Month October 2007

The British government has invoked legislation from 1839 to stop an antiwar march on Parliament this coming Monday. Stop the War UK will be marching in defiance of the ban. And you have to be there. This is an exercise…

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) may pass Congress this year and includes protection based on sexual orientation (lesbian, gay, bi.) A major battle is ongoing based on whether or not gender identity (transgendered) should be included. This is a classic,…

Parts of the Left was oddly silent after Ahmadinejad’s speech. That gays are viciously persecuted in Iran is a given. Yet some Lefties who defend gay rights here seemed mute about the obvious homophobia in his speech (as well as…

The Karen, Shan and other ethnic groups survive in Burma in opposition to the government simply and solely because they have enough weaponry to back the army off. Nonviolence is a powerful and amazing tactic. But it assumes the government…

From John Robb, echoing Robert Pelton Young’s thoughts on Blackwater. Another example of dysfunction in our societal discussion about the future of security: rather than an informed/constructive debate on the future of private military contractors in warfare (a big topic…