New Bedlam: Jails—Not Psychiatric Hospitals—
Now Care for the Indigent Mentally Ill
by Spencer P. M. Harrington
In 200 years we haven't advanced far from Bedlam, the
infamous London hospital for the mentally ill. We still take those
who need treatment and lock them up—all too often in our
jails. And when we do release them, we fail to make
adequate arrangement for their care on the outside, resulting in
further crime and punishment.
North Korea: The Land Americans Aren't Permitted to Know
by John M. Swomley
U.S. forces have guarded the Demilitarized Zone between
South and North Korea since 1953 in violation of the armistice
signed at the end of the Korean War. After nearly a half century
of peace on the peninsula, why are they still there? Could it be
because the Pentagon is manipulating the situation for its own
benefit?
Abraham, Isaac, and Some Hidden
Assumptions of Our Culture
by Carol Delaney
The test of Abraham's faith was his willingness to kill
his son at God's command. Is such faith a virtue? Why didn't God
instead test Abraham's willingness to protect his son? And
how come nobody asked Sarah's opinion in the matter? (Read Article)
Missing the Forest for the Trees
by Mark P. Gibney
In the United States, ethics are debated endlessly
without ever tackling the central ethical issues of our time. By
focusing narrowly on such micro issues as individual conduct in
given situations—and not on the larger questions of the justice
of our social system or the way the world works—we conveniently
ignore how the social and the global affect the personal, and vice
versa, imagining ourselves "good" simply because we are decent.
A New Economy for a New Century
by Lester R. Brown and Christopher Flavin
Waste Not, Want Not
by Gary Gardner and Payal Sampat
Our planet's environment simply cannot tolerate the
globalization of the West's fossil-fuel-based,
automobile-centered, throw-away economy. Nor can the West continue
to enjoy this economy at the expense of the rest of the world. As
these two articles explain, a new ethic is needed for the
twenty-first century, along with a new concept of progress,
to make modern civilization sustainable.
The Humanist Interview: Sitting on the Windpipe of the First Amendment
by Greg Bates
Is the Information Age expanding our knowledge and our
options or shrinking them? Media analyst Norman Solomon offers a
sobering view of how the information industry has been
consolidated and left in only a few hands.
