February 2012

Misguided Peace Prizes Come Home

The Nobel Committee is under pressure for having ceased to award the Nobel Peace Prize for work aimed at peace.

Now comes the University of Virginia which has just announced that it plans to award the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal to Jessica T. Matthews, head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

It is highly unlikely that UVA would be making that award were the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace working for what Andrew Carnegie required read more

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Talk Nation Radio: Robert Naiman of Just Foreign Policy on Bahrain, AIPAC, and Military Spending

Robert Naiman, just returned from Bahrain, discusses the popular uprising there, the upcoming conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its push for war with Iran, and the prospects for reducing U.S. military spending.

Total run time: 29:00

Host: David Swanson

Producer: David Swanson

Engineer: Christiane Brown

Download from Archive.org or AudioPort or Radio4All or LetsTryDemocracy.

Syndicated by Pacifica Network

Please encourage your local radio stations to carry read more

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Virginia Nullifies NDAA

Good things do come out of the Virginia state legislature.  That normally reprehensible body has just stood up to the federal outrage that has come to be known as the NDAA.  The letters stand for the National Defense Authorization Act, but at issue here is not the bulk of that bill.  Virginia’s state government has no objection to dumping our grandchildren’s unearned pay into the pockets of war profiteers while our schools lack funding.  At issue is the presidential read more

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Un-Cheating Justice: Two Years Left to Prosecute Bush

Elizabeth Holtzman knows something about struggles for justice in the U.S. government.  She was a member of Congress and of the House Judiciary Committee that voted for articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon in 1973. She proposed the bill that in 1973 required that “state secrets” claims be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. She co-authored the special prosecutor law that was allowed to lapse, just in time for the George W. Bush crime wave, after Kenneth Starr read more

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Newt Gingrich Says Withdraw from Afghanistan

Even a broken radioactive timebomb is right twice a day.

Here’s Newt:

“And, candidly, if Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, doesn’t feel like apologizing then we should say good bye and good luck, we don’t need to be here risking our lives and wasting our money on somebody who doesn’t care.”

Now, this was preceded by the declaration that one must not apologize for burning Korans.  And Newt’s point is not that the military should be cut or the read more

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UVA Still Not Paying Living Wage — UVA Students Still Not Eating

From MichaelMoore.com

‘Why I’m Hunger Striking at UVA’

“… in our ‘caring community,’ hundreds of contract employees may make as littleas $7.25/hour … I have experienced many periods of economic hardship in mylife. Growing up, I moved over 30 times – including various stays in homelessshelters, the homes of family friends, and church basements. I know firsthandwhat the economic struggle is like for many of these underpaid workers.”– Joseph Williams, third-year student at the University of Virginiaand player for Virginia Cavaliers football

Get the Facts
UVA would need to spend $4.2-5.8 million to pay all direct employees at least
$13/hour – or less than 0.25% of the university’s $2.487 billion annual budget

‘Same Thing, Different Century’
“I still view the University as a plantation … the field workers aren’t going
to speak out.” – Grace, former UVA employee

read more

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Palestine on Talk Nation Radio

Talk Nation Radio for February 22, 2012

Christopher Allen-Doucot on his 2011 experiences in Palestine, where a peaceful protest movement continues.

U.S. Catholics are celebrating a holy week and it seemed appropriate to reair our special with this prominent Catholic peace activist. Chris Doucot talks about what he saw in Palestine of a growing protest movement as he puts the occupation in perspective. We hear about the impacts of the right wing religious movement, Christian Zionism, on the lives of Palestinian Muslims, Christians and Jews, through recent history.

While peace talks between Israel and Palestine remain stalled, a growing number of peace activists from around the world are visiting Palestine to observe or participate in a growing protest movement there. At stake are the illegal Israeli settlements and separation wall, and a lack of access to Jerusalem where many holy sites are now blocked off for both Jewish and Christian read more

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