HELIOLITH

The Slate today mentions (without linking to) an activist group of physicians, “Physicians for Human Rights” who were co-recipients of the Nobel Peace prize in 1997 for their work to ban landmines. In a report released today PHR reveals that “…extensive evidence that psychological torture was systematic and central to the interrogation process of […]

I heard on NPR about ten days ago that a bus between Pakistan and India was going to start running again, despite the danger of transporting people through the Kashmir. The program aired the stories of people who hadn’t seen their relatives for years, and were willing to stay with the police […]

And the TV God watches over me
Opens up my eyes, shows me how to see
All around the world, every night and day on my TV
Teaches how to love, teaches what is real
Tells what life is of, tells me how to feel
All I need to know I can find and see on my TV
[…]

Driving home from work on Friday night I was listening to KPFK 6:00 news, which in part plays Free Speech Radio News. That evening, FSRN ran a special report presented by Azania Al-Shabazz, a 6th grader at Crossroads Middle School in Harlem, New York. I was so in awe of the entire spot […]

Thank you to the people of Italy…
…for crying out against the bogus war on Iraq. Finally, we hear a commitment to bring your soldiers home, even though it may be too little, too late. My condolences for all of the deaths you’ve suffered because of being put in harm’s way for a […]

I instant messaged with a friend in Italy after the shooting of Nicola Calipari, the Italian secret service officer who died by taking bullets? shrapnel? a single round to the temple while heroically throwing his body over Giuliana Sgrena’s. She is the Italian journalist who had just been released from being a hostage […]

(Fast Foward to ENGLISH at the End)
Mujeres valientes: ¿enemigos del estado?
Hablamos de Dora María Téllez, Giuliana Sgrena, y Digna Ochoa.
Hay trés mujeres en las noticias de los últimos trés días que han sido víctimas de los abusos de poder. Sus historias no son directamente relacionadas, pero las tomo como otros ejemplos del maltrato a […]

It’s well-known that during wartime down-time, U.S. soldiers sometimes play first-person-shooter games like Halo on Xbox or PS2 consoles. It has even been said that these games help with in-the-field shooting accuracy (as well as helping surgeons’ accuracy during surgery). I’ve always hoped somehow we could get political leaders to challenge each other […]

The BBC reported yesterday,

“The Pentagon is spending $10bn a year on the missile system, which was meant to be in operation by the end of 2004. The Missile Defence Agency said an “unknown anomaly” was to blame for the system shutting down.
Can you comprehend that we’re still going at this? Ronald Reagan’s […]

Today Dahr Jamil
spoke with witnesses of another car-bombing
Aisha Dulaimy, a resident of al-Adhamiya said, The reason for this car bomb is the Americans want to cause a split between the Shia and Sunni. But there has never been fighting between the Shia and Sunni in the history of Iraq. They want to make a […]