In a Taliban dominated area of Pakistan a Marxist lawyer has defeated the candidate of the Islamic fundamentalists. In spite of a Fatwa being issued against him, comrade Ahad stood firmly on the ideas of revolutionary socialism and won the position of President of the Malakand District Bar Association.

[Note: Look at the answer Chomsky gives during an interview for why the situation with the Tea Partiers must be addressed. But not by name-calling.]: DK: On that note, I’m also looking to think ahead with what’s in the future for the labor movement and the IWW. More generally, if you had one piece of advice to offer future generations of Wobblies—especially in light of the tough financial times that we are facing and will probably continue to face for a long time in the Western world—what would it be? NC: Well, I get a lot of letters from people. When I go home tonight I’ll have 15 letters today from mostly young kids who don’t like what’s going on and want to do something about it, and [they ask me] if I can give them some advice as to what they should do, or can I tell them what to read or something. It doesn’t work like that. I mean, everything depends very much on who you are, what your values are, what your commitments are, what circumstances you live in and what options you’re willing to undertake, and that determines what you ought to be doing. There are some very general ideas that people can keep in mind; they’re kind of truisms. It’s only worth mentioning them because they’re always denied. First of all, don’t believe anything you hear from power systems. So if Obama or the boss or the newspapers or anyone else tells you they’re doing this, that, or the other thing, dismiss it or assume the opposite is true, which it often is. You have to rely on yourself and your associates—gifts don’t come from above; you’re going to win them, or you won’t have them, and you win by struggle, and that requires understanding and serious analysis of the options and the circumstances, and then you can do a lot. So take right now, for example, there is a right-wing populist uprising. It’s very common, even on the left, to just ridicule them, but that’s not the right reaction. If you look at those people and listen to them on talk radio, these are people with real grievances. I listen to talk radio a lot and it’s kind of interesting. If you can sort of suspend your knowledge of the world and just enter into the world of the people who are calling in, you can understand them. I’ve never seen a study, but my sense is that these are people who feel really aggrieved. These people think, “I’ve done everything right all my life, I’m a god-fearing Christian, I’m white, I’m male, I’ve worked hard, and I carry a gun. I do everything I’m supposed to do. And I’m getting shafted.” And in fact they are getting shafted. For 30 years their wages have stagnated or declined, the social conditions have worsened, the children are going crazy, there are no schools, there’s nothing, so somebody must be doing something to them, and they want to know who it is. Well Rush Limbaugh has answered – it’s the rich liberals who own the banks and run the government, and of course run the media, and they don’t care about you—they just want to give everything away to illegal immigrants and gays and communists and so on. Well, you know, the reaction we should be having to them is not ridicule, but rather self-criticism. Why aren’t we organizing them? I mean, we are the ones that ought to be organizing them, not Rush Limbaugh. There are historical analogs, which are not exact, of course, but are close enough to be worrisome. This is a whiff of early Nazi Germany. Hitler was appealing to groups with similar grievances, and giving them crazy answers, but at least they were answers; these groups weren’t getting them anywhere else. It was the Jews and the Bolsheviks [that were the problem]. I mean, the liberal democrats aren’t going to tell the average American, “Yeah, you’re being shafted because of the policies that we’ve established over the years that we’re maintaining now.” That’s not going to be an answer. And they’re not getting answers from the left. So, there’s an internal coherence and logic to what they get from Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and the rest of these guys. And they sound very convincing, they’re very self-confident, and they have an answer to everything—a crazy answer, but it’s an answer. And it’s our fault if that goes on. So one thing to be done is don’t ridicule these people, join them, and talk about their real grievances and give them a sensible answer, like, ”Take over your factories.”

At issue is a regulation that would force employers to identify when a workplace-related injury or illness is considered a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), a term broadly used to describe ailments caused by repetitive stress, like carpal tunnel syndrome or strains from frequent heavy lifting.

Those politicians cannot argue that they took the pro-war decision because they had the wrong information. We, the public, saw the truth, as did many backbenchersand others of little clout. But of all the statesmen and their shadows in our Mother of Parliaments, only one got it right: Robin Cook.

Their call for urgent government action comes amid a wider debate on the issue and follows allegations by insiders at the International Energy Agency that the organisation had deliberately underplayed the threat of so-called "peak oil" to avoid panic on the stock markets. Ministers have until now refused to take predictions of oil droughts seriously, preferring to side with oil companies such as BP and ExxonMobil and crude producers such as the Saudis, who insist there is nothing to worry about.

A Washington media watchdog organization is correcting record after it identified "numerous false and misleading claims" former Alaska governor Sarah Palin made about Obama administration's national security and foreign policy during her speech at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tenn.

The main question is, of course, why people of conscience are running away from the vision of peace. This is a fact: peace has become a four-letter word. (In Hebrew, the word for peace, shalom, indeed consists of four letters.) A decent person does not want to be seen in its company. It should not be uttered in polite society.

We’ve always known that America’s reign as the world’s greatest nation would eventually end — [and] when it came, [it] would be something grand and tragic. What we’re getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce — we’re paralyzed by procedure. We’re re-enacting the dissolution of 18th-century Poland [when] any member could nullify legislation by shouting “I do not allow!” This made the nation largely ungovernable. [In] the U.S. Senate, rules that used to be workable have become crippling now that one of the nation’s major political parties has descended into nihilism, seeing no harm — in fact, political dividends — in making the nation ungovernable. With the national G.O.P. having abdicated any responsibility for making things work, it’s only natural that individual senators [like Richard Shelby] should feel free to take the nation hostage until they get their pet projects funded. Senators themselves should push through changes [to unworkable] rules, including eliminating or at least limiting the filibuster. This is something they could and should do, by majority vote, on the first day of the next Senate session. Democrats should [highlight] a simple message: a vote for a Republican is a vote for paralysis. After the [Poland's] post-World War I resurrection, the country [adopted a new] national anthem. It begins, “Poland is not yet lost.” Well, America is not yet lost. But the Senate is working on it.

In a country where land is a precious commodity, many United States bases in Japan boast golf courses, football fields and giant shopping centres whose food courts offer everything from Taco Bell to Subway and Starbucks. They are the most visible point of grievance in a sharpening debate about the cost to Japan of supporting the 47,000 American service members here - about US$2 billion ($2.9 billion) a year. That's nearly a third of the total, and about three times what Germany pays to host United States forces on its soil. But facing economic woes and seeking a more equal relationship with the US, Japan's new reformist Government is questioning whether it should spend so much on US troops - a topic that was taboo under the pro-Washington administrations that governed Japan for most of the post-World War II era.

In the second part of his interview with Truthout, Dr. Mestrovic examines the fallacious nature of the rules of engagement, Operation Iron Triangle in Iraq, the rampant nature of atrocities in the US military today, and the possibility of a solution. In Operation Iron Triangle, Iraqi detainees were murdered by US soldiers under the command of a legendary American colonel, Michael Steele. On May 9, 2006, American soldiers executed three unarmed men they had captured in an operation in the so-called Sunni Triangle in Iraq. Several of these soldiers were court-martialed and imprisoned, but some within the military say that responsibility ultimately lies with Colonel Steele.) Truthout: What are your thoughts about the "Rules of Engagement?" How are these brought into being? Are they truly expected to work in the field? Given that they are clearly not working, why is that? [see response in article]

Argentina's anguish has sharpened with realisation it may have lost ­valuable natural resources in the South Atlantic as well as national pride. Argentina has claimed "Las Malvinas" since Britain occupied them in 1833, making the archipelago a source of national yearning for Argentinians. Losing the 73-day conflict in 1982 aggravated the sense of injustice. It has worsened since the islands began to thrive: fisheries ­licences generate millions of pounds, which could be dwarfed by oil and gas revenues. A scramble is under way off South America's Atlantic coast and the Antarctic. Argentina and Britain have extended claims over the continental shelf around the Falklands, and with Australia, China, France, New Zealand and Russia claim waters further south. President Cristina Kirchner has raised the prospect of Argentinian troops in the Antarctic to protect resources. ­Brazil, meanwhile, has posted troops in the Amazon and is beefing up its forces to protect oil and gas deposits 200 miles off its Atlantic coast.

Dozens of current and former corporate executives have a message for Congress: Quit hitting us up for campaign cash. Roughly 40 executives from companies including Playboy Enterprises, ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's, the Seagram's liquor company, toymaker Hasbro, Delta Airlines and Men's Wearhouse sent a letter to congressional leaders Friday urging them to approve public financing for House and Senate campaigns. They say they are tired of getting fundraising calls from lawmakers — and fear it will only get worse after Thursday's Supreme Court ruling. [Note: The AFP ran an article in its Feb.8,2010 edition, Vol.X, Number 6, entitled, "40 Corporate Executives Tell Politicians, Lobbies 'Stop Begging for Money' ". The first paragraph reads: Some corporate executives say they are sick and tired of elected officials constantly begging them for donations. forty top businessmen recently sent a letter to Congress asking them to stop the phone calls and get the money out of politics."]

US President Barack Obama will hold a televised, summit-style meeting to discuss healthcare reform with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

We need to recapture some of that same spirit, that willingness to sacrifice and to do what we believe is right even if we’re not sure of the results. There are some positive signs that growing numbers of activist progressives are prepared to do so, to take action on key issues even if it means challenging, directly or indirectly, Barack Obama. This is being evidenced within the climate and peace movements, with the organizing taking place towards the June 22-26 U.S. Social Forum, with growing criticism of Obama’s unwillingness to give leadership for truly progressive policies, and in other ways. This past week, a day after Howard Zinn’s passing, I received an email from Rabbi Arthur Waskow quoting Zinn in an email sent just the day before he died. Waskow asked Zinn what he thought of the idea of pulling together a “coalition aimed at ‘independence from the military-corporate alliance,’ with a platform that includes strong planks on climate, jobs, health, ending the present wars, major reductions in the military, transforming campaign finance, and ending the filibuster. Perhaps with rallies, vigils, sit-downs, etc in state capitals and other centers all around the country on July 4, and support for specific progressive candidates in the 2010 Congressional elections.”

Garritano, 54, a lieutenant governor candidate from Shelburne, told AMERICAN FREE PRESS that the state’s election rules do not require him and secessionist-minded gubernatorial candidate Dennis Steele to run as a team—meaning that either one could be elected separately, or they could both get elected, depending on how economically wounded voters take to their philosophy of refocusing the state-federal relationship with a strong emphasis on the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. While there is the occasional heated comment that secession would “recreate the Confederacy and black slavery,” Garritano said secession in today’s world is a totally different ball game. With so many people of all colors and creeds taking hard hits from extreme economic mismanagement of the nation, the use of the Constitution as a floor mat, and President Obama reneging on nearly every major campaign promise, many from across the political spectrum find themselves intrigued with the secession concept. As Garritano sees it: “Half the people running on our ticket had voted for Obama and they are now so frustrated and realize it’s just more of the same. . . . There has been no change, and he has stepped up the pace on all of Bush’s policies,” Garritano told AFP. “And that is the reason they are involved in this now.” Obama did not overturn either the Military Commissions Act or the Patriot Act, to name just two acts that smack of tyranny, after indicating he would.

Mr Blix ... said that Mr Straw had been incorrect to suggest, in 2002, that UN weapons inspectors were not being allowed access to certain sites. ... "He did not focus at all on what I had said about the increased Iraqi co-operation, ... he focused upon - say - that the Iraqis are not allowing you to interview people and they are stopping you from getting to sites. That was not true," he said.

The battered bodies may be mending, but the minds still struggle. As many as one in five Haiti earthquake victims have suffered trauma so great with the multiple shock of lost homes, jobs and loved ones that they won't be able to cope without professional help, doctors say. In a country where mental health services barely existed before the quake, building the required support is a huge challenge. The symptoms can't be diagnosed by stethoscopes, blood tests and X-rays, and can take time to surface after the initial shock of the disaster. "It's not about immediate psychological counselling," said Dr Lynne Jones, a senior medical adviser for the International Medical Corps. "It's about assisting mourning. People cannot recover if their social needs are not met."

Is Spain too big to fail? Or Greece? Or Portugal? It's a question that is wearily familiar when applied to the banks, but it hasn't been asked very much about sovereign nations. Until now. The "Pigs" - the nations that comprise the unflattering acronym for Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain - are pushing it to the top of the international agenda. Why? Because their national finances are in such a state of disarray they are putting an extreme strain on the unity of the eurozone, and helping to destabilise the global recovery.

The world's seven most industrialised countries vowed they would each cancel their nation's remaining bilateral debt with quake-hit Haiti, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said after two days of G7 talks in northern Canada. Haiti's debt to Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States is already relatively small after past relief efforts. It's foreign debt, however, remains at about US$890 million ($1.2 billion), of which 41 per cent is owed to the InterAmerican Development Bank and a further 27 per cent to the World Bank.

It’s official, recession hounds: The 26 states with insolvent unemployment insurance trust funds have now borrowed more than was borrowed during 1981 and 1982, the last time there was a severe recession in the U.S., and oft-used benchmark for when things are Officially Really Bad.