Murder by another name
Submitted by John E Jacobsen on Apr 25 2013 01:00
Quote:
“Where’s my mother? Where’s my mother?” cried Rana Ahmed as she rushed through Enam Medical College and Hospital.Mosammat Khurshida wailed as she looked for her husband. “He came to work in the morning. I can’t find him,” she said. “I don’t know where he is. He does not pick up his phone.
An arm jutted out of one section of the rubble. The lifeless body of a woman covered in dust could be seen in another.
From the Seattle Free Press.
The Chicago teachers strike and the privatisation of a generation
Submitted by John E Jacobsen on Sep 25 2012 22:14
John Jacobsen reports on developments in the tentative contract between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union in the context of increasing school privatizations.
For the full, original article, feel free to visit the Seattle Free Press.
CTU Delegates voted this week to end the 7 day long strike which had effectively shut down all of Chicago’s public schools.
Mobility, the 47%, and the Myth of Opportunity
John Jacobsen looks at U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's recent remarks on the 47%, and discusses the concept of "opportunity" in American political discourse.
Quote:
“…there are 47 percent [of Americans]… who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.
Health care reform: the insurance lobby's triumph
Submitted by John E Jacobsen on Jul 3 2012 05:03
The American people are acutely aware that the healthcare reform they received from the Obama administration has been the result of an immense number of compromises with both conservatives and private business interests. But few recognize just how corrupt those compromises became as deliberations over healthcare proceeded.
The Individual Mandate:
From compromise and things half done,
Keep me with stern and stubborn pride;
And when at last the fight is won,
God, keep me still unsatisfied.
Louis Untermeyer (1885 – 1977)
Will the Department of Justice Get Their Way in Seattle?
Submitted by John E Jacobsen on Jun 28 2012 00:06
Seattle City attorneys officially threw down the gauntlet with the Department of Justice last week, filing court documents which challenged the “reliability and trustworthiness” of a recent DOJ report on the Seattle Police.
The DOJ report, which “finds a pattern or practice of constitutional violations regarding the use of force… as well as serious concerns about biased policing,” has been offered as evidence in an ongoing court case brought by Martin Monetti Jr. against the City of Seattle.Monetti, a Latino man, had his head stomped into the pavement after being told by then-Detective Shandy Cobane that he would “beat the [expletive] Mexican piss out of you, homie.”
This is just the latest move by Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle Police Department in their escalating strategy of resistance to the Department of Justice, who have repeatedly called for reform of the city’s embattled police department.
A violent department and the prelude to reform:
Recall in Wisconsin – the Alternative Was Worse
Submitted by John E Jacobsen on Jun 12 2012 00:14
For the full, original article, feel free to visit the Trial by fire:
The votes are in: republican Governor Scott Walker has survived his much publicized recall election, besting his Democratic opponent, Tom Barrett, by a sound 9 point margin.
In his victory speech, Governor Walker – now infamous for his successful campaign to strip collective bargaining rights from over 175,000 state employees last year, as well as repealing equal pay provisions for women - gloated, “[Tonight] we tell Wisconsin, we tell our country, and we tell people all across the globe that voters really do want leaders who stand up and make the tough decisions,” a
The “capitalism” we protest – response to Seattle Times author Jon Talton
For the full, original article, feel free to visit the Trial by Fire.
Author Jon Talton wrote two interesting pieces for the Seattle Times yesterday, one in anticipation of the May Day anti-capitalist march, and the other reflecting on it afterwards.
The latter was precisely what you would expect from the Times. Lazy, poorly researched non-sense which, had it been written on any other subject, would have been considered unpublishable.
Occupy Wall Streets Next Steps – Part 2 – How to Win a Fight with the 1%
Over the past month, Occupy Wall Street has chalked up a large number of bold actions against both government and private authorities; it has led an attempted general strike, raucous marches, occupations of banks and abandoned buildings, disruptions of political speeches and press events, and a massive West Coast shut down of major port terminals partly to aid longshore workers in their fights against their employers.
For the full, original article, feel free to visit the Trial by Fire.
Five years after hurricane Katrina, community still trying to find justice for residents
Submitted by John E Jacobsen on Jun 25 2010 22:56
Last friday, three officers were finally indicted by a federal grand jury for the post-katrina murder of Henry Glover, and the ensuing five year cover up.
The Murder of Henry Glover:
Henry Glover and his fiance Rolanda Short were residents of New Orleans 4th District when hurricane Katrina struck.
Like many African-Americans in New Orleans, Henry and his family were stranded without any supplies, and with no sign of help.
Democrats to allow repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell - sexual violence in the military remains high
Submitted by John E Jacobsen on Jun 3 2010 18:23
Last Thursday, the House of Representatives voted 234-194 to allow the repeal of the controversial Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. The vote mirrored an earlier closed-door agreement of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), which orders the discharge of any soldier who “demonstrate(s) a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts,” was first passed under the Clinton Administration in 1993.
The policy was enacted because, its authors argued, allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the armed forces ”would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.”
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