President Obama addressed the big issues of war and peace in his inaugural address, and despite the vagueness of some of his pronouncements, they contain strong clues to his foreign policy agenda in the Middle East. His announced policy will be one of ending US military engagements abroad, multilateral cooperation with allies to face security […]
Archives for January 2013
Top Ten Ways President Obama has Expanded our Rights, in Rev. King’s Footsteps
In holding his inaugural on Martin Luther King Day, President Obama is underlining his achievement as the first African-American president and the first and only to win two terms. But he is also honoring the legacy of Dr. King, without whom the phenomenon of Barack Obama would have likely been impossible. It is appropriate on […]
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Last Speech Pleading to Preserve our First Amendment Rights
In his last speech before being assassinated, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. complained about unjustified curbs on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly: It has only gotten worse.
Obama Sworn in for Second Term Sunday (Mitch McConnell Photograph)
Obama Sworn in to Second Term: “Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny Barack Obama a second term.” – Mitch McConnell
Anti-Mercury UN Minimata Convention Approved in Geneva: Impact on Coal?
140 nations meeting in Geneva have concluded an accord to limit mercury emissions, which must now be ratified by individual nations. It has implications for coal-fired power plants, among the most serious contributors to mercury pollution, as well as cement factories The treaty also seeks an end to mercury use in thermometers and batteries, and […]
Algerian Military Retakes Gas Plant: 16 Hostages, 32 terrorists Dead
The Algerian military took back the Ayn Imnas gas plant on Saturday, invading it and killing 32 radical fundamentalists, including their leader, Abdul Rahmani al-Nijeri, from Niger. Some of the 16 Western hostages who were killed may have been executed by the radicals as the Algerian troops closed in. Algiers announced that 107 foreign hostages […]
13 gigawatts of New Wind power in US in 2012, Renewables Half of all New Energy
The US put in 13 gigawatts of new wind energy capacity in 2012, 5 of it in December alone, according to a Bloomberg study. The Office of Energy Projects report was a bit more conservative, but confirmed the general trend. h/t Grist Wind alone now accounts for 6% of US electricity generation! Even the government […]
Syrian Kurds Battle Extremist Fundamentalists
In a potentially very bad sign for the Syrian Revolution, Agence France Presse Arabic reports that in the town of Ra’s al-Ain in the province of Hasaka on the border with Turkey, heavy fighting has been raging between local Syrian Kurds and an invading force of Muslim fundamentalist Arabs that deployed tanks and artillery against […]
Was Aaron Swartz a Cyber-Criminal or a Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Internet? (Thompson)
Christie Thompson writes at ProPublica: When Reddit co-founder and internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide last Friday, he was facing up to 13 felony counts, 50 years in prison, and millions of dollars in fines. His alleged crime? Pulling millions of academic articles from the digital archive JSTOR. Prosecutors allege that Swartz downloaded the articles because he […]
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