Drones and Gadflies: Framing the Debate on War by Remote Control

Published on ZNet, by Brian Terrell, September 14, 2013.

… My own anti-drone activism began with protests at Creech Air Force Base in the Nevada desert in April, 2009. Even some otherwise well informed people were skeptical, back then, that such things were even possible, much less happening daily. Many who were aware accepted the simple and happy narrative of drone warfare as a precise new high-tech system in which soldiers from a safe distance of thousands of miles can pin point those who mean us imminent harm with little or no collateral damage.   Continuer la lecture de « Drones and Gadflies: Framing the Debate on War by Remote Control »

Stiglitz and Over 350 Economists Write to Obama Backing Janet Yellen for Fed Chair Over Larry Summers

The country’s top economic thinkers urge the President to appoint the best woman for the job – Published on AlterNet/ECONOMY, by Lynn Stuart Parramore, September 13, 2013.

… While there are many reasons to select Janet Yellen for this position, we would like to emphasize three of them.

Dr. Yellen is superbly qualified. She has shown consistently good judgment in all her roles leading our nation’s financial institutions and economic policy, first as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System FED/FRB, then as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and now as Vice Chair of the FRB.  Continuer la lecture de « Stiglitz and Over 350 Economists Write to Obama Backing Janet Yellen for Fed Chair Over Larry Summers »

The left must ask the right questions

… as well as provide the right answers – Published on Left Foot Forward, by Simon Ravenscroft, Sept 12, 2013.

This government has repeatedly shown itself incapable of thinking beyond the level of the individual. In doing so it has sidelined questions about the kind of society that its policies are creating. This is its chief ideological victory. To the extent the left gets dragged into debating questions posed on the level of the individual, it has already lost the main argument. Instead it should be seeking to ask its own questions.   Continuer la lecture de « The left must ask the right questions »