DAN PALLOTTA – The real social innovation I want to talk about involves charity. I want to talk about how the things we’ve been taught to think about giving and about charity and about the nonprofit sector are actually undermining the causes we love and our profound yearning to change the world.
Category: Archive
NRC Denies Nuclear Safety Petition
MICHAEL MARIOTTE – On April 9, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) formally denied a petition originally submitted by Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and 37 co-petitioners to make modest improvements in emergency planning for nuclear reactor accidents.
U.N. Panel: Renewables, Not Nukes, Can Solve Climate Crisis
HARVEY WASSERMAN – The authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has left zero doubt that we humans are wrecking our climate. It also effectively says the problem can be solved, and that renewable energy is the way to do it, and that nuclear power is not.
Earth Day Calls for a New Beginning
KEN MCCORMACK – For Earth Day, April 22, let’s vow to take responsibility. Our careless behavior has changed Earth much faster than predicted. We are living through a global crisis, and the United States is largely responsible. There are good economic reasons, of course, to deny what has happened. ExxonMobil is recording higher profits than ever. Expensive disinformation campaigns are spreading doubt. Governments and corporations are urging “more growth.†That is, “more for us!†But in our hearts we know. Endless growth is impossible, and its pursuit is immoral.
Call Climate Change What It Is: Violence
REBECCA SOLNIT – If you’re poor, the only way you’re likely to injure someone is the old traditional way: artisanal violence, we could call it – by hands, by knife, by club, or maybe modern hands-on violence, by gun or by car. But if you’re tremendously wealthy, you can practice industrial-scale violence without any manual labor on your own part.
America’s Peace Ship – Powerful Advocate for Nuclear Sanity
LAWRENCE WITTNER – Is there an emotional connection between the oceans and the pursuit of peace? For whatever reason, peace ships have been increasing in number over the past century.
Why We Need Media Critics Who Are Fiercely Independent
NORMAN SOLOMON – The most renowned media critics are usually superficial and craven. That’s because — as one of the greatest in the 20th century, George Seldes, put it — “the most sacred cow of the press is the press itself.†No institutions are more image-conscious than big media outlets. The people running them know the crucial importance of spin, and they’ll be damned if they’re going to promote media criticism that undermines their own pretenses.
“War Tax Resisters†Protest with their Money
RUTH BENN – On April 15 people in communities across the United States will be leafleting, marching, doing street theatre, committing civil disobedience, and picketing at post offices, IRS offices, federal buildings calling attention to what they see as the harmful effects of military spending.
Federal Judge Ignores the Law in Plowshares Case
JOHN LAFORGE – Any courtroom in China or Iran could have been the scene: An 84-year-old Catholic nun in prison garb, chained hand-and-foot and surrounded by heavy Marshals, is shuffled jangling into court. Her attorney asks if she might be allowed one free hand in order to take notes. The nun has been convicted of high crimes trumped up after her bold political protest embarrassed the state. A high-ranking judge lectures her about law and order and then imposes a three-year prison term.
Solartopia: Winning the Green Energy Revolution
HARVEY WASSERMAN – High above the Bowling Green town dump, a green energy revolution is being won. It’s being helped along by the legalization of marijuana and its bioÂfueled cousin, industrial hemp. But it’s under extreme attack from the billionaire Koch Brothers, utilities like First Energy (FE), and a fossil/nuke industry that threatens our existence on this planet. Robber Baron resistance to renewable energy has never been more fierce.
China to Shut Down 2,000 Coal Mines This Year
CECILIA JAMASMIE – China will shut down roughly 2,000 small coal mines this year, with a total capacity of 117.48 million tonnes, as part of the Beijing’s ongoing plan to reduce the alarming rates of air pollution and reduce the nation’s dependency on the fossil fuel.
Evangelicals Call for Action on Climate Change
ALAN NEUHAUSER – Hundreds of evangelical Christians gathered across the country Thursday for a “Day of Prayer and Action†on climate change. The event, made up of vigils, speeches and discussions, was part of a weeklong series being held on 20 Christian college campuses this week, all geared toward spurring churches and local communities to reduce harmful carbon emissions, educate local residents about the effects of climate change, and fight the rise of temperatures and greenhouse gases worldwide.
“Limited” Nuclear War: 2 Billion at Risk
IRA HELFAND and ROBERT DODGE – As physicians we spend our professional lives applying scientific facts to the health and well being of our patients. When it comes to public health threats like TB, polio, cholera, AIDS and others where there is no cure, our aim is to prevent what we cannot cure. It is our professional, ethical and moral obligation to educate and speak out on these issues. That said, the greatest imminent existential threat to human survival is potential of global nuclear war.
What Do World’s Two Biggest Dangers Have in Common?
DAVID SWANSON – War and environmental destruction don’t just overlap in how they’re thought and talked about. They don’t just promote each other through mutually reinforcing notions of machismo and domination. The connection is much deeper and more direct. War and preparations for war, including weapons testing, are themselves among the greatest destroyers of our environment.
Taking the War Activists to Task
DAVID SWANSON – War activists, like peace activists, push for an agenda. We don’t think of them as activists because they rotate in and out of government positions, receive huge amounts of funding, have access to big media, and get meetings with top officials just by asking — without having to generate a protest first.
World Has No Idea How U.S. Decides on Wars
DAVID SWANSON – This, dear world, is more or less how the world’s largest-ever killing machine operates. It turns its eyes away from the machine’s work and, if pushed, debates the care of the machine itself — maintaining more or less complete obliviousness to the horrors the machine produces in those far away places where you live and die.
Thanks for Killing the Planet, Boomers!
TIM DONOVAN – The world as we know it is ending, and the indifference by Americans, politicians and mainstream press is maddening.
NSA Phone Collection Does Not Prevent Terrorism, According to Report
ANITA KUMAR – [January 13, 2014] A new analysis of 225 terrorism cases in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks indicates that the National Security Agency’s massive collection of phone records had a “minimal” on preventing acts of terrorism, according to a report released Monday by the New America Foundation, a Washington nonprofit group.
From Helen to Hillary: Women in War
DAVID SWANSON – The relationship of women to war has changed dramatically in recent decades, even while remaining the same. But make no mistake, waging war at the behest of female politicians is no different than waging war at the command of male politicians.
Military Recruiters Bully Counter-Recruiters in Portland School
ANGIE HINES – On March 13, a fellow counter military recruiter and I went to Cleveland High School to talk with students. We were in a room filled with uniformed
military recruiters, many more than necessary to staff a table. The Army, Army National Guard, Navy, and Marines were there. Within three to four minutes of our beginning to speak, we were essentially forced out of the room. Our treatment at the hands of the military recruiters was pathetic and not to be tolerated.
Peacebuilding: Powerful New Frame for the Peace Movement
MATTHEW ALBRACHT – The prevailing notion and dominant cultural story is that violence is inevitable and there is really nothing significant we can do about it. Luckily, this is a false assumption. Many new methodologies are emerging, at almost every level of society, which are proving to be highly effective ways to address conflict before it erupts into violence — or to turn it around more quickly when violence is already ensuing. Conflict may be inevitable, but violence does not have to be.
Thermonuclear Monarchy and Revolution
DAVID SWANSON – Do nuclear weapons, by the nature of their technology, violate the U.S. Constitution? Do they violate the basic social contract and all possibility of self-governance? Thus argues a new book called Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing Between Democracy and Doom by Elaine Scarry. It’s not unheard of for people to see out-of-control nuclear spending as a symptom of out-of-control military spending, itself a symptom of government corruption, legalized bribery, and a militaristic culture. Scarry’s argument suggests a reversal: the root of all this evil is not the almighty dollar but the almighty bomb.
Close Scrutiny of Pentagon Budget Shows Lavish Spending
JON RAINWATER – When people hear “the Army is being cut to pre-World War II levels,” they are thinking about military forces as a whole. But the Air Force didn’t even exist in 1940. The Marine Corps has grown exponentially since that earlier era. After the post- 9/11 spike is trimmed, a force far larger than before World War II remains. But the bigger problem with the reduction narrative is that the proposed $496 billion for the Department of Defense represents historically sky-high spending.
Small Arizona Town Challenges Border Patrol Excesses
JOHN HEID – “You have no rights here!†barked a U.S. Border Patrol agent to a resident of Arivaca, AZ who was passing through a Customs and Border Protection checkpoint 23 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. This remark confirms a sense of violation of rights that many borderlands residents have when encountering one of the 71 permanent or tactical checkpoints scattered across the southwestern U.S.
National Security: Going “Up†or “Down?â€
SUSAN C. STRONG – In his January State of the Union message, President Obama said two noteworthy things: the first was “America must move off a permanent war footing.†Of course this remark was preceded and followed by a lot of predictable stuff about keeping America strong by military means. But the President did preface the bold remark I’ve cited above with another comment of interest, “But I strongly believe that our leadership and our security cannot depend on our military alone.†What if, instead of just dismissing these items as pure political boilerplate, we edit his statements just a bit.
Peace Activists Challenge Government Harrassment
ANTI-WAR COMMITTEE – On Feb. 26, 2014 we were successful in getting unsealed the application and affidavit used to obtain the search warrants for the 2010 raids on the Anti-War Committee office and on the homes of Mid-west anti-war and international solidarity activists. A review of these documents shows not only the extent to which law enforcement will twist the truth in pursuit of a target, but also the obsession of the U.S. government with any opposition to the U.S. imperialist agenda and the depths to which they will go to suppress freedom of thought and speech.
Aftermath Would be Worse than a Nuclear War
KENT SHIFFERD – What could be worse than a nuclear war? A nuclear famine following a nuclear war. And what follows famine is epidemic disease. What can you do? The only way to assure ourselves this global disaster will not happen is to join the global movement to abolish all weapons of mass destruction.
Obama Pronouncements about International Law Are Hypocritical
NORMAN SOLOMON – International law is suddenly very popular in Washington. President Obama responded to Russian military intervention in the Crimea by accusing Russia of a “breach of international law.†. . . Unfortunately, during the last five years, no world leader has done more to undermine international law than Barack Obama. He treats it with rhetorical adulation and behavioral contempt, helping to further normalize a might-makes-right approach to global affairs that is the antithesis of international law.
The Man Behind the Exploding Trains
ERIC DE PLACE and RICH FELDMAN – In our previous installment, we explored how unsafe DOT-111s, the Ford Pinto of rail cars, make up the vast majority of oil-filled tank cars now riding the rails in North America. With DOT-111s, there is no margin for error. A serious derailment will almost always lead to oil spills or explosions. But if they are so clearly dangerous, why are these tank cars still on the rails? The reason, in short, is because the railroad and rail car industries have opposed new safety regulations. (The oil and ethanol industries have abetted their cause.)
The Purposely Confusing World of Energy Politics
RICHARD HEINBERG – Life often presents us with paradoxes, but seldom so blatant or consequential as the following. Read this sentence slowly: Today it is especially difficult for most people to understand our perilous global energy situation, precisely because it has never been more important to do so. Got that? No? Okay, let me explain. I must begin by briefly retracing developments in a seemingly unrelated field—climate science.
Encouraging News from Oregon’s Junior Senator
JEFF MERKLEY – As a new member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I’ve fought to invest in, rather than undermine, our environment. And I have some good news: in the compromise spending bill that passed Congress (in late January), we secured renewed support for our Northwest environment, and succeeded in pushing back on several policy riders that could have devastated our air, our water, and our efforts to combat climate change.
Update: Radiation Leaks from New Mexico Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Facility
SUSAN GORDON – [February 21, 2014] Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) has carefully followed information about the radiation leak from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) that was first identified at approximately 11:30 pm on Friday, February 14, 2014. (See PeaceWorker article, “Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site,” published Feb. 22, 2014.)
Why Nonviolent Direct Action?
RALPH HUTCHINSON – [Editor’s Note: In the wake of the sentencing of 3 nonviolent objectors at the Y12 bomb plant in Oak Ridge, TN to long prison terms, this author takes the judge to task for the advice he offered the defendants from the bench. He develops his challenge into an insightful explanation of the way nonviolent direct action works to effect social change.]
Nuclear Weapon Resisters Sentenced to Long Prison Terms, Outrageous Fines
JOHN LAFORGE – Three anti-war activists who easily snuck into what is touted as one of the country’s most secure nuclear weapons facilities were sentenced to long terms in federal prison Tuesday, Feb. 18. The three were convicted last May on felony charges of depredation of property and sabotage for their nonviolent action called Transform Now Plowshares at the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The convictions carried possible maximum sentences of 30 years in prison.
U.S. Examines Afghanistan Option that Would Leave Behind 3,000 Troops
KAREN DEYOUNG – One of the four options President Obama is considering for a U.S. military presence in Afghanistan beyond this year would leave behind 3,000 troops, based in Kabul and at the American installation at Bagram, U.S. officials said. The other options include more troops in two scenarios and none in another.
Fast Track to Income Inequality
LORI WALLACH – Corporate interests were fiercely lobbying for President Obama to dedicate serious time in this State of the Union speech to pushing fast track and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in order to try to overcome growing congressional and public opposition to both, but instead he made only a brief passing reference. No doubt one explanation is that there is no upside to generating public debate on this issue.
Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site
LAURA ZUCKERMAN – Underground sensors have detected excessive radiation levels inside a nuclear waste storage site deep below New Mexico’s desert, but no workers have been exposed and there was no risk to public health, U.S. Department of Energy officials said on Sunday.
Obama Prepares Plan for Deeper Greenhouse Gas Pollution Cuts
LISA F. FRIEDMAN – The Obama administration is quietly working on new greenhouse gas emissions targets to deliver to the United Nations, even as it struggles to craft regulations that will enable the United States to meet its current carbon-cutting goals.
If Obama Orders the CIA to Kill a U.S. Citizen, Amazon Will Be a Partner in Assassination
NORMAN SOLOMON – President Obama is now considering whether to order the Central Intelligence Agency to kill a U.S. citizen in Pakistan. That’s big news this week. But hidden in plain sight is the fact that Amazon would be an accessory to the assassination.
Heads of 31 Nations Declare Zone of Peace
DAVID SWANSON (post) – The Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), gathered in Havana, Cuba on January 28 and 29, 2014 at the Second Summit, declared a Zone of Peace.
Oregon Middle School Makes the Grade for “Zero Net Energy”
CHRIS THOMAS – Two Oregon buildings are getting national attention for maximum energy-efficiency – and one is passing its benefits on to the next generation.
The Mythological Basis of Foreign Policy
DAVID SWANSON – War gains support and acceptance from widespread belief in false information, and the accumulation of false information into generally false concepts or myths about war. This is good news, because it means we are not intractably divided by ideology or worldview. Rather, we will find more widespread agreement about war if we can just achieve more widespread awareness of accurate information.
World’s 85 Richest have Same Wealth as 3.5 Billion Poorest
RT – The world’s 85 wealthiest people have as much money as the 3.5 billion poorest people on the planet – half the Earth’s population. That’s according to Oxfam’s latest report on the risks of the widening gap between the super-rich and the poor.
Most Americans Agree About Global Warming, But Not Congress
WENDY KOCH – The vast majority of Americans in each of 40-plus states surveyed say global warming is real, serious and man-made, and the concerns tend to be slightly higher in coastal or drought-stricken areas, says an analysis out today.
A Nickel a Year Could Prevent Starvation in Afghanistan
KATHY KELLY – In Afghanistan, funds have been available for tanks, guns, bullets, helicopters, missiles, weaponized drones, drone surveillance, Joint Special Operations task forces, bases, airstrips, prisons, and truck-delivered supplies for tens of thousands of troops. But funds are in short supply for children too weak to cry who are battling for their lives while wasting away.
New Year’s Resolution: Push US to Withdraw Military from Afghanistan
JOHN LAFORGE – After so much blood and destruction in Afghanistan, a lot of people dream of Secretary of State John Kerry reviving his monumental 1971 question, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?â€
They Never Announce When You Prevent a War
DAVID SWANSON – If we can stop one war, if we can stop two wars, why can’t we stop them all and put our resources into protection rather than destruction? Why can’t we move to a world beyond war?
The Keystone Principle: Stop Making Climate Disruption Worse
KC GOLDEN – President Obama was all over the map on climate in his State of the Union address Tuesday night — exhorting us to do what’s right and necessary to protect our grandkids, then turning around and defending his senseless and climate-destroying “All of the above” energy policy. But now, the president faces a defining and unambiguous real-world test of his resolve on climate: whether to issue a permit for the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
Kentucky Senators Boost Your Electric Bill
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON – Kentucky’s two Republican senators, who built their political careers railing against unions and government spending, stuck people and businesses in the Pacific Northwest with hundreds of millions of dollars of debts plus higher costs for electricity. They did it to save union jobs by wasting millions in federal dollars. Confused? Hold tight. It gets worse. (Or better, if you live in Kentucky.)
Cut Off the NSA’s Juice
NORMAN SOLOMON – The National Security Agency depends on huge computers that guzzle electricity in the service of the surveillance state. For the NSA’s top executives, maintaining a vast flow of juice to keep Big Brother nourished is essential — and any interference with that flow is unthinkable. But interference isn’t unthinkable. And in fact, it may be doable.