A study released at the beginning of December by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) reported that America’s 20 wealthiest individuals own more wealth than roughly half the American population combined—152 million people. The startling level of economic inequality in the United States is also highlighted by Forbes, which recently observed that the richest 400 Americans possess more wealth than 62 percent of the American public—192 million people. Furthermore, these studies apparently underestimate the concentration of wealth in the United States, for the use of offshore tax havens and legal trusts conceals trillions of dollars that the richest Americans have amassed for themselves and their families. Read more
“The question now is how to change our institutions so that they promote human values rather than destroy them.”
Philip Zimbardo, who posed this question in the wake of the famous — or infamous — Stanford Prison Experiment 44 years ago, might have added: If we fail to do so, we guarantee our own social collapse. Read more
A notorious local criminal from the Guynadotte community of Huntington is in trouble again. A video on WSAZ's website shows him in a violent struggle at a pawn shop after being confronted by someone claiming the arrestee stole his property. The video can be viewed here videoRead more
Editor's Note: Wayne Knox, an activist in the Cold War veteran atomic energy health compensation battle, answers the following question from other workers that toiled at plants similar to the Huntington Pilot Plant, Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, etc:
To answer your questions: "does anyone on this actually believe the federal government will harm or kill any nuclear workers for exposing the truth." My answer is No! Not the "federal government". But our corporations have and will continue to kill in order to suppress truth that may endanger profits. Read more
Re: Irradiated – The Hidden Legacy of 70 Years of Atomic Weaponry
Dear Editor:
The above-referenced investigative report provided indepth insight into EEOICPA, a nuclear worker compensation program that is both profoundly important, and in need of attention to ensure its ability to function as intended. The Presidential Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health (ABRWH) should be embarrassed by the statements made by Board Member Wanda Munn in Chapter One of the article. Read more
At West Point I learned that technology forces warfare to evolve. The reason soldiers today no longer ride horses into battle, use bows and arrows, and wield spears, is because of the gun. The reason people no longer fight in trenches, as they did during World War I, is because the tank and airplane were greatly improved and mass-produced. But there is a technological innovation that has changed warfare more than the gun, tank, or airplane. That technological innovation is mass media.Read more
Once upon a time, there was a little, mischievous elf. His hair was sliver-blond, his eyes were silver-blue and his smile danced between a wide open grin that announced, “It’s a joy to be alive” and a hesitant twist that said, “Oops. What did I do wrong this time?”
Not all elves have the same color hair or the same color eyes. But all elves have the same smile Read more
Surely some uber-conservative political candidates will call me out on “politicizing tragedy” but I don’t care. I don’t want to pray for victims. I don’t want to seek vengeance on perpetrators. I want this never to happen again; I want to never feel this weight again.Read more
A family buried their loved one this week after he overdosed on drugs. The family acknowledged the young man's demons and encouraged friends and families to donate to the recovery community instead of buying flowers. Read more
Jesus sided with underdogs. He championed little people, not the privileged and powerful. “Blessed are the poor” was one of his maxims. He told a noble: “Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor.” Read more
Millions of Americans believe that war doesn’t work, that war cannot end terrorism because war is terrorism, and that U.S. war-making is breeding a new generation of terrorists around the world. Millions also want the senseless killing to stop and they realize we must begin with ending our own military’s killing sprees. Read more
Forty-six volunteers went on a medical mission to Jordan to help the disadvantaged Syrian refugees and to restore their faith in humanity. The mission drew together an amazing group of people who validate the existence of those who are suffering -- through medical care, psychosocial support, food, clothing and most importantly, human empathy.Read more
Even some of my favorite doves are advocating a mixed military response to ISIS. I can’t agree. The history of our violent response to terrorism began as a trickle, then a stream, then a torrent into Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, and Syria. Each and every time we “won” (deposed the Taliban in Afghanistan, “Mission Accomplished” by knocking over Saddam, the surge), the response from the terror side has gotten worse. Now, for pity’s sake, we see a genocidal terror caliphate. Our game of violence is a loser.
What are the elements of an alternative response? Read more
Some Congressional Rep’s -- carrying bags of money from the nuclear industry -- want to resurrect the cancelled Yucca Mountain dump project for high-level radioactive waste, 90 miles from Las Vegas. I’ve presented Yucca’s shortcomings before, but Congress needs a refresher and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is taking public comments on Yucca’s Draft Supplemental EIS until Nov. 20. Read more
Huntington, WV is in the midst of a drug epidemic. Here is a prayer for Huntington during this battle for this holiday season.
Dear Father,
Thanks for our loved ones, that although they may be hooked on drugs, that they are still able to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Please watch over them and do not let their chairs be empty next year.Read more
In the past 36 hours, I have watched and listened to hundreds of reactions of ordinary people to the attacks in Paris. With a clenched gut, I feared the reiteration of the sequence of 9/11: anger, shock, fear, calls for vengeance, war, and more violence.
Instead, I saw the unexpected, and a tendril of hope grew inside my heart. Here is some of what I saw: Read more
When he ran for reelection in 2012, Barack Obama told TV interviewer Charlie Rose that the biggest mistake of his first term was to think, simply, “that this job was about getting the policy right.” Obama explained that, “the nature of this office is also to tell a story to the American people that gives them a sense of unity and purpose and optimism, especially during tough times." Read more
Will the real China please stand up? In the US media, most stories about China raise questions that amount to threat-mongering. How can China’s “aggressiveness” in the South China Sea be stopped? Is China forming a new alliance with Putin’s Russia? Has China hacked its way into the most sensitive US industrial and military secrets? Is China on the verge of displacing the West from Africa and even Latin America? Are the Chinese about to become a military rival of the US in terms of naval and air power? Read more
One of my favorite things about West Virginia is how much pride we, as a state, take in our men and women who serve in our Armed Forces. As we celebrate Veterans Day this week, I’ve thought deeply about the sacrifice that so many of these people have made, and how much gratitude I personally have for each and every one of them. Read more
Recently the Obama administration announced another military aid package for Pakistan: eight F-16 fighter jets. Once again considerations of human rights and democratic values have been sacrificed to strategic calculations. Recall, the robust figures for US military assistance to Pakistan: more than $20 billion in weapons, training, and other activities between FY2002 and FY2015, making Pakistan the 16th ranking recipient of US arms. And that amount does not include drone strikes.Read more
The origins of Armistice Day, also known as Remembrance Day, were all about ending war, marking the signing of a ceasefire to begin to halt the destruction of World War I. That signing occurred on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918. Since the vast majority of war dead in World War I were military, it was inaugurated as a commemoration of their service and sacrifice. Read more
After being pulled over for speeding and unregistered tags, West Virginia Democrat Gubernatorial Candidate Jim Justice was caught on dashcam verbally abusing a police officer during a routine traffic stop. Justice calls the officer a "total lunatic" and "crazy" for doing his job. Then, when the police officer respectfully offers to explains the citation, Justice makes it clear he thinks he is above the law, telling the officer to "I want you to explain it to your boss."Read more
President Barack Obama’s foreign policies have had important successes that demonstrate creative applications of the increasingly recognized constructive conflict approach. However, Obama is widely attacked as if he were responsible for the many ongoing terribly destructive foreign conflicts. Criticisms of Obama’s administration have usually come from the political right in the United States and others committed to opposing Obama. They attack him for being naïve and insufficiently tough. Even analysts sympathetic to Obama’s foreign policies are sometimes critical of his failure to rely more on coercion and military force.Read more
I had the opportunity to meet up with three old friends on Sunday, marking the first time we have all hung out in 35 years. My friends have done well and although they remain optimistic about the future there is legitimate reson for concern. Two of these friends work in the local steel industry. Tim works for Steel of West Virginia in Huntington and Jim works for AK Steel in Ashland. Jim has already received notice that he will be laid off soon as will most of the over 900 employees at the plant in Ashland. Read more
The shock and disbelief with which many political pundits have responded to Bernie Sanders’ description of himself as a “democratic socialist”—a supporter of democratic control of the economy—provide a clear indication of how little they know about the popularity and influence of democratic socialism over the course of American history. Read more
Early on Sunday Oct. 25, an underground fire caused an explosion in a low-level nuclear waste site in the desert 10 miles from Beatty, Nevada, and 115 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The explosion and fire followed flash flooding that shut down Beatty’s escape routes: US 95 and State Highway 373. The 80-acre dumping ground, closed since 1992, is run by -- get this -- “US Ecology.” The private dump consists of 22 trenches up to 800 feet long and 50 feet deep, and its older trenches have radioactive waste within three feet of the surface, the Las Vegas Sun reported. Read more
I have learned a great deal from the presidential debates held thus far this season (four Republican, one Democratic to date). I have learned about the candidates’ experiences and positions on the issues, as well as about the different ways they communicate their views. I have appreciated the questions posed by the moderators as well as by members of the public, but something’s missing from all of the exchanges. Read more
For far longer than any of us have been alive, the U.S. criminal justice system has functioned under the de facto principle that black and brown bodies were objects to be subjected to scrutiny, control, and all too often, state-sanctioned violence. Today we can see that although progress has been made, that progress is minute in comparison to what remains to be done. Read more
The issue of making college tuition-free has recently come to the fore in American politics, largely because the two leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, have each championed it. Sanders has called for free undergraduate tuition at public colleges and universities, to be financed by a tax on Wall Street speculation, while Clinton has done the same, although with some qualifications and a different funding mechanism. Read more
The quest for cleaner energy is one of the great challenges of the 21st Century, and has fueled many “green” initiatives in recent years. But something troubling is coming down the pike now that the Obama Administration has announced its new “Clean Power Plan” (CPP). In a full-speed-ahead quest to lower carbon dioxide emissions from the nation’s power plants, the administration is implementing new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that raise troubling legal issues. Read more
The vacant building on 5th Avenue and 13th Street In Huntington, WV that has already been the scene of a drug overdose death and a fire, is a fire hazard that requires action to prevent future tragedies. Read more
Those of us with pre-existing health conditions initially celebrated the Obama Care Health Insurance revolution designed to lower premium costs and promote extended coverage.
However, a horror story has developed. Freddy Kruger seems to reside at Highmark Blue Cross, or at least a clone called paper work mishaps. Read more
