British pro-peace soldier Joe Glenton arrested

This video from Britain is called Joe Glenton – Serving soldier defies orders to speak out on Afghan war.

From British daily The Morning Star:

BREAKING NEWS: Anti-war soldier Joe Glenton arrested

Tuesday 10 November 2009

by Jonathan Paige

Anti-war soldier Joe Glenton has been arrested. The lance corporal already faces charges for desertion and has been charged with five more offences after he spoke out opposing British troops in Afghanistan.

Lance Corporal Glenton, 27, joined the army in 2004 and went absent without leave in 2007 for two years. He has been charged with leading the anti-war demo on October 24 and speaking to the press in defiance of orders. If convicted, he could be imprisoned for 10 years – on top of the three to four years he’ll get if his desertion charge is upheld.

Lindsey German of the Stop The War Coalition said: “This is not about breach of military regulations. In the last few days a range of military personnel have been speaking in the media in defence of this appalling war. I doubt any of them have been arrested.

“This is about the persecution of a soldier who believes in telling the truth in accordance with his conscience. He is saying what the majority of the population believe; this war is unwinnable and immoral.

“The anti-war movement will be doing everything possible to get Joe released,” she added.

EMERGENCY PROTEST AT THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE: If you live in London, please try to join the protest on Thursday 12 November, 5pm, at the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall (opposite Downing Street).

USA: Labor Antiwar Group Refocuses on Afghanistan: here.

USA: Study: 2,200 Vets Died Last Year Because They Lacked Health Insurance: here.

From the Barracks to the Homeless Shelter. Homelessness Among Vets Persists: here.

President Barack Obama used his speech at Tuesday’s service for the 13 men and women killed last week at Fort Hood, Texas to promote the two ongoing US wars and his own plan to escalate the intervention in Afghanistan: here.

Malalai Joya, author of A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice, discusses the absence of democracy in Afghanistan after eight years of “humanitarian” occupation, how the U.S. and NATO treat Afghan warlords like political moderates instead of war criminals, humanitarian aid that enriches the politically connected instead of helping ordinary Afghans and the continuing assault on women’s rights: here.

Hondurans boycotting dictators’ sham elections

This video from Honduras says about itself:

Carlos Reyes, [then still] independent presidential candidate in Honduras, speaks on the U.S.’s divided stance on the illegal military coup. The interview occurs during a massive July 14 march in Tegucigalpa to press for an end to the illegal coup regime and a reinstatement of the legitimate president.

From British daily The Morning Star:

Boycott launched of military-led Honduran election

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Honduran democracy activists have announced that they will boycott the November 29 presidential election because “the army has its nose in everything.”

Independent socialist candidate Carlos Reyes, who leads the Union of Beverage and Related Industry Workers, has withdrawn.

Mr Reyes said that to participate in the elections “would mean following the strategy of the coup-installed government.

“The army has its nose in everything, there is repression throughout the country,” he declared: “All state institutions are run not only by the military, but by the putschists,” he added.

The anti-coup Resistance Front, which Mr Reyes helps to co-ordinate, say that it is too late to ensure a free and fair ballot.

“Participation in such a process would give legitimacy to the coup regime and to its successor,” the progressive alliance said in a statement.

This video from the USA says about itself:

Hands Off Honduras coalition stop the repression in Honduras

Action in South Minneapolis, Minnesota with a coalition formed by different local progresive organizations.

“On November 29, we are not going to have time to vote”, Juan Barahona, a leader of the National Resistance Front Against the Coup on Honduras (FNRG) told the media in front of the Honduran Congress on November 12, Rightsaction.org said that day: here.

American football and diseases

This video from the USA is called Health Risks for Overweight American Football Players.

A recent survey of former professional football players indicated worrisome rates of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other memory-related disease: here.

Does football cause an increase in degenerative disease of the lumbar spine? Here.

American football and money: here.

The suicide of professional football player Junior Seau: here.

Economic crisis

The connection between soaring stock and other asset prices and a falling dollar points to the extraordinarily speculative and unstable character of what is being called a global economic recovery: here.

USA: The Commission on the 21st Century Economy, created by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and members of the Democrat-controlled state legislature, has proposed an overhaul of the state’s tax code to benefit the state’s most affluent layers at the expense of the working class, professionals, and smaller businesses: here.

This video says about itself:

Los Angeles Parents in front of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s downtown LA office. Schwarzenegger is proposing a 10% or $4.8 billion dollar cut in California state’s public schools.

A Look at the Numbers: How the Rich Get Richer: here.

Britain: Lloyds Bank has been accused of “corporate arrogance” and forcing workers to pay for fat cats’ mistakes after it announced plans to slash thousands of jobs: here.

IMF and the World Bank warned that the financial crisis posed a serious challenge to reducing poverty. The World Bank predicted that the economic crisis could push another 53 million people in the global South into poverty. Well, according to the latest numbers from the United Nations, we’re now up to 2.7 billion people around the world who survive on less than two dollars a day, one billion of whom live on less than a dollar a day. Given the dire statistics and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, how can we see the eradication of poverty? That’s the central question of a new documentary called The End of Poverty? See here.