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Did Obama Kill Public Option in July?
Saturday, 20 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
Did Obama Kill Public Option in July?

Paul Hogarth: President Obama has been justifiably slammed for not pushing hard enough for a public option, but the truth may be even worse than that. We know the White House cut a deal with hospitals and insurance companies last July on prescription drugs – but as a New York Times reporter said this week, they also killed the public option. And given the public option’s inexplicable fate, I have to believe the story.

What’s Up with Rahm?
Thursday, 18 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | 4 Comments
What’s Up with Rahm?

Carl Bloice: For anti-war activists in the Democratic Party, Emanuel is probably best known for his role after 2004 as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In primary races around the country he raised cash and secured endorsements for opponents of anti-war candidates.

Rahmifications of Obama’s Presidency
Wednesday, 17 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | No Comment
Rahmifications of Obama’s  Presidency

Joseph Palermo: Peter Baker’s profile of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the New York Times Magazine raises some interesting questions about President Barack Obama’s top aide. For Emanuel, it seems that all politics are electoral politics. He wouldn’t know a social movement if he saw one.

Bet on Barbara Boxer in November
Saturday, 6 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | No Comment
Bet on Barbara Boxer in November

Randy Shaw: The media always promotes Republicans like Campbell or John McCain who are reactionary and corporate-owned on most issues but have a few stands that are common to Democrats. This makes them “mavericks,” and allegedly shows they can appeal to Democrats.

How Obama’s Health Care “Reform” Kills Health Care
Wednesday, 3 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | 3 Comments
How Obama’s Health Care “Reform” Kills Health Care

Shamus Cooke: The ability for millions of people to see through the muddle in Washington points to a larger distrust of the two-party system. Even as “progressive Democrats” and other liberal pundits bow before the health care industry by urging passage of “an imperfect” health care bill, workers, the poor and the elderly aren’t taking the bait.

Drive to Eliminate Social Security Accelerates
Friday, 26 Feb, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
Drive to Eliminate Social Security Accelerates

Shamus Cooke: The nonchalance which Friedman calls for cutting Social Security is indicative of the climate in Washington, where the last remnants of liberalism have been suffocated under the heavy demands of profit-hungry corporations, especially financial institutions and big banks.

Dollars for Death, Pennies for Life
Tuesday, 16 Feb, 2010 – 6:00 | 2 Comments
Dollars for Death, Pennies for Life

Norman Solomon: While commanders in Afghanistan were launching what the New York Times called “the largest offensive military operation since the American-led coalition invaded the country in 2001,” the situation in Haiti was clearly dire.

The Democrats, the Deficit, and Social Security
Saturday, 13 Feb, 2010 – 6:00 | 5 Comments
The Democrats, the Deficit, and Social Security

Shamus Cooke: Unions and progressive groups must educate and mobilize their base to confront both the Democrats and Republicans over the protection of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. However, it is not enough for only the leaders of unions and community groups to pressure the Democrats over this issue, especially when Obama has made it clear that he prefers the advice of Wall Street CEOs.

US Political Process Haunted by Paralysis
Tuesday, 9 Feb, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
US Political Process Haunted by Paralysis

Ron Wolff: “So we’re paralyzed in the face of mass unemployment and out-of-control health care costs…Blame our political culture, a culture that rewards hypocrisy and irresponsibility rather than serious efforts to solve America’s problems…I’m sorry to say this, but the state of the union — not the speech, but the thing itself — isn’t looking very good.”

Bhutto:The Film — Heartbreaking, Thought-Provoking History Lesson
Tuesday, 2 Feb, 2010 – 6:00 | No Comment
<i>Bhutto:The Film</i> — Heartbreaking, Thought-Provoking History Lesson

Georgianne Nienaber: Bhutto: The Film presents the story of a woman whose strength of personality and conviction totally dominates the constraints of a fundamentalist religious society where women had no intrinsic value. The voice over of Bhutto describing her birth is the ghost in the room. Her extended family was in mourning that Benazir entered the world in a society where the only desire is that the firstborn be a boy. “Dogs and cats were giving birth to boys,” she narrates from the grave.

An Antidote to the Deification: Joyce Maynard’s Account of Her Life with J. D. Salinger Showed a Sad, Angry, Predatory Man
Friday, 29 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
An Antidote to the Deification: Joyce Maynard’s Account of Her Life with J. D. Salinger Showed a Sad, Angry, Predatory Man

Jules Siegel: Coming across as pompous, astoundingly unfeeling, deceptive and defiantly hypocritical, Salinger indoctrinates her with his homeopathically inspired theories about food, teaches her how to induce vomiting in order to avoid absorbing “toxins,” has her share a diet so austere that she stops menstruating, and generally makes himself the absolute center of not only her personal world but also life as we know it. In one scene, commenting scornfully on the Beatles and their Maharishi, he takes rueful credit for having created the Oriental philosophy fad, conveniently ignoring the Transcendentalists, Herman Hesse and Alan Watts, among others.

“Citizens United” for More Corporate Power
Monday, 25 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | 6 Comments
“Citizens United” for More Corporate Power

Joseph Palermo: The next ten to twelve years promise to be a turning point in American democracy unless some drastic civic action is taken to blunt the effects of this egregious example of Far Right judicial activism.

Media Coverage of Haitian Earthquake Can’t Go There
Tuesday, 19 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | 2 Comments
Media Coverage of Haitian Earthquake Can’t Go There

Joseph Palermo: When the television cameras stop whirring and the famous correspondents leave Haiti and move on to the next Tiger Woods scandal, we should take a hard look at the power relations between the United States and Haiti that not only tolerated but helped create the Western Hemisphere’s best known economic, medical, political, judicial, educational, and ecological disaster long before the natural disaster hit.

When Woolsey Met Harman
Monday, 18 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
When Woolsey Met Harman

David Swanson: Fortunately, I get the impression that a great many Angelenos and Americans are principled, decent, and sophisticated enough to support Woolsey when she does right and oppose her when she does wrong, and to overwhelm her misplaced advocacy with our support, donations, and volunteer time for the woman who will be the leader of the fight for the people’s views against the corporate agenda in the 112th Congress, Marcy Winograd.

Stop Wasting Money on the Death Penalty!
Thursday, 14 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | 2 Comments
Stop Wasting Money on the Death Penalty!

Natasha Minsker: let’s consider something the governor can actually do right now to make a serious dent in the corrections budget: convert all 700 death sentences in California to permanent imprisonment saving the state $1 billion over the next five years.

Tea Baggers Repackaging America’s Right Wing
Wednesday, 13 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
Tea Baggers Repackaging America’s Right Wing

Randy Shaw: If anyone still doubts that politics is all about branding, the rise of the “teabagger” closes the case. Here we have a group of overwhelmingly white anti-tax crusaders with a long history of political backing for right-wing causes suddenly re-branded by the media as populist crusaders for the common good.

The Wars in Yemen: More Complex Than We’re Being Told
Friday, 8 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | 3 Comments
The Wars in Yemen: More Complex Than We’re Being Told

Carl Bloice: With Al Qaeda now in the picture and linked to an attempted physical attack on the U.S., the Obama Administration, obsessively carrying on the “war against terrorism,” has suddenly become enmeshed in still another civil war.

Lame Duck Terminator
Thursday, 7 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | Comments Off
Lame Duck Terminator

Joseph Palermo: Schwarzenegger’s hackneyed “State of the State” address was pathetic and unconvincing. If it weren’t for his acting chops and his ability to emote on cue, he couldn’t get away with the simplistic platitudes that roll off his tongue. Then again, if he couldn’t act he wouldn’t be governor either.

Winograd Nails Waxman
Wednesday, 6 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | 5 Comments
Winograd Nails Waxman

On January 3, 2010 congressional candidate Marcy Winograd wrote an open letter to Congressman Henry Waxman addressing his praise for Blue Dog Democrat Jane Harman for her position on energy and the environment, never acknowledging that Harman’s support of perpetual war leaves the worst carbon foot print of all – a scorched earth.

Alan Kuperman: Another Benny Morris School Armchair General
Monday, 28 Dec, 2009 – 6:00 | 2 Comments
Alan Kuperman: Another Benny Morris School Armchair General

Joseph Palermo: And after urging the United States military to do the dirty work Kuperman believes there would be an international deterrent effect from the U.S. military aggression “because the American military has global reach, air strikes against Iran would be a strong warning to other would-be [nuclear] proliferators.”

Neo-Con Renews Call to Bomb Iran in NY Times Op-Ed
Saturday, 26 Dec, 2009 – 6:00 | 15 Comments
Neo-Con Renews Call to Bomb Iran in NY Times Op-Ed

Charley James: The saddest thing about Kuperman is that the Times gave him serious space in a supposedly serious newspaper to spout the same discredited nonsense that got us into a mess in the Middle East at the same time President Obama is trying to extricate the world from the chaos unleashed the last time the neo-con war mongers had their way.

What Would a Space Invader Think?
Tuesday, 22 Dec, 2009 – 6:00 | 2 Comments
What Would a Space Invader Think?

I’d love to see an intelligent creature from outer space slap a few people in the face and say “Wake up! You are destroying each other and the planet! Use your mental capacities for something more meaningful than voting for the next American Idol!”

Rethink Reform
Tuesday, 15 Dec, 2009 – 6:00 | 2 Comments
Rethink Reform

So, I ask you, who really paid for this “Rethink Reform” ad? If we’re going to exercise our right to free speech (yes, we all believe in it), is there at least an ethical responsibility to stand up and say it publicly, without hiding your identity?

Weekend Mysteries, Scandals, and Speculations
Saturday, 5 Dec, 2009 – 8:24 | No Comment
Weekend Mysteries, Scandals, and Speculations

The nation’s unemployment rate is at 10.2 percent, a 26-year high. These people will be waiting to hear Obama explain how adding to the $10 billion monthly price tag for Iraq and Afghanistan will help them find work. African American men, 17.1 percent of whom are unemployed, want a word from Obama on this,” wrote Columnist Colbert King in the Washington Post last week.

Lobbying (Not Again!)
Thursday, 3 Dec, 2009 – 12:05 | No Comment
Lobbying (Not Again!)

I have a suggestion for members of Congress: if you don’t know what you’re talking about, keep silent until you’ve done some real homework. And don’t expect the self-serving statements of hired guns to always represent the truth.

The Hollow Politics of Escalation
Tuesday, 1 Dec, 2009 – 12:00 | One Comment
The Hollow Politics of Escalation

The next days and weeks will bring an avalanche of hype about insisting on measurable progress and shifting burdens onto the Afghan army — while the U.S. military expands the war.

Obama’s Afghan Box Canyon
Tuesday, 1 Dec, 2009 – 6:00 | No Comment
Obama’s Afghan Box Canyon

Although Obama may enjoy a brief up-tick in poll numbers after his talk, as soon as larger numbers of American bodies come home in flag-draped coffins, and Walter Reed fills up again with the damaged bodies and minds of soldiers whose lives have been ruined, the country will turn against what it thought, in November, 2009, was a good idea.

Obama Administration Never Considered Diplomacy in Afghanistan
Monday, 30 Nov, 2009 – 6:00 | One Comment
Obama Administration Never Considered Diplomacy in Afghanistan

The military-industrial complex will support Obama’s escalation of these wars in order to cash in on those lucrative defense contracts valued at $700 billion a year while good jobs in other sectors of the U.S. economy, starved for investment capital, continue to shrink

False Atrocity Tales from the War in Vietnam
Friday, 27 Nov, 2009 – 13:10 | 2 Comments
False Atrocity Tales from the War in Vietnam

A young lance corporal, who could not distinguish between a legal and an illegal order, shot an unresisting, unarmed, and unnamed woman in the back, in front of children that were likely hers. He and his company commander were court-martialed.

International Corruption Fuels Congo’s Repressive War
Friday, 27 Nov, 2009 – 9:00 | No Comment
International Corruption Fuels Congo’s Repressive War

Considering that the United States, China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and rotating member Uganda are all on the Security Council and all have been implicated in the report, it is no wonder the report was disseminated by rogues before it was dissected.

Once Again on the President, the Congress, and the Jobless
Saturday, 21 Nov, 2009 – 5:57 | 2 Comments
Once Again on the President, the Congress, and the Jobless

As we note, the heightened attention to the crisis, and hopefully proposals for Congressional action, the alarming jobless figures will be repeated over and over. The employment situation is dire and from all indications it is going to get worse.

New York Times: “American Workers Are Overpaid”
Thursday, 19 Nov, 2009 – 8:49 | One Comment
New York Times: “American Workers Are Overpaid”

If recent resistance by IBEW and UNITE HERE members are any indication, the Times’ BreakingNews folks and corporate America have a long way to go before convincing workers that it is they, rather than their high-paid, amply-bonused bosses, whose compensation should be downsized.

Will We Ever Stop the Killings?
Monday, 16 Nov, 2009 – 9:29 | One Comment
Will We Ever Stop the Killings?

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert last April 24th estimated 12,000 Americans are shot dead each year, 2,000 of them children, and 70,000 more are wounded but survive. Read my personal story.

Think First About the Unemployed, Not the Politicians … and Act
Saturday, 14 Nov, 2009 – 6:00 | One Comment
Think First About the Unemployed, Not the Politicians … and Act

What’s happening to the lives of the legions out of work – particularly the young men and women – has to take second place to the fortune of the President and his party. The human crisis would be real regardless of who is in the Oval Office and is what should move the President and the Congress to do the right thing.

The Goldilocks Principle and Afghan War Options
Tuesday, 10 Nov, 2009 – 6:00 | No Comment
The Goldilocks Principle and Afghan War Options

Maybe the Iraq debacle has dulled our senses but there should be something stunning about a general at this late date requesting 40,000 to 80,000 more American soldiers to be sent to Afghanistan.

The Next Phase of Healthcare Apartheid
Friday, 6 Nov, 2009 – 14:58 | No Comment
The Next Phase of Healthcare Apartheid

The official position of the California Democratic Party is unequivocally in favor of single-payer healthcare. And yet Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, did what she could to sabotage the single-payer position of her own party in her own state.

Confessions of a Techno-Luddite
Tuesday, 27 Oct, 2009 – 8:02 | No Comment
Confessions of a Techno-Luddite

While Pew concludes that cell “refuseniks” generally are less educated and poorer than people who have them, it concedes grudgingly there is “a subset of adults who resist cell phones simply because they do not want them.

Too Big to Fail: Why the White House and Congress Won’t Break up the Big Banks
Tuesday, 27 Oct, 2009 – 6:20 | One Comment
Too Big to Fail: Why the White House and Congress Won’t Break up the Big Banks

The right idea is to break up the giant banks. I don’t often agree with Alan Greenspan but he was right when he said last week that “[i]f they’re too big to fail, they’re too big.”

Is Adulation of the Military Really Patriotic?
Monday, 26 Oct, 2009 – 6:16 | One Comment
Is Adulation of the Military Really Patriotic?

And the American public, still feeling guilty over the admittedly terrible treatment of returning draftees from the Vietnam War, has retained its awe of the now voluntary military as an institution, even as it has soured on the Iraq and Afghan Wars.

The Chandlers Invent and Reinvent L.A.
Wednesday, 14 Oct, 2009 – 14:20 | No Comment
The Chandlers Invent and Reinvent L.A.

Those of us who were a part of the Golden Age cannot hope to see its likes again in today’s faltering fortunes of print journalism. Perhaps a sequel to this book would be not so much inventing L.A., but reinventing the Los Angeles Times.

Surprise: The Left Is Not Going Away
Saturday, 10 Oct, 2009 – 6:06 | No Comment
Surprise: The Left Is Not Going Away

The much touted decline of the European left turned out to be pretty much of a mirage. The continent’s politics are being realigned not in spite of but because of the economic crisis. And the much of the gain has gone to the left – taken as a whole.

What If Your Child Is Gay?
Friday, 2 Oct, 2009 – 10:25 | 3 Comments
What If Your Child Is Gay?

But I have to ask myself, what if my children are gay? How would I react? Does my back story provide me with the emotional armaments to love them regardless without the taint of disappointment or disgruntlement?

Was William Calley a Scapegoat?
Thursday, 1 Oct, 2009 – 12:00 | 2 Comments
Was William Calley a Scapegoat?

Ever since the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, many have held that higher-ups were more responsible than William Calley, who was convicted of murder and now has issued his first public apology. Gary Kulik, himself a Vietnam veteran, declines to shift the blame.

Racism and Reaction Must Be Confronted
Friday, 25 Sep, 2009 – 9:05 | 3 Comments
Racism and Reaction Must Be Confronted

Rightwing populism is dangerous but the greatest potential peril lies not in the presence of some loony or deluded, irrational people parading through the streets. It arises from the certainty that there will always be someone lurking about in a trench coat to fan the flames for their own cynical purposes.

OpedNews Journalist and Six Protesters Arrested At “Army Experience Center” in Philadelphia (Updated: 9/13/09)
Saturday, 12 Sep, 2009 – 21:58 | 2 Comments
OpedNews Journalist and Six Protesters Arrested At “Army Experience Center” in Philadelphia (Updated: 9/13/09)

Six members of various anti-war groups, including World Can’t Wait and Military Families Speak Out, and an OpedNews journalist, were arrested today at approximately 3:00pm (ET) at a protest organized to shut down The Army Experience Center, located in Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia.

Obama: Is Disappointment or Disillusionment Justified?
Saturday, 22 Aug, 2009 – 7:33 | One Comment
Obama: Is Disappointment or Disillusionment Justified?

If Obama and the Democrats are unable to usher in real, lasting change, the greatest tragedy will be the loss of faith amongst my generation and others in our ability to help shape the country.

Progressives Mobilize to Save Obama, Democratic Party
Friday, 21 Aug, 2009 – 12:17 | One Comment
Progressives Mobilize to Save Obama, Democratic Party

Republicans thought the “just say no” strategy that killed the Clinton plan would also work in 2009. But they forgot that this strategy now lacks the element of surprise, and that the Internet now prevents the corporate media from entirely controlling the debate.

When the Dead Have No Say
Saturday, 15 Aug, 2009 – 7:25 | No Comment
When the Dead Have No Say

Apparently, escalating the warfare is much more attractive to Washington’s policymakers than actually challenging the main supporters of the Taliban in Afghanistan — the Pakistani government.

Obama Did Not “Punk” the Common Guy
Thursday, 13 Aug, 2009 – 12:55 | No Comment
Obama Did Not “Punk” the Common Guy

Obama is using every political chit to secure health coverage for 47 million “common “ Americans, strongly endorsing the public option that other Democrats and the Republican Party are seeking to kill.

Dobbs Can’t Help Himself from Breaking Promise to Forbid Use of ‘Illegal Alien’ on Air
Thursday, 13 Aug, 2009 – 7:44 | 2 Comments
Dobbs Can’t Help Himself from Breaking Promise to Forbid Use of ‘Illegal Alien’ on Air

Anyone who has ever listened to Dobbs has likely heard him repeatedly “foam at the mouth” about “illegal aliens” and legal immigrants alike.

How the White House’s Deal With Big Pharma Undermines Democracy
Monday, 10 Aug, 2009 – 9:33 | 3 Comments
How the White House’s Deal With Big Pharma Undermines Democracy

The White House confirmed it has promised Big Pharma that any healthcare legislation will bar the government from using its huge purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices. That’s basically the same deal George W. Bush struck in getting the Medicare drug benefit.

The Incredible Shrinking Healthcare Reform
Thursday, 6 Aug, 2009 – 11:00 | No Comment
The Incredible Shrinking Healthcare Reform

Under pressure from industry and their lobbyists, the public plan has been watered down to a small and ineffectual option at best, if it ever survives to being enacted

Iraq: Take Yes for an Answer
Wednesday, 5 Aug, 2009 – 9:00 | One Comment
Iraq: Take Yes for an Answer

The more we insist on staying when we’re clearly not wanted, the more we reinforce the widely held Iraqi suspicion that we really intend a long-term, colonial-style occupation.

Explaining the Media’s Anti-Obama Bias
Wednesday, 29 Jul, 2009 – 13:27 | No Comment
Explaining the Media’s Anti-Obama Bias

Fortunately, the Internet will not allow the traditional media to again derail the nation’s hopes for progressive change. No wonder the Obama Administration is openly courting bloggers to tell the truth about health care

Spinning Health Care: A Bad Case of Vertigo
Monday, 27 Jul, 2009 – 15:32 | No Comment
Spinning Health Care: A Bad Case of Vertigo

Today, the kind of arguments heard during the early ’60s against guaranteed health care for the elderly can now be heard against establishing a comprehensive single-payer system

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Tea Bagging California
Friday, 10 Jul, 2009 – 12:22 | No Comment
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Tea Bagging California

Just as many of the neo-cons seemingly cross their fingers hoping for a mass-casualty terrorist attack on U.S. soil because they see it as political gold for them, they’re also cheerleading for the economy to remain stagnant

Germany, 1939; America, 2009; And Perverted Science
Monday, 29 Jun, 2009 – 6:41 | 2 Comments
Germany, 1939; America, 2009; And Perverted Science

It has become commonplace for Congress to ignore the public’s yearnings for peace and to support the Pentagon’s now habitual wars of aggression. Last November’s anti-war vote illustrates this disconnect between public opinion and public …

The World Should Be Thanking Nico Pitney
Monday, 22 Jun, 2009 – 15:18 | One Comment
The World Should Be Thanking Nico Pitney

More than MSNBC, BBC or CNN; more than The New York Times or The Independent; more than perhaps any other news outlet, the world should be thanking Nico Pitney.
For seven days, his live blogging at …

Ticketmaster Takes Artists’ Web Content and Runs
Sunday, 21 Jun, 2009 – 15:16 | One Comment
Ticketmaster Takes Artists’ Web Content and Runs

Fans of up to 200 mid-level artists and lower tier musicians hosted by Echomusic who went to check out touring schedules on their websites in the last few days may have found a darkened site …

New Jobless Stats: Still “Less Terrible”? Not for Some
Saturday, 13 Jun, 2009 – 16:56 | One Comment
New Jobless Stats: Still “Less Terrible”? Not for Some

The Lex Column in the Financial Times got it right: “… ‘less down’ is now the new ‘up’ as media watchers search for stabilization in the overall market.” The writer was referring to the world …

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