Mary Shaw

West Memphis Three convicted the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys

I propose two New Year's resolutions for the state of Arkansas:

1. Fully exonerate the West Memphis Three.

2. Reopen the case and find the real killer(s).

The world will be watching.

On Christmas Day, 2012, the documentary film West of Memphis opened in New York City and Los Angeles. It will be more widely released starting in January. The film tells the updated story of the West Memphis Three - a trio of men who were convicted as teenagers for the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. Presumed ringleader Damien Echols, who was 18 years old at the time of the murders, was sentenced to death. His codefendants, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Miskelley, Jr., who were still minors at the time, were both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Read more »

By Margaret Flowers

Here we go again. President Obama is in round three of his ongoing efforts to cut our important social insurances, such as Social Security and Medicare. Whether he succeeds or not is up to us. We can create a stronger economy and healthier population by strengthening and expanding our social insurances and switching to a green energy economy.

Round 1: In April, 2010, shortly after President Obama signed into law a health bill that further privatizes our health care system and while all attention was on this ‘historic achievement’, Obama created the National Commission for Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. He appointed Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles as chairs of what was commonly known as the Deficit Commission and loaded the panel with 14 deficit hawks out of the total of 18 appointees. The commission was given the power to create a deficit plan that would go to Congress for an up or down vote.

Read more »

by Stephen Lendman

Congressional/administration hype, theater, gamesmanship, brinksmanship, and duplicity define yearend fiscal cliff discussions. Previous articles explained what's at stake. Years ago, Republicans and Democrats conspired to destroy America's social contract. Militarism, imperial dominance, tyranny, corporate/super-rich priorities, class war, and widening the unprecedented wealth disparity followed.

Economist Jack Rasmus calls fiscal cliff subterfuge "austerity American style."

Media scoundrels conceal what readers and viewers most need to know. Fiscal cliff hype shows what they're up against. Eleventh hour discussions continue.

Read more »

by Stephen Lendman

America's political process is lawless, corrupt and dysfunctional. Fiscal cliff hype, noise and theater continue. Destroying fundamental civil society social protections aren't mentioned.

Rushed through legislation targeted Iran's growing Latin American influence. On December 28, Obama signed the Countering Iran in Western Hemisphere Act.

It requires the State Department to "address Iran's growing hostile presence and activity." Washington wants the Islamic Republic shut out of the region entirely. It wants it isolated globally.

In 2005, Iran had five regional embassies. Today it has 11. Washington's influence is declining. Its traditional backyard grows more independent. Over time, imperial extremism makes more enemies than friends.

Police state harshness intensifies domestically. Presidential diktat authority overrides constitutional law. Secret kill lists mark targeted individuals for death.

Read more »

by Stephen Lendman

Previous articles discussed how Washington reinvented the "evil empire." On March 8, 1983, Ronald Reagan coined the term. He addressed the National Association of Evangelicals.

He called communism "the focus of evil in the modern world." He said don't "ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire….and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil."

That was then. This is now. Cold War politics returned. Vladimir Putin is prime target. Boris Yeltsin was Russia's first president. He played Washington's game. He instituted neoliberal shock therapy.

Read more »