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Nineteenth Century nullificationist Senator John C. Calhoun Nearly two centuries ago, South Carolina Sen

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A teapot tempest erupted today after Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) cited Washington Post political blogger Jennifer Rubin by name today at Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel’s Senate confirmation hearing. Post associate editor and senior correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran tweeted , “I hate it when senators refer to WP opinion blogger posts as articles

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Fox News is again using its own bogus narrative to stoke fears of a civil war in the U.S. between “makers” and “takers,” after repeatedly pushing the argument that people who receive government benefits are “takers” and pitting them against “makers.” In a January 3 op-ed , Fox News columnist Arthur Herman wrote that riots in Argentina foreshadowed “a coming civil war between makers and takers” in the U.S. Herman revived former presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s infamous 47 percent remarks to argue that that the government is creating a dependency nation of people “unable to fend for themselves — and increasingly resentful of those who can.” He added: When the economy tanks and the government checks have to shrink, their only alternative is to take to the streets.

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– The New York Times reports : “Nearly nine years passed before American forces reached their first 1,000 dead in the war. The second 1,000 came just 27 months later, a testament to the intensity of fighting prompted by President Obama’s decision to send 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2010, a policy known as the surge.” – Yet the war in Afghanistan is getting scant attention in the U.S. media and election debates

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http://www. dailykos .com/…

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Imagine, for a moment, that it is 1862 and you are Gen. George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, the Union’s premier fighting force.

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By Reese Erlich, September 2012 issue From the upcoming September issue of The Progressive read more

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Abdul Awkal with his attorney David Singleton On June 6, Ohio is scheduled to execute Abdul Awkal for the murder of his estranged wife and brother-in-law unless Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) grants a pending clemency petition, or a court steps in with a last minute order. Here’s the facts about the mental health of the man set to be executed next Wednesday: Survived a Civil War : In 1975, when Abdul was sixteen years old, a civil war erupted in his home country of Lebanon . Abdul lived through this war for eight years before he was able to escape to Michigan to live with family members . Although Abdul never sought treatment during his first months in the United States and thus was not diagnosed with a mental illness until sometime later, he said that he spent his first four months in America sitting on his brother’s couch — behavior an Ohio clemency board said was “as if he was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” History of Mental Breakdowns : Abdul eventually found work as a gas station attendant. About a year after he arrived in the United States, however, he was wrongfully accused of stealing from his employer . According to the Ohio Supreme Court, he then suffered a mental breakdown . Abdul “became hysterical, cursing and breaking things, vomited and then collapsed.” He was taken to a Detroit hospital in a straitjacket and later released with instructions (that he disregarded) to seek psychiatric treatment. Some time later, Abdul suffered at least one more mental breakdown as his marriage to the woman he eventually killed became increasingly dysfunctional. A mental hospital again told him to seek psychiatric care, but he did not follow up because he says he could not afford treatment. Suicidal Depression : In November of 1991, about two months before he would kill his estranged wife and brother-in-law, Abdul finally did attend four counseling sessions because he was depressed and had thoughts of suicide . Hallucinations : On January 7, 1992, Abdul shot his wife and brother-in-law during a meeting related to Abdul’s pending divorce. While awaiting trial in an Ohio jail, he began having hallucinations . Abdul says he saw his wife speak to him and tell him to “join her.” Incompetent to Stand Trial : Abdul’s trial was delayed after a court found him mentally incompetent to assist in his defense . During the period between his arrest and his trial, county psychiatrists experimented with various anti-depressant, anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety drugs in an attempt to control his hallucinations and enable him to participate in the trial, and a judge eventually deemed him competent to state trial in September of 1992. During the pre-trial period, the prosecution also offered him a plea bargain, which he rejected, that would have taken the death penalty off the table . It’s not clear what Abdul’s mental state was when he rejected this deal. Second Finding of Mental Incompetency : In 2004, Abdul wrote a federal judge asking that his appeals be terminated and that he be executed swiftly. The judge responded by ordering a psychiatric evaluation. Twelve years after his arrest, Abdul was diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder, depressed type and determined to be mentally incompetent to waive his appeals. Letters to the CIA : In 2001, Abdul started writing letters to then-CIA Directors George Tenet and Porter Goss , along with former CBS new anchor Dan Rather and, eventually, President Obama offering advice on how to fight terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In one letter to Obama, for example, Abdul advises that rather than dismantling or safely detonating the Taliban’s explosive devices, U.S. servicemembers in Afghanistan should “replace the electronic receiver inside the IEDs with ours and keep them buried.” Abdul also told a clemency board that he advises the CIA on “Islamic religion and culture” and that he is upset that the CIA did not listen to him after he warned them about 9/11. At other points, he’s claimed he is being executed because the “ CIA wanted him dead .” As Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart recognized almost four decades ago, the “most irrevocable of sanctions should be reserved for a small number of extreme cases .” This is why the Constitution forbids executions of juvenile offenders or the mentally retarded . And it is why the death penalty is reserved to only a handful of the most severe crimes . Indeed, American juries consider death such an extreme sanction that only 2 percent of convicted murderers are sentenced to die . There’s no question that Abdul committed a terrible crime more than twenty years ago, and he has spent every subsequent minute of his life in state custody because of his actions. That will not change if Gov. Kasich grants Abdul clemency, or if the Supreme Court recognizes that people with severe mental illnesses do not belong on death row.

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By Matthew Rothschild, May 26, 2012 He repeatedly denounced Walker for waging a “civil war” in Wisconsin, for being a tea party rock star, for having a criminal defense team, and for spending so much time out of state raising money. read more

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By Carina Ray, May 2, 2012 While many Sierra Leoneans are relieved to see Taylor finally convicted for his destructive role in their country’s brutal civil war, his wanton destabilization elsewhere in West Africa hardly figured in the criminal proceedings against him. read more

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