Larry Franklin to plead guilty in AIPAC Case

Larry Franklin to plead guilty in AIPAC Case

Neocon Michael Ledden is furious with whoever leaked the information about his friend Larry Franklin. Franklin is the former Pentagon Iran analyst who is expected to plead guilty to three charges of mishandling government secrets next week in a deal his lawyers hope will guarantee his wife at least half of his civil service pension. [NY Sun]

Jim Larson has given a thorough overview of the neocons who've worked directly with the Bush administration, and in that examination of neocons and how their tight ship has become a traitorous ship of fools, Larson says:

When Mr. Franklin approached Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee with classified information, they were already under surveillance by the FBI. Caught red-handed, Mr. Franklin began to cooperate with the FBI.

Poverty: You Must See It to Fix It

Poverty: You Must See It to Fix It

Recognizing poverty in our own nation is an important step to fixing it, says anthropology student Meg Burd at the Rocky Mountain Collegian [Colorado State U]

Poverty often seems to be an issue swept under the rug...Poverty is present throughout the nation, and is not something we should ever let fade from our view.

See:
Winter Crisis Looms for the Poor in Iowa

Near-record-high gasoline prices, inevitable spikes in energy costs and out-of-state disasters pulling regular donations away from Iowa — these are the "indicators of doom" for the poor this winter, said Jerry McKim, who oversees the state's Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. [Des Moines Register]

NOLA Poverty Changes Philly Doctor's Outlook

NOLA Poverty Changes Philly Doctor's Outlook

A doctor from Philadelphia who assisted in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina says:

"How can you spend a week helping a destitute father find shelter for his family, or a poor elderly woman manage her diabetes, and not come away with a feeling of urgency that things have to change? [..] And since it took Hurricane Katrina for many of us to realize that crushing poverty is alive and well in America - because we've stopped seeing the poverty in our own communities - maybe first-person volunteering in Louisiana would keep that realization fresh enough that we'd agitate for change back home....

If the problem is bad in New Orleans, you know it's probably just as bad in Philadelphia..." - Philadelphia Daily News