Reposted from Truthout.

"The Iranian women's movement is not simply demanding equal rights alone. It is demanding a larger universal reality, which is democracy." - Shirin Ebadi, October 9, 2009

A couple of weeks ago, I had the rare chance to sit down with Nobel Laureate Dr. Shirin...

"A victory for women paves the way for democracy in Iran." -Shirin Ebadi, October 9, 2009

Yesterday morning I had the unique opportunity to sit down with 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi, the prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and global activist for justice, democracy, and the rule...

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. -MK Gandhi

For years now I have been debating with friends and family on the question of whether the United States can (and should) be called a "Christian nation," and for the record,...

We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing-oriented' society to a 'people-oriented society.' -Martin Luther King, Jr.

I know that everyone has a personal story related to health care. This is mine. Well, actually it's my sister-in-law's. I started to write this piece about nine months ago, but I...

I went back and forth with myself for awhile as to whether or not I should post my thoughts on the "birther" phenomenon -- the faction of Americans who insist that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and is therefore not qualified to be president. (By...

Dear President Obama,

In anticipation of your press conference tonight, I want to give you my thoughts about the strategy being used against you and how I hope you address it, starting with your remarks this evening.

It's time for you to take back control of the national conversation. The...

Although I grew up, smack dab in the middle of the era of Michael Jackson (my friends and I did a very cool rendition of "Thriller" for my 8th grade talent show), the truth is that I really didn't feel anything about his death at first. It was odd. Nothing....

I remember as a child that whenever the 4th of July rolled around, I would try earnestly to reflect on the significance of the holiday. That is not an easy task for a person submerged in the fanfare of commercialism and the somewhat superficial patriotism of flags and fireworks. I...

Now that the Iranian regime has predictably cracked down, there is a growing misconception that the resistance has failed and "stability" (i.e. status quo) is on its way to being restored. However, the conventional wisdom that repression "works" is in need of some correction, especially when it comes to the...

"I suppose that human beings looking at it would say that arms are the most dangerous things that a dictator, a tyrant needs to fear. But in fact, no - it is when people decide they want to be free. Once they have made up their minds to that, there...

Pardon me while I have a moment of conspiracy-theory deja vu. Back in the fall of 2007, during the height of Burma's Saffron Revolution, I was repeatedly called upon (as one of the few Western analysts of the civil resistance going on there) to answer the claim that the uprising...

In case you missed it, another blow to the Iranian regime's legitimacy was delivered yesterday when the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri issued a statement declaring essentially that no sane person should believe the official election results and that regime's handling of Mousavi's appeal is shameful.

It is difficult to overstate the...

Reposted from http://www.commondreams.org on June 9, 2009:

Although it has been several weeks since Keith Olbermann has used his MSNBC show as a platform to call for the public water boarding of fellow commentator Sean Hannity of the Fox News Channel, my concerns about Olbermann's former campaign have...

Reposted from Truthout.org:

If the international consensus about last week's election results in Iran is that they were a) indeed fraudulent, or b) a coup attempt, and the pro-democracy elements in that country emerge victorious, it will mostly be in spite -- not because -- of mainstream media coverage...

The following piece has been co-authored by Cynthia Boaz, Ange-Marie Hancock, David McCuan, Mark Crispin Miller, and Michael Nagler.

Last Friday, a federal court judge in Cleveland, Ohio ordered Michael Connell, an information-technology consultant to the McCain '08 campaign, to give a deposition in a court proceeding. Mr. Connell, whose...