Salem-News.com America articles

Democracy: Acting Like We Own It

Democracy is way deeper than one vote every few years.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - When I was in prison for my nonviolent anti-nuclear actions, one of my disciplines was to write something for publication daily--a letter to the editor, an opinion piece, a book review, or even mediocre poetry.

One hundred percent of my writing was in opposition to nuclear weapons.

Former CIA Officer Convicted for Unauthorized Disclosure of National Defense Information and Obstruction of Justice

CIA Whistleblower found guilty on all counts

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - A former CIA officer was convicted Monday by a federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, of illegally disclosing national defense information and obstructing justice.

“This is a just and appropriate outcome,” said Attorney General Holder. “The defendant’s unauthorized disclosures of classified information compromised operations undertaken in defense of America’s national security.

70th Anniversary of of the Liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau

Survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland were liberated by the Soviet Red Army after more than 1 million people were killed.

(SAN FRANCISCO) - We have seen newsreels of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps at the end of WW II and a number of movies depicting the horrors of the Holocaust. However, newsreels and movies did not really prepare us for an actual visit to the site of the largest mass murder in history.

As many as 1.5 million were murdered at Auschwitz, mainly Polish Jews, but also Soviet prisoners-of-war, Gypsies, Czechs, Yugoslavs, French, Austrians, and Germans.

AG Holder Resigns, Reconfirms Support of Drug Policy Reforms

Lengthy Career Ends with Recognition of Drug Policy Failures

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - Justice Department officials reported this morning that Attorney General Eric Holder is announcing his resignation as soon as a successor is nominated and confirmed.

His career, which spanned five and a half years, has been marked by a number of drug policy reforms to which he reconfirmed his commitment in an interview with Katie Couric Tuesday.

Police Chief Joseph McNamara, Who Fought to End the Drug War, Dies at 79

Retired San Jose Police Chief Leaves Behind a Remarkable Legacy of Public Service and Activism

(MONTEREY, Calif.) - McNamara spoke out publicly against the drug war long before the issue had come to the political forefront. He was a speaker and advisory board member for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of law enforcement officials opposed to the war on drugs.

“When you’re telling cops that they’re soldiers in a Drug War, you’re destroying the whole concept of the citizen peace officer, a peace officer whose fundamental duty is to protect life and be a community servant,” said McNamara at a presentation for the International Conference on Drug Policy Reform in 1995.

Antique Typewriters on the Come Back!

I still have a manual Smith Corona typewriter and I don’t know how I ever had the strength in my fingers to produce anything on that machine.

(EUGENE, Ore. ) - Hang onto your old typewriters because they are coming back. After whistle blower Edward Snowden leaked information about the NSA’s massive spying program, computer users worldwide were faced with the dilemma of knowing that everything they did on the Internet was an open book and being monitored by the US government.

Assuming American leaders are capable of being embarrassed, most embarrassing for Obama was when Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel learned that the US government had been tapping her cell phone conversations for six years.

Memorial Day, Do At Least One Thing

Memorial Day is a day for giving thanks, and respect...

(NEWBURGH, Indiana) - Memorial Day is a time to remember the men and women who have died serving our country. This special day is not the only time we should remember them but the holiday underscores the importance of having a time to revere and respect people who are sacred to our country. They are our heroes who are buried across America. They left home to go to hostile places and laid down their lives for us.

Take a moment and visit the grave of someone who died representing us. When you go take just a few moments and give thanks for that person who will be one of many, many thousands who have made what we have in America possible.

Veterans for Peace is Banned From Duluth`s Memorial Day Parade

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

(DULUTH, MN) - For the first time in recent memory, the Duluth-area Vets for Peace Chapter 80 float has been banned from participating in Duluth’s Memorial Day parade.

The Northland Veterans Services Committee, which is the organizing committee that is planning this year’s Memorial Day parade has informed the local chapter of Vets for Peace that it will not be allowed to participate. The decision was recently announced over the phone to VFP Chapter 80 president Phil Anderson. The person on the phone simply said that the planning committee "didn't like us or our group”.

Veterans Affairs Scandal Investigated

Veterans dying while they wait for a doctor is beyond the pale for Americans.

(MEDIA, PA) - The VA has been caught with its pants down. VA Medical Centers all across the Country are under investigation, a scandal that should not have happened.

40 plus Veterans died while waiting up to 21 months to be seen by specialist doctors for various life threatening illnesses at the VAMC Phoenix, Arizona. More deaths are also reported at other VAMC’s nationwide.

One Nation the U.S. Actually Should Liberate: Hawai`i

Jon Olsen's new book, Liberate Hawai'i: Renouncing and Defying the Continuing Fraudulent U.S. Claim to the sovereignty of Hawai'i, makes a compelling case.

(CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA) - Some nations the United States should probably not liberate -- except perhaps the 175 nations which could be liberated from the presence of U.S. soldiers. But one nation I would make an exception for, and that is the nation of Hawai'i.

Olsen's case, in very condensed summary, looks like this: Hawai'i was an independent nation, recognized as such by the United States and numerous other nations, with treaties in effect between Hawai'i and other nations, including the United States, that have never been terminated.