UPDATE: NOVEMBER 19, 2013

Greetings,

Hard to believe how many months have passed by since I late updated Material Truth. While I still put a lot of effort into researching information online and from alternative media, I no longer have the time to dedicate to this site that I did last year. In addition to a new job, during the past months I have been spending an increasing amount of my time attending protests, demonstrations, conferences, forums, documentary screenings and other events related to my activism and the issues I find most important.

Many of these issues are the same ones I had been posting about on Material Truth, especially the following: drone strikes; the NDAA/indefinite detention; Guantanamo/torture; abuses by the US military/private contractors; GMOs/Monsanto; fracking; Fukushima/nuclear; indigenous peoples’ rights; militarization of domestic police/police brutality; criminalization of dissent and peaceful protest – both overseas and in the US; the Israeli apartheid state/occupation Palestine; US imperialism; the surveillance state; oppression in Bahrain and the other Gulf states; the prison industry; racism; Islamophobia; and the historical past of the US that isn’t commonly addressed by schools or the mainstream media.

Here is an interview I taped in late September for a local public access TV show, made possible by Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, one of the organizations I am a member of.

 

I still have hopes and ideas for Material Truth. I have not decided what direction I would like to take the site in, but I have enjoyed working on it in the past and plan on continuing it in the not-so-distant future.

 

In the meantime, please use the “Search” bar to find articles in the Archived posts that are of particular interest to you. There’s some pretty interesting stuff in there.

I have also made a Facebook page for Material Truth that you can “like” – link here. I usually post a couple articles every day. I also post articles and discuss activism on Twitter, if you would like follow me @mari_matsuo

In peace and justice,

– Mari

 

Today’s News Links: 03-19-13

Today marks the 10-year anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, a war based on lies, imperialism, and fanaticism that destroyed the lives of millions.

Dennis Kucinich: A Decade After Waging a War Based on Lies, We Must Create a Culture of Peace

Archive – Video Clip/Transcript: Bill Moyers, “Buying the War”

Juan Cole: What We Did to Iraq

Chris Hedges: The Shame of America’s Gulag

The Last Letter: A Message to George W Bush and Dick Cheney from a Dying Veteran 

Dumb Wars, Now and Forever

Adam Hudson: The Iraq War Was Not a Mistake – It Was a Crime

Editorial: Iraq War Media Failure Can Happen Again

Archive – Video Clip: Saddam Empties the Nation’s Prisons; Jeremy Scahill and Jacquie Soohen Report from Inside Abu Ghraib

1.6 Billion Rounds of Ammo for Homeland Security? It’s Time for a National Conversation

Charles Krauthammer’s False Statement About the US Constitution

Lockheed Martin’s Herculean Efforts to Profit from Defense Spending: The Epic Story of the C-130

Amy Goodman: Prisoner Hunger Strike at Guantanamo Bay Stains Obama’s Human Rights Record

Archive: The Meaning of ‘Shock and Awe’

On the 10 Year Anniversary of the Iraq Invasion, Why Do We Praise the Converted Over the Initially Right?

Amnesty Int’l – Iraq: Still Paying a High Price After a Decade of Abuse

Saudi Arabia Punishes 2 Activists for Voicing Opinion

Col. Ann Wright: 10 Years Later and I’m Still Protesting the War

US Secrecy Policy Run as Though Formed by Orwell and Kafka, Top Official Claims

Glenn Greenwald on David Frum, the Iraq War, and Oil

Editorial: It’s a Bad Time for Press Freedom

Guatemala: First Trial of Former Head of State Offers Hope of Justice

The Drone Industry Wants a Makeover

 

Today’s News Links: 03-16-13

‘Her Name is Rachel Corrie’ : Excerpts from Letters Rachel Wrote in the Days Before Her Death

Finally Hear Bradley Manning in His Own Voice

Video Clip: Glenn Greenwald Speaking at the ACLU Oregon Liberty Dinner

Daniel Ellsberg: A Salute to Bradley Manning, Whistleblower, As We Hear His Words for the First Time

The Corries’ 10-Year Quest for Justice

‘How Do You Spell Racist? NYPD!’ – Brooklyn Police Brutality Riots Continue

Report: Officers Who Killed Kimani Gray Have History of Complaints Against Them

Obama’s Secrecy Fixation Causing Sunshine Week Implosion

Blackwater was CIA’s Extension, Founder Erik Prince Admits

Honoring Rachel Corrie, 10 Years On

On the 10th Anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s Death, Her Parents Say to Take Action to Change US Policy in Israel/Palestine

Canadian Police Arrest Over 250 at Annual Anti-Brutality Rally

John Pilger: The New Propaganda is Liberal, the New Slavery is Digital

Op-Ed: The Drone Question Obama Hasn’t Answered

2 Years on, America Hasn’t Learned the Lessons of Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

Does Eric Holder Know the Law?

Speech is Not Always Free

National Security Letters are Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules

Navy SEALS and the Military’s Secret Hollywood Mission

Editorial: Iraq War 10 Years Later – How Did We Let It Happen?

Op-Ed: Death to Whistle-blowers? The Impact of the Bradley Manning Case

Op-Ed: Chavez’s ‘Polarizing’ Death

Op-Ed: Police Spying on American Muslims is a Pointless National Shame

Today’s News Links: 03-11-13

Chris Hedges: The Crucifixion of Tomas Young 

Editorial: How the US Public was Defrauded by the Hidden Cost of the Iraq War

Glenn Greenwald: NYT and Obama Officials Collaborate to Prosecute Awlaki – After He’s Dead

High Cost of Cheap Energy: Fukushima Tragedy 2 Years On

Photos: Japan Marks 2nd Anniversary of Fukushima Disaster

Truth-digger of the Week: Hugo Chavez

Revealed: America’s Arms Sales to Bahrain Amid Bloody Crackdown

David Ayers, Wrongfully Convicted of Murder, Wins $13.2 Million

Tibetan Self-Immolations Spark China Tension

Today’s News Links: 03-10-13

Glenn Greenwald: 3 Democratic Myths Used to Demean the Paul Filibuster

Amy Goodman: America is Shamed That Only Rand Paul is Talking About Drone Executions

Archive – Video Clip: Democracy Now Interviews Ramona Africa on the 25-Year Anniversary of the Philadelphia Police Bombing of MOVE

Archive – MOVE Bombing Still Leaves Philadelphia Scarred

How the US Smuggled its ‘Dirty War’ Policy to Iraq – with Fatal Consequences

Agent Smuggles Fake Bomb Past TSA Security at Newark Airport

International Women’s Day: Bahraini Women Imprisoned, Tortured, Killed, Stripped of Nationality

Interview: Teju Cole on the ‘Empathy Gap’ and Tweeting Drone Strikes

Tokyo Stages Mass Anti-Nuclear Rally

Op-Ed: The Submissive, Indifferent Democrats

US Stalling Could Force Acceptance of Onerous TPP

UN Condemns Fiji Torture Video

Video Clip: Why Did the US Government and Big Oil Hate Chavez?

Nepal Jails Tibetans on Uprising Anniversary

Spain: Tens of Thousands Take to the Streets in Protest of Unemployment, Economic Scandals

When Will Justice Be Served in Bahrain?

Editorial: The Great Garbage Patch of the Pacific

US Air Force Scrubs Drone Strike Data from Reports

Today’s News Links: 03-08-13

Editorial: Obama Must Reveal Legal Memos on His Administration’s Drone Killings Program

Peter Van Buren: Mission Unaccomplished – Why the Invasion of Iraq was the Single Worst Policy Decision in US History

Fighting a Global War Of Terror

Robert Fisk: War on Terror is the West’s New Religion

Archive: Editorial – Hugo Chavez Steps Up for Native Americans and the Poor

‘Hugo Chavez Lives!’ Supporters Gather to Mourn Death of Leader

Rand Paul’s Mixed Civil Liberties Track Record

On Surveillance: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

Private Prison Company Fabricates Facts to Fight Bad Publicity

Today’s News Links: 03-07-13

Op-Ed: Bradley Manning Served Democracy Far Better Than the Generals Who Want Him Sent to Jail

From El Salvador to Iraq: Washington’s Man Behind Brutal Police Squads

Op-Ed: Obama Promised to Close Guantanamo. Instead, He’s Made it Worse.

Archive: Marlon Brando Refuses to Accept Oscar [This statement was written by Marlon Brando for delivery at the Academy Awards ceremony where Mr. Brando refused an Oscar for ‘The Godfather’ to protest the negative portrayal of Native Americans in films, as well as their horrific treatment at the hands of the US government]

Desmond Tutu: Nuclear Weapons Must Be Eradicated, for All Our Sakes

Op-Ed: Drones are Coming Home to Skies Near You – Feel Safer? 

Alice Walker: “The Good Ones, for Hugo Chavez, Presente”

Hugo Chavez Dies of Cancer

World Leaders React to Chavez Death

ACLU on the Militarizing of Police in America

Advertising Campaigns Target AIPAC and US Aid to Israel Across Washington DC

2 Afghan Boys Accidentally Killed by NATO Helicopter

6 Tibetans in Gansu Sentenced After Protecting Body of Self-Immolator

Archive: Editorial – Hugo Chavez Gives Heating Aid to US Poor Following Obama Budget Cuts

Ethiopia’s ‘Jihadi’ Film and its Boomerang Effects

Today’s News Links: 03-04-13

Chris Hedges: We Are Bradley Manning

Op-Ed: Why We Must Resist Netanyahu and the Hawks’ Reckless Push for War on Iran

Op-Ed: Think There’s No Alternative? Latin America Has a Few

Rev. Richard Killmer: Seeing Torture for What It Is

Truth-Digger of the Week: Bradley Manning

Afghan Boys Killed by NATO Troops

Samer Issawi: We are Fighting for All Palestinians

Clapper v Amnesty: Courts and Congress v Our Constitution

Human Rights Watch Report: Mexico – Crisis of Enforced Disappearances

Human Rights Watch Report: Sri Lanka – Rape of Tamil Detainees

Human Rights Watch: Bahrain – No Progress on Reform

Violent Protests Rage On in Egypt’s Port Said

Mass Protests in Portugal Over Austerity Cuts

Editorial: Who Says You Can Kill Americans, Mr. President?

UN Demands Prosecution of Bush-Era CIA Crimes

Former Prosecutor Says Treatment of Guantanamo Detainees Puts US Soldiers at Risk

Today’s News Links: 03-01-13

Editorial: Hand-cuffing 7-Year Olds Won’t Make Schools Safer

Homeland Security: The Washington Creating That Ate Your Lunch

Op-Ed: Bradley Manning – The Face of Heroism

Bradley Manning Called the ‘NYT’ and ‘Washington Post‘ – What If They’d Responded?

Supreme Court Shields Wireless Eavesdropping Law from Constitutional Challenge

South Africa Police Arrested Over Man Dying in Custody After Being Dragged Behind Truck for Parking Illegally

Glenn Greenwald: Bob Woodward Embodies US Political Culture in a Single Outburst

Dairy Industry Wants to Put Aspartame in Milk – Without a Label

Police Spies: In Bed with a Fictional Character

Today’s News Links: 02-28-13

Archive Video Clip: Brief Speech by Dahlia Wasfi -“No Justice No Peace” 

Is the US Maintaining Death Squads and Torture Militias in Afghanistan?

Bradley Manning Plea Statement: Americans Had a Right to Know True Cost of War”

Archive: Russell Means Speech – “In Order for America to Live, Europe Must Die” [transcript]

The Hidden History of Water Torture

When Can Your Government Kill You?

How Neocons Messed Up the MidEast

Video Clip: Whistle-blower John Kiriakou Trashes Obama’s Nominee for CIA Director John Brennan

Chris Hedges: Rebels Stand Alone

Deepwater Trial: US Lawyers Say BP Ignored Warnings on ‘Well from Hell’

Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson: How the Bush Administration Sold the Iraq War – and We Bought It

Op-Ed: ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ the CIA, and Film Critics Have a Very Bad Evening

Drugs, War, and Occupation

Video Clip – The Daily Show: Merge Overkill

Truth-digger of the Week: Alexa O’Brien

Amnesty International: Japan Hangs 3 in First Executions Under ‘Merciless’ Abe Government

Editorial: We Could All End Up Like Bradley Manning