Editorial

OP ED: Botched, Bewildering, Descent into Guantanamo Torture

By Robert C. Koehler

“The existence of the approximately 14,000 photographs will probably cause yet another delay in the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as attorneys for the defendants demand that all the images are turned over and the government wades through the material to decide what it thinks is relevant to the proceedings.” Read more

OP ED COLUMN ICMA: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, or Worse?

by Robert Forrey

One of the curious things about  the campaign in Portsmouth in 2011 to change back to the manager-council form of government was the role played  by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), which, though I did not know of its existence at the time,  I now view as a somewhat stealthy and deceptive organization, a wolf in sheep's clothing, if not worse. Read more

Happy Swaraj (Independence) Day!

“Real Swaraj will come, not by the acquisition of authority by a few, but by the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused.”

--Gandhi (Young India, January 29, 1925)

When Gandhi met with the British viceroy Lord Irwin after his imprisonment following the 1930 Salt Satyagraha, they shared a pot of tea. Gandhi, mischieviously took out a package of contraband salt, opened it and sprinkled a bit into his cup. Looking at the astounded Lord Irwin he told him he did so in remembrance of the Boston Tea Party. Read more

OP ED War Speaks Every Language But Never Knows What to Say to Frogs

Alice Walker explains t Read more

OP ED What Do Americans Think About Economic Inequality?

Are Americans disturbed about growing economic inequality in the United States?

  Read more

COLUMN: Interest groups, special and public

We often hear politicians call their opponents an “interest group.” What does that mean? It can be misleading.  Read more

WV AG Praises Supreme Court Ruling on Clean Air Act

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Attorney General Patrick Morrisey issued the following statement  reacting to this morning’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must consider the economic costs of complying with the regulations it imposes. Read more

COLUMN In Baghdad, Organized Destruction

by Cathy Breen

Two days ago an email came from an Iraqi doctor in Baghdad in response to a brief greeting I sent to her for the month of Ramadan. Read more

OP ED OPINION Wedding Roses in Kabul

by Martha Hennessy

Kabul — Outside the windows of the room where I sleep here in Kabul, the Afghan Peace Volunteer (APV) women’s community maintains a small walled garden filled with roses.  The community planted tomatoes, cilantro, and greens. An apricot tree grows in one corner, a mulberry tree in another. Read more

OPINION: Revolution's Matchstick: The Trans-Pacific Partnership

by Rivera Sun

Rolling down the corporate-political assembly line is a trade deal so treasonous to the peoples of the world that it should serve as revolution's matchstick. The treaty is secret, but one fact is well known: the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is being negotiated by transnational corporations without a single US legislator present. Read more

OP ED OPINION: Obstacle to Peace: The Race Border

by Ellen Lindeen

The Summer Institute that I am attending is called “Conflict Transformation across Borders.” Read more

OPINION: Human Experimentation: a CIA Habit

The Guardian recently made public a CIA document allowing the agency's director to "approve, modify, or disapprove all proposals pertaining to human subject research."

Human what? Read more

Don’t Be In Violation of AST Act - Get Tanks Labeled Now

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Owners and operators of aboveground storage tanks are encouraged to immediately begin labeling their tanks in order to comply with the requirements of the new Aboveground Storage Tank Act, passed by the state Legislature on March 14. The legislation, Senate Bill 423, requires that, at a minimum, each AST be labeled with the following information: Read more

OP ED: Corporations Over People

Here we go again. Another court decision favoring businesses over human rights. Read more

Customer Service Non-Existent in Government

SEATTLE, Wash., June 10 – Customer service is an oxymoron in government at all levels: federal, state, county and city. It is getting so bad that soon it will be non-existent. Read more

Supreme Court Fails Victims Again

The Supreme Court has a very mixed track record when it comes to protecting women. As a domestic violence advocate, Criminologist, and activist for a decade, I am deeply concerned that the U.S still fails to prioritize women’s safety. Given that globally more women ages 15-45 die from men’s violence than of cancer, malaria, war and traffic accidents combined, far more needs to be done to protect women and girls.  The courts can and should play a far bigger role in doing so. Read more

Supreme Court Fails Victims Again

The Supreme Court has a very mixed track record when it comes to protecting women. As a domestic violence advocate, Criminologist, and activist for a decade, I am deeply concerned that the U.S still fails to prioritize women’s safety. Given that globally more women ages 15-45 die from men’s violence than of cancer, malaria, war and traffic accidents combined, far more needs to be done to protect women and girls.  The courts can and should play a far bigger role in doing so. Read more

COLUMN: Caserta Will Not Hush; City Cannot Afford Large Gifts

by Scott Caserta, Seventh District Councilman

I'm not letting go.

 I've been told to "hush" many times in my life. Sometimes I wish I had listened, other times I wish I had not. This is a "not" time for me ! I am at a loss for words, though give me a moment, at the actions taken last evening by members of City Council. Read more

CARIBBEAN VIEW: Tourism competition is not a guessing game

The performance of only five of the 14 independent Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are recorded in the 2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum.

Read more

CARIBBEAN VIEW: Guyanese electorate showed maturity despite intense frustration

In what turned-out to be a very close general election the twenty-two and a half years reign of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) as the government of Guyana has come to an end.  By a narrow margin of just over 5,000 votes it fell four and a half years short of the rule of the Peoples National Congress (PNC) which lasted for 27 years. Read more

COLUMN: West Virginia's First Workforce Summit

A column by Governor Earl Ray Tomblin

Just last week, I was proud to welcome West Virginians from across the state to the state's first Workforce Summit - a comprehensive review of West Virginia's past, present and future workforce development efforts. Read more

OP-ED: Iran Nuclear Talks. A fresh tone in Washington with a breath of Oregon

It is easy to be a cynic listening to some of the more nonsensical chatter coming out of Congress. Despite the most comprehensive international agreement between the United States and its P5+1 partners (the members of the UN Security Council and Germany) with Iran on its nuclear program, the calls to bomb Iran are still too loud for them to be dismissed.

Read more

Huntington Council Voting on 'Offensive Touching'

Huntington City Council will vote Monday night, May 11, on an amendment to the definition of 'battery' to add 'offensive touching.' The alteration follows an incident in which a fourteen year old girl received an unwanted kiss from a male.

The category is not addressed in the city's current ordinance. Read more

Goodwill Hosts Career Expo in June

Goodwill Industries of KYOWVA will host its 2015 Spring Career Expo Wednesday, June 3, 2015 from 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at our Goodwill location located at 1005 Virginia Avenue, Huntington. There will be over 35 local employers participating and on-site to provide the public with opportunities to discover, connect, and grow! Read more

OP-ED: Time for Americans to Accept Responsibility for Our Military Interventions


 By Jared Keyel
 
The United States must accept responsibility for the damage its military actions have caused and recognize there are alternatives for the future.

Read more

OP-ED: Arresting the Wrong Suspects

NEW YORK, NY – Here at the United Nations, talk is focused on the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (N-P.T.). At about 11 a.m. Apr. 28, I was handcuffed with 21 other nuclear realists after blocking an entrance to the US Mission. I say “realists” because US media won’t pay much attention to US violations of nuclear weapons treaties unless somebody is taken off to jail.

Read more

CARIBBEAN VIEW: Youth, unemployment and selling citizenship

The economies of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries are not doing well.  Belize, Guyana and Suriname are the only three countries whose economies are showing any appreciable growth.  The major effect of little or no growth has been increasing unemployment and underemployment of young people who constitute three of every five persons across the region. Read more

Understanding the Suffering War Brings

I hope to be brief enough to leave lots of time for questions after I talk.

I know that most of you are probably exceptions to what I'm about to say, because I suspect that most of you came here voluntarily. If you're here on duty for the FBI, raise your hand. Read more

CARIBBEAN VIEW: Lukewarm to the Commonwealth?

The political parties contesting the May 7 general election in Britain have now published their manifestoes and my friend and colleague, Professor Philip Murphy, found in them a ‘decidedly lukewarm attitude’ to the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations. Read more

OP-ED: Grasshoppers who Misrepresent the Truth

by Mike Polka

On an old episode of “Kung-Fu”, Kwai Chang Caine, played by David Carradine, nick-named “Grasshopper” by his elderly mentor & Shaolin Monk “Master Po” is given a scroll he requires delivered to a distant Chinese venue. He is entrusted by Master Po to deliver this priceless scroll from their home, the Shaolin Temple.   Read more

OP-ED: A day for Our Mother Earth

How many holidays do we have? MLK Day in January, Valentines Day in February, Easter in March or April, Earth Day in April, Memorial Day in May, and so forth. Of those few examples, two were declared in my adulthood. New holidays take time to catch on and embed themselves in the culture. They can stray from their roots. Christmas is for consumerism. Veterans Day is to promote war. Thanksgiving is for football.

Read more

CIVIL WAR OP-ED: Confederate Memorial Day in the South

Tennessee Senator Edward Ward Carmack said it best in 1903: Read more

CARIBBEAN VIEW: Orphans of Obama’s legacy?

Undoubtedly both Presidents Raul Castro of Cuba and Barack Obama warrant credit for breaking the 54-year old barrier to the establishment of diplomatic relations between their two countries.  But, President Obama deserves greater praise because he took greater risks and bucked strong opposition in the United States Congress and from the anti-Castro Cuban-American community whose political clout is not insignificant. Read more