Abstract

In Fact…

This article presents several news briefs. Ausma Khan and Nader Hashemi write: The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi sends a message both to the old guard within Muslim societies who resist democratic reform and to the neoconservatives in Washington who support forceful regime change in the Muslim world: The path to change is best led by indigenous activists committed to democracy, human fights and nonviolence. During the Vietnam War, Ron Ridenhour, a former soldier, revealed firsthand the truth about the My Lai massacre and in so doing, helped turn public opinion against a war that was rotting the nation's moral fiber. In his memory and to encourage more people to follow his example, the Fertel Foundation and the Nation Institute established the Ron Ridenhour Awards to honor current and future whistleblowers and truth-tellers. Matt Bivens's Outrage of the Week: The extreme rage-filled Republicans have finally won in Texas. It meant turning their state into a joke -- though they got a lot of cover from fellow national joke, California -- and pulling law officers off counter terrorism to "look for Democrats" and, when that failed, threatening to hire bounty hunters to kidnap Democrats.