Seven prominent national security whistleblowers Monday called for a number of wide-ranging reforms — including passage of the “Surveillance State Repeal Act,” which would repeal the USA Patriot Act — in an effort to restore the Constitutionally guaranteed 4th Amendment right to be free from government spying.

Several of the whistleblowers also said that the recent lenient sentence of probation and a fine for General David Petraeus — for his providing of classified information to his mistress Paula Broadwell — underscores the double standard of justice at work in the area of classified information handling.

Speakers said Petraeus’s favorable treatment should become the standard applied to defendants who are actual national security whistleblowers, such as Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden and Jeffrey Sterling (who has denied guilt but who nevertheless faces sentencing May 11 for an Espionage Act conviction for allegedly providing classified information to New York Times reporter James Risen).

The Central Ohio Worker's Center planned and numerous other local organizations supported a march and rally to raise the minimum wage in Columbus on May Day, May 1st. See the photo slide show below. (Photos by Bob Studzinski)

As they took roll on April 22, teachers at Grove City High School noticed that Ben Swanson’s seat was empty… again. But the junior had another excused absence.
   Swanson, who, at 17, became the youngest player signed by Columbus Crew SC last October, was on a plane headed to Medugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina to participate in three international friendlies with the United States Under-18 National Men’s Soccer Team.
  “I found out (I was being called up) about three weeks ago. I had to contact my school and they’ve been great with everything and (Crew SC sporting director and head coach Gregg Berhalter) was all for it,” said Swanson, whose team played against Siroki Brijeg on April 25 and the Bosnia U-18s on both April 28 and April 30 during its nine-day stay. “It’s definitely an honor and you’re excited to represent your country.

The Salt of the Earth may be the most gut-wrenching journey you’ll take this year. Also, the most moving.
  The documentary is about Sebastiao Salgado, a Brazilian-born photographer who has devoted most of his career to recording the struggles and sorrows of humanity. The quest has made him the witness to famines, wars and genocides, along with their painful aftermaths.
  Like Joseph Conrad, he and his camera have peered into “the heart of darkness,” a task that inevitably has shaken his faith in mankind. “We are a ferocious animal,” he says, speaking in subtitled French.
  Narrating his own photos of some of recent history’s worst examples of man’s inhumanity to man, Salgado adds that everyone should view these images “to see how horrible our species is.”