Thor Hesla was killed on January 14th, 2008 in an attack by the Taliban in Kabul, Afghanistan. I may have met Thor once or twice, but I didn’t know him. My perspective on this tragedy is that I know his father, Professor Emeritus David Hesla. David Hesla is a beloved and somewhat eccentric professor, one of the original members of my home department of the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory University. Among other things, he wrote the…
Join The Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini in launching a kite and filling the sky with messages of hope for millions of Afghan refugees. Since 2002, more than 5 million Afghan refugees – mostly women and children – have returned to their homeland, most with the assistance of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Despite this massive return movement, many Afghan families remain in neighboring countries, making them one of the largest exiled groups in the world.
I received an email today from Senator Saxby Chambliss, and I’m posting both his communication and my own. Dear Ms. N: Thank you for contacting me regarding the National Security Agency’s (NSA) monitoring of conversations connected to terrorist activity and the treatment of military detainees. It is good to hear from you. I certainly understand your concerns regarding personal freedoms. We are blessed to live in a free and effective democracy, and, just like you, I hold dear the personal…
We come in peace (shoot to kill): Some actions for my fellow armchair activists. Click on the links for more information and to take action. Don’t Give Alberto Gonzales the Power to Speed Up Executions. You’ve got to read this just to believe they are even considering it. Demand the immediate release of renowned Iranian-American scholar Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, who is imprisoned for the 100th day in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, a location infamous for the torture and detention of…
This global incident map of terrorism and other activities updates every 30 seconds. On 6-24-2007 AFGHANISTAN-NATO Kills 60 Taliban Terrorists In Operations In Afghanistan-Pakistan Border AFGHANISTAN-Lashkar Gah-Soldiers attacked by Afghan roadside bomb AFGHANISTAN-Lashkar Gah-Over a dozen Taliban, coalition soldier killed AFGHANISTAN-Andar-Taliban seize 18 Afghan mine clearing experts AFGHANISTAN-Musa Qala-Taliban behead local police chief’s son COLOMBIA-Buenaventura-Bomb kills at least two in troubled Colombia port GAZA-Palestinian Territory-BBC Journalist wearing bomb belt seen in new video INDIA-Nagpur-Cops on high alert due to letter…
Have a good Labor Day, America! Labor Day is meant to celebrate the contributions of the working class. The labor unions promoted it as a testament to the cause of worker’s rights. I don’t expect to see much on the origins of the holiday in America’s media this year. In 1898, Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor, called it “the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would…