Tobacco companies had been protecting their turf for decades. They had congressmen in their pocket. They had corrupt scientists who made excuses about nicotine, cancer and addiction. They had hordes of lawyers to threaten anyone—inside the industry or out—who posed a problem. They had a whole lot of money to spend. And they were good at getting people to do what they wanted them to do. After all, they had already convinced millions of Americans to take up an addictive, unhealthy, and potentially deadly habit. David Kessler didn't care about all that. In this book he tells for the first time the thrilling detective story of how the underdog FDA—while safeguarding the nation's food, drugs, and blood supply—finally decided to take on one of the world's most powerful opponents, and how it won. Like A Civil Action or And the Band Played On, A Question of Intent weaves together science, law, and fascinating characters to tell an important and often unexpectedly moving story. We follow Kessler's team of investigators as they race to find the clues that will allow the FDA to assert jurisdiction over cigarettes, while the tobacco companies and their lawyers fight back—hard. Full of insider information and drama, told with wit, and animated by its author's moral passion, A Question of Intent reads like a Grisham thriller, with one exception—everything in it is true.

"The Bush-Cheney Administration transgressed the law in ways that trampled the Constitution, crushed the concept of lawful conduct and harmed the image of the U.S. around the world. The 2009 release of secret torture documents, in particular, ripped apart the notion that "'we' do not torture," as President Bush liked to say. Torture is against the law, plain and simple. The documents paint a bleak picture of the involvement of President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and top Administration officials in unleashing, sanctioning and conspiring in the infliction of torture. Without indictments, prosecution or accountability, their activities make a mockery of the United States law and especially of the unwavering standard that "no person is above the law." The failure to indict, prosecute or hold officials at the highest level accountable sets frightening precedents. Cheating Justice identifies in clear language why the nation needs to address the Bush-Cheney Administration's willing plunge into torture, and, more specifically, how to do it. With Watergate-era reforms as a model, the book will describe the plain steps to undoing the damage that the Bush-Cheney Administration inflicted and to putting into place new protections that will block future presidents from similarly abusing the law. Few topics can be more important for our times: these actions are vital to our freedom and to the nation's future. Following upon their book, The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens, (Nation Books, September 2006) (http://www.channonart.com/impeachBush/index.html) co-authors Elizabeth Holtzman and Cynthia L. Cooper discuss clearly and plainly how and why Bush, Cheney and others can and must be held accountable. "--

This book contains the oral testimony of victims of pornography, spoken on the record for the first time in history. Speaking at hearings on a groundbreaking antipornography civil rights law, women offer eloquent witness to the devastation pornography has caused in their lives. Supported by social science experts and authorities on rape, battery, and prostitution, discounted and opposed by free speech advocates and absolutists, their riveting testimony articulates the centrality of pornography to sexual abuse and inequity today. At issue in these hearings is a law conceived and drafted by Andrea Dworkin and Catharine A. MacKinnon that defines harm done through pornography as a legal injury of sex discrimination warranting civil redress. From the first set of hearings in Minneapolis in 1983 through those before the Massachusetts state legislature in 1992, the witnesses heard here expose the commonplace reality of denigration and sexual subordination due to pornography and refute the widespread notion that pornography is harmless expression that must be protected by the state. Introduced with powerful essays by MacKinnon and Dworkin, these hearings--unabridged and with each word scrupulously verified--constitute a unique record of a conflict over the meaning of democracy itself--a major civil rights struggle for our time and a fundamental crisis in United States constitutional law: Can we sacrifice the lives of women and children to a pornographer's right to free "speech"? Can we allow the First Amendment to shield sexual exploitation and predatory sexual violence? These pages contain all the arguments for protecting pornography--and dramatically document its human cost.

Critically examines the EPA's new stricter standards for levels of particulate matter and ozone. Argues that the EPA's scientific studies and reasoning are flawed. Suggests that allowing the standards to go through will allow the EPA unwarranted expansion of its regulatory power at the cost of farmers and ranchers. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

"The concept of human dignity has a 2500 year history. As it moved through history, the concept was been influenced by different religions which held it as an important component of their theological approach. It was also influenced by the views of philosophers who developed human dignity in their contemplations. In the 20th century, the concept encountered a new phenomenon. The atrocities of the Second World War, and particularly the Holocaust of the Jewish people, brought human dignity into the forefront of legal discourse. As a result, constitutional and international legal texts began to adopt the concept, and jurists appeared alongside the theologians and the philosophers. Legal scholars were called upon to determine the theoretical basis of human dignity as a constitutional value and as a constitutional right. Judges were required to solve practical problems created by the constitutionalization of human dignity, as a value or as a right"--

In The Costs of War, Richard Falk brings together some of his recent essays, published and unpublished, examining the impact that the Iraq War has had and will have on international law, human rights, and democracy. A new introduction provides an overview as well as a sense of the current context and reflects on the internal prospects for Iraq and on the logic of an early US military and political withdrawal. Having been revised and updated to take account of the march of events, the essays are organized into the following sections: Part 1 addresses the effects of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq on the current dimensions of world order Part 2 provides a normative inquiry into the larger intentions and consequences of the Iraq War Part 3 considers the more fundamental implications of the Iraq War, especially on our understanding of war as an instrument for the solution of conflict. Falk demonstrates the dysfunctionality of war in relation to either anti-terrorism or the pursuit of a global security system based on military dominance; the historical potential of a realistic Gandhiism as a positive alternative in the setting of global policy in the twenty-first century. The Costs of War will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, media studies, and politics and international relations in general.