An Iran primer
A friend of mine sent me this. At the time I originally posted it, I said “I am wary of posting any video about Iran and saying it is “good,”[…]
Tim Wise at PLU
Tim Wise’s latest book (Colorblind) addresses the move toward colorblindness in our society, and how this is “one of the chief impediments to addressing institutional racism.” Julian Bond, he points[…]
A day in the life of a Somalian
TheStory, a program produced by American Public Media, has an ongoing series called Messages From Mogadishu. The series features a young English teacher in Mogadishu, known to the program as[…]
Economic stratification a la Mother Jones
“If $5.15 hourly minimum wage had risen at the same rate as CEO compensation since 1990, it would now stand at $23.03.” (Source: 2006 Mother Jones article, which cites DOL[…]
Mike Huckabee and Peter King, racism manufactures consent
Gearing up for a presidential run in the coming months, Mike Huckabee is busy making various racist statements in the press. First there was a diatribe about how Obama was[…]
Oil in Takoradi
I was on my way to teach a class today when I heard a segment on the BBC World Service. The segment concerned oil in Ghana, and was filed from[…]
Inequality · Read · Watch
Why isn’t Wall Street in jail?
Matt Taibbi has a comprehensive article entitled “Why isn’t Wall Street in jail?” that was published in Rolling Stone a few days ago. I’ll let the sub-heading from the article’s[…]
Structural violence in popular music
The other day I came across a jazz/brass band performance of Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing in the name of”, and I found myself pondering the popularity of a group[…]
Al-kidd v. Ashcroft
Coming this week before the US Supreme Court is the case of Al-kidd v. Ashcroft. Abdullah Al-kidd is a Kansas-born American citizen who was arrested in Dulles airport in 2003,[…]
Humanitarian Aid and Catering Conflicts
The New Yorker has a thoroughly well written piece on the downside of aid. It traces the emergence of humanitarian aid as an international industry, starting with the Biafran war[…]