Events Books

Professor Marjorie Cohn provides a much needed review of the Bush administration's legal record - from launching a "preemptive" war on the basis of palpable falsehoods, to advocating and even practicing torture at Guantanamo and by proxy through "extraordinary renditions," to warrantless wiretaps and spying on Americans, to overreaching claims of executive power that ignore validly passed laws and upset the framers' careful balance of constitutional powers.

Professor Cohn's book shows how an administration that claims a high regard for democracy and the rule of law has in truth demonstrated a deep-seated contempt for both -- explaining why the rest of the world is so fast losing faith in America and her ideals.

Professor Cohn's book should help Americans to come to terms with the harm that the Bush administration has done so far. And that, I believe, is a critical step to restoring our national decency and honor.

Eric Alan Isaacson

Daniel Ellsberg likes this book and so do I. Geoffrey Stone, foremost constitutional scholar, likes this book, and so do I.

It is a scholarly and complete exposition of a vital subject, the ruination of our country both inside and outside. Ms. Cohn skillfully describes the Bush-led hollowing-out of our former constitutional liberties coupled with a catastrophic war. Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild, an organization of lawyers who value human rights over property rights, uses the analytical abilities of a skilled lawyer and law professor to point the way out of the mess.

Ms. Cohn's writing makes you want to read on and on, and lay all other things aside until the book is read. How many books of any kind do that to you?

Marjorie Cohn, a law professor from San Diego and the head of the National Lawyers Guild, lays out the evidence in a scathing indictment of the current president and his administration. Professor Cohn explains step by step so that anyone, with or without a legal background can understand just exactly what is happening to our country. She explains how the president and his minions lied to the American people to "sell" the war in Iraq, how the executive sanctions torture and murder, how our civil liberties are being threatened and actually taken away and most importantly, in my mind, how the president refuses to enforce the laws he disagrees with and sets himself up as a constitutional scholar interpreting the law to decide which laws are constitutional and which are not. This is a usurpation of power that is unprecedented in this country and is startling in the fact that Congress has become complicit in this "crime." The president has refused to enforce more than 750 laws acording to one article cited by Professor Cohn, by using signing statements in approving laws he objects to rather than simply vetoing them. These statements have been used by other Presidents to explain how the law in question will benefit the American people but in Bush's hands they are used interpret Congress's intent, a violation of the separation of powers, among other problems. Please read this book. Nothing could be more important, regardless of your political affiliation.

What a well-reasoned legal analysis of Bush administration actions and policies. This administration is tried and found guilty. If you're looking for talking points to refute right-wing friends or talking heads, this book argues them for you in clear convincing language.

This remains one of the best books on Gay Civil Rights, even though it was written over a decade ago - and much indeed has transpired since. The authors place the question of equal rights for GLBT persons in the broader spectrum of American Civil Rights. Consequently, the book and the arguments set forth so cogently therein retain vitality, even though it was written well before Lawrence v. Texas was decided.

I think that this book is a must for anyone writing a paper on Homosexuality, Homophobia, or Gay Rights. The authors do an excellent job at debuking many stereotypes found it America. They are obviously extremely emotionally involved in the struggle for gay rights and they display their emotion excessively in this book. Maybe even to a point of indulgence, but it still is greatly helpful, so 4 Stars.

I am so happy to have found this book. The authors have done an outstanding job of presenting and explaining the issues of Gay rights versus special rights. This book does a great service to people who are interested in understanding why the U.S government and Fundamentalist right are so opposed to extending civil liberties to all citizens. Very concise and thought provoking. I loved it! Thanks to the authors for finally explaining the real issues behind gay equality.

This is one of the most thought-provoking books on any "morality" subject that I have ever read. The authors are very clear in explaining the difference between 'special' vs. 'equal' rights. It is unfortunate that the audience for this book will be almost exclusively gay. It is one that EVERYONE should read.

If you buy it, pass it on to a friend. If you have straight friends, buy them a copy, ask them to read it, and tell you what they think. After all, it's not that expensive, and maybe they'll even understand you better!

Mark Moore postulates creating public value as a mode of practical reasoning and an alternative way of conceiving of the public policy challenge in relation with the public administrative enterprise. Moore offers a notion of strategic management in government as a way of linking the traditional study of ends in public policy with the traditional study of means in public administration. Moore postulates a strategic triangle, arguing that a useful conception of public value can be envisioned by managers if they integrate (1) substantive judgments of what would be valuable and effective (2) a diagnosis of political expectations (and legal parameters) and (3) hard-headed calculations of what is operationally feasible. The text articulates ways of thinking about and enacting public value in government, considers approaches and techniques for managing upwards toward politics and downwards toward organizational operations in relation to a wide variety of case studies, and concludes with a consideration of what consciousness or temperament is required of public managers if they are to be successful in managing, effectively and democratically.

The text is exceptionally well-written and is equally accessible to undergraduate students, graduate students, and practitioners. It remains a fundamental resource and an invaluable key to new ways of thinking for policy makers and administrators today.

This book is an excellent source for practising public managers and academics and students who interest in public administration. As time passed, people, their representatives and public managers change or need to change their paragigms. Moore indicates the reason why public organizations must change. Organizational posture and position always must be in accordance with external environment. From the perspective of Moore, public managers must move away from the technicians that work to realize the goals imposed by elected officials with the maximum efficiency to the strategists that analyze the environment and find new ways for creating more value for people. This does not mean bureaucrats are completely free and can think and do whatever they desire. We know this situation points to the demolishing of the democracy. But Moore stresses that public officials must be made accountable for the results and all the time they must be oversighted by citizens, representatives, press, interest groups and public at large. This book is not a How-to-do guide. But we can adapt the principles proposed to the unique circumstances of our organizations.

This book is an excellent source for practising public managers and academics and students who interest in public administration. As time passed, people, their representatives and public managers change or need to change their paradigms. Moore indicates the reason why public organizations must change. Organizational posture and position always must be in accordance with external environment. From the perspective of Moore, public managers must move away from the technicians that work to realize the goals imposed by elected officials with the maximum efficiency to the strategists that analyze the environment and find new ways for creating more value for people. This does not mean bureaucrats are completely free and can think and do whatever they desire. We know this situation points to the demolishing of the democracy. But Moore stresses that public officials must be made accountable for the results and all the time they must be oversighted by citizens, representatives, press, interest groups and public at large. This book is not a How-to-do guide. But we can adapt the principles proposed to the unique circumstances of our organizations.

An excellent overview of the public manager as a creator of value. Moore does an excellent job drawing parellels to the private sector to illustrate how public managers need to address the needs of their consumers by creating value. The only downside of the text is the high level style of the writing, which sometimes makes it difficult to follow.

This book provides a very thorough, yet practical explanation of social security in an easy to read format. This is a great guide for almost anyone wanting a better understanding of not only how the program works, but how it will work for them as an individual participant.
However--as the author mentions--it should not be viewed as a technical reference for financial professionals.

OK, I'm the author and I'm biased. But the other Social Security books out there still seem to be either very poor-quality consumer guides (out of date, inaccurate, or jargon), or the "Social Security is a rip-off and it will crash in a few years" type. My guiding principles in creating this book: --accuracy (gained from many years working at SSA), --plain English, and --lots of concrete examples. There are a few areas where the book has become obsolete: --All the payment figures have increased with inflation. --The 1.45% payroll tax on Medicare no longer has an an earnings cap--it applies to all earnings, no matter how high. --The amount of Social Security benefits included in your taxable income has increased from 50% to 85% for high- income retirees. Otherwise the book is still current. (OK, it's time for a new edition, which I'll complete one of these days!) I invite readers to contact me with individual questions or comments. Happy reading!

I'm a retired Soc. Sec. claims rep and I rate this book as the best explanation of Social Security benefits I've ever seen. The writer's style is great and he has a nice, friendly approach. It's not an easy subject, but he explains things in a simple, understandable fashion.

Mr. Landis has succeeded in making a very complicated subject comprehensible to the average reader. All my questions about how the system works were answered. I appreciated the fact that Mr. Landis was employed by the Social Security Administration for many years and was able to give an insider's account of procedures and benefits. Many thanks for this very helpful book!

This book is pack full of information. I enjoyed it very much. It explains alot of the behaviors and helps to not take anything personally. Overall it is very long but worth the read and to keep for reference. I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to Dr. Levy and Dr. Orlans for producing an outstanding user-friendly book. This is an essential tool for anyone who is a foster or adoptive parent and for professionals working with children and families involved in the Child Welfare system. The book begins by describing the core concepts of child development and attachment, the three pillars of assessment, attachment patterns, and traits and symptoms of a compromised attachment. The book then goes on to describe how parents can become "healing parents" by getting to know themselves in order to create a healing environment where wounded children can learn to trust. The book provides the basic practices of Corrective Attachment Parenting and how the practical skills and strategies caregivers use can lead to positive change in your child and family. I highly recommend this book to the families I am working with.

As an adoptive parent, adoption professional, trainer and author, I found Healing Parents to be one of the most practical and insightful books curently available to deal with traumatized children. The book's readability and practical use will benefit both professionals and parents dealing with the hearts and minds of traumatized children. I now recommend it in all my workshops.

Jayne Schooler
International adoption educator

Written by therapists, teachers, consultants and researchers Michael Orlans and Terry M. Levy, Healing Parents: Helping Wounded Children Learn to Trust & Love is a guide written to give parents and caregivers the information, tools, support, and positive outlook they need to help emotionally wounded children heal and improve themselves behaviorally, socially, and morally. Chapters discuss the core phenomena of attachment - the deep connection that children and parents or caregivers establish early in life - the importance of knowing both one's child and oneself, basic principles of corrective attachment parenting, attachment issues in an adoptive or foster care family, and much more. "You cannot change others - not your spouse, children, parents, other family members, friends, coworkers or employer. You can influence others and create opportunities for others to change, via your attitudes, actions, and reactions. By creating a healing environment you can have a positive impact on your child, resulting in learning, growth, and motivation to succeed." Highly recommended especially for parents or caretakers of any type raising a child who has suffered trauma or deprivation.

From the first sentence, introducing Cardinal Justin Kennedy, to the very last sentence, tying the entire plot together with seven little words, one is kept awake, stimulated, and living through the magic of this author's skills. Author's like Dr. Shaffer should be sent to Oslo, and given the highest honors.

And to think by chance I received a free copy of his book.

Henry Anthony Ebarb, Doctoral Student, Prescott, Arizona

The Cross by Gene Shaffer is a well crafted novel of the escalating contempt held for an American Cardinal as his interpretation of a two-thousand-year-old inscription as the missing final verses from the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Mark. As the Cardinal's election and coronation as Pope approaches, his discovery results in a political turmoil. Against the backdrop of the Catholic church, The Cross leads its readers through a story of murder, divisions of loyalty, terrorism, suicide and scandal. An "instant classic" and sure to be timeless tale, The Cross is very highly recommended reading.

The Cross by Gene Shaffer is a well crafted novel of the escalating contempt held for an American Cardinal as his interpretation of a two-thousand-year-old inscription as the missing final verses from the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Mark. As the Cardinal's election and coronation as Pope approaches, his discovery results in a political turmoil. Against the backdrop of the Catholic church, The Cross leads its readers through a story of murder, divisions of loyalty, terrorism, suicide and scandal. An "instant classic" and sure to be timeless tale, The Cross is very highly recommended reading.

The Cross by Gene Shaffer is a well crafted novel of the escalating contempt held for an American Cardinal as his interpretation of a two-thousand-year-old inscription as the missing final verses from the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Mark. As the Cardinal's election and coronation as Pope approaches, his discovery results in a political turmoil. Against the backdrop of the Catholic church, The Cross leads its readers through a story of murder, divisions of loyalty, terrorism, suicide and scandal. An "instant classic" and sure to be timeless tale, The Cross is very highly recommended reading.

The book tells the dark story of how the Catholic church with its liberation theology fought a battle in Latin America defending the poor and oppressed peasants and Indians against landowners, rancheros, paramilitary police, US backed dictatorships and the CIA.

In Honduras the wealthy ranchers did not want to let the bishops fulfill their jobs since it increased agitation amongst the peasants. Hector Gallego was one priest who didn't let himself be silenced. He was killed when he was thrown in the pacific ocean from a helicopter by what believes to be agents from the Panamanian police. Canadian Protestant missionary Gilbet A.Reimer and Father Ivan Betancur where also victims of landowners violence against priests, landowners who called the new testament "a communist book". The CIA was "particularly valuable in providing full information on certain priests-personal data, studies, friends, addresses, writings, contact abroad, etc." Between 1975 and 1978 twelve foreign missionaries had been arrested and father Raymond Herman who worked with helping the Indians in Cochabamba in Bolivia was found strangled with two bullet wounds in the head.

The Banzer plan, named after the Bolivian dictator Hugo Banzer, was a plan developed to undermine the churches work in Bolivia. This plan was later adopted by 10 different Latin American countries. Support for anti-Marxist priests was also proposed. Bishop Pronao of Ecuador, who supported the impoverished Indians in that country against the wealthy landowners, said, "I am honored to be called a subversive. I hope that we are permanently subversive in the way that I have described. If we are living within a state or a system that is evidently not in accord with the designs of God, we must oppose it. In a sense Christ, too, was a subversive." The stories of priests who have been killed, disappeared or been tortured are not isolated incidents. A few major American companies made major economic gains by encouraging a political system that bred this kind of militarism, torture and repression against its citizens.

The Catholic Church has been severely denounced in Latin America by the US defense department for criticizing it. But what the Catholic Church was criticizing was really a rebirth of a kind of fascism in Latin America, a "Creole fascism". This was "a model for promoting economic development without changing the existing social conditions". This colonial fascisms marriage to capitalism intensified class differences and made the rich richer and the poor poorer. The United States was directly involved in the creation of military, police and paramilitary agencies responsible for torture and other atrocities in seventeen Latin American countries. Did it ever occur to the Americans that the reason for subversive movements, Marxist guerillas, or other disruptive elements did not have so much to do with a "communist threat" as it had to do with internal influences; like decades of dictatorship and repression. There was no way the US could admit that there may have been legitimate reasons for the subversive activities. Anything that went against the government was automatically labeled as "communist activities".

Between 1968-1969, 1000 marines helped the Guatemalan counterinsurgencies hunt down subversive peasants. Around 8000 peasants in total where killed. These groups where the forerunners of he infamous "white hand", a right wing vigilante group responsible for thousands of deaths. In 1970, 3200, trained Guatemalan policemen killed or had disappear 7000 people. The military intervention in all these Latin American countries made it almost impossible for the regular citizen to have any real involvement in politics. These dictatorships operated under the myth that they created "law and order" when in fact there where narcotic traffickers, black mailers, thieves and assassins for hire operating freely under these Para-military regimes. Many churches opposed these regimes and therefore made it clear that the real message of the gospels was to stand up for human rights. These priests who speak out have been denounced by their governments just like the humanitarian priest who spoke out 400 years ago by the colonialists. Many of these priests and bishops also rightly pointed the finger at the United States government for being involved in training army and police who destroyed Christian communities and murdered priests and nuns. A Brazilian bishop said, " Where it not for the guns, for the torture, and the terror, Brazils military regime could not survive. And were it not for this regime, foreign corporations could not continue to make enormous profits at the expense of the people. The government has all the legal instruments necessary to control the companies, and so has the United States, but the military ignores them."

Most Latin Americans know that US foreign policy is run by corporate interests. Many of the men who approved of CIA activities against democratically elected governments; assassination courses for the police were all "pillars of the US business community". Many of the Latin American coups have meant big payoffs for US corporations. In 1980 the richest man in Latin America earned 550,000 dollars a week while the poorest earned 90 dollars a year, the gap still widening. Bribes are very common even for the biggest American corporations. "Consumer democracy" was to replace political democracy. The Catholic Church objected to this because they thought that this model of development was a mask for privilege. There was only as small procent of the Latin American population that could afford things like refrigerators, cars or TVs. The theologian Jose Comblin says, " the economy is not supposed to produce for the people, but for foreign markets, for the military, and for a few privileged technocrats. This marginalization means that the masses do not work for themselves, or have any hope of advancing themselves through their work." Father Virggilio Rosa Netto from Brazil says: "The amazing thing is that so many of these technocrats have turned their backs on own earlier educations as Christians to adopt the religion of the global corporations."

In the Amazon nuns, bishops and priests are in "open, often violent conflict with the multinationals, local ranchers, the military and the police." This land that at one time relieved the pressure of overpopulation now has caused land-starved peasants to move by the millions into the inner city favelas. This is an "avalanche of human misery" that makes up the backbone of Brazils industrial wealth. In the bible there is a part in the first book of kings, chapter 21 that illustrates this story. The Amazon is about 83% of the size of the United States of America and is incredibly rich in natural resources. The indigenous people living here have no real rights and the basic attitude is that "the Indian cannot stand in the way of progress". Brazils Indian population has declined from 2 million at the beginning of the last century to 200.000 in 1963 and went down to 100,000 in 1978. Both American and European multinational corporations have cleared and taken over land that originally belonged to the Indians. They have also cleared large areas of the Amazon by using the same chemicals they used to clear out jungles in Vietnam.

During the 1960s many American Catholic missionaries where approached by the CIA to gather information about progressive priests in Latin America. Many of them where quite naïve and felt flattered by the attention. The CIA was playing god in Latin America, deciding who should be the next president, which people should be assassinated, even how the people should live. The CIA was using the religious groups in Latin America for their own secret ends. They supported right wing catholic groups and trained police that killed and tortured priests, nuns and bishops some of who where US citizens. The missionaries now started saying that you "cannot defend democracy by destroying it." The TFP group-Tradition, family and property, was a right winged catholic group that existed in several Latin American countries. They were wealthy and belonged to the upper class of the society. They wanted an old school church that saw the rich as having a divine right for owning all that they owned. They supported the CIA economically in staging many of the government coups in Latin America. The CIA in turn encouraged and supported the TFP. Therefore the CIA was accused by many Latin American bishops of "inciting one sector of the church to attack another."

Father Joao Bosco Penido Burnier was a Jesuit missionary who was shot in the head and killed when he tried to top two police men from torturing and raping two peasant women who were related to a man who had opposed himself to the police brutality in the Amazon. Bishop Hipolito was another Brazilian bishop who was kidnapped and beaten because he opposed the dictatorship. Father Tito de Alencar was a 29-year-old Dominican priest who was severely tortured for 40 days in a Brazilian prison. He later committed suicide after being let out of prison. The "institutionalization "of terror was rationalized by the US government and multinational corporations as something that was necessary for development. In Argentine during its dirty war between 1974 and 1976 the repression was even worse. Officially 9000 people went missing but some say the numbers are as big as 30000. The group "mothers of the disappeared" has since been formed consisting of mothers who still want to find out what happened to their sons and daughters under this torturous and brutal regime. The US government funded Argentina's regime and gave them extra money for police training. This police force was corrupt and according to Lernoux involved in drug trafficking. There was also a wave of anti Semitism in Argentina fueled by the hundreds of Nazis that the country had let in after World War 2. Argentina became the world center for the publication of anti-Semitic literature. The progressive Catholic Church was also persecuted. By the end of 1977 seventeen priests and nuns had been killed, thirty where in prison and Argentina's most vocal bishop Enrique Carletti had been killed in a fake auto accident. The situation in Mexico was tense as well with many priests being tortured for working for rights for the poor. There where several assassination attempts on a few of the countries bishops and one priest, father Rodolfo Aguilar, was killed. He was shot while working in an impoverished area trying to improve conditions for the poor there. A few weeks after another priest was killed called Father Rodolfo Escamilla. He had worked for 8 years in the slums trying to help the poor there organize themselves and organize cooperatives.

Poor Latin American Christians therefore view the bible as "a very revolutionary book". A book that from the beginning to the end tells the story of Jahves liberation of his people. The exodus story is the central event, where the people are freed from oppression. The oppression is from a political tyrant who has imposed on them an unjust economic order with unjust social structures. So it's a story about economic and political liberation too. The Old Testament prophets convey the same message. Attacking the corruption within the state of Israel and condemning those within the ruling classes who oppress the poor. Jesus as well stands in the same tradition as these prophets, the core of his message being "freedom to captives" and "liberation to the oppressed." Therefore if god took sides back then god is still doing it now, identifying with the oppressed. Earlier the church mostly has taken the side of the rich oppressor but this was starting to change in Latin America. If the church doesn't speak out against oppressors then they run the risk silently supporting them. Many Latin American peasants first saw the catholic imagery in their own way. God was the wealthy landowner who one had to bow down to and obey. While Jesus was the poor peasant or Indian who had been tortured and killed. They had difficulty viewing the symbolism of the resurrection. This came as a shock to many of the priests who started working more actively with the poor and left their comfortable positions of power. Gradually this view is starting to change with the spread of liberation theology. Here the teachings go against those of the colonial church. Instead of trying to force teachings on the people instead one tries to listen and learn from them. This opened up a more authentic dialogue between the church and the people. Smaller Christian communities started developing throughout Latin America where the principals of liberation theology where applied at a grassroots level. When the new pope came to Latin America in the late 1970s he denounced the situation in the continent speaking closely to Indians and other marginalized groups saying that the church was on their side. After this a new document was drafted by all Latin American bishops that strongly took the side of the poor and the oppressed. On the other hand there was a more conservative vein within the church that opposed these progressive liberation theologians.

The American bishop in El Paso said: "The use of capital and the development of a corporate economy have without doubt produced great benefits for mankind. But it has become increasingly evident that large corporations reaching across national boundaries drain natural resources and labor from poor countries primarily for the benefit of a small proportion of affluent people in the world. Such an ordering of the world economy is immoral and must be rejected and fought by the church. It is not sufficient to weep for the priest who is martyred by the regime in Brazil, without acting to prevent the complicity of the United States of America in that act of murder. The system that we know it holds in bondage, not only those who are exploited to maintain a flow of wealth largely in one direction, but it also holds in the bondage of unslaked thirst for goods and power and sense of superiority those who reap the benefit."

The book tells the dark story of how the Catholic church with its liberation theology fought a battle in Latin America defending the poor and oppressed peasants and Indians against landowners, rancheros, paramilitary police, US backed dictatorships and the CIA.

In Honduras the wealthy ranchers did not want to let the bishops fulfill their jobs since it increased agitation amongst the peasants. Hector Gallego was one priest who didn't let himself be silenced. He was killed when he was thrown in the pacific ocean from a helicopter by what believes to be agents from the Panamanian police. Canadian Protestant missionary Gilbet A.Reimer and Father Ivan Betancur where also victims of landowners violence against priests, landowners who called the new testament "a communist book". The CIA was "particularly valuable in providing full information on certain priests-personal data, studies, friends, addresses, writings, contact abroad, etc." Between 1975 and 1978 twelve foreign missionaries had been arrested and father Raymond Herman who worked with helping the Indians in Cochabamba in Bolivia was found strangled with two bullet wounds in the head.

The Banzer plan, named after the Bolivian dictator Hugo Banzer, was a plan developed to undermine the churches work in Bolivia. This plan was later adopted by 10 different Latin American countries. Support for anti-Marxist priests was also proposed. Bishop Pronao of Ecuador, who supported the impoverished Indians in that country against the wealthy landowners, said, "I am honored to be called a subversive. I hope that we are permanently subversive in the way that I have described. If we are living within a state or a system that is evidently not in accord with the designs of God, we must oppose it. In a sense Christ, too, was a subversive." The stories of priests who have been killed, disappeared or been tortured are not isolated incidents. A few major American companies made major economic gains by encouraging a political system that bred this kind of militarism, torture and repression against its citizens.

The Catholic Church has been severely denounced in Latin America by the US defense department for criticizing it. But what the Catholic Church was criticizing was really a rebirth of a kind of fascism in Latin America, a "Creole fascism". This was "a model for promoting economic development without changing the existing social conditions". This colonial fascisms marriage to capitalism intensified class differences and made the rich richer and the poor poorer. The United States was directly involved in the creation of military, police and paramilitary agencies responsible for torture and other atrocities in seventeen Latin American countries. Did it ever occur to the Americans that the reason for subversive movements, Marxist guerillas, or other disruptive elements did not have so much to do with a "communist threat" as it had to do with internal influences; like decades of dictatorship and repression. There was no way the US could admit that there may have been legitimate reasons for the subversive activities. Anything that went against the government was automatically labeled as "communist activities".

Between 1968-1969, 1000 marines helped the Guatemalan counterinsurgencies hunt down subversive peasants. Around 8000 peasants in total where killed. These groups where the forerunners of he infamous "white hand", a right wing vigilante group responsible for thousands of deaths. In 1970, 3200, trained Guatemalan policemen killed or had disappear 7000 people. The military intervention in all these Latin American countries made it almost impossible for the regular citizen to have any real involvement in politics. These dictatorships operated under the myth that they created "law and order" when in fact there where narcotic traffickers, black mailers, thieves and assassins for hire operating freely under these Para-military regimes. Many churches opposed these regimes and therefore made it clear that the real message of the gospels was to stand up for human rights. These priests who speak out have been denounced by their governments just like the humanitarian priest who spoke out 400 years ago by the colonialists. Many of these priests and bishops also rightly pointed the finger at the United States government for being involved in training army and police who destroyed Christian communities and murdered priests and nuns. A Brazilian bishop said, " Where it not for the guns, for the torture, and the terror, Brazils military regime could not survive. And were it not for this regime, foreign corporations could not continue to make enormous profits at the expense of the people. The government has all the legal instruments necessary to control the companies, and so has the United States, but the military ignores them."

Most Latin Americans know that US foreign policy is run by corporate interests. Many of the men who approved of CIA activities against democratically elected governments; assassination courses for the police were all "pillars of the US business community". Many of the Latin American coups have meant big payoffs for US corporations. In 1980 the richest man in Latin America earned 550,000 dollars a week while the poorest earned 90 dollars a year, the gap still widening. Bribes are very common even for the biggest American corporations. "Consumer democracy" was to replace political democracy. The Catholic Church objected to this because they thought that this model of development was a mask for privilege. There was only as small procent of the Latin American population that could afford things like refrigerators, cars or TVs. The theologian Jose Comblin says, " the economy is not supposed to produce for the people, but for foreign markets, for the military, and for a few privileged technocrats. This marginalization means that the masses do not work for themselves, or have any hope of advancing themselves through their work." Father Virggilio Rosa Netto from Brazil says: "The amazing thing is that so many of these technocrats have turned their backs on own earlier educations as Christians to adopt the religion of the global corporations."

In the Amazon nuns, bishops and priests are in "open, often violent conflict with the multinationals, local ranchers, the military and the police." This land that at one time relieved the pressure of overpopulation now has caused land-starved peasants to move by the millions into the inner city favelas. This is an "avalanche of human misery" that makes up the backbone of Brazils industrial wealth. In the bible there is a part in the first book of kings, chapter 21 that illustrates this story. The Amazon is about 83% of the size of the United States of America and is incredibly rich in natural resources. The indigenous people living here have no real rights and the basic attitude is that "the Indian cannot stand in the way of progress". Brazils Indian population has declined from 2 million at the beginning of the last century to 200.000 in 1963 and went down to 100,000 in 1978. Both American and European multinational corporations have cleared and taken over land that originally belonged to the Indians. They have also cleared large areas of the Amazon by using the same chemicals they used to clear out jungles in Vietnam.

During the 1960s many American Catholic missionaries where approached by the CIA to gather information about progressive priests in Latin America. Many of them where quite naïve and felt flattered by the attention. The CIA was playing god in Latin America, deciding who should be the next president, which people should be assassinated, even how the people should live. The CIA was using the religious groups in Latin America for their own secret ends. They supported right wing catholic groups and trained police that killed and tortured priests, nuns and bishops some of who where US citizens. The missionaries now started saying that you "cannot defend democracy by destroying it." The TFP group-Tradition, family and property, was a right winged catholic group that existed in several Latin American countries. They were wealthy and belonged to the upper class of the society. They wanted an old school church that saw the rich as having a divine right for owning all that they owned. They supported the CIA economically in staging many of the government coups in Latin America. The CIA in turn encouraged and supported the TFP. Therefore the CIA was accused by many Latin American bishops of "inciting one sector of the church to attack another."

Father Joao Bosco Penido Burnier was a Jesuit missionary who was shot in the head and killed when he tried to top two police men from torturing and raping two peasant women who were related to a man who had opposed himself to the police brutality in the Amazon. Bishop Hipolito was another Brazilian bishop who was kidnapped and beaten because he opposed the dictatorship. Father Tito de Alencar was a 29-year-old Dominican priest who was severely tortured for 40 days in a Brazilian prison. He later committed suicide after being let out of prison. The "institutionalization "of terror was rationalized by the US government and multinational corporations as something that was necessary for development. In Argentine during its dirty war between 1974 and 1976 the repression was even worse. Officially 9000 people went missing but some say the numbers are as big as 30000. The group "mothers of the disappeared" has since been formed consisting of mothers who still want to find out what happened to their sons and daughters under this torturous and brutal regime. The US government funded Argentina's regime and gave them extra money for police training. This police force was corrupt and according to Lernoux involved in drug trafficking. There was also a wave of anti Semitism in Argentina fueled by the hundreds of Nazis that the country had let in after World War 2. Argentina became the world center for the publication of anti-Semitic literature. The progressive Catholic Church was also persecuted. By the end of 1977 seventeen priests and nuns had been killed, thirty where in prison and Argentina's most vocal bishop Enrique Carletti had been killed in a fake auto accident. The situation in Mexico was tense as well with many priests being tortured for working for rights for the poor. There where several assassination attempts on a few of the countries bishops and one priest, father Rodolfo Aguilar, was killed. He was shot while working in an impoverished area trying to improve conditions for the poor there. A few weeks after another priest was killed called Father Rodolfo Escamilla. He had worked for 8 years in the slums trying to help the poor there organize themselves and organize cooperatives.

Poor Latin American Christians therefore view the bible as "a very revolutionary book". A book that from the beginning to the end tells the story of Jahves liberation of his people. The exodus story is the central event, where the people are freed from oppression. The oppression is from a political tyrant who has imposed on them an unjust economic order with unjust social structures. So it's a story about economic and political liberation too. The Old Testament prophets convey the same message. Attacking the corruption within the state of Israel and condemning those within the ruling classes who oppress the poor. Jesus as well stands in the same tradition as these prophets, the core of his message being "freedom to captives" and "liberation to the oppressed." Therefore if god took sides back then god is still doing it now, identifying with the oppressed. Earlier the church mostly has taken the side of the rich oppressor but this was starting to change in Latin America. If the church doesn't speak out against oppressors then they run the risk silently supporting them. Many Latin American peasants first saw the catholic imagery in their own way. God was the wealthy landowner who one had to bow down to and obey. While Jesus was the poor peasant or Indian who had been tortured and killed. They had difficulty viewing the symbolism of the resurrection. This came as a shock to many of the priests who started working more actively with the poor and left their comfortable positions of power. Gradually this view is starting to change with the spread of liberation theology. Here the teachings go against those of the colonial church. Instead of trying to force teachings on the people instead one tries to listen and learn from them. This opened up a more authentic dialogue between the church and the people. Smaller Christian communities started developing throughout Latin America where the principals of liberation theology where applied at a grassroots level. When the new pope came to Latin America in the late 1970s he denounced the situation in the continent speaking closely to Indians and other marginalized groups saying that the church was on their side. After this a new document was drafted by all Latin American bishops that strongly took the side of the poor and the oppressed. On the other hand there was a more conservative vein within the church that opposed these progressive liberation theologians. Later Ratzinger turned on the liberation theologians and started a new inquisition against them. Read more about this in Penny Lernouxs book "People of god".

The American bishop in El Paso said: "The use of capital and the development of a corporate economy have without doubt produced great benefits for mankind. But it has become increasingly evident that large corporations reaching across national boundaries drain natural resources and labor from poor countries primarily for the benefit of a small proportion of affluent people in the world. Such an ordering of the world economy is immoral and must be rejected and fought by the church. It is not sufficient to weep for the priest who is martyred by the regime in Brazil, without acting to prevent the complicity of the United States of America in that act of murder. The system that we know it holds in bondage, not only those who are exploited to maintain a flow of wealth largely in one direction, but it also holds in the bondage of unslaked thirst for goods and power and sense of superiority those who reap the benefit."

I really think that book is the best book I ever Read!!! I am only 14 . Now I know what's going on on this planet.I really enjoy the book because it happens all the time. I know we can't stop them and how difficult it most be for the family of the victims,just don't make them mad so nothing is gonna happend with you! I write everything like I would write it in 1000 words. Thanks for your attention, Justine (14, Belgium)

I really think that book is the best book I ever Read!!! I am only 14 . Now I know what's going on on this planet.I really enjoy the book because it happens all the time. I know we can't stop them and how difficult it most be for the family of the victims,just don't make them mad so nothing is gonna happend with you! I write everything like I would write it in 1000 words.

Cuba And The Coming American Revolution by author and political activist Jack Barnes, is a provocative and forcefully worded examination of the history and the future of American and Cuban politics. Ranging from the utter disaster that was the Bay of Pigs to predicting a socialist revolution in American policy and a counterrevolution in Cuba, this is an informed and informative account of class struggle. Barnes especially underscores the ways in which the American working class has been steamrolled and the consequent incentives that call for change. Cuba And The Coming American Revolution is a thought-provoking look at where two nations mights well be headed and a very welcome contribution to Cuban History and Socialist Studies academic reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Jack Barnes, the author of this boook, points out: "The greatest obstacle to the line of march of the toilers is the tendency, perpetuated by the exploiting classes, for working people to underestimate ourselves, to underestimate what we can accomplish, to doubt our own worth." This book proves that like the Cubans the working class in the United States has the capacity to win political power. Barnes explains how after a visit to Cuba in 1960 he and other student activists defended Cuba during the Bay of Pigs invasion. They stood up to both campus administrators and right-wing thugs and won the the right not only to speak out but to become the makers of history, like the Cubans. Barnes explains how the Cubans as a people demonstrated remarkable courage and determination in standing up to an imperialist terror campaign, arms in hand, while continueing their revolutionary work, which included a literacy campaign the likes of which has not been seen before or since. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A BOLD SOCIAL VISION, I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO YOU! While amazon may list this book as not available from time to time, it is always available from the Pathfinder z store listed under "new and used" at the top of the page.

If you think, or rather I should say believe, that the "market" is the best of all possible systems, this the best of all possible countries, in the best of all possible worlds, then this is not the book for you.But if you are serious about doing something effective about meaningful social change in the "new millenium", then you owe it to yourself to buy this book.The author begins with the efforts of a small band of young people at a small Midwestern college to oppose the Yankee empire's efforts to overthrow the Cuban Revolution at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, and during the "Missile Crisis" in 1962. He shows you how and why the Cuban people then, and still today, were willing to fight and die to defend their nation and revolution, and how those everyday ordinary working people changed themselves into better humans in the process.He then explains that the only way to rid the earth of war, racism, discrimination against women, enviromental catastrophe,etc., is to do what the Cubans did, here in the "belly of the beast" --make a revolution. The alternative, he affirms, is fascism and a new world war. Finally he points to a concrete program to unify working people here and now,at home and abroad, necessary to fight back against the economic catastrophe looming before us to anyone with eyes to see.

If you are serious about making a human world, buy this book ! And pass it on to others.

While these books may not be directly available from Amazon at times, they are available from the booksfrompathfinder on Amazon that you can find by clicking on the new and used books on this page.

The Cuban revolution and especially the resistance and defeat of the US mercenary invasion at the Bay of Pigs is the starting point of this book. The author and tbe book's editor Mary Alice Waters were students at Carlton College in Minnesota in the early 1960s. This discuss how the Cuban revolution, and building a student movement to fight for the truth about that revolution radicalize them and other students, and the lessons they learned building a movement to defend Cuba during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Barnes extends this at the end to a discussion of a program for working people in the 21 Century accurately evaluating Bush and Gore as the same poison. He provides real a real program against both liberal and conservative probusiness politics. What I love about this book is the stream of history: the fighters of Cuba, the students and Black activists who defended the revolution, and going forward to fight for socialist in this world in the 21st Century.

While these books may not be directly available from Amazon at times, they are available from the booksfrompathfinder on Amazon that you can find by clicking on the new and used books on this page.

This book deserves its reputation as a classic. Redman's story-telling skills are wonderful, he writes well, and clearly explains everything going on in the sometimes arcane world of legislative procedure. He makes the dullest-seeming motions and committee hearings come alive.

Scholars of the Congress should read this, if for no other reason than to get a basic handle on how the Congress actually works, rather than how they think it works in fancy regression analyses. But more than that, it's the starting point for a whole genre of work such as Showdown at Gucci Culch, Conflict and Compromise, and The Bill (all of which are must-reads as well). Even a casual observer of politics can get excited and interested.

This book is the most informative and best written book I have ever read on politics. It's filled with humor and candid comments about the United States Congress.

This book makes me nostalgic for the days when Members of Congress cooperated & got things accomplished. Great vignettes of Maggie! Very accurate rendition.

The year was 1970, President Nixon was still in office, however, an intern by the name of Eric Redman was on hand in the halls of Congress to witness the fascinating dance of legislation as The National Health Service Corps was attempting to be born. This book provides a personal account of the birth and struggles of the attempt to pass a piece of legislation from within the private confines of who was then the second most powerful United States Senator, Warren Magnuson from the State of Washington. While the names have changed, the struggle for a balance between power, influence, and social consciousness and survival remains the same. This book is as fantastic look behind the scenes of the most influential body of power on earth contains the essential ingredients today as a quarter of a century ago. It is a must read for anyone with an interest in political legislation and stands alone in its own right as a factual story that is as fascinating and compelling as any! fictional novel you will ever read.

The 2008 edition of Darfur: A New History of a Long War, by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, is an essential reading about the current conflict in Darfur. The book gives a short overview of the history of Darfur and its people - from independent sultanate, annexation by the Anglo-Egyptian condominium, colonial times, to Sudan's independence.

Authors blame the British colonialists and Sudanese governments after independence for the lack of development in Darfur. They assert that Arab supremacy and racism, preached from Libya and the Sudanese capital, have caused divisions and animosity between "Arabs" and "Africans" in Darfur in the 1980s and 1990s, culminating with the conflict that began in 2003.

Flint and de Waal closely look at the links between the Sudanese government and "Arab" militias, called Janjaweed, claiming that there is enough evidence that proves that the government of Sudan is using the militias as a proxy in the Darfur conflict. They write about the Darfur rebel movements and their leaders, noting tribal divisions among the rebels and the crimes committed by the "African" rebels against "Arab" civilians.

Authors examine the international community's reaction to the conflict and the Abuja peace talks that culminated in 2006 with the Darfur Peace Agreement that was signed by the Sudanese government and only one rebel faction, but did not bring peace. They end the book with a chapter titled Endless Chaos, having little hope that the Darfur conflict could be ended any time soon.

It is important to note that the authors, for whatever reason, have not mentioned China once in the entire book. As a major world player that has oil interests in Sudan and is preventing any sanctions or condemnation of the Khartoum regime, China must be mentioned in a book about the current conflict in Darfur.

This book is a valuable asset to any library. The only problem I had with this book is trying to read Swahili. I took Introduction to Swahili 101 at Oklahoma City Junior College, but I guess that just was not good enough.

There are plenty of serious human rights abuses in Africa which Westerners, particularly American corporations and arms dealers have strong complicity in: the 4 million dead in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi, Equatorial Guinea under Teodor Obiang, Chad under Idriss Deby, Uganda under Museveni. One can also mention the horrors of the neoliberal economic model which African governments have followed so studiously. But Sudan and Zimbabwe seem to take up 90 percent of recent Western media reporting about abuses in the region. Both governments, vile as they certainly are, have struck independent courses via US power over the years and so are demonized in the US media. Former Senator John Danforth, US ambassador to the UN in 2004, stated on British tv in 2005 that the main reason the Bush administration made noises about Darfur in the election year of 04' was to please the voting block of fundamentalist Christians who have long believed the Sudanese regime to be satanic.

There is plenty of stuff in this book about the barbaric atrocities of the Sudanese government and the Janjiweed, the paramilitary force which acts as a proxy for the Sudanese military in Darfur.. In Darfur, the driving Arab supremacist ideology was rooted in the "Arab Gathering" group which emerged under the backing of Colonel Qadaffi of Libya in the 70's and 80's. Many in Sudan's government have been influenced by this ideology. The authors provide much quotation from these brethren who stress the need to make Darfur a purely Arab homeland and to cleanse it of non-Arab elements. Qadaffi funded the Sudanese Islamist/Arab nationalist groups Ansar and Muslim Brothers against his enemy, Sudan's then dictator Jafarr Nimieri in the 70's and early 80's. Many in these groups ended up in positions of power after the Islamist regime took power in June 1989. Qadaffi also funded Arab supremacists in Chad during the 80's, many of whom found refuge in Darfur and have since made not insignificant contributions to the violence there.

It also appears from the authors' discourse that the conflict is driven by the struggle for land and water in an area which has seen much drought, and a dwindling supply of water and arable land.....
The authors point out that Arabs of the Bagarra Rizeigat--to which the majority of Arabs in Darfur belong--have kept out of the conflict.... A not insignificant number of the janjiweed are violent criminals released from Sudan's prisons to serve in that body......

Bagarra Rizeigat have protected refugees from Janjiweed terror. The Bagarra Rizeigat chief, Saeed Madibu has resisted efforts by the Khartoum government to bribe him and terrorize him into submission. The authors seem to imply that most of the Arab tribal elites in Darfur would greatly prefer peaceful social, political and commercial interaction between Arabs and African tribes instead of the apopaclyptic ideology of a Darfur cleansed of all black people that Janjiweed leaders profess. Saeed Madibu, in a contumacious act to the Khartoum government, has resurrected meetings of Darfurian tribal elders to negotiate in an equitable fashion, land and resource issues.

One of the two Darfurian opposition groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) is divided between two tribal based factions, the Fur, led by Abdel Wahid and the Zaghawa, led by Minnie Minawi. These two groups spend alot of time making war upon each other, rather than upon the Sudanese army and Janjaweed. They mention that the SLA, perhaps a joint action of the two factions, attacked Bagarra Rizeigat territory in the Summer of 2004 and burned villages, stole livestock and engaged in other such activities at which the Janjiweed are such experts but Said Madibu's forces drove them out of their land.

The JEM is much more sophisticated. Islamists disillusioned with the extreme corruption and violence of the Khartoum regime seem to make up a significant part of the JEM's leadership. In interviews with one or another of the authors, the JEM leaders disavow any association with Hassan Al-Turabi, the Islamist scholar who was Sudan's de facto ruler throughout the 90's until he lost a power struggle with the country's president General Omar Hassan Al-Bashir in 2000 and was thrown into prison. Turabi had attracted many to his cause in the 70's and 80's because he spoke of a brotherhood of Muslims regardless of race and spoke out against the extreme corruption and inequality in Sudan's society. JEM leaders, according to the authors' interview of them, think that Turabi is a disgusting fraud and don't want anything to do with him. However many of them are specifically committed to setting up an Islamic state in the Sudan, which they say will grant freedom of worship to other faiths and will fullfill the ideals of honesty and equality in government that Turabi's variety of Islamists promised back in the 80's but have made such a mockery of in practice. The leaders of the JEM are often former national and regional officials under the current regime and provide the authors with stories probably containing at least some truth, illustrating their own virtue when they were in the service of the current regime, in the midst of grotesque brutality and corruption.

The authors mention the US and UK backed Naivasha accords that ended the civil war in Southern Sudan in 2005. In that accord the oil revenues are to be evenly divided between North and South, the SPLA has become the autonomous ruler of the South and army units in the capital are divided 50/50 in membership between the SPLA and the Sudanese army. SPLA leader John Garang was made first vice president of Sudan but he died in a mysterious plane crash shortly after the Naivasha accords. However the war criminals in both the Sudan government and the SPLA were granted amnesty from prosecution.....The authors note the desire for stability in south Sudan with its strategically important oil wealth by the US and UK, the Naivasha accord backers. Darfur in contrast has no important resources.

People professionally concerned with genocide prevention and Darfur recommended this short but outstanding book (there are quite a few others on the crisis) when I needed to supplement my knowledge quickly. Its 134 pages of condensed information are based on prolonged and detailed work in the region and with people who know it well. The complexity of Darfur and its crisis as well as its relationship to other regions of Sudan emerge with balance, but with a clear picture of the horrors being committed. It enlarged my knowledge greatly beyond what I had gleaned from the media and a few days spent with some refugees from Darfur. It discusses events up to early 2005, its publication year, so is not quite up to date. The experts recommended it despite pointing this out, and I'm glad they did.