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Positive vs. negative human rights

By on Oct 6, 2011 in Politics

… the United States [has a] constitutional tradition that sees human rights as “negative” rights–rights against government–not “positive” rights that can be used to oblige government to take action to secure people’s livelihoods. I was stopped by this quote in the article, “Who says food is a human right?”, in The Nation’s recent Food Issue. While I am a huge advocate of Medicare-for-all and other progressive, social safety net programs, I have always felt uncomfortable at the mention that “Healthcare is a human right” or “Food is a human right.” For some reason the idea that healthcare or food or shelter are human rights on par with freedom of speech or religion feels wrong to me. I could say that historically food or shelter haven’t been rights, but then neither has freedom or speech or...

Europe’s real terrorist threat: Region not religion

By on Sep 8, 2011 in Politics

“According to Europol, between 2006 and 2008 only 0.4 percent of terrorist plots (including attempts and fully executed attacks) in Europe were from Islamists. The lion’s share (85 percent) were related to seperatism. Put bluntly, if you have to assume anything when a bomb goes off in Europe, think region, not religion.” Europe’s New Fascists, The Nation, by Gary Young

I love Elizabeth Warren and my microwave not exploding

By on Jun 8, 2011 in Politics

It’s not just Michael Moore who has a huge crush on Elizabeth Warren. It’s me too. I first heard Elizabeth Warren in the documentary Maxed Out, which will simultaneously blow your mind and make you cry. Those are qualities I dig in a documentary. After the economy exploded, she was made the chair of TARP. Later she was appointed a Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of the Presidency. As Ari Berman from The Nation says in his recent article, “Warren is a major celebrity in Washington, an Oklahoma-born Harvard law professor who’s done more than anyone since Ralph Nader to put consumer protection on the national agenda.” Her baby, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is currently under attack in Congress. The idea for the CFPB came out of an article Warren wrote in Democracy, which has the tag line “If it’s good enough for microwaves,...