SPJ final decision over pulling Helen Thomas award delayed 10 days
January 10th, 20110 The Society of Professional Journalists Executive Committee voted on Saturday, Jan..8 to recommend removing its Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award, however, the recommendation must be looked over by SPJ’s full board before being approved. A final decision is expected to be announced in 10 days. The full board includes the...The U.S. media hit on Helen Thomas
In recent years, my faith in the power of dialogue in politics has been severely tested – as, no doubt has hers (Helen Thomas) – in an age where diatribes and calculated demonization chills debate and exchanges of opposing views. Once you are labeled and stereotyped, especially if you are denounced as an anti-Semite, you are...Arizona’s racist ethnic studies ban starts
Effective January 1, 2010, the instruction of ethnic studies in public schools grades K-12 is illegal thanks to HB 2281, another racist bill signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer.(AlterNet.org) – This week, children in Arizona will return to school after the winter break. But they'll be lacking one thing in their curriculum that...National 2010 Year in Review
• Countries, rights groups protest new TSA screening directives; “675 million added to terrorist list” • Suicide rate among U.S military veterans surges to average rate of 18 per day • Bush-era ban on Muslim Scholars Ramadan and Habib lifted • Flight 253: Why is the American press silent on Israeli role compared to...Messages on buses protest U.S. aid to Israeli military
SEATTLE — City buses in the city will display signs that read: "Israel war crimes. Your tax dollars at work." The Seattle Midwest Awareness Campaign reportedly paid King County $1,734 to display the message on 12 buses. The message is expected to appear on buses starting Dec. 27, two years after the Israeli attacks on Gaza....
Top secret America: Billions used to spy on Americans
December 28th, 20100 A large network of military and intelligence agencies working with large corporations. The government spending billions of dollars undermining citizens' privacy. A major database filled with names of everyday people. Self-described experts on terrorists. Battlefield technologies being used in neighborhoods. Though it sounds like...… And justice for few
NEW YORK (IPS) — Poor defendants on death row, immigrants in unfair deportation proceedings, torture victims, domestic violence survivors and victims of racial discrimination — all these groups are consistently being denied access to justice while those responsible for the abuses are protected, according to a new report by the...DISH World IPTV now has country’s largest Arabic channel lineup
Englewood, Colo. — DISH Network L.L.C., the leader in international programming, this week announced its DISH World IPTV service now offers access to the largest Arabic channel lineup in the U.S. DISH Network International Marketing Team and Reach Media /ART.DISH World IPTV, introduced earlier this fall, distributes DISH...Readers pick Assange as Person of the Year, TIME picks Zuckerberg
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for 2010. The controversial founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has won an online vote to be TIME Magazine's Person of the Year. The annual online vote asks readers to choose the most influential person, people or things from the previous year. Readers voted a...U.S. sues school over denial of Muslim pilgrimage
WASHINGTON — The federal government sued a suburban Chicago school district Monday for denying a Muslim middle school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca that is a central part of her religion. In a civil rights case, the department said the school district in Berkeley, Ill., denied the request of Safoorah Khan on...Obama’s shift on Israeli settlements
As Obama caves in, settlements are no longer of key relevance to the Mideast peace talks. With divergent views on settlements, the Israeli Prime Minister and the Palestinian Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during a business conference in Tel Aviv December 13, 2010. Netanyahu hailed on Monday a U.S....
Zionists don’t control Congress?
December 18th, 20100 Zionists don't control Congress? AIPAC drafts resolution against declaration of Palestinian statehood, U.S. House passes it unanimously Washington (PNN) — In a vote of 435-0 on Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution opposing a unilateral declaration of statehood by Palestine and...Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves professional exchange program with Muslim countries
WASHINGTON — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week passed legislation written by Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) to establish a professional exchange program between the United States and Muslim-majority countries. The International Professional Exchange Act will help build professional capacity, strengthen civil society, and...Senate Delays DREAM Act After House Passage
WASHINGTON —The potential passage of the DREAM Act has been delayed in the United States Senate after passing in the House of Representatives by a vote of 216-198 a day earlier on December 8. Senators voted to defer a decision on the morning of Thursday, December 9 on the act, which would help give a path to citizenship for illegal...Study finds Arabic to be fastest-growing foreign language for U.S. university learning last year
WASHINGTON — Arabic was the fastest-growing foreign language for U.S. university study last year, with enrollments growing by more than 46 percent compared to 2006, a study released Wednesday showed. Besides English, Arabic leapfrogged Latin and Russian to land in eighth place on the most studied language list, which has been compiled......
From DREAM to nightmare, deportations soar in U.S.
December 4th, 20100 NEW YORK — While the U.S. Congress idles on the passage of the DREAM Act, immigrants here face ever harsher treatment. The rate of deportations has increased by 1,200 percent since 1990, from 30,000 per year then to a staggering 360,000 under the Barack Obama administration. These numbers, taken from a recent study by the New York...Nearly 2 million Americans lose unemployment checks
About two-million Americans began losing their extended unemployment paychecks on Dec.1 leaving them jobless and with no source of income just before the holidays according to the Associated Press. Several Americans are protesting the paycheck cuts and encouraging the U.S. Congress to act fast and extend unemployment benefits. About 40......
Poll shows Americans prefer to holiday shop online
A poll conducted Nov. 19-22 by Zogby International shows 63 percent of Americans say they prefer doing all their holiday shopping online instead of shopping at local malls, and 64 percent plan on making holiday purchases online this year. In recent years 86 percent have made online holiday gift purchases. A third prefer to do their...Poll: 61% of Americans oppose body scanners
The recent implementation of full-body scans and aggressive pat-downs by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is opposed by 61% of voters (out of 2,032 likely) polled from Nov. 19 to Nov. 22 by Zogby International Polling in Washington, D.C. In addition, 52% of those polled believe the enhanced security measures will not...Reports show DREAM Act benefits economy
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to hold a vote on the DREAM Act in a few weeks. The DREAM Act is a bipartisan initiative that would allow about two-million undocumented students to earn citizenships by attending college or serving in the military. According to a report from UCLA's North American Integration and Development Center...Obama’s approval rating drops to 39 percent in poll
President Obama's approval rating among Americans has declined to 39 percent, the lowest in his presidency, according to a poll conducted by Zogby International. The President's support from Democrats continues to slide. Obama is only one point ahead of Sarah Palin and trails Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush and Newt Gingrich. The percentage of......
Founder of Libertarian Party dies
On Nov. 21, David F. Nolan, one of the founders of the Libertarian Party, died suddenly in Tucson, Arizona. Nolan was 66-years-old. The Libertarian Party was founded by Nolan and some of his colleagues in Denver on Dec. 11, 1971. This year, Nolan ran as a Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senator in Arizona against incumbent...
Political prisoners in America
November 22nd, 20100 U.S. activists face new repression as political prisoners fight for justice For decades the United States government has attempted to criminalize work in the Palestinian community in support of their national liberation cause. But in recent years this repression has increased dramatically. The Electronic Intifada spoke with the......
Health and privacy concerns dog airport body scanners
November 22nd, 20100 NEW YORK (IPS) – Privacy advocates called on the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Tuesday to end its controversial new initiative of whole-body scans and enhanced pat-downs of airline passengers, calling the program "dangerous to health, ineffective and unconstitutional." Led by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, a...New America Media celebrates 40th anniversary
SAN FRANCISCO — Over 400 people attended the Anniversary Reunion Party of Pacific News Service/New America Media to honor four decades of alumni of PNS and NAM and their youth programs. The party, marking a coming together of old and new — a "media fusion" as one guest called it — as journalists from the first two decades heard......