busyI sympathize with the families who do not wish their tragedy publically aired. However, I believe that people should SEE what they command or condone, that it may lead to less such tragedy.
Pictures of Dying Marine Bring War Home to America
Gaby Hinsliff, The Observer UK: "It is a graphic image of the harsh realities of war: the fatally wounded young marine lying crumpled in the mud, his vulnerable face turned to the camera. And it is one the US defence secretary would rather you did not see.
It is disgraceful for a country to take functional men and women, destroy them, discard them, and blame them for the results. If they're sane and healthy going into the military and broken coming out, then the military -- and society -- are obliged to provide for their care.
Penny Coleman | Think Vietnam Vets Were Screwed?
Penny Coleman, AlterNet: "Gordy Lane is a retired Syracuse police detective who served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. As a cop, it was his job to put lawbreakers behind bars, but as a veteran, he understands that when you go to war, 'you come back a little different than when you went over there.' 'Listen,' he says, 'you pop up out of a foxhole, and you blow a guy's head open like a watermelon. The other two guys in the foxhole start patting you on the back and saying, "Good job!" because you just did the worst thing that you can do to another person. How do you translate that into civilian life?' For far too many soldiers, the simple answer is, you don't."
Privacy is a vital right for people of all ages, and the goverment is rapidly undermining it. The military wants your kids so they can be killed, crippled, driven insane, abandoned to homelessness, and/or discarded like used toilet paper. I suggest that young people offended by this respond by saying, "You don't want me. I'm queer."
Back to School: Military Recruiters Increasingly Targeting High School Teens
Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now!: "As millions of students prepare for the start of another school year, we focus on an issue that concerns many parents: the increasing presence of military recruiters in the nation's high schools and the military's ability to gather information about students. We speak with journalist David Goodman about his Mother Jones article 'A Few Good Kids?' and with the New York Civil Liberties Union's Ari Rosmarin, who works on the organization's Project on Military Recruitment and Students' Rights."
We should pay attention to climate news, because we are breaking a process that we do not know how to repair -- and upon which our lives depend.
Study Finds More Evidence Rapid Arctic Warming Isn't Natural
Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers: "The Arctic was cooling for 1,900 years because of a natural change in Earth's orbit until greenhouse gas accumulation from the use of fossil fuels reversed the trend in recent decades, according to a study published Friday in Science magazine."
It would be nice to have someone seriously looking out for the rights of women...
UN to Consider New Position for Women
Donald Steinberg, GlobalPost: "The United Nations may soon undergo a shake-up that could affect half the people on the planet. As the U.N. reviews its internal structures for addressing women's interests around the world, surely the most significant changes expected will concern women and armed conflict. The question is - will this reform make a fundamental difference in the lives of women impacted by war?"
... for example, in America. Many rights are useless if the resources to enact them are not guaranteed.
Julia Kaye | Without Providers, There Is No Choice
Julia Kaye, RH Reality Check: "'The Last Abortion Doctor.' 'The Abortion Evangelist.' 'Abortion Stigma Affects Doctors' Training and Choices.' In the wake of Dr. Tiller's murder last May, news articles are finally trumpeting a steadily emerging reality: the number of abortion providers in the U.S., and particularly providers that perform abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, is plummeting.... Legality doesn't guarantee access to abortion, even - especially - for women and families in the most desperate and dangerous of situations."
Since transgender people rarely get a fair shake, this does not surprise me.
Asylum Pitfalls May Await the Transgender Applicant
Victoria Neilson, On the Issues Magazine: "Transgender asylum seekers generally have a higher grant rate than those who seek asylum based on gay or lesbian sexual orientation.... In cases we handle that involve sexual orientation, the most difficult issue may be proving that the applicant really is gay or lesbian. Unlike cases based on political opinion or religion, the applicant won't have a 'membership card' proving that he or she is gay or lesbian. Transgender applicants may have an easier time proving their transgender identity, both because they will have medical evidence of their transition and because they will 'look trans.' Or will they?"
As explained in America's founding documents, it is NOT acceptable to imprison people without charges, indefinitely, and without benefit of counsel. I don't care what they allegedly did or what the context is. That way lies disaster.
NOW | Is Obama Tossing Out the Constitution With His New Anti-Terror Plan?
"NOW," PBS: "Closing Guantanamo Bay's prison will do little to close the debate on what we should do with alleged terrorists. 'NOW,' as part of a collaboration with the nonprofit investigative unit ProPublica, investigates the controversial tactic of 'preventative detention,' a government plan that may detain suspects indefinitely without trial or even formal charges."
