Why Mine Deaths Are Up
by Peter Dreier
The Nation, June 12, 2006 issue
Peter Dreier leaves nobody in doubt as to where he stands on the recent increase in miners' deaths as a result of explosions in U.S.mines:
"The Bush Administration has made it clear which side it is on. Mine workers have faced increasingly unsafe conditions because of rollbacks of health and safety regulations, the appointment of former mining industry executives to federal mine safety agencies and the slashing of the budget and staff for safety inspection."
For the full article, click here
Remember and Resist
by James Carroll, Boston Globe, May 29, 2006
Memorial Day can be tricky - how to honor the fallen without ourselves falling into the debate between "tough minded realists" and "soft-headed idealists. The well-known Globe columnist says:
"This Memorial Day, especially, we yearn to honor the more than 2,700 US soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. What is the proper way to remember them? Even in condemning what made it necessary, can we not acknowledge the selflessness of their sacrifice? At Troy, soldiers were roused to battle by the promise that their exploits would be sung of far into the future. Is it a betrayal of our soldiers that we no longer want to sing? Does it mean they died 'in vain' if we insist that no one else should die?"
Go here for the rest of this piece.
Bible supports gay partnerships, says leading Anglican bishop
Ekklesia News Service, posted May 25, 2006
The Rt Rev Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford, has declared:
"that anti-gay proponents in the churches need to be "converted" to see that homosexual unions are supported by a faithful, modern reading of the Bible."
Dr.Harries went on to say:
"It's difficult to have gay partnerships fully accepted by the Church, a Church in which evangelicals are a valued part, if they are so strongly opposed to it. There has to be a conversion to a new way to see that gay partnerships are not contrary to biblical truth. They are congruous with the deepest biblical truths, about faithfulness and stability."
Click on this for the rest of the report.
Idiots and Insults: writing, religion, and freedom of expression
openDemocracy web site
http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article.jsp?id=1&debateId=66&articleId=3591
This debate took place in April 2006 as part of the PEN New York World Voices festival, and featured:
- Tariq Ramadan
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Nilüfer Göle
- Hans Magnus Enzensberger
- Upamanyu Chatterjee
- Juan Luis Cebrián
- Ian Baruma
The article contains brief summaries of what the speakers said. But this lively exchange can be heard in full, provided one has the requisite audio streaming software on one's computer - click the link and see, or rather hear, if you have what it takes. There are links to the whole debate (80.5 mins.) and to the separate contributions from each panel member. Clicking on the names of the panel members above provides a brief resumé of each.
The politics of oil in Venezuela
by George Philip
openDemocracy Web Site, posted May 24, 2006
In the general run of U.S. media, the issues surrounding Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, are not terribly complicated. He is either a dyed-in-the-wool villain, set on turning Latin America into a leftist haven for anti-American terrorists OR he is a peoples' hero, determined to use his country's oil riches to benefit poor Venezuelans. If, on the other hand, you suspect that the actual situation in Venezuela doesn't fit so neatly into these either/or catgories, you might want to read George Philip's article. Did you know, for example, that President Carlos Andrés Pérez, whom Chavez tried to oust in an armed coup in 1992, had already nationalized the Venezuelan oil industry, and had also supported the Sandanistas in Nicaragua?
If you insist on holding on to your half of the villain/hero simplicities, DON"T CLICK HERE.
Comments