[With Kim Sky's permission, I am reposting an email about the soldier-effigy burning. It brings forward a helluva lot of contradictions; and I can't think of a better place for a discussion of them than among y'all. -SG] Portland Anarchists Burn Soldier Effigy — now on Drudge Report this has been kind of interesting. drudge [...]

Mickey Z has just written a piece reacting to the phoney-baloney “leak” from the Department of Defense that people — including officers — will be “punished” for the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s death at the hands of fellow Rangers in 2004. But Mickey Z’s article didn’t delve into the question of governmental malfeasance. It attacked [...]

This is why no Democrat can claim s/he was misled. -SG This timeline is an attempt to recall some of the worst moments in journalism, from the fall of 2002 and into the early weeks of the Iraq War. It is not an exhaustive catalog, but a useful reference point for understanding the media’s performance. [...]

The question was raised at European Tribune recently, where it proved controversial.

Our own DeAnander boldly went where angels fear to tread, and drew some fire for articulating some elements of a critique of Civilisation. It’s an interesting problem for moderns in the “industrialised West” to contemplate, as we see some of the logical conclusions of our beliefs about Civilisation and Progress playing out in our own time. Stan ported the debate over to IA (at least De’s side of it), and we both invite thoughts on the topic from FS readers. Is the world suffering from a Clash of Civilisations? or a clash between Civilisation and biotic realities? What does Primitive mean? what does Civilised mean? Is Industrialism a technology, a worldview, a method, an ideology, or a religion? As V Woolf memorably asked. “Where in short is it leading us, this procession of the sons of educated men?” To Nauru? or to Technotopia?

In our world, it seems, there are the worthy victims and the unworthy ones. To get at the difference, consider the posture of the United States toward Sudan and Iraq. According to the Bush administration, Sudan is a “rogue state”; it is on the State Department’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism”. It stands accused [...]

There’s a lot of weirdness every day in the capital city, but this one pushed the envelope: 13 Iraq war veterans in full desert camo going on “patrol” from Union Station to Arlington National Cemetery. They carried imaginary assault rifles, barked commands, roughly “detained” suspected hostiles with flex cuffs and hoods — and generally shocked, [...]

BY Audrey Mantey The last time I attended CPR training, I walked out partway through the session and didn’t return. We were told ahead of time that we’d be training on Resusci Anne, the type of CPR dummy that is wiped down with alcohol between uses, and whose chest, the instructor said, makes a loud [...]

Anyone following the news in recent times cannot be unaware of the wave of progressive change sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean. For many lonely years Cuba held high the torch through its exemplary programs to provide universal health care and education, both gratis, along with world class cultural, sports and scientific achievements. Although you [...]

‘Axis of evil’ seeps into Hollywood By Kaveh L Afrasiabi No doubt about it, four years after his famous and also infamous “axis of evil” speech, US President George W Bush’s crusade mentality has finally found its cinematic counterpart – in 300, a major motion picture centered on the epic battle between the Persians and [...]

I have been corresponding, when they allow it, with Kevin “Rashid’ Johnson ever since, some time ago, our thinkpieces were carried side by side in Socialism and Democracy (Issue 38) His was “A Practical Approach to Strategic Organizing for Popular Struggle.” Mine was called “A Period for Pedagogy.” His was the better article of the [...]