Hero – redefined
Bravery and drone pilots, Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, July 10, 2012 “The Pentagon is considering awarding a Distinguished Warfare Medal to drone pilots who work on military bases often far removed…
USA
Declaration of Internet Freedom
Around the world governments are trying to restrain the ability of people to freely share information across the internet. Bills like SOPA in the USA and Bill C-30 in Canada…
USA Urban Population Growth Outpaces the Suburbs
Regular readers know that in the modern world an urban lifestyle is more sustainable than a suburban lifestyle so it’s pretty good news to see that more people in the…
We Need To Resist the Lure of American Exceptionalism
American exceptionalism is an intriguing, occasionally lethal, notion. Americans, it seems, are brought up to believe the United States is exceptional, the best, “number one.” From Main Street to Pennsylvania…
Syria Isn’t About Syria
Bahrain and Syria both have repressive governments and both had uprisings in 2011, the United States and Saudi Arabia stopped one but are continuing the other, showing democracy and humanitarian…
Nature’s Environment Is Man
Facing an unprecedented environmental crisis a world summit like no other was called. “We have to do something, we can’t let our environment just die.” A member of the Dirt…
GroupThink ReSpun: On US Police Forces Operating in Canada
We have decided that “GroupThink ReSpun” will be the name of the process whereby various of the Politics, Re-Spun crew collaborate on editorializing about a current event. Enjoy the poetry…
Salute democracy while suppressing it
In British online news magazine The Week, Alexander Cockburn gives his take on America. Had he turned eyes north, the American based writer would have noticed similar trends in Canada.…
Vermont Says Frack No
Vermont has decided to ban freaking in the state! This follows Quebec’s ban on the ridiculously dangerous way to get oil. This is a big deal,” Gov. Peter Shumlin said…
American dichotomy
Mitt Romney is preparing for next week’s commencement speech at Liberty University. Appearance at an anti-evolution, anti-gay school rated America’s 535th best college by Forbes seems fitting for the GOP…
Fraud, fear and greed
If Romney Hates Government And Its Workers So Much Why Is He Running For President?, Dave Johnson, Campaign for America’s Future Mitt Romney says government workers are paid too well…
USA’s upside-down justice
From Tom Engelhardt‘s Tomgram: Peter Van Buren, Joining The Whistleblowers’ Club “… the strange, embattled world of Obama-era governmental whistleblowers. As a group, they are, after all, just about the…
Premier Photo Op: Your rich friends mislead
Raise Taxes on Rich to Reward True Job Creators, Nick Hanauer, Bloomberg Businessweek “I’m a very rich person. As an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, I’ve started or helped get off…
Cash for kids
Former Judge on Trial in ‘Cash for Kids’ Scheme, JON HURDLE and SABRINA TAVERNISE, New York Times, February 8, 2011 “SCRANTON, Pa. — A former Pennsylvania judge went on trial…
Bus 52: Travelling Good News
Bus 52 is a bout telling people the good news that’s out there across the USA. They are trying to give hope to the youth of today by celebrating how…
Colonel Sanders Crosses the Delaware
Little-known to most historians, “Colonel” Harland Sanders crossed the Delaware on December 25, 1776, just after George Washington’s boat. For his help in feeding the troops and giving free soda…
Obama now leader of the not-free world
Chris Hedges writes: “The NDAA implodes our most cherished constitutional protections. It permits the military to function on U.S. soil as a civilian law enforcement agency. It authorizes the executive…
Winners win, losers lose
The Age of Double Standards, Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect, March 19, 2012 “…Petty felons and 200,000 small-time drug users do prison time, while corporate criminals whose frauds cost the…
Lewis Black & Co. – funny stuff !
The BBC News Quiz gets a US makeover with an all-American panel. With the US election this year, turmoil in the Middle East, financial insecurity all around – not to…
White racism alive and well in USA
Overt racism that disgusted so many of us in the fifties and sixties is not tolerated in most circles today. An exception though involves the American world of right wing…