Please trust me on this one
My good friend Diane Ravitch put out a blog post titled "Love is the Answer" from which I am going to borrow two links, those links being the point of her post.
I am going to ask you first to take 12 minutes from your life to watch Wright's Law, an award-winning video.
Only then should you read Laws of Physics Can’t Trump the Bonds of Love.
Trust me, you will be glad you did both.
But watch the video first.
I am going to ask you first to take 12 minutes from your life to watch Wright's Law, an award-winning video.
Only then should you read Laws of Physics Can’t Trump the Bonds of Love.
Trust me, you will be glad you did both.
But watch the video first.
senior former CIA interrogator - torture does not work
Given the opening scenes in Zero Dark Thirty, which presents the case that it was the water-boarding of Khaled Sheikh Mohammed that provided the information that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, people will want to read Zero Dark Thirty -- Torture Is the American Way? by Glenn L. Carle, a retired CIA interrogator and author of the book The Interrogator.
Let me offer a few snips.
Let me offer a few snips.
Do not be misled. Pay attention: The men and women who hunted, found, and killed Osama bin Laden -- and heroes they are -- did not need to use torture. Torture is un-America. It is evil. We found bin Laden using painstaking intelligence work, not waterboards.
Understand this, from someone who had some involvement in our "enhanced interrogation" program and who worked on terrorism issues for years (see my book, The Interrogator, which
Loyalty Oaths
To some younger readers of this blog, the title of this post may seem strange. They do not realize how many lives and careers were wrecked because people refused to sign loyalty oaths. Today seems an appropriate time to revisit this topic, to offer some history as a cautionary.
Why?
On this date in 1962 the Weavers, a popular folk-singing quartet which included others the great Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes, Fred Hellerman, and Ronnie Gilbert, were barred from appearing on the Jack Paar Show because they refused to sign a loyalty oath.
During the period of McCarthyism with its passion to root out Communists, both Hays and Seeger were called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Both refused to testify on whether or not they were or had been members of the Communist Party, Hays citing the 5th Amendment and Seeger the 1st. They and the other members of the group found themselves barred from appearing on TV and radio, and Seeger was handed a conviction and had his activities limited until his conviction was overturned in 1961.
And yet, for all of our focusing on the use of loyalty oaths as an artifact of McCarthyism, they long pre-date the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s.
I do not propose to give a thorough history of loyalty oaths. Understand that such an oath is distinct from the Pledge of Allegiance, and was considered a legally binding statement, which if you swore falsely either about
Why?
On this date in 1962 the Weavers, a popular folk-singing quartet which included others the great Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes, Fred Hellerman, and Ronnie Gilbert, were barred from appearing on the Jack Paar Show because they refused to sign a loyalty oath.
During the period of McCarthyism with its passion to root out Communists, both Hays and Seeger were called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Both refused to testify on whether or not they were or had been members of the Communist Party, Hays citing the 5th Amendment and Seeger the 1st. They and the other members of the group found themselves barred from appearing on TV and radio, and Seeger was handed a conviction and had his activities limited until his conviction was overturned in 1961.
And yet, for all of our focusing on the use of loyalty oaths as an artifact of McCarthyism, they long pre-date the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s.
I do not propose to give a thorough history of loyalty oaths. Understand that such an oath is distinct from the Pledge of Allegiance, and was considered a legally binding statement, which if you swore falsely either about