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Romney, Santorum and Separation of Church and State
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Santorum on Iran: Ignorance or Lies?
Virtually all Republican candidates — with the notable exception of Ron Paul — have sounded a belligerent note on Iran at one point or another. However, Rick Santorum has apparently taken this to a higher level, analysts note. AP reports: “Republican Rick Santorum says that if he’s elected president, he would bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities unless they were opened for international arms inspectors.” But analysts note that inspectors have been working in Iran for years.
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Occupy Iowa Caucuses
DAVID GOODNER, david at iowacci.org Goodner is with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and has been active with the Occupy Iowa movement. He said today: “Occupy Des Moines started the Occupy Iowa Caucus campaign largely to address the problem of big money in politics — the presidential candidates and their SuperPACs have spent $200 for every vote expected in tonight’s Caucus. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties are largely representing the interests of the major corporations. We’ve occupied all the offices of the candidates — the Republican candidates as well as the state and national Democratic Party. Both establishment parties…
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Indefinite Detentions, Trial Today
Today, a jury trial of 14 anti-torture activists is scheduled to begin in Washington, D.C. as anti-torture and indefinite detention protests escalate. AllGov.com reports today: “He waited until New Year’s Eve to do it … but he did it. While expressing ‘serious reservations’ about the bill, President Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve signed legislation that cements into law two highly controversial tenets of the war on terror: indefinite detention of terrorism suspects without charge, and the jailing of American citizens without trial. It also takes terrorism-related cases out of the hands of the FBI and the civilian court system…
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Christianity and Occupy Wall Street
BLASE BONPANE, ooa at igc.org Director of the Office of the Americas, Bonpane served as a Maryknoll priest in Guatemala and has written five books including Guerrillas of Peace: Liberation Theology and the Central American Revolution and Civilization is Possible. His latest book is Imagine No Religion: An Autobiography. He said today: “I fully agree with Chris Hedges when he says that the Occupy movement is manifesting the Beatitudes. It’s similar to the movement of early Christianity, where all things were shared in common. The Romans made it illegal to be a Christian, punishable by death. The Romans know that…
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Alleged WikiLeaks Source Bradley Manning Getting Rigged Trial, Supporters Charge
JEFF PATERSON, via Zack Pesavento, press at bradleymanning.org Paterson is a veteran and co-founder of the Bradley Manning Support Network. He said: “Military officials are continuing their star chamber prosecution after abusing Bradley Manning of his rights for 18 months. The investigating officer is not only biased to produce an outcome that is favorable to his employer at the Justice Department — he’s under pressure from his Commander-in-Chief, who has already placed undue influence on this case. … It’s clear that the administration never had any intention of giving Bradley Manning a fair hearing. It appears that only their witnesses…
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U.S.-Backed Egyptian Military Killing Pro-Democracy Protesters
The Egyptian military is denying charges of brutalizing civilians. The Daily Mail webpage features video of the Egyptian military dragging and beating a woman — a video that had over 2 million views on YouTube. The video, “Martyrs of the Egyptian Revolution,” just had English subtitles added. JIHAN HAFIZ, fahema22 at gmail.com REED LINDSAY, reedlindsay at yahoo.com Hafiz and Lindsay are Cairo correspondents for The Real News Network. The Egyptian military is reportedly targeting media and Lindsay was hit with a rock and had six stitches in recent attacks. See Hafiz’s most recent report, “Battle Rages in Cairo as ‘Thugs’…
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North Korea After Kim Jong-Il
CHRISTINE AHN, christineahn at mac.com, Ahn is executive director of the Korea Policy Institute and a member of Korean Americans for Fair Trade. She said today: “While Kim Jong Il’s death comes as a great shock, his illness since 2008 has long been reported in the media, and had set in motion succession plans for Kim Jong-Eun, his youngest son believed to be in his late 20s, to assume leadership. For the past two years Kim Jong-Eun accompanied his father at all major official gatherings, including a visit to China last year where he apparently received the support of the…
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Congressional Deal on Backs of D.C. Residents
The Washington Post reports on the current spending package: “Social conservatives won a ban on government-funded abortions in Washington, D.C., and restored a longstanding ban on funding for needle exchange programs used to prevent the spread of HIV. But efforts to take away federal funding for Planned Parenthood failed, as expected.”
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The Iraq War Disaster
RAED JARRAR, jarrar.raed at gmail.com Jarrar is an Iraqi-American blogger and political analyst based in Washington, D.C. He said today: “Millions of Iraqis are celebrating the U.S. withdrawal this month, in what is widely viewed as a condemnation of the U.S. military involvement in Iraq. This is especially true with the final attempt by the U.S. government to maintain troops under NATO being rejected by the Iraqis. While President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and other U.S. officials are trying their best to make the U.S. involvement in Iraq sound like a success, the vast majority of Iraqis see the…
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