August 2009

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John Walker Lindh: Parents of American Taliban Tell Their Son's Story

Picture: Democracy Now & Ladybugbkt Democracy Now - In their first extended interview, the parents of John Walker Lindh, Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh, join Democracy Now to tell their son’s story. Lindh was born in Washington, DC in 1981. At the age of sixteen, he converted to Islam. In 1999, Lindh left the United States for Yemen to study Arabic and the Koran. He later traveled to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan, before 9/11, where he received military training from the US-backed, Taliban-run Afghan Army to fight against the...

The Death of the Newspaper and the Future of Democracy

Picture: JK5854 Saliem Fakir - Sixteen thousand is the number of jobs lost in 2008 by the US newspaper industry and just about 10,000 in the first half of 2009. It is unclear how many jobs have been cut by the local newspaper industry but we have not been saved the ravages of the economic downtown. The press is indeed bleeding editors, journalist, and columnists. The meaning of all of this is unknown. What replaces it may not be entirely satisfactory, as the seemingly imminent death of newspapers does not imply the death...

Obama's Beer Summit and the Class Cleavage in Black America

The Real News Network talks to Glen Ford, Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report to get his reaction to the get-together organized by President Barack Obama for Professor Henry Louis Gates and Sergeant James Crowley to have an informal chat - ostensibly about race relations - after Crowley arrested Gates in an incident described as motivated by racial profiling. Obama's reaction to incidents of racial profiling, in cases far weightier than the Gates arrest, has been muted. But, Obama...