Without even one cable news outlet promoting the event and even without Glenn Beck--even without corporate lobbyists sending in activists by the thousands, and corporate advertisers publicizing it--the National Equality March on the D.C. mall on October 11 drew one hell of a crowd.
The American public and—to some extent—lawmakers snapped to belated attention in September of 2007 when a small force of private military contractors opened fire on a busy Baghdad traffic square, killing at least 14 civilians and wounding 20 more.
It's hard for a country to change its founding mythology, but the
U.S. Senate has taken an important step towards accomplishing that. The
Senate approved an apology to Native Americans on October 7, as an
amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill. The Senate also passed an
apology resolution in 2008, but it has yet to be signed into law.
Washington, D.C. (AHN) -
The House on Thursday gave its final approval to legislation expanding
federal hate crimes to include attacks on gays and transgenders. LGBT
advocates hailed the vote as a long-awaited victory, but the GOP
accused Democrats of "valuing some lives more than others," and of
"immorality" for tacking the measure to the 2010 Defense budget.
The
National Defense Authorization Act, or H.R. 2647, passed by a vote of
281-46. Forty-four Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the bill.
On October 1, the Obama administration successfully pressured the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva to drop its proposal to recommend that the UN Security Council endorse the findings of the
Goldstone Commission report. The report, authored by renowned South African jurist Richard Goldstone, detailed the results of the UNHRC's fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict.
This weekend, thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans will march in the nation's capital. They won't be marching for marriage rights alone. They'll be marching for complete federal equality - an end to second-class citizenship.
Soon, undocumented immigrants may be eligible to enjoy an expense-paid hotel stay just before being jetted off to their country of origin, never to see their families again, courtesy of the federal government. Not quite the overhaul human rights activists have been seeking, but at this point, they can take heart in any glimmer of light that Washington might shed on the shadowy realm of immigrant detention.
On a cold night 11 years ago, a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student was lured into a pickup truck and driven to the outskirts of Laramie, where, as he begged for mercy, he was tied to a fence, kicked and pistol-whipped so brutally that he lapsed into a coma. He later died.
He was a victim of hatred. He was also his mother's treasure.
And Matthew Shepard's horrible death forced much of our nation to look at how anti-gay prejudice can explode into violence.
The meaning of Matthew Shepard's life and death is the subject of a moving book by his mother, Judy Shepard.
MILAN - An Italian prosecutor called on Wednesday for 26 Americans, all but one believed to be members of the CIA, to be jailed for between 10 and 13 years each for the kidnapping of a terrorism suspect in 2003.
Public Prosecutor Armando Spataro also asked a Milan court to sentence four Italians, including the former head of Italy's Sismi secret service, to up to 13 years in prison for the abduction of Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr.
UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a halt to the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war.
Resolution 1888 reiterated the 15-member body's "demand for the complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence with immediate effect."
