Civil Rights

By David Swanson

Dick Cheney could make anyone look decent, honorable, and law-abiding by comparison. But is the existence of someone worse, no matter how many hours our media monopoly gives him, enough to make Obama’s decisions acceptable? Let’s look at their pair of speeches given on Thursday in Washington, D.C., and depicted as a debate by the media.

President Obama began speaking at 10:28 a.m., 18 minutes late, and spoke until 35 minutes after Cheney’s scheduled start, but read more

By David Swanson

If I could feel more shame over my country’s torture it would be over my university’s support for torture. The University of Virginia, which has long paid its employees poverty wages while increasingly becoming a major partner of the U.S. military and its “intelligence” operations, nonetheless still holds for me an image of individual honor and principle. I still imagine that UVA students and professors, staff and alumni, can be expected not to stoop to read more

Tonight’s Urban Journal airs coast to coast at 8pm est on XM Ch 169, but it is available right now at http://www.theurbanjournal.org

Segments 1 and 2 David Swanson, Co-founder After Downing Street

Segment 3 Ruy Texeiria, Center For American Progress

Segment 4 Pastor Susan Smith, author Crazy Faith

Host Keith Murphy

Jesselyn Radack and I are liveblogging in her post on Dailykos.

Not so long ago, I blogged about similarities and differences in struggles for rights for atheists and gays. Little did I know how misguided this whole notion was, and that we would need Newt Gingrich to rise from the dead and save us from gay secular fascism.

By David Swanson

If you live in the United States, you are almost certainly friends with at least one atheist, agnostic, nonbeliever, skeptic, or unaffiliated humanist, whether you know it or not. And your friend almost certainly endures prejudice and unequal treatment, whether you know it or not. And your friend is roughly as decent, good, loyal, honest, courageous, and generous as your other friends, and you know it.

The March 2009 American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College read more

No More Health Insurance Companies Ever Again.
Single-Payer Healthcare Instead.
Come Find Out How We Can Make It Happen…

Healthcare in Crisis: A Public Forum on Monday, February 23rd

PERRIELLO: Congressman Tom Perriello told us on Tuesday that he was undecided about supporting single-payer healthcare. So we asked what we could do to persuade him, and he replied: “Keep doing what you’re doing, pressuring me, phone calls and Emails.” He also agreed to send a staff person read more

An open public forum in Charlottesville, Va., on Monday, February 23rd at 6:30 p.m. in the Lane Auditorium of the Albemarle County Office Building, 401 McIntire Rd.

How can we guarantee healthcare for all?
What can you do to help?

Admission: free
Parking: free
Healthcare in case of injury: you’re on your own, for now

SPEAKERS:
Donna Smith, California Nurses Association, seen in Michael Moore’s “Sicko”
Steve Cobble, Progressive Democrats of America
Dr. read more

By David Swanson

Here’s a columnist in Media General newspapers named Scott Hollifield ridiculing Raed Jarrar’s settlement that gave him $240,000 as compensation for having been thrown off an airplane for looking middle-eastern and wearing a t-shirt with Arabic words on it. This is an on-going problem. A whole family was thrown off an airplane at National Airport in Washington, read more