Yesterday, October 7, was the eleventh anniversary of the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The 2001 military effort is described in a Mother Jones article by Adam Weinstein, in which he quotes from a 2001 AP story. ‘Forty U.S. and British warplanes and an armada of warships and submarines pummeled strongholds of the al-Qaeda [...]
About Joyce Arnold
Liberally Independent, Queer Talk beat, equality activist, writer.Author Archive | Joyce Arnold
Tar Sands Blockade: ‘TransCanada Operating Heavy Machinery 20 Feet From Tree Blockader’ [Video]
From Tar Sands Blockade (Day 15): TransCanada not only has shown complete disregard for the health and safety of families living along the route of its toxic pipeline its also endangering the lives of our friends in the trees by operating heavy clear-cutting machinery dangerously close to the tree blockade. This corporation has proven time [...]
Tar Sands Blockader Retroactively Charged, Arrested, for a Felony
What the Tar Sands Blockaders are experiencing isn’t new – the apparent influence of corporate desires on law enforcement; the use of “non-lethal,” or as it’s also referred to, “less lethal,” law enforcement tactics; the confiscation of cameras and phones of those trying to document what’s happening. All of that was / is a part [...]
Queer Talk: Record Number 175 LGBT Candidates Endorsed by Victory Fund
The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund announced it has endorsed a record-breaking 175 LGBT candidates. The Victory Fund “works to elect LGBT leaders to public office for one simple reason. They change America’s politics.” At Gay Politics, Denis Dison writes that among the 175, … 8 candidates are endorsed for U.S. House and Senate races. [...]
U.S. Ranks Third Highest in Poverty Rate in Developed Nations [VIDEO]
Some 46 million Americans live in poverty. – U.S. Census Bureau, 2011. That is the third highest poverty rate among developed nations, ahead only of Turkey and Mexico. – Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The quotes above are from the documentary, The Line. The film focuses on one of the things of apparent little [...]
Actress Daryl Hannah, Texas Great-Grandmother Eleanor Fairchild Arrested in Tar Sands Blockade
The Tar Sands Blockade continues in East Texas. Yesterday saw the arrest of great-grandmother and landowner Eleanor Fairchild, along with actress Daryl Hannah. This was the latest in a series of actions from the Tar Sands Blockade in East Texas, where the Keystone Pipeline is being built. From Tar Sands Blockade: UPDATE OCT 5th 3:00AM [...]
Expanding the Debate: Third Party Candidates Break the Sound Barrier As Obama-Romney Spar [Debate Video]
Last night Democracy NOW! provided the “expanded” debate coverage. At this link you’ll find the video. See the transcript here. As President Obama and Mitt Romney squared off for the first time on Wednesday night, Democracy Now! broke the sound barrier by pausing Obama and Romney’s answers to get real-time responses from candidates Jill Stein [...]
Debating, Activist Style: Tar Sands Blockade and Walmart Strikers (VIDEO)
What’s happening in Winnsboro, Texas, and Elwood, Illinois, is clearly not nearly as newsworthy as tonight’s CPD production, even though that is controlled by Democratic and Republican parties, so you know what to expect – but that’s the stuff of non-stop coverage. But in Winnsboro and Elwood, We the People actions are taking place. Those [...]
Court Upholds NDAA With Extended Stay
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 has been upheld by a federal appeals court. At Politico, Josh Gerstein: A federal appeals court has extended a temporary stay of a district court judge’s order barring the government from using an indefinite detention provision in a defense bill passed by Congress and signed by President Barack [...]
Alice Walker’s ‘Democratic Womanism’: Powerful Perspective for Election 2012
“Democratic Womanism” is one segment of a three part interview with Alice Walker, by Amy Goodman on Democracy NOW. The first focuses on “The Legacy of The Color Purple” on that book’s 30th anniversary; the second on Palestine, “ ‘More brutal’ than U.S. South of 50 years ago.” The final segment is primarily Walker reading [...]
Shell Blocks Employee Access to ‘Murder is Bad’ Activist Website
People Against Legalizing Murder (PALM) created the activist website Murder is Bad a few days ago, regarding Shell’s argument that it can’t be held accountable in U.S. courts for murders which occurred in Nigeria. The petroleum giant quickly blocked their employees from PALM’s Murder is Bad website. Shell was involved in murders in Nigeria. They [...]
Queer Talk: New California Law Bans ‘Conversion’ Therapy
California became the first state to prohibit “conversion” or “reparative” therapy for minors. “Conversion” therapy is intended to change sexual orientation. Such therapies have been criticized and discredited by nearly all major U.S. medical, psychiatric, psychological and professional counseling organizations. Signing the legislation into law, Gov. Brown said: ‘These practices have no basis in science [...]
Democracy NOW! Expanded Debate Coverage Includes Stein and Anderson
Last week in another of several posts about the 2012 presidential “debates,” I included an idea from Anthony Noel, that of using TiVo to expand the Commission on Presidential Debates’ two party only production. Democracy NOW!, with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, is actually using the same general idea. From Democracy NOW!: As President Barack [...]
UPDATED Texas Blockade of Tar Sands Continues Despite Use of Pepper Spray, Tasers (VIDEO)
UPDATE on Blockader Locks to Underground Capsule to Protect a Family Farm at end. The efforts to stop the construction of the Keystone / Tar Sands pipeline in East Texas continue. Before a few details, a reminder that this project is supported by both Obama and Romney. From FDL: ‘ … I’m directing my administration [...]
Queer Talk: ‘If the U.S. Presidential Election Were Held Today, How Would You Vote?’
From Smart Brief, poll results which they explicitly describe as “not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those who have chosen to participate.” Smart Brief provides a weekly poll, usually but not always focused on politics and LGBTs, and this disclaimer is always provided. So basically, take this for what it is: one of [...]
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