Home > Keywords > Authors > Brian McAfee

Brian McAfee

  • Arroyo Regime Under International Scrutiny
    25 February 2007 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Brian McAfee
    As Hernani Pastolero was sipping his cup of coffee in front of his home early last Monday morning he was shot twice in the head by an unidentified gunman. Pastolero was the editor of the Lightning Courier, a weekly newspaper in the southern Philippines. He was the 50th journalist killed since Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became president in 2001 and the first in 2007. This number is part of the greater number of leftists that have been murdered in the same time period, now (…)

  • Arroyo/U.S. "low Intensity" State Terrorism
    24 December 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    Philippine President Gloria Macapagati Arroyo’s Melo Commission to investigate the killings of leftists and journalists has apparantly concluded that investigation and will submit their report in early January.
    Most in the Phillippines believe the Melo Commission and its upcoming report to be part of an ongoing ruse by the Arroyo government to cover up that the government itself, in colusion with the military and state police are the actual perpetrators of the mass killings. (…)

  • Women And Rape In 21st Century Pakistan
    11 September 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Brian McAfee
    The basic human and civil right of a woman not to be raped and if she is, not to be held responsiible for it is front and center right now in Pakistan. Pakistan, a nation of about 166 million people, is one of the world’s poorest countries. The issue in question is a law, established in 1979, by U.S. supported dictator Zia Ul Haq called the Hudood Ordinance Law.
    This law basically states that rape victims are liable for prosecution for adultery unless they can produce (…)

  • Chile’s Left Waits For Bachelet To Fulfill Promises
    22 May 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Brian McAfee
    As Chile struggles to overcome the past and restore justice and human rights, an obstacle remains in the system. In the 1980s Chile’s then dictator, Augusto Pinochet, installed an electoral law that in effect blocked the left from participation in the electoral process. The "binominal" sometimes called binomial system, was composed by the far right and imposed on Chile by Pinochet.
    The Pinochet imposed system allowed the far right to have 35 percent of votes and to have (…)

  • Dr. Michelle Bachelet victor in Chilean election
    19 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    by Brian Mcafee
    Michelle Bachelet, a pediatrician and former health and defense minister, soundly defeated her opponent; billionaire tycoon Sebastian Pinera in Chile’s presidential run-off Sunday. Bachelet’s 53.5 percent to Pinera’s 46.5 percent marked a trend throughout Latin America of leftist electoral victories. Leftists now run Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela, with the inclusion of Chile, the political sentiment of the region is unmistakable.
    The U.S. response to (…)

  • Chilean Communist Party May Be Power Broker In January 15 Run-Off Election
    22 December 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    5 comments

    by Brian McAfee
    Chile’s Socialist Party candidate, Michelle Bachelet, soundly defeated her right wing opponents in the December 11 presidential vote but failed to obtain the 50% to become president. Chilean law requires a candidate receive at least 50% of the vote to obtain the presidency. The breakdown was Bachelet 45.95%, Sebastian Pinera of the National Renovation party 25.41%, Joaquin Lavin of the Independent Democratic Union party 23.22%, and Tomas Hirsch of the Humanist party and (…)

  • GOP’s New War On The Poor Designed To Accomodate the Nation’s Wealthiest 0.2%
    21 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    2 comments

    by Brian McAfee
    In a shocking but nevertheless not surprising maneuver U.S. House Republicans are attempting to introduce a bill that will cause serious damage to the already precarious existence of the nation’s 37 million poor.
    In a multi-pronged attack the Republicans have endeavered to target the safety net that the nation’s children and those living in poverty rely on.
    Programs targeted include food stamps, school lunch programs, student aid for college, child support (…)

  • Bush, Congress Turn a Cold Shoulder To America’s Poor This Winter
    3 November 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Brian McAfee
    President Bush and Congress nixed winter heating aid for poor families 3 months after subsidizing oil companies. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said "this is not something I would be in favor of (using some of the oil profits to help the nations poor). That would be the equivalent of windfall profits tax" Bodman went on to say that any transfer of oil profits to programs to help the poor with heating this winter is not even under consideration.
    Some Democrats in (…)

  • Bush And Big Oil May Be Making A Killing This Winter
    18 October 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    27 comments

    by Brian McAfee
    Earlier this year President Bush enacted an energy bill into law that gave $85 billion dollars to big oil and gas companies, and this month the Republican controlled House of Representatives gave billions more in tax breaks to the oil industry while doing nothing to lower gas prices.
    Despite this windfall for the already rich stockholders and their friends, President Bush has proposed cutting funds to help the poor heat their homes this winter. The nation’s 37 million (…)

  • Chile Completes Its Transition To Democracy
    19 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Brian McAfee
    In two key decisions Chile has restored her democracy lost on September 11, 1973 when Gen. Augusto Pinochet overthrew democratically elected president Salvador Allende in a bloody Coupe supported by the United States.
    On July 6, a Chilean court ruled 11 to 10 to remove Picnochet’s immunity he had granted himself when he became dictator in 1973. This opens the door to the families of those murdered and tortured by his regime to pursue legal action against him. There (…)