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by Walter Mosley
Most black Americans have been Democrats for at least the fifty-three years that I’ve been alive. What have the Democrats done for us in all that time? We have the lowest average income of any large racial group in the nation. We’re incarcerated at an alarmingly high rate. We are still segregated and profiled, and have a very low representation at the top echelons of the Democratic Party. We are the stalwarts, the bulwark, the Old Faithful of the Democrats, and yet they (…)

By James Carroll
AMERICA HAS had a difficult time reckoning with its racist past. Slavery was a defining part of the cultures and economies out of which the nation grew, and for most of its first century the ownership of humans by other humans was taken for granted. A pseudo-Darwinian ranking by ’’race" justified that order, which stood on pillars of skin color and ethnic origin. When that blatant structure of denigration was overthrown by the Civil War, implicit assumptions of white (…)

by Mary MacElveen
In my piece concerning John Edwards which ran this past week, I wrote: "In the November 28, 2005, issue of ’The Nation,’ John Edwards was quoted as saying: "I voted for the resolution ... it was a mistake."
I have to add that I respect anyone, regardless of what decision they made in the past, when they see that it was wrong. I have deep respect when they come out of the political closet and with humility to state that their vote was a "mistake."
With that said, I (…)

Bush Credibility (An Oxymoron)
By Peter Fredson
February 11, 2006
Credibility, trustworthiness, reliability, integrity, are for most humans words which give us a certain feeling that, whatever the occasion, there is a solid basis underlying the fitness of things. They imply that some care and attention will be given to the daily routine, that human relationships can be rewarding, and that ordinarily we can get though the day after depending on other people.
It is therefore with (…)

Section on war of the statement of the Assembly of the Social Movements, World Social Forum, Venezuala, January 29th.
MARCH 18TH: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF MOBILISATION AGAINST THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ AGAINST THE WAR AND OCCUPATIONS. NO MORE WARS. PEACE IS THE ONLY SOLUTION We demand the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq and an end to the privatisation of energy resources. We oppose all occupations by foreign troops and demand an end to the Israeli occupation of (…)

Still think the Democrats have anything at all to offer us? Read this from the Green Party.
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Democrats Push Bill That Would Bar Third Parties in Races for Congress
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Thursday, February 9, 2006
Contacts: Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org
Panic and retaliation among progressive Democrats over Green challenges are behind HR 4694, say (…)

UNSCATHED BY THE INSANITY OF OUR TIMES
By: April Shenandoah We all talk about freedom, but do we really understand what it is? Most of us could at least say what it is not. Freedom is not: telling Mothers and Fathers how to raise their children - or educate them. Freedom is not: putting American citizens in fear of their own police force (we were told they are our friends). Freedom is not: enforcing rules and regulations that make it almost impossible for good citizens not to break (…)

“Police blotter” is a weekly report on the intersection of technology and the law.
By Declan McCullagh , Staff Writer, CNET News.com
What: The Justice Department asks a judge to approve Patriot Act e-mail monitoring without any evidence of criminal behavior.
When: Decided Feb. 2, 2006 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan in Washington, D.C.
Outcome: E-mail surveillance approved.
What happened: As part of a grand jury investigation that’s still secret, the Justice Department asked a (…)

By DOUG THOMPSON
Outraged intelligence professionals say President George W. Bush is "cheapening" and "politicizing" their work with claims the United States foiled a planned terrorist attack against Los Angeles in 2002.
"The President has cheapened the entire intelligence community by dragging us into his fantasy world," says a longtime field operative of the Central Intelligence Agency. "He is basing this absurd claim on the same discredited informant who told us Al Qaeda would attack (…)

IS IT WAR TIME YET?
By Peter Fredson
February 10, 2006
Please, someone enlighten me. For the past 5 years I have been informed by Bush or some cabinet member that this is War time, that we are IN a War, we are AT War, we have a Wartime President, and we are preparing War against Iran and Syria, etc. Bush talks constantly of a War against terrorists.
I’d like to know with what country are we at War? Are we at War with specific countries, with a single person in a country, or with (…)