Both President Obama and Governor Romney praised the effectiveness of sanctions against Iran during the third and last Presidential debate. Yet not once during that same debate, did they mention the fact that these sanctions are taking toll on innocent civilians, namely the weak and vulnerable of Iranian society.

Common Dreams reports that:

Washington-based sanctions attorney Eric Ferrari said food and medical exports to Iran are being blocked, even though those items are technically exempt from sanctions. According to the NIAC:

There is a symbiotic relationship between the Christian-Right and the Islamophobia industry. Each needs the other in a mutual way. The Christian-Right needs reassurance that it’s fears are real and the Islamophobia industry needs money (as all industries do in order to survive), and gets this cash by selling this reassurance.

Look no further than the recent Values Voter Summit for evidence of this relationship. Michelle Goldberg of the Daily Beast reports:

The ACLU reports:

The Justice Department has finished sweeping the crimes of the Bush administration under the rug. Senior officials developed and implemented an interrogation program that subjected prisoners to abuse that clearly violated the law by any measure. But today, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department will close its investigation into the CIA’s torture and abuse of detainees without bringing charges.

Today would have been Howard Zinn’s 90th birthday, had he still been alive. The world has lost one of its great moral compass and a great voice for human rights and anti-imperialism with his death.

From Common Dreams: