, it should also shine a light on Russia's failure to safeguard the dignity and rights of all its people.
"The ruthless suppression of human rights and the rule of law in Russia are incompatible with the spirit of the Olympics Games and should be protested."
What you can do:
Click here to send a birthday message to President Putin urging him to end the attack on human rights.
Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia. Years of appeals were unsuccessful despite significant doubts about his guilt.
Davis's original trial was flawed, and most of the witnesses later recanted or contradicted their stories. There was no physical evidence linking Davis to the crime, and his conviction was based solely on that questionable testimony by witnesses. In other words, there was reasonable doubt as to Davis's guilt.
Davis's case was so compelling that Pope Benedict XVI called for the case to be reconsidered. So did Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, and countless private citizens. Amnesty International called it "an outrageous affront to justice." But the public outcry was ignored by those in charge.
As a longtime member of Amnesty International, with a particular interest in death penalty issues, I was already quite familiar with the case, which I had followed and written about through the years leading up to the execution. Still, I learned so much from Marlowe's in-depth book, which teaches us more about the case details - and the remarkable Davis family - than we could ever have learned through the mainstream media's coverage of the case.
The book has four heroes:
1. Troy Davis himself, who spent his 20 years on death row selflessly doting long-distance over his family on the outside, and caring more about their wellbeing than his own fate.
2. Virginia Davis, Troy's mother, who nurtured the family through the hard times until her death just a few months before his execution.
3. Martina Davis-Correia, Troy's older sister, who fought tirelessly for justice, even as she fought her own battle against breast cancer.
4. De'Jaun Correia, Martina's son, now a young man, who bravely and strongly carried the torch while his mother's health was failing.
This is a story about Troy Davis's legal battle, and the flaws in the legal system that led to this miscarriage of justice. But, even more, it is a story about the love that holds a family together even through the worst of times.
I recommend this book to anyone who cares about justice - whether you favor the death penalty or oppose it.
I don't think any human being could read this book and not be strongly moved - and maddened.
Most of them are not rich. And so, as long as they're out of work, they will need to cut back on spending. And that could significantly stall our economy, which is already recovering too slowly.
Furthermore, national parks and other federally owned attractions are shutting down, which will take a toll on the tourism industry.
The combined effects could be devastating to the economy and to so many American families.
But the House Republicans don't care. They have theirs.
They suggest that Obamacare is so dangerous that it's worth the risk. And they want to go on record as opposing it at all costs.
But, if that's truly what they believe, wouldn't they be better off letting Obamacare go into effect in January, on schedule? That way, if it truly is an abysmal failure, the public would have 10 months to learn that lesson just in time for the 2014 elections.
I suspect that what they really fear is that Obamacare will be a success - and that the public will have 10 months to learn that lesson just in time for the 2014 elections.
The Crusades were the Church's attempt to spread its influence and control throughout Muslim-dominated parts of the region, and to convert - or wipe out - the heathens. They were spreading Catholicism at the point of a sword. What would Jesus do?
Now, hundreds of years later, things are not so different. We've traded in our swords for machine guns and drones, but the more powerful entities on the planet are still trying to spread their own ideologies through violence.
Today it's not called a Crusade. Today it's called "spreading democracy". It's called "winning hearts and minds".
In reality, however, you cannot force people to believe in you or to accept you - especially when they're concerned for their lives and limbs.
But apparently that doesn't matter to those in power who care only about power.
However, the self-described Christians in the GOP have been spending all their time trying to take food stamps away from the poor and take health care away from those with preexisting conditions.
It's the opposite of what Jesus taught us. And it's nothing short of hypocrisy.
I hope other voters can also see through this.
That is, of course, nonsense.
In states where same-sex marriage is legal, heterosexuals are still at liberty to marry someone of the opposite sex.
The only thing at risk is their sense of superiority over another group of human beings. And that, I believe, is what they are truly afraid of.
While many on both the political right and the political left frequently lament the perceived erosion of our constitutional rights - and sometimes rightly so, let's take a moment today to be grateful for the freedoms we do have. And then let's fight as hard as we can to protect those freedoms.
You can read the full official text of the U.S. Constitution here.
Malala Yousafzai, even at the young age of 16, is a strong and inspiring advocate for equal access to education. She was shot and severely wounded last year by the Taliban in her native Pakistan, but that seems to have made her even stronger.
Entertainer Harry Belefonte is a lifelong advocate for humanitarian causes, which he has described as an "obligation to do more than just entertain."
Congratulations to these two very deserving individuals.
For more information about this award, click here.
Judge Dan Pellegrini did not address the constitutionality of the state's marriage law. Instead, he decided that Hanes did not have the power to act outside the law; specifically, that Hanes has "admittedly failed to comply with his mandatory ministerial public duty" under the marriage law. And he ordered Hanes to stop it.
>> Read the judge's opinion. (PDF)
Fortunately, the issue won't stop there. The ACLU of Pennsylvania has other litigation in the pipeline that challenges the state's discriminatory marriage law. So stay tuned, with fingers crossed.
That wasn't the real reason for the attacks. But still, it feels as if the terrorists have won - or that we have lost.
From the Bush administration's imposition of indefinite detention without charge or trial, which continues today under Obama, to the PATRIOT Act and the expansion of government secrecy and warrantless spying, our freedoms have indeed been curtailed. Little old ladies cannot even board an airplane without being subjected to excessive and humiliating security procedures.
Despite all these additional "security" measures, and even though Osama bin Laden now sleeps with the fishes, many Americans don't feel much safer than we did before 9/11.
Furthermore, our continued presence and influence in the Middle East, and indeed our continued threats to expand that presence and influence (see Syria), will only serve to feed the true root causes of anti-US terrorist sentiments. Because, in fact, those are the true root causes.
And so, in fact, it's lose-lose for all.
Events include a demonstration in New York's Times Square on Saturday, September 7, and a march on Washington on Monday, September 9, as Congress goes back into session.
These actions are organized and cosponsored by a broad coalition of groups, including the Syrian American Forum, United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), and the ANSWER Coalition.
>> Click here to find a demonstration near you.
According to CBS Philly, the state wants the issue decided strictly on the question of whether or not a local official can get away with disregarding a state law that he disagrees with.
Others are hoping that this will be an opportunity for the court to address the constitutionality (or lack thereof) of the discriminatory marriage law.
Questions of legal standing and jurisdiction will also be argued.
Stay tuned. But don't expect a final resolution any time soon, as an appeal is likely in any case.
It was a good bank, with conveniently located branches and ATMs, friendly staff, and a reasonable fee structure. For three decades, it was my primary bank - where my paychecks were automatically deposited and from which most of my bills were automatically paid. It was all smooth and easy.
But then Wells Fargo bought Wachovia.
First, the rates went up. Now I had to maintain $1,500 in my checking account - rather than $1,000 - in order to avoid a monthly service charge. And my checking and savings accounts no longer entitled me to a 50% discount on my safe deposit box rental.
But I was attached to that bank account. I guess it was a sentimental kind of attachment, like when you're in an unhappy marriage but not yet emotionally ready to break away. So I ate the extra expense.
Then I started to read about Wells Fargo's role in the subprime mortgage crisis which contributed to the ongoing worldwide recession. In 2012 alone, Wells Fargo agreed to pay more than $180 million in settlements for its crimes, with further legal trouble pending:
• In July, it reached a $175-million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly discriminating against minority mortgage borrowers and charging them higher interest rates.
• In August, it agreed to a $6.5-million settlement on SEC charges that it sold risky mortgage-backed securities.
• In October, it was hit with a federal lawsuit based on the Federal False Claims Act, alleging that Wells Fargo defrauded the FHA by engaging in "reckless" lending of FHA-backed loans and then leaving the agency to pick up the tab.
To add insult to injury, from 2008 to 2010 Wells Fargo received $17.9 in tax subsidies, paid for by you and me.
So I decided that I couldn't keep my money there any longer. Now that I had this knowledge about how Wells Fargo conducted its business, I no longer had an excuse. I finally moved my money to a local credit union, which has better rates, lower fees, and branches that are almost as convenient.
Wells Fargo didn't make it easy. When I visited a local branch to close my accounts, the customer service rep and her supervisor repeatedly pressured me to stay, even though I don't have much money. I refused to give in. I calmly and sweetly shared my reasons for leaving, and I hope that information gets passed up the ladder.
So now I have severed all personal connections to Wells Fargo, and it feels liberating. Kind of like my divorce - difficult but worth it.
Last weekend, on Saturday, August 24, a 50th Anniversary March on Washington drew thousands of participants, including leading civil rights activists of today and icons like Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the last living speaker from the 1963 rally.
Saturday's event was impressive. The speakers' words confirmed that we've come a long way in the past 50 years - and that we've still got a long way to go.
The first African-American President currently occupies the White House, and I wish Dr. King could have lived to see it. However, Obama's success has been met by a ridiculous amount of opposition from Tea Party racists and "birthers" and Congressional Republicans alike.
Fortunately, it seems as though our younger generations, for the most part, are much more color-blind that those of the past. And interracial marriages are much more commonly accepted these days in many, if not most, parts of the country.
Our non-white population is slowly but surely edging its way into a demographic majority. While this is surely a contributing factor to the white man's fear, it represents to me a welcome kind of karmic justice.
It is a shame, however, if the war on racism can be won only by outnumbering the racists. And so the dream lives on.
Let's see...
Zimmerman disobeyed police orders to stop pursuing Trayvon Martin.
Instead of backing off as ordered, he shot Trayvon to death.
And now he wants the state to cover his legal expenses.
Clever.
Florida law does allow for that. But, in this case, it feels wrong. It feels ... dirty.
"Instead of fighting tooth and nail to lock him up for decades, the U.S. government should turn its attention to investigating and delivering justice for the serious human rights abuses committed by its officials in the name of countering terror," said Widney Brown, Amnesty's Senior Director of International Law and Policy.
"Manning had already pleaded guilty to leaking information, so for the U.S. to have continued prosecuting him under the Espionage Act, even charging him with 'aiding the enemy,' can only be seen as a harsh warning to anyone else tempted to expose government wrongdoing," explained Brown. "More than anything else, the case shows the urgent need to reform the U.S.'s antiquated Espionage Act and strengthen protections for those who reveal information that the public has a need and a right to know."
If you agree, please sign Amnesty's petition here.
While the petition is unlikely to change any minds in the White House, it is important that we sign on in a display of solidarity against Manning's excessive sentence.
Sign on now.
