Don't let them tell us stories. Don't let them say of the man sentenced to death "He is going to pay his debt to society," but: "They are going to cut off his head." It looks like nothing. But it does make a little difference. And then there are people who prefer to look their fate in the eye.
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Children as targets? Children as soldiers? All children deserve to be protected from gun violence no matter where they live.
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Dear L.J.,
The United States is not the only country where children are facing an epidemic of gun violence. While in the U.S., we continue to grapple with the tragic reality of children who routinely face gun violence in their communities and children who increasingly are the targets of mass shootings, in other places around the world, we see the heartbreaking consequences of children who also face the daily horrors of armed conflict, many forced to become soldiers. During Monday's inaugural address, President Obama said: "Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm."
However,
the President could have -- and should have -- broadened his statement
to include children from the war-torn neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria to
valleys of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo, because if
protecting all children is our shared destination, then we can’t afford to let our concern be confined by U.S. borders.
We must call on the President to lead efforts to establish a strong Arms Trade Treaty, one that will help stop irresponsible and illegal arms transfers around the world that directly contribute to the recruitment of child soldiers. You have probably heard about Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda -- the group responsible for widespread murder, rape, maiming and amassing throngs of child soldiers. Fewer people know about the recruitment of child soldiers by Bosco Ntaganda, a commander of the FPLC armed group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Fewer still realize that the armed groups who have taken control of the northern part of Mali, as well as the Malian army, are also using child soldiers. Why do children in Uganda, the DRC and Mali continue to have a target on their back? Because a global free-for-all lets weapons flow into the hands of armed groups and governments who, in turn, recruit children and commit other grave abuses. By failing to make the establishment of a global Arms Trade Treaty a priority, President Obama is letting them get away with it.
Protect all children from violence -- please call for a strong Arms Trade Treaty.
It's simple; no child should be forced to stand on either side of a weapon. But the gun lobby in the U.S. is still trying to make you believe that this is about taking guns away from law-abiding Americans. It's not. The Arms Trade Treaty would put in place common-sense measures, like background checks on international arms sales, to stop or at least slow the sale of weapons between countries that fuel conflict, atrocities and instability as well as lead to the displacement and deaths of millions of civilians and the continued use of child soldiers. More than 43,000 of you have helped set the record straight for the NRA's leadership. Thanks for supporting children everywhere who are trapped by armed conflict. Your voice is so important as we prepare for the UN to hold its conference on the Arms Trade Treaty in March. Every child deserves that same right no matter where they live. With your help, we can make this Arms Trade Treaty "bullet-proof". Michelle Ringuette Chief of Campaigns & Programs Amnesty International USA |
 Protect children from the global arms trade 
President
Obama, in his second term in office, can help protect all children from
gun violence around the world by supporting a strong Arms Trade Treaty
in March.
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Media Advisory
Obama to the Left?
Media avoid reality behind inaugural rhetoric
1/23/12
If
there was one consistent media message about the Obama inauguration
ceremony, it was the idea that he was announcing a clear shift to the
left. But coverage failed to provide much background on the president's
actual policies, which would have challenged that impression.
"The president called for an ambitious liberal agenda in his inaugural address yesterday," said CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley (1/22/13). On the PBS NewsHour (1/22/13),
Gwen Ifill said, "President Obama's forceful new focus on progressive
ideals echoed across the nation on the day after the inauguration." The
headline across the front page of the New York Times (1/22/13) read, "Obama Offers Liberal Vision."
The supposed move to the left unnerved some pundits (FAIR Blog, 1/22/13);
corporate media generally prefer Democratic presidents when they're
talking about compromising with their Republican opponents.Much of the attention to this progressive shift came due to Obama's comments about climate change:
We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.
The
inclusion of climate change was treated as a particularly big deal,
given that inaugural addresses seldom dwell on policy. "Speech Gives
Climate Goals Center Stage" read one headline in the next day's New York Times (1/22/13).
But that story, and much of the media commentary on his climate
comments, failed to even mention the Keystone XL pipeline, currently
under State Department review.
The
carbon-intensive project, bringing tar sands oil from Canada to the
Gulf Coast, would be a major source of heat-trapping greenhouse gases
(NRDC, 1/17/13).
(The Alberta tar sands contain as much as 240 gigatons of carbon, or
almost half the total it's estimated humans can add to the atmosphere
without dangerously raising global temperatures--Rolling Stone, 7/19/12.)
It is hard
to fathom how meaningful action on climate change would be possible if
Keystone were approved, but the White House has not spoken out in
opposition to the pipeline (Nation.com, 1/22/13). Leaving out Obama's most important upcoming climate policy decision when covering his climate agenda is a media failure.
Part of the inaugural address discussed immigration policy as well, when Obama said this:
Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.
On the PBS NewsHour (1/22/13),
host Gwen Ifill introduced that soundbite by saying that Obama "also
raised immigration reform, an issue that went unaddressed for much of
his first term." And the New York Times (1/22/13)
reported that for Latinos the inauguration was "an occasion to savor
newfound political clout," though it was tempered by the "sense that
Obama had better make good on the promises he failed to keep during his
first term, including an immigration overhaul."
That's one
way to look at it. But the reality is that Obama did have an
immigration policy in his first term, and it was an extraordinarily
punitive one. That policy record was mostly missing from discussions.
An exception came from NPR correspondent Ted Robbins (1/21/13):
He and his administration have deported more than a million and a half people, which is a record, and he spent $18 billion, according to the Migration Policy Institute last year, on enforcement. And implemented Secure Communities, which is a local law enforcement sharing data of people they arrest with federal immigration authority.
And CNN's
John King (1/21/13) told viewers: "It was the Obama administration
that angered many Latinos, and especially Latino interest groups, by
increasing the number of deportations."
Since the
significance of Obama discussing policy is that the policies themselves
affect the world and people's lives, reporters covering the speech
would have served the public better if they had clarified how the
president's rhetoric matched up with his record.
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