"The truth, always the truth--at all costs"
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| National 2006 |
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| 12/31/2006 (2) More troops unhappy with Bush’s course in Iraq Robert Hodierne 12/31/2006 (2) AP Poll: Bush, Britney Get Thumbs-Down Darlene Superville 12/31/2006 (2) America the Overfull Paul Theroux 12/31/2006 (2) Job evaluation: George W. Bush 12/31/2006 (2) When Gerald Ford lost, so did the Democrats Jonathan Chait 12/27/2006 (2) Reining in Military Contractors Michael A. Cohen and Maria Figueroa Küpçü 12/27/2006 (2) Christian video game creates a stir Jane Lampman 12/27/2006 (2) Bush's Vietnam Syndrome Rich Lowry 12/27/2006 (2) Expanding the military, without a draft Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel 12/27/2006 (2) Violent Crimes on Rise, Especially in West, F.B.I. Report Says Ralph Blumenthal 12/27/2006 (2) Shouting Truth to Depraved Power (and Its Unwitting Accomplices): Stephen Lendman Sounds Off Jason Miller 12/24/2006 (2) Economic Apartheid Kills Joel S. Hirschhorn 12/24/2006 (2) What's worse than "flip-flopping?" Refusing to flip when a course of action's a flop John F. Kerry 12/24/2006 (2) Making a Life in the U.S., but Feeling Mexico’s Tug Julia Preston 12/24/2006 (2) Tyranny, realism and Jeane Kirkpatrick: Liberals today sound an awful lot like neoconservative realists of the Reagan era. David Rieff 12/24/2006 (2) Is Bush to Iraq as Belgium's King Leopold was to the Congo? Adam Hochschild 12/17/2006 (2) Are Democrats Heading Over a Cliff? David Bacon 12/17/2006 (2) The Arrangement: U.S. v. People of Color Roberto Rodriguez 12/17/2006 (2) The Ulterior Motive: "There's Still Oil Under Them Dunes, Boys!" Joe American 12/17/2006 (2) It's Not Just Bush: We're Accountable Too Heather Wokusch 12/17/2006 (2) Honest Centrism for Populist Democracy Joel S. Hirschhorn 12/12/2006 (2) The wealth gap has grown, which may be bad for some countries, but not for ours. 12/12/2006 (2) Katrina Begets a Baby Boom by Immigrants Eduardo Porter 12/12/2006 (2) Illegal immigrants, the right to drive and the Real ID Peter Schrag 12/11/2006 (2) New Secretary of Defense's Business Ties Raise Concerns Walter F. Roche Jr. 12/10/2006 (2) Service women face war traumas / Female soldiers are now increasingly taking roles alongside men Sharon Cohen 12/10/2006 (2) A Prescription For Peace: Teaching Tommy In An Era Of Fascism Dr. Doug Soderstrom 12/07/2006 (2) How Robert Gates Cooked Intelligence Daniel Schulman 12/07/2006 (2) When Denial Goes Pathological: Is President Bush Sane? Paul Craig Roberts 12/07/2006 (2) Soldiers say army ignores and punishes PTSD and mental anguish among Iraq war vets Daniel Zwerdling 12/07/2006 (2) Keith Olbermann's Hot News Daphne Eviatar 12/02/2006 (2) Five Years After 9/11: Now What? Hc 12/02/2006 (2) Impeachment Hearings For Bush And Co.? How About War Crimes Tribunals? Heather Wokusch 12/02/2006 (2) Kerry Finishes Dead Last In Poll Testing Likability Of 20 American Politicians Joe American 12/02/2006 (2) Prisoners of Envy: Wal*Mart Nihilism Versus the Punk Rock of Blogging Phil Rockstroh 12/02/2006 (2) We Fight for Liberty by Having More Liberty, Not Less Keith Olbermann 12/02/2006 (2) Bush, Maliki and That Memo 12/02/2006 (2) Treasuring Our American Values of Greed, Self-Interest, and Enlightened Oppression Ragnar Redbeard III 11/30/2006 (2) Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture 11/30/2006 (2) Transcript of interview with Falsely Jailed Attorney Brandon Mayfield Discusses His Case 11/30/2006 (2) Portland, OR lawyer, wrongly linked to deadly Madrid, Spain train bombings, gets $2B and an FBI apology Byran Denson 11/30/2006 (2) Mining firms again eyeing Navajo land; tribe vows a 'knockdown, drag-out legal battle.' Judy Pasternak 11/30/2006 (2) Navajos' desert cleanup no more than a mirage Judy Pasternak 11/26/2006 (2) The Guilted Bird Dan Neil 11/26/2006 (2) Of Sick Societies, American Dalits, and a Nation of Lady Macbeths Jason Miller 11/26/2006 (2) Oases in Navajo desert contained `a witch's brew': Rain-filled uranium pits provided drinking water for people and animals. Judy Pasternak 11/26/2006 (2) BLIGHTED HOMELAND: During the Cold War, uranium mines left contaminated waste scattered around Navajos Judy Pasternak 11/26/2006 (2) Tunnels act as highways for migrants: Subterranean smuggling routes breed chaos along U.S.-Mexico border. Richard Marosi 11/19/2006 (2) Mortgages for illegal immigrants getting more common Lornet Turnbull 11/19/2006 (2) To Hell with Centrism: We Must Reclaim the Inspired Edge Phil Rockstroh 11/19/2006 (2) The military isn't full of poor, uneducated kids, but it doesn't look anything like America. Want to make sure that the U.S. never again gets stuck in apointless and aggressive war? Draft Congress! Rosa Brooks 11/19/2006 (2) Election Reflections--Part II Hc 11/12/2006 (2) The new veterans among us: women Amanda Paulson 11/12/2006 (2) For a soldier, going to war is a duty. Heroes go much further. Phillip Carter 11/12/2006 (2) Election Reflections Hc (Horace Coleman) 11/12/2006 (2) Field of Screams - The Real Election Winners and Losers Joel S. Hirschhorn 11/12/2006 (2) A Cowboy’s Guide to Life 11/12/2006 (2) Medicaid Wants Citizenship Proof for Infant Care Robert Pear 11/12/2006 (2) Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office James Glanz 11/12/2006 (2) Changing How America Works Andy Stern 11/06/2006 (2) Military newspapers say "Time for Rumsfeld to go" 11/05/2006 (2) The military isn't full of poor, uneducated kids, but it doesn't look anything like America. Rosa Brooks 11/05/2006 (2) E-voting may be scarier than hanging chads Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar 11/05/2006 (2) The great flaw in American democracy Michael Kinsley 11/05/2006 (2) War wears on a small town's spirit Stephen Braun 11/05/2006 (2) Senate Race in Tennessee Has Racial Overtones Richard Fausset 11/05/2006 (2) Church ousts pastor for 'immoral' acts Stephanie Simon 11/05/2006 (2) Evangelical leader steps down amid allegations Stephanie Simon 10/29/2006 (2) Bush Moves Toward Martial Law / Expected Legal Challenges To The Military Commissions Act Frank Morales / Jennifer Van Bergen, J.D. 10/29/2006 (2) Hell Awaits, America: Mass Manipulation, Blissful Psychosis, and 7 Easy Ways to Achieve Damnation Jason Miller 10/29/2006 (2) Republicans would rather run against liberal bogeymen than have a real debate. Party of ideas? Not the GOP. Jonathan Chait 10/28/2006 (2) It's a myth that Americans won't do hard labor / Immigration's Front Line Michael Scott 10/28/2006 (2) Immigration galvanizes Latino voters in Colorado; many are angry over the tone and results of the debate. Nicole Gaouette 10/28/2006 (2) Condoleezza Rice’s Counselor Gives Advice Others May Not Want to Hear Helen Cooper and David E. Sanger 10/28/2006 (2) Watching Rush Limbaugh squirm Michelle Cottle 10/28/2006 (2) Exposing the Bush administration's 'stay the course' folly on Iraq with a three-second Internet search. Rosa Brooks 10/28/2006 (2) 'Shut Up & Sing' : A documentary about the Dixie Chicks after Natalie Maines criticized "The War President" Peter Rainer 10/28/2006 (2) The Iran-Contra Legacy: Imperial Presidency, Weakened Congress Greg Grandin 10/26/2006 (2) Some Seek 'Pink Purge' in the GOP Johanna Neuman 10/26/2006 (2) A SUPERPOWER IN DECLINE? America's Middle Class Has Become Globalization's Loser. Gabor Steingart 10/26/2006 (2) America's Brittle Empire: The U.S. doesn't have the necessary military manpower or fiscal solvency in Iraq. Niall Ferguson 10/22/2006 (2) The Pundit Path For Death In Iraq Norman Solomon 10/22/2006 (2) All Governments Lie! Journalist I.F. Stone gets the biography he deserves Tim Rutten 10/22/2006 (2) Marines to begin sending reserve combat battalions back to Iraq for second tours Robert Burns 10/22/2006 (2) Is Iraq a Worthy Mistake or a Miserable Waste? Jonah Goldberg 10/22/2006 (2) The War President's Sad Litany of Failures Mortimer B. Zuckerman 10/22/2006 (2) The Capitol gang(sters) Marty Kaplan 10/22/2006 (2) Bush Signs New Policy Edict Calling For U.S. Control Of Space Staff Of The Foreign Press Foundation 10/22/2006 (2) Will War With Iran Be an October Surprise? Eric H. May 10/20/2006 (2) After Pat Tillman’s Birthday: A commentary by his is brother Kevin Kevin Tillman 10/19/2006 (2) Some Christian music fans believe pirating songs of praise is a way to spread the Word--and please themselves. Geoff Boucher 10/18/2006 (2) To Help Curb the HIV Epidemic , Ex-Laker Magic Johnson Tells His Story Robert E. Pierre 10/18/2006 (2) Sen. Barack Obama’s New Book: Foursquare Politics, With a Dab of Dijon Michiko Kakutani 10/18/2006 (2) Male Hormonal Contraceptives May Finally Be on Track Regina Nuzzo 10/18/2006 (2) I.R.S. Being Used Politically to Punish Critics of Bush Administration? Judge Greg Mathis 10/18/2006 (2) Criminal Records Erased by Courts Live to Tell Tales Adam Liptak 10/18/2006 (2) Time to Play the Economic Inequality Card Robert Reich 10/18/2006 (2) Liberal Conservatism's Revival Niall Ferguson 10/18/2006 (2) Is Bush the Worst President in History? Sean Wilentz 10/18/2006 (2) War's young Widows Walk in Valley of Grief Jason George 10/14/2006 (2) White House advisors sought conservative Christians' support , mocked them in private Peter Wallsten 10/14/2006 (2) Workplace Bias Against Muslims, Arabs on Rise? Alana Semuels 10/14/2006 (2) Condoleezza Rice: Secretary of Turbulence Bret Stephens 10/14/2006 (2) Bob Woodward's latest book portrays a White House in turmoil Peter Baker 10/14/2006 (2) Piercing the Simulacrum: Of Faux Democracy, Petty Tyrants, and Painful Realities Jason Miller 10/14/2006 (2) Walled-off from Reality James O. Goldsborough 10/07/2006 (2) Are We Entering America's Darkest Hour? Dr. Richard Franklin 10/07/2006 (2) Congress's Shameful Retreat From American Values Garrison Keillor 10/07/2006 (2) Lack of Balance, Diversity, Public at PBS NewsHour: Public TV's flagship news program offers standard corporate fare 10/07/2006 (2) Now That You Could Be Labeled An Enemy Combatant . . . / Compassionate Conservative Pedoph Heather Wokusch / Jennifer Van Bergen 10/07/2006 (2) America’s Collective Delusion Must Endure: Domestic Genocide of an Economic Nature Jason Miller 10/05/2006 (2) "War" on terror? Don't make me laugh. Or throw up. Or cry . . . 10/02/2006 (2) The right-wing coalition that's spent 40 years climbing to political dominance may be cracking up. Paul Krugman 10/02/2006 (2) Excerpt from Bob Woodward's new book "State of Denial"--Secret Reports Dispute White House Optimism Bob Woodward 10/02/2006 (2) The Econony: The tide is going one way but the wind is going another, creating 10/02/2006 (2) C.I.A. Chief Warned Secretary iof State Rice about Al Qaeda Philip Shenon and Mark Mazzetti 10/02/2006 (2) Job Court: Sentencing Convicts to Work Scott Gilbert 10/02/2006 (2) Until Bush took office, the U.S. had no problem defining what is cruel and inhuman. Rosa Brooks 09/28/2006 (2) Is Hysteria Real? Erika Kinetz 09/28/2006 (2) More War Veterans Suffering From Stress Lolita C. Baldor 09/28/2006 (2) Is President Bush *Really* A Conservative? Todd Gitlin 09/28/2006 (2) Trickle-Up Economics and Our Growing Inequality Problems Robert J. Samuelson 09/28/2006 (2) Choose: Do You Want a Longer Life or More Stuff.? How About Some More of Each? David Leonhardt 09/28/2006 (2) More U.S. Workers Don't Have Health Insurance Daniel Yi 09/28/2006 (2) Cost of terror war in U.S. military lives equals those lost on 9/11 Calvin Woodward 09/28/2006 (2) I'm a Veteran, and I Support/Despise This War Aaron Glantz 09/28/2006 (2) I Pledge Allegiance to the Corporations... . Fascism the American Way Jason Miller 09/23/2006 (2) Leafy Green Sewage Nina Planck 09/23/2006 (2) Evangelical Tactic s UsesPulpits to Power the GOP Peter Wallsten 09/21/2006 (2) Manifest Destiny, the Sequel Mike Davis 09/21/2006 (2) using "alternative" interrogation procedures. Call This Cruelty What It Is: Torture. Tom Malinowski 09/21/2006 (2) Bid to Stockpile Bioterror Drugs Stymied by Setbacks Eric Lipton 09/21/2006 (2) Why Does 9/11 Matter? Mysteries and Conspiracies Brascheck TV 09/21/2006 (2) Freedom's Just Another Word For Everything To Lose / Bush's Useful Idiots: On the Strange Death Of Liberal America 09/21/2006 (2) The center fights back David S. Broder 09/21/2006 (2) A New Face for Islam in North America: Female, White, Canadian, Formerly Catholic 09/21/2006 (2) Herbert Spencer's Evolved Capitalists: Jason Miller 09/17/2006 (2) Today's pig is tomorrow's bacon or Class war? What class war? Greg Palast 09/17/2006 (2) Three Questions for America: Evolution, the pledge of allegiance, gay marriage 09/17/2006 (2) What primaries say about US voter mood Linda Feldmann 09/17/2006 (2) Danger, Disorder in Patrol of U.S. Southern Border Nicole Gaouette 09/17/2006 (2) Is a bigger nation richer? As US population approaches 300 million, experts examine a possible link between growth and prosperity. Brad Knickerbocker 09/17/2006 (2) Lawsuit attempts to ban voting by computer in Colorado Ann Imse 09/17/2006 (2) A dead politician, St,. Peter and the Devil 09/17/2006 (2) Loving Labor’s Losses: Whoredom is optional Jason Miller 09/14/2006 (2) Senate Disagrees With Bush on "terror-detainee legislation" Anne Plummer Flaherty, AP 09/11/2006 (2) Here, Take Back Some of My Pay, It’s Too Much Louis Uchitelle 09/11/2006 (2) Are Your Pockets Half Empty, or Half Full? David Leonhardt 09/11/2006 (2) Ttime for GOP to stop treating overt partisanship and blind loyalty as the only way to love America Geoffrey Nunberg 09/11/2006 (2) Former U.S. ambassador to Yemen says ABC 9/11 show traded fact for drama Barbara Bodine 09/11/2006 (2) Muslim Americans reassess how they portray their faith in public. Louis Sahagun 09/11/2006 (2) Discover the Secret Right-Wing Network Behind ABC's 9/11 Deception Max Blumenthal 09/11/2006 (2) Hate is the Enemy of Mankind and Peace Sam Hamod, Ph.D. 09/07/2006 (2) The Tiger at Bay: Scary Times Ahead Immanuel Wallerstein When Ned Lamont won the primary [Democrat senatorial primary in Conneticut against the incumbent, Sen. Joe Lieberman], a reader of the Wall Street Journal wrote a letter saying "we have reached a tipping point in this country - if we allow the left to govern as the majority our country is finished." He calls Republican leaders "inept." He, and many others, will be looking for fiercer leaders. Everyone worries about civil war in Iraq. How about in the United States? Scary times ahead! 09/07/2006 (2) Another Year, Another Wage Loss Robert Kuttner Labor Day was created by the machinists union in New York in 1882 as a ``workingmen's holiday." Today, politics have largely been leached out of it. Labor Day is a long weekend marking summer's end. That extra day of rest is needed more now. Government statistics show the typical family works about 500 more hours a year than families did 30 years ago. Family incomes are failing to keep pace with the cost of living. 09/07/2006 (2) Inalienable Human Rights are not Privileges: The ACLU Sets the Standard in The Struggle for “Liberty and Justice for All” Jason Miller Throughout the religion’s history, various practitioners of Christianity have defied the compassionate teachings of Christ to perpetrate hateful, fear-mongering, and sometimes quite lethal campaigns against those who do not share their beliefs. The Inquisitions, the Salem Witch Trials, the persecution of Galileo, the US military’s slaughter of 600,000 Filipinos in an effort to (in the words of then US President William McKinley) “uplift and civilize and christianize" them, and Focus on the Family’s steady assault on homosexuals are but a few examples. 09/07/2006 (2) The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers Charlie Cray The history of American war profiteering is rife with egregious examples of incompetence, fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement, bribery and misconduct. Each new war is infected with new forms of war profiteering. From criminal mismanagement of Iraq's oil revenues to armed private security contractors operating with virtual impunity, this war has created opportunities for an appalling amount of corruption. 09/07/2006 (2) Bush Declares Eco-Whistleblower Law Void for EPA Employees Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility The Bush administration has declared itself immune from whistleblower protections for federal workers under the Clean Water Act, according to legal documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). 09/06/2006 (2) Bush Insider Says U.S. Middle East Policy "A Disaster", Not Rooted in Reality Kevin Zeese 09/06/2006 (2) Delirious Rhetoric Sidney Blumenthal 09/06/2006 (2) The Day Joe Biden Said He Wanted to "Kick My Ass" Rannie Amiri 09/05/2006 (2) Minorities Pay Heavy Toll in Iraq Eva Sanchis 09/04/2006 (2) Economic Empire Building and Domestic Decay James Petras 09/04/2006 (2) Labor Day Special: Law May Hasten Decline of Pensions Jonathan Peterson The pension system is in hasty retreat, and little is likely to stop the trend. 09/04/2006 (2) Losers, Left and Right: Conservatives and liberals both think they're getting walloped in Washington. Jonathan Chait Conservatives and liberals both feel beleaguered for a good reason. The fact is, both of them have been losing. 09/04/2006 (2) Labor Day Special: In Today's Rat Race, the Most Overworked Win Shankar Vedantam On this Labor Day, consider a paradox: Millions of Americans say they feel overworked and stressed out. Many say they want to work fewer hours and find a better balance between responsibilities at home and work. Given that people have been saying this for quite a while, employers should have figured out by now that they can save money by being more flexible in workplace arrangements. 09/04/2006 (2) Nicholas Eberstadt Labor Day Special: Why Poverty Doesn't Rate The Census Bureau last week released its latest estimate of the U.S. poverty rate -- the country's most important official statistic on domestic want and deprivation. The figure was sobering, signaling short-run stagnation and deterioration over the past generation. The 2005 poverty rate of 12.6 percent barely budged from the previous year's number, and was substantially higher than the 11.1 percent level registered back in 1973, the lowest on record. No less disturbing, the official measure indicates that a greater portion of families and children live in poverty in America today than three decades ago. 09/02/2006 (2) American and Muslim: 6 Million People in Search of an Identity Robert Fisk 09/02/2006 (2) Why Involuntary Call-Ups in All-Volunteer Military? The Marine Corps announced plans last week for involuntary call-ups of Marine reservists to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan. 09/02/2006 (2) Pat Buchanan's xenophobia is now in hardcover Pat Buchanan can seem more like an entertainer than a commentator. But he is also peddling dangerous ideas. ``Should America lose her ethnic-cultural core and become a nation of nations, America will not survive" he writes in his new book, ``State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America." Buchanan's argument: The country is losing its Western European identity and being overrun by Mexicans and other immigrant groups. 08/30/2006 (2) Some Thoughts on Our Economy and Our Foreign Policies Sam Hamod 08/29/2006 (2) Poverty in America, 1 in 8 Joanne Morrison 08/28/2006 (2) Hillary Clinton: All Show and No Substance; A Fool's Vessel Sibel Edmonds and William Weaver 08/28/2006 (2) Bush's Fixation With Secrecy is a Threat to Our Democracy and History Editorial from L.A. Times, Aug. 28, 2006 08/27/2006 (2) Can Anything Be Done Paul Craig Roberts 08/27/2006 (2) Bush Stays the Course--at a press conference David Corn George W. Bush keeps trying to rally popular support for his war in Iraq. But he has little to offer other than stay-the course-ism. He cannot point to progress in Iraq. Nor can he point to a plan that would seem promising. Thus, he is left only with rhetoric--the same rhetoric. That was on display during a presidential press conference at the White House on Monday. 08/27/2006 (2) The Prez likes to fart in public Paul Bedard of U.S. News & World Report raised a few eyebrows this week when he went public about President George W. Bush's fondness for…well…farts. Yep. The President farts - a lot. He farts in front of other White House staffers. He likes to joke about farts, cusses constantly and laughs with glee at the misfortune of others. 08/27/2006 (2) Six Questions to an ex CIA member about national security Ken Silverstein Michael Scheuer served in the CIA for 22 years before resigning in 2004; he served as the chief of the bin Laden unit at the Counterterrorist Center from 1996 to 1999. He is the formerly anonymous author of Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror and Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama bin Laden, Radical Islam, and the Future of America. 08/27/2006 (2) Christian Coalition losing chapters David Crary Three disgruntled state affiliates have severed ties with the Christian Coalition of America, one of the nation's most powerful conservative groups during the 1990s but now buffeted by complaints over finances, leadership and its plans to veer into nontraditional policy areas. 08/26/2006 (2) Cooking Intelligence -- Again Dr. Gordon Prather 08/26/2006 (2) Not A Clue Charley Reese 08/23/2006 (2) Challenging the Vested Interests: The Legacy of John Kenneth Galbraith Ralph Nader 08/23/2006 (2) Religion-related fraud getting worse Rachel Zoll Billions of dollars has been stolen in religion-related fraud in recent years, according to the North American Securities Administrators Association, a group of state officials who work to protect investors. Between 1984 and 1989, about $450 million was stolen in religion-related scams, the association says. In its latest count — from 1998 to 2001 — the toll had risen to $2 billion. Rip-offs have only become more common since. 08/23/2006 (2) Book Excerpt: The End of Iraq--How American Incompetence Created a War Without End Peter W. Galbraith Between March and September 1991, the Iraqi Army and security services killed as many as 300,000 Shiites. One mass grave near the city of Hillah is said to hold 30,000 bodies alone. While George H. W. Bush's call for the uprising may well have been a careless ad lib, this is not how Iraq's Shiites saw it. They believe Bush encouraged the uprising and intentionally allowed Saddam to crush it because Bush wanted Shiites to be killed. Like the Shiites in the south, the Kurds vented their fury against the regime. When the rebels took over the General Security Directorate headquarters in Suleimania, they caught the security agents about to execute the remaining prisoners. Instead, the security men were shot. An elderly woman threw herself on one of the corpses, biting and kicking it. As the crowd tried to pull her off, she explained, "He killed three of my sons. Don't I have the right to do this to him?" 08/23/2006 (2) We should have learned since 9/11 that force has limits. Jay Bookman In Iraq, force has proved unable to transform a dictatorship into a functioning democracy. Force has failed to transform most Iraqis and Arabs, into supporters of American policy. Force has failed to intimidate the Arab world into meekly accepting American leadership in the region. We have also learned that in a struggle against insurgents and terrorists, relying too heavily on firepower creates more enemies than it kills, particularly if firepower is leveled too often at innocent civilians. 08/23/2006 (2) Liberalism's debate with itself E.J. Dionne At its best, liberalism is about the defense of the underdog, of minority rights, of social justice, of active but restrained government, of civil liberties, of openness and tolerance. But liberalism has also become associated with elitism, arrogance and disdain for the values of average Americans. 08/20/2006 (2) Discharged and dishonored: Shortchanging America's veterans Chris Adams and Alison Young When help is needed, ex-soldiers battle delays, inconsistent rulings, inadequate representation 08/20/2006 (2) Shame on Congress!! Joe Galloway The last guy in the first of those eight-hour London airport security lines searching for mouthwash and hair gel bombs hadn't even gotten close to the point of throwing away everything but his passport and clothing when Republican congressional campaigners were forming a conga line to celebrate a splendid opportunity. 08/19/2006 (2) The Constitution: Checking a Would-Be King Ray McGovern 08/19/2006 (2) Factory Shift: Manufacturers Struggle to Fill Highly Paid Jobs Molly Hennessy-Fiske Manufacturing, long known for plant closings and layoffs, is now clamoring for workers to fill high-paying, skilled jobs. While millions of manufacturing jobs have been outsourced or automated out of existence during the past decade, many of the remaining jobs require higher skills and pay well — $50,000 to $80,000 a year for workers with the necessary math, computer and mechanical abilities. 08/19/2006 (2) We Know Bart, but Homer Is Greek to Us Three-quarters of Americans can correctly identify two of Snow White's seven dwarfs; only a quarter can name two Supreme Court justices. Americans are more familiar with the Three Stooges — Larry, Moe and Curly — than the three branches of the U.S. government — judicial, executive and legislative. 08/19/2006 (2) The New Gender Divide: Facing Middle Age With No Degree, and No Wife Eduardo Porter and Michelle Porter Once, virtually all Americans had married by their mid-40’s. Now, many American men without college degrees find themselves still single as they approach middle age. About 18 percent of men ages 40 to 44 with less than four years of college have never married, according to census estimates. That is up from about 6 percent a quarter-century ago. Among similar men ages 35 to 39, the portion jumped to 22 percent from 8 percent in that time. 08/19/2006 (2) Feds Estimate There Are 10.5M Illegal Immigrants in the U.S. Suzanne Gamboa About 11 million illegal immigrants were living in the U.S. at the start of this year, the federal government said in a report. That's up from an estimated 8.5 million living in the country in January 2000, according to calculations by the Office of Immigration Statistics in the Department of Homeland Security. 08/19/2006 (2) Prisoner of Conscience: Sgt. Joe Darby, the whistle blower about atrocities at Abu Ghraib, speaks out Wil S. Hylton Everybody thinks there was a conspiracy at Abu Ghraib. Everybody thinks there was an order from high up, or that somebody in command must have known. Everybody is wrong. Nobody in command knew about the abuse, because nobody in command cared enough to find out. That was the real problem. The entire command structure was oblivious, living in their own little worlds. So it wasn't a conspiracy - it was negligence, plain and simple. They were all fucking clueless. 08/16/2006 (2) What We Know and Don't Know About 9/11 Paul Craig Roberts 08/13/2006 (2) The New Gender Divide: Facing Middle Age With No Degree, and No Wife Eduardo Porter Once, virtually all Americans had married by their mid-40’s. Now, many American men without college degrees find themselves still single as they approach middle age. 08/13/2006 (2) Public Pension Plans Face Billions in Shortages Mary Williams Walsh In 2003, a whistle-blower forced San Diego to reveal that it had been shortchanging its city workers’ pension fund for years, setting off a wave of lawsuits, investigations and eventually criminal indictments. When the S.E.C. shifted its gaze away from municipal finance, Mr. Levitt now says, it left “a regulatory hole.” If the agency were equipped to monitor state and local governments the way it monitors corporate disclosures, he said, “it could provide an early warning of financial conditions threatening the solvency of any number of communities. 08/13/2006 (2) Fidel Castro - and U.S. plots to kill him Daniel Schorr I remember Fidel Castro in 1960, when the Soviet Union was making overtures to him, and the Eisenhower administration was hatching the first of many plots to unseat him, not necessarily alive. 08/13/2006 (2) AFL-CIO to Back Day Laborers: Union group will try to help the workers improve their wages and working conditions. Molly Selvin The nation's largest union federation, targeting a segment of the country's growing immigrant workforce, announced Wednesday that it had agreed to work with a large day laborer organization to improve wages and working conditions. 08/12/2006 (2) Birth Pangs of a New Christian Zionism Max Blumenthal Over the past months, the White House has convened a series of off-the-record meetings about its policies in the Middle East with leaders of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a newly formed political organization that tells its members that supporting Israel's expansionist policies is "a biblical imperative." CUFI's Washington lobbyist, David Brog, told me that during the meetings, CUFI representatives pressed White House officials to adopt a more confrontational posture toward Iran, refuse aid to the Palestinians and give Israel a free hand as it ramped up its military conflict with Hezbollah. 08/12/2006 (2) Philanthropist George Soros writes that the Bush camp reminds him of the Nazi regime. Anne-Marie O'Connor George Soros, the Hungarian Holocaust survivor whose fortune is matched only by his philanthropy, pioneered a kind of self-styled approach to global reform that made him, in the words of the Carnegie Endowment's Morton Abramowitz, "the only private citizen who had his own foreign policy." With no sluggish bureaucracy to answer to, he rose to prominence with stunningly practical bequests delivered in a timely manner. There was his $50-million donation to the besieged citizens of Sarajevo in 1993 that financed a water plant so that women did not need to rely on the public wells where Serbian snipers picked them off with ease. There was his pro-democracy support in the Soviet Bloc, for Poland's Solidarity movement and for Czech dissident Vaclav Havel, who would become that country's post-Communist president. 08/12/2006 (2) In Miami, Graying Anti-Castro Movement Is Losing Steam Carol J. Williams At the height of the Cuban-American exile rallies after President Fidel Castro ceded power July 31, there were never more than a few hundred participants in the streets. Their noisy celebrations of Castro's latest illness showed a bitter face to the rest of the world. But the embarrassed quiet that now prevails is perhaps a more accurate indicator of the mood among the city's largest ethnic minority. 08/12/2006 (2) Half of U.S. Still Believes Iraq Had WMD Charles J. Hanley Do you believe in Iraqi "WMD"? Did Saddam Hussein's government have weapons of mass destruction in 2003? Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq. 08/12/2006 (2) Areas Of Pacific Ocean Near Oregon Completely Empty Of Marine Life Michael Milstein Ocean scientists took their first look Tuesday into the oxygen-starved "dead zone" spreading off the Oregon Coast and were shocked by what they saw: a lifeless wasteland of thousands of dead crabs, starfish and no live fish at all. 08/06/2006 (2) "I came over here because I wanted to kill people." Andrew Tilghman Over a mess-tent dinner of turkey cutlets, the bony-faced 21-year-old private from West Texas looked right at me as he talked about killing Iraqis with casual indifference. It was February, and we were at his small patrol base about 20 miles south of Baghdad. "The truth is, it wasn't all I thought it was cracked up to be. I mean, I thought killing somebody would be this life-changing experience. And then I did it, and I was like, 'All right, whatever.'" 08/06/2006 (2) Welfare Queens on Tractors Jonah Goldberg One of the things you start to appreciate when you've seen a lot of the United States is how sparsely populated it is, particularly in the middle. It seems the welfare recipients need a lot of room. I'm referring, of course, to American farmers. Or, more precisely, American farm owners, a.k.a. Welfare Kings. 08/06/2006 (2) A Ward 57 Tale Horace Coleman After your eyes swept past the blonde in the bikini, she was out of focus, your gaze moved to the strapping young man in the brightly colored swim trunks. Then you focused on the brunet he was carrying, a triple amputee. The 25-year-old former military policeman who'd been in his outfit. 08/06/2006 (2) The Flags of Our Sons Billy Shore When you fly as often as I do you learn to mind your own business as soon as you take your seat. But that wasn’t possible once I saw the military honor guard boarding US Airways’ 1:45 p.m. flight from Boston to Washington earlier this week. The mom leaned her elbows on the window ledge, supporting her chin and cheeks with both hands. She remained perfectly still. She stared for 10 or 15 long minutes and never moved. The father stood nearby, rocking from foot to foot and pacing a bit. They did not touch; they did not say a word to each other. Neither wore a wedding band. Perhaps they were divorced, or simply isolated in their pain. 07/30/2006 (2) Super wealthy philanthropist George Soros says Bush camp reminds him of the Nazi regime Anne-Marie O'Connor With no sluggish bureaucracy to answer to, George Soros rose to prominence with stunningly practical bequests delivered in a timely manner. There was his $50-million donation to the besieged citizens of Sarajevo in 1993 that financed a water plant so that women did not need to rely on the public wells where Serbian snipers picked them off with ease. There was his pro-democracy support in the Soviet Bloc, for Poland's Solidarity movement and for Czech dissident Vaclav Havel, who would become that country's post-Communist president. Soros has given away about $5 billion since he embarked on this citizen-policymaker approach in the 1970s, a sum that approaches the $7.2-billion estimate of his net wealth by Forbes in 2004. That put him in the league of a Rockefeller or a Carnegie and has made him a perennial Nobel nominee. 07/30/2006 (2) An Interview with Gore Vidal David Barsamian Gore Vidal is a gold mine of quips and zingers. And his vast knowledge of literature and history—particularly American—makes for an impressive figure. His razor-sharp tongue lacerates the powerful. He does it with aplomb, saying, “Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” He has a wry sense of noblesse oblige: “There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.” 07/30/2006 (2) American soldiers are telling their story of the Iraq war in homemade videos. Ana Marie Cox Just as Vietnam had been America's first "living-room war," spilling carnage in dinnertime news broadcasts, so is the Iraq conflict emerging as the first YouTube war. Growing up in a world where they can swap MP3s as well as intimate details about their lives via MySpace or Facebook, American soldiers are swapping their Iraq experience as well. 07/30/2006 (2) Bush's Record: Failure Upon Failure Bob Herbert The Middle East is in flames. Iraq has become a charnel house, a crucible of horror with no end to the agony in sight. Lebanon is in danger of going down for the count. And the crazies in Iran, empowered by the actions of their enemies, are salivating like vultures. They can’t wait to feast on the remains of U.S. policies and tactics spawned by a sophomoric neoconservative fantasy — that democracy imposed at gunpoint in Iraq would spread peace and freedom, like the flowers of spring, throughout the Middle East. If a Democratic president had pursued exactly the same policies, and achieved exactly the same tragic results as George W. Bush, that president would have been the target of a ferocious drive for impeachment by the G.O.P. 07/30/2006 (2) Democrats Seek Funding to Boost Troop Readiness Joel Havemann and Noam N. Levey The war on terrorism has already cost nearly two-thirds as much as the Vietnam War. But congressional Democrats, supported by top Army brass, complain that the administration is not spending enough to repair or replace weapons systems used in combat. 07/30/2006 (2) "Conservatives Without Conscience": A new book by John Dean John Dean, the White House lawyer who famously helped blow the whistle on the Watergate scandal that drove Richard Nixon from the Oval Office, has written a new book, "Conservatives Without Conscience." In it, he says the country has returned to an "imperial presidency 07/23/2006 (2) 20 of 23 such centers nationwide "pregnancy resource center," many connected with religious antiabortion groups, misinformed callers about the risks associated with abortion Meghan Daum A study released by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) found 20 of 23 nationwide "pregnancy resource center," many connected with religious antiabortion groups, misinformed callers about the risks associated with abortion. 07/23/2006 (2) Is the United States Bankrupt? Laurence J. Kotlikoff Right-wing scoffers accuse the author of a federal reserve Research paper, entitled "Is the United States Going Bankrupt?", of being a member Of the tin-foil hat brigade for daring to think outside the box, which they regard as a serious violation of the Bushites' rosy neocon groupthink. Nevertheless, a scholarly article about the U.S. economy that appears in an official Federal Reserve publication cannot be dismissed so lightly. 07/14/2006 (2) Injured in Iraq, a Soldier Reclaims His Independence David Zucchino Bryan Anderson emerged from an elevator in the airport terminal here, a diminished figure in a wheelchair. Both legs were gone, and most of his left arm — all severed when a roadside bomb hidden in a curb demolished the Humvee he was driving in Baghdad last fall. 07/14/2006 (2) Bush the reckless quietly threatens to gut Social Security, again Is George W. Bush trying to save the Democrats from confusion and help them take back Congress? That question arises because he suddenly raised a topic this past week that has been politically taboo for him and his fellow Republicans since last year: the privatization of Social Security. 07/14/2006 (2) The Lonely American Just Got a Bit Lonelier Henry Fountain For as long as humans have gathered in groups, it seems, some people have been left on the outside looking in. In postwar America in particular, the idea that loneliness pervades a portion of society has been a near-constant. Only the descriptions have changed: the "lonely crowd" alienation of the 1950's; the grim career-driven angst of the 70's and 80's; the "Bowling Alone" collapse of social connections of the 90's. 07/14/2006 (2) What do pollution, birth-control pills and air conditioners have in common? Julie Sevrens Lyons In a new look at the causes of the nation's obesity epidemic, 20 researchers from eight states report that 10 often-overlooked factors could contribute to our growing girth. But proving that — and doing something about it, if true — will be another matter. 07/14/2006 (2) Premature births up 30 percent Lauren Neergaard Specialists call for more early ultrasound exams during pregnancy and tighter guidelines for infertility treatment as key first steps in battling a growing problem: One in eight babies now is born prematurely. That's more than 500,000 babies a year, a steadily rising number as the rate of premature birth has grown by more than 30 percent in two decades 07/08/2006 (2) Don't Know Much About History (or federal deficits) Somewhere between the firing in 2002 of President Bush's first Treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, and the Senate confirmation this week of his third Treasury chief, Henry Paulson, the administration changed its tune on budget deficits. In the early days, the line was, essentially, that deficits don't matter. Mr. O'Neill's ouster was due in part to his gall in suggesting otherwise. Now, officials dutifully declaim that deficits matter, but that Bush-era shortfalls are "within historical norms." 07/08/2006 (2) Are right-wing Judeo-Christian Americans correct when they contend that monotheistic fundamentalism is good, polytheistic yoga is evil? Joe American Does the American Monotheistic Right fears yogic spirituality and transcendental self-realization? 07/02/2006 (2) Is using a cellphone as dangerous as driving drunk? Tom Avril Drivers who talk on cellphones may be just as dangerous as those who drive drunk. That's the conclusion of a study by University of Utah researchers who monitored *40* men and women on a driving simulator. 07/02/2006 (2) What do pollution, birth-control pills and air conditioners have in common? Julie Sevrens Lyons In a new look at the causes of the nation's obesity epidemic, 20 researchers from eight states report that often-overlooked factors could contribute to our growing girth. But proving that — and doing something about it, if true — will be another matter. Pollution can disrupt the body's hormones and cause it to store more fat, they said. Birth-control pills, along with steroids, antidepressants and some other medications, tend to promote weight gain. Air conditioners? We burn more calories when we're hot, the scientists said, and tend to eat less then, too. Smokers tend to weigh less than nonsmokers. 07/01/2006 (2) Ideology won't prevent cancer: Vaccine that would reduce cervical cancer risk faces a challenge from religious right. Julie F. Kay A vacine proved to dramatically reduce cervical cancer, the second most common form of cancer among women, would be expected to sail through federal approval processes. Yet getting such a vaccine to the people who would benefit the most from it is no sure thing, thanks to those promoting an ideology that any sex outside (heterosexual) marriage is wrong. A far-right political agenda should not be allowed, again, to threaten women's health. 06/29/2006 (2) More firms dropping pensions Cary O'Reilly A growing number of the largest U.S. companies are freezing pension plans or dropping them altogether to cut costs. Of the Fortune 1,000 companies, 113 have at least one frozen or terminated defined-benefit plan or have announced plans for a freeze or termination. 06/29/2006 (2) Reading the Imperial Press Back to Front / On Not Packing Your Bag and Heading Home When Things Go Wrong Nick Turse Was there some eureka moment when you created Tomdispatch? Tom Engelhardt: It was more an endless moment -- those couple of months after 9/11 when, for a guy who was supposedly politically sophisticated, my reactions were naïve as hell. I had this feeling that the horror of the event might somehow open us up to the world. It was dismaying to discover that, with the Bush administration's help, we shut the world out instead. In the nineteenth century, people fled small towns for the big city. Now, when they feel isolated, they flee onto the Internet looking for company. 06/29/2006 (2) For N. Korean Missile, U.S. Defense Is Hit or Miss Peter Spiegel The Bush administration has spent nearly $43 billion over the last five years on missile defense systems, but with North Korea poised to launch its most advanced missile yet, U.S. government assessments and investigative reports indicate little confidence in the centerpiece portion of the program. 06/29/2006 (2) Evangelical Says Religious Right Has Distorted the Faith President Bush and the Republican Party find strong support among evangelical voters. But in his book, Thy Kingdom Come, author Randall Balmer says that allegiance is misplaced. 06/27/2006 (2) Jesus Is Not a Republican Randall Balmer At evangelical colleges like Wheaton College there are two kinds of required gatherings: chapel and convocation. The former is religious in nature, whereas a speaker at convocation has the license to be far more discursive, even secular — or political. The evangelical subculture, which prizes conformity above all else, doesn't suffer rebels gladly, and it is especially intolerant of anyone with the temerity to challenge the shibboleths of the religious right.. 06/27/2006 (2) Guntanamo: Lawyer Interviews--Fighting for Detainees / Opposing Efforts to Free Detainees Civil rights lawyer Joseph Margulies' new book is Guantanamo and the Abuse of Presidential Power. Margulies has represented several prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, and he believes that current U.S. policy is a legal and ethical disaster. Attorney Richard Samp is the chief counsel for the Washington Legal Foundation, an organization that has been urging the U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss challenges to detentions at Guantanamo. "Throughout our history, the courts have never allowed nonresident aliens to invoke the Constitution as a basis for challenging their detention by American authorities." 06/27/2006 (2) Book Review: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11 Tim Rutten Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal reporter, has written the book "The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11." It is a richly detailed and layered account of what has occurred behind the scenes since Sept. 11, 2001. It's deeply unsettling, a major contribution to our national conversation concerning these issues. 06/27/2006 (2) Assimilation Is More Than Learning English Mathew Spaulding, Ph.D No matter how the debate on immigration plays out, it’s safe to predict that large numbers will continue to immigrate to America every year for decades to come. As lawmakers debate the Who, How Many and From Where questions of immigration, they also should focus on a largely ignored question: How do we assure that legal immigrants assimilate? How do we assure that they become fully functional citizens whose sense of national identification -- and loyalty -- resides first and foremost with the United States? 06/25/2006 (2) What students need to know to make good decisions about military service Scott Key According to the Govern-ment Accountability Office (GAO), the military spends more than $3 billion a year on slick ads and polished recruiters who tell students that the military is their best option for obtaining jobs with benefits and money for college. As the war in Iraq continues and recruitment lags, high schools have become important military recruiting grounds. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act requires that public secondary schools provide the military access to students. To maximize this new access, the military has added recruiters to target students with fabulous promises to convince young people to enlist. Students are faced with one of the most important decisions in their lives — what to do after high school. 06/24/2006 (2) Senate Republicans Block Boost in Minimum Wage Molly Hennessy-Fiske Senate Republicans on Wednesday killed an effort to raise the minimum wage, but Democrats who backed the measure said they would try again. The federal minimum wage has been $5.15 an hour since 1997. On a procedural measure Wednesday, senators voted 52 to 46 in favor of raising the wage to $7.25 in three steps, but 60 votes were needed to move the legislation forward. 06/24/2006 (2) 'End times' religious groups want apocalypse sooner than later, and they're relying on high tech Louis Sahagun Mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood to polish strategies for using global communications and aircraft to transport missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission: to make every person on Earth aware of Jesus' message. Doing so, they believe, will bring about the end, perhaps within two decades. 06/23/2006 (2) The Death of News Mark Crispin Miller In 1996, when we first focused national attention on the dangers of the US media cartel, the situation was already grim, although in retrospect it may seem better than it really was. 06/23/2006 (2) Former illegal immigrant, now a citizen and farm owner, sees a need to restrict immigration Miguel Bustillo Former illegal immigrant farmworker, now a farm owner, became a United States citizen. He wants to end illegal immigration. Prefers an expanded guest worker program so farm owners could still benefit from the cheap labor of Mexican workers. 06/21/2006 (2) Brian Hart struggles to understand why the U.S went to war without armor that would have saved lives, including his son's (Live Discussion transcript) Brian and Alma Hart suffered the worst loss any partents can [when their son died in Iraq]. Rather than be merely angry, bitter, or paralyzed by grief, they channeled their sorrow into activism. 06/21/2006 (2) The world's most powerful military failed to provide armor that would have saved many American lives. One father would like to know why. April Witt Private 1st Class John Hart whispered into the phone so he wouldn't be overheard. It was just a matter of time, he said, before his buddies and he bumped down some back road in Iraq right into an ambush. They were so exposed, the somber young soldier told his dad. They were riding around in unarmored Humvees with canvas tops and gaping openings on the sides where doors should be. That seemed pretty stupid now that people were shooting at them and lobbing rockets. John, a 20-year-old gunner whose job it was to keep his head up and return fire, felt hung out in the breeze. 06/21/2006 (2) How Will the Good Jobs Of the Future Be Created? E. J. Dionne Jr. There is no sturdier liberal or Democratic slogan than "Jobs, jobs, jobs." But liberals have a problem: The old capitalist job-production machine is not working the way it used to. The venerable promise that new (progressive) leadership will create masses of well-paying jobs is harder to make and even harder to keep. In principle this is a larger problem for conservatives, whose main economic program involves reinforcing the status quo by giving tax cuts to rich people so they have more money to invest. Conservatives simply ignore the fact that fewer jobs are being created, particularly at home, for each dollar invested. 06/21/2006 (2) Assimilation Is More Than Learning English Assimilation Is More Than Learning English No matter how the debate on immigration plays out, it’s safe to predict that large numbers will continue to immigrate to America every year for decades to come. As lawmakers debate the Who, How Many and From Where questions of immigration, they also should focus on a largely ignored question: How do we assure that legal immigrants assimilate? How do we assure that they become fully functional citizens whose sense of national identification -- and loyalty -- resides first and foremost with the United States? 06/21/2006 (2) Now, Free Ways to Do Desktop Work on the Web Damon Darlin The biggest expense in buying a new computer is not always the computer. After all, you can buy a new Dell desktop, and a good one at that, for $300 and get a monitor in the bargain. The software to make a PC do anything useful can cost you as much as the computer. To accomplish even the most basic functions on the computer, like writing, you could pay $400 for the standard edition of Microsoft's Office suite that includes Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, Outlook for e-mail and PowerPoint for boring everyone with slideshow presentations. 06/21/2006 (2) The Truth about Detroit: The problem is not jobs. It’s wages and benefits. Robert B. Reich Just because the UAW is losing members doesn’t mean American auto workers are losing jobs. According to government data, more Americans are making cars today than were making them 25 years ago. Instead of working for the Big Three, though, lots are now working for Toyota, Honda, and other foreign-based automakers building cars here in the United States. The problem is not jobs. It’s wages and benefits. The real median wages and benefits of American auto workers have been dropping for several years. A quarter century ago, America’s auto workers were at the top of the heap. Technically, they were blue-collar, but their wages and benefits put them near the top of the middle class. Lately they’ve been descending into the lower middle class. 06/21/2006 (2) U.S. Muslim Clerics Seek a Modern Middle Ground Laurie Goodstein Sheik Hamza Yusuf, in a groomed goatee and sports jacket, looked more like a hip white college professor than a Middle Eastern sheik. Imam Zaid Shakir, a lanky African-American in a long brown tunic, looked as if he would fit in just fine on the streets of Damascus. Both men are converts to Islam who spent years in the Middle East and North Africa being mentored by formidable Muslim scholars. They have since become leading intellectual lights for a new generation of American Muslims looking for homegrown leaders who can help them learn how to live their faith without succumbing to American materialism or Islamic extremism. 06/21/2006 (2) Wall Street Doesn't Like This War Ken Miller Sectors of the economy can profit from war in certain circumstances, but Wall Street really doesn't like war--at least not the one now raging in Iraq, which is beginning to look like a write-off. The defense industry does like military expenditures. And US capitalists in general do appreciate the role of a robust military budget in bolstering the dollar as the ultimate reserve currency, in assuring that the rules of global finance are favorable to our interests and in protecting access to petroleum products. But we really do not like uncertainty. We like an environment we think we understand, one in which a return- on-capital analysis can be based on reliable assumptions of a predictable level of risk. 06/17/2006 (2) A Student's Forest Paper Sparks One Hot Debate Bettina Boxall and Janet Wilson A graduate student's finding - that post-fire logging hindered forest regrowth -was hardly revolutionary. But the study, with Donato as lead author, was published just as Congress was considering legislation to make it easier for timber companies to undertake salvage logging of dead trees after fires on federal land. That bill, backed by the Bush administration and recently passed by the House, is based on an underlying assumption that burned forests recover more quickly if they are logged and then replanted. The student's results provided ammunition to the bill's opponents - and more broadly to environmentalists fighting salvage logging, which makes up roughly a third of the timber sales from national forests across the country. They argue that dead trees provide not only wildlife habitat, but the nourishment for a new forest that will ultimately provide a richer, more diverse ecosystem. That is anathema to timber advocates, who see dead wood left to rot unharvested as not only counterproductive but a waste of resources. 06/17/2006 (2) In Search Of a New New Deal: How Will the Good Jobs Of the Future Be Created? E. J. Dionne Jr. There is no sturdier liberal or Democratic slogan than "Jobs, jobs, jobs." But liberals have a problem: The old capitalist job-production machine is not working the way it used to. The venerable promise that new (progressive) leadership will create masses of well-paying jobs is harder to make and even harder to keep. 06/17/2006 (2) Loving Day Recalls a Time When the Union of a Man And a Woman Was Banned Neely Tucker The word "miscegenation" is a linguistic artifact, a sort of postmodern joke, a term most often used with a sense of irony. But at a backyard barbecue in the District on Sunday afternoon that was dedicated to the joys and intricacies of interracial love, sex and marriage, Lydia and Peter Mosher remembered when bans on interracial relationships were deadly serious. Such laws began in Maryland in 1661, multiplied across the country and did not end until a Virginia case in 1967. No one needs a reminder about the fate of black men who had sex with white women in the Jim Crow era. 06/17/2006 (2) Inflation: The Phantom (?) Menace Paul Krugman Over the last few weeks monetary officials have sounded increasingly worried about rising prices. On Wednesday, Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, declared that inflation "is running at a rate that is just too corrosive to be accepted by a virtuous central banker." I'm worried too — but not about recent price increases. What worries me, instead, is the Fed's overreaction to those increases. When it comes to inflation, the main thing we have to fear is fear itself. 06/17/2006 (2) An Amnesty by Any Other Name... Edwin Meese III The fair and sound [immigration] policy is to give those who are here illegally the opportunity to correct their status by returning to their country of origin and getting in line with everyone else. This, along with serious enforcement and control of the illegal inflow at the border — a combination of incentives and disincentives — will significantly reduce over time our population of illegal immigrants. America welcomes more immigrants than any other country. But in keeping open that door of opportunity, we also must uphold the rule of law and enhance a fair immigration process, as Ronald Reagan said, to "humanely regain control of our borders and thereby preserve the value of one of the most sacred possessions of our people: American citizenship." 06/17/2006 (2) Democrats' loser linguistics: Republicans aren't winning because they have the best buzzwords, but because they're fluent in politics' ground-level language. Geoffrey Nunberg 'TOGETHER, America can do better." The Democrats' awkward new slogan may not say much more than "Anybody would be an improvement on the current bunch of bozos," yet many Democrats are hoping that it will be enough to bring the party back to life this fall. And they may be right, given the widespread discontent with the administration's apparently bottomless bozosity. But the very ungrammaticality of the Democrats' slogan reminds you that this is a party with a chronic problem of telling a coherent story about itself, right down to an inability to get its adverbs and subjects to agree. Until Democrats can spell out a more explicit and compelling vision for America, it isn't clear how the party can restore its faded luster. 06/17/2006 (2) Saving America Doug Thompson None of the political parties are much better than each other. It is all about power and carefully choosing the least destructive party to run the country is the only way to proceed. That is my decision. The democrats will destroy America in one generation. The republicans might take two or three generations, but the self-loathing boomers that screwed everything up will be long gone, dead. 06/17/2006 (2) Peace Activists at Hillary Clinton's Speech Try to Take Back "Take Back America" Medea Benjamin The Take Back America conference, an annual event held in Washington, DC this year from June 12-14, is supposed to be a venue for prominent progressives to gather and debate the major issues of our day. Their aim is to "provide the nation with new vision, new ideas and new energy." But choosing New York Senator and probable presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a keynote speaker and then stifling dissent against her pro-war position hardly seems the stuff of a new vision for America. 06/14/2006 (2) Bush and l'affaire Plame -- Zero accountability for "not only what is legal, but what is right" Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Presidential Adviser Karl Rove "has been told by prosecutors he won't be charged with any crimes" in the investigation of the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Yet the basic facts of the case remain: a senior White House official willfully undermined U.S. national security in an effort to tar a critic of the administration’s case for war in Iraq, then repeatedly misled the American public over his role in the smear campaign. 06/14/2006 (2) "Anchor Babies" Away Mona Charen In 1970, six percent of all births in the United States were to illegal aliens. In 2002, that figure was 23 percent. In 1994, 36 percent of the births paid for by Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid, were to illegals. That figure has doubtless increased in the intervening 12 years as the rate of illegal immigration has risen. Any children born in the United States automatically becomes a U.S. citizen. They are instantly eligible for panoply of social services, food stamps and other forms of aid. When they reach the age of 21, theycan petition to have their parents and siblings declared permanent residents. 06/14/2006 (2) Born Again Christians Just As Likely to Divorce As Non-Christians Recent legislation, lawsuits and public demonstrations over the legality of gay marriage are just one battlefront regarding the institution of marriage. A study released by The Barna Group, of Ventura, California, shows that the likelihood of married adults getting divorced is identical among born again Christians and those who are not born again. The study also cited attitudinal data showing that most Americans reject the notion that divorce is a sin. 06/14/2006 (2) Research shows tax cuts produce more government spending. Your silence is deafening, conservatives! Jonathan Chait A study, by William Niskanen of the Cato Institute, found that the conservative "starve the beast" strategy does not work. Indeed, since 1981, he found that tax cuts tend to produce more spending, while tax hikes produce less. It would be interesting to see how conservatives reacted to having the factual basis for their entire domestic strategy exposed as a fraud. And it is interesting because "starve the beast" is so central to the GOP approach to governing and because the reaction is a case study in how the conservative movement reacts when its views are disproved. 06/11/2006 (2) Public dialogue too often assumes manufacturing is dead, or at the very least doomed. Skilled and determined workers who lost old jobs found new ones. Workers who know how to use modern tools, and who know the culture of the shop floor, remain in demand. Right now there is a shortage of them. 06/11/2006 (2) The Iraq war is depressing; denial is the antidote. Why should ordinary citizens, religious people consider their role in the carnage? Bob Herbert For smug, comfortable, well-off Americans, it doesn't seem to matter how long the war in Iraq goes on — as long as the agony is endured by others. If the network coverage gets too grim, viewers can always switch to the E! channel (one hand on the remote, the other burrowing into a bag of chips) to follow the hilarious antics of Paris, Britney, Brangelina et al. 06/11/2006 (2) During the presidency of George W. Bush, the White House has made an unprecedented reach for power Elizabeth Drew George Bush's White House has systematically attempted to defy, control, or threaten the institutions that could challenge it: Congress, the courts, and the press. It has attempted to upset the balance of power among the three branches of government provided for in the Constitution; but its most aggressive and consistent assaults have been against the legislative branch: Bush has time and again said that he feels free to carry out a law as he sees fit, not as Congress wrote it. 06/11/2006 (2) Antipsychotics Drug Use Climbing: Use of potent antipsychotic drugs to treat children increased more than fivefold from 1993 to 2002. Benedict Carey Antipsychotic medication usage increased to 1,438 per 100,000 children and adolescents in 2002 from 275 per 100,000 from 1993 to 1995. The total number of visits in which the drugs were prescribed rose 1,224,000 in 2002 from 201,000 in 1993 to 1995. Psychiatrists were more likely to prescribe the drugs than other physicians, according to astudy published in the June issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. 06/10/2006 (2) Caught, released, gone underground: Illegal immigrants make mockery of Border Patrol policy Michael Martinez They arrested him and took him to the station. They fingerprinted, photographed and questioned him, leaving him red-eyed and tired in a room with more than a dozen other suspected illegal immigrants. Then Border Patrol agents handed him a "Notice to Appear" before an immigration judge, and by early afternoon the 38-year-old farmworker from El Salvador was escorted out the same door he had entered. Three hours later he was on a bus to Houston, armed with a document that would allow him to pass a Border Patrol checkpoint up the road. He said he had no intention of returning for the court hearing. 06/10/2006 (2) Give the Defense Department an F: Report to Congress on the state of Iraq is inaccurate and misleading. Anthony H. Cordesman IF THE UNITED STATES is to win in Iraq, it needs an honest and objective picture of what is happening there. The media and outside experts can provide pieces of this picture, but only the U.S. government has the resources and access to information to offer a comprehensive overview. But the quarterly report to Congress issued May 30 by the Department of Defense, "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq," like the weekly reports the State Department issues on Iraq, is profoundly flawed. It does more than simply spin the situation to provide false assurances to lawmakers and the public. It makes basic analytical and statistical mistakes, fails to define key terms, provides undefined and unverifiable survey information and deals with key issues by omission. 06/07/2006 (2) '86 Amnesty Frames Immigration Debate: The law, which legalized millions but didn't halt the flow, offers lessons. Teresa Watanabe and Anna Gorman With the U.S. Senate's approval of a landmark immigration bill last week, setting up a showdown with the House, some policymakers say moving forward depends on looking back. In 1986, President Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill featuring, among other things, widespread legalization of illegal immigrants, tougher border enforcement and measures aimed at eliminating the hiring of unauthorized workers. The current Senate proposal includes similar features. "Here we are again," said Bill King, who headed up the 1986 amnesty program in the western United States for what was then the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "It's almost as if today's politicians are resurrecting the transcripts and speeches from 1986." 06/07/2006 (2) Supporting Our troops: Is It Relative? Brian Settles As free citizens, we all have a right to voice our opinions in this society. Men and women of moral and political consciousness can not, should not, sit back witnessing a deterioration in our foreign relations with the rest of the world and, at the same time, endure the daily examples of our dedicated servicemen being sacrificed for a bogus military campaign that has minimal prospects for attainment of the unrealistic objectives for which it was launched. The best way we can Support Our Troops is to upgrade the pressure on our elected officials to devise an EXIT STRATEGY that falls short of the manner in which we left Vietnam, running for our lives. More and more are dying everyday in Iraq. The Iraqi security forces may NEVER be ready for prime time on their own. 06/06/2006 (2) Lies, damn lies and marriage statistics Meghan Daum THE factoid heard 'round the world. Twenty years ago, Newsweek ran a cover story saying a 40-year-old single woman was more likely to be killed by a terrorist than to find a husband. Citing the findings of a Harvard-Yale study, the article effectively told a lot of women that they should start adopting cats now. Like most headline-making numbers, the figures applied to white, college-educated types were these: A 30-year-old single woman stood a 20% chance of ever getting married. By age 35, her chances dropped to 5%. The terrorist comparison, which wasn't included in the research, was based on the study's calculation that a 40-year-old's chances of marrying were 2.6%. 06/06/2006 (2) Focusing on the Founding Fathers Alex Kingsbury Invoking the Founding Fathers is not just a pastime of history majors; it's an American obsession. Which is why there's still such a brisk trade in re-examining the founders' lives. In his latest book, Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Gordon Wood explains how this elite fraternity destroyed any chance of others duplicating their achievements by making American society more democratic. 06/06/2006 (2) Fake (?) news about Democrats 06/06/2006 (2) Army Manual to Skip Geneva Detainee Rule Julian E. Barnes Pentagon decides to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards. 06/03/2006 (2) With Illegal Immigrants Fighting Wildfires, West Faces a Dilemma Kirk Johnson The debate over immigration, which has filtered into almost every corner of American life in recent months, is now sweeping through the woods, and the implications could be immense for the coming fire season in the West. 06/03/2006 (2) Rules Collide With Reality in the Immigration Debate Julia Preston In the foundering immigration system being debated in Congress, immigration from Mexico is a critically broken part and, researchers and analysts say, central to any meaningful fix. By big margins, Mexican workers have been the dominant group coming to the United States over the last two decades, yet Washington has opened only limited legal channels for them, and has then repeatedly narrowed those channels. 06/03/2006 (2) Book Review: American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century Jeff Madrick In Kevin Phillips's view, the Bush energy policy is a prime example of America's failure to confront its most difficult challenges. Phillips, once a member of the Nixon administration, has written a timely book that argues that America is very different from the independent and omnipotent nation portrayed by President Bush and his administration. Dependency on oil is one of three major tendencies that will seriously undermine America's future, he writes, the other two being the influence of radical religion and the growing reliance on debt to support the economy. For Phillips, these constitute "the three major perils to the United States of the twenty-first century," and he offers little hope that the US will avoid the consequences. Since he wrote his widely read The Emerging Republican Majority in 1969, Phillips has published several books lamenting how poorly the Republicans have handled their responsibilities. American Theocracy is his most pessimistic work to date. 05/28/2006 (2) Is Bush Betraying His Base Richard A. Viguerie As a candidate in 2000, George W. Bush was a Rorschach test. Country Club Republicans saw him as another George H.W. Bush; some conservatives, thinking wishfully, saw him as another Ronald Reagan. He called himself a "compassionate conservative," which meant whatever one wanted it to mean. Experts from across the party's spectrum were flown to Austin to brief Bush and reported back: "He's one of us." 05/27/2006 (2) Johnny Got His Gun, but Now He Can't Get a Job John Spano GIs put their lives on the line far from home. Now some have returned to the unemployment line. 05/27/2006 (2) Lay Convicted, Bush Walks Greg Palast Don't kid yourself. If you think the conviction of Ken Lay means that George W. Bush is serious about going after corporate bad guys, think again. First, Lay got away with murder - or at least grand larceny. Like Al Capone convicted of failing to file his taxes, Ken Lay, though found guilty of stock fraud, is totally off the hook for his BIG crime: taking down California and Texas consumers for billions through fraud on the power markets. Lay co-convict Jeff Skilling and Enron did not act alone. They connived with a half dozen other power companies and a dozen investment banks to manipulate both the stock market and the electricity market. 05/21/2006 (2) Dead Poets Society--Stanley Kunitz / Peter Viereck Chapter Elaine Woo / Christopher Lehnman-Haupt / Elaine Woo Stanley Kunitz, the elegant centenarian of American poetry, whose musings about life, death, love and memory brought him a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award and two terms as U.S. poet laureate. Peter R. Viereck was a historian, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and political philosopher who was spurned by the modern conservative movement despite his central role in its birth. 05/19/2006 (2) Hey Democrats, Why Win? Adam Nagourney Election Day is six months away, and the question being asked only partly in jestis: Is it really in the best interest of the Democratic Party to win control of the House and Senate in November? Might the party's long-term fortunes actually be helped by falling short? There's the prospect of continued conflict in Iraq, high gas prices, corruption investigations, Republican infighting and a gridlocked Congress. Democrats would have a better chance of winning the presidency in 2008, by this reasoning, and for the future they enhance their stature at a time when Republicans are faltering. 05/19/2006 (2) Backlog At Borders, Cracks in The System: With Detention Sites Full, More Immigrants Avoid Deportation Spencer S. Hsu Beefed-up enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border since Sept. 11, 2001, has substantially increased the number of arrests of illegal immigrants, but tens of thousands of captured non-Mexicans continue to be released into the United States because there is no place to hold them, according to experts and immigration officials. 05/19/2006 (2) The New World order, Pilgrim style Jim Rossi Had the native Americans won King Philip's War, they might have wiped New England off the map forever. It was fought with musket, sword and bow in swamps and forests with armies of hundreds — although sometimes only dozens. Each side executed prisoners, burned villages and massacred women and children. The colonists prevailed only by dividing the tribes, making Mohawks and Mohegans their allies and remaining united themselves. It was, Rhode Island founder Roger Williams wrote, "our duty and engagement for one Englishman to stand to the death by each other in all parts of the world." The original Pilgrims were neither religious patriots nor bloody conquerors. And the native Americans they befriended, then betrayed were more sophisticated and less peaceful than commonly believed. 05/13/2006 (2) Bush claims authority to disobey 750+ laws enacted since he took office; says he has power to set aside statutes passed by Congress if they conflict with his interpretation of the ConstitutionBush claims authority to disobey 750+ laws enacted since he took office; says he has power to set aside statutes passed by Congress if they conflict with his interpretation of the Constitution Terri Gross / Charlie Savage President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. 05/13/2006 (2) Bush defends NSA surveillance operations in weekly radio address President Bush defended the scope of the government's domestic surveillance programs that have riled privacy advocates and threatened to impede the Senate confirmation of Bush's new pick to lead the CIA. 05/13/2006 (2) The Best Little Whorehouse in Washington Molly Ivins I don’t care what anyone smoked 20 years ago, I approve of those who boogie till they puke, and I don’t care who anyone in politics is screwing in private, as long as they’re not screwing the public. On other hand, if you expect me to pass up a scandal involving poker, hookers, the Watergate building with crooked defense contractors and the No. 3 guy at the CIA, named Dusty Foggo you expect too much. 05/13/2006 (2) The Illegal Immigration Debate Jonathan Curiel Today in the streets and capitols of the United States the fate of minorities perceived as outsiders (illegal immigrant Hispanic workers now instead of blacks) is hanging in the balance. The politics of immigration is like any other brand of politics: It's often divisive, raw, and emotional. Logically, newly established Americans would empathize with other immigrants trying to forge new rights for themselves. "The default position (for immigrants) is to sympathize, but when it comes down to it, the immigrants who are here don't want to have their position challenged by new immigrants coming in," says Jeremi Suri, history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is an expert on protest movements. "Once you're here and established and rooted here, at least in the economy, other people coming into the economy to compete with you are of course threatening to your position." 05/12/2006 (2) Pentagon delays release of updated Army Field Manual on interrogation; some lawmakers say it violates ban on torture Julian E. Barnes The Pentagon has been forced to delay the release of its updated Army Field Manual on interrogation because of congressional opposition to several provisions, including one that would allow tougher techniques for unlawful combatants than for traditional prisoners of war. 05/12/2006 (2) Hope is the antithesis of action. Hope expects that someone else will do the hard work of change, that things will just...get better. Derrick Jensen When we stop hoping for external assistance, when we stop hoping that the awful situation we're in will somehow resolve itself, when we stop hoping the situation will somehow not get worse, then we are finally free—truly free—to honestly start working to resolve it. I would say that when hope dies, action begins. A WONDERFUL THING happens when you give up on hope, which is that you realize you never needed it in the first place. You realize that giving up on hope didn't kill you. It didn't even make you less effective. In fact it made you more effective, because you ceased relying on someone or something else to solve your problems—you ceased hoping your problems would somehow get solved through the magical assistance of God, the Great Mother, the Sierra Club, valiant tree-sitters, brave salmon, or even the Earth itself—and you just began doing whatever it takes to solve those problems yourself. 05/06/2006 (2) Dr. Seuss Ruminates on The Decider Roddy McCorley A Dr. Suess parady: (George Bush)The Decider 05/06/2006 (2) Is Dubya the Worst President in History? Sean Wilentz George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history. 05/06/2006 (2) Cold Warrior in a Strange Land / What Ever Happened to Congress? Chalmers Johnson interviewed by Tom Engelhardt Chalmers Johnson, who served in the U.S. Navy and now is a historian of American militarism, lives cheek by jowl with his former service. So what kind of empire is ours? The unit is not the colony, it's the military base. This is not quite as unusual as defenders of the concept of empire often assume. That is to say, we can easily calculate the main military bases of the Roman Empire in the Middle East, and it turns out to be about the same number it takes to garrison the region today. You need about 38 major bases. You can plot them out in Roman times and you can plot them out today. 05/05/2006 (2) Gelded Donkeys: Why the Democrats Are Worse Than Useless Robert Freeman Amidst the most catastrophic presidency in the history of the country, it is the donkey that doesn't bray that identifies the culprit. And the culprit, of course, is the donkey's master. It is a who-dunnit of Olympian proportions, for the fate of the country hangs on its solution. The extent of the disaster of the Bush presidency is almost beyond cataloguing. But it is worth trying in order to comprehend the stunning impotence of the Democrats in offering any meaningful opposition. 05/05/2006 (2) Coming Home from War on the Cheap Judith Coburn Much has been written about how President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld waged war on the cheap, sending too few ill-equipped young soldiers -- 30% of them ill-trained Reservists and National Guardsmen -- into battle. But little has been reported about how shockingly on-the-cheap the homecomings of these soldiers have proved to be. The Bush administration awarded Blake Miller a medal, but it has fought for three long years to deny soldiers like him the care they need. While Miller and his men were being thrown into the fire in Falluja, the White House was proposing to cut the combat pay of soldiers like them. (Only an outburst of outrage across the political spectrum caused the administration to back off from that suggestion.) 05/05/2006 (2) George W. Bush: An American Hitler? Doug Thompson George W. Bush: An American Hitler 05/05/2006 (2) Essays: Impeaching Bush; occupying Iraq permanently; using torture. Dave Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky ; Bill C. Davis; Doug Thompson ; Daniel McGrory Essays on: Impeaching President Bush; occupying Iraq permanently; using torture. 05/05/2006 (2) Open Target: Where America is Vulnerable to Attack: Former inspector general of Department of Homeland Security's book: Clark Kent Ervin, former inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, earned a reputation for being critical of the department while he was there. He was appointed in January of 2003, but after 18 months was not reappointed. He brings his perspective to the page with the new book Open Target: Where America is Vulnerable to Attack. 05/05/2006 (2) Cheap oil, cheap labor and costly habits Patt Morrison We're a nation of junkies. Cars on crack! Factories on smack! It's been one long, fabulous high, but we're starting to crash. We're starting to realize that cheap gas and cheap labor aren't all that cheap after all, and that CEOs have been playing us for suckers, pocketing the profits and benefits for themselves and spreading the costs around to the rest of us. 05/02/2006 (2) Prostitution Alleged In Cunningham Case--Investigators Focus on Limo Company Jo Becker and Charles R. Babcock Federal authorities investigare allegations that a California defense contractor arranged for a Washington area limousine company to provide prostitutes to convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham and possibly other lawmakers. 04/29/2006 (2) The Immigration Debate, Parte Dos Joseph Phillips America *was* founded by immigrants and immigrants to this nation — both willing and unwilling — have contributed much to American culture and history. The heated debate we're now having bears no relation to Ellis Island. We are not discussing absorbing immigrants fleeing oppression or famine, or even whether we are accepting too many immigrants from a particular region. The issue is the right of a sovereign people to decide the manner and place of migration across its borders. Americans are not opposed to immigration. They are opposed to illegal immigration. 04/29/2006 (2) Inequality in the United States has been growing for a generation Inequality in the U.S. has been growing for a generation. The top fifth of households enjoyed post-tax incomes worth 6.7 times those of the bottom fifth a quarter of a century ago; that multiple has since jumped to 9.8, a 46 percent increase. 04/29/2006 (2) GOP Pet Projects Unleash Anger in Republican Ranks Richard Simon Slipping pet projects into spending bills is a point of pride among lawmakers. Growing discord over the practice may pit Republican against Republican in the GOP-controlled Congress. 04/29/2006 (2) 36 % of high schoolers think newspapers need government approval before publishing Nat Hentoff Schools fail the future when they don't teach individual liberties in the Constitution. Students need to know their individual liberties under the Constitution and what it has taken during more than two tumultuous centuries to rescue those liberties in periods like the present, when they are acceleratingly endangered. 04/26/2006 (2) Gelded Donkeys: Why the Democrats Are Worse Than Useless Robert Freeman 04/22/2006 (2) Lobbyists' Lawyers Say Rice Leaked Information Richard B. Schmitt Lawyers for two lobbyists accused of conspiring to obtain secret defense information said Friday that they intended to prove that senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, provided the lobbyists with some of the sensitive information. 04/22/2006 (2) The Firing of Mary McCarthy Larry Johnson The case against the CIA Intelligence Officer, Mary McCarthy, fired for her alleged role in leaking information about secret prisons to the Washington Post's Dana Priest smells a little fishy. 04/22/2006 (2) 50 Things youu can do to save the environment Learn about conservation issues in your community or state. Write your legislators and let them know where you stand on the issues. Teach children to respect nature and the environment. Take them on hikes or camping. Help them plant a tree or build a birdhouse. Teach them by example. 04/22/2006 (2) The Conspiracy Against Assimilation Robert J. Samuelson It's all about assimilation -- or it should be. One of America's glories is that it has assimilated many waves of immigrants. Outsiders have become insiders. But it hasn't been easy. Every new group has struggled: Germans, Irish, Jews and Italians. All have encountered economic hardship, prejudice and discrimination. The story of U.S. immigration is often ugly. If today's wave of immigration does not end in assimilation, it will be a failure. By this standard, I think the major contending sides in the present bitter debate are leading us astray. Their proposals, if adopted, would frustrate assimilation. 04/16/2006 (2) EPA ordered to release documents on mercury rule Beth Daley A federal magistrate in Boston ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency late yesterday to release internal documents to Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly about how the federal agency arrived at a controversial rule to regulate mercury emissions from power plants. 04/16/2006 (2) EPA ordered to release documents on mercury rule Beth Daley A federal magistrate in Boston ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency late yesterday to release internal documents to Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly about how the federal agency arrived at a controversial rule to regulate mercury emissions from power plants. 04/16/2006 (2) The Left Is Online and Outraged: Liberal Blogger Finds an Outlet and a Community David Finkel Since its debut last July, My Left Wing has had some 450,000 visits and is now averaging about 3,000 visits and 14,000 page views a day. At any given moment, several dozen people are looking at the site, and user data shows that they are all over the world -- mostly from the United States, occasionally from overseas and often from Washington, D.C., where the log-on addresses sometimes end in senate.gov or house.gov. 04/16/2006 (2) Real Americans pout, they don't protest---One more job for immigrants Rosa Brooks Mainstream Americans don't go in for protest marches anymore (mass protests are so '60s). But demonstrating a mind-boggling degree of cultural obtuseness, hundreds of thousands of immigrants turned out for nationwide rallies opposing the punitive Republican-sponsored immigration bill passed by the House in December. 04/16/2006 (2) The True Cost Of War Sarah Holewinski We've made progress about civilian casualties in Iraq. The Pentagon has a program of condolence payments -- the military on the ground directly compensate a family for the death of a loved one. Congress created the Marla Ruzicka Iraqi War Victims Fund and a similar fund for Afghanistan, with a total to date of $38 million for families and communities of those injured and killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. TheIraqi people love it. 04/16/2006 (2) U.S. protectionist measures helped wreck the world economy in the '30s. Niall Ferguson A century ago, the world economy was in many ways just as integrated as it is today. Migration rates were comparably high, as was trade in relation to output. Capital flows today are bigger in relative terms, but a century ago they were more evenly distributed between rich and poor countries. After 1914, however, globalization fell apart, and by the 1930s the world economy had fragmented — with disastrous consequences for growth and employment 04/11/2006 (2) A Strange and Troubling War James Zogby 04/09/2006 (2) Did Bush Lie to Prosecutor Fitzgerald Robert Parry 04/09/2006 (2) Bill Maher's Advice to President Bush Bill Maher Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore. There's no more money to spend--you used up all of that. You can't start another war because you used up the Army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. Listen to your mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit cards' maxed out. No one's speaking to you: Mission accomplished. 04/08/2006 (2) Amid Rallies, Questions Over Immigrants' Impact / Q&A: Illegal Immigrants and the U.S. Economy Liane Hansen and Adam Davidson ; Adam Davidson Many economists say the effect -- good or bad -- of 11 million undocumented workers is minimal. Overall, illegal immigrants don't have a big impact on U.S. wage rates. Respected recent studies show most Americans would notice little difference in their paychecks if illegal immigrants suddenly disappeared from the U.S. The wages of low-skill high-school dropouts are suppressed by somewhere between 3 percent and 8 percent because of competition from immigrants, both legal and illegal. The economic impact of illegal immigration is far smaller than other trends in the economy (e.g., increasing automation in manufacturing or the growth in global trade). These factors have a bigger impact on wages, prices and the health of the U.S. economy 04/08/2006 (2) CEO Pay Growing Kathy M. Kristof Deals undermine efforts to tie compensation to corporate performance One reason executive pay has soared in recent years is that compensation deals are getting more lucrative at the front end, with fat signing bonuses and initial grants of stock. That allows some chief executives to bank large sums of money before they've proved themselves on the job. Over a five-year period, 11 companies paid their CEOs a combined $865 million — while they presided over a $640-billion decline in shareholder value 04/08/2006 (2) Guard the Borders -- And Face Facts, Too George F. Will Border control isimportant for four reasons. First, control of borders is an essential attribute of sovereignty. Second, conditions along the border mock the rule of law. Third, large rallies by immigrants, many of them here illegally, protesting more stringent control of immigration reveal that many immigrants have, alas, assimilated: They have acquired the entitlement mentality created by America's welfare state, asserting an entitlement to exemption from the laws of the society they invited themselves into. Fourth, giving Americans a sense that borders are controlled is a prerequisite for calm consideration of what policy that control should serve. 04/08/2006 (2) A Poverty of the Mind Orlando Patterson The "cool-pose culture" of young black men is too gratifying to give up. For them it was almost like a drug, hanging out on the street after school, shopping and dressing sharply, sexual conquests, party drugs, hip-hop music and culture, the fact that almost all the superstar athletes and a great many of the nation's best entertainers were black. They find this subculture immensely fulfilling. It also brought them a great deal of respect from white youths. Nevertheless, young black men and women tend to have the highest levels of self-esteem of all ethnic groups; their self-image is independent of how badly they were doing in school. 04/04/2006 (2) April 4th, 2006; April 4th, 1968 Horace Coleman When I heard that Martin Luther King had had his throat split by a round from a 30.06 I was shocked but not surprised. This was what the nation had preached and practiced for centuries. Some of the unstated stipulations in the Declaration of Limited Independence and the Bill of Restricted Rights. The usual unfocused and mindless riots were followed by the usual unfollowed special commission musings. 03/30/2006 (2) A Conservative Criticizes A Neocon About Iraq Asesses American Weaknesses and the Need for A Global Role Niall Ferguson The first big neocon error was their abandonment of realism. In particular, there was a failure to grasp the implications of toppling Hussein for the Middle Eastern balance of power. Henry Kissinger was right when he said of the Iran-Iraq war: "A pity they both can't lose." By getting rid of Hussein, the United States unwittingly handed Iran a belated victory. 03/30/2006 (2) Avian Flu: How Serious Is the Risk? Denise Grady and Gina Kolata Over the last year, it has been impossible to watch TV or read a newspaper without encountering dire reports about bird flu and the possibility of a pandemic, a worldwide epidemic. It seems only a matter of time before it turns up here. 03/30/2006 (2) Army allows some once-forbidden tattoos, a nod to a changing youth culture — and an all-volunteer military hurting for recruits. Mark Mazzetti Facing one of the worst recruiting climates in the all volunteer military's history, the Army has decided to relax standards that dictate which parts of a soldier can be festooned with body art. 03/27/2006 (2) FBI Keeps Watch on Domestic Activists Nicholas Riccardi The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show. 03/27/2006 (2) Conservative Blogger Resigns from Washington Post Amid Charges of Plagarism James Rainey A conservative blogger on the Washington Post's website resigned Friday following allegations that he repeatedly had plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in earlier articles. 03/24/2006 (2) Bill O’Reilly’s baroque period Nicholas Lemann Bill O’Reilly’s classical period, the first few years of “The O’Reilly Factor”—which débuted in 1996, at the same time as Fox News—O’Reilly seemed to be a recognizable member of the conservative-talk-show-host species, like his Fox stablemate Sean Hannity, or like Joe Scarborough, on MSNBC. He attacked Bill Clinton and Al Gore relentlessly; the Monica Lewinsky scandal was his signature subject. Now, ten years later, O’Reilly has become baroque, and “The O’Reilly Factor” is a complex affair, dense with self-references, obsessions, and elaborations, even though it still delivers a satisfying punch. 03/24/2006 (2) GOP Spenders Think Voters Dismiss Deficits Joel Havemann and Richard Simon It's an uphill battle for many Republicans to explain why, during an era when they control the House, the Senate and the White House, spending has been unleashed as it has. 03/18/2006 (2) Senator Russ Feingold: A Peculiar Politician? William Greider Senator Russ Feingold is an embarrassment to the US Senate, which makes him an authentic hero of the Republic. The Wisconsin senator gets up and says out loud what half of the country is thinking and talks about every day. This President broke the law and lied about it; he trashed the Constitution and hides himself in the flag. Feingold asks: Shouldn't the Senate say something about this, at least express our disapproval? He introduces a resolution of censure and calls for debate. 03/18/2006 (2) Russ Feingold tossed a political grenade at President Bush; many Democratic senators ran away. E. J. Dionne Jr. Russ Feingold tossed a political grenade at President Bush this week. Many Democratic senators ran away. The grenade was the Wisconsin senator's proposal to censure the president for violating the law by ordering electronic surveillance on Americans without explicit congressional or court authorization. The episode says more about Bush's political frailty than first-blush accounts have suggested. It also underscored the frictions and tensions between passionate Democratic activists and their cautious leaders. 03/18/2006 (2) Do Americans still believes that anyone who works hard and plays by the rules can attain the American dream? Lacking a unifying religion, ethnicity or even language, the U.S. is held together by believing that anyone who works hard and plays by the rules can attain the American dream, sharing the fruits of economic progress. The trends of the past quarter-century compel a reexamination of this creed. 03/18/2006 (2) GOP is in 'deep funk' over Bush's spending lyn Lochhead The Republican rebellion that President Bush smacked into with the Dubai ports deal was the tip of an iceberg of Republican discontent that is much deeper and more dangerous to the White House than a talk radio tempest over Arabs running U.S. ports. 03/12/2006 (2) Enough of the D.C. Dems Molly Ivins I don’t know about you, but I have had it with the D.C. Democrats, had it with the DLC Democrats, had it with every calculating, equivocating, triangulating, straddling, hair-splitting son of a bitch up there, and that includes Hillary Rodham Clinton. As usual, the Democrats have forty good issues on their side and want to run on thirty-nine of them. Here are three they should stick to: 1) Iraq is making terrorism worse; it’s a breeding ground. We need to extricate ourselves as soon as possible. We are not helping the Iraqis by staying. 2) Full public financing of campaigns so as to drive the moneylenders from the halls of Washington. 3) Single-payer health insurance. 03/12/2006 (2) It's easy to track covert operatives. All you need is the Internet! John Crewdson, When the Chicago Tribune searched a commercial online data service, the result was a virtual directory of more than 2,600 CIA employees, 50 internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret CIA facilities around the United States. When the Tribune searched a commercial online data service, the result was a virtual directory of more than 2,600 CIA employees, 50 internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret CIA facilities around the United States. 03/12/2006 (2) Army to Launch Criminal Probe of Former NFL Star Pat Tillman's Death Mark Mazzetti The Army has said that it would launch a criminal probe into Pat Tillman's death. The onetime National Football League star was inadvertently killed by gunfire from fellow soldiers in Afghanistan in 2004. The Army's decision came after the Pentagon's inspector general reviewed the case and recommended further investigation into whether soldiers in Tillman's unit should be charged with negligent homicide. 03/12/2006 (2) Ready for the new Newt "the brute"? The former House speaker is busy rewriting his own history as he eyes a run for the White House Jonathan Chait At the bottom end of the presidential candidate spectrum you have washed-up, semi-employed pols like Newt Gingrich. Few people think Gingrich ought to or will run, so he's forced to show a lot of leg. Gingrich has been telling anyone who will listen that he plans to decide next summer, and he has splashed the resulting headlines — i.e, "Gingrich's Words Sound Like Those of a Presidential Candidate" — on his website. 03/12/2006 (2) The perils of our play-it-safe society Gregory Rodriguez BE AFRAID. Be very afraid. That's the message we Americans receive daily from everyone from government officials to newscasters, environmentalists and corporate marketers. Let's face it: like sex, fear sells. But has hyperactive fear-mongering become corrosive to American society? That's what a growing number of social critics and sociologists are concluding. In a nation so proud of its pioneering spirit, the culture of precaution, they say, is turning us into a bunch of chickens. 03/12/2006 (2) How stolen FBI files exposed COINTELPRO, a government domestic spying program. Allan M. Jalon Anonymous activists broke into the FBI office in Media, Pa., in 1971 and stole FBI documents that revealed years of systematic wiretapping, infiltration and media manipulation designed to suppress dissent. The FBI had gone beyond intelligence-gathering to discredit, destabilize and demoralize groups — many peaceful, legal civil rights organizations and antiwar groups 03/08/2006 (2) Welcome to the Middle-Class Lockdown! Now shut up and buy something!! Joe Bageant We no longer depend upon community and other people around us. We live in our houses, idiotically sited vinyl "Tudor-esque" fuck-boxes with brick facade (sorry Neddie, I just had to steal that lick) which grow bigger each year in order to accommodate our massive asses, egos and collection of goods, and we "order out." Or go shopping for it at the mall. Beyond the need to get laid, there is little real reason to be together with other thinking, feeling adults. We do not need each other to do anything important in our lives, because all those things are performed by strangers, often as not thousands of miles away. 03/08/2006 (2) Is This the Twilight's Last Gleaming in America? John Cory Who are these people? These people who line their pockets with the lives of our loved ones? These gray men who lurk in shadows and kill the sunshine of democracy? These people who wear morality like a cheap suit pilfered from the collection plate of decency? Who are these people who have turned America into their own personal ATM machine? These are the people of the lie - Republicans. 03/05/2006 (2) America's younger workers losing ground on income; median income fell 8 percent for householders under 35, Mark Trumbull In the race to get ahead economically, America's young workers are falling behind. A new survey shows median incomes fell for householders under 45, even as they rose for older ones, between 2001 and 2004. Income fell 8 percent, adjusted for inflation, for those under 35 and 9 percent for those aged 35 to 44. 03/05/2006 (2) Bush's ratings sink, weighed down by ports deal and discontent over Iraq Ronald Brownstein Bush's ratings sink, weighed down by the Dubai firm uproar and discontent over Iraq. 03/04/2006 (2) Washingron Politician, Democrats and Republicans, show little sympathy for Cunningham Finlay Lewis and Dana Wilkie Former congressional colleagues of Randy “Duke” Cunningham showed little sympathy Friday for the convicted North County Republican, with GOP lawmakers suggesting his jail sentencing might close the book on the scandal and Democrats suggesting it could become a campaign issue. 03/03/2006 (2) Bush's Obstruction of History At some point in the next few months, President Bush is expected to announce his choice for the location of his presidential library. What the National Archives will store in the Bush library is important. These records tell the real story of an administration. For better or for worse, these records belong to the American people and should be available so that future generations can learn from the triumphs and failures of our past leaders. 03/03/2006 (2) The United States reaps the grief Bush has sown Cynthia Tucker President Bush is a great professor of politics. His lessons — have become essential political wisdom: * All Arabs are alike (topple Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with the terrorist atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001. * In the pursuit of power, politics trumps principle. Never risk alienating the part of your base that's loony and hateful by publicly criticizing their xenophobia. A war on terror can cover a lot of ground. No programs, no policies, no answers? No problem. When you're waging a war on terror, you don't have to make sense or explain yourself. 03/03/2006 (2) Is Freedom Just Another Word for Many Things to Buy? Barry Schwartz, Hazel Rose Markus and Alana Conner Snibe In today's America, everyone appears to agree that freedom is about having choices and that having more choices means having more freedom. Choice is what enables all of us to live exactly the kind of lives we want to and think we should. But this "wisdom" is suspecrt. First, most Americans do not think freedom is about exercising more and more choice. Secondly, more choice does not seem to make them feel freer. Americans are increasingly bewildered — not liberated — by the sheer volume of choices they must make in a day. 03/03/2006 (2) States Offer Grim Look at Curbing Corruption Scandals underscore the difficulty of policing ethics, even with independent oversight. Mary Curtius States Offer Grim Look at Curbing Corruption. Many have rules that Congress is considering. Scandals underscore the difficulty of policing ethics, even with independent oversight. 03/03/2006 (2) Needy Americans left with crumbs while lawmakers prepare to give most fortunate segments of population another $70B in tax breaks Washington lawmakers are preparing to give the most fortunate segments of the U.S. population another $70 billion in tax breaks, while millions of other Americans don't know where they'll find their next meal. 02/28/2006 (2) Democrarts Need A Newt Of Their Own: The Party Can't Have a Revolution Without the Revolutionaries Elizabeth Wilner and Chuck Todd As a lobbying scandal plays out on the watch of the Republican majority in Congress, where are the Democrats' reformers? Why isn't some spirited group of junior House Democrats capturing the public's imagination and sinking its teeth into the spreading Jack Abramoff mess? And, where is the Democratic equivalent of Newt Gingrich? 02/27/2006 (2) Al Gore's daughter writes a book about nine women who made a difference Bob Thompson Karenna Gore Schiff, dsughter oif former Vice President Al Gorge a book, "Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America." She wrote it as a kind of therapy, an antidote to the "punched-in-the-gut" feeling she got whenever she looked at a newspaper after the 2000 election. 02/24/2006 (2) Baby Boomers: The *Real* Greatest Generation? Leonard Steinhorn The true test of a generation is what it's done to make America better. Baby boomers helped create a more inclusive and tolerant America, women's equality and men's growing respect for it, an appreciation for cultural diversity too long denied, a society that no longer turns a blind eye to prejudice or pollution. The boomers' problem is not that they haven't accomplished a great deal; it's that we take their accomplishments for granted and don't give them any credit. 02/22/2006 (2) Depleted Uranium Scandal Explodes freeMaketNews.com 02/22/2006 (2) A Trillion-Dollar Gimmick: Extending Bush's Tax Cuts Through Sleight of Hand David S. Broder $1.35 trillion is the proposed cost of making Bush budget's tax cuts permanent. How will this revenue be replaced? By cutting what in other parts of the budget? 02/22/2006 (2) Consumer Alert: Industries Get Protection From Lawsuits Myron Levin and Alan C. Miller Through arcane regulatory actions and legal opinions, the Bush administration is providing industries an unprecedented degree of protection at the expense of an individual's right to sue and a state's right to regulate. 02/20/2006 (2) Perspectives on Malcolm X Horace Coleman When Malcolm X was a gangster he was a capitalist, a literal robber baron. When he was a prisoner he was a philosopher and a student. As a Black Muslim, a racist. As a Moslem,a humanist, an ambassador without portfolio, a statesman without a country. He was an internationalist when he died and obsolete without having been fulfilled. 02/18/2006 (2) Vintage solutions from Newt Gingrich, a tireless Mr. Fixit Brian M. Carney There are few problems for which Newt Gingrich does not have a ready solution. Social Security? Check. Medicare? Sorted. Rising health-care costs? Well in hand. The rise of radical Islam and the proliferation of nuclear weapons? Tough, but doable. 02/18/2006 (2) No Checks, Many Imbalances George Will The Bush administration asserts that whenever the nation is at war, the other two branches of government have a radically diminished pertinence to governance, and the president determines what that pertinence shall be. 02/15/2006 (2) It Turns Out Money *Can* Buy Love, After All Kathy M. Kristof Men want a woman with a good sense of humor; women prefer a guy who has a steady job and pays his bills on time. 02/15/2006 (2) Army Accepting More Recruits With Criminal, Drug Histories Tom Bowman The Army, struggling to boost it ranks in wartime, sharply increases the number of recruits normally barred because of criminal misconduct or alcohol and illegal drug problem. This raises concerns that the Army is lowering its standards. 02/15/2006 (2) The skinny pink paycheck syndrome E.J. Graff and Evelyn Murphy Women remain ghettoized in jobs with skinny pink paychecks. Employers get away with flagrant violations of the law because there's no public outcry — indeed, almost no public scrutiny at all. 02/13/2006 (2) Ex-C.I.A. Official Says Iraq Data Was Distorted Scott Shane If the C.I.A. had spent less time leaking its opinions throughout the 1990's, opposing conflict with Iraq, and more time developing assets inside Iraq, the agency would have more credibility and better intelligence. 02/13/2006 (2) CIA Leak Scandal Goes to the Top Jason Leopold Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley led a campaign beginning in March 2003 to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson for publicly criticizing the Bush administration's intelligence on Iraq. 02/13/2006 (2) Another FEMA Foul-up: 10,770 Empty Trailers Johanna Neuman Far from the victims of Katrina for whom they are meant, empty but furnished FEMA shelters crowd an airport, benefiting only the town of Hope, Ark. 02/12/2006 (2) Iraq American Wounded and Maimed Over 500,000 Sam Hamod from Washington Journal on C Span 02/10/2006 (2) History teaches that the poor aren't always happy being that way. Al Martinez History teaches that the poor aren't always happy being that way. Periodically, they topple kings, behead the courtesans, sell the jewels, establish a people's form of government and then, masters of their own fate, elect someone who favors the rich to lead them. And it starts all over again. 02/10/2006 (2) Budget busters A NATION AT WAR MUST MAKE difficult choices and endure sacrifice. The soldiers who risk life and limb in Iraq carry the most obvious burden. But those in government must also do their part, by selecting wisely where to direct taxpayer money. 02/10/2006 (2) A Dictionary of Republicanisms A Dictionary of Republicanisms 02/10/2006 (2) The Vanishing Future Paul Krugman We've had six years to grow accustomed to George W. Bush's budget chicanery, blatant dishonesty and gross irresponsibility. What still amazes is the sheer childishness of the administration's denials and deceptions. 02/10/2006 (2) The President’s Warrantless Wiretapping Program Senator Russ Feingold President Bush has openly acknowledged that he has ordered the government to spy on Americans, on American soil, without the warrants required by law. 02/10/2006 (2) VP Dick Cheney Spearheaded Effort to Discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson Jason Leopold Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley led a campaign beginning in March 2003 to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson for publicly criticizing the Bush administration's intelligence on Iraq. 02/10/2006 (2) Speaking Truth to Power at Coretta Scott King's Funeral William Rivers Pitt Coretta Scott King would have approved of politics being mentioned at her funeral and truth being spoken to power. 02/09/2006 (2) On NSA Spying: A Letter to Congress Evan Augustine Peterson III, J.D. 02/05/2006 (2) Colin Powell's State Dept. Chief of Staff Discusses pre-Iraq War Intelligence There was deep skepticism within the intelligence community about some pre-Iraq War claims than was expressed publicly at the time. 02/05/2006 (2) Bush's Bill for War Is Rising Mark Mazzetti White House to ask Congress for an additional $70 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, driving the cost of military operations there to $120 billion this year. 02/05/2006 (2) The U.S. 'Addiction to Oil' Calls For a More Direct Intervention Ronald Brownstein President Bush, in the energy plan he announced in his State of the Union speech last week, chose the first strategy. Bush promised more federal energy research, primarily into technologies that might reduce America's fossil fuel dependence years from now. But he rejected the common-sense measures that could bring immediate improvements and maximize the long-term benefits of the new research. (Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times) 02/05/2006 (2) NSA Chief Needs New Reading Glasses Robert Dreyfuss Here's the Fourth Amendmentto the Constiturion that NSA ignores: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. " 02/05/2006 (2) NSA Spying Myths David Cole In a memo to Congress, the Administration argued that the Commander in Chief may not be restricted in the "means and methods of engaging the enemy." This assertion of uncheckable executive power is one of five myths the Administration has propagated in a PR blitz designed to convince the public of a transparently unconvincing argument. 02/01/2006 (2) Study suggests political argument and reaction register with unconscious emotional thought, not rational decision-making According to a new study by neuroscientists, political argument and reaction register within the realm of the brain that handles unconscious emotional thought, and not in the part of the brain that manages rational decision-making. 02/01/2006 (2) Is America Actually in a State of War? James Carroll When George W. Bush goes before the Congress and the nation tomorrow night, he will present himself (again) as a war president. Personally and politically, the identity defines him. Instead of the callow leader he was in the beginning of his presidency, he will conduct himself as a man of sharp determination, with defiance born of the impression that his fight is to the death. He will justify all of his policies, including the illegal ones, by citing his responsibilities -- and privileges -- as wartime commander in chief. 02/01/2006 (2) Karl Rove's 2006 spin cycle Jonathan Chait "REPUBLICANS HAVE a post-9/11 view of the world and Democrats have a pre-9/11 view of the world," asserted White House senior strategist Karl Rove in a recent speech. Rove is widely seen to be signaling the main GOP theme for the 2006 elections. 01/24/2006 (2) The War on Dissent Gets Creepy Mike Ferner On New Year's Day, I decided to start 2006 with a public protest against the war. Little did I know how public it would become. 01/24/2006 (2) Karl Rove is Back From the Missing Chris Cillizza White House political Svengali Karl Rove made a rare public appearance Friday in Washington, D.C., delivering a brief-but-pointed address at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting. 01/24/2006 (2) Warriors and wusses Joel Stein I DON'T SUPPORT our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on. 01/18/2006 (2) War's stunning price tag Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz The final bill for the Iraq war may be much higher than previously reckoned — between $1 trillion and $2 trillion, depending on how much longer our troops stay. Putting that into perspective, the highest-grossing movie of all time, "Titanic," earned $1.8 billion worldwide — about half the cost the U.S. incurs in Iraq every week. 01/18/2006 (2) When Talk of Guns and Butter Includes Lives Lost Louis Uchitelle AS the toll of American dead and wounded mounts in Iraq, some economists are arguing that the war's costs, broadly measured, far outweigh its benefits. Now some economists have added in the dollar value of a life lost in combat, and that has fed antiwar sentiment. 01/18/2006 (2) Murtha and the Mudslingers E. J. Dionne Jr. The conservative hit squad that regularly defends President Bush for serving in the Texas Air National Guard instead of going to Vietnam has continued its war on actual Vietnam veterans: E.G., Rep. John Murtha, a Democrat and a decorated Marine combat veteran. 01/16/2006 (2) Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech Martin Luther King The "I Have a Dream" speech delivered by Martin Luther King (28 August 1963)at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. during The March on Washington. 01/16/2006 (2) Bush job approval dips to 39% ; New Zogby Survey shows Iraq Considered a Partisan War Zogby International President Bush’s job approval rating has slipped into a post-holiday funk (Christmas / New Year's 2005-06), again dipping below 40%, a new telephone poll by Zogby International shows. 01/16/2006 (2) Skepticism at Home Threatens Bush's Vision: Americans like idea of spreading democracy; don't believe it will work Tyler Marshall A year after President Bush declared tat America had to push the boundaries of democracy in the Middle East, his initiative has met with stiff resistance abroad. The real Achilles' heel of Bush's grand vision may lie in a lack of support at home. 01/14/2006 (2) Veterans Learning to Deal With Loss by Defying It Johanna Neuman Amputee veterans deal with loss by defying it. Sports therapy helps heal wounds that might otherwise be not just physically but mentally devastating. 01/12/2006 (2) On The Necessity Of Impeachment: All We Are Saying Is Give The Constitution A Chance Evan Augustine Peterson III, J.D. President George W. Bush says he can unilaterally order wiretaps on American citizens without judicial oversight, although warrantless domestic wiretaps are prohibited by federal law. He claims virtually unlimited presidential power to override any laws and to cancel constitutionally-guaranteed civil liberties because the US is at war. 01/08/2006 (2) Innovate or perish!! Lewis M. Branscomb The United States is losing its competitive advantage and may soon lose its innovative edge. It does not invest fully in resources most critical for sustained high-tech leadership, and the most talented and productive regions of the Third World challenge our dominance with skills and efforts only we once possessed. The origins of the decline can be traced to the 1960s, when the U.S. trade surplus in high-tech manufactured goods began slipping. By 1972, the surplus had disappeared. 01/08/2006 (2) How My Mother Went From Being the Chair of the Local Republican Party to a Screaming Progressive Missy Ci9nmlry Bettie When a life long Republican began to study the policies of the parties she came to the realization that progressive politics reflected her beliefs-that social programs for the poor benefited everyone. She decided that her religious convictions also turned her away from the "right." After 9/11 when Americans were thirsty for revenge, my parents were dismayed that the president continued to build a case against Iraq. 01/06/2006 (2) Three GOP senators blast Bush's bid to bypass torture ban Charlie Savage Three Republican senators condemn President Bush's assertion that his powers as commander in chief give him the authority to bypass a new law restricting the use of torture when interrogating detainees. 01/06/2006 (2) Every past-president has, on occasion, lied to the American people Sorab Ghandhi George W. Bush does not lie; he just neglects to tell the whole truth. 01/06/2006 (2) True red, white and blue liberald: Intellectuals and the Flag Leonard Boasberg TODD GITLIN'S objective with his 11th book, "The Intellectuals and the Flag," is "to contribute to a new start for the intellectual life on the left." "Post Vietnam liberals have an opening now, freed of our sixties flag anxiety and our automatic rejection of the use of force. To live out a democratic pride, not a slavish surrogate, we badly need liberal patriotism, robust and uncowed." 01/06/2006 (2) Eight simple steps to a Swiffer Congress Jonathan Turley Improprieties are all too common in Washington. Although there are calls for reform, the smart money in Washington has to be on the long-armed lobbyists, not the short-memoried voters. Just in case anyone is serious, however, here are eight simple changes that would clean up Congress. 01/03/2006 (2) The “heck of a job” badge for political euphemism. And the nominees are… Jack Hitt Politicians talked trash in 2005 and inadvertently revealed themselves. 01/02/2006 (2) Another Marie Antoinette Moment David Brooks, chief executive of the bulletproof vest manufacturer DHB Industries Inc., made hundreds of millions of dollars, principally from federal and municipal contracts for bulletproof vests. 18,000 of those vests were recalled by the United States military, some from Iraq. A report on ballooning pay for chief executives singled out Brooks for making $70 million in 2004 compared with $525,000 in pre-Iraq-war 2001. He made an additional $186 million in 2004 selling company stock. |
