Almost 10 months after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords last spoke in public, the congresswoman will appear on television and give her first interview since the Tucson shooting. Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly will appear on the Diane Sawyer show Nov. 14 at 10 p.m. EST. The broadcast will air the night before the publication of “Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.” Read full article > >

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Gabrielle Giffords to give first interview to Diane Sawyer

Adam Hochschild’s stirring account of World War I concentrates on appalling losses in the ranks and the courage of dissenters.

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The Pacifists and the Trenches

The initiation of human spaceflight was strategic, as part of a Cold War competition with the Soviet Union. It ultimately positioned our nation as dominant both militarily and in advanced technology applications. The overall scientific and economic contributions to society directly attributable to discoveries made for human space exploration is enormous and difficult to calculate. In pursuit of an understanding of our place in the universe, we must have the courage to set a new strategic objective for NASA. Doing so will help to maintain our military leadership, and spark the innovation necessary to successfully compete in a world economy.

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The Courage to Set a New Strategic Objective for NASA

Kyrgyz leader Roza Otunbayeva is to receive the prestigious US Women of Courage award, for her role in creating Central Asia’s first parliamentary democracy.

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US to honour Kyrgyzstan president

We should all be so awed — not only by the Mahmoods, but also by the Kristofs.

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In Egypt, the ‘lamestream media’ shows its courage and value

A fireman serving a 14-year jail sentence for drug smuggling is praised for his courage in rescuing victims of the 7 July bus bombing.

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Praise for jailed 7/7 firefighter

The Washington Post, National Public Radio (NPR) and everyone else who is respectable in Washington agrees: we must do something about the deficit now. They also agree that this “something” involves major cuts to the Social Security and Medicare, programs that the middle class depends upon. According to these knowledgeable, respectable types, there is no alternative to painful cuts. The question is whether politicians will have the courage to take a baseball bat to the middle class. read more

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Deficit Hawks: Substituting Money for Competence

As we approach crucial climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, the key question on many people’s minds is this: what nation or nations will have the courage to stand up to the United States, which still represents the key obstacle to a binding agreement on global warming? If it looked unlikely that the U.S. would reduce carbon emissions before, the recent midterm elections have made such a possibility seem even more remote: many incoming Republican legislators simply deny that global warming exists. read more

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Cancun Climate Summit: Time for a New Geopolitical Architecture