by Pat Tassoni

The existence of poverty in the US should not be accepted as a necessary evil or an insoluble problem, but should be considered a crisis requiring emergency measures. It is a matter of will and priorities, not a matter of resources.

-- MLK, Jr.

The Statewide Poverty Action Network is working with local churches, labor organizations and non-profits to bring 1,000 poor people to Olympia on January 16 for a march to the Capitol and related events. Uniting under the above words of Martin Luther King, Jr. on his holiday, they will urge elected representatives to make ending poverty in . . .

by Nichole Ketcherside

I started working on the documentary "Downtowners" when I enrolled in the program Local Knowledge at The Evergreen State College during the 2004-2005 academic year. Local Knowledge gave students the opportunity to do community-based research. One of our first field assignments was to conduct an ethnographic observation. I chose to focus on the Olympia Transit Center when I noticed a lot of youth were congregating on the corner of Washington and State. I began collaborating with fellow classmate Jessica Eskelson on a short video focusing on the issues of public . . .

by Marjorie Cohn

Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires - a wiretap requires a court order.

-George W. Bush, April 20, 2004, Buffalo, New York.

In an assertion of executive power that rivals the excesses of the McCarthy era of the late 1940's and 1950's, and the dreaded COINTELPRO (counter-intelligence program) of the 1950's and 1960's, George W. Bush's National Security Agency has been secretly spying on United States citizens without warrants for the last three years.

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

Sometime in January, the 11th Circuit District Court is expected rule on whether the school board in Dover County, Pennsylvania can force its teachers to read the following statement before a biology lesson: "Darwin's Theory is a theory . . . not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no evidence." The courts ruling is significant, and could have a major impact on the separation of church and state, the American education system, and the future of science.

by Robert Jensen

While the great battles fought over the First Amendment's religion and free-speech/-press clauses are some of the most inspiring stories told 'round the legal campfire, the amendment's assembly and petition clauses are mostly a forgotten footnote.

There has been no great legal battle in easy memory over the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." In 1939, the Supreme Court decided a case, Hague v. Congress of Industrial Organizations, that definitively established "the right of the people peaceably to assemble" in public . . .

The Venezuela Reader: The Building Of A People’s Democracy

Edited by Olivia Burlingame Goumbri

Book review by Greg Rosenthal

Following the example of Cuba’s humanist approach to guaranteeing its people the right to quality education and health, Venezuela has embarked upon a historical mission to eliminate poverty in a country where nearly 70% of the population is poor. As Chavez consistently reiterates, the only way to end poverty is to empower the poor and marginalized.

by Erin Genia

President Bush recently declared, "we do not torture," but ample evidence contradicts his claim. Perhaps most glaring is Vice President Cheney's attempt to immunize the CIA from torture prohibitions.

In the so-called "war on terror," the rule of law has been corroded by torture, prisoner mistreatment, indefinite detentions and "disappearances" by U.S. hands. Documented abuses include hooding, stress positions, withholding necessities, physical and sexual assault, religious animosity and humiliation. "Rendition" -- the transferral of detainees to countries that practice torture . . .