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Argentina’s Mothers of Plaza de Mayo Pass on a Legacy of Defending Human Rights

For nearly three decades, Argentina's Mothers of Plaza de Mayo have fought for the right to re-unite with their abducted children. The Mothers began their protest in 1977 to demand information about the whereabouts of their children from authorities. Some 30,000 activists were kidnapped and murdered during the military junta dictatorship, which ruled Argentina from 1976-1983. During the Dirty War in Argentina, much of the population remained silent due to the censorship imposed by the military government. Those who did not stay silent risked being disappeared themselves.

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Democracy in America – It’s Spelled C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N

The headlines are blaring daily about another big corruption scandal that has the makings of being the mother of them all - at least for a generation or so. We won't know how big until one well-connected influence peddling lobbyist under multiple indictments involving crony capitalism and corruption begins to sing to the Justice Department after copping a plea in return for a lighter sentence. It's likely that before this ends, it may involve many Republican members of Congress and some Democrats including some high level ones from both parties as well as their aides, members of the Executive Branch and various other Republican party figures. It may even go higher than most observers now expect.

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WINDS OF CHANGE IN THE AMERICAS CONFERENCE

What?
WINDS OF CHANGE IN THE AMERICAS CONFERENCE

Why?
-Our keynote speaker, Leonida Zurita Vargas, is an indigenous woman from Bolivia, a coca farmer and powerful grassroots leader who will shed light on Bolivia’s strong and growing social movements and recent election of a new government under Aymara indigenous President Evo Morales. (See below update on Leonida who was, last week, denied entry to the US by the US embassy that has outrageously suggested that Leonida has ties to terrorist organziations! IF WE CAN’T GET LEONIDA HERE IN PERSON SHE’LL BE ON THE PHONE!) George Ann Potter, Zurita’s political advisor, will be talking at the conference as well as translating and introducing Leonida. read more

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Double Lives: The Dilemma of Education and Work under Capitalism

"Whatever you do, just don't get stuck in a dead-end job." These words had a powerful effect on me and have occupied my consciousness over the past seven years. It was the summer after my high school graduation and this advice was given to me while I was working in the mechanized bakery of a large grocery store chain. My coworker had been there for over 20 years and now, in the midst of back problems and middle-age, she was unhappy with her life and urged me not to make the same mistake.

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We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs

"This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet." - Iranian Born Poet, Rumi

Nine centuries after Rumi penned these words, young Iranians post blogs to express themselves in a nation where drinking liquor and wearing lipstick warrants public flogging. The modern day "secret sky" is the world wide web, the veils have not fallen and though Rumi was speaking of love, it is, in today's Iran, interchangeable with freedom.

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The Demise of a President, Constitutional Irrelevency and the Media That Failed to Notice

January 20, 2006 should have been heralded in headlines across the nation as a historical turning point in US history. Instead, Conyers et Ors Hearing on Domestic Spying, headed by Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich), was literally and figuratively held underground in the dark recesses of the nation's capitol building. The hearings, which featured a politically variegated roster of witnesses, took place in room B339 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The 'B' stands for basement. According to the Majority party, it was the only room available. This despite the fact that the briefing was held on a day when no other hearings were being held and the rest of Congress was on vacation.