Democracy Now! 2013-04-30 Tuesday

• Headlines for April 30, 2013
• Isabel Allende on "Maya's Notebook," Drug Addiction, 1973 Chilean Coup & Death of Poet Pablo Neruda
• Kimberly Rivera, Pregnant Mom of 4, Sentenced to Military Prison for Refusing to Serve in Iraq

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The mayor suggested that Council proposals could lead to more murders, create deadly confusion among police officers and perhaps even make it easier for terrorists to strike the city.

If patrons of Camaguey restaurant are any indication, voters in Mott Haven are undecided about the mayor's race, but do know what they want in the next mayor: the good of Bloomberg without the bad.

A Fighter by His Trade: Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Sports and the American Dream

April 29, 2013
By Dave Zirin
The Nation (April 29, 2013)

In most descriptions of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, he’s described as a “one-time boxer.” That doesn’t quite tell the story. Tsarnaev was a two-time New England Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion. Understanding Tsarnaev’s motivations is critical. Just as we shouldn’t accept the racist argument that “culture” is the root cause of gun deaths in Chicago, we should reject the idea that Islam bears any sort of collective responsibility for Tsarnaev’s crimes. [...]

Five Ways to Bridge the Jobs vs. Environment Gap

April 29, 2013
By Jeremy Brecher
Common Dreams (April 29, 2013)

So often there's an apparent conflict between jobs and the environment. There's a way to resolve our differences. Every environmental campaign should have a jobs program and every jobs program should be designed to address our climate catastrophe. [...]

Another Big Story the Mainstream Media Missed: GE-Krupp Conspiracy Trial of '47

April 29, 2013
By Peter Handel, Interview
Truthout (April 27, 2013)

Lest anyone imagine that corporate crimes being unreported by the mainstream media and punished with a wrist slap are anything new, legendary labor reporter James Lerner's account of the GE - Krupp conspiracy trial of 1947 is an eye-opener. [...]

Syria and sarin gas: US claims have a very familiar ring

April 29, 2013
By Robert Fisk
The Independent (April 28, 2013)

Reports of the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons are part of a retold drama riddled with plot-holes

Is there any way of escaping the theatre of chemical weapons? First, Israeli "military intelligence" says that Bashar al-Assad's forces have used/have probably used/might have used/could use chemical weapons. Then Chuck Hagel, the US Defence Secretary, pops up in Israel to promise even more firepower for Israel's over-armed military – avoiding any mention of Israel's more than 200 nuclear warheads [...]

U.S. Policies Allow Sweatshop Fires

April 29, 2013
By Tom Hayden
The Peace & Justice Resource Center (April 26, 2013)

The latest sweatshop disaster in Bangladesh, which claimed the lives of over 200 young women, calls into question the foundations of US globalization policies since the Clinton era. It is not enough to blame the corruption of Bangladesh factory owners, nor sufficient to suggest better training and factory codes from Walmart or the Gap. It is time to ban the US sale of garments made in Bangladesh until enforceable labor codes are imposed on that country. [...]

Democracy Now! 29 de Abril de 2013

• Ejército admite que hay 100 prisioneros en huelga de hambre en Guantánamo
• Incendio en escombros de fábrica de Bangladesh; cifra de víctimas fatales asciende a 400
• Primer Ministro sirio sobrevive a intento de asesinato
• Ola de violencia azota a Pakistán antes de elecciones
• Irak cancela licencia a diez canales de TV, entre ellos Al Jazeera
• Informe: Fondos de la CIA alimentan corrupción en Afganistán
• Afganistán: cuatro miembros del ejército de Estados Unidos mueren en accidente aéreo
• Obama exhorta al Congreso a tomar medidas respecto a secuestro de gastos
• Autoridades arrestan a otro sospechoso de enviar cartas con ricina
• Científico iraní liberado tras más de un año de detención en Estados Unidos
• México: centenares de personas marchan para exigir justicia para periodista asesinada
• Obama hace bromas sobre las razas y los republicanos en la cena de la Casa Blanca para los corresponsales
• Informe: la afluencia de afroestadounidenses a las urnas superó la de los blancos en 2012
• Obama designará al alcalde de Charlotte, Anthony Foxx, para la Secretaría de Transporte
• Treinta y una personas fueron arrestadas por protestar contra aviones no tripulados en base aérea del norte de Nueva York
• Tribunal deniega libertad anticipada a integrante presa de Pussy Riot
• Mezquita de Oklahoma vandalizada en posible crimen de odio
• Decenas de miles de personas siguen sin casa seis meses después de huracán Sandy
• Periodista feminista Mary Thom muere en accidente de motocicleta a los 68 años
• Estudiantes de Georgia asistieron al primer baile de graduación con integración racial

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Democracy Now! 2013-04-29 Monday

• Headlines for April 29, 2013
• A Desperate Situation at Guantánamo: Over 130 Prisoners on Hunger Strike, Dozens Being Force-Fed
• Forgotten Women of the War on Terror: Author Victoria Brittain on the Wives and Families Left Behind
• Country Musician Willie Nelson Turns 80: "One Person Carrying a Message Can Change the World"

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Some 1 million New Yorkers live in co-ops, an affordable ownership option for many families. But some say the companies that sponsor coops are retaining too much control—at residents' expense.

New Evidence Unearthed for the Origins of the Maya

April 28, 2013
By
(April 25, 2013)

The ancient Maya benefited from contact with other peoples across Mesoamerica between 1,000 to 700 BCE. This wider world of cultural experience may have helped shape Mayan culture.

New Evidence Unearthed for the Origins of the Maya
Ancient Maya Were Cultural Sponges
 
 
New Evidence Unearthed for the Origins of the Maya
Nicholas Mott
National Geographic News
April 25, 2013
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130425-maya-origins-olmec-pyramid-ceibal-inomata-archaeology-science/
Civilizations rise and fall, often in dramatic fashion. Their origins, though, are subtler and tend to be overlooked or poorly understood.
In [...]

Can Manufacturing Be Reborn in the U.S.A.?

April 28, 2013
By David Moberg
In These Times (April 22, 2013)

Extending the current model of free trade agreements is at odds with a factory renaissance. The trickle of reshoring has raised public hopes, as well as valid doubts about the infallible wisdom the stampede offshore with little appreciation of the needs or potential of. A real renaissance in American manufacturing will require energetic, high-road government intervention with an eye to innovation, not simply fatter paychecks in Guangzhou province. [...]

This Day in Labor History: April 28, 1971

April 28, 2013
By Erik Loomis
Lawyers, Guns and Money (April 28, 2013)

The creation of OSHA proved to be one the greatest victory in American history for workplace health but OSHA’s ability to protect workers has severe limitations due to underfunding. The explosion at the West Fertilizer plant in Texas on April 17 that killed at least 14 people demonstrated the agency’s very real limitations. There are so few OSHA inspectors that it would take 129 years to inspect every workplace in the country at current staffing levels. [...]

D.C.’s Race Disparity in Marijuana Charges Is Getting Worse

April 28, 2013
By Rend Smith
CityPaper (April 22, 2013)

According to arrest numbers obtained from the Metropolitan Police Department and crunched by a statistician, between 2005 and 2011, D.C. cops filed 30,126 marijuana offense charges. A staggering number of those—27,560, or 91 percent—were filed against African-Americans. Only 2,097 were filed against whites. Folklore contends that pot-arrest asymmetries are about Blacks smoking outside and getting their getting their pot on street corners. Recent studies contradict that. [...]

Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever

April 28, 2013
By Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone (April 25, 2013)

Conspiracy theorists of the world, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. A series of related corruption stories spilling out of the financial sector, suggests the world's largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything. Moreover, it's increasingly clear that both the criminal justice system and the civil courts may be impotent to stop them, even when they do get caught working together to game the system. [...]

REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons

April 27, 2013
By Portside
(April 27, 2013)

Eastwood's Birthday, Austerity, Japan, Bangladesh and more

REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons
SUNDAY
Quote of the Day
April 21, 2013
'The probability that a poor child in America will become a poor adult is higher now than it was 30 years ago, and higher in the United States than in the United Kingdom, which has a long history of class rigidity.
'Almost 1 out of 4 of the nation's children is in now in poverty, but you wouldn't know that in [...]

Different Seasons of the Arab Spring

April 27, 2013
By Carl Finamore
Counterpunch (April 26, 2013)

Reports from Morocco and Tunisia

In northern Africa, winters are usually mild and summers normally dry and hot. The glorious Arab Spring revolts in this part of the world can also be measured in this same way – sometimes hot, in fact, blazing hot; sometimes warm; sometimes mild and sometimes just plain dry.
The full range of contrasts were on display as several Moroccan and Tunisian trade unionists shared their political experiences at a April 22 public meeting sponsored by the San Francisco Labor [...]

New York Tenants Rise Up to Tackle Housing Crisis

April 27, 2013
By Estevan Nembhard
People's World (April 23, 2013)

We need a mayor who will make affordable housing permanent.

Standing shoulder to shoulder in a packed union hall, tenants from this city's five boroughs vowed to tackle tough housing issues including the power of landlords, developers and big banks that they say is squeezing the people of this city.
The April 18 gathering at SEIU, local 1199's Martin Luther King Auditorium was a mosaic of the myriad communities that constitute New York. Those attending were part of Our City, [...]

Education Yes, but Young Workers Need Jobs Now

April 27, 2013
By Carl Bloice
Black Commentator (April 25, 2013)

We are confronted with a much bigger problem than a lack of skills. Right now there just aren’t enough jobs to go around.

I was a wee lad when I first was told that figures can lie and liars can figure.  It was a caution to be careful when looking at numbers. What brought that to mind the other day was a commentary “Why the US is Looking to Germany for Answers,” by Financial Times U.S. Correspondent, Edward Luce. Not that [...]