Law & Politics

A plan to put two Americans on trial for espionage sparks non-ironic outrage

The deceit and propaganda which justify both wars are identical, as are the harms they cause

It's a perfect storm. And I'm not talking about the impending dangers facing Democrats. I'm talking about the dangers facing our democracy.

Nothing quite makes neoclassical economists go apoplectic than reading or hearing the argument that an increase in the minimum wage doesn't cause unemployment. Just ask David Card and Alan Krueger (here's one example, from Gary Becker).

Those claiming that terrorists don't belong in court -- because some might win -- reject basic American justice

In the immediate aftermath of the 2003 invasion, the triumphalist verdict of the mainstream media was that the war had been won; Iraq was assured of a benevolent, democratic future. The Times's writer William Rees-Mogg hymned the victory: "April 9, 2003 was Liberty Day for Iraq … It was achieved by "the engine of global liberation," the United States. "After 24 years of oppression, three wars and three weeks of relentless bombing, Baghdad has emerged from an age of darkness. Yesterday was an historic day of liberation."

Andrew Sullivan's defense of President Obama's claimed power to have American citizens assassinated nicely reveals much of the illogic behind, and many of the dangers inherent in, America's Forever War. Let's examine it point by point.

http://mediasanctuary.tv http://www.NationalPeaceConference.org  Renowned linguist and political critic Noam Chomsky delivered this address by pre-recorded video to the attendees of the United National Peace Conference in Albany, New York on July 24, 2010.   Video by Charngchi Way, Authority Smashers Collective http://www.authoritysmashers.wordpress.com Distributed by the United National Peace Conference Media Project, an initiative powered by the Sanctuary for Independent Media and Hudson Mohawk Indymedia Center.

Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work? Pop quiz: Which European country has the most liberal drug laws? (Hint: It's not the Netherlands.) Although its capital is notorious among stoners and college kids for marijuana haze-filled "coffee shops,"

The justifications for Obama's hit list reveal what is missing most from American political thought

A partial defense of Obama's assassination program highlights the corrupted rationale which justifies it

Two new Obama proposals would dramatically expand the government's already vast surveillance powers

When many cynics thought it impossible, the President reaches an all-new low in his abysmal civil liberties record

There are no longer any major institutions in American society, including the press, the educational system, the financial sector, labor unions, the arts, religious institutions and our dysfunctional political parties, which can be considered democratic. The intent, design and function of these institutions, controlled by corporate money, are to bolster the hierarchical and anti-democratic power of the corporate state. These institutions, often mouthing liberal values, abet and perpetuate mounting inequality. They operate increasingly in secrecy. They ignore suffering or sacrifice human lives for profit. They control and manipulate all levers of power and mass communication. They have muzzled the voices and concerns of citizens. They use entertainment, celebrity gossip and emotionally laden public-relations lies to seduce us into believing in a Disneyworld fantasy of democracy.

The state secrets doctrine should be invoked only when the most grave national security matters are at stake, not to avoid embarrassing the government.

Eight months after imposing the death penalty on a U.S. citizen, Obama considers indicting him

Corporations Destroying The Planet deprogram on USTREAM. Politics 

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals split down the middle in finding (PDF) that the Justice Department was entitled to halt a civil lawsuit between private parties because of the threat that the suit would expose state secrets. By the margin of a single vote, it reversed the decision of a panel of the same court (PDF) holding that the doctrine could only be applied to individual pieces of evidence, not to entire lawsuits.

The Obama/Bush weapon for shielding presidential lawbreaking from judicial review becomes stronger

It seems that just about every hundred years or so, the body politic we call America swells with fever as it fights off a democracy-destroying disease. That disease is "Special Interest Government".