GLEN GERSMEHL – It’s time for a serious New Year’s resolution: Among our friends and in citizen groups and faith communities to which we belong, we must discuss budget priorities and the elimination of wasteful and unnecessary defense spending. And we must take the next step and urge our elected officials to focus on our nation’s real priorities and on where we can find the resources to pay for them. That is what our members of Congress most need to hear. It also suggests some New Year’s resolutions that they should be making.
Defense Secretary Hagel Reaffirms Climate Change, Sustainability are Central Military Concerns
BENJAMIN SCHNEIDER – It may come as a surprise to many Americans that the U.S. military is deeply committed to addressing the threat of climate change and developing renewable energy sources. That’s what Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke about on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, where he assured the audience the emerging impacts of climate change on national security are a priority.
Conflict of Interest: The Washington Post and the CIA
NORMAN SOLOMON – News media should illuminate conflicts of interest, not embody them. But the owner of the Washington Post is now doing big business with the Central Intelligence Agency, while readers of the newspaper’s CIA coverage are left in the dark.
U.S. Judge Says NSA Phone Surveillance is Lawful
JONATHAN STEMPEL – (Reuters; Dec. 27, 2013) – A federal judge ruled that a National Security Agency program that collects records of millions of Americans’ phone calls is lawful, calling it a “counter-punch” to terrorism that does not violate Americans’ privacy rights.
Police In Thailand Lay Down Vests and Barricades In Solidarity With Protestors
ISA ABU JAMAL – [December 6, 2013] In a stunning turn of events today in Thailand, riot police yielded to the peaceful protesters they were ordered to harass and block. The police removed barricades and their helmets as a sign of solidarity.
Want to Win the Climate Debate? Stop Debating
LUCY EMERSON-BELL – In early November the Diane Rehm Show on NPR featured an episode on the natural gas boom in America. After panelists glorified the natural gas revolution, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, chimed in by saying, “Nobody (on this panel) has mentioned climate change. What we should acknowledge is that production of oil and gas is undermining our goals to achieve a stabilized climate.”