Like many believers in peace, I opposed the draft in principle, but I don't think I grasped the human face of it until recently. My brother had just turned 18, and I realized that he would have to sign up for the selective service. I had to sit down and tell him he was required by law to give his information to the state, in order to make it easier for them to take him by force to kill other human beings far away. I myself had to sign up for the selective service years ago an

Among Star Trek fans – and I consider myself one – The Wrath of Khan is often hailed as the best film in the series. Driven by great villainy, great friendship, and great sacrifice, the 1982 classic remains the emotional powerhouse of the franchise. Star Trek Into Darkness is only our second foray into director J. J. Abrams’ rebooted Star Trek universe, but already we’re boldly going where Ricardo Montalban has gone before. Khan is back, once again seeking that dish best serv

I left at 9 p.m. on July 6th, and returned home by 8 a.m. on July 15th. I gave up more than a week of what was supposed to be the most relaxing part of summer break to stand out in the hot Texan sun doing some pretty thankless - if not generally despised - work. That’s not to say we weren’t the beneficiaries of some very generous and gracious hosts and donors, but the young people with the Students for Life of America “Stand4Life” Bus Tour who descended upon Austin, Texas, we

This is an interview with Heather Beaudoin, a national advocacy coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. Beaudoin lives in Michigan with her husband and infant daughter. LMJ: Tell us a little about yourself, your involvement in conservative politics, and your involvement in Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. Heather: My involvement in conservative politics began during my college years. During that time I worked for the Republican senate

The following is a transcript of a speech given at an anti-war rally by Nicholas Neal, a student at SIU Carbondale and a leader in the Students Against Unjust War student organization on campus. Greetings fellow activists! My name Is Nicholas R. Neal. I am the president of Students Against Unjust War. I’m here at this great gathering because the drone issue is very critical for the cause of peace. I happen to be twenty-two, and were I to unfortunately be killed by a drone in

The consistent life ethic is spreading in the mind of the community. There is more and more discussion of it, even by pro-choice advocates, and more and more individuals and groups are expressing support of it. [1] The major organization that exists purely to advocate for the consistent life ethic is Consistent Life (http://www.consistent-life.org/), a coalition of 200 diverse organizations that support that ethic. There are also over 200 individual endorsers of the ethic, m

When I told some of my friends that I would be going to the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to help launch Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty (CCATDP), some were downright skeptical that anything good could come of that experience. The dominant assumption for years has been that, if you are conservative, you support the death penalty. Surely, CPAC—one of the largest gatherings of the year of conservatives from across the country—would not be

“The Scourged Back,” so dubbed by Kathleen Collins, is an image that pops up in the mind of most people when thinking of American slavery. A nineteenth century photo of a man sitting in a chair with his whiplashed back turned towards the camera was the horrific image of America’s historic injustice used by abolitionists to prick the consciences of their contemporaries and lay forth a visual case against slavery.[1] The same could be said of the Associated Press’ iconic photo

According to Eric Garris of the website AntiWar.Blog, Oklahoma state representative Paul Wesselhöft will be leading an anti-war rally on the south steps of the Oklahoma State Capitol. The event will be hosted Friday, July 12 at 7:00 p.m. and the public is invited. Wesselhöft mentioned that the theme of aforementioned rally will reflect those who oppose U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war and that the event will be bipartisan in nature. The backlash from this bipartisan

Detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been on hunger strike since early this year. The strike began in February, with perhaps as few as 14 men participating; the number of participants grew over the following months and, as of July, 106 detainees out of the total prison population of 166 have joined the strike.[i] Of the men on hunger strike, 44 are being fed twice a day by Guantanamo authorities using a tube threaded through the nose and into the

BY NICHOLAS NEAL We often hear partisan pundits criticize their opponents for the opponents' inconsistencies about killing people. We hear that pro-life advocates do not respect the sanctity of life in war zones. We hear that peace advocates are not so peaceful when it comes to unborn children. What is the answer to this inconsistency? The simple answer is being consistent. This ideological position is known as the consistent life ethic. The foundation for this ethic is

BY NICHOLAS NEAL The abolition of the death penalty in Illinois began when Governor George Ryan placed a moratorium on capital punishment in the state in 2000, after seeing an alarming number of death row inmates being exonerated. Eleven years later, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill officially abolishing capital punishment in Illinois. It was then up to Pat Quinn to sign it. Now, although Governor Quinn is a Democrat, he had previously spoken in favor of capital

BY OLIVIA MELDRUM While I am mistress of my mind, You will sleep safely every hour. No morning will you wake to find My warmth turned cold, or sweetness sour. A fragile burden do I bear (O precious visitor; flesh brand-new) - I forget my face and clothes and hair In pain and consciousness of you. My little one, your mama hurts. She shakes at every strange man's gaze. You've joined the Dance - this you deserve; But our dance, dear, limps through a maze. I am not mistress of my

BY MARY KRANE DERR The right to access the full range of voluntary family planning methods is often neglected or actively undermined in the name of prolife, especially but not exclusively in the United States. Yet there are nine good reasons -- at least -- why fostering this right is essential to respect in practical deed for all human lives, already born and unborn. 1. Family planning freedom prevents millions of human deaths every year. Voluntary access to modern methods o

BY NICHOLAS NEAL & AIMEE BEDOY On Tuesday, August 23rd, the rebel forces in Libya stormed Gadhafi's capital of Tripoli, thus declaring victory over the tyrannical leader who had once imposed unjust and inhumane purification laws against his own people. After 42 years in power as an autocratic dictator in Libya, Muammar Gadhafi has been removed from power by rebels within his own borders. Gadhafi is currently out of power and in hiding from NATO forces, but in an effort to k

BY AIMEE BEDOY & STEVEN OETJEN A quandary of major proportions faces our nation in this day and age. It could be a matter of life and death for countless persons -- we cannot truly be sure. This paper seeks to examine abortion through the lens of Constitutional law, science, and justice, and lastly to apply these faculties to the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act recently passed in Nebraska. In brief, our recommendation is always to stand for justice and ultimately

BY BILL SAMUEL What should our attitude -- as individuals, social movements and nations -- be toward war? When, if ever, is war justifiable either as to our own participation or as a decision of a nation or social movement? How do we get to a meaningful peace? These questions have been discussed and debated for millennia, and may be even more vital in this day of advanced weaponry. They have been discussed by people from many different religious traditions, and from none.

BY LILIANNA SERBICKI Swollen, a dream on its way to fruition; Nothing romantic. Lense (soft-focus) gone. Real fruit bruises; a real fruit stays the motion We make ourselves. Our unkempt pieces drawn Into alignment; some beings are too real To smudge with soft words. Some beings delight In waking up the small pith in the chest With beating limbs. It is a sudden sleight Of soul, not hand; the itch will soon persuade Myself to love my stippled skin far more Than when it held jus

BY AIMEE BEDOY I am writing this ten years to the day that those towers fell. And ten years later, I want us to discuss what we have learned from September 11, 2001, and where we as a nation must continue to grow. I am speaking as someone who grew up in this culture, immersed in it wholly from the time I was 12 years old. Perhaps I am not the wisest, or the most sage member of society to speak on these points, but this is what I have learned from my childhood to the present

BY JULIA SMUCKER It's that time of year again -- or has been, since sometime last year. The mud is flying left and right as a motley crew of politicians competes for our nation's volatile confidence. And who are they trying to appeal to? For a myriad of confounding reasons, our national political discourse has become so polemicized that most prominent candidates, as well as many commentators, seem able to do little more than preach to particular choirs within their own par