(click on picture to enlarge)
We were looking through some old photo albums, and I forgot about these 1983 pictures of us in the World Trade Center! The upper-right picture is me snapping a downward picture of NYC from the top floor, but it would only take the reflection of my foot. The others were outside of it, at the base, snapping the picture upwards. Notice the thick fog! Pretty scarey thinking we were on the top floor there, and then what happened years later...
· 2007's Top 10 Rights & Liberties Stories; Happy holidays! Now, let's talk about fascism. (Click here, the list of stories is summarized below)
10. Disappeared: Five Years in Guantanamo
by Lou Dubose, The Washington Spectator
In 2001, 19-year-old Murat Kurnaz was an innocent man caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Accused of being a terrorist, he spent five years in Guantanamo before being released -- now he's telling his story.
9. America Gone Wrong: A Slashed Safety Net Turns Libraries into Homeless Shelters
by Chip Ward, Tomdispatch.com
A dirty little secret about America is that public libraries have become de facto daytime shelters for the nation's street people while librarians are increasingly our unofficial social workers for the homeless and mentally disturbed.
8. Life in Solitary Confinement: 12,775 Days Alone
by Brooke Shelby Biggs, AlterNet
Americans shamefully imagine that spending a life sentence in solitary confinement could only happen in faraway countries. But two men in Louisiana's Angola prison know otherwise.
7. The War on Drugs Is Really a War on Minorities
by Arianna Huffington, Los Angeles Times
Democratic presidential candidates crave the Latino and black vote, but ignore the Drug War's unfair toll on people of color.
6. In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing
by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
In 56 of Ohio's 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004 have been "accidentally" destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve them -- it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the election was stolen.
5. The 'Silent' Ninth Amendment Gives Americans Rights They Don't Know They Have
by Daniel A. Farber, Basic Books
The First Amendment right of free speech and the Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination are well-known, but the Ninth Amendment is ignored. Pity, because it bears directly on abortion, the right to die and gay rights.
4. Is a Presidential Coup Under Way?
by Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown
The Constitution is being trampled and nothing less than American democracy itself is endangered -- a presidential coup is taking place. Where is Congress?
3. Don't We Have a Constitution, Not a King?
by Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet
Bush has issued a directive that would place all governmental powers in his hands in the case of a catastrophic emergency. If a terrorist attack happens before the 2008 election, could Bush and Cheney use this to avoid relinquishing power to a successor administration?
2. The End of America? Naomi Wolf Thinks It Could Happen
by Don Hazen, AlterNet
An interview with author Naomi Wolf, whose new book, "The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot," may confirm your worries about democracy in America.
1. The Rise of Christian Fascism and Its Threat to American Democracy
by Chris Hedges, Truthdig
We must attend to growing social and economic inequities in order to stop the most dangerous mass movement in American history -- or face a future of fascism under the guise of Christian values.
· Bush Threatens To Veto Bill That Bans Torture
· Greenspan: Recession threat continues to grow
· Wholesale prices shot up 3.2 percent, the biggest jump in 34 years, propelled by a record rise in gasoline prices.
· Republican presidential candidates avoid talking about President Bush, for obvious reasons. But journalists should press them to say what they think of Bush's legacy, which elements of his presidency they would emulate, and which they would reject. Here's a list of questions that journalists should, but AREN'T, asking Republicanb presidential candidates........
· Scientists Pull Their Hair Out, as Republican Candidates Debate Jesus-Lucifer Link
· Democrats Should Pray That Huckabee Wins the GOP Nomination
· Another terrorism "dog & pony show": One of seven men accused of conspiring to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower was acquitted Thursday, and a federal jury in Miami failed to reach a verdict on six others arrested in the alleged terror plot.
· Connecting The 9/11 Dots: Dead Cutouts, Destroyed Tapes, And The Hidden Assumption That Poisons Everything
· Many legacies will be tarnished forever; Mitchell report names names of Major League Baseball Players who illegally abused steroids! Jason Stark (bd: the best "baseball guy" in America): "I thought 20 months ago that the Mitchell report was a lousy idea. And here I am, having read 359 scintillating pages of it (so far), just as convinced of that as ever. But now that it's out there for your downloading delight, right here on this very site, Bud Selig's sport won't be the same. Can't be the same. Shouldn't be the same. How has the Mitchell report changed baseball's landscape? Here are five ways it will undoubtedly leave its mark: "
· Here are players mentioned in the Mitchell Commission report and how it links them to performance-enhancing substances:
