Peter Daou
The torture of disabled children in American schools
58 min 5 sec agoAfter reading this article, New Law Targets Padded Rooms for Autistic Kids, I’m re-posting the item below: If this isn’t torture, I’m not sure what is: Rose had speech and language delays. At school, her mother and I found Rose standing alone on the cement floor of a basement mop closet, illuminated by a single [...]
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Patton Oswalt, I’m sorry you’re so wrong about Boston
58 min 5 sec agoPatton Oswalt’s beautiful and heartfelt Facebook post understandably struck a chord with a nation stunned by the carnage in Boston: This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring [...]
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“No more hurting people”
58 min 5 sec ago“No more hurting people” – Martin Richard, 8, killed in Boston Marathon attack. Violence: “The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation.” The [...]
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A Reader’s Guide to Anti-Hillary Themes
58 min 5 sec agoOver the years, the chasm between the real Hillary Clinton and the unseemly caricature portrayed during two decades of personal attacks has been all too familiar to those who know her. Distinct from legitimate policy criticisms, these attacks have served as lazy shortcuts to undermine one of the most accomplished women of our lifetime. Now, [...]
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Tobacco kills: grim stats on smoking
58 min 5 sec ago“If current trends continue, tobacco will cause up to one billion deaths in the 21st century.” – CNN Tobacco companies sell deadly, addictive poison to the public. Consider these grim stats: Smoking remains America’s leading cause of disease and preventable death, resulting in more than 443,000 fatalities annually. More than 8 million Americans live with [...]
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The top ten list you shouldn’t be reading
58 min 5 sec agoA new year’s list of travesties: It costs just 25 cents a day to provide a child with the vitamins and nutrients to grow up healthy, but every hour of every day, 300 children die from malnutrition. One in seven people on earth goes to bed hungry each night while the top 40 highest-earning hedge [...]
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The truth no one will tell about the Sandy Hook slaughter
58 min 5 sec agoAs the father of a 4-year-old girl, I am heartsick and shattered over the Newtown carnage, as I know all Americans are. These unfathomable mass tragedies shake us out of ordinary reality and seem far more disturbing than the daily dose of suffering and injustice that takes place around the globe, suffering and injustice that [...]
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Climate change compendium: tracking our planetary calamity
58 min 5 sec agoThis post is a continuously updated compilation of news and opinion on our ever-worsening climate calamity. Items are posted chronologically: AP (5/12/13) “The 400 is a reminder that our emissions are not only continuing, but they’re accelerating; that’s a scary thing … we’re stuck. We’re going to keep going up.” New York Times (5/10/13) The [...]
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Is the progressive blogosphere dead?
58 min 5 sec agoIn 2005, I wrote “THE TRIANGLE: Limits of Blog Power,” about the power (and occasional powerlessness) of progressive blogs. Seven years later, the questions remain the same and the Daily Beast’s David Freedlander writes about the perceived decline of the liberal blogosphere, igniting a spirited debate among bloggers. Jane Hamsher: “Pam has already touched on [...]
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Fearing death and facing death
58 min 5 sec agoOn the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, tributes and remembrances abound, as they should. We learn by remembering. Living in lower Manhattan, I feel surrounded by the spirit of those who gave their lives on that defining day. And I’m reminded of my own experience. I flew back to New York from London on September [...]
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