Topic: Terrorism

Palin: muzzle it!

By David W. Shelton | October 13, 2008 |

For a brief moment, I had a glimpse of hope that maybe, just maybe, the McCain campaign would put a muzzle on its pit bull in drag … er … hockey mom governor. After rallying her attendees last week into a frenzy of death threats and false accusations against Senator Barack Obama, Sarah Palin should have gotten that much-needed order to chill out.

Not so, it seems. With McCain himself now saying he’ll kick Obama’s “you-know-what” in the upcoming debate (of course, it’s been the opposite at all of the debates so far), Palin has gotten the blessing to keep on blathering about things she clearly does not understand.

ABC News says that Palin “tones it down a notch,” but a “notch” down from the fever pitch of accusing the Democratic nominee of “pallin’ around with terrorists” and insinuating that he’s a terrorist himself, is, well, not much of a notch at all. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Opinion, Politics | 4 Comments

Imagine Palin as President…

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 27, 2008 |

The more I hear from her, the scarier this scenario gets: Palin as President.

I have spent hours skimming interviews and news stories about Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin. It is not outside the realm of possibility, given Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain’s age and medical history, and the potential pressures of a presidency, that Palin could find herself in the Oval office, and not as a “visitor.” It’s is something American voters must consider as they prepare to cast ballots in the November election.

I question her experience and her agenda, particularly on the global scale; her lack of visible experience on a broader beyond-Alaska governance, is slim; on the world stage it is nil. Her recent foreign travels found the press pool (CNN) being allowed 30 seconds or less of filming as met with foreign leaders. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment »

First Friday Film: The Power of Nightmares

By Debbie Boen | July 30, 2008 |

The Power of Nightmares (Part 1) is being shown this Friday, August 1, at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 3053 Highway 41A South. The screening is a continuation of the UU First Friday Film program.

Adam Curtis showed us in Century of Self a key way of controlling the masses is by making people good consumers. Make people want things they do not need by appealing to their secret desires. Come to present time in The Power of Nightmares, where terror and torture and the fear of such has become the new tools of control by governments.

About the movie: For a time politicians promised to create a better world. When this dream lost its promise, politicians were simply seen as managers. Their power to control has returned as their job became rescuing us from dreadful dangers. Much of the terrorism threat is a fantasy that is an exaggerated and distorted dark illusion spread by governments, security services, and the international media. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Education, Events, News | No Comments

APSU mock trial explores boundaries of Constitutional Rights

By Debbie Boen | April 8, 2008 |

A “Mock Trial” is being held in conjunction with the American Constitutional Law II class being taught by Dr. Greg Rabidoux in the Department of Political Science. This class deals with individual civil liberties including free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. The trial will be held April 8, 10, 15, and 17, (Tuesdays and Thursdays) between 9:30-11:00 at the University Center, Room 308 and is open to the public. The verdict will be announced April 17th at the end of that day’s session.

The issues are on the Bill of Rights and implicate university free speech zones, university speech codes, and the USA Patriot Act powers and students’ rights of free assembly. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Education, Events | No Comments

In the Name of God: Immersion in Eastern culture, Islam and suicide bombings

By Christine Anne Piesyk | February 18, 2008 |

In the Name of God came across my desk by request from the author, Paula Jolin, who asked me to take a look at it. I did, in part because the setting and the emotion behind the story is something I wanted to know more about; fiction mirrors life, and I hoped this story would provide that for a difficult subject: suicide bombers.

In the Name of God delves into an Eastern world and a culture relatively alien to me, yet it is a culture with probing fingers touching and testing and tasting the culture of a freedom that is uniquely Western.

In this book, 17-year-old Nadia lives in Damascus, Syria, locked into a straight and narrow path of traditional Islam. She has enough exposure to Western ideas to tempt her and rouse her curiosity, and is also bitterly aware of the politics, economy and culture that envelops her own country and neighboring Iraq. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Opinion | No Comments

‘Taxi to the Dark Side’ details U.S. torture

By Bill Larson | December 19, 2007 |

From the director of “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” Alex Gibney’s Taxi to the Dark Side is a gripping investigation into the reckless abuse of power by the Bush Administration.

By probing the homicide of an innocent taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, the film exposes a worldwide policy of detention and interrogation that condones torture and the abrogation of human rights. This disturbing and often brutal film is the most incisive examination to date of the Bush Administration’s willingness, in its prosecution of the “war on terror,” to undermine the essence of the rule of law. The film asks and answers a key question: what happens when a few men expand the wartime powers of the executive to undermine the very principles on which the United States was founded.

Incorporating rare and never-before-seen images from inside the Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons, and interviews with former government officials such as John Yoo, Alberto Mora and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, interrogators, prison guards, New York Times reporters Tim Golden and Carlotta Gall (who wrote the first stories about the homicides in Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan) and the families of tortured prisoners, the film dissects the progression of the Administration’s policy on torture from the secret role of key administration figures, such as Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and others to the soldiers in the field.

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Sections: Arts and Leisure | 1 Comment »

U.S. Government must change, or may end up like Rome

August 14, 2007 |

An Excerpt from “Transforming Government to Meet the Demands of the 21st Century”, A presentation by the Honorable David M. Walker given to The Federal Midwest Human Resources Council and the Chicago Federal Executive Board in Chicago, Illinois on August 7, 2007. GAO-07-1188CG

Thank you, Mr Valiulis, for that kind introduction.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell any of you that the world has changed significantly in the past 20 years. But the truth is, we’re going to see even greater changes in the next 20 or 30 years. To avoid irrelevancy, businesses, nonprofit entities, and federal agencies will all need to adapt to this accelerating pace of change. Stated differently, we can’t just be concerned with today; we need to focus on the future.

To capitalize on our opportunities and minimize related risks, all organizations must be mindful of the big picture and the long view. Organizations that endure tend to periodically rethink their missions and operations. World-class organizations understand that innovation requires change. One must change in order to continuously improve. The simple truth is an organization that stands still today is going to get passed by and, ultimately, it may not survive. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Opinion, Politics | No Comments

War Corporatism: The New Fascism

By Bill Larson | June 1, 2007 |

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

In the 1950’s President Eisenhower issued his prophetic warning about the dangers of our nation’s Military industrial complex. We are seeing the fruits of that in our current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the administration’s drive to trigger one with Iran.

During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, later he became the first supreme commander of NATO. He was elected the 34th U.S. President on a Republican ticket, serving for two terms. He is perhaps best known for Social Security, and the Interstate Highway System.

Lets us take a moment and listen to his farewell address to the nation…

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Sections: Arts and Leisure | 1 Comment »