…to attend the Winter Soldier Hearing. From March 13-16, in Silver Springs, MD, representatives of a veterans’ organization will be offering testimony about their participation in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This organization has more than 800 members, organized into 48 chapters in 41 states. They would like for any and all of you [...]

This op/ed is one of the most ridiculous I’ve read in a long, long time (and that’s pretty impressive). Heather MacDonald argues that high rates of sexual assault on campus don’t exist because women don’t always define their experiences as rape; she then goes on to say that women who say they were raped are [...]

Here is Ivan Illich’s pamphlet on “Energy and Equity,” published 35 years ago. It’s time to dredge this one back up. Hat tip to DeAnander for tagging me with Illich. It has recently become fashionable to insist on an impending energy crisis. This euphemistic term conceals a contradiction and consecrates an illusion. It masks the [...]

reposted from AT: On numerous fronts, the markets and economy confront a highly problematic breakdown in Wall Street alchemy – the disintegration of key processes that had for some time transformed ever-increasing quantities of risky loans into perceived safe and liquid debt instruments that enjoyed insatiable demand in the marketplace. In the case of the [...]

I’m cross-posting this Katie Kohlstedt piece from Alternet, which they cross-posted from Foreign Policy in Focus. It’s short and worth a read, my own minor-minor critique being that the author engages in a kind of leftish strategic fetishism (aim the main blow stuff) that is uncomfortable with the pluralism of interests represented at this manifestacion. [...]

Just a note from the geek half of the mod team: this evening I’ll be upgrading the WP backend to the latest greatest version. This will result in a brief hiccup when the site may not load or display correctly in your browser. I’ll be doing this late on West Coast time, so hopefully no [...]

From: Violence in Christian Theology, by J. Denny Weaver As sinners, in one way or another, we are all part of those sinful forces that killed Jesus. Jesus died making the reign of God present for us while we were still sinners. To acknowledge our human sinfulness is to become aware of our participation in [...]

Jim Lobe has been writing on Iraq for Asia Times pretty regularly from the beginning. Michael Schwartz — who I met at Suny-SB — less often, but imho with more depth. The following two pieces are part of an alternative account to the silly surge-is-working drivel being peddled by politicos and infotainment media. Lobe’s, as [...]

Re-posted from The Telegraph Global oil output has been stagnant for four years, failing to keep up with rampant demand from Asia and the Mid-East. China’s imports rose 14pc last year. Biofuels from grain, oil seed and sugar are plugging the gap, but drawing away food supplies at a time when the world is adding [...]

Re-posted from Rolling Stone Rather than use the vast power they had to end the war, Democrats devoted their energy to making sure that “anti-war activism” became synonymous with “electing Democrats.” Capitalizing on America’s desire to end the war, they hijacked the anti-war movement itself, filling the ranks of peace groups with loyal party hacks. [...]