By Robert Scheer
Obama Pulls a Clinton 
This is a case of corporate blackmail pure and simple. The economy is sluggish because of a housing crisis that shows no sign of improvement. It stands history on its head to blame government financial regulations that had worked splendidly for six decades for the meltdown or the failure to fix a housing market that is the key to improved consumer spending.
By Kurt Stone
A Memo to Sarah Palin 
"A Memo to Sarah Palin" attempts to explain to her precisely what is meant by the horrifying expression "blood libel," and why her use of those two words likely knocks her presidential aspirations into a cocked hat.
By Roger Shuler
Siegelman Appeal Shines Spotlight on Obama's Dismal DOJ 
Don Siegelman goes before an appeals court today, offering a reminder of the Obama administration's shameful performance on justice issues.
By Robert S. Becker
Class War and Violence Belie Obama's Tattered Unity Myths 
Perhaps funeral orations are the best place for reality, but the president missed a major chance to address the whole, complex of violence in America. Without pushing partisan talk on gun control, Obama could have done better than learning on outdated, misleading mythology.
By shamus cooke
Why Tunisia Changed the World
Tunisia woke up the Middle East with a thundering yawn. After years of domination by western-backed tyrants, the working people of the Arab world are rising from slumber. Once fully awake and aware of their surroundings, they'll shake off the influence of the western nations with a collective flick of the wrist.
By Stanley Lucas
Duvalier Returns to Haiti; Merely a Pawn in the Political Chaos 
Duvalier is a pawn-Preval is using his return as a distraction to buy time to complete his electoral coup and Aristide supporters are using it to open the door for his return. There are only two possible outcomes for Duvalier: jail or execution. His return highlights a corrupt political web put in motion by Duvalier and continued by Aristide and Preval. This web of corruption has blocked reformers from bringing change to Haiti
By Kurt Stone
About Rep. Gabrielle Giffords 
"About Gabrielle Giffords" presents what is likely the first full-scale biography of the heroic representative who is, among other things, first cousins (once removed) with actress Gwyneth Paltrow
By Michael Chamberlin
Glenn Beck's "Common Sense": The Blood Libel Rebellion 
Sarah Palin has cried "blood libel" in response to the media reporting on her "crosshairs" campaign. Is she kidding? Has she read Glenn Beck's revisionist version of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense". Now that, is a good case of "blood libel".
By Robert Arend
The Obama Administration: January 1-16, 2011 
This article is the 48th in a continuing series chronicling the unfolding history of the Obama Administration. The writer's opinions are not offered, leaving the readers to arrive at their own conclusions.
By Jeff Cohen
RootsAction.org: New Independent Progressive Group
In the past decade, Netroots groups have built big e-lists, raised money and hell.But some squandered their power by overly close coordination with an often spineless Democratic leadership. RootsAction will take action against Obama policies that sparked loud protests when they were Bush policies. We'll mobilize against government catering to Wall Street and the war profiteers, while the U.S. public suffers.
By Mickey Z.
Downsize or Modify? A Conversation with Noam Chomsky
What will happen if activists don't kick things up a few thousands notches and provoke massive changes in the way humans currently live?
By Jill Jackson
Very:Light Verse
With a tip of my hat to the great Ogden Nash.
Life Tenure for Federal Judges Raises Issues of Senility, Dementia 
Life tenure, intended to foster judicial independence, has been a unique feature of the federal bench since the Constitution was ratified in 1789. Back then, the average American lived to be about 40 and the framers didn't express much worry about senile judges. "A superannuated bench," Alexander Hamilton said, is an "imaginary danger." No longer. Today, aging and dementia are the flip side of life tenure, with more and more judges staying on the bench into extreme old age.
By michael payne
President Obama Attempts to Sell America on the Orwellian Concept - War is Peace 
I just finished re-reading President Obama's 2009 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in which he is stating that war is not really war but that war is really peace. This is so reminiscent of a quote from Orwell's classic novel, "1984"; "The very word 'war', therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous, war has ceased to exist. ... War is Peace."
By Karen Kwiatkowski
Tunisia and Us 
What the events in Tunisia are really telling us, about both them and us.
By Bernard Starr
Would Charles Darwin Get a Gun? 
After the most recent massacre will we finally muster the courage to make an honest re-evaluation of our gun laws?
By Danny Schechter
China's President Is Here: It's Summit Time 
China's President is in the US for a State Visit. What is likely to happen. Danny Schechter reports.
By Timothy Gatto
Are You Proud of your Country? I'm Not!
This article has been torturing me for the last five years. I know I should have written it a long time ago, but either the World situation wasn't right, or I was was daunted by the thought of writing this narrative that I knew would bea task that I didn't really want to start. I take the blame for not writing this sooner, but we are all human and beset by inadequacy.
Oral Arguments Set for Wednesday in Siegelman Case
When the definitive history of the dismantling of the system of justice during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries in the United States is written, the case of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman will deserve its own chapter. The dry recitation of events in the timeline above does not touch on the deceit inherent in how Siegelman came to be charged in the first place. For a good description of some of the underhandedness of the George W. Bush Justice Department under the influence of Karl Rove, the 60 Minutes piece from 2008 gives a good overview.
By Free Press
FCC Approval of Comcast-NBC Merger
The Federal Communications Commission announced its decision, by a vote of 4-1, to approve the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, one of the largest media mergers in history. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Meredith Attwell Baker and Robert McDowell voted for the merger, while Commissioner Michael Copps dissented.
By Dave Lefcourt
Foreclosures Stymied in Maryland
In Maryland mortgage servicer GMAC dismissed all robo-signed foreclosures in 250 cases. The state court system made clear courts can conduct audits for problematic foreclosure paperwork and toss cases if documents are robo-signed. As a result GMAC said it will re-file cases "to assure all home preservation options were exhausted"; something that would not have happened w/o holding them to account for their illegal practices.
By Tony Trupiano
A Case For Obama's Accomplishments or Why Isn't The Truth Good Enough?
I come to this fight with a different skill set than most. With that explanation I would like to answer the latest Obama charge that in his two years in office President Obama has accomplished nothing.
By Olga Bonfiglio
Citizens Urge Congressman to Vote No on Health Care Repeal Bill
Activists in Michigan's Sixth District (Kalamazoo) expressed their opposition to the repeal of the Obama health care bill. They met outside Congressman Fred Upton's office on Tuesday afternoon urging a telephone campaign to get him to change his support for the repeal bill.
Big Guns, Bigger Guns, BIGGEST Guns 
It's been an incredibly violent year so far, and it's only 19 days old. First the massacre in Arizona; the school shootings in Los Angeles, and then the 14-year-old South Carolina boy who received a .22-caliber rifle as a birthday gift from his father last September who took the gun and shot and killed his father and great aunt, and wounded his elderly grandmother.
Waterboarding or listening to liberal talk radio?
If teabaggers condone waterbording, could they listen to liberal talk radio? Find a staunch conservative friend or two and make a small friendly wager. Bet them they can't listen to Mike Malloy's radio program for a week and not have a mousetrap-moment conversion.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road - Who Rules America - Part 3
Citizens are ruled by Government. Government is ruled by a plan for which citizens have no input. Government by and for the people is a sham. National elections are meaningless. The U.S. is an under-developing nation, soon to be a third world nation. National sovereignty is eroding. In this series of articles, the power and influence over Government of 17 institutions are reviewed. Theirs is a non-conspiratorial plan.
Imagination Nation 
We all know this story, you'd have to be pretty isolated not to know about this story for yourself. Not to know someone who has lost a home or a job. To have had their security and dignity ripped out from beneath themselves and to live in fear of the mailman or the telephone. To be beat upon by corporate bullies, to have $200 in bank fees turn into $2,000 in a few weeks.
Israeli Racism
Young Israeli children are taught racist ideology in school.
By Press Release
Breaking News Reports Trickling In: Duvalier HAS been Charged by Haitian Authorities. 
Ousted Haitian dictator Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier has been charged with corruption and misappropriation of funds, his lawyer confirmed Tuesday evening, Jan 18.
You're Never Too Old: Retiree Discovers Passion For Teaching Drama
Taking risks can lead to rewarding experiences. Drama was an interest of mine, not something I knew a lot about. I took a risk in offering the first course. Rewarded by a good response from that first class, I was spurred on to trying other ideas and have benefited personally and intellectually from my 'playful' efforts.
Breaking: "Baby Doc" Duvalier in Custody. Preval's Distraction? 
t approximately 10:15 EST Haitian Police Commissioner La Croix, government commissioner Aristidas, and Judge Ambroise Gabriel converged on Room 303 of the Karibe Hotel to issue an arrest warrant for former dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc'' Duvalier.
Tomgram: Engelhardt, Alien Visitations 
Tucson and Kabul are on opposite sides of an American planet in more ways than the obvious. In my latest post, I explore various aspects of this strange reality of our moment, asking why Americans don't care about the Afghan innocents they kill and why they care so much about the American innocents who died.
Sarah Palin Doesn't Matter
Is Sarah Palin a hate monger? Absolutely! Is Sarah Palin a fear monger? Absolutely! Is Sarah Palin stupid? Absolutely not! You aren't getting one simple fact. Sarah Palin doesn't care about consequences because she doesn't have to.
The rage Murdoch wrought
Even if Murdoch had no clearly defined political agenda, that level of concentration would still raise huge questions - about, for instance, such a company's ability to slant news in ways that enhanced its financial prospects, or its market power to exclude certain stories from public scrutiny. The stuff his company feeds mass audiences is the most sustained and coordinated dose of right-wing propaganda this country has ever seen.
Debunking common myths about health-care reform
The law bolsters government regulation of the health-care system, such as forcing insurance companies to no longer deny coverage to people who have existing medical conditions. People who do not have insurance will be required to buy it. But the core of the health-care system in the United States will remain the existing private insurance market.
A plan for new U.S. jobs, from China 
It's for that reason - jobs, jobs, jobs - that Chinese President Hu Jintao will highlight Wanxiang's U.S. operations on Friday during an event in Chicago. Hu is hoping to show Americans that in addition to providing them with cheap goods, Chinese companies can also give them good jobs.
Bomb at MLK parade sophisticated
A bomb left at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane was sophisticated, with a remote detonator and the ability to cause many casualties, a person familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.
Lance Tapley: The Worst of the Worst: Supermax Torture in America 
"They beat the sh*t out of you," Mike James said, hunched near the smeared plexiglass separating us. He was talking about the cell "extractions" he'd endured at the hands of the supermax-unit guards at the Maine State Prison. "They push you, knee you, poke you," he said, his voice faint but ardent through the speaker. "They slam your head against the wall and drop you on the floor while you're cuffed." He lifted his manacled hands to a scar on his chin. "They split it wide open. They're yelling "Stop resisting! Stop resisting!' when you're not even moving."
'I wake up screaming': A Gitmo nightmare 
Saad Iqbal Madni looks decades older than his 33 years when he shuffles into the room, head down and eyes averted. "There are a lot of times I start to cry. I still feel like I am in Guantanamo," he says, his voice cracking and hands trembling. "I have memorized the torture. I wake up in the middle of the night screaming."
Obama Orders "Government-Wide Review' of Regulations 
President Obama ordered "a government-wide review" of federal regulations to root out those "that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive," but exempted many agencies that most vex corporate America. The executive order would not apply to federal agencies created to be largely independent of the White House and Congress, which includes most of those currently enforcing and writing rules for banks and other financial institutions.
Tucson Shooting Caught on Video
he chief investigator for the sheriff's department here has for the first time publicly described the brief and gory video clip from a store security camera that shows a gunman not only shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords just above the eyebrow at a range of three feet, but then using his 9-millimeter pistol to gun down others near her at a similarly close range.
The War on Logic - Paul Krugman
Krugman uses humor to describe the plethora of lies that the GOP is sending forth, saying that' "the G.O.P. has moved on to an even bigger project: the war on logic,' and on Arithmetic. "All they ever needed or wanted were some numbers and charts to wave at the press, fooling some people into believing that we're having some kind of rational discussion. We aren't."
Jerusalem's potential to bring Jews and Muslims together by Aziz Abu Sarah and Mairav Zonszein
Religisation of Jerusalem. The srticle discuss the radicalization of Israelis and Palestinians through religion and positive encounters to counter that
Jobless Rate Points to Lost Power in Work Force
Alone among the world's economic powers, the United States is suffering through a deep jobs slump that can't be explained by the rest of the economy's performance. The unemployment rate is higher in this country than in Britain or Russia and much higher than in Germany or Japan, according to a study of worldwide job markets that Gallup will release on Wednesday. The American jobless rate is also higher than China's.
U.S. Shifts Focus to Press China for Access to Markets 
It is no longer just a fight over cheap Chinese textile, electronic and toy imports. China won that battle years ago. Now the question -- reminiscent of trade tensions with Japan in the 1980s -- is whether General Electric and Microsoft and other American companies that dearly want to expand into China's rapidly expanding markets will find themselves beaten at their own game by Chinese companies, backed by the Chinese government, "competing at every point in the technology spectrum."
New Blow to Israel: Medvedev: As we did in 1988, Russia still recognizes an independent Palestine 
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev endorsed a Palestinian state on Tuesday, saying Moscow had recognized independence in 1988 and was not changing the position adopted by the former Soviet Union. Making his first visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Russian head of state, Medvedev stopped short of issuing a ringing declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood by the modern Russian Federation which he represents. "Russia's position remains unchanged. Russia made its choice a long time ago ... we supported and will support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem," Medvedev said.
Richard Wolff: The myth of 'American exceptionalism' implodes 
Since the 1970s, most US workers postponed facing up to what capitalism had come to mean for them. They sent more family members to do more hours of paid labor, and they borrowed huge amounts. By exhausting themselves, stressing family life to the breaking point in many households, and by taking on unsustainable levels of debt, the US working class delayed the end of American exceptionalism €" until the global crisis hit in 2007
Obama may cut Social Security, Sen. Sanders says 
Social Security may be on the White House chopping block. "I have to tell you, I have been on the phone to the very, very, very highest levels of the Obama administration, and the responses that I am getting are not assuring," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said in an exclusive interview. "What I'm told is that no definitive decisions have been made on the issue of Social Security €" I expect that is probably true."
Seymour Hersh unleashed 
In a speech billed as a discussion of the Bush and Obama eras, New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh delivered a rambling, conspiracy-laden diatribe here Monday expressing his disappointment with President Barack Obama and his dissatisfaction with the direction of U.S. foreign policy. "Just when we needed an angry black man," he began, his arm perched jauntily on the podium, "we didn't get one."
Dan Froomkin: Hu Visit A Reminder Of One Way China Leaves U.S. In The Dust 
As the leaders of the two biggest economies meet, it's hard to overlook the fact that one is lagging and the other is booming. That raises the question: Are there ways that the United States should be more like China? And the answer is: Maybe one. China, after all, has one heck of an industrial policy. By contrast, the United States doesn't have an industrial policy at all.
Lieberman Will Not Run For Re-Election 
Senator Joe Lieberman will announce Wednesday that he will not seek a fifth term. Mr. Lieberman, whose term is up in 2012, chose to retire rather than risk being defeated, said the person, who spoke to the senator on Tuesday. "I don't think he wanted to go out feet first."
FCC approves Comcast and NBC joint venture
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal, allowing for a joint venture that puts a vast library of television shows and movies under the control of the nation's biggest cable and broadband Internet service provider.
Israel's Right Wing Future
You just cannot conceive a state for one religiously or racially defined group, and implement it amidst a population of "others," and not end up with an authoritarian discriminatory society. You can, of course, kill or chase away all the others and then, in your homogeneous solitude, act like you are a democracy. However, in the post World War II, post Holocaust world, this strategy is totally anachronistic and it will fool almost no one on the outside.
ElBaradei: West hyping Iran concerns 
The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that Western countries are exaggerating concerns over Iran's nuclear program. "There's a lot of hype in this debate," Mohamed ElBaradei said in an interview with the Austrian news agency APA
House panel wants Homeland Security documents
A House committee has asked the Homeland Security Department to provide documents about an agency policy that required political appointees to review many Freedom of Information Act requests. The letter to Homeland Security was sent late Friday by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It represents an early move by House Republicans who have vowed to launch numerous probes of President Barack Obama's administration, ranging from its implementation of the new health care law to rules curbing air pollution to spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.
David Corn: GOP Health Care Plan: More Repeal Than Replace 
There is no replace. There's only eradicate. Yank apart. Lash out. The GOPers do not have a substitute. This ought not be shocking. When they controlled Congress during the George W. Bush years -- and before -- they never showed much interest in addressing the extensive woes of the health care system, countering the abusive practices of insurance companies, or extending coverage to the tens of millions who go without. Why are there not GOP proposals ready to go? Health care reform is hardly a new matter.
Bob Herbert: How Many Deaths Are Enough? 
We've allowed the extremists to carry the day when it comes to guns in the United States, and it's the dead and the wounded and their families who have had to pay the awful price. The idea of having large numbers of college students packing heat in their classrooms and at their parties and sporting events, or at the local pub or frat house or gymnasium, or wherever, is too stupid for words.
Arizona shootings: Arizona GOP officials step down in wake of shootings
Anthony Miller was a bit of a sensation when he was elected the Republican Party's district chairman in the comfortable suburbs of east Phoenix and Tempe. He was dedicated, conservative and the first African American ever to hold such a post in the state. When Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot Jan. 8 in Tucson, Miller's wife begged him to step down. Two other district officials from the moderate faction joined him.
Barack Obama: Toward a 21st-Century Regulatory System 
Creating a 21st-century regulatory system is about more than which rules to add and which rules to subtract. As the executive order I am signing makes clear, we are seeking more affordable, less intrusive means to achieve the same ends--giving careful consideration to benefits and costs. This means writing rules with more input from experts, businesses and ordinary citizens. It means using disclosure as a tool to inform consumers of their choices, rather than restricting those choices. And it means making sure the government does more of its work online, just like companies are doing.
Michael Bloomberg: Huffington Post: Americans Can't Agree on Guns? Wrong. 
Mass shootings and assassinations are shocking, and the sad truth is that America's history of gun murders is as repetitive as it is tragic. And what's more, much of its enormous toll never makes it into the national headlines: 34 Americans are murdered with guns each and every day. But a new poll shows a remarkable consensus among Americans on gun issues. The poll, conducted jointly by a Democratic and Republican polling firm, was released today by the bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Eugene Robinson - Palin's egocentric umbrage 
The way Palin portrayed herself as not only a popular champion but also a martyr reminded me - not for the first time - of Eva Peron. If she chooses this unpromising route to higher political office, I suggest she find a suitable balcony from which to deliver her next address to the nation. Or perhaps - solely in the interest of civil discourse - that there be no next address.
Dwight D. Eisenhower: The Chance for Peace
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.
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