Atlanta Progressive News

Onslaught: Israel’s Attack on Gaza and the Rule of Law  During its 22 day offensive, Israeli forces killed more than 1400 Palestinians, including at least 288 children, and injured over 5300, of which at least 1606 were children. The majority of those killed were civilians. Two weeks after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire, a National Lawyers Guild Delegation of seven […]

As President Obama prepares to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel has just celebrated its founding in 1948.  Palestinians have also marked this event, which they call al-Nakba – the catastrophe – a catastrophe which continues to this day for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and in refugee camps in several Middle East nations.  Not surprisingly, […]

Join Amnesty International, Human Rights Atlanta and many others in a    GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION FOR TROY DAVIS -NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE.  NO MURDER WEAPON.  -ANOTHER MAN IMPLICATED.-NO COURT WILLING TO HEAR THE NEW EVIDENCE.     -EXECUTION DATE COULD BE SET SOON!   Please sign the petition:  www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis  For more info:  404-876-5661 ext. 13   troy@aiusa.org   TUESDAY, MAY 19, […]

Sevananda is now holding its annual Board of Directors election (thru next Sunday, May 10).  Altho I have been a Sev member-owner for 2 or 3 decades, I have never voted in the annual elections before because there never seemed to be any big issues on the table.   This year is different.  Over the past year, the general manager […]

Will Afghanipakistan be Obama’s Vietnam?  Willl his administration go the way of Lyndon Johnson’s, an earlier president with a bold domestic agenda which was crushed by an expanding war? McGovern warns Obama of LBJ legacy (3-minute video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de320qKblKc&feature=player_embedded   “Tractor trailers full of human body parts after US air strikes” Alternet.org   “Don’t overstay your welcome, Sam” (cartoon) http://robertariail.com/2009/04/02/afghanistan/   […]

Huey Long did a very similar thing to Obama in Louisiana when he became governor.  He passed a 25cent per barrel tax on all oil refined in Louisiana when Standard Oil of New Jersey had huge investments in oil refineries in Louisiana. It created a gargantuan influx of revenue into the state that Huey used to build roads, bridges, the first charity hospital […]

Here’s a pretty balanced assessment by the Center for Constitutional Rights on Obama’s record to date on restoring the Constitution, civil liberties, torture, the imperial presidency & related issues: http://ccrjustice.org/100daysassessment   Paul Krugman, “Reclaiming America’s Soul”: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/opinion/24krugman.html?_r=1   “Just following orders” (cartoon) http://d.yimg.com/a/p/uc/20090423/lcrmlu090423.gif   Law professor Marjorie Cohn explains why Obama has a constitutional dury to see that torturers are brought […]

The proposed DeKalb Marine school is based on the military public school model pioneered in Chicago by Arne Duncan, who is now Obama’s Secretary of Education.  After you read Tim’s post below, check out Andy Kroll’s report on the Chicago schools to see what is at stake: http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175022/andy_kroll_will_public_education_be_militarized  **************    From Tim Franzen, American Friends Service Committee 4-21-09  Concerned Community Members: […]

2 items in this post: 1.  Tell Congress to provide aid, not fund wars 2.  Hillary Clinton & Ron Paul discuss military budget, US foreign policy ****************** 1. Tell Congress to Provide Aid, Not Fund Wars United for Peace and Justicehttp://www.unitedforpeace.org/ The Obama administration has asked Congress for an additional $83.4 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and […]

I agree with Glenn Greenwald on all counts:   1.  Obama deserves considerable credit for releasing the torture memos.  He  courageously stood up against ferocious CIA-neocon-national security  pressure to suppress them, in a marked departure from the usual practice of  secrecy about these things.   2.  It is appalling that Obama offered immunity to war criminals who were  “just following […]

Momentum for the Picket and Rally on Tuesday, April 21, from 10am to 11am at Wachovia Bank, 999 Peachtree Street (corner of 10th) continues to build. Three more labor organizations have joined the Coalition and will be bringing union members to Tuesday’s Demonstration. The Coalition makes the following demands to Wachovia. 1.  No more predatory lending 2.  No more foreclosures […]

IPS Tax Day Report: Reversing the Great Tax Shift Institute for Policy Studieshttp://www.ips-dc.org/ Download the report: http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/#1207 REPORT DOCUMENTS SHIFT FROM THE RICH TO REST OF US: IDENTIFIES $450 BILLION IN HIKES TO FUND RECOVERY Washington, D.C. – America’s highest-income taxpayers, analysts at the Institute for Policy Studies detail in a new Tax Day report, pay a staggeringly smaller share […]

(From Voters for Peace) President Obama has put forward a military budget that is $21 billion larger than the Bush military budget. His Defense Secretary, Bush holdover Robert Gates, has called for cutting some no-longer-needed and very expensive weapons systems, but he is also seeking more money for drones and a bigger DoD budget. Obama’s DoD budget is $534 billion, […]

1.  “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”  – Albert Einstein.   2.  “The best way to rob a bank is to own one.”  Bill Moyers interviews William K. Black, a regulator during the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s, on the massive, fraudulent, secretive transfer of hundreds of […]