The NAACP exposes voter suppression schemes. A woman votes in Miami Shores during the Florida primary in 2008.
Photograph: Marc Serota/Getty Images The NAACP will be sending a delegation to the United Nations Commissioner of Human Rights alleging a concerted effort to deny voting rights to black and hispanic Americans. Given how rarely anyone in the United States looks to the United Nations for justice, and how often the United States ignores the UN, this is both a significant and futile effort. But what's at issue is so egregious that the NAACP has chosen to shout it from a global stage.
In 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president, the United States had one of the highest turnouts ever of black and Latino voters. It does not seem like coincidence, then, that since 2008, many of these states have introduced laws that make it much more difficult to register to vote and to actually vote. The Bush administration launched an initiative to combat voter fraud. Forget welfare, the poorest people must now rely on 'charity'
For all the talk of helping the most troubled families among us, the 120,000 households that make up the so-called underclass are going to be facing tough love from the coalition government. David Cameron's post-riot response is to revive a Blairite notion of social obligation. In New Labour's view, welfare failed the very poorest people because it obliged them to take but not give back. Files Note Close C.I.A. Ties to Qaddafi Spy Unit. The Great American Heresy. Latest from Uncle Sol.
A version of this column is scheduled for publication in The Washington Times, Monday, August 28, 2011. -- Chris Follow the money No. 81 -- The Great American Heresy Sol Sanders solsanders@cox.net More than a hundred years ago, the brilliant philosopher and father of modern psychology, William James, warned his American compatriots against “scientism”. James saw an increasing tendency to extend the then budding scientific method of controlled experiments in the physical sciences into intractable social and political problems. Not too many listened to James then -- or since. 25 Profound Motivational Quotes. Below are 25 of the most profound motivational quotes ever spoken: 1.
The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. –Paul Valery 2. The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had means, time, influence and educational advantages; the question is what he will do with the things he has. 3. 4. 5. 6. Facts_50. After the riots: tough tactics to uproot London's gangs. "Police! Stand still! Police! " A Poll Tax by Another Name.
AS we celebrate the Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial, we reflect on the life and legacy of this great man. But recent legislation on voting reminds us that there is still work to do. Martin Luther King Jr. Would Want a Revolution, Not a Memorial. THE Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial was to be dedicated on the National Mall on Sunday — exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Because of Hurricane Irene, the ceremony has been postponed.) These events constitute major milestones in the turbulent history of race and democracy in America, and the undeniable success of the civil rights movement — culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 — warrants our attention and elation. NATO nations set to reap spoils of Libya war. It looks like the more telling news on Libya has migrated to the business pages.
With jubilant reporting of Gaddafi's imminent downfall seizing headlines, it's the financial pages that have the clinical analysis. So, for instance, it is in this section that the Independent reports a "dash for profit in the post-war Libya carve up". Similarly, Reuters, under the headline, "Investors eye promise, pitfalls in post-Gaddafi Libya" noted that a new government in that country could "herald a bonanza for Western companies and investors". Before Tripoli has completely fallen, before Gaddafi and his supporters have stepped down and before the blood dries on the bodies that have yet to be counted, Western powers are already eyeing up what they view us just rewards for the intervention. There are no more illusions over how far NATO forces exceeded the UN security resolution that mandated its campaign.
Some of WikiLeaks' Bank of America data destroyed. Giving up liberty in the pursuit of security. Hosting a reception for members of New York City's Muslim communities in his mansion on Tuesday night, Mayor Michael Bloomberg eloquently described Muslims as an inalienable part of our great city's fabric.
By Wednesday morning, however, many of us who attended that reception would have been forgiven for thinking that we actually lived in a nightmarish American avatar of Kim Jong-Il's Korea. Indeed, an extensive investigation by the Associated Press raises alarming questions about the NYPD and CIA, hand in hand, breaching some of the most important bulwarks of an open and free society. While "mosque crawlers" monitored religious sermons, so-called "rakers" engaged in "human mapping" of minority communities, neighbourhoods, cafes, bars, nightclubs, and bookstores. Police indiscriminately scrutinised taxi drivers and food cart vendors, because Muslims are well represented in these professions. TomDispatch. What Would Hillary Clinton Have Done?