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Holy Cross Cemetery.
Photo credit: Adam McIntosh / Flickr (CC BY 2.0).
A Greener Way to Die
By Jeff Schechtman
Even the most zealous guardians of the environment don’t realize that they often do their worst environmental damage when they die. Green burial activist Suzanne Kelly talks to WhoWhatWhy’s Jeff Schectman about the current American way of death. It is often presided over by seemingly small, but often corporatized funeral homes, and may in fact be one of the most polluting and environmentally damaging things that we do.
PICKS
PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
Guy Fawkes Night will be observed around the world today. This painting by Henry Perronet Briggs is titled The Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot and the Taking of Guy Fawkes. It shows the arrest of Guy Fawkes for attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the attack in 1605. Anonymous protesters may be participating in Guy Fawkes events wearing masks.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
SCOTUS to Probe Race Prejudice on Juries (Russ)
Using one case in which an all-white jury sentenced a black teen to death, top court could generate changes in the system.
Expert Advisers Decry EPA’s Sneaky Fracking Language (Russ)
Give industry a sentence on drinking water safety that is misleading and can be used by fracking industry to claim clean bill of health — though not wholly justified. It’s technical, but that is good enough for propaganda purposes.
Voters in Maine and Seattle Stick It to the 1 Percent (Trevin)
On Tuesday, voters chose ballot measures to realize or fortify public financing, “an important reform that can increase the diversity of the donor pool and reduce the power of big money in politics.”
Poppy Bush Slams ‘Iron-Ass’ Cheney, ‘Arrogant’ Rumsfeld in New Biography (Trevin)
But the buck stopped with W. who he holds responsible for Cheney’s “seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East.”
Believable? We think not. Go here for a glimpse at the real “Bush 41,” byWhoWhatWhy Editor in Chief Russ Baker.
Should We Reject Luxury Goods? (Russ)
In this essay, the author, after pointing out the many reasons to abhor luxury, concludes otherwise.
Capitalism Is Not the Agent for Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (Trevin)
Cornel West and Richard Wolff join host Laura Flanders to discuss capitalism and white supremacy.
Graduation Ceremony of Iranian Policewomen’s Training Course (Kristina)
“In 2005, Iranian TV reported on the graduation ceremony of a training course for Iranian policewomen. Dressed from head to toe in black robes, the women climb down walls, dangling from ropes, hang out of careening police cars, their guns at the ready, in a simulation of a police chase, and make mock arrests.”
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