Walter Brasch: During the 1960s, war protestors who wore clothes with the American flag design were beaten by “patriots”; now the fabric of America is patriots wearing just-manufactured high-priced T-shirts, pants, and bandannas, all with images of American flags and slogans.
What Do Republican Politicians Believe?
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Steve Hochstadt: Displaying scientific illiteracy or telling disaster victims that their suffering is God’s punishment won’t create one new job. Scaring Americans about Social Security, the most successful social program in American history, won’t improve economic confidence.
American Exceptionalism
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Steve Hochstadt: American exceptionalism is dangerous. The desire to proclaim superiority leads to stupidity, such as Perry’s claim in “Fed Up” that the US has “the best health care system in the world.”
Panama’s Response on Behalf of Vietnamese Agent Orange Victims
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James Rhodes: Washington continues to recruit young men and women under the mantra “we support our troops.” That may be true, but America does not support its VETERANS!
Effects of Agent Orange
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James Rhodes: As President John Kennedy said in the 1960s, regarding the inhumane treatment of the people of Berlin, “We are all Berliners.” Today, the world should say, “We are all Vietnamese.”
Forget Rick Perry – Mitt Romney Is Perfect for the GOP
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Tina Dupuy: For the last 30 years at least, the Republicans have been relentlessly, uniformly hawkish – but mostly with other peoples’ children. This disconnect was made evident in the ’08 election when soldiers donated money to candidate Barack Obama 6-1 over Senator John McCain.
Out Gays Barred from Rick Perry’s Mega Prayerfest
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Rev. Irene Monroe: To have moral authority, Rick Perry cannot as a governor call Americans to a Christian rally that by its invitation and sponsors exclude LGBT people, Jews, Muslims, Atheists, and many others. And he cannot impose his religious views into the fabric of American democracy.
Ransom Paid
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Robert Reich: Anyone who characterizes the deal between the President, Democratic, and Republican leaders as a victory for the American people over partisanship understands neither economics nor politics.
Americans Elect?
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John Peeler: Disillusioned liberals ought to know that if this effort takes off, it is very likely to siphon votes away from Obama and facilitate a complete Republican takeover of the federal government.
To Rebuild the American Dream, Put Pressure On Democrats
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Randy Shaw: A progressive coalition that claims to be “Bigger than the Tea Party” must hold Democrats accountable as effectively as conservatives do for Republicans .
We’re All Black Now
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David Love: Corporate greed on the part of arms manufacturers has turned an obscure and anachronistic amendment dealing with militias into a license to kill, literally, on a massive scale. The result is a gun for every American, with no system of licensing, registration and background checks.
America Comes to Its Senses
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Andrew Bacevich: Yet it is a measure of just how quickly things are changing that McCain himself, once deemed a source of straight talk, now comes across as a mere crank.
Repatriate Prosperity
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Brent Budowsky: Let’s add a “repatriate prosperity” provision that would require participating global companies to increase the size of their American workforce by a designated amount, within a designated window, such as six months, in order to receive the tax holiday.
Republican War on Worker Rights Undermines Economy
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Robert Reich: The only way back toward sustained growth and prosperity in the United States is to remake the basic bargain linking pay to productivity. This would give the American middle class the purchasing power they need to keep the economy going.
Take Credit, But Do Not Accept or Endorse
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Tom Hayden: Unless further clarified, the Obama proposal means we’ll be pushing to decrease the near 80,000 Americans remaining in combat until the end of 2014, three-and-a-half years from now.
The History Lesson Sarah Palin Really Needs
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Sharon Kyle: There’s a market for all things “Sarah” — which explains the media’s behavior. They cover her, the public eats it up, they make money, she makes money. No harm, no foul. Well, not quite. We’ve all heard about the Paul Revere gaffe but what about what she said at Bedloe Island?
Jobs: An Angry Dissent
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Brent Budowsky: Never before in American history has unemployment been so high, yet neither the president nor Congress pushes for a major jobs bill.
Prediction: The U.S. Stays in Iraq
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Tom Hayden: It is becoming almost certain that the U.S. succeed in forcing Iraq to “invite” thousands of American troops to stay indefinitely in the latest imperial outpost of the United States in the Arab world
‘Unprovoked’ Attacks, From 1812 to 9/11
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Ivan Eland: American history vindicates the old saying that “truth is the first casualty of war,” but the passage of time should allow a republic to undertake a more honest and dispassionate examination of historical events. It rarely does, with truth being swept under the rug in favor of assuming uncaused indignities.
Made in the USA
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Brent Budowsky: Buy American. Each of us individually and together has the power to lift our land the way previous generations of Americans lifted America to defeat depression, prevail in war and soar to the moon in less than a decade.
Is Israel’s Right Wing in Eric Cantor’s District?
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David Swanson: The problem is that the interests of the Israeli government, far from always representing the Israeli people, in no way represent those of the American people or the people of Virginia.
Beware of the Racial Demagoguery
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Carl Bloice: With public opinion across the political spectrum clearly opposed to slashing the healthcare and retirement programs, any negotiated settlement would be undemocratic.
Double Dip Here We Come
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Republicans, for their part, worry that if they tell it like it is Americans will want government to do more rather than less. They’d rather not talk about jobs and wages, and put the focus instead on deficit reduction (or spread the lie that by reducing the deficit we’ll get more jobs and higher wages).
Americans Would Doom an American Reconstruction Effort
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David Love: I’m betting on Japan to win this, with their ganbatte spirit, highly educated workforce, long-term strategy and dedication to technological advancement.
Wall Street’s Birthday Nothing to Crow About
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Robert Reich: Happy Birthday Wall Street. Party away. Just know that most Americans aren’t joining the celebration.
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Not American Enough? This Political Slur Has a Long History
Rosemarie Ostler: Obama’s critics have found a variety of ways to portray him as exotic and un-American. But this is nothing new. For two centuries politicians have been labeling their opponents as not quite American enough.