7867 QuickLinks

Sunday, November 8, 2009
I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs
The people who work behind the brass-trim glass doors make more money than some countries do. They are the rainmakers' rainmakers, the biggest swinging dicks in the financial jungle.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Investigation Into Fort Hood Shootings Turns Up No Link to Terror Plot
Over all, the inquiry is somewhat more subtle than many criminal cases in which investigators try to piece together a timeline of a suspect's activities. The inquiry into the Fort Hood shootings is turning into a deep psychological exploration of the mind of a suspect in a mass killing.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Dick Armey Is Back on the Attack
Armey said “politics is like a dysfunctional marriage-every fight is really about something else,” he could have been talking about his own tactics. Armey and FreedomWorks will move on from opposing health care reform to fighting against the cap-and-trade approach to limiting greenhouse-gas emissions; to organizing opposition to any Democratic measure that increases the size of government, raises taxes or curbs freedom.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Nicholas Kristof -- Chemicals in Our Food, and Bodies
More than 92 percent of Americans have BPA in their urine, and scientists have linked it — though not conclusively — to everything from breast cancer to obesity, from attention deficit disorder to genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike. Now it turns out it's in our food.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Israel says threat of attack on Iran, no bluff
Israel's deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said Israel's threat against Iran is real and not a bluff. "The one who's bluffing is Iran, which is trying to play with cards they don't have." He said, "If no crippling sanctions are introduced by Christmas, Israel will strike. If we are left alone, we will act alone."

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Former US Embassy hostage handed Iran post
The United States has appointed veteran diplomat John Limbert, who was held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, as its senior Iran official at the State Department.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
SEYMOUR HERSH: Are nuclear weapons safe in Pakistan?
Pakistan has been a nuclear power for two decades, and has an estimated eighty to a hundred warheads, scattered in facilities around the country. The success of the latest attacks raised an obvious question: Are the bombs safe? Asked this question the day after the Rawalpindi raid, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “We have confidence in the Pakistani government and the military's control over nuclear weapons.”

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Lieberman Pledges To Filibuster House Bill: The Public Option Is ‘Unnecessary'
Lieberman said that as a “matter of conscience,” he will join a Republican filibuster if a public option — which has supposedly been put forward “by people who really want the government to take over all of health insurance” — is also included in the bill that goes before the Senate.

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Afghanistan Rejects UN Criticism of Karzai
Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry has rejected comments from the top U.N. official in the country warning President Hamid Karzai to combat corruption or risk losing international support.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
10 of the Nuttiest Statements Elected Officials Have Made in the Health Care Battle | Politics | AlterNet
Lawmakers who oppose reform most vehemently have no clue what they're talking about. Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)whom some have dubbed "the dumbest senator of them all," suggested as much when asked what he didn't like about the reform bill. "I don't have to read it or know what's in it. I'm going to oppose it anyways."

Saturday, November 7, 2009
House Republicans plan to vote unanimously against health-care measure
If all Republicans vote no on the health reform bill, it would mean not a single Republican up for election next year in the House or the Senate has backed the two biggest initiatives of President Obama's first year in office -- the $787 billion economic stimulus plan and the health-care legislation.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
More than 25 troops wounded during search - washingtonpost.com
More than 25 international and Afghan troops were wounded Friday in western Afghanistan--possibly by friendly fire--during a search operation for two US Army paratroopers who had gone missing. News service reports said that the soldiers disappeared in the northwestern province of Badghis and that troops conducting an extensive search for them were then hit by fire from NATO aircraft.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Pool of military recruits increasingly unfit
The biggest long-term threat to U.S. national security might not be terrorists or weapons of mass destruction. According to a group of military leaders, it's homegrown obesity, ignorance and criminality, which together make seven of 10 target-age recruits ineligible to serve in the American armed forces.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
NATO Soldiers Missing as Taliban Reports Recovery of Two Bodies
Two American soldiers are missing in western Afghanistan, a spokesman for the international forces said here on Friday, as a Taliban spokesman claimed that the insurgents had recovered the bodies of two drowned soldiers.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: Rare virus poses new threat to troops
Sgt. Robert David Gordon, 22, from River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16 from what turned out to be Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever after he was bitten by a tick. The virus is transmitted by infected blood and can be carried by ticks.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
'Iran mindful of Caspian Sea interests'
The Caspian Sea Convention will determine the territorial rights of each country as well as other matters related to the world's largest landlocked body of water. The Caspian Sea is said to contain some 12 percent of the world's oil reserves as well as huge deposits of natural gas.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs
It is difficult to believe that weapons for Hezbollah could be loaded in Egypt. Israel claims it discovered documents on the ship proving that the arms were made by the Iranians for Hezbollah. It has not, however, provided any evidence of these documents.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Max Cleland: The Forever War of the Mind
Wars are not over when the shooting stops. They live on in the lives of those who fight them. That is the curse of the soldier. He never forgets. The first time I saw the stilled bodies of American soldiers dead on the battlefield is as stark and brutal a memory as the one of the grenade that ripped off my right arm and both legs.

Saturday, November 7, 2009
Declassified FBI file: AIPAC staffer spied for Israel
A newly declassified Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) file indicates that an Israeli intelligence agent was among the staff members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Saturday, November 7, 2009
BREAKING: Healthcare bill clears House
The 220-215 vote late Saturday was a victory for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama, who came to Capitol Hill to rally his fellow Democrats in the hours before the vote. One Republican, Joseph Cao (R-La.), voted for the bill, and 39 Democrats bucked their party's leaders to vote no.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Astroturf In Action: Right-Wing Billionaire David Koch Pays For 40 Buses To Haul In Protesters
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) worked closely with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to orchestrate yesterday's anti-health reform rally.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Holocaust Imagery at Protest Organized by Michele Bachmann
Keep in mind that this wasn't some Glenn Beck-organized 9/12 stunt. This was an event staged by the House Republican leadership -- actual elected officials, members of the U.S. government. If Republicans wonder why most Americans view them as part of the fringe extreme, they need not look beyond this event.

Friday, November 6, 2009
PAUL KRUGMAN: Obama Faces His Anzio
Administration officials would presumably argue that they were constrained by political realities, that a bolder policy couldn't have passed Congress. But they never tested that assumption, and they also never gave any public indication that they were doing less than they wanted.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Eugene Robinson - Attack of the Palinites
The tea party people have made clear that logic doesn't count -- and that this is just the beginning. The next target, now that they've made the world safe from Scozzafava, seems to be Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for the Senate. Crist committed the unforgivable sin of supporting Obama's stimulus bill.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Unemployment rate rises above 10% ; Obama signs jobless benefit extension
The labor situation is actually worse than what these figures and the 10.2% rate show. The government doesn't count as officially unemployed the so-called discouraged workers who have given up looking for jobs -- which in October numbered 808,000, up from 484,000 a year earlier.

Friday, November 6, 2009
US soldiers 'drown' in Afghanistan
It was not clear whether the missing were those referred to by the Afghan officials, although the ISAF said the troops had been lost track of during a routine supply mission on Tuesday. The coalition also said two other US troopers had died on Thursday in a bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Afghan insurgents learn to destroy key U.S. armored vehicle
(1 comments) The insurgents' success in attacking the hulking machines, which can cost as much as $1 million each, underscores their ability to counter the advanced hardware that the U.S. military and its allies are deploying in their struggle to gain the upper hand in the war, which entered its ninth year last month.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Joe Conason: Joe Lieberman undercuts his wife
No doubt Lieberman thinks that breast cancer is bad and that his wife's work against it is good. But his current pandering to the insurance and drug lobbies -- which used to pay her -- cuts directly against the work she is doing today.

Friday, November 6, 2009
DAN FROOMKIN: Want Obama To Be Bolder? Take To The Streets!
Obama is of course no longer a community organizer. As president, there are plenty of things he can and should achieve unilaterally. And he should mostly if not entirely abandon his attempts at compromise with those who have repeatedly shown that they have no taste for it. some of Obama's lack of boldness may stem from the fact that when he looks behind him, there's essentially nobody there.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Gideon Levy: The doomsday weapon
(1 comments) Every few weeks you have to sow fear, every few months you need to make threats, and once every year or two you have to have another little war. Blind cooperation between the defense establishment and the media holds the promise of another round of fighting.

Friday, November 6, 2009
John Mearsheimer: Hollow Victory
(1 comments) Obama and his fellow Democrats know full well that if the United States walks away from Afghanistan now, the Republicans will accuse them of capitulating to terrorism and undermining our security. And this charge will be leveled at them for decades to come, harming Democrats at the polls come election time. The Democrats have no intention of letting that happen.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Jayson Blair: On Making Up News
Blair fabricated quotes, people and events and plagiarized the work of others. In the process, he demolished the building blocks of good journalism and eroded the trust many people had in the nation's leading newspaper. The Times was ultimately forced to retract dozens of stories and oust its top two editors.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Palestinians take down parts of WB wall
Palestinian youths have tipped over a part of Israel's separation wall in the occupied West Bank during a demonstration which marked the fall of the Berlin Wall. They held banners reading "No matter how tall, all walls fall."

Friday, November 6, 2009
America's Media? A Colonial Force for Israel's Infallibility
Why is our Congress so slavishly a doormat for Israel's Lobby? Simple: Jewish money, Jewish Lobby, Jewish Media. That's why a shot in the arm of billions is going to Israel and Goldman Sachs while America's children are left without the Swine Flu shot.

Friday, November 6, 2009
Greg Palast -- TALIBAN = 9/11?? Afghanistan by Hypnosis
In the Glorious War against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the lie is thus: al Qaeda is "based" in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. If we don't fight the wily Taliban, as the British once fought the wily Pathan, al Qaeda will attack America again from Talibanistan.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
BREAKING: UN endorses Goldstone report
(2 comments) The United Nations General Assembly has voted in favour of resolution endorsing a UN-sponsored report into war crimes committed during Israel's war on Gaza.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Senate acts to extend unemployment benefits, expand home-buyer tax credit
the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to provide the jobless with up to 20 weeks in additional unemployment benefits and expand a first-time homebuyer tax credit to include a far larger pool of people entering the dormant housing market.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Kerik Enters Guilty Plea in Corruption Case
Before he began formally entering his pleas, Kerik told Judge Stephen Robinson that, in addition to the White House lies, he would admit to counts that included cheating the IRS, helping to prepare false tax returns and making other false statements to the federal government.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Nicholas Kristof: Unhealthy America
There is one American health statistic that is strikingly above average: life expectancy for Americans who have already reached the age of 65. At that point, they can expect to live longer than the average in industrialized countries. That's because Americans above age 65 actually have universal health care coverage: Medicare.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Taliban Has Infiltrated Afghan Police, Ex-U.K. Soldier Says
The Afghan police force has been infiltrated “at every level” by the Taliban, a retired British soldier who mentored police in Afghanistan said. “The policemen are influenced either ideologically or financially.”

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Senate panel approves Democratic climate bill
Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ignored a Republican boycott and used their majority to approve the legislation that would require U.S. industry to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Video: UN pulls out half its Afghanistan staff and threatens total withdrawal
The United Nations today temporarily pulled half its international staff out of Afghanistan and threatened that a complete and permanent withdrawal could follow.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Avoiding a Second Vietnam: 'Obama Is Absolutely Right to Re-evaluate Afghanistan Strategy'
Gordon Goldstein: It's not uncommon for presidents to look at history to guide them as they confront challenges. In the case of Afghanistan, the parallels with Vietnam are substantial enough to demand that these lessons be studied once more.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Abu Omar Case: Italian Court Delivers Damning Verdict on CIA Renditions
Some 23 American agents received prison terms after being found guilty in absentia. The same verdict was repeated 25 times: guilty. But it wasn't just the accused who were being condemned -- the court's decision was also an unmistakable verdict on American anti-terrorist practices under former US President George W. Bush.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Dennis Kucinich: Truth, Human Dignity and the Goldstone Report
(2 comments) “The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes may as well be called the “Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right” resolution. If Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution."

Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Media As Enablers of Government Lies by James Bovard
(1 comments) The news media are more interested in bonding with politicians than in exposing them. Americans are encouraged to believe that the media will serve as a check and a balance on the government. Instead, the press too often volunteer as unpaid pimps, helping politicians deceive the public.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Gunmen with M-16s kill at least 7 at Fort Hood in Texas | McClatchy
At least seven people have been killed and at least 12 more wounded in a mass shooting at Fort Hood Army Base near Killeen, Texas, that apparently began minutes before a graduation ceremony was to begin at a base sports complex, Pentagon officials said.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Pentagon pursuing new investigation into Bush propaganda program | Raw Story
The Pentagon's Office of Inspector General is conducting a new investigation into a covert Bush administration Defense Department program that used retired military analysts to produce positive wartime news coverage.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Matt Taibbi: Goldman One-Ups Gordon Gekko, Says Jesus Embraced Greed
“The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest,” Goldman's Griffiths said Oct. 20, his voice echoing around the gold-mosaic walls of St. Paul's Cathedral, whose 365-feet-high dome towers over the City, London's financial district. “We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all.”

Thursday, November 5, 2009
Spokane Considers Community Bill of Rights
Thousands of people voted to protect nine basic rights, ranging from the right of the environment to exist and flourish to the rights of residents to have a locally based economy and to determine the future of their neighborhoods. Although the proposition failed to pass, it garnered approximately 25 percent of the vote--despite the fact that opponents of the proposal outspent supporters four to one.

Thursday, November 5, 2009
South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan
In exchange for the pullout of the non-Pashtun Abdullah, Pakistan's military has agreed to actively mediate between Washington and the Taliban over a reconciliation plan that will allow the US to exit from Afghanistan, as it is doing in Iraq, with a semblance of success.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Meet the 28 (Male) Anti-Choice Dems Who Are Stalling Health Reform
(1 comments) It's a backdoor attempt by Stupak and his colleagues to get abortion coverage excluded from private insurance, as well as public--which has been in place since 1976 with the Hyde Amendment, a rider that has been attached to appropriations bills for the past 33 years.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Steve Benen: Appealing to "Independents"
Many will now advise Democrats to govern as centrists in order to maintain their appeal to this swing segment of the electorate. That's the wrong lesson. If the majority proves itself effective in governing, delivers on a successful agenda, and highlights the ways in which the minority has given up on the mainstream, the results will take care of themselves.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Clinton Backs Peace Talks Before Israeli Settlement Freeze
Clinton repeated on Wednesday that while the Obama administration rejects the legitimacy of Israeli settlement expansion, it nonetheless believes that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations should precede a permanent freeze on such construction.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Unsettling Questions | Foreign Policy
The United States should view the current Palestinian insistence on a settlement freeze as a long overdue course correction. Had a settlement freeze been insisted upon when talks began in 1993, an agreement today would be dramatically more attainable.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
McGovern: Get Out of Afghanistan
George McGovern has some advice for President Barack Obama: Get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. “I'm convinced that war is going to turn sour. I'm convinced we're not going to prevail there,” McGovern said.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The Execution of a Potentially Innocent Man Less Scandalous Than an Affair?
(2 comments) It's lucky for Gov. Rick Perry of Texas that he's not suspected of doing something truly shocking, like having an affair. Instead, it merely seems that he's helped cover up a homicide. Apparently that's not enough to make much of a national splash.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
FBI knew of CIA torture, considered prosecution
The Obama administration resisted release of the documents, and continues to withhold critical information, including a transcript of an interview between FBI Director Robert Mueller and investigators on the question of “terror suspect” interrogations.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
U.S. hope dims for high-level Israeli-Palestinian talks over state - washingtonpost.com
The Obama administration has concluded that an early resumption of high-level negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over a Palestinian state is unlikely in the near future -- an acknowledgment that it has fallen short, for now, on one of its major initial foreign policy goals.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Abdullah Says Karzai's Confirmation as Afghan President Illegal
“This appointment has no legal basis,” Abdullah said. “A government that is appointed by an illegitimate commission, a commission that has tainted its own legitimacy, cannot bring the rule of law to the country, it cannot fight the corruption.”

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
UN debates Goldstone report
The UN General Assembly is debating a UN-sponsored report which says Israel committed war crimes during its military assault on the Gaza Strip. The resolution, if adopted, would call upon Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to take the report to the UN Security Council.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Al Jazeera English - Europe - Italy convicts CIA rendition agents
An Italian judge has convicted 23 US secret agents over the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian imam from a Milan street in an extraordinary rendition by the CIA. Abu Omar told Human Rights Watch in 2007 that he was "hung up like a slaughtered sheep and given electrical shocks" during his time in Egypt.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Maureen Dowd: Who Are You Calling a Narcissist, Rush?
If W. had gone to Dover in the middle of the night to salute the war dead, Limbaugh and Liz Cheney would have been gushing about his patriotism. But since it's Obama who at last showed up there to see the brutal cost of war, they simply have to dismiss the moving moment as a publicity stunt.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Auto Industry Poker Game Ends: GM Makes Shock Decision To Keep Opel
After months of hair-splitting negotiations between Detroit, the German government and private investors, US carmaker General Motors has backed away from a deal to sell Opel. GM now wants to keep its Opel and Vauxhall subsidiaries in Europe.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Hospital bill stuns slain student's parents
On Saturday, 10 days after Scott Hawkins was beaten to death inside his dormitory at California State University, his parents got a letter in the mail. It contained a bill from the UC Davis Medical Center for $29,186.50 along with a form letter addressed "Dear Patient" that implied they were indigent and stated that the hospital no longer could provide them services.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thomas Frank: Glenn Beck's Hotline to Nowhere
What Mr. Beck's silent phone really symbolizes is a new kind of ignorance, a coming high-tech dark age in which people can choose to blow off professional standards of inquiry; in which they can wall themselves off with cable TV and friendly Web sites, dismiss what displeases as liberal bias, and demand that any contrary view be transmitted to them via telephone call from the president himself.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Honduras de facto leader 'to quit'
Zelaya, the ousted Honduran president, sent a letter to the US secretary of state asking why US officials have said that they will recognise forthcoming Honduran elections even if he is not reinstated beforehand.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
BREAKING: UN 'to reduce' Afghan mission size
The United Nations is preparing to announce the withdrawal of a number of its staff operating in Afghanistan. The imminent announcement on Thursday follows an unannounced visit by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, to the Afghan capital.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Michele Bachmann, Tea Partiers Prepare For Last Stand On Health Care | TPMDC
Tea Party Patriot national organizer Jenny Beth Martin, Bachmann and RedState.com's Erick Erickson said Thursday's rally and storm through the halls of Congress were the tea partiers last chance to stop what Bachmann called the Democrats' plan to "literally have the power of life and death over you."

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Some Democrats concerned over abortion provision in health bill
House leaders were still negotiating Monday with the bloc of Democrats concerned about abortion provisions in the legislation, saying that they could lead to public funding of the procedure.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
North Korea warns US: negotiate or else
North Korea issued a demand Monday for dialogue with the United States with a message that carried an implicit threat: talk or else. Unless the US agreed to bilateral dialogue, said the comment by a spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry, as reported by Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency, North Korea would “go its own way.”

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Exclusive: U.S. drafts Afghan 'Compact' it hopes will bolster new Karzai government | McClatchy
A US intelligence official said he was skeptical because the compact would require Karzai to break deals he made with warlords and power barons who oversaw ballot box-stuffing on his behalf. "They are doing the best they can with a bad situation," he said. "They've got to create legitimacy after the fact."

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Commentary: Suggested revisions for Sarah Palin's 'Going Rogue'
Thank you for turning in the manuscript so quickly. I thought only Stephen King could crank out 400 pages in four months! Seriously, there's some terrific material here, and all of us at Harper Collins are thrilled to be publishing your life story.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Mt. Kilimanjaro Ice Cap Continues Rapid Retreat, Study Says
(1 comments) The ice atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania has continued to retreat rapidly, declining 26 percent since 2000, scientists say in a new report.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
House Ethics Probes: All Black, No White
The House ethics committee is currently investigating seven African-American lawmakers — more than 15 percent of the total in the House. And an eighth black member, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), would be under investigation if the Justice Department hadn't asked the committee to stand down.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
US House rejects Goldstone report
The US House of Representatives has passed a resolution rejecting the findings of a UN-sponsored report which says Israel committed war crimes during its military assault on Gaza. The US house vote came a day before the United Nations General Assembly is expected to debate its own resolution endorsing the findings of the Goldstone report.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Raw Story: Bush's interrogators used slaps to ‘instill fear and despair' By Larisa Alexandrovna
Included in the large cache of recently released documents is one which describes stress positions to be used as interrogation techniques, as well as the use of an abdominal slap as a punishment tool.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
BREAKING: Republican Wins Virginia Governor Race
Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican and a former state attorney general, won a decisive victory in Virginia's governor's race Tuesday, a stark reversal of fortune for Democrats who have held control in Richmond for the past eight years.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
BREAKING: Christie defeats incumbent Corzine in N.J. gubernatorial race
Chris Christie defeated Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine Tuesday, handing Republicans a rare victory in a state that Barack Obama carried last year by 15 percentage points.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Cops Murder Drunk Trying to Avoid Tasering
I guess we all have to understand that in America not being in your right mind is a capital crime for which we aren't necessarily allowed due process. Good to know.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Diane Sawyer Uses Glenn Beck To Attack Al Gore For Not Eating ‘Tofurkey'
(1 comments) ABC's Good Morning America host Diane Sawyer sandbagged Vice President Al Gore this morning with an attack by Glenn Beck. Sawyer introduced a mocking clip from the Fox News pundit. “Here's Glenn Beck,” she said, “giving you a challenge about cows and methane.”

Monday, November 2, 2009
Osama bin Laden Responsible for the 9/11 Attacks?
(2 comments) The idea that Osama bin Laden was responsible for 9/11 has been an article of faith for public officials and the media. Calling it an “article of faith” points to two features--On the one hand, no one in these circles publicly challenges this idea. On the other hand, as I pointed out at length in two of my books – 9/11 Contradictions and The New Pearl Harbor Revisited, no good evidence has presented to support it.

Monday, November 2, 2009
Afghan election commission declares Karzai winner
Afghan election officials canceled a presidential runoff and proclaimed the reelection of President Hamid Karzai on Monday, a day after Karzai's top challenger declared he would not take part in a second round of voting scheduled for Saturday because of a persistent risk of fraud.

Monday, November 2, 2009
Clinton counters Arab anger over Israel settlements
Clinton's comments in Jerusalem underscored a shift in U.S. policy that began in September, when U.S. President Barack Obama himself called only for "restraint" in Israeli settlement activity rather than the "freeze" he had earlier demanded.

Monday, November 2, 2009
US backs Karzai's presidential win
The discovery of widespread fraud in the first round resulted in Karzai losing his more than 50 per cent advantage forcing him into a second round. The validity of the electoral process and the independence of the IEC have both been called into question. Abdullah cited the government's refusal to accept his demands for changes in the IEC for his decision to leave Karzai as the sole candidate.

Monday, November 2, 2009
Paul Krugman: Too Little of a Good Thing
The stimulus was far too small given the scale of our economic problems. Unless something changes drastically, we're looking at many years of high unemployment. And the really bad news is that “centrists” in Congress aren't able or willing to draw the obvious conclusion, which is that we need a lot more federal spending on job creation.

Monday, November 2, 2009
Barbara Elias: Know Thine Enemy
Behind the dispute over American resources, strategy, and interests, however, lie fundamental questions that rarely get addressed directly: Who is the enemy in Afghanistan, and what do they want?

Monday, November 2, 2009
Goldman takes on new role: taking away people's homes
Goldman spent years buying hundreds of thousands of subprime mortgages, many of them from some of the more unsavory lenders in the business, and packaging them into high-yield bonds. Now that the bottom has fallen out of that market, Goldman finds itself in a different role: as the big banker that takes homes away from folks.

Monday, November 2, 2009
Pentagon's Gates Plays Ugly American
While in Japan, Gates demonstrated his anger and impatience with the Japanese, declining invitations to dine with Japanese Defense Ministry officials and to attend a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry.

Monday, November 2, 2009
America, stop sucking up to Israel
Before no other country on the planet does the United States kneel and plead like this. In other trouble spots, America takes a different tone. It bombs in Afghanistan, invades Iraq and threatens sanctions against Iran and North Korea. Did anyone in Washington consider begging Saddam Hussein to withdraw from occupied territory in Kuwait?

Monday, November 2, 2009
Karzai win complicates White House strategy for Afghanistan
The departure of Karzai's chief rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, deprives him of a genuine win at the polls and potentially undermines the Obama administration's goal of building a legitimate government in Kabul.

Monday, November 2, 2009
Boehner, Skelton want more on Afghan
After the White House acknowledged the re-election of Afghan President Hamid Karzai today, both Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Ike Skelton (D-MO) released statements supporting Gen. Stanley McChrystal's plan for a counter insurgency strategy within Afghanistan.

Monday, November 2, 2009
McChrystal Doesn't Get It—Does Obama?
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent Gen. McChrystal to “fix” the war in Afghanistan in the way that his boss, that earlier military prophet Gen. David Petraeus, “fixed” Iraq. Whether by accident or design, McChrystal's mission became a cause célèbre of sorts for an American media starved for good news, even if entirely fabricated, coming out of Afghanistan.

Monday, November 2, 2009
SPIEGEL Interview with Al Gore: 'I Am Optimistic'
Obama's progress on health care has already surpassed what we were able to do on health care. He will get a climate change bill adopted. So I am optimistic. These are still the early days of the Obama presidency. He had a bad summer, but he is having a good fall.

Monday, November 2, 2009
US will not alter Iran nuclear deal
Speaking in Morocco on Monday, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, urged Tehran to fully accept the deal which had already been agreed to in principle, saying "we are not altering it".

Monday, November 2, 2009
The Great GOP Purge
When Newt Gingrich is too moderate, and trying to pull the Republican Party closer to the American mainstream, it's safe to say there's something deeply wrong.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
How Goldman secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash
Goldman's sales and its clandestine wagers, completed at the brink of the housing market meltdown, enabled the nation's premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the U.S. and global economies.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Clinton praises Israel for 'unprecedented' concessions - washingtonpost.com
Although she reiterated the administration's position that "all settlement activity" must cease, Clinton seemed unwilling to press the point as forcefully as she had in the past and joined Netanyahu in portraying the Palestinians as the spoilers.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Frank Rich -- The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York
The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. There is only one political opponent whom Obama really has to worry about at this moment: Hamid Karzai. It's Afghanistan and joblessness, not the Stalinists of the right, that have the power to bring this president down.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Clinton Asks Abbas to Return to Talks
Abbas rebuffed an Israeli proposal — developed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and relayed by Mrs. Clinton — to complete about 3,000 units and temporarily freeze other construction. Clinton conspicuously avoided criticizing the demolition of Palestinians' houses in East Jerusalem, though she said her opposition to it had not changed.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
The New York Times' Coming Jihad Against The Huffington Post
The print publishers have begun to mumble more often that Google News, The Huffington Post, and The Daily Beast are taking unfair and illegal advantage of them by using the print media's carefully reported stories as content to build their aggregation sites. The legal issues are engulfed in a fog.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
LANNY DAVIS: It's time liberals drop public option
(3 comments) Fellow Democrats, fellow liberals: Let's reach out to Republicans and independents in the country, show them we are willing to compromise and give up the public option, and let's get a national health insurance bill passed that provides virtual universal and guaranteed health insurance coverage ... at long last.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
The forecast: Warmer, with a chance of survival
Tim Flannery believes the biggest challenge of the 21st century is to create sustainability for the human race. The acclaimed author of The Weather Makers knows well that time is running out. But he believes we will take the steps necessary to save the planet – if not for altruistic reasons then maybe for economic ones – and ultimately create a new kind of society.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Lieberman's Betrayal Worthy Of A Movie (Or 3) -- Hartford Courant
How livid are rank-and-file Democrats over Lieberman's latest shiv in the back? Well, let's just say that if he were to wake up howling with a horse head — or perhaps, more fittingly, the other end of the horse — in his bed, no one would be surprised.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Lender CIT Group files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
CIT Group, a major lender to small and medium-size businesses, filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday afternoon, a process that almost certainly will wipe out the federal government's $2.3 billion investment in the company.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Juan Cole on Abdullah's Election Boycott
Clinton seems to be crowning Karzai the winner by virtue of Abdullah's withdrawal. But the Karzai presidency has been badly if not unalterably wounded by the ballot fraud practiced in August, and of which the retention of the same electoral commission would guarantee a repetition.

Sunday, November 1, 2009
US criticised over stand on Israel
Palestinians have accused the US of destroying any chance of peace talks after backing Israel over the building of illegal settlements on occupied land.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Obama seeking options on forces
Obama met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House on Friday, holding a 90-minute discussion that centered on the strain on the force after eight years of war in two countries.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
1,000 U.S. troops wounded in Afghanistan in past 3 months
IEDs are now the "weapon of choice" for Taliban fighters. The bombs are so powerful they can take out the latest mine-resistant vehicles the Pentagon has employed to protect troops. More than 1,000 American troops have been wounded in battle over the past three months in Afghanistan.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Abdullah Will Quit Afghan Election, Sources Say
Abdullah Abdullah, the chief rival to President Hamid Karzai, plans to announce on Sunday his decision to withdraw from the Nov. 7 run-off election, effectively handing a new five-year term to Karzai.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Fight for survival in the West Bank
Palestinians in many areas of the West Bank are not allowed to irrigate their land. Nor are they allowed electricity, to build water cisterns, or indeed, any new structures without a permit from the Israeli authorities.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Malcom Lagauche: IT'S ALL A BIG HAZE
This one-week period of January 1993 may not have represented a massive military engagement against Iraq. However, its legacy was very damaging as the stage had been set for any U.S. president to bomb Iraq at any time with no reason, creating a big haze that still permeates peoples' minds today.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Audit finds that Iraq contractor overcharged for repair parts - washingtonpost.com
The contractor, Aecom Government Services, charged $237 for a vehicle side mirror that was supposed to cost $14.88, according to the report. The company also submitted invoices to the U.S. military in Iraq seeking reimbursements of $196.50 for a bag of 10 washers that was supposed to cost $1.22, $10 for a fuse that should have cost 45 cents and $210 for an inner tube that was supposed to cost $24.09.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
No to settlements is yes to peace
Too many American Jewish groups have their heads in the sand when it comes to the damage the settlement project has done to Israel. They embrace those on the American religious right who endorse settlement as a religious principle, without realizing that the influence of these groups is declining.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Cheney to FBI: No idea who leaked Plame's identity
The only thing Cheney can remember for certain is that he cannot remember... Cheney advised the agents that he had no idea what Libby knew in the days before Plame's CIA identity was publicly revealed. Cheney said he did not recall if Libby revealed to the vice president his independent knowledge about the fact that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Gavin Newsom drops out of Cali. gov race
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom dropped out of the California governor's race Friday, leaving no clear challenger in the Democratic field to the former governor and current state attorney general, Jerry Brown.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Dede Scozzafava bows out of NY-23 race
Republican Dede Scozzafava announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign in the Nov. 3 House special election in New York, a dramatic development that increases the GOP's chances of winning the contentious and closely-watched race.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
US 'backs down' over settlements
The US has called for the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians as soon as possible and without preconditions, an apparent climb down on earlier demands for Israel to halt settlement building.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
US lawmakers harshly criticize UN Gaza report
(2 comments) The House resolution echoed Israel's protest claiming the Goldstone report is "irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy." It also reaffirmed support for Israel and considered the Israeli offensive in the densely populated area during which Tel Aviv used banned weapons as an act of self-defense.

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Erdogan criticizes West over hypocrisy on Iran
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says countries with huge nuclear arsenals have no right to lecture Iran about the threat of atomic weapons. "Those who criticize Iran's nuclear program continue to possess the same weapons."

Saturday, October 31, 2009
Nine US banks seized in one day
Nine failed banks were seized by US authorities on Friday, the most in a single day since the global economic crisis began.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Forbes Bows to Beck After He Complains About Being Named One Of Magazine's 'Scariest People' | PEEK | AlterNet
Beck's power within the GOP establishment is far and wide. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said “the American people are smart” to listen to right wing radio hosts such as Beck and Limbaugh.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Clinton Challenges Pakistanis on Al Qaeda
Rarely in her travels as secretary of state has Mrs. Clinton encountered an audience so uniformly suspicious and immune to her star power as the polite, but unsmiling, university students who challenged her at Government College University in Lahore.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Afghanistan: Eight Years On & No Direction Home
Whatever the end result of Washington's apparent confusion over policy in Afghanistan, it will have little success until the Afghan people and the population of Pakistan's Western territories are brought politically into the decision making.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Clinton faces Pakistani anger at drone attacks
(1 comments) Sana Bucha of Geo TV said to Clinton during the live broadcast interview..."It is not our war," she told Clinton. "It is your war." She drew a burst of applause when she added, "You had one 9/11. We are having daily 9/11s in Pakistan."

Friday, October 30, 2009
White House Chalks Up 650,000 Jobs to Stimulus
The new figures are based on reports being released today from 131,000 recipients of the stimulus money and are intended to give the clearest sense to date of how many jobs are being created or saved directly by the stimulus.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman Says He'll Back Republicans in 2010 Congressional Races - ABC News
Lieberman infuriated fellow Democrats in 2008 by supporting Republican presidential nominee John McCain as well as congressional candidates Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Iran makes nuclear fuel demand
Iran has told the UN nuclear watchdog that it wants new supplies of nuclear fuel for a reactor before it agrees to ship most of its enriched uranium stocks to Russia and France, diplomats have said.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Israeli military gives settlers free rein
On ground level, as well as in the political arena, the authorities seem perfectly content to offer the occasional fig leaf to international pressure to clamp down on the settlers, while never implementing concrete measures to end the overall injustice.

Friday, October 30, 2009
7 on defense panel scrutinized
the seven legislators have personally steered more than $200 million in earmarks to clients of the PMA Group in the past two years, and received more than $6.2 million in campaign contributions from PMA and its clients in the past decade, according to an analysis by Congressional Quarterly and Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Friday, October 30, 2009
Secrets Claim Faces Another Review in Torture Case
the Department of Justice - first through Bush Administration lawyers, now through Obama Administration lawyers - has invoked the so-called "state secrets" privilege, claiming that a public trial would endanger US national security.

Friday, October 30, 2009
VIDEO: Daily Show under fire for covering Israeli-Palestinian conflict | Raw Story
Some commentators are praising Stewart for taking on the issue. TalkingPointsMemo blogger M.J. Rosenberg credits Stewart with starting a "sea change" in American media's coverage of the Middle Eastern conflict

Friday, October 30, 2009
Pentagon officials won't confirm Bush propaganda program ended | Raw Story
In interviews, Pentagon officials in charge of the press and community relations offices — which worked in partnership on the military analyst program — equivocated on the subject of whether the program has ended.

Friday, October 30, 2009
PAUL KRUGMAN: The Defining Moment
For conservatives, of course, it's an easy decision: They don't want Americans to have universal coverage, and they don't want President Obama to succeed. The legislation on the table isn't perfect, but it's as good as anyone could reasonably have expected. History is about to be made — and everyone has to decide which side they're on.

Friday, October 30, 2009
NS Archive: Afghanistan Déjà vu? Lessons from the Soviet Experience
The debate over U.S. policy in the Afghanistan war features striking and troubling parallels with the choices faced by Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s, according to Soviet documents posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive.

Friday, October 30, 2009
White House releases visitor logs
Friday Dump: In addition to the release of Dick Cheney's FBI interview today, now the White House has released nearly 500 visitor records of individuals visiting the executive mansion between Inauguration Day and the end of July.

Friday, October 30, 2009
The Generals' Revolt : Rolling Stone
Rep. Jim McGovern recently got 138 votes for an amendment that would have required the administration to declare its exit strategy. "The further we get sucked into this war, the harder it will be to get out of it," McGovern says. "What the hell is the objective? Tell me how this has a happy ending. Tell me how we win this. How do we measure success?"

Friday, October 30, 2009
CREW Lawsuit Results in Release of Notes of Cheney's FBI Interview in Wilson Leak Case
Cheney – generally credited with razor sharp intellect and recall – demonstrated an astonishing inability to recollect even simple facts much less the numerous conversations others have testified to regarding his involvement in the administration's efforts to discredit former Ambassador Joe Wilson. Read transcript.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tipping the balance in East Jerusalem
The Ghawi family had been living there for more than 50 years, but an Israeli court ruled that Jews were the rightful owners. So the Palestinians were thrown out onto the street and Jewish settlers moved in. The international community knows full well what is going on. Yet the Israeli evictions and demolitions in East Jerusalem continue unchecked.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
U.N. Can't Account for Millions Sent to Afghan Election Board
The United Nations cannot account for tens of millions of dollars provided to the troubled Afghan election commission, according to two confidential U.N. audits and interviews with current and former senior diplomats.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Honduras takes Brazil to world court over Zelaya
Honduras' interim government has filed a case at the U.N.'s highest court accusing Brazil of meddling in internal Honduran affairs by allowing ousted President Manuel Zelaya to stay at its embassy in Tegucigalpa.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Bill Fletcher, Jr. -- Listening to Justice Golstone
The issuing of the Goldstone report, and its adoption by the UN Human Rights Council, is another signal that something is changing with regard to attitudes towards Israeli aggression and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
BREAKING: Confidential House report reveals details of investigations into lawmakers, aides - washingtonpost.com
House ethics investigators have scrutinized the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Supreme Court will consider life sentences for juveniles
Across the country, 111 people are serving life sentences without parole for crimes they committed as juveniles that did not result in a death; 77 of them are locked up in Florida for crimes including armed robbery and carjacking. The state took a get-tough approach in the 1990s in response to a crime wave "compromising the safety of residents, visitors, and international tourists, and threatening the tourism industry."

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Enemy of the public option | Maura Keaney
Joe Lieberman has become the Balloon Boy dad of the Senate Democratic caucus, a fame-whore so addicted to media attention that he hatches ever-more-desperate and risky schemes that sell out his "family" to earn press attention.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Omar bin Laden -- My Father, the Terrorist
My father was known to everyone in and out of the family as the somber bin Laden boy who became increasingly occupied with religious teachings. As his son, I can attest to the fact that he never changed. He was unfailingly pious, always taking his religion more seriously than most.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Rove, Dean spar over health care at Penn State
Rove received boos and catcalls from the audience on three occasions. When he claimed the United States health care system was the best in the world, heralded the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 of as an example of bipartisanship, and criticized people for saying George W. Bush “wasn't a legitimately elected president.”

Thursday, October 29, 2009
UN -- US drone strikes may break international law
US drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan could be breaking international laws against summary executions. Since August 2008, around 70 strikes by unmanned aircraft have killed close to 600 people in northwestern Pakistan.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thirst for oil poses threat to US national security, says military adviser
(2 comments) America's thirst for oil is a gathering threat to its national security – and the risk will grow further as the world's population touches 7 billion, a military adviser to the Pentagon told the Senate today.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Stimulus dollars going to accused contractors
So far, 33 federal departments and agencies have awarded more than $1.2 billion in stimulus contracts to at least 30 companies that are ranked by one watchdog group as among the most egregious offenders of state and federal laws.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Afghanistan: A Whole New Approach - Jim Wallis
We know what Cheney wants America to do — he never dithered, even when there were no facts to support his case for more war. Dick Cheney always wants to fight. But Cheney's foreign policy was an embarrassment for America, and a tragedy for the rest of the world. And not to follow his advice is always a good first step of moral wisdom.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Inside Bush's Motivational Speech - Leslie Harris
(1 comments) It was a long way, through aisles of seats and up a long set of stairs to the exit - we'd said we'd go “nicely” but hadn't mentioned anything about “quietly,” so we used the opportunity to loudly, all the way out, yell our message to the crowd: “Bush is NOT inspirational! On his watch: Abu Ghraib, Katrina, 9/11, Gitmo, torture, lies, rendition, illegal spying, illegal, immoral war . . . Bush is NOT inspirational!"

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Hamid Karzai: Afghanistan's Diem
The mountains of Afghanistan are quickly growing verdant in their similarity to the jungles of Vietnam. The revelation this week in the NY Times that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother, Ahmed Karzai, is a "thug," "suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade," and "on the CIA payroll" is striking not for its news quotient, but for the fact that it was made by what appear to be White House officials.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
AFGHANISTAN: U.S., NATO Forces Rely on Warlords for Security
US and other NATO military contingents operating in the provinces of Afghanistan's predominantly Pashtun south and east have been hiring private militias controlled by Afghan warlords, according to these sources, to provide security for their forward operating bases and other bases and to guard convoys.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Houses demolished in east Jerusalem
Israeli authorities have torn down several Palestinian houses in occupied east Jerusalem on grounds that the structures were built illegally.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thomas Frank: Obama Is Right About Fox News
No journalistic operation is better prepared to sing the tragedy of its own martyrdom than Fox News. To all the usual journalistic instincts it adds its grand narrative of Middle America's disrespectful treatment by the liberal elite. Persecution fantasy is Fox News's lifeblood; give it the faintest whiff of the real thing and look out for a gale-force hissy fit.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Clinton Backs Pakistan as Bomb Toll Hits 90
"This fight is not Pakistan's alone," Clinton said. "These extremists are committed to destroying what is dear to us as much as they are committed to destroying that which is dear to you and to all people. So this is our struggle as well."

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
NUKE GAZA: A WORLD GONE MAD
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman may have tipped his Masada hand when he reportedly told Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan that Israel may use nuclear weapons against Gaza. The threat to Israel is not the 1.5 million Gazans who reside in the world's largest open-air prison. It is the global outrage at the abuse inflicted on Palestinians, commencing with the ethnic cleansing of 400-plus villages six decades ago.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
FLASHBACK: Lieberman pledged support for universal health insurance in 2006 campaign - Daily Kos TV (beta)
Must-watch video of Sen. Joseph Lieberman promising support for universal health care three years ago.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Gunmen Attack U.N. Workers in Kabul
Taliban gunmen stormed a guest house in central Kabul on Wednesday morning, killing six United Nations employees and two Afghan security officials, according to U.N. officials, the police and the Afghan Interior Ministry.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The lineup: Harry Reid's toughest votes
Snowe — the only Republican on Capitol Hill to vote for a Democratic health care bill so far this year — also hinted that the beginning may be the end, saying she would most likely vote to block the Senate from even commencing debate on Reid's bill.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Dan Froomkin: Bankers Vs. The People: Which Side Is The White House On?
I'm not doubting the smarts of Obama's financial team -- but I do feel that the vast majority of people who take the kind of money we're talking about here can't help but be warped by it, and that in choosing to cash in, they essentially disqualified themselves from public service.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Lori Price: Silence On the Senator
The Courant, mindful that reporting Joe Lieberman's actual actions would drag his approval ratings down lower than the Marianas Trench, avoids the topic of Joe(no)mentum altogether. The Lieberman Lie Pie is growing, and Connecticut's largest newspaper is ignoring it.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Kansas state lawmakers push for health care insurance opt-out
The proposal, which would alter the Kansas Constitution, is similar to efforts under way in more than half the states, including Missouri. It's a pointed attempt to get President Barack Obama and Congress to back off efforts to retool the nation's health care system.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Iraq: A Rebounding Jihad | STRATFOR
(1 comments) A tactical look at the Oct. 25 attack can tell us a great deal about the state of ISI. Perhaps the most obvious thing that can be ascertained is that ISI appears to have no problem securing large quantities of explosives. If the attacks in August and October are any indication, the remainder of the run-up to the January elections could prove quite bloody.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Cheney to campaign for Hutchison in Texas
Cheney's support is the highest profile endorsement Hutchison has gotten so far in her bid to unseat Gov. Rick Perry in the March Republican primary. Support from Cheney, who is popular with many conservative activists, could help Hutchison shore up her right flank.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
UN condemns US embargo on Cuba
The United Nations' General Assembly has voted to condemn the United States' trade embargo on Cuba, in a signal that worldwide opposition to the policy remains strong. Israel, Palau and the United States itself were the only nations that voted in favour of the embargo.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Israel targeting grassroots activists
Israeli authorities are increasingly targeting and intimidating nonviolent Palestinian grassroots activists involved in anti-occupation activities who are drawing increased support from the international community.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
CNN Finishes Last in Ratings for Prime-Time Cable News
In an era when the relationship between the White House and Fox News is making headlines, and when the ideological rivalry between MSNBC on the left and Fox News on the right is commanding the spotlight, CNN has little from a news angle to stir consistent interest from viewers.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
German Limits on Afghan War Are Facing Reality
At issue are how long opposition in Germany will allow its troops to stay and fight, and whether they will be given leeway from their strict rules of engagement to pursue the kind of counterinsurgency being advocated by American generals.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
EU report warns of 'lack of progress' in Afghanistan
EU civilian aid for Afghanistan currently amounts to almost one billion euros (1.5 billion dollars, 912 million pounds) a year. "If we don?t put in place some sort of functioning state in Afghanistan, some system of governance, then all our other efforts will fail. There is a new recognition of that," said Carl Bildt, the foreign minister of Sweden, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
U.S. official resigns over Afghan war
In a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Matthew Hoh became the first US official to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency. If the United States is to remain in Afghanistan, Hoh said, he would advise a reduction in combat forces.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
DEA agents among 14 Americans dead in Afghanistan
NATO said the helicopter containing the DEA agents was returning from a joint operation that targeted a compound used by insurgents involved in "narcotics trafficking in western Afghanistan." Eleven Americans, including another DEA agent, and 14 Afghan security troops were wounded in the crash, NATO said.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
BREAKING: Eight US Troops Killed in Afghanistan Bomb Attacks
(1 comments) The U.S. military said on Tuesday that eight American troops have been killed in bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, making October the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the eight-year Afghan war.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Asian powers urge Afghan commitment
The foreign ministers of India, China and Russia have urged the world to remain engaged in Afghanistan, with Moscow advocating a greater role for regional powers in stabilising the Central Asian nation.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Conservatives Are Rewriting the Bible to Free It From "Liberal Bias"
(2 comments) Andy Schlafly's Conservapedia defines a “liberal” as “someone who rejects logical and biblical standards, often for self-centered reasons.” In this world, liberals are incapable of understanding the Bible, or even logical thought.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Some lawmakers wary of 'Death Panels' for banks, too
Under the emerging bill, Congress wouldn't set specific requirements, but would leave it to the Council of Regulators to determine how much capital banks should hold in reserve, or how much investing they can do with borrowed money. Insufficient reserves and too much borrowed money, called leverage, were primary contributors to the financial meltdown.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Bob Herbert -- Changing the World
This passivity and sense of helplessness most likely stems from the refusal of so many Americans over the past few decades to acknowledge any sense of personal responsibility for the policies and choices that have led the country into such a dismal state of affairs, and to turn their backs on any real obligation to help others who were struggling.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Joe Lieberman: I'll filibuster Harry Reid's plan
(3 comments) Lieberman added that he'd vote against a public option plan “even with an opt-out because it still creates a whole new government entitlement program for which taxpayers will be on the line."

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Is New York Facing a Financial China Syndrome? JONATHAN TURLEY
I remain concerned about the incredible spending in Congress and rising taxes in the states as politicians seem to have lost any sense of proportion or balance in buyouts, recovery bills, and public spending.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Obama: How Long Will He Refuse To Fight?
Expressing a preference for the public option is not the same as fighting for the public option. Telling Harry Reid "good luck with that" is not the same as the president saying, "I am there helping Reid fight for those final votes."

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Coalition seeks investigation of Homeland Security privacy office - washingtonpost.com
Privacy advocates have asked lawmakers to investigate the Department of Homeland Security office in charge of protecting Americans' privacy, saying it has shown "an extraordinary disregard" for its duty.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll
(1 comments) Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years.

Monday, October 26, 2009
14 Americans Die in Afghan Helicopter Crashes
Seven soldiers and three civilian employees of the US embassy — all Americans — were killed in a helicopter crash in western Afghanistan. And in southern Afghanistan, the midair collision of two coalition helicopters resulted in the deaths of four American soldiers.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Paul Krugman -- After Reform Passes
Reform remains popular. Earlier this year, many conservatives, citing misleading poll results, claimed that public support for the Massachusetts reform had plunged. Newer, more careful polling paints a very different picture.

Monday, October 26, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: How Sanford unplugged
Sanford's political career is in tatters, thanks to his affair and subsequent questions about his spending and use of state resources. Instead of running for president, the embattled governor - the subject of a State Ethics Commission investigation and threatened with impeachment - is battling to serve out the remaining 14 months of his final term.

Monday, October 26, 2009
NYT Editorial - The Cover-Up Continues
(2 comments) We share concerns about inflaming anti-American feelings and jeopardizing soldiers, but the best way to truly avoid that is to demonstrate that this nation has turned the page on Bush's shameful policies. Withholding the painful truth shows the opposite.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Is the End Near for the Right-Wing's Vice Grip on U.S. Israeli Policy?
(1 comments) It was a closely watched Washington fight, and when the White House announced that the head of Obama's National Security Council would headline the event, it sent a powerful message, legitimizing the 2-year-old group as a voice in U.S. foreign policy debates and providing cover for wavering lawmakers under pressure to skip the conference.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Fareed Zakaria - Obama should weigh troop level carefully
Over the past 18 months, troop levels in Afghanistan have almost tripled. Sending an additional 40,000 troops would mean an over 300 percent increase in U.S. troops since 2008. (The total surge in Iraq was just over 20,000 troops.) It is not dithering to try to figure out why previous increases have not worked and why we think additional ones would.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Continued Incarceration of the Innocent by Andy Worthington
The Supreme Court was faced with a tricky legal decision, because the justices will be considering whether, in defense of habeas corpus, and in reference to the unique position in which the Guantánamo prisoners are held, they are being asked to decide whether a judge has the power to order the release of prisoners into the U.S.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Both Iran and West Fear a Trap on Deal
The struggle — pitting Iran's fears of falling for a Western conspiracy to neutralize its “strategic reserve” against the West's fears of being lured into an Iranian plot to buy time for a secret nuclear bomb program — lies at the heart of the complex set of moves and countermoves now being played out around the globe.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Netanyahu insists Israel is only for Jews
(1 comments) Netanyahu said Palestinians will have to make a final peace deal with "the Jewish state of Israel." "Jews come here and Palestinians will go there. So choose. That's the basis of a solution," Netanyahu concluded.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Calamity of Iraq's orphans & morality of America
(2 comments) According to the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs' January 2008 Report, 4.5 million Iraqi children have been made orphans. Of these, only 459 orphans are in government care. I'll say that again. Out of 4.5 million, only 459 children are in government care. 800 orphans at the time of this report were being held in Iraqi prisons, 100 of these in American prisons, charged as terrorists.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Podesta: Bush Administration Spent Only One Hour On Afghanistan Report It Handed Off To Obama
On This Week, conservative pundit George Will praised Obama's process on Afghanistan, stating, “Well, also, a bit of dithering might have been in order before we went into Iraq in pursuit of non-existent weapons of mass destruction. So for a representative of the Bush administration to accuse someone of taking too much time is missing the point.”

Monday, October 26, 2009
Reid: "The Public Option With An Opt-Out Is The One That's Fair"
(3 comments) the public option is not just longed for by liberals. Recent polls have shown that roughly six in 10 Americans want a public plan that would compete with private insurance. Those polls were heard loudly in Congress. "All the national polls show a wide majority of Americans support the public option," Reid noted.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Obama: Won't rush Afghan decision
(3 comments) After spending the morning discussing the strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan with his national security team at the White House, President Obama told the crowd at the Naval Air Station here Monday afternoon that he would not rush his decision on whether to deploy more troops to the volatile region.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Are You Ready to Subsidize Reporters?
Thanks to the Internet we can all get our own hands on the same source material the reporter is reading and decide for ourselves. Case in point is the Downie & Schudson study. Go read the mainstream press reports on it then Google up the original document. The contrast is illuminating.

Monday, October 26, 2009
Israel 'cutting Palestinian water'
Israel is denying Palestinians adequate access to clean, safe water while allowing almost unlimited supplies to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, human rights group Amnesty International has said.

Sunday, October 25, 2009
Scores killed, at least 500 wounded in bomb attacks in Baghdad - washingtonpost.com
Twin car bombs targeted two government buildings in downtown Baghdad Sunday, wrecking pillars of the state's authority and cutting like a scythe through snarled traffic during the morning rush hour. The government said at least 132 people were killed and 520 wounded in one of the worst attacks in Baghdad.

Sunday, October 25, 2009
New life for the public option
Two recent events contributed to their renewed push to include it. One was the insurance industry's decision to attack the legislation and issue a report warning of higher premiums. The report triggered a backlash among liberal Democrats, who decided to push even harder for a public option.

Sunday, October 25, 2009
Frank Rich: In Defense of the ‘Balloon Boy' Dad - NYTimes.com
Even slightly jaundiced onlookers might have questioned how a balloon could waft buoyantly through the skies for hours with a 6-year-old boy hidden within its contours. That so few did is an indication of how practiced we are at suspending disbelief when watching anything labeled news, whether the subject is WMD's in Iraq or celebrity gossip in Hollywood.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
UN nuclear deal 'would cheat Iran'
Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani said, "Westerners are insisting to go in a direction that speaks of cheating and are imposing some things on us."

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Greatest of Lakes Hit by Climate Change
Scientists so far haven't found the reason for Cladophora's overgrowth. The lake is under such profound environmental stress that any of a number of factors, alone or together, could be the cause,

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Obama Declares Swine Flu a National Emergency
(1 comments) The declaration that Obama signed late Friday authorized Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to bypass federal rules so health officials can respond more quickly to the outbreak, which has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
CNN Special on Latinos Stokes Debate Over Dobbs
Dobbs is known to be exploring an exit from CNN, and he is viewed as a potential hire for the Fox Business Network, an upstart channel owned by the News Corporation.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Biden Dismisses Cheney's Criticisms
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had a blunt response on Friday to the latest broadsides from former Vice President Dick Cheney: “Who cares?”

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Insane Neocon to Ron Reagan: Your Father Would Be Ashamed
(2 comments) Is there nothing conservatives can say that would force them from polite company? Just how nutty must far-right activists be before they're no longer invited to share their ridiculous ideas? Gaffney's insane rhetoric isn't the problem; the fact that he was invited onto national television (again) to share his insane rhetoric is the problem.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Iran finds new evidence on deadly blast
Robert Baer, a former Middle East CIA field officer, revealed Saturday that Washington had formed relations with the Jundallah group, while aware of its terrorist nature. His remarks have raised alarming questions about the US involvement in the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Iran.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
After the Billionaires Plundered Alabama Town, Troops Were Called in ... Illegally
An Army report released to the Associated Press on Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request said the decision to dispatch military police to Samson from nearby Fort Rucker broke the law. But an Army spokesman said no charges have been filed following the Aug. 10 report.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
VIDEO: Alan Grayson Schools GA Wing-Nut Paul Broun on Constitution
See what happens when a citizen who belives in adhering to the US Constitution manages to be elected to Congress. Chaos ensues...

Saturday, October 24, 2009
'Netanyahu didn't mean he backed Israel probe of Gaza war'
"The prime minister actually hinted in the interview that if something needed to be investigated, then it should be the very establishment of the Goldstone commission," the bureau said in a statement.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Craig Murray -- How a Torture Protest Killed a Career
If the government can convince people that there is a serious threat to the nation, ordinary people who are not bad people will go along with things that they know are bad, like torture. So much of this intelligence was nonsense. It was untrue and it was designed to paint a false picture. The purpose of the false picture was to make people feel afraid.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
UN 'must prevent runoff disaster'
Peter Galbraith, who was fired from his post after speaking about the widespread fraud in the first round, said that many polling stations where fraud took place should not be reopened and many members of the Afghan election commission should be replaced.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Taliban threaten Afghan voters in November runoff
(2 comments) The Taliban issued their warning on the first official day of campaigning for the runoff, denouncing the contest between Karzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah as "a failed, American process." They warned that anyone who casts a ballot "will bear responsibility for their actions."

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Arab inaction over 'organ theft' shocks Journalist
In his article, They plunder the organs of our sons, Bostrom mentions the names of 133 Palestinians, whose body organs were removed after undergoing autopsies in Israeli centers. He believes a shortage of organs for transplant in Israel is the real cause behind the violent crime and mentions a 1992 government campaign to recruit new donors.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Obama Administration Takes from American Farmers, Gives to Israel
At a time of financial crisis in the United States in which thousands of Americans have lost their jobs and homes, an Israeli news service reports that President Obama has just signed a presidential memo eliminating a tariff on Israel that protected American dairy farmers and that raised money for the American economy.

Friday, October 23, 2009
NATO Defense Ministers Endorse Wider Afghan Effort
NATO defense ministers gave their broad endorsement Friday to the counterinsurgency strategy for Afghanistan laid out by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, increasing pressure on the Obama administration and on their own governments to commit more military and civilian resources for the mission to succeed.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Behind the War Between White House and Fox
The heated back-and-forth between the White House and Fox News has brought equal delight to Fox’s conservative commentators, who revel in the fight, and liberal Democrats, who have long characterized the network as a purveyor of right-wing propaganda rather than fact-based journalism.

Friday, October 23, 2009
PAUL KRUGMAN --The Chinese Disconnect
The value of China’s currency, unlike, say, the value of the British pound, isn’t determined by supply and demand. Instead, Chinese authorities enforced that target by buying or selling their currency in the foreign exchange market — a policy made possible by restrictions on the ability of private investors to move their money either into or out of the country.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Eugene Robinson --Wall Street on the lam
Capping salaries and bonuses is fine. But we need to pay attention to the guys in ski masks with bulging bags of money slung over their shoulders. They're about to jump into the getaway car.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Administrative Detention in Israel
Hundreds of Palestinians are kept behind bars in Israel without charges having been filed and with no access to a fair trial. Not even their lawyers are allowed to look at the evidence. Some governments in the West have expressed their concern, but the Israelis haven't budged.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Nat Hentoff -- Obama Every Bit as Bad as Bush/Cheney on Patriot Act
(4 comments) It was Feingold who, in Oct 2001, was the only member of the Senate to vote against the original Patriot Act as, on the floor, he accurately predicted our greatly weakened privacy, due process and other rights since then. He is not giving up. "In the end," Feingold says. "Democrats have to decide if they are going to stand up for the rights of the American people" or (for recent example) "allow the FBI to write our laws."

Friday, October 23, 2009
McCain introduces bill to block Net neutrality
(1 comments) Sen. John McCain introduced a bill in the Senate Thursday that would effectively allow Internet service providers to slow down or block Internet content or applications of their choosing.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Shoes fly as George W. Bush speaks in Montreal
(1 comments) About 300 protesters outside a downtown hotel blew plastic horns, tossed shoes and burned George W. Bush in effigy Thursday as the former U.S. president spoke to a luncheon of the Montreal Board of Trade.

Friday, October 23, 2009
No way home: The tragedy of the Palestinian diaspora
In 2001, Palestinians in Lebanon were stripped of the right to own property, or to pass on the property that they already owned to their children – and banned from working as doctors, lawyers, pharmacists or in 20 other professions.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Retired General Slams Cheney As "Incompetent War Fighter"
In 2001, Palestinians in Lebanon were stripped of the right to own property, or to pass on the property that they already owned to their children – and banned from working as doctors, lawyers, pharmacists or in 20 other professions.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Dan Froomkin: Why Journalists Shouldn't Be Defending Fox News
(1 comments) The litmus test is that the Obama White House is not upset at news gatherers for doing their job. What Obama and his aides are correctly pointing out is that the people working at Fox News are doing another job altogether.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Israel urges Ban to stop Goldstone report
The Israeli foreign minister has urged UN chief Ban Ki-moon against sending the Goldstone report on Israel's war crimes in the Gaza Strip to the Security Council or the General Assembly.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Dahr Jamail: Cyber Resistance
During the Vietnam War, over 100 underground newspapers, run by soldiers themselves, sprouted across the United States. The modern version of this has taken root within the Internet, largely in the form of blogs.

Friday, October 23, 2009
Texas, the eyes of Justice are upon you
Perry will do almost anything to please the vengeful crowd in the Colosseum with their thumbs turned down. Did we mention that next year he's up for reelection? When it turned out recently that five years ago the state may have executed a man for a crime he didn't commit, Perry pulled some particularly shady moves.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
IG: Pricey new U.S. Embassy in Iraq has 'multiple' flaws
The report blames many of the embassy buildings' woes on a decision by the then-head of overseas construction at the State Department, retired Army. Maj. Gen. Charles Williams, to set up a separate, secretive unit, answerable only to him, to oversee the Baghdad project.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Why are we still in Afghanistan?
Obama's current dilemma is yet another fine mess bequeathed to him by the epic incompetence of George W. Bush. But it's a political rather than a military threat Obama faces. Terrorists can't defeat the United States; they can only cause American politicians to self-destruct in fear of taking blame for future atrocities.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
US-Israel "special ties" near breaking point?
The "special relationship" with Israel has forced the US into a one-way love affair, a self-sacrificial policy of unconditional support for Israel. The United States has been forced to play the role of a sponsor and protector, for Israel, something that has earned Washington enemies in the Arab world.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Goldstone tells Obama: Show me flaws in Gaza report
(1 comments) South African jurist Richard Goldstone, who led a damning United Nations probe into Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter, has challenged Barack Obama's administration to justify its claims that the report is one-sided and flawed.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
President Obama tightens lobbying stance - Mike Allen
The question was whether a presidential ban on lobbyists in administration posts would apply to the boards and commissions. The answer, so far, is: Yes.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Senate vote blocks plan for permanent fix to Medicare payments to doctors
The Senate found rare bipartisan agreement on a health-care issue Wednesday as 13 Democrats joined all 40 Republicans to block a permanent repeal of Medicare's payment formula for doctors.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Pentagon used psychological operation on US public, documents show
(4 comments) A months-long review of documents and interviews with Pentagon personnel has revealed that the Bush Administration's military analyst program -- aimed at selling the Iraq war to the American people -- operated through a secretive collaboration between the Defense Department's press and community relations offices.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sen. Alexander accuses Obama of building an 'enemies list'
Alexander's remarks made him the highest-ranking GOP official to make the unflattering comparison of Obama to former president Nixon, a Republican, a line of thinking also recently put forward by former Bush White House adviser Karl Rove.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Hillary Clinton puts John Kerry in Afghan spotlight - David Rogers
Clinton, as secretary of state, helped clear the way with a long call to Karzai but also gave Kerry the room to run. And the result — Karzai's agreement to hold a runoff election next month — was a joint triumph for the onetime rivals.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Justice Revival is Coming - Jim Wallis
Sojourners' next Justice Revival is the culmination of more than a year's worth of organizing to unite more than 1,000 churches and 1 million Christians in the Dallas area to come together to address issues of public education and chronic homelessness.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
'Die quickly' congressman creates namesofthedead.com; GOP cries foul
The new site, namesofthedead.com, seizes on Grayson's comment on the House floor that the Republican healthcare plan is for people to “die quickly.” It invites visitors to log-in the names and stories of friends and relatives who died because they lacked health insurance.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
White House hits out at Cheney
Gibbs hit out at Cheney's suggestion that Obama is not moving fast enough on troop deployments to Afghanistan, citing the Bush administration's delay in deploying previous US troop contingents.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
The Construction of the Iran "Threat": The Iran Versus the U.S.-Israeli-NATO Threats
It is spell-binding to see how the U.S. establishment can inflate the threat of a target, no matter how tiny, remote, and (most often) non-existent that threat may be, and pretend that the real threat posed by its own behavior and policies is somehow defensive and related to that wondrously elastic thing called "national security."

Thursday, October 22, 2009
F. William Engdahl -- America's Phoney War in Afghanistan
(1 comments) The US military is in Afghanistan for two reasons. First to restore and control the world's largest supply of opium for the world heroin markets and to use the drugs as a geopolitical weapon against opponents, especially Russia. That control of the Afghan drug market is essential for the liquidity of the bankrupt and corrupt Wall Street financial mafia.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Pickens says U.S. firms 'entitled' to Iraqi oil
(2 comments) Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens told Congress on Wednesday that U.S. energy companies are "entitled" to some of Iraq's crude because of the large number of American troops that lost their lives fighting in the country and the US taxpayer money spent in Iraq.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
U.S. pressures Japan on military package
US discomfort was on display Wednesday in Tokyo as Gates pressured the government, after meetings with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, to keep its commitment to the military agreement. "It is time to move on," Gates said, warning that if Japan pulls apart the troop "realignment road map," it would be "immensely complicated and counterproductive."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Japan pressed over US base deal
Hatomaya has said he wants to revise the US-Japan alliance, making for a more equal partnership with Washington and making Japan less dependent on the US. Some members of his cabinet have gone a step further, demanding that all troops leave the country.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
U.S. deeply split on troop increase for Afghan war
(1 comments) Ordering more U.S. forces to Afghanistan could open a rift with Obama's fellow Democrats, most of whom call the battle "not worth fighting" and adamantly oppose the idea. But the Republicans polled take diametrically opposed views on the war, and a decision not to accept the commander's recommendation probably would heighten their opposition to the president.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Thomas Frank: From John Birchers to Birthers
Just a few years ago the right percolated with grand schemes to "defund the left," to win a "permanent majority," to destroy the Democrats with a "K Street Project," to outsource government itself and wreck the regulatory process—but now its liveliest leaders turn to us, fat glycerine tears running down their cheeks, and complain that the libs just don't play fair.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Johann Hari: The three fallacies that have driven the war in Afghanistan
There is obviously a huge risk in sending an extra 40,000 machine-gun wielding troops into a country they don't understand to "clear" huge areas of insurgent fighters who look exactly like the civilian population, and establish "control" of places that have never been controlled by a central government at any point in their history.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Bernard Kerik Is Sent to Jail
(2 comments) Before revoking the bail of Mr. Kerik, Judge Robinson described him as a “toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance, and I fear that combination leads him to believe his ends justify his means.” “He sees the court's rulings as an inconvenience,” Judge Robinson said, “something to be ignored, and an obstacle to be circumvented.”

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
U.S. officer: If Israel strikes Iran, U.S. will likely join
Charles F. Wald, former deputy commander of United States European Command, said a military strike on Iran could set back the Islamic Republic's alleged nuclear weapons program by several years, but cautioned, "I don't think Israel can do it alone."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Goldman Sachs's Griffiths Says Inequality Helps All
“We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all,” Brian Griffiths, who was a special adviser to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said yesterday.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Glenn Greenwald -- A Rumsfeld-era reminder about what causes Terrorism
We're fighting the Taliban because the Taliban is working so closely with al-Qaeda, but arguably the Taliban is working closely with al-Qaeda largely because we're fighting them...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Right Is Still Clutching Its Beloved Torture Policies
Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the man who served as George W. Bush's CIA director from 2006 to 2009, presented an interesting theory Monday regarding Obama's April decision to release DOJ torture opinions. In a guest column on CNN.com, Hayden asserted that Obama's move was “a political one, not a legal one -- a question of choice rather than necessity.”

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
My Secret Plan to Overthrow Iran's Mullahs - By Larry Franklin
US action might well precipitate a massive crackdown, though such a move by the clerical-military junta could spark widespread resistance. At last, the great majority of Iranians who oppose tyranny might rebel. In one scenario, the regime would end with a bang of terrible bloodshed, chaos, and reprisals. But if Iranians were coaxed into mobilizing a long-lasting general strike, the regime would end in a whimper.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
GOP Communications Arm In Action: Republican Senator Takes Up Fox News' ‘Enemies List' Attack On Obama
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) took to the Senate floor and read Sean Hannity's talking points into the congressional record: ALEXANDER: I want to make what I hope will be a friendly suggestion to President Obama and his White House, and it is this: don't create an enemies list.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Administration Said to Order Deep Cuts in Pay at Bailed-Out Companies
Responding to the growing furor over the paychecks of executives at companies that received billions of dollars in federal bailouts, the Obama administration will order the companies that received the most aid to deeply slash the compensation to their highest paid executives.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Israeli official: Deal imminent with U.S. on Mideast talks
Israeli officials have said Netanyahu offered Mitchell a freeze on settlement expansion outside of areas around Jerusalem that Israel has annexed that would last nine months. Washington has not commented publicly beyond repeating a desire for an end to settlement activity, as called for under a 2004 interim deal.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Ex-FBI Translator Claims Spying at DoD - Military Times
Firmly rooted in this espionage program in the 1990s, according to Edmonds' deposition, were two men who, with the election of George Bush as president in 2000, found themselves in the Pentagon: Douglas Feith, who would head the Office of Special Plans, and Richard Perle, who would become chairman of the Defense Advisory Board.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Obama Flexes Political Muscle
Obama reminded his supporters that it has only been nine months since he took office; he then forcefully defended his accomplishments, and called on those on the sidelines to stop rooting for failure and pick up a mop and help clean up the mess that he inherited.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
‘Appointing Blair as EU president will have consequences', warns Hague
In making the Conservatives' case against Mr Blair, Mr Hague said that while in Downing Street the former Prime Minister had consistently placed a higher priority on US interests than on those of Europe. Hague made clear that the move would have consequences for relations between Britain and Brussels. Diplomats said that there was a “clear mark of hostility”.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Israel push to change laws of war
(1 comments) Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed his government to draw up plans for a "world wide campaign" to lobby for changes in the international laws of war. "We need to keep punching a hole in this lie that is spreading with the help of the Goldstone report," Netanyahu said.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Karzai Agrees to Nov. 7 Runoff in Afghanistan
Under heavy international pressure, President Hamid Karzai conceded Tuesday that he fell short of a first-round victory in the nation's disputed presidential election, and agreed to hold a runoff election with his top challenger on Nov. 7.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Wall St. Giants Reluctant to Donate to Democrats
The Wall Street giants that received a financial lifeline from Washington may have no compunction about paying big bonuses to their dealmakers and traders. But their willingness to deliver “thank you” gifts to President Obama and the Democrats is another question altogether.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Bob Herbert -- Safety Nets for the Rich
We've spent the last few decades shoveling money at the rich like there was no tomorrow. We abandoned the poor, put an economic stranglehold on the middle class and all but bankrupted the federal government — while giving the banks and megacorporations and the rest of the swells at the top of the economic pyramid just about everything they've wanted.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
New York Times to cut 100 newsroom jobs
The New York Times (NYT.N) said on Monday it would cut 100 newsroom jobs through buyouts or layoffs as it tries to counter lost advertising revenue. This is the second time in little more than a year that the Times has sought to reduce its newsroom staff. In 2008, the newspaper cut 100 newsroom jobs.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Iran not to cede 'nuclear rights'
Several Western powers fear Iran's declared civilian nuclear energy programme is a front to produce fissile material for atomic bombs, an accusation that Tehran denies. It said on Monday it would not hesitate to produce higher enriched uranium on its territory if the talks in Vienna failed.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Biden to model solar finance plan on Berkeley's
Biden's program, known as Recovery Through Retrofit, creates a framework for cities, counties and states to set up tax districts that allow residential and business property owners to install solar panels and make other energy improvements, repaying the investment over a 20-year property tax assessment.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Defense Department Opposed Franken's Anti-Rape Amendment
"The DoD opposes the proposed amendment," reads a message sent from the administration to the Senate on October 6, the day the amendment passed by a 68-30 vote.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Mark Sanford ouster not on tap - Andy Barr
South Carolina's House of Representatives will convene briefly later this month, but GOP legislators and party sources say it's highly unlikely that the chamber will move forward with impeachment proceedings against scandal-plagued GOP Gov. Mark Sanford.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Hoyer: GOP abandoned focus in Afghanistan for seven years
(2 comments) Hoyer tore into Republicans — including House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) — for criticizing Obama's approach to a war Hoyer said Republicans “abandoned.”

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Israel-US settlements deal 'close'
after talks at the United Nations in September with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, Obama announced only that Israeli officials had "discussed important steps to restrain settlement activity" – far short of a total freeze on settlement construction pending fresh Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
War and politics in Afghanistan
Karzai seemed to succumb to palace fever and corruption. An unfortunate blend of ego and passivity hobbled him; he could neither manage the American presence in his country nor turn its failures to his advantage by remaking himself as a convincing nationalist.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
China mission to free hijacked ship
(1 comments) Monday's hijacking is the first successful capture of a Chinese ship since China deployed three warships to the area last year, joining an international flotilla of ships looking to combat escalating piracy in the Indian Ocean. The deployment was China's first ever naval combat mission outside of its home waters.

Monday, October 19, 2009
E.J. Dionne Jr. - Youth vote is critical for Democrats next year
Will the young and hopeful abandon the political playing field to older voters who are angry? That is the quiet crisis confronting President Obama and the Democrats. Left unattended, it could become a formidable obstacle for them in next year's midterm elections.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Paul Krugman -- The Banks Are Not Alright
(1 comments) Citigroup and Bank of America, which silenced talk of nationalization earlier this year by claiming that they had returned to profitability, are now — you guessed it — back to reporting losses.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Longer lines at New York food banks
The stereotype of only poor, homeless people using food kitchens is not true any more. last year's multi-billion dollar bank bailouts by the US government an "eye-opener" because it showed that when Washington is willing, help can come very quickly.

Monday, October 19, 2009
US warning on Afghan poll results
The US may not commit to sending more troops to Afghanistan until a "credible and legitimate" government is in place in the country, a top White House official has said. A ruling on the election had been expected on Saturday but Afghan officials said the two commissions looking into the allegations are deadlocked on what constitutes fraud.

Monday, October 19, 2009
National Journal -- Is Obama Tough Enough?
"Obama has created an atmosphere of no fear," says Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University and the author of several presidential biographies. "Nobody is really worried about the revenge of Barack Obama, because he is not a vengeful man. That's what we love about him -- he is so high-minded, and a conciliatory guy, and he tries to govern with a sense of consensus.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Bob Woodward and Gordon M. Goldstein -- Lessons on War From McNamara and Bundy
Throughout their interviews, McNamara and Bundy grappled with the extent to which senior officials should go public with their views. "There are limitations on what the secretary can say publicly," McNamara said, adding that if a top official comes forward with bad news, "you don't just tell your own people, you tell the enemy. You don't want the enemy being told senior officials believe the US is losing."

Monday, October 19, 2009
'Good start' for Iran nuclear talks
Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN atomic agency chief, has said talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna about Tehran's nuclear programme have started well. "Everyone at the table was making their points and listening to one another. It's too early to tell the outcome," the diplomat said.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Secret Talks Progress on Illegal Iranian Nuclear Plant
Obama personally weighed in three times during secret, multiparty negotiations with the Iranians over the last four months — in what has become not just a test of Iran's nuclear intentions but also a test of Obama's effort to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions through a combination of sanctions, threats and incentives.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Palin Is Distant Second in GOP Match-Ups with Huckabee, Romney
Huckabee's gains since July are matched almost precisely by Palin's decline. That suggests a large pool of voters are committed to choosing between two candidates routinely dismissed as unacceptable in the eyes of Republicans in Washington, DC.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Europeans find 32 new planets outside solar system
European astronomers have found 32 new planets outside our solar system, adding evidence to the theory that the universe has many places where life could develop. What astronomers said is especially exciting is that about 40 percent of sun-like stars have planets that are closer to being Earth-sized than the size of Jupiter. Jupiter's mass is more than 300 times that of Earth's.

Monday, October 19, 2009
UK Judges Order Release of Details About the Torture of Binyam Mohamed by US Agents
In a remarkable ruling, the judges roundly condemned the British government for sending an agent to Pakistan to interview Mohamed in May 2002, when he was being held incommunicado (which was illegal), and for providing and receiving intelligence about him for at least eight months after his disappearance from Pakistan.

Monday, October 19, 2009
Jonathan Turley -- Just say no to blasphemy laws
While attracting surprisingly little attention, the Obama administration supported the effort of largely Muslim nations in the U.N. Human Rights Council to recognize exceptions to free speech for any "negative racial and religious stereotyping."

Monday, October 19, 2009
U.S. arrests ex-NASA scientist over bid to spy for Israel
A former scientist at the United States' space agency has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for Israel. The suspect, Stewart David Nozette, is a Maryland scientist who once worked in varying capacities for the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sheriff: Charges will be filed in balloon saga
Suspicion that the balloon saga was a hoax arose almost immediately after Falcon was found hiding in a cardboard box. Heene, a storm chaser and inventor whose family has appeared on the reality show "Wife Swap," and his wife had said one of the boy's older brothers had said Falcon was aboard the homemade balloon when it took off.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Military Seeks $1.3 Billion for Construction Projects in Afghanistan
While the Obama administration weighs whether to send additional troops to Afghanistan, the U.S. military is spending billions of dollars on construction projects to ensure the country's infrastructure can support American and coalition personnel in 2010 and years beyond.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
'Brick Wall' Feared in Afghan Election
Karzai maintains he won the election, and some officials don't think he'll make concessions. One question is whether Karzai's intransigence is a negotiating tactic aimed at a better bargaining position or whether he intends to derail the process by rejecting the complaints commission's work.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Pakistan's Double Game
The core challenge to President Barack Obama's Afghan War may not be the Taliban, nor even al-Qaeda, but rather Pakistan's shadowy intelligence service, the ISI, with its dual loyalties when it comes to fighting Islamic extremists.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
US' Kerry: decide Afghan vote before adding troops
Kerry rejected the idea that Obama's weeks of deliberations over a strategy conveyed weakness or indecision. He said it was important to give the US military a mission that was achievable and that they American people could stay committed to.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Scandals, but No Censure; Congress Struggles to Police Members
Each party is still trying to attack the other as being soft on misconduct by members of Congress. With at least 10 of its own members facing ethics investigations, the Democrats appear to have the most to lose, especially since they have taken the lead in pushing for tougher ethics rules.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
US-Iran: Congress Begins Pressing Sanctions Legislation
While the administration has not endorsed any of the unilateral measures pending before Congress, it has been consulting intensively in recent weeks with its western allies and other powers about what kinds of multilateral sanctions would be most effective if talks broke down.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Mr. Stewart comes to Washington - Patrick Gavin
Stewart: "Republicans love their country, they just hate 50% of the people in it. Now, Democrats love their country, they just wish it were a different country...Republicans love their country, they just hate 50% of the people in it. Now, Democrats love their country, they just wish it were a different country."

Sunday, October 18, 2009
James Bamford -- Who's in Big Brother's Database?
Based on the NSA's history of often being on the wrong end of a surprise and a tendency to mistakenly get the country into, rather than out of, wars, it seems to have a rather disastrous cost-benefit ratio. Were it a corporation, it would likely have gone belly-up years ago.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Iran vows response to suicide blast
Iran has promised a swift and crushing response to a suicide attack in the country's Sistan-Baluchestan province that killed at least 35 people, including 11 Revolutionary Guards commanders.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Netanyahu vows to fight UN report
Israel's prime minister has vowed a long-term battle to "delegitimise" United Nations charges that his country committed war crimes during its offensive on Hamas in Gaza at the start of the year.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Media Distortion: Killing Innocent Afghan Civilians to "Save Our Troops"
Let's face it: Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and their supporters do not represent the 20 million people of Afghanistan. Misrepresentation of facts to the masses, naive assessments, and faulty research by the media and scholars have incited the world against Afghans by dehumanizing them. This is what Edward Said calls "Orientalism."

Sunday, October 18, 2009
War Next Door Creates Havoc in Pakistan
The US wants to build a mammoth new embassy for 1,000 personnel. Personnel are needed to monitor the $7.5 billion in aid so mercenaries are being brought in to protect US "interests." Most aid will go into the pockets of the pro-western ruling establishment. US is also demanding veto power over promotions in Pakistan's armed forces and intelligence agency, ISI. This crude attempt to take control has enraged the armed forces.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Finance Minister: UN backing of Goldstone report is 'anti-Semitic'
(2 comments) "This is an anti-Semitic attempt to decide that what is allowed for the United States in Afghanistan, Russia in Chechnya and Turkey in north Iraq isn't allowed for Israel, a state that is trying to defend itself from the Gaza Strip," Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Army Radio on Sunday.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Israel to rely on US veto
"Israel's only real crime is that it does not enjoy an automatic majority in the UN," Netanyahu said. But any action by the Security Council is considered unlikely, as the US has indicated that it will use its veto over the Security Council agenda to block discussion of the report.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Scientists object to federal order on pesticide testing
The OMB directive requires the Environmental Protection Agency to accept "to the greatest extent possible" existing toxicity data on pesticides in lieu of conducting new tests on the 67 chemicals selected for investigation. The order has angered some scientists, who contend that it would allow the pesticide makers to selectively submit outdated studies that show the pesticides are safe.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Rescue scams trap ever more desperate homeowners
Rescue scams are costing homeowners money and wasting valuable months when they could be talking to their lenders about saving their homes -- delays that can cause unnecessary foreclosures and prolong the U.S. housing crisis.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Exclusive: I Helped Richard Heene Plan a Balloon Hoax - Boy in the balloon
For the first time, 25-year-old researcher Robert Thomas reveals to Gawker how earlier this year he and Richard Heene drew up a master plan to generate a massive media controversy using a weather balloon. To get famous, of course.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Aid Fueled Latest Surge on Wall Street
Steps that policy makers took last year to stabilize the financial system — reducing interest rates to near zero, bolstering big banks with taxpayer money, guaranteeing billions of dollars of financial institutions' debts — helped set the stage for this new era of Wall Street wealth.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
In Mexican Drug War, Fear Compounds Law Enforcers' Troubles
The hit men moved in on their target, shot him dead and then disappeared in a matter of seconds. It would have been a perfect case for José Ibarra Limón, one of this violent border city's most dogged crime investigators — had he not been the victim.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
CHARLES M. BLOW - Impatiently Waiting
When, Mr. President? When will your deeds catch up to your words? The people who worked tirelessly to get you elected are getting tired of waiting. The fierce urgency of now has melted into the maddening wait for whenever.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Sharpton pondering lawsuit against Limbaugh
(2 comments) Al Sharpton is reportedly preparing to file a lawsuit against Rush Limbaugh, who Sharpton charged on Saturday had inaccurately portrayed his role in a famous 1991 New York riot. Sharpton said Saturday he would proceed with his lawsuit -- unless Limbaugh corrects the record and apologizes.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
'Delegitimization of Israel must be delegitimized'
(3 comments) "Israel believes," the Foreign Minister said in a released statement, "that the decision harms efforts to protect human rights in accordance with international law and hinders efforts to promote the peace process as well as encouraging terror organizations around the world."

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Investigators Find Flaws in Army Body Armor Tests
(1 comments) The GAO report says the Army strayed from established testing standards and concludes several of the designs that passed would have failed had the tests been done properly. DOD rejects the call for an outside look. They acknowledge a few problems occurred during testing. But these were minor miscues, they said, that don't shake their confidence in the overall results.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
IRAQ: U.S. Diplomatic Adviser's Troubling Role in Oil Politics
In 2003, US diplomatist Peter Galbraith quietly resigned. In June 2004, more quietly, Galbraith established a small, US-registered company, Porcupine, that held a five percent stake in a newly exploited oilfield in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Russia still has concerns over US missile system
In remarks published on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin still has some serious doubts over Washington's missile program, regardless of the Obama administration's decision to shelve Bush-era plans to deploy an anti-missile system in Europe.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Obama threatens 'deceptive' insurance industry
“The insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo,” Obama said. "But what I will not abide are those who would bend the truth — or break it — to score political points and stop our progress as a country."

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Elbaradei calls for direct Iran-US nuclear talks
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called on Iran and the United States to hold direct nuclear talks without any preconditions. The IAEA has so far made "25 unannounced inspections" of the country's nuclear facilities and has published over 20 reports -- all of which confirm the non-diversion of Iran's uranium enrichment so far.

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Charges expected in Colorado balloon case
Authorities in Colorado say criminal charges are expected to be filed against Richard Heene, a storm-chasing father whose giant Mylar balloon ascended into the sky earlier this week, sparking fears that his 6-year-old was aboard.

Friday, October 16, 2009
UN likely to endorse Goldstone Gaza report, despite Israeli efforts
(2 comments) The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to endorse on Friday the Goldstone Report on Operation Lead Cast and its recommendations, despite the diplomatic efforts undertaken by Israel and the United States in recent days.

Friday, October 16, 2009
A Mother, a Sick Son and His Father, the Priest
The relationship between Ms. Bond and the priest is hardly unique. While the recent scandals involving the Roman Catholic Church have focused on the sexual abuse of children, experts say that incidences of priests who have violated sexual and emotional boundaries with adult women are far more common.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Paul Krugman: A Hatchet Job So Bad It's Good
Once again, Republicans have tried to kill reform with smears and scare stories. But all they seem to have killed with their cries of “socialism” and warnings about “death panels” is their own credibility. Some form of health-care reform is highly likely to pass.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Gen. McChrystal's Credibility Problem
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the man chosen to lead the war in Afghanistan, also helped cover up the friendly-fire death of NFL player turned soldier Pat Tillman. He administered a fraudulent medal recommendation to keep the public in the dark. So why isn't anybody talking about it?

Friday, October 16, 2009
Photos of Military Deaths in Afghanistan Banned
The U.S. military in eastern Afghanistan recently changed its media embed rules to ban pictures of troops killed in the war. “Media will not be allowed to photograph or record video of U.S. personnel killed in action,” says a ground rules document issued Sept. 15 by Regional Command East at Bagram Air Field.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Afghanistan prepares for second election
Mr Karzai has passionately rejected charges of widespread irregularities, testing the patience of Western nations that were his key backers after the US-led military operation in 2001 that ousted the extremist Taliban. European Union observers said that a quarter of all votes, or 1.5 million ballots, were suspect.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Hightower: Obama, Time to Work on Creating Jobs for Hardworking Americans
Obama has talked often about the need for more jobs. But he's put little presidential heft into creating them, instead focusing most on extending unemployment benefits to assuage some of the pain of being jobless.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Dr. Frankenstein of Fox News Creates Another Right-Wing Monster
What's next for Fox Business? Well, according to recent reports, CNN's immigrant-bashing conspiracy theorist Lou Dobbs met with Ailes over dinner last month. Could Dobbs be taking his loony quest for President Obama's already-available birth certificate to Fox Business?

Friday, October 16, 2009
In Saying No, G.O.P. Sees More Pros Than Cons
“I just don't think that there's a downside to voting no — I really don't,” said Vin Weber, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota. “That's quite aside from whether you should or shouldn't, or whether the country needs it or doesn't need it. The basic rule is you rarely pay a price at the polls for being against something.”

Friday, October 16, 2009
Roger Cohen -- An Ordinary Israel
Israel is a small country whose neighbors are enemies or cold bystanders. But I worry when Israel makes a fetish of its exceptional status. It needs to deal with the world as it is, however discomfiting, not the world of yesterday.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Florida's outspoken Rep. Grayson draws GOP challenger
Armando Gutierrez Jr., son of one of Miami's best-known political consultants and a member of local civic boards, says he's the right person to take on Rep. Alan Grayson, who likes to call Republicans "knuckle-dragging Neanderthals" and has become one of the party's top targets in 2010.

Friday, October 16, 2009
'Low-risk' Afghan option calls for troop levels U.S. may not have
One official said the current Army counterinsurgency manual estimates that an all-out COIN campaign in a country with Afghanistan's population would require about 600,000 troops.

Friday, October 16, 2009
US loses 4 more troops in Afghanistan
Amid rising number of fatalities for foreign forces in Afghanistan, roadside bombs and accidents have left four more US soldiers dead across the conflict-torn country.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Netanyahu infuriated over Turkish TV series
Turkey's public TRT 1 broadcaster aired on Tuesday the first episode of the series called "Separation: Palestine in Love and in War". It portrayed Israeli forces regularly shooting innocent Palestinian civilians, insulting and ridiculing them. The drama's political consultant defended the work, saying “Israel is not traumatized while committing such actions; but is traumatized while watching them.”

Friday, October 16, 2009
William R. Polk -- An Open Letter to President Obama
We were told we could achieve victory in Vietnam by the same combination of force and counterinsurgency recommended by your advisers in Afghanistan. What actually brought all the insurgencies, including the one in Vietnam, to a halt was the withdrawal of the foreigners.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Middle East peace plan threatened after UN passes Gaza war crimes report
(1 comments) The UN Human Rights Council today voted to endorse a Gaza war crimes report despite Israel's threats to pull out of the Middle East peace talks in retaliation. It passed with 25 votes for, 6 against and 11 absentions. Britain, France, Madagascar, Kyrgyzstan and Angola were the only countries that refused to register a vote.

Friday, October 16, 2009
Veteran Army Officer Urges Afghan Troop Drawdown
A veteran Army officer who has served in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars warns in an analysis now circulating in Washington that the counterinsurgency strategy urged by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is likely to strengthen the Afghan insurgency, and calls for withdrawal of the bulk of U.S. combat forces from the country over 18 months.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Stagnant Prices Prevent Social Security Increase
Obama on Wednesday attempted to preempt the announcement that Social Security recipients will not get an increase in their benefit checks for the first time in three decades, encouraging Congress to provide a one-time payment of $250 to help seniors and disabled Americans weather the recession.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Ramzy Baroud -- Abbas and the Goldstone Report: Our Shame is Complete
The Goldstone report is the most comprehensive, and transparent investigation as of yet into what happened in Gaza during the 23-day war. It decried Israeli terror, and chastised Palestinians as well. But the focus on Israel undoubtedly and deservingly occupied much of the nearly 600-page report.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Hamas wants changes to Egypt's reconciliation plan
The Egyptian proposal has failed to address some key issues in the dispute - most importantly whether a unified Palestinian government would accept international demands to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Right-Wing Fringe: A Hard Base to Please
It's worth taking a moment to acknowledge Lindsey Graham's voting record here. The right is livid about his vote to confirm Sotomayor and his support for reforming U.S. energy policy, among other things. But given the apoplexy, one might think Graham had suddenly moved to the center. He hasn't.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Stanley McChrystal's Long War - NYTimes Magazine
Success takes time, but how much time does Stanley McChrystal have? The war in Afghanistan is now in its ninth year. The Taliban, measured by the number of their attacks, are stronger than at any time since the Americans toppled their government at the end of 2001. American soldiers and Marines are dying at a faster rate than ever before. Polls in the United States show that opposition to the war is growing steadily.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Public Option Is Next Big Hurdle in Health Debate
One day after the Senate Finance Committee approved a measure without a “public option,” the question on Capitol Hill was how President Obama could reconcile the deep divisions within his party on the issue.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
U.S. Berated for Shielding Israel on Gaza Killings
Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, told IPS the Obama administration and Congressional leaders of both parties appear to be continuing the policy of the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush in ignoring and denouncing those who have the temerity to report violations of international humanitarian law by the United States or its allies.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
US lawmakers approve Iran sanctions bill
The US House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday to ramp up economic pressure on Tehran over its suspect nuclear program by punishing firms that do business in Iran's energy sector. The legislation does not directly impose sanctions on Iran, but shields states and local governments from lawsuits if they pull their money out of such businesses.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Chinese leader dashes hope for sanctions against Iran
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday that his country intends to strengthen its cooperation with Iran, an indication Beijing would oppose growing calls in the West for additional sanctions against the Islamic regime for its nuclear program.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
McChrystal's 40,000 Troop Hoax
McChrystal's request isn't about what's happening in Afghanistan right now. It's about how many troops the US will have in Afghanistan a year from now and beyond. There is no emergency requiring a quick decision by President Obama. The current situation in Afghanistan is being used as a bloody shirt to try to lock America into to an endless war.

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Lawmakers hear U.S. options in Afghanistan - Military Times
witnesses testifying before the House Armed Services Committee crossed the broad range of strategy options in Afghaistan. On one end, a full-on addition of troops and other resources. On the other, not expanding the US military effort because Americans would not be more threatened if Afghanistan once again became a safe haven for the al-Qaida terrorist group.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Congress Weighs Pakistan Concern on New U.S. Aid Bill
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is in Washington to convey concerns raised in his country that the U.S. would restrict Pakistan's sovereignty as a condition of the economic assistance. The bill would give Pakistan $7.5 billion over five years to build roads, schools, power facilities and other projects serving civilians.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Why Republicans Are in the Grip of an Apocalyptic Rapture Cult Centered on Revenge and Vindication
(1 comments) The momentum toward what amounts to a whole subculture seceding from the union (in order to await "The End") is irrevocably prying loose a chunk of the American population from both sanity and their fellow citizens.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Right Wing Wackjobs Are Trying to Resurrect Bush's Disgraceful Foreign Policy
The truth is, Cheney/Kristol had their day. They got to do exactly what they wanted to do -- torture, preemptive war, abandoning the rule of law, abandoning democratic norms, alienating allies, ignoring the concept of international cooperation -- and they failed anyway.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Think Progress -- Echoing Insurance Industry, Lieberman Says He Doesn't Support Baucus Bill
(1 comments) Lieberman's home state of Connecticut is home to many insurance companies, including Aetna. Over his career, Lieberman has accepted $2,395,369 in donations from the health sector and $1,033,402 from the insurance industry.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
At What Cost the Israel Lobby?
Following the Kennedy assassination in November 1963, Nicholas Katzenbach replaced RFK as Attorney General. Soon thereafter, the AZC evaded registration as it morphed into the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC now oversees a transnational network of pro-Israeli political operatives commonly known as “the Israel lobby.”

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Olympia Snowe is boss, Joe Lieberman plunges the dagger, Obama claims victory through retreat, the great liberal revolt
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who one year ago was slandering the Democratic nominee for president while supporting the Republican nominee, chooses this key moment to tell us he opposes even the weak Finance Committee healthcare bill.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler is leaving Congress to lead think tank
In a conference call Tuesday night with Democratic leaders, Wexler said he will become director of the Washington-based Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. Wexler, 48, is expected to make a public statement about his plans at a 10 a.m. Wednesday press conference at his Boca Raton office.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Hawks still link Taliban to al-Qaeda
United States national security officials, concerned that President Barack Obama might be abandoning the strategy of full-fledged counter-insurgency war in Afghanistan, are claiming new intelligence assessments suggesting that al-Qaeda would be allowed to return to Afghanistan in the event of a Taliban victory.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Obama Releases Suppressed Bush-EPA finding that global warming endangers US
The report, technically known as an "endangerment finding," was prepared in 2007 but the Bush White House refused to make it public because the administration opposed new government efforts to regulate the gases most scientists see as the major cause of global warming.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Rush Limbaugh to be out of bid for St Louis Rams - ESPN
Rush Limbaugh is expected to be dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to three NFL sources.A Limbaugh spokesman told ESPN that Limbaugh would have no comment on Wedneday. Earlier, on his syndicated radio show, Limbaugh was defiant, holding on to hope that he still could be part of the ownership group that buys the Rams.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Maureen Dowd -- Daisy Chain of Cheneys
The blonde 43-year-old lawyer, a mother of five hailed by her fans as “a red state rock star,” teamed up this week with Bill Kristol to start a new group called “Keep America Safe.” Kristol, of course, was the chief proponent of the wacky notion that Dan Quayle, and later Sarah Palin, could Keep America Safe, which somewhat undermines the urgency and gravity of the group's moniker.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Amid Iran talks, Putin warns against intimidation
Under the proposed deal, which is being reviewed by Iran's nuclear officials, the country will buy high-enriched uranium for a research reactor, producing radio-isotopes for medicinal use, in exchange for its low-enriched uranium. The deal has shattered Israeli efforts to portray Iran as a regime hell-bent on an imminent nuclear war.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Israel: No peace talks unless UNHRC drops Gaza report
(1 comments) A day before the UN Human Rights Council convenes to debate on a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza, Tel Aviv threatens to scrap peace talks with Palestinians unless the damning report is dropped.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Dozens of 12th graders tell Netanyahu: We refuse to serve in IDF
Dozens of graduating high school seniors signed a letter on Monday declaring their refusal to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. They said they intend to refuse military conscription and that they are ready to serve time in military prison.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Fatah memo: We lost hope in Obama for caving to Zionist pressure
"All hopes placed in the new U.S. administration and President Obama have evaporated," the document said. "Obama couldn't withstand the pressure of the Zionist lobby, which led to a retreat from his previous positions on halting settlement construction and defining an agenda for the negotiations and peace."

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
The audacity of greed: how private health insurers just blew their cover
Now you've demonstrated your greed to the American people. They don't want to turn over even more of their hard-earned money to you. So, insurance companies, we've got news for you. We're going to make sure Americans have the freedom to choose a public insurance option that's cheaper and better, and you're going to have to work hard to keep them your customers.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Liz Cheney's group 'Keep America Safe' takes on 'radical' White House - Ben Smith
(2 comments) Former Vice President Dick Cheney's eldest daughter Liz will launch a new group aimed at rallying opposition to the “radical” foreign policy of the Obama administration which it says has succeeded only in undermining the nation's security.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
UN agrees to 'Goldstone session'
The news of the UN special session comes a day after Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, lashed out against the Goldstone report, which criticises Israel for deliberately targeting civilians during its war on Gaza earlier this year.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Russia Resists U.S. Position on Sanctions for Iran
Enlisting Russia is critical for any sanctions campaign because of its geopolitical links to Iran. Russia's refusal to act now may influence China, which has invested heavily in Iranian oil and gas reserves and has also been wary of sanctions. That Mr. Putin was in Beijing cutting deals while Mrs. Clinton was in Moscow warning about Iran was not lost on analysts here.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Nobel Jury Speaks Out in Defense of Obama Peace Prize
In a rare public defense of a process normally shrouded in secrecy, four of the Nobel jury's five judges spoke out Tuesday about a selection they said was both merited and unanimous. World leaders have reacted positively to Obama's Nobel in most cases, the committee said, with much of the criticism coming from the media and Obama's political rivals.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Israel planning wave of Jerusalem house demolitions
Israeli authorities are planning to demolish 150 Palestinian houses, home to about 1,000 people in East Jerusalem. The group of houses under threat does not include another 125 houses and apartments whose owners were given demolition orders in the neighborhoods of Al-Bustan, Al-Abbasiyya, and Wadi Hilwa.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Honduran abuses rampant after coup: rights groups
Suspicious deaths. Beatings. Random police shootings. Life under the de facto government of Honduras at times feels uncannily like Latin America's dark past of military rule.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
VIDEO: Even Hitler is disappointed in Obama
How low can Republicans go? Watch this video and you will see. Using the social networking Web site Twitter, the NRCC posted a link to a video, with the message "Funny Video: Moonbattery: Hitler Reacts to ObamaCare Maneuvers." Sick.

Monday, October 12, 2009
White House: Fox News 'a wing of the Republican Party'
The Obama administration declared Fox News - and its owner, reporters and commentators - shills for the President's Republican opponents Sunday.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Palin a 'Formidable Force,' McCain Says
(1 comments) John McCain says he is still very fond of the former Alaska governor, whom he chose as his running mate for the Republican ticket in 2008. He said that there is a strong field of Republicans considering the 2012 presidential race and that "Sarah is one of them."

Monday, October 12, 2009
U.S. and U.K. Say 'Special Relationship' Is Still Going Strong - washingtonpost.com
"It's a special relationship," Clinton said before meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday. "I have a special personal relationship with the prime minister. And of course, I think it can't be said often enough, we have a special relationship between our countries."

Monday, October 12, 2009
Pelosi Key to GOP 2010 Playbook
The Republicans are issuing a stream of statements mocking the speaker as "General Pelosi" or as an unethical puppet-master. They are stepping up attacks on Pelosi, deciding that a major part of their 2010 electoral strategy will be linking Democratic candidates to her.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Critics of “holy Israel” targeted by Christian Zionists
Another comedian. Military blockade, economic strangulation, wholesale land and water theft, racial subjugation, demolition of homes, war on civilians, etc, etc. Is he saying this is what passes for morality in the Zionist world?

Monday, October 12, 2009
Where to Get Flu Shot Is Big Worry of Season
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has embarked on an extensive immunization drive, and, by later in the flu season, there will be enough vaccine for the general population. But, to date, the 50 states have received only part of the available stock based on their populations. At the moment, demand is far outstripping supply — and patience.

Monday, October 12, 2009
A Volley Between Fox News and Obama Administration
(2 comments) Fox continues to aggressively bolster its on-air talent, most recently with the hiring of John Stossel, the libertarian investigative journalist from ABC News, for its spin-off channel, Fox Business. The business channel is also keen on another administration critic, Lou Dobbs, who met for dinner with Mr. Ailes last month.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Paul Krugman - Misguided Monetary Mentalities
America isn't about to go back on the gold standard. But a modern version of the gold standard mentality is nonetheless exerting a growing influence on our economic discourse. And this new version of a bad old idea could undermine our chances for full recovery.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Nothing to Fear but the Flu Itself
Distributing this vaccine to those who need it most — pregnant women, health care workers, children older than six months and people with compromised immunity — will be difficult enough. But the task is made harder by the various myths, spread on TV talk shows and Web sites, suggesting that Americans have more to fear from the vaccine than from the deadly disease it prevents.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Afghanistan - the proxy war
Implementing the McChrystal plan will perpetuate the longstanding fundamentals of US national security policy: maintaining a global military presence, configuring US forces for global power projection, and employing those forces to intervene on a global basis.

Monday, October 12, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: Pakistanis say U.S. hoards intelligence
Despite growing success targeting militants in Pakistan's northwest, the U.S. is refusing to share intelligence with Pakistan about al Qaeda and Afghan Taliban leaders thought to be hiding in the southwest province of Baluchistan, three senior Pakistani officials say.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Netanyahu vows never to let Israelis be tried for war crimes
Netanyahu angrily noted the report's portrayal of Israeli leaders as war criminals during his address on Monday. "The truth is exactly the opposite," he said. "Israel's leaders and its army are those who defended the citizens of Israel from war criminals."

Monday, October 12, 2009
Journalist vows to follow up on 'Israel organ theft'
Six weeks after he caused a political storm over his article on alleged Israeli organ thefts, the Swedish journalist behind the controversy says he will not quit the story despite receiving hundreds of death threats.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Three heroes of 9/11 die of cancer in five days
A firefighter and two cops who worked at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after Sept. 11 have died of cancer in the past five days.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Tea partiers turn on GOP leadership - Alex Isenstadt
While the energy of the anti-tax and anti-Big Government tea party movement may yet haunt Democrats in 2010, the first order of business appears to be remaking the Republican Party.

Monday, October 12, 2009
What lies beneath the war in Afghanistan | Eric Margolis
Truth is war's first casualty. The Afghan war's biggest untruth is, "we've got to fight terrorists over there so we don't have to fight them at home." Many North Americans still buy this lie because they believe the 9/11 attacks came directly from the Afghanistan-based al-Qaida and Taliban movements.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Republican Senate Sex Scandals Point Back to Secretive Conservative Christian "Family"
The Family is a “brotherhood” comprised mostly of politicians such as Senator Jim Inhofe, Senator Tom Coburn, Senator Sam Brownback, Senator Jim DeMint, and, now infamously, Senator John Ensign, Governor Mark Sanford, and former congressman Chip Pickering, all of whom turned to The Family to help cover up sex scandals this past summer.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Obama Risks Violence Unless He Pushes Mideast Peace, Turki Says
President Barack Obama risks triggering violence unless he follows through on his promises to promote Middle East peace, according to Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi ambassador to the U.S.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Steep Losses Pose Crisis for Pensions
The upheaval on Wall Street has deluged public pension systems with losses that government officials and consultants increasingly say are insurmountable unless pension managers fundamentally rethink how they pay out benefits or make money or both.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Obama Again Pledges to Change Policy on Gays
Obama restated his campaign pledge to allow homosexual men and women to serve openly in the military, but many in his audience of gay activists were left wondering when he would make good on the promise. "I appreciate that many of you don't believe progress has come fast enough," Obama said. "Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach."

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Obama Wanted a Petraeus. Buyer Beware
These days, the last thing that the White House and the Pentagon brass want is a general who can bypass the chain of command; a general who speaks directly to the president; a general who emerges as the dominant American voice on the war. The last thing they want, in other words, is another Petraeus.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Health-Care Bill May Not Get Single GOP Vote in the House
(1 comments) The House is inching closer to voting on a comprehensive health-care bill, even as the chamber appears so divided that the measure may not attract a single Republican supporter. Even the most moderate Republicans, who might be inclined to vote with Democrats on big-ticket legislation, say they don't expect to do so on health care.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Lobbyists Fight Last Big Plans to Cut Health Care Costs
(1 comments) the last two initiatives with real bite that are still in contention — a scaled-back “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health plans and a nonpartisan Medicare budget-cutting commission — are under furious assault. “The lobbyists are winning,” said Representative Jim Cooper, a conservative Tennessee Democrat who teaches health policy.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Frank Rich: Two Wrongs Make Another Fiasco
(1 comments) Wrong-Way McCain still presumes to give America its marching orders. With his Senate brethren in the Three Amigos, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, he took to The Wall Street Journal's op-ed page to assert that “we have no choice” but to go all-in on Afghanistan — rightly or wrongly, presumably — just as we had in Iraq.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Israeli's bid to buy Al-Jazeera from Qatar
The Israeli-American magnate has supposedly made an offer of $5 billion for the popular Arabic-language news channel, in an attempt to get a hold of it and to broadcast a pro-Israeli message so as to influence the Arab opinion in favor of Tel Aviv's hawkish regime.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Off the Charts - The Divided States of Health Care Coverage
Those who lack health insurance now are far more likely to live in states that usually vote Republican — the states whose senators and representatives are least likely to support a law to extend coverage.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Congress set to keep abuse photos hidden
Congress is set to allow the Pentagon to keep new pictures of foreign detainees abused by their U.S. captors from the public, a move intended to end a legal fight over the photographs' release that has reached the Supreme Court.

Sunday, October 11, 2009
Graham moves to block Obama from trying 9/11 suspects in U.S.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is trying to prevent the Obama administration from holding criminal trials in civilian courts for the alleged Sept. 11 plotters instead of bringing them before military commissions.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Marge Simpson makes cover of Playboy
"D'oh!" doesn't even start to cover it. Marge Simpson -- the blue beehived matriarch of America's most loved dysfunctional family - is Playboy magazine's November cover.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
US builds “coalition of like-minded nations” against Iran
n reality, the US is using Iran's nuclear programs as a convenient pretext for pursuing efforts to fashion a regime in Tehran more amenable to American economic and strategic ambitions in the region. The constant aggravation of tensions in the Persian Gulf only serves US interests, by cutting across the existing economic relations of its rivals with Iran.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Not The Bible - The Ultimate and Eternal Parody
Time to snatch back the Good Book, from those who spend their worthless doing things like feeding the hungry, healing the sick, paying laborers a fair wage and casting money-lenders interior exterior darkness. You know -- stuff Christ might have done.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Fire McChrystal and Get Out of Afghanistan: The Independent Institute
The founders of the United States realized that the principle of civilian control over the military was crucial to the survival of a republican form of government. Yet, President Obama is letting Gen. McChrystal publicly undermine his freedom of action on whether to pour more US troops into the Afghan tar pit.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Eight Years of Big Lies on Afghanistan by James Bovard
For 8 years, the American people have been fed one big lie after another regarding Afghanistan. Now, when the Pentagon is saber-rattling to vastly increase the number of U.S. troops sent there, a refresher course on the Biggest Lies is in order.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Civilian Contractor Toll in Iraq and Afghanistan Ignored by Defense Dept.
As the war in Afghanistan entered its ninth year, the Labor Department recently released new figures [1] for the number of civilian contract workers who have died in war zones since 9/11. Although acknowledged as incomplete, the figures show that at least 1,688 civilians have died and more than 37,000 have reported injuries while working for U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
Abbas must go
Mahmoud Abbas's decision to defer the adoption of the Goldstone report was more than an innocent diplomatic error or classical example of political misjudgment. Undermining national interests, even unknowingly, in order to appease Israel and please the Obama administration goes beyond the pale of what is politically allowable and morally acceptable.

Saturday, October 10, 2009
9/11 AND A GENERATION DECEIVED : Veterans Today
We make it easy for them. Lying to us is nothing. Our own government is a pack of philandering cheats, phony attacks, lying about wars, never a word of truth we can depend on. No matter what kind of outlandish thing they do, some "commission" covers it up. We don't need any of their blue ribbon commissions, we need a good divorce lawyer.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Paul Krugman: The Uneducated American
America, which used to take the lead in educating its young, has been gradually falling behind other advanced countries. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that's slightly below the average across all advanced economies.

Friday, October 9, 2009
U.S. Blocks Oil Drilling at 60 Sites in Utah
There was a “headlong rush” at the end of the Bush administration to lease the sites, without proper attention to environmental and aesthetic concerns. Some of the parcels are near Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Dinosaur National Monument.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Urgent lawsuit filed against FDA to halt swine flu vaccines; claims FDA violated federal law by Mike Adams the Health Ra
The FDA has produced absolutely no scientific evidence documenting safety tests for any of these swine flu vaccines. There are no published studies, no records of any clinical trials, and no publicly-available paper trail demonstrating that any safety testing was done whatsoever.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Nasa probes crash into Moon
Pictures of the impact did not capture any signs of a flash as hoped, but scientists said they were confident that the explosive hit took place as planned.

Friday, October 9, 2009
'U.S. furious over Israeli incitement against Obama'
A source just back from Washington told Haaretz he was stunned by the level of anger there over attempts to portray Obama to the American public as an enemy of Israel because of his efforts to restart peace talks and freeze settlement construction. "There are people here who are playing with fire by damaging our relationship with the U.S.," the source said.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Police stop more than 1 million people on street
A teenager trying to get into his apartment after school is confronted by police. A man leaving his workplace chooses a different route back home to avoid officers who roam a particular street. These and hundreds of thousands of other Americans in big cities have been stopped by police using a practice called stop-and-frisk that alarms civil libertarians but is credited by authorities with helping to reduce crime.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Black NFL players crush prospect of playing for a Rush Limbaugh-owned St. Louis Rams
Mathias Kiwanuka loves his former defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, but the Giants' defensive end says he will never play for Spagnuolo's Rams if Rush Limbaugh purchases the team.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Afghanistan Commander McChrystal's Washington Trip Delayed
The White House has told the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan to delay a planned trip here Friday to brief President Obama and his senior advisers on his recommendation for a major troop increase.

Friday, October 9, 2009
US: Taliban has grown fourfold
Should Obama decide to send more troops, they would join a US military force that is already scheduled to reach 68,000 personnel by the end of the year. There are also about 39,000 troops serving in Afghanistan under Nato.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Limbaugh: 'Greater embarrassment' than losing Olympics
"This fully exposes the illusion that is Barack Obama," Limbaugh told POLITICO in an e-mail. "And with this 'award' the elites of the world are urging Obama, THE MAN OF PEACE, to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States."

Friday, October 9, 2009
Monsanto a Focus of US Antitrust Investigation - ABC News
At issue is how the world's largest seed company sells and licenses its patented genes. Monsanto has licensing agreements with seed companies that let those companies insert Monsanto genes into about 96 percent of U.S. soybean crops and 80 percent of all corn crops.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist - Let Congress Go Without Insurance
It may be the lulling effect of having very fine health insurance leaves members of Congress insensitive to the dysfunction of our existing insurance system. So, if Congress fails to pass comprehensive health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in proportion with the American population that is uninsured.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Americans cutting back on health care to save money
Many Americans have been putting off doctors' visits, forgoing medical tests and taking expired medications to save money over the past year.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
A year later, public still waits for requested Palin e-mails
Public records requests made more than a year ago for Sarah Palin's e-mails still haven't been filled by the state, and the Alaska Democratic Party chairwoman alleges it's an attempt to bury the past. Public records in Alaska are generally supposed to be provided within 10 days.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Is the U.S. Preparing to bomb Iran?
Is the US stepping up preparations for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear facilities? The Pentagon had asked Congress for $88 million to develop a gargantuan bunker-busting bomb. The request was quietly approved. On Friday, McDonnell Douglas was awarded a $51.9 million contract to provide "Massive Penetrator Ordnance Integration" on B-2 aircraft.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Mystery over missing Iran scientist
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of an Iranian scientist, said to be involved in Tehran's nuclear programme, has deepened with speculation that he may have defected to the US.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Republican Gomorrah: The Shattered GOP, Taken Over by Authoritarian Radicals, Is Incapable of Compromise
(1 comments) Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah, argues the right is incapable of anything but scorched-earth politics, and are trying to delegitimize the Obama presidency.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Mary Cheney Starts Her Own Consulting Firm - washingtonpost.com
Mary Cheney, the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney and the sister of go-to Obama critic Liz Cheney, is leaving the political consulting firm Navigators Global to start her own consulting company. "She is going to be starting a firm with her dad and sister," said one friend of Mary's, with whom she has shared her plans.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan: Corporate Communists Control (Own) The Economic & Political Structure Of America
(2 comments) The massive spike in unemployment, the utter destruction of retirement wealth, the collapse in the value of our homes, the worst recession since the Great Depression have all resulted directly from the abdication of proper government. America spent countless lives and half a century fighting against this system of government. So why are we standing for it now?

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Leader Ousted, Honduras Hires U.S. Lobbyists
Costing at least $400,000 so far, according to lobbying registration records, the campaign has involved law firms and public relations agencies with close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John McCain, a leading Republican voice on foreign affairs.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Pakistanis Balk at U.S. Aid Package
Although President Obama has praised the $7.5 billion, five-year aid program -- approved by Congress last week -- Pakistani officials have objected to provisions that require U.S. monitoring of everything from how they spend the money to the way the military promotes senior officers.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Ex-Staffers Winning Defense Panel Pork, Study Finds
The Center for Public Integrity found that 10 of the 16 members of the House subcommittee on defense appropriations obtained 30 earmarks in the bill worth $103 million for contractors currently or recently employing former staffers who have become lobbyists.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
A Conversation With A Rabid Right Winger
Many conservatives wear their ignorance proudly on their sleeves, for all the world to see. It is utterly impossible to discuss the issues of the day in rational and logical terms with a person so ignorant he would deny reality itself to further his pointless argument.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Palestinians U-turn on Gaza report
The Palestinian Authority appears to be attempting an about turn on endorsing the Goldstone report that criticises Israel's conduct in its war on Gaza.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity And Genocide In Iraq
(1 comments) Yesterday, ahead of the change of law, a legal case was filed at the Audiencia Nacional against four United States presidents and four United Kingdom prime ministers for commissioning, condoning and/or perpetuating multiple war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Iraq.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains
(1 comments) American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Settler leader: Obama, keep your hands off Israel
(1 comments) Some 3,000 members of Likud, as well as thousands of right-wing supporters gathered on Wednesday to voice their support for further construction in the settlements. Samaria Regional Council leader Gershon Mesika, sent a direct message to the President Barack Obama in his address to the demonstration: "Keep your hands off of Israel," he said. "It is outside of your jurisdiction."

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Israeli's bid to buy Al-Jazeera from Qatar
the Israeli billionaire Haim Saban is currently engaged in negotiations with Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, over the partial purchase of the media outlet.

Thursday, October 8, 2009
Japan threatens to kick out US troops
Around 50,000 American troops are based in Japan, around two-thirds of the total are in Okinawa. Resentment against their presence has grown in recent years due to a series of crimes committed by service personnel.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
A War of Absurdity
The general's report aims not at eliminating al-Qaida, which he concedes is barely existent in the country, but rather at creating an Afghan society that is more to his own liking. In the end, it would seem that some of our leaders need the Afghanistan battleground more than the terrorists do.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Obama rules out smaller Afghan war
Harry Reid, the Democratic senate majority leader, said Democrats and Republicans told Obama during the meeting that they would rally behind him whatever decision he made. But Mitch McConnell, the senior Republican in the senate, said: "I think Republicans will be able to make the decisions for themselves."

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Berlusconi lawyers use ‘Animal Farm' defence in plea to keep him above law
A senior panel of judges are considering whether to uphold the law passed by Mr Berlusconi, as one of his first acts of government, that exempted him from criminal prosecution.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Obama's Email Problem
Among the plaintiffs' biggest gripes is that the Obama team is using the Bush administration's strategy—a flawed one, the groups say—to resurrect the missing emails. The Bush and Obama administrations have already spent at least $9.4 million on this effort—$4.2 million more than was originally appropriated.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Pakistan's trust deficit
Pakistan's strategic thinkers who scan the Afghan horizon cannot find a silver lining. No one believes the United States and its NATO allies will muster the political courage to commit to the five- to 10-year politico-economic-military engagement Afghanistan requires.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
U.S. to overhaul immigration system
Napolitano said that by next October, Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE) would rank detainees by flight risk and public danger, set new detention-facility requirements based on those risk levels, and issue bids for two new-model detention centers.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tortured Language
"We do not torture," said President Bush in 2005, in response to mounting evidence of abuse. It was a straightforward, declaratory statement, the kind that Orwell liked, except it was also a bald lie. The interrogation methods the CIA used were, in his words, "tough," "safe," "lawful," and "necessary."

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Outrage as UN discusses Gaza report
Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, said a rally was held and that dozens of people - mostly intellectuals as well as university students some of whom were relatives of the victims of the Gaza war - were in attendance. "During the course of that rally, we heard some very strong condemnation of the PA president," he said.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
STRATFOR: Pakistan: Biting the Hand that Feeds You
In the wake of the WFP attack and the TTP's warning that more attacks are coming, security measures at the offices of humanitarian aid, intergovernmental, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are certain to be inspected and tightened up (at least until complacency sets in) to protect against this type of ruse attack using a small suicide device.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
BUZZFLASH: Conservatives Caught Recreating the Bible in Their Own Image Are Preaching to the Right-Wing Choir
That Schlafly is trying to "peel back the liberal bias" of the Bible and overlay his own worldview is truly laughable. It's understandable that progressives, especially Christian ones, would be worried and appalled. But Schlafly is preaching to the choir, and people who absorb this stuff would have ignored all that silly social justice and love-thy-neighbor stuff in the Bible anyway.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Pirates hit navy ship 'in error'
(2 comments) A group of Somali pirates has been captured after attacking a French navy ship by mistake, apparently thinking it was a harmless cargo vessel.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
UPDATE: UN to address Gaza war report
(1 comments) The UN Security Council has agreed to hold a discussion next week on a report that accuses Israel of war crimes during its war against Gaza in December.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sack the general; stop the war
It is time to wrap up the Afghanistan war. It might be a good idea to remove Gen. McChrystal from the picture, taking him up on the part of his analysis that says, give me more troops or take me out of the game. We don't have to rule Afghanistan to be safe at home. If we did, we would also have to rule Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele - Good Billions After Bad
As the Bush administration waned, the Treasury shoveled more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in tarp funds into the financial system—without restrictions, accountability, or even common sense. The authors reveal how much of it ended up in the wrong hands, doing the opposite of what was needed.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Patrick J. Buchanan: The Generals' War
Obama is thus being told by the McChyrstal camp: If you do not send the 40,000, you lose the war and the presidency. He is being told by the Biden camp: If you send the 40,000, Afghanistan will be your Vietnam; you will not win it by 2012; and you will lose the presidency. Look for Obama, not a natural Decider, to split the difference and send a few thousand U.S. troops to train the Afghan army.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Arrest of Queens Man Puts Focus on Texting to Rally Protesters
Madison, who was released on bail shortly after his arrest, may be among the first to be charged criminally while sending information electronically to protesters about the police. A criminal complaint in Pennsylvania accuses him of “directing others, specifically protesters of the G-20 summit, in order to avoid apprehension after a lawful order to disperse.”

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sotomayor shows she's no Clarence Thomas as Supreme Court opens
In just an hour, the court's newest justice asked more questions than Justice Clarence Thomas has asked over the course of several years. Sotomayor's aggressive role in a Fifth Amendment case, in turn, underscored how she could put her own stamp on a court whose 2009-2010 docket is still taking shape.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Brussels Riddle: Will Blair Become Europe's First President?
Many Britons see their former Prime Minister Tony Blair as a shoe-in to become the first president of the EU. But his appointment is far from certain. There are deep misgivings across the EU about handing the top job to the old friend of George W. Bush.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
U.S. Push to Expand in Pakistan Meets Resistance
The United States Embassy has publicized plans for a vast new building in Islamabad for about 1,000 people, with security for some diplomats provided through a Washington-based private contracting company, DynCorp. There is fear that DynCorp is being used by Washington to develop a parallel network of security and intelligence personnel within Pakistan.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Jeremy Scahill: An ACORN Amendment for Pfizer
ACORN has no high-powered lobbyists, and its 400,000 member families do not give major campaign contributions. If they did, the Defund Acorn bill would never have passed Congress. The question for Democrats who voted to go after this community organization on dubious allegations is: will you apply that standard to actual corporate felons with real-life rap sheets whose actions have actually harmed ordinary citizens?

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Afghanistan: Eight Years and Counting
At the eighth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, more and more Americans are questioning why the United States is still fighting this war – and asking whether there is any end in sight for this bloody occupation.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Another injustice to Palestinians - Curtis Doebbler
The dismissal of the well-documented report in such an arrogant manner by the administration of US President Obama would have diplomats whispering in the halls of the UN that perhaps the new American administration was as bad, or worse, than the Bush administration on Palestine.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Israeli highschoolers choose jail over occupation army service
A growing number of Israeli Jewish youth facing mandatory military conscription -- the Shministim -- are breaking the chain of conventional cooperation with the occupation. Refusing to participate in a system they agree to be immoral as well as illegal, these young people exemplify complicity with their ethical values rather than their state's colonialist policies.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Dissident Voice : How Israel Bought off UN's War Crimes Probe
Diplomatic arm-twisting was not the only factor in the PA's change of heart. Haaretz newspaper reported last week that, behind the scenes, Palestinian officials had faced threats that Israel would retaliate by inflicting enormous damage on the beleaguered Palestinian economy.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Palin: Send more troops to Afghanistan
(3 comments) "Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision," Sarah Palin wrote. "It is the time to act as commander-in-chief and approve the troops so clearly needed in Afghanistan."

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
U.S. officials: We're ready to take action against Iran
Administration officials told impatient lawmakers Tuesday that they are ready to take swift and substantial action against Iran if it disregards current diplomatic efforts to stop its alleged nuclear weapons program.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Report: Abbas may pass Goldstone report to Security Council
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is considering asking Arab countries to pass the Goldstone Commission report to the UN Security Council. Abbas' decision to consider asking the Arab bloc to take the report to international bodies came "in light of the controversy that has arisen" around the report.

Monday, October 5, 2009
STRATFOR In-Depth: Two Leaks and the Deepening Iran Crisis
(1 comments) The least that can be said about this is that the Obama administration and Israel are trying to reshape the negotiations with the Iranians and Russians. The most that can be said is that the Americans and Israelis are preparing the public for war.

Monday, October 5, 2009
States Resist Medicaid Growth
Among the 11 million people the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will sign up for Medicaid under the new rules, many are single adults and parents who have gone for years without health coverage. Many of these individuals also live in communities that lack the services to treat them.

Monday, October 5, 2009
McChrystal Faulted On Troop Statements
senior White House officials and some Democratic congressional leaders are challenging some of McChrystal's assumptions about how the war should be fought and whether the Taliban, a collection of armed groups with different political and economic objectives, can be managed in other ways.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Suicide bomber kills 5 at UN office in Pakistan
A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer struck the lobby of the U.N. food agency's Pakistan headquarters Monday, killing five people. Hours after the attack, the world body said it was closing its offices in Pakistan temporarily.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Paul Krugman - The Politics of Spite
The guiding principle of one of our nation's two great political parties is spite pure and simple. If Republicans think something might be good for the president, they're against it — whether or not it's good for America.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Inspector's Report on Bailouts Says Treasury Misled Public
Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Oct. 14 the banks were “healthy,” and that they accepted the money for “the good of the U.S. economy.” The banks, he said, would be better able to increase their lending to consumers and businesses. In truth, regulators were concerned about the health of several banks that received that first bailout, the inspector general writes.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Menacing Bird at Large: Raven Detained for Stalking Woman Escapes Police
A malevolent raven described by authorities as "incredibly clever" is back at large after escaping from police custody. The bird had been scaring a woman for several days by tapping at her window, trying to steal her groceries and sitting on her car.

Monday, October 5, 2009
George Galloway: The hawks are circling
The Gevena meeting led to Iranian calls for a summit between Obama and President Ahmadinejad. The very suggestion will bring howls from the hawks on Capitol Hill and from the bomberatti who have yet to apologise for their role in the Iraq disaster.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Barack Obama furious at General Stanley McChrystal speech on Afghanistan
In London, Gen McChrystal, who heads the 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan as well as the 100,000 Nato forces, flatly rejected proposals to switch to a strategy more reliant on drone missile strikes and special forces operations against al-Qaeda. He told the Institute of International and Strategic Studies that the formula, which is favoured by Vice-President Joe Biden, would lead to "Chaos-istan".

Monday, October 5, 2009
ElBaradei says nuclear Israel number one threat to Mideast
Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA Director General, said Sunday, "Israel is number one threat to Middle East" with its nuclear arms. He said the Tel Aviv regime has refused to allow inspections into its nuclear installations for 30 years.

Monday, October 5, 2009
VIDEO: GOP senators: US, not Israel, should attack Iran ‘if necessary'
"I think an Israeli attack on Iran is a nightmare for the world, because it will rally the Arab world around Iran and they're not aligned now. It's too much pressure to put on Israel," Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News' Chris Wallace. "If the sanctions fail, and Iran's going down the road to get a nuclear weapon, any Sunni Arab state that could, would want a nuclear weapon. Israel will be more imperiled."

Monday, October 5, 2009
The UN Must Adopt the Goldstone Report
Succumbing to US pressure and Israeli blackmail, the president of the PA himself was responsible for the decision to defer discussion at the Council of the Goldstone report, dashing the hopes of Palestinians everywhere well as international human rights organizations and solidarity movements that Israel will finally face a long overdue process of legal accountability and its victims will have a measure of justice.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Israeli, US army chiefs hold secret talks on Iran
Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and his American counterpart Admiral Mike Mullen have held secret talks in France with a special focus on Iran.

Monday, October 5, 2009
Gates blames past lack of troops for Taliban edge
While declining to comment on the direction of U.S. President Barack Obama's sweeping review of U.S. strategy toward Afghanistan, Gates made clear the United States was not pondering a withdrawal despite the war's growing unpopularity.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Frank Rich - The Rabbit Ragu Democrats
It's not as if the Republicans now have the public's back. DeLay may be reduced these days to violating public taste rather than the public trust on “Dancing With the Stars,” but back on Capitol Hill, his successors keep the K Street faith.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Heavy US losses in Afghan battle
EIGHT US TROOPS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN TODAY. Eight American soldiers and two Afghan troops have been killed in the deadliest attack on coalition troops for more than a year, officials say.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Vets Loving Socialized Medicine Show Government Offers Savings
As Congress considers changing Americans' access to health care, the veterans agency, whose projected budget this year is $45 billion, is evidence that the government can provide care favored by patients that may offer savings when compared with private insurers.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Detainee's Case Illustrates Bind of Prison's Fate
For Obama, Guantánamo has become both a security challenge and a political headache. A group of retired generals and admirals who stood behind him when he signed the closing order were back in Washington last week to make sure the administration did not renege on its pledge.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Pepe Escobar - It's Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran Time
United States President Barack Obama - now running three wars (Iraq and the AfPak combo) - demanded that Iran (which is not at war with anybody) demonstrate "its peaceful intentions or be held accountable to international standards and international law."

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Peter W. Galbraith -- U.N. Isn't Addressing Fraud in Afghan Election
President Obama needs a legitimate Afghan partner to make any new strategy for the country work. However, the extensive fraud that took place on Aug. 20 virtually guarantees that a government emerging from the tainted vote will not be credible with many Afghans.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Eric Margolis - Iran has Passed the Test that Iraq Did
The reluctance of Iran to reveal its nuclear sites is magnified by constant threats of attack against them by Israel and the US. Iran also recalls Iraq, where half the UN ‘nuclear inspectors' were actually spies for CIA or Israel's Mossad. This may explain some of Iran's secretive behaviour.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
National Security Adviser: Obama won't lift gay ban until Iraq and Afghan wars finished - and even then, if there are mo
Apparently President Obama wasn't aware that we were fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when he promised to lift the gay ban during the campaign in exchange for our votes. So, Jones tells us today, Obama can't get to that particular promise right now because he's busy fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Uh huh.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Marc Dreier's Crime of Destiny
What no one understood is that everything Dreier owned—the cars, the mansions, the yacht, the sushi restaurant, even the law firm itself—was made possible by his crimes. This was a man who went bad to have everything.

Sunday, October 4, 2009
Jones downplays threat of al-Qaida haven
top U.S. commander's public plea for more troops in Afghanistan prompted a mild rebuke Sunday from the White House national security adviser, as the administration heads into a second week of intensive negotiations over its evolving Afghan strategy.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
US paid reward to Lockerbie witness, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi papers claim
Two key figures in the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber were secretly given rewards of up to $3m (£1.9m) in a deal discussed by Scottish detectives and the US government, according to legal papers released today.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
US 'pressured Abbas on UN report'
(2 comments) Clinton reportedly called Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, on Thursday to encourage him to withdraw PA support for the report, which heavily criticised the conduct of Israeli forces during the December-January conflict.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Right to a Guilty Verdict - Reason Magazine
Under the principles Obama and his underlings have laid out, the choice of how to treat a given terrorism suspect-whether apprehended here or abroad, on a battlefield or off, now or in the future-is entirely up to him. In the end it may not matter much. When freedom is not a real possibility, due process is just for show.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Afghan policeman fires on US troops, killing 2
An Afghan policeman on patrol with U.S. soldiers opened fire on the Americans, killing two of them before fleeing, officials said Saturday. A third U.S. service member died Friday of wounds from a bomb attack in Wardak, the province neighboring Kabul, the day before.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
General McChrystal publicly campaigns for Afghanistan “surge”
Those who believe that a military coup "can't happen here" underestimate not only the influence of the military within the American state, but also the degree to which all sections of the US ruling elite have eschewed any commitment to basic democratic rights.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Israel's killing fields exposed
Within days of the report's release, the Israeli government publicly dismissed any suggestion that it would act and the US ambassador to the UN in New York arrogantly rebuked the report's explicit call for follow-up action.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Christopher Bollyn - Why Afghanistan?
On 9-11, Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime/defense minister/military intelligence chief, was the first person to call for the U.S. to attack Afghanistan. Barak told Rupert Murdoch's Sky Television in London that Western governments needed to make a concerted effort to combat terrorism: "Most obviously my guess is a bin Laden organization...We have to stand firm against such terrorism," Barak said.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Ahmadinejad: Western media 'weapon of subterfuge'
As a first example of biased reporting in the West, Ahmadinejad pointed to the scant media coverage of Israel's three-week attack on Gaza, which killed over 1500 Palestinians mostly women and children, earlier in the year. Ahmadinejad said criticism of Israel and its actions has become 'off limits' in American and European media.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Palestine Chronicle: The Comic Genius of Netanyahu
Netanyahu has a rare genius for irony, except that he himself doesn't see it. That's what makes him such a comedian. The irony of what he says is totally lost on him. Nearly every offensive remark he makes about Iran and Palestine can be flung back in his face because Israel is no better and in most respects far worse.

Saturday, October 3, 2009
Palestinian minister quits over PA decision to drop Goldstone draft
The adoption of the Goldstone Report was deferred by six months after the Palestinian Authority on Thursday decided to drop its draft resolution condemning Israel's conduct during the Gaza Strip offensive.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Goldstone defends report on Israel, Hamas - UPI
The White House called the report "unfair to Israel" because it didn't focus enough on the actions of Hamas. However, the administration has said it will not prevent the report recommendations from reaching the International Criminal Court.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Kerry-DeMint Clash Over Honduras Trip Highlights Policy Feud
A simmering feud over U.S. policy toward Latin America burst into the open Thursday when Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) tried to prevent a fact-finding trip to Honduras by a Republican senator who is blocking two important diplomatic appointments.

Friday, October 2, 2009
GOP targets Obama's foreign policy
(1 comments) Sen. John McCain of Arizona told a television interviewer this week that the president's decision to deliberate further on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan showed "weakness" to the world.

Friday, October 2, 2009
C Street Scandal, the Media, the Future of the Family: An Interview with Jeff Sharlet
Before the Tea Party Express brought tens of thousands to protest in the nation's capital, and before town hall meetings about health care devolved into shout downs, there was the story of the boys of C Street.

Friday, October 2, 2009
McCain Campaign Manager: Palin In 2012 Would Be Catastrophe for GOP
If Sarah Palin is her party's nominee for president in 2012 it will be a "catastrophic election" for the GOP, Sen. John McCain's 2008 campaign manager predicted. "In fact, were she to be the nominee we could have a catastrophic election."

Friday, October 2, 2009
Nukes aside, the real problem with Iran
Nuclear weapons issue apart – it's a question of whether Israel and the US are able to come to terms with an Iran that is, and will be, a preeminent power in the region. Can the US bring Israel to accept Iran as a principal regional power? Can the US itself accept such an outcome?

Friday, October 2, 2009
In Jobs Data, More Months of Lean Times
The latest report lent further credence to the sense that opportunities are indeed diminishing, and in nearly every field. The unemployment rate continued to inch toward double digits, a level last seen in June 1983. The so-called underemployment rate reached 17 percent, its highest point since the government began tracking such data in 1994.

Friday, October 2, 2009
PAUL KRUGMAN -- Mission Not Accomplished
(1 comments) While not having another depression is a good thing, all indications are that unless the government does much more than is currently planned to help the economy recover, the job market — a market in which there are currently six times as many people seeking work as there are jobs on offer — will remain terrible for years to come.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Obama meets Afghanistan commander on Air Force One
Obama met Friday with the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, aboard Air Force One before flying home from Copenhagen. McChrystal flew to Copenhagen to meet with Obama to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The pair met for 25 minutes and McChrystal left the plane before takeoff.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Israeli soldier captured 3 years ago shown alive in video
(1 comments) In the tape, Shalit appeared in good spirits, though he asked the Israeli government to speed up negotiations for his freedom. He appeared to have recovered from a wound he received during his capture. "I have been waiting and hoping for my release a long time already. I hope the current government of Benjamin Netanyahu will not waste the opportunity to finish the deal," he said.

Friday, October 2, 2009
White House Considers Narrower War Effort in Afghanistan
(1 comments) White House officials are resisting McChrystal's call for urgency, which he underscored Thursday during a speech in London, and questioning important elements of his assessment, which calls for a vast expansion of an increasingly unpopular war.

Friday, October 2, 2009
“Law & Order” episode makes case for prosecution of Bush administration torturers
(1 comments) The season premiere of NBC's crime drama “Law & Order” was a rarity for American television: an unsparing and essentially honest examination of the crimes being committed by the American government, in the name of the “war on terror.”

Friday, October 2, 2009
Exit Afghanistan and Leave Iran Alone by Sheldon Richman
And when sanctions fail, will war follow? It should be needless to say that bombing Iran would destroy many innocent lives while strengthening the Iranian regime, putting us into another quagmire, and further bankrupting ourselves. Will we ever learn that imperial foreign policy is self-defeating?

Friday, October 2, 2009
Obama Agrees to Keep Israel's Nukes Secret
There is no formal record of the agreement nor have Israeli or US governments ever publicly acknowledged it. In 2007, however, the Nixon library declassified a July 19, 1969, memo from national security adviser Henry Kissinger that says, "While we might ideally like to halt actual Israeli possession, what we really want may be just to keep possession from becoming an established international fact."

Friday, October 2, 2009
Three US troops die in Afghanistan
Three American troops have died in two separate incidents in southern and eastern Afghanistan, says the US-led coalition force in the conflict-torn country. One soldier was killed in a grenade attack in eastern Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a Friday statement.

Friday, October 2, 2009
Robert Reich - The truth about jobs that no one wants to tell
Let me say this as clearly and forcefully as I can: The federal government should be spending even more than it already is on roads and bridges and schools and parks and everything else we need. It should make up for cutbacks at the state level, and then some. This is the only way to put Americans back to work.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Iran, world powers to hold more nuke talks this month
Jalili, who is heading Iran's delegation to the multiparty nuclear, in Geneva expressed Thursday a willingness to discuss his government's nuclear program on condition that the overall issue of global nuclear proliferation be on the agenda, western sources said.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
For Alan Grayson, a liberal rebel, ‘die quickly' was tame
Introducing Vice President Joe Biden at a fundraising dinner, Grayson suggested that former Vice President Dick Cheney gave Mr. Biden a tour of the White House “dungeon” and “its torture rack.” He joked that Mr. Cheney invited Biden to “go waterboarding” with him.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
US Nukes Agency Pushes New Bomb Production
"The main purpose of the Complex Modernisation programme is to maintain nuclear production capacity for the U.S.," Ralph Hutchison of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance told IPS, arguing that the talk of modernisation obscures the real objectives of the programme.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Exclusive: IAEA letter thanks Iran over notification
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has thanked Iran for providing the agency with information about the construction of its new pilot enrichment plant.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
The World from Berlin: 'The West Has No Good Options with Iran'
The issues in question center on Iran's nuclear program, one that many are concerned may ultimately result in an atomic weapon. Concern was heightened last week when US President Barack Obama accused Tehran of secretly operating a uranium-enrichment facility at Qom. Iran, though, has said that it's "nuclear rights" are not up for discussion.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Before Charges in Najibullah Zazi Case, a Race for Clues
A great deal of the evidence presented against Mr. Zazi was not the result of a lengthy investigation. Instead, much of it was collected on the fly in the last two weeks, with hundreds of FBI agents, federal prosecutors and detectives rushing to fashion a mosaic of details into a case that could be brought to court.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Iran agrees to more nuclear checks
Iran has agreed to allow international nuclear inspectors to view its recently revealed uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom. A French official said Tehran must prove it is changing the way it runs its nuclear programme, and that it must grant access to its second enrichment site within two weeks.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Associated Press: Judge orders release of Cheney interview with FBI
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the FBI must publicly reveal much of its notes from an interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Nurses file lawsuit over mandatory flu vaccine
A union representing 16,000 registered nurses in Washington state has filed a federal lawsuit against MultiCare Health System for implementing a mandatory flu vaccination policy.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Obama and the Afghan Quagmire
If Obama actually read Osama's writings, he would never have escalated the war in Afghanistan. Osama bin Laden and other Islamist terrorists attack the U.S. because of its meddling in and occupying of Islamic lands.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Real News Video - Angry doctors storm Washington D.C.
(1 comments) As the debate over healthcare reform heats up in the United States, doctors from across the country came to the steps of the White House to demand a single payer system that would give all Americans affordable health insurance.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
McChrystal warns Taliban is growing
Delivering what he called an honest assessment of the eight-year-old conflict, McChyrstal said the situation was serious and time was running out. He has previously said that the mission in Afghanistan, involving 100,000 foreign troops of which about 60,000 are American, faces failure unless the strategy changes.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Senator Helped Mistress's Husband, Raising Ethics Flags
While the affair made national news in June, the role that Mr. Ensign played in assisting Mr. Hampton and helping the clients he represented has not been previously disclosed. Several legal experts say those activities may have violated an ethics law that bans senior aides from lobbying the Senate for a year after leaving their posts.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Iran's Nuclear Theater Meant to Divert Attention
The Iran nuclear threat was highlighted repeatedly, first by Barack Obama during a UN speech on Sept 23, then again by Benjamin Netanyahu the next day. The latter came armed with maps and relentlessly provoked Holocaust memories. This charade was meant to distract from the nearly 600 page UN report, prepared by South Africa judge Richard Goldstone and others, dedicated mostly to Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
U.S., Iran Hold Bilateral Talks
President Obama hailed the breakthrough, saying that the talks in Geneva had been "constructive," and he credited the international community with remaining unified. But Obama warned that the burden now lies with Iran to prove that its intents are peaceful and he demanded "concrete steps" from the regime.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Jeremy Scahill: Bizarro World: Karl Rove Blasts Obama for 'Outsourcing Afghanistan'
The headline in today’s Wall Street Journal Op-Ed by former senior White House advisor Karl Rove is in a category all its own: “Obama Can’t Outsource Afghanistan.” Um, excuse me Karl, how about outsourcing an entire war to politically connected war companies? Remember those eight years?

Thursday, October 1, 2009
General Stanley McChrystal: we must give the Taleban jobs
General Stanley McChrystal said that 50 to 80 per cent of the Taleban would probably stop fighting if they were given jobs and he called for “patience, resolve and time”.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Israel trying to dodge overseas prosecution
Stung by a damning UN report alleging war crimes in Gaza, Israel is taking extraordinary steps to fend off potential international prosecution of its political and military leaders, hiring high-powered attorneys, lobbying Western governments and launching a public relations blitz. Israel dismissed the UN investigation into its offensive in the Gaza strip as biased, but its latest moves show it is clearly concerned.

Thursday, October 1, 2009
PLO 'pulls backing for Gaza report'
PLO sources told Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh in Ramallah in the West Bank, that there were plans to push for a postponement on the endorsement of the Goldstone report to March, pending a legal review of the findings.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Reid cancels October recess to focus lawmakers on healthcare
The pressure on Democrats to pass healthcare reform has raised the stakes. Some Senate aides speculated that Reid did not want to give conservative activists a chance to stall progress by staging a second round of angry demonstrations during townhall-style meetings over the recess.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
House, Senate ready Iran sanctions
Lawmakers are readying tough new sanctions against Iran in the wake of its recent disclosure of a second secret nuclear facility. A parade of bills in both chambers has drawn wide bipartisan support that suggests passage would be a cinch.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
At Forum, Retired Military Officers Back Guantanamo Closure
A group of retired senior military officers on Tuesday backed the Obama administration's troubled effort to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, saying that those who oppose transferring detainees to the United States for trial are engaging in fear-mongering.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Michael Moore tells Democrats: 'Find your spine' on health care | McClatchy
Moore said two-thirds of Americans support a single-payer system and would punish those Democrats who steer the conversation away from that option. "To the Democrats in Congress," Moore said, "find your spine. Read the polls. And see us coming."

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Getting out of Gitmo
If President Obama reneges on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in January, an important reason will be the hysterical opposition in Congress to transferring some inmates to the United States.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Iran not after nuclear weapons, says IAEA chief
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says he does not believe that Iran has a military nuclear program, adding that the lack of evidence to the contrary supports his belief.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Bomber targets US army convoy in Afghanistan
A suspected suicide bomber rams an explosive-laden car into a US military convoy in southeastern Afghanistan, killing at least one solider and injuring several others.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Nike to quit Chamber post in climate protest - Lisa Lerer - POLITICO.com
Nike has long been a strong advocate for government action to combat global warming and has said it "fundamentally disagrees" with the Chamber's position on the climate bill.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
UN recalls envoy from Afghanistan
The UN has recalled one of its senior officials from Afghanistan following a row over the August presidential vote. Peter Galbraith fell out with top UN envoy Kai Eide and angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai by reportedly calling for a complete recount.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Regarding Afghanistan War, From General McCrystal's Mouth to Obama's Ear
General McChrystal has not spoken with Mr. Obama since submitting his grim assessment of the war a month ago and has spoken with him only once in the 100 days since he took command of all American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
WARNING: New Evidence Shows Mercury Present in Nearly ALL Fish
(1 comments) Mercury was detected in every fish sampled from nearly 300 US streams. Among them, 27% contained mercury at levels that equaled or exceeded the US EPA's criterion for the protection of human health. Exposure to mercury can damage your brain, kidney and lungs.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thomas Friedman -- Where Did ‘We' Go?
Obama is now having his legitimacy attacked by a concerted campaign from the right fringe. They are using everything from smears that he is a closet “socialist” to calling him a “liar” in the middle of a joint session of Congress to fabricating doubts about his birth in America and whether he is even a citizen.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Howard Dean vs. Rahm Emanuel
(1 comments) Howard Dean is right and Rahm Emanuel is wrong. The voters didn't vote for a little bit of change. They gave the Democrats the White House and overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate. They voted for real change. The kind of change that Dean always pushes for and the kind of change that Emanuel doesn't ever find "realistic."

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Palin co-author: Evangelical, partisan - Ben Smith
Lynn Vincent spent the summer working with Palin on a closely-guarded 400 page memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life." Her work for World Magazine, where she was an editor, includes a description of President Barack Obama as the "minority survivor" of the "black genocide" - that is, abortion.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
U.S. Story on Iran Nuke Facility Doesn't Add Up
A former U.S. official who has seen the summary of the administration's intelligence used to brief foreign governments told IPS he doubts the intelligence community had hard evidence that the Qom site was an enrichment plant. "I think they didn't have the goods on them," he said. It also implies that the senior administration official briefing the press was deliberately portraying the new enrichment facility in more menacing t

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
John Pilger - The Lying Game
“Showdown looms with Iran over secret nuclear plant”, declared the Guardian on 26 September. “Showdown” is the theme. High noon. The clock ticking. Good versus evil. The official jargon for this kind of propaganda is “psy-ops”, the military term for psychological operations.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Andrew Sullivan - Dear President Bush,
I believe that if you review the facts of your two terms of office, you will be forced to realize that, whatever your intentions, you undermined this fundamental American principle. You may not have intended that to occur. But you were the commander in chief and president, and these were presidential-level decisions. The responsibility for all of this is yours—before the American people and before the court of history.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Q&A: 'Closer Now to a Nuke-Free World' - IPS
(2 comments) The real enemy is the way of thinking that justifies nuclear weapons. It is our readiness to see others eliminated when they stand in the way of the fulfilment of our desires and ambitions.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
U.S. Plans to Isolate Iran if Nuclear Talks Fail
While officials stress that they hope Iran will agree to open its nuclear program to inspection, they are prepared by year's end to make it increasingly difficult for Iranian companies to ship goods around the world.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
UN investigator defends Gaza report
(1 comments) Goldstone said the report had investigated 36 incidents surrounding Israel's military operation. "A culture of impunity in the region has existed for too long, the lack of accountability for war crimes and possible war crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point," he said.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
How to Press the Advantage With Iran
At the United Nations General Assembly last week, President Obama used language reminiscent of Mr. Bush's “axis of evil” to identify Iran and North Korea as the main threats to international peace and vowed to hold them “accountable.”

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
US wants banks to prepay fees to meet failure costs
U.S. banking regulators proposed on Tuesday that banks prepay three years of fees to help cover the rising cost of bank failures, now put at $100 billion through 2013. 'Everybody has bailout fatigue,' FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said of avoiding drawing on the Treasury.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
U.S. Says Taliban Has A New Haven in Pakistan
(1 comments) US officials acknowledge they know relatively little about the remote and arid Pakistani border region, have no capacity to strike there, and have few windows into the turbulent mix of Pashtun tribal and religious politics that has turned the area into a sanctuary for the Taliban leaders.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
BREAKING: Senate Panel Rejects a ‘Public Option' in Health Plan
(1 comments) After a half-day of animated debate, the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday rejected efforts by liberal Democrats to add a government-run health insurance plan to major health care legislation, dealing the first official setback to an idea that many Democrats, including President Obama, say they support.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Gambling Ayatollahs
The revelation of Iran's secret nuclear facility at a military base near the holy city of Qum came at a strangely suspicious time, when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was visiting the US delivering his usual hard-line speech warning the US to treat its long-time adversary with respect, and a week prior to the first scheduled direct negotiations between Iran and the US in thirty years in Geneva.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Wall Street money rains on Chuck Schumer
Schumer's $1.65 million take from the financial services industry is nearly twice that of any other senator's — and more than five times what the industry gave to any single Republican senator.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Intelligence Vets Back Torture Probe
In reaction to the extraordinary appeal by seven ex-CIA directors that President Barack Obama halt a Justice Department inquiry into the use of torture by CIA interrogators, a dozen former U.S. intelligence professionals urge the President to ignore that appeal and back the investigation. (Their memo to Obama was dated Sept 27.)

Monday, September 28, 2009
Thousands get free medical care at health fair held at Reliant Center
One out of every three adults in Harris County is now uninsured and Texas ranks the worst among the 50 states in healthcare coverage, according to the U.S. Census. The National Association of Free Clinics decided it was time to hold a massive free clinic at Houston's Reliant Center.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Liz Cheney Taking Stage for the G.O.P.
(1 comments) By all accounts, the Cheneys are a tight-knit and at times insular unit steeped in the family business. “We can't win if we don't fight,” Ms. Cheney said, noting that she was taught that lesson years before “by a great American, my dad, Dick Cheney.”

Monday, September 28, 2009
Paul Krugman -- Cassandras of Climate
The prognosis for the planet has gotten much, much worse in just the last few years. Climate scientists have, en masse, become Cassandras — gifted with the ability to prophesy future disasters, but cursed with the inability to get anyone to believe them.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Obama Drops Plan For Guantanamo “Indefinite Detention” Law
In dropping plans for new legislation, the administration has realized that it can continue to hold prisoners based on the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the congressional resolution passed the week after the 9/11 attacks.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Dahr Jamail - Army Prisoners Isolated, Denied Right to Legal Counsel
Bishop, who served a 13-month deployment to Iraq and was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, was court marshaled by the Army for his refusal to deploy to Afghanistan. Given that he had already filed for CO status, many local observers called his sentencing a "politically driven prosecution."

Monday, September 28, 2009
Did CBS Cancel Michael Moore?
Moore was on ABC's Good Morning America last week and called out ABC's practice of hiring “permalancers” — permanent freelancers who are essentially full-time workers but are on contract rather than salary, which means they don't get any of the benefits normally extended to employees. It was then that CBS said they no longer wanted to have Moore on.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Leadership PACs: Let the Good Times Roll
Of the $112 million that leadership PACs spent during the two-year campaign cycle that led up to the 2008 elections, less than half was passed on to candidates or party committees. The rest paid for entertainment, administrative costs, fundraising and other categories that are so vague that it's impossible to know for sure how the money was spent.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Rational Irrationality - Capitalism and financial crashes
(1 comments) Once liquidity falls below a certain threshold, “all the elements that formed a virtuous circle to promote stability now will conspire to undermine it.” The financial markets can become highly unstable.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Palestinians seek Barak's arrest
News Middle East Palestinians seek Barak's arrest Ehud Barak is due to address a meeting of members of Britain's ruling Labour party on Tuesday [File: AFP] A group of Palestinian families is attempting to have Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, prosecuted in Britain for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Obama's Move: Iran and Afghanistan | STRATFOR
In Afghanistan, the Taliban takes the view that the British and Russians left, and that the Americans will leave, too. In Iran, Ahmadinejad clearly perceives that challenging Obama is low-risk and high reward. Obama faces a double choice. And any decision he makes will reverberate.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Americans threatened with jail time, huge fines for refusing to buy health insurance by Mike Adams the Health Ranger
New laws are about to be put in place call for Americans to be arrested and thrown in jail if they refuse to buy health insurance. As Paul Craig Roberts brilliantly pointed out in a recent essay, this is like trying to solve the homeless problem by forcing homeless people to buy a home, then throwing them in prison when they can't afford to.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Fareed Zakaria - Obama the Gambler
Obama is gambling that America is mature enough to understand that machismo is not foreign policy and that grandstanding on the global stage won't succeed. In a new world, with other countries more powerful and confident, America's success -- its security, its prosperity -- depends on working with others. It's a big, bold gambit. I hope it works.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Juan Cole - The Most Dangerous Nuclear Facility in the Middle East
(1 comments) It is Israel's ongoing nuclear weapon production that drives the nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Saddam wanted a bomb because Israel had one. The Iranians were then worried both about an Iraqi and an Israeli bomb. Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others are annoyed at their geostrategic helplessness in the face of Israeli nukes.

Monday, September 28, 2009
Police Use Painful New Weapon on G20 Protesters
Pittsburgh police demonstrated the latest in crowd control techniques on protesters when they used "sound cannons" to blast the ears of citizens near the G-20 meeting of world economic leaders. Sonic weaponry is now being deployed domestically to put a chill on free speech.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
No Deadline Set for Decision on Troops
Obama has scheduled at least five meetings with his national security team over the next weeks to reexamine the strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Tuesday marks the start of five scheduled intensive discussions with the National Security Council, as well as field commanders and regional ambassadors, on Afghanistan," Obama's national security advisor retired Gen. James L. Jones said.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
Frank Rich -- Obama at the Precipice
Even if we routed the Taliban in another decade or two, after countless casualties and billions of dollars, how would that stop Al Qaeda from coalescing in Somalia or some other criminal host state?

Sunday, September 27, 2009
White House near picking site for Guantanamo detainees
Obama has pledged to close the facility, which has been the target of international condemnation, by January 2010 but has faced legal, political and diplomatic difficulties. "We are doing everything we can to close it by the date," the official said, declining further identification. "We are in the final stages of locating a secure facility in the US where detainees can be held."

Sunday, September 27, 2009
Advisers to Obama Are Split on Afghan Troop Request
In the West Wing, beyond Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has advocated an alternative strategy to the troop buildup, other presidential advisers sound dubious about more troops, including Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff, and Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
2 US, 1 British troops killed in Afghanistan
Two US and one British soldiers serving under ISAF command have been killed in separate incidents in Afghanistan, it was reported on Sunday. American forces in Afghanistan lost 77 troops in August, setting a new monthly record since the occupation began.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
Iran: US, UK, France deceiving world on their nukes
IAEA Safeguards Agreements declared that Iran is only obliged to inform the UN nuclear watchdog of the existence of enrichment plants 180 days before the introduction of nuclear materials into the facility. Washington, London, and Paris deceive the people around the world by violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty articles.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
'Iran plays by IAEA rules, West fails to score points'
"The Americans say that they knew of the new plant prior to Iran's announcement and have presented aerial pictures of the location, so why are they claiming that the project was clandestine?" Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran's nuclear program, said.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
The Republican War Against ACORN
The Washington Post, The New York Times and other major news outlets have recounted the "troubled" history of the poor people's advocacy group ACORN, but left out the five-year anti-ACORN campaign led by White House adviser Karl Rove and other Republican operatives.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
5 Ways the Government Used Our Money to Save Big Banks and Screw Us
The public seems to regard the government's actions with a toxic combination of rage and confusion. People are pissed off but too bewildered to know what to do with that anger. The confusion isn't an accident.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
U.S. defense chief: Iran intends to develop nuclear arms
(1 comments) Gates said the fact that Iran had concealed the site's existence raised significant questions as to their nuclear ambitions. "This is part of a pattern of deception and lies on the part of the Iranians from the very beginning with respect to their nuclear program," the defense secretary added.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
Justice This Time Around: Will Goldstone's Report Deliver? | Foreign Policy Journal
“The mission concluded that actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly in some respects crimes against humanity, were committed by the Israel Defense Force,” Goldstone said. He also said that the Israeli government has carried out no credible investigation.

Sunday, September 27, 2009
Merck employees had "hit list" of doctors they sought to "neutralize," court documents reveal
(2 comments) The picture of Merck that emerges from these revelations is a company run by thugs who deal with dissent by seeking to destroy the lives and careers of academics who dare to tell the truth about Merck's dangerous drugs.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Iran denies violating IAEA rules
Gareth Porter, a Middle East policy analyst, played down the importance of the new nuclear facility under construction near the city of Qom. "This is very far from a smoking gun, certainly with regard to Iranian intentions as far as nuclear weapons are concerned and also to the capablity of manufacturing a nuclear weapon."

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Twitter Funding Round Is Said to Value Company at $1 Billion
Twitter attracted 25 million users in August, compared with 2.2 million a year earlier, according to Nielsen Co. in New York. The site, embraced by celebrities such as Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher, lets people post messages of up to 140 characters.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Obama's unplanned Iran news - Laura Rozen
Why was Obama only prompted to make the announcement after he learned of Iran's letter to the IAEA? “Because the Iranians are trying to get in front and create an argument that they didn't do anything wrong,” the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's George Perkovich told POLITICO. “So to try to block that, Obama had to get it out."

Saturday, September 26, 2009
GOP Senators Drop Out of Panel Inquiry Into CIA Program
Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said they will no longer participate in an investigation into the Bush administration's interrogation policies, arguing that Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to reexamine allegations of detainee abuse by the CIA would hobble any inquiry.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
For Obama, Focus Shifts From Engagement To Pursuit of Concerted, Tough Measures
Officials hope that the pressure -- to be applied at previously scheduled talks Thursday in Geneva -- will force Iran into a broader discussion about its program and then into a serious set of negotiations.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
For Democrats, the Cracks in a United Front on Health Care
The Obama administration's argument to liberals has been that they should hold their fire now, knowing that their leverage will be greater in the final negotiations between the House and the Senate. Four other committees, three of them in the House, have approved more liberal bills.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
U.S. commander in Afghanistan submits request for more troops
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, hand-delivered his request for as many as 45,000 more troops to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Germany Friday and made his case for why he needs more forces to fight an increasingly unpopular war.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Justice Dept. to Address Backlog of Civil Rights Complaints
(1 comments) "The [civil rights] division is just sort of a relic of what it used to be," said Payton, who once considered it a partner in the work of righting racial wrongs. Holder "needs to restore the morale. It is a monumental task before him."

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Supreme Court faces decisions on two key terror cases
Graphic photos of U.S. troops abusing Iraqi prisoners present the Supreme Court with its latest, but not its last, national-security legal dilemma.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Gideon Levy -- Netanyahu's speech / Cheapening the Holocaust
(1 comments) Operation Cast Lead was a pinpoint attack. Israel telephoned thousands of people to tell them to leave their homes. Where to, Mr. Prime Minister? Into the sea? Hallelujah was heard last night only in Ramat Gan Stadium, at the Leonard Cohen concert.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Three judges take a pass on trying terror suspect Najibullah Zazi's case
It was the case nobody wanted. Three federal judges balked at handling Najibullah Zazi's case after they were randomly assigned by a courthouse computer.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
U.S. Military Leaders Discuss Troop Needs in Afghanistan
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for the meeting, held in Germany, "to get a better understanding for himself of McChrystal's troop requirements." Gen. David H. Petraeus, chief of U.S. Central Command, and Adm. James Stavridis, the supreme allied commander for NATO, also attended at Mullen's request.

Saturday, September 26, 2009
Netanyahu 'speaks like a conqueror'
(1 comments) In his "blitz" on US TV channels, the Israeli prime minister emphasised that negotiations would not start until the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) recognised Israel not only as a Jewish state but also a nation-state for the Jews. Such a move would in turn render the Right of Return for more than a million Palestinian refugees totally inoperative.

Friday, September 25, 2009
BREAKING: Leaders Warn Iran Over Nuclear Site
President Obama and leaders of Britain and France accused Iran on Friday of building a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel, saying the country has hidden the covert operation from international weapons inspectors for years.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Banks fight to kill proposed consumer protection agency
US banks long to return to the days of impotent regulation, and are fighting to kill a proposed new agency that would be dedicated solely to protecting consumers' financial interests.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Israel's ex-PM goes on trial on corruption charges
Seeing a man who was prime minister little over half a year ago entering court as a defendant seemed something of a landmark. If Israel cannot take pride in its politicians, it can be proud of its judiciary, said Moshe Negbi, a prominent Israeli legal analyst.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Paul Krugman -- It's Easy Being Green
Here's the bottom line: The claim that climate legislation will kill the economy deserves the same disdain as the claim that global warming is a hoax. The truth about the economics of climate change is that it's relatively easy being green.

Friday, September 25, 2009
US troop deaths rise in Afghanistan
Five US soldiers have been killed in three separate incidents in southern Afghanistan on Thursday. The eight-year-old war in Afghanistan has been in its deadliest phase for foreign soldiers since July. According to the independent icasualties website, 371 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan so far this year, compared to 294 for all of 2008.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Max Boot: Apologist for War Crimes
For years, Gaza has been subjected to a draconian economic blockade--literally, an "act of war" under international law--denounced as "collective punishment"--a major war crime—by every relevant commentator in the international legal community.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Expanded powers seem to ignore constitutional limits
To focus on "general welfare" without considering the rest of the constitution, explained Jefferson, "would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and, as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Mark Morford: How to talk to complete idiots
Dems, unlike the Republican Party, aren't really beholden to a radical, mal-educated base of fundamentalist crazies to keep them afloat. Truly, the political success of the liberal agenda does not depend on the irrational, Bible-crazed "value voter" who's terrified of gays, believes astronomy is a hoax and thinks Jesus spoke perfect English and really liked giving hugs.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Jeremy Scahill: Where is the Defund Blackwater Act?
ACORN is now being attacked while the Obama administration continues to contract with Blackwater, the favorite mercenary company of the Bush administration, which is headed by Erik Prince, who was a major donor to Republican causes and campaigns, including those of some of the Defund ACORN bill's sponsors, including Indiana Republican Mike Pence, one of the key figures in hunting down Van Jones.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Netanyahu rips UN for Ahmadinejad 'disgrace'
(5 comments) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday took to task the countries of the world that had sat silently and listened the day before to Holocaust-denier Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asking them, "Have you no shame, no decency?"

Friday, September 25, 2009
Ahmadinejad: Israel will not dare attack Iran
"It's not a secret site. If it was, why would we have informed the IAEA about it a year ahead of time," Ahmadinejad said. "This does not mean we must inform Mr. Obama's administration of every facility that we have."

Friday, September 25, 2009
Chronicle of a Failed Execution: Ohio Prisoner "Traumatized" After Two-Hour Death Chamber Ordeal
What happened to this man in Ohio's execution chamber last week should send chills down the spines of those who continue to insist that lethal injection is a humane way to kill people. Indeed, it should lead people to rethink whether the death penalty is humane at all.

Friday, September 25, 2009
Think Again: Palestine
The faux freeze Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now proposing — build units already in the pipeline and then implement a brief six-month freeze, all the while continuing pell-mell with construction in East Jerusalem — is powerful on-the-ground evidence that Netanyahu and his coalition intend to build greater Israel at the expense of Palestinians.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Gene Lyons -- The public knows the GOP is fibbing
There have always been two basic arguments for health insurance reform: one based in morality, the other self-interest. For a documented 45,000 persons to die prematurely in America each year because they can't afford proper care is a national disgrace.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Uri Avnery: The Waldorf-Astoria Summit
Why did Obama insist on the settlement freeze – in itself a very reasonable demand – if he was unable to stand his ground? Or, in other words, if he was unable to impose it on Netanyahu?

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Calling liars to account - Leonard Pitts Jr.
For the record and for the umpteenth time: No version of healthcare reform being contemplated by Congress mandates death for the old, the disabled or the infirm. That's a canard. It is mendacity, prevarication, a bald-faced lie.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Mixed messages from Pentagon on Afghan troop plans
How to move forward in Afghanistan has sparked an intense debate and put a spotlight on what congressional critics see as a rift between some of the nation's top military and civilian leaders as U.S. public opinion has turned against the war.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
General McChrystal Denies Rift With Obama on Afghan War
General McChrystal said he agreed to speak to The New York Times on Wednesday after he became increasingly concerned about reports of rifts between the military and the civilian leadership, and about rumors he was considering resigning if his assessment was not accepted.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Netanyahu outmanoeuvres Obama?
everyone knows that the only way the US could force Israel to engage in a legitimate halt to settlement expansion would be through an overt threat to suspend military, economic and/or political support for Israel. And Obama will not dare undertake such an approach.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Drug industry clout reflected in Senate vote - Health care reform
Senators rebuffed an attempt to squeeze more money from the drug industry Thursday after two Democrats warned it would undermine the fragile political coalition pushing a sweeping health care overhaul.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Classified McChrystal Report: 500,000 Troops Will Be Required Over Five Years in Afghanistan
(2 comments) Congress should immediately convene hearings to discuss alternatives to General McChrystal's proposal for such a massive escalation of the war in Afghanistan. It is time for the administration and Congress to demilitarize U.S. policy in Afghanistan and strike out in a new, sustainable, direction.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
David Michael Green - Dumping Dubya: Why the Regressive Right Desperately Wants to Erase the Bush Presidency
The troglodytes of the right seem to have disappeared their former grand hero almost completely these days. Isn't that odd? They never talk about him anymore, as if he had never even existed. They seem quite desperately to want to vanish him entirely, like the body of some beaten-to-death prisoner at Abu Ghraib.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
UN Security Council calls for nuclear weapons states to disarm
(1 comments) "The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our shared commitment to a goal of a world without nuclear weapons," Obama said immediately after the vote. "And it brings Security Council agreement on a broad framework for action to reduce nuclear dangers as we work toward that goal."

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Bullet makers can't keep up with demand
(3 comments) Gun sales spiked when it became clear Obama would be elected a year ago and purchases continued to rise in his first few months of office.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Gail Collins -- A Tom DeLay Makeover
Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader, was ridiculed for doing the cha-cha on “Dancing With the Stars.” But you have to admit, DeLay's decision to make a spectacle of himself on national television was a terrific game-changer.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Robert Dreyfuss - Will McChrystal Quit?
A former top US military officer suggested that General Stanley McChrystal might resign from his post if President Obama doesn't go along with his pending request for more troops for Afghanistan.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Why President Obama Can't Let Himself Be Blackmailed by His Generals
Gen. David Petraeus and McChrystal are no more worthy of admiration than the progression of incompetent CEOs who drove GM into the ground and the crooks who pilfered the public with exotic financial instruments for their short-term profit.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Will Ferrell PSA Parody: Protect Insurance Companies
Will Ferrell humor -- "The insurance companies have looked out for our best interests for so long, and now we should look out for theirs."

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Foreign Policy In Focus -- Good War vs. Great Society
Obama, as a candidate in 2008, promised to refocus on Afghanistan. He now has a chance to reverse himself and end the war. He appears to be willing to rethink his approach to Afghanistan. If he does, he can rescue his own Great Society ambitions, secure himself a second term of office, and acquire an enduring legacy as the first president to resolve the guns vs. butter dilemma in the only sustainable way possible.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Obama to Set Higher Bar for Keeping State Secrets
Under the new approach, a team of career prosecutors must review and the attorney general must approve any assertions of the state secrets privilege before government lawyers can make that argument in court. Officials said the new policy will ensure that the secrecy arguments are more narrowly tailored and that they are not employed to hide violations of law.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
While DeLay cha-chas on 'Dancing With the Stars,' he's in legal limbo off camera
(1 comments) The prosecution against DeLay and co-defendants John Colyandro and Jim Ellis has continued under Earle's Democratic successor, Rosemary Lehmberg. DeLay has portrayed himself as the target of a partisan Democratic prosecutor out to snare GOP office-holders, calling Earle a "runaway district attorney."

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
White House Pares Its Financial Reform Plan
The administration has dropped one provision in its plan for a consumer financial protection agency — a requirement for banks and other financial services companies to offer “plain vanilla” products, like 30-year fixed mortgages and low-interest, low-fee credit cards.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sarah Palin's pitch leaves Hong Kong unimpressed
(2 comments) Several audience members reportedly walked out of Ms Palin's speech 30 minutes before the end, citing “more important things to do” or describing the talk as “too partisan and too much like a speech at the Republican convention”.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Russia rejects Iran 'nuclear arms'
The apparent concord between Washington and Moscow on how best to address Iran's nuclear question comes days after the Obama administration announced that it would cancel plans to station missile interceptors and radar bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
US troops out of Afghanistan
Obama may merely be following his now familiar modus operandi: attempting to project an image of “change” while maintaining and deepening the right-wing policies of the previous administration and bowing to the demands of America's military-intelligence complex.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Obama gives Israel carte blanche on settlement construction
after repeated official statements of opposition and diplomatic visits by Middle East Envoy George Mitchell, Obama unceremoniously dumped the demand for a freeze. Abbas, whose attendance at the summit was widely denounced in the West Bank and Gaza, was effectively humiliated by Obama for his pains.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
McChrystal's Review Creates Divide on War in Afghanistan
(1 comments) Obama's public remarks on Afghanistan indicate that he has begun to rethink the counterinsurgency strategy he set in motion six months ago, even as his generals have embraced it.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Net neutrality: FCC proposes three new rules
The FCC's net neutrality guidelines would be a bill of rights for Internet users by prohibiting providers from blocking legal content or cutting connection speeds without explaining why.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Obama is reevaluating Afghanistan war strategy
One defense analyst who regularly advises the military and who spoke on condition of anonymity said the administration was suffering from "buyer's remorse for this war. They never really thought about what was required, and now they have sticker shock."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Obama's Media Offensive
The Post asked political experts what, if anything, President Obama has gained from his media offensive.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Iranian Nuclear Program Director: 'We Will Not Yield'
Ali Akbar Salehi, general director of the Iranian Nuclear Energy Organization, discusses demands placed by the West on Tehran, upcoming nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent UN Security Council members on Oct. 1 and the consequences of stricter sanctions.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
CBS fails to end Rather suit; Redstone may testify
A New York judge rejected CBS Corp's bid to dismiss former TV news anchor Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit claiming he was fired over a controversial election-year report on former President George W. Bush's Vietnam War-era military service.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Fed Rejects Geithner Request for Study of Governance, Structure
The Federal Reserve Board has rejected a request by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a public review of the central bank's structure and governance. Some top central bank officials, after agreeing to the review, saw a potential threat to Fed independence after the Treasury released the proposal.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Experts Debate Use of Vaccine Booster
Officials fear that using an adjuvant would raise public fears about vaccine safety at a time when their challenge might be about to shift from procuring enough vaccine to persuading people to use it. “If you add what the public would perceive as another unknown there, there's a concern that people would be reluctant to get vaccinated,"said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the Natl Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
"WE'RE SCREWED": TABLOID HEIST BLANKETS NEW YORK WITH TRUTH ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Although the 32-page New York Post is a fake, everything in it is 100% true, with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change experts.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Right-Wing Hatemongering Fueled by Christianity?
(2 comments) The fact is that if you're going to blame one group above all others for the willful ignorance and continuing ugliness of the response to President Obama the best candidate would be the evangelical/fundamentalist community.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Rep. Mike Ross Raises Eyebrows With Healthy Haul
the $420,000 was just the beginning of what Ross and his pharmacist wife, Holly, made from the sale of Holly's Health Mart. The owner of USA Drug, Stephen L. LaFrance Sr., also paid the Rosses $500,000 to $1 million for the pharmacy's assets and paid Holly Ross another $100,001 to $250,000 for signing a non-compete agreement.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Health Care Is Hazardous to Poll Numbers for Grassley, Other Senators
One of the things about the so-called Gang of Six -- the group of Senators to which Max Baucus issued an exclusive invitation to participate in health care negotiations -- is that each one started out the year in a place of seeming electoral invincibility. It now appears that, for some of these Senators, it's a good thing that they managed to bank some goodwill with the voters.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Dennis Loo -- Why Not Look Backwards, with Clarity
The inquiry's parameters should be widened to the higher-ups and apply some common sense, not get lost in picking out a couple of scapegoats and then demanding absurd levels of evidence.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009
November 2009 American Conservative -- Who's Afraid of Sibel Edmonds?
(1 comments) On Aug. 8, Sibel Edmonds was finally able to testify under oath in a court case filed in Ohio and agreed to an interview with The American Conservative based on that testimony. What follows is her own account of what some consider the most incredible tale of corruption and influence peddling in recent times.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Leaked UN report claims swine flu could "kill millions" and cause "anarchy" in poor nations by Mike Adams
(2 comments) this report is just another Big Pharma scam. It's designed to scare people into sending even more money to the drug companies to buy their drugs and vaccines.

Monday, September 21, 2009
The Forgotten Guantanamo: Prisoner Abuse Continues at Bagram Prison in Afghanistan
Obama has spoken out against CIA prisoner abuse and wants to close Guantanamo. But he tolerates the existence of Bagram military prison in Afghanistan, where more than 600 people are being held without charge. The facility makes Guantanamo look like a "nice hotel," in the words of one military prosecutor.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Secret interviews add insight to Clinton presidency
For historians wanting to plunge into the Clinton presidency, the unprecedented interviews will be invaluable, says Russell Riley, head of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. He calls their existence "a major historical event," though Clinton hasn't said when and under what conditions they might be available to scholars.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Wanted: A Senate health-care leader
Reid, whose poll numbers have sunk during his 2010 reelection bid, is under pressure back home to show he won't support a bill that could hurt Nevada. And last week he criticized the Baucus plan for placing too heavy of a burden on his state to help finance Medicaid programs.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Dead man walking: President Obama's request turns Gov. Paterson into lame duck
The governor may insist he intends to buck the White House and run in 2010, but President Obama has fixed it so Paterson is the lamest of lame ducks and virtually unable to accomplish anything that might resurrect his poll numbers.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Arianna Huffington: Barack Obama Must See Michael Moore's New Movie (and So Must You)!
(1 comments) Capitalism: A Love Story can't be dismissed as a left-wing tirade. Its condemnation of the status quo is too grounded in real stories and real suffering, its targets too evenly spread across the political spectrum.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Ousted leader returns to Honduras, defies arrest
Zelaya was forced out of the country at gunpoint on June 28. Interim leader Roberto Micheletti has repeatedly said a jail cell awaits Zelaya if he comes back. Most international leaders — including the United States and the Organization of American States — say they still recognize Zelaya as president and demand he be reinstated.

Monday, September 21, 2009
Marc Lynch -- The odd optics of the 'strategic review'
The leaked document contained little that we didn't already know from copious earlier leaks, op-eds, and background briefings -- but it certainly seems to have been leaked for a reason.

Monday, September 21, 2009
America has been here before | Eric Margolis
America's attempts to build an Afghan sepoy army of 250,000 failed miserably. The 80,000 men raised to date are 95% illiterate and only on the job for money to feed their families. They have no loyalty to the corrupt western-installed government in Kabul. CIA's 74,000 "contractors" (read mercenaries) in Afghanistan are more reliable.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
A Looming Battle Over the Patriot Act
A group of senators who support greater privacy protections filed a bill on Thursday that would impose new safeguards on the Patriot Act while tightening restrictions on other surveillance policies.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sam Kashner on The Death of a President
It has never gone away, the nightmare of November 22, 1963. Each time one revisits the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, “one hopes for once the story will be different—the car swerves, the bullets miss, and the splendid progress continues...

Sunday, September 20, 2009
U.S. calls UN report on Gaza war unfair to Israel
The State Department said the conclusions of a UN commission headed by South African Justice Richard Goldstone were unfair to Israel and did not fully deal with the role in the conflict of the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Frank Rich: Even Glenn Beck Is Right Twice a Day
Beck has notoriously defamed Obama as a “racist,” but the race card is just one in his deck. His ideology, if it can be called that, mixes idolatrous Ayn Rand libertarianism with bumper-sticker slogans about “freedom,” self-help homilies and lunatic conspiracy theories.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
CIA expanding presence in Afghanistan
The CIA is deploying teams of spies, analysts and paramilitary operatives to Afghanistan, part of a broad intelligence "surge" that will make its station there among the largest in the agency's history.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Taliban leader boasts of eventual victory in Afghanistan
The Taliban fight against American and NATO troops in Afghanistan "is forging ahead like a powerful flood," according to a purported online message posted Saturday by the Taliban's elusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Leader rejects US claims about Iranian missiles
"Claims that Iran is producing nuclear weapons are lies against the Islamic establishment. Because of its Islamic beliefs, Iran prohibits the production and use of nuclear weapons," the Leader Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
How Obama Flubbed His Missile Message - The Daily Beast
You GO, Ziggy -- “The Bush missile-shield proposal was based on a nonexistent defense technology, designed against a nonexistent threat, and designed to protect West Europeans, who weren't asking for the protection.”

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Obama Dances Around Whether Health Bill Has Tax Increases -- Politics Daily
The president appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press," ABC's "This Week," CNN's "State of the Union" and Univision's "Al Punto." Fox News was snubbed.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Middle East policy : Uri Avnery on the Goldstone report on the Gaza war
Except for the “usual suspects” (Gideon Levy, Amira Hass and their ilk), the condemnation of the report was unanimous, total and extreme, from Shimon Peres, that advocate of every abomination, down to the last scribbler in the newspapers.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Obama: Afghan troops decision can wait - Military Times
Obama said he's asking this question now of the military regarding his plan: "How does this advance America's national security interests? How does it make sure that al-Qaida and its extremist allies cannot attack the United States homeland, our allies, our troops who are based in Europe?"

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Obama replaces bluff with reality | The Australian
(1 comments) Obama has called their bluff. He has replaced nothing with something. Better still, he has turned this into a NATO project, not shady deals struck with this country or that. The new plan promises a real defence capability against an existing threat and to strengthen US alliances in the process.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Paul Krugman: Reform or Bust
Even as the rest of the nation continues to suffer from rising unemployment and severe hardship, Wall Street paychecks are heading back to pre-crisis levels.

Sunday, September 20, 2009
Commander Calls for More U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal says he needs additional troops within the next year or else the conflict “will likely result in failure.” The grim assessment is contained in a 66-page report submitted to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Aug 30 and is under review by Obama and his national security advisers.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
The rich still run the US | Mark Weisbrot
The most obvious current case is that of healthcare reform, where the powerful insurance, pharmaceutical and other lobbies are in the process of vetoing some of the most important parts of the healthcare reform that most Americans want and need.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
There's no denying Obama's race plays a role in protests | McClatchy
(3 comments) A number of people have gone out of their way to diss Obama, and that's a Southern thing, it's not a black thing. But what is it about Obama that they most want to diss? A lot of it has to do with his race.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance
Overall, researchers said American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Mass. Senate to Debate Kennedy Succession Bill on Monday
"Now that the House has given them cover, they [the senators] will pass it," said Daniel B. Payne, a longtime Democratic media consultant. "Other than Republicans rattling the cages, there doesn't seem to be much opposition."

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Inquiry Into CIA Practices Narrows
On Friday, seven former CIA directors urged President Obama to end the inquiry, arguing that it would inhibit intelligence operations in the future and demoralize agency employees who believed they had been cleared by previous investigators.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
First Lady Pushes Cause of Reform
Departing several times from her prepared remarks, Obama urged about 140 representatives of the health-care industry and women's groups to "mobilize like you've never mobilized before."

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Bob Herbert: The Scourge Persists
(1 comments) There is an increasingly unrestrained manifestation of racism directed toward Mr. Obama that is being fed by hate-mongers on talk radio and is widely tolerated, if not encouraged, by Republican Party leaders. It’s disgusting, and it’s dangerous. But it’s the same old filthy racism that has been there all along and that has been exploited by the G.O.P. since the 1960s.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Obama Asks Paterson to Quit New York Governor's Race - NYTimes.com
(1 comments) President Obama has sent a request to Gov. David A. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governor's race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Romney defends record as Huckabee wins straw poll
A day after former Baptist minister and likely presidential rival Mike Huckabee offered a withering critique of Mitt Romney's record, the former Massachusetts governor made his pitch to the same group of religious conservatives.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Perpetual Grief over September 11th | Foreign Policy Journal
And while one simply cannot pardon blind hate or terror, how can one honestly argue that the millions who perished in Iraq, prior to or following 9/11, ought not to be remembered on that day as well?

Saturday, September 19, 2009
U.S. calls UN Gaza report unfair to Israel
The State Department said the conclusions of a UN commission headed by South African Justice Richard Goldstone were unfair to Israel and did not fully deal with the role in the conflict of the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
US fails to broker deal with Israel over settlements
Nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Settlement on occupied land is illegal under international law and one of the key issues to be resolved in any Middle East peace deal.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Associated Press: Bombs kill Canadian, US troops in Afghanistan
A U.S. service member and a Canadian soldier died in separate roadside bomb explosions in southern Afghanistan, officials said Friday, announcing new deaths from a day that claimed the lives of a total of nine international troops.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
U.S. judge orders Kuwaiti held at Guantanamo freed
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered that Fouad Al Rabiah be released from the detention facility where he has been held for more than seven years.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
Fed Considers Sweeping Rules on Bank Pay
The Federal Reserve and the Treasury are preparing broad new rules that would force banks to rein in practices that made multimillionaires out of many financial executives during the housing bubble, officials said.

Saturday, September 19, 2009
BRAD BLOG : Corrupt U.S. Health Care System Far More Deadly Than Previously Realized
I would venture that the Founding Fathers of this nation would find the notion of a government willing to sacrifice the lives of so many to secure the wealth of so few as contrary to the very principles upon which they fought the American Revolution.

Friday, September 18, 2009
Israel Assembles Advanced Missile Defense Systems
As Israel pushes for international action against Iran's nuclear program, it is steadily assembling one of the world's most advanced missile defense systems, a multilayered collection of weapons meant to guard against everything from the shorter-range Grads that have been used to strike Israeli towns such as this one to intercontinental rockets.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Military Chief Says More Troops Needed for Afghan War
The nation's top military officer pushed back Tuesday against Democrats who oppose sending additional combat troops to Afghanistan, telling Congress that success would probably require more fighting forces, and certainly much more time.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Lawmakers' Intense Debate on Hot-Button Issues Shows No Signs of Easing
The searing politics of summer are showing no sign of abating and may be heading in the other direction as Congress struggles with a legislative agenda bristling with live-wire issues.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Michael Moore Takes on Reaganomics and Congressional Democrats in 'Capitalism'
"One of the important things to recognize in my films is that I always went after whoever needed to be gone after," he said. "But people will be surprised by how many Democrats I went after for being too close to big money."

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Baseline Scenario - Obama And Brandeis by Simon Johnson
The audience was comprised of our financial elite, but the Wall Street Journal reports “not one CEO from a top U.S. bank was in attendance” (p.A4). How's that for demonstrating respect, gratitude, and a willingness to behave better?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Jimmy Carter: 'Hamid Karzai Has Stolen the Election' in Afghanistan
(1 comments) “Hamid Karzai has stolen the election,” the former president told a small group of donors to his Carter Center in Atlanta. “Now the question is whether he gets away with it.”

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Religious Right Has-Beens Try for a Resurrection | | AlterNet
Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition will target white evangelical Christians but also reach out to new audiences, including Hispanics, blacks, women and young people. So far, the group's Web site is studded with the same shopworn Obama-bashing and far-right rhetoric that can be found on any number of conservative sites.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Obama Embraces Patriot Act; As Senator, He Was Skeptical
(1 comments) The administration wants Congress to keep the so-called "lone wolf" provision in place, which allows them to conduct surveillance of a terrorism suspect even if they don't know what country that person is acting on behalf of -- if any.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Judge tosses out Army captain's complaint questioning president's birth; Orly Taitz on notice
Judge Clay Land tossed out on Wednesday a complaint by an Army captain fighting deployment to Iraq by questioning the legitimacy of President Barack Obama. Land also put attorney Orly Taitz, a leader in the national “birther” movement, on notice by stating that she could face sanctions if she ever again files in his court a similar “frivolous” lawsuit.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Many Employers to Raise Cost of Health Benefits, Survey Finds
Forty percent of employers surveyed said they are likely to increase the amount their workers pay out of pocket for doctor visits. Almost as many said they are likely to raise annual deductibles and the amount workers pay for prescription drugs.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Rockefeller & Co CEO dies in apparent suicide
James McDonald, a prominent adviser to wealthy families as chief executive of investment management group Rockefeller & Co, was found with a single gunshot wound in his car near a strip mall in Dartmouth, Massachusetts on Sunday afternoon. Police are still investigating.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Mary Travers Of Peter, Paul and Mary Dies - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com
Mary Travers, whose ringing, earnest vocals with the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary made songs like “Blowin' in the Wind,” “If I Had a Hammer” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” died Wednesday night in Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Israel Rejects Call for Gaza Inquiry
Reflecting a broad consensus in Israel, the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, harshly criticized the report, calling it “a mockery of history” for failing “to distinguish between the aggressor and a state exercising its right for self-defense.”

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Obama Taking Wrong Course with Conditionality Approach to Cuba
By continuing an embargo that undermines American interests and even US national security, he chooses the continuity of failure over the opportunity for change and over his own principles.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
UN inquiry finds Gaza war crimes
The report said Israel deliberately attacked civilians, failed to take precautions to minimise loss of civilian life and cited strong evidence that Israeli forces committed "grave breaches" of the Geneva Convention.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
UN chief Peter Galbraith is removed in Afghanistan poll clash - Times Online
America's top diplomat at the United Nations mission in Afghanistan has been ordered out of the country after a row with his boss over how to respond to last month's fraud-riddled presidential elections.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
David Ray Griffin -- The Mysterious Collapse of WTC Seven
a scientist who formerly worked for NIST reported that it has been “fully hijacked from the scientific into the political realm.” Referring to NIST's work on the World Trade Center, he said everything had to be approved by the Department of Commerce, the National Security Agency,and the Office of Management and Budget--“an arm of the Executive Office of the President."

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Rights Group Assailed for Analyst's Nazi Collection - NYTimes.com
The group, Human Rights Watch, had initially thrown its full support behind the analyst, Marc Garlasco, when the news of his hobby came out last week. On Monday night, the group shifted course and suspended him with pay, “pending an investigation.”

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sen. Jay Rockefeller Dumps on Baucus' Bill and No Snowe Yet
Following up on his This Week appearance where he promised to fight on for the public option, Sen. Jay Rockefeller blasted the draft bill produced by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus: “there is no way in its present form that I vote for it unless it changes in the amendment process by vast amounts.”

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
James Traficant, Ohio Democrat, Mulls Reelection After Prison
"I'm not sure at this point," Traficant told CNN on Monday when asked if he would seek reelection. "Both parties would not want to see me in Washington, believe me" I was very controversial down there."

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Crucial Iran nuclear evidence 'covered up'
The IAEA has refused to acknowledge publicly significant evidence brought to its attention by Iran that the documents were fabricated, and has made little, if any, effort to test the authenticity of the intelligence documents. Iran has submitted serious evidence that the documents are fraudulent.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
'New' Bagram rules under fire
Tina Monshipour Foster, executive director of the International Justice Network (IJN), a legal advocacy group that represents four Bagram detainees in a pending federal court case, said appear to be exactly the same as the procedures created by the Bush administration in response to prior court challenges by Guantanamo detainees."

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
U.N. Finds Signs of War Crimes on Both Sides in Gaza
The report, the bulk of which focused on the Israeli violations, said that during the war, Israeli forces engaged in a deliberate policy of collective punishment in furtherance of “an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the Gaza population” through blockades and the destruction of food, water and sanitation systems of its people.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Israel readies for diplomatic war over 'biased' UN Gaza report
(1 comments) Israel began fighting the diplomatic battle Tuesday to prevent the Goldstone Commission report on Israel's Cast Lead Operation in the Gaza Strip from being brought before the United Nations Security Council and from there to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009
World News Australia - Shoe thrower fleeing to Greece
In his first remarks Zaidi - missing a front tooth - told reporters he had been tortured by electric shocks and simulated drowning while in custody. The reporter went into hiding after making his remarks "because we fear for his life," brother Uday said, before later telling AFP the reporter had flown out to Syria before heading to Athens for medical treatment.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Bin Laden warns US over Israel ties
(1 comments) Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, has released an audio address to the American people, warning them over their government's close ties to Israel.

Monday, September 14, 2009
U.S. Is Finding Its Role in Business Hard to Unwind
Obama plans to argue, his aides say, that these government intrusions will be temporary. At the same time, however, he will push hard for an increased government role in overseeing the financial system to prevent a repeat of the excesses that caused the crisis.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Iran nuclear talks set for October
Ahmadinejad had said that Iran was ready to talk about global issues. "Having peaceful nuclear technology is Iran's lawful and definite right and Iranians will not negotiate with anyone over their undeniable rights," he said.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Israel sees 'gaps' with US on peace
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has said that differences remain with the US over conditions needed to resume peace talks with the Palestinians. Washington has called for a complete settlement freeze, but the issue has proved a major sticking point.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Prosecutors in Iraq Case See Pattern by Guards
Private security guards who worked for Blackwater repeatedly shot wildly into the streets of Baghdad without regard for civilians long before they were involved in a 2007 shooting episode that left at least 14 Iraqis dead, federal prosecutors charge in a new court document.

Monday, September 14, 2009
News Analysis - A Somber Warning on Afghanistan
(1 comments) “We are running the risk of replicating — obviously unintentionally — the fate of the Soviets,” Brzezinski said in his speech Friday night. The presence of so many foreign troops underpins an Afghan perception that the Americans and their allies are hostile invaders and “suggests transformation of the conflict is taking place,” he added.

Monday, September 14, 2009
4 Deadly Delusions About Afghanistan Held by Obama's Top Advisors
(2 comments) In many ways Afghanistan is worse than Vietnam. So, it is increasingly hard to fathom why a seemingly intelligent American administration seems determined to hitch itself to this disaster in the making. It is almost as if there is something about that hard-edged Central Asian country that deranges its occupiers.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Obama Says New Financial Rules Needed as Crisis Eases
Obama called on Wall Street to “embrace” reforms, not fight them. “It is neither right nor responsible after you've recovered with the help of your government to shirk your obligation to the goal of wider recovery, a more stable system, and a more broadly shared prosperity.”

Monday, September 14, 2009
Prince Turki al-Faisal -- Land First, Then Peace
(1 comments) In order to achieve peace and a lasting two-state solution, Israel must be willing to give as well as take. A first step should be the immediate removal of all Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Only this would show the world that Israel is serious about peace and not just stalling as it adds more illegal settlers to those already occupying Palestinian land.

Monday, September 14, 2009
New York Residences Raided in Terrorism Probe - ABC News
New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne confirmed that searches were conducted in the borough of Queens by agents of a joint terrorism task force. He would not discuss the matter further.

Monday, September 14, 2009
State Department Has Rocky History of Managing Guard Contracts
Lawmakers and watchdog groups are questioning how the department could have continued to employ a company that, in addition to tolerating bullying and understaffing, failed to ensure that its guards had proper security clearances and sufficient equipment--or that they spoke English.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Time to poll Israelis on continuing occupation
(1 comments) Occupation is not on the Israeli agenda. Not a single Jewish MK in today's Knesset ran on a ticket calling for an end to the occupation. The media, too, is doing everything it can to blur and suppress this issue.

Monday, September 14, 2009
Israel: Won't accept 'complete freeze' on settlement building
(5 comments) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that there will not be a complete freeze on settlement building and that building in Jerusalem will proceed as usual. Netanyahu complained "at the same time that we are taking steps to get things started, the other side is making their position more extreme."

Monday, September 14, 2009
Patrick Swayze, Star of ‘Dirty Dancing,' Dies at 57
Patrick Swayze, the balletically athletic actor who rose to stardom in the films “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” and whose 20-month battle with advanced pancreatic cancer drew wide attention, died Monday. He was 57.

Monday, September 14, 2009
PolitiFact | Bloggers claim photo shows millions at "tea party" protest
Supporters of Saturday's “tea party” protests against President Barack Obama were quick to highlight their big turnout. It turns out the photo of the sprawling crowd is more than 10 years old, apparently taken during a 1997 Promise Keepers rally.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
In Climate Change Debate, McCain Largely Disengages as Kerry Goes Full Throttle - washingtonpost.com
McCain is barely engaged in the issue beyond criticizing the climate bill passed by the House, while Kerry has emerged as one of the chamber's leading dealmakers.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Pepe Escobar - Enduring Freedom until 2050
Add 52,000 US troops and no less than a staggering 68,000 US contractors as of late March - don't even count NATO - and soon there will be more Americans wallowing in the Afghan mire than Soviets at their occupation peak during the 1980s.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Lawmaker won't apologize to Obama in Congress
Calling his outburst on Wednesday evening "a town hall moment," Wilson told "Fox News Sunday" that since his apology to the president had already been accepted, he did not plan to apologize on the House floor as Democrats have demanded.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Toxic Waters - Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering
chemical factories, manufacturing plants and other workplaces have violated water pollution laws more than half a million times. The violations range from failing to report emissions to dumping toxins at concentrations regulators say might contribute to cancer, birth defects and other illnesses.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Christopher Kelly, a Blagojevich Fund-Raiser, Dies at 51
Kelly, 51, who had once been Mr. Blagojevich's top fund-raiser, died at a local hospital early Saturday after arriving there by ambulance. Officials at the Cook County medical examiner's office said they had been informed of the death but had yet to determine a cause. An autopsy was scheduled for Sunday.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Maureen Dowd - Boy, Oh, Boy
(3 comments) Wilson's shocking disrespect for the office of the president — no Democrat ever shouted “liar” at W. when he was hawking a fake case for war in Iraq — convinced me: Some people just can't believe a black man is president and will never accept it.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Canadians scale back planned military demo in DC
A planned Canadian military demonstration that would have included simulated bomb blasts within blocks of the White House and the Capitol, has been scaled back after media reports focused on the explosive elements. Thursday, the Canadian defense minister decided not to include the IED blast in its program or do anything else to scare the general population.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
W's Proposed Visit to Canada: Anti-Bush protests
(2 comments) Bush, the former U.S. president, speaks in Saskatoon Oct. 21 at TCU Place. A group of city residents has already organized a movement against one of the most divisive figures in recent history. Peter Garden, owner of Turning the Tide Bookstore, said, "If there was any justice in this world, he'd land at the Saskatoon airport and be placed in handcuffs."

Sunday, September 13, 2009
What Role Did The U.S.-Israeli-Relationship Play In 9-11?
(1 comments) Only one nation had the means, motive, opportunity and stable nation state intelligence required to take the U.S. to war in the Middle East while also making it appear that Islam is the problem. If Barack Obama continues to defer to Tel Aviv, he can rightly be blamed when the next attack occurs in the U.S. or the European Union featuring the usual orgy of evidence pointing to a predetermined target.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Official: U.S. revokes visas of Honduran president, 15 others - CNN.com
The U.S. State Department recently announced that it would pull the visas of members of Honduras' de facto regime. In recent weeks, the United States has stepped up its call for the current Honduran government to restore ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya to power.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Schwarzenegger to Veto Renewable Energy Bills
Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said Saturday that he would veto legislation requiring a third of California's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, choosing instead to mandate the change through an executive order.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Rise of the Professional Blogger - The Atlantic
(1 comments) The blogosphere was supposed to democratize publishing and empower the little guy. Turns out, the big blogs are all run by The Man.

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Obama Administration Appears Poised for Talks With Iran
State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley told reporters that Iran's lack of interest in addressing its nuclear program is not a reason to refuse to talk. "If we have talks, we will plan to bring up the nuclear issue," he said.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Washington Sketch: Coast Guard Training on Sept. 11 Was Exercise in Embarrassment - washingtonpost.com
There were no intruders, no suspicious boats, no guns and no shots. After half an hour of chaos, red-faced Coast Guard officials explained that they had undertaken a routine training exercise -- the sort that occur on the river about four times a week.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
The extreme Republican Party - The Boston Globe
We now have an entire political party that is not only dedicated to the mediocre. It is dedicated to the nearly deranged. We have one party that is severely compromised by its ties to big money, and another party that is just plain nuts.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
14 Things You Need to Know About Obama Heckler, Rep. Joe Wilson | | AlterNet
Joe "You Lie!" Wilson was mentored by notorious racist Strom Thurmond, he's taken hundreds of thousands from the health industry, and "Joe" isn't even his real name.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Bob Herbert: The Wild Card
There's a wild card out there undermining the chances for real reform, and it's not the crazies who have been disrupting health care forums. It's ordinary working men and women who are worried that the big new plans that the Democrats have in store may not be in their best interests — and may not be affordable.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Obama Faces Hard Afghan Choice
In addition to the theories of generals and diplomats, the President and Congress may wish to pay careful attention to the words of an Afghan villager named Ghafoor. He told a correspondent for The Economist, "We need security. But the Americans are just making trouble for us. They cannot bring peace, not if they stay for 50 years."

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Shimon Peres hospitalised
Shimon Peres was answering questions from a crowd after a talk on young leadership when he passed out late on Saturday, paramedics told Israeli media.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Concord Monitor - Marines' trust-building game turns deadly
It was time for a game Marines sometimes play to build confidence in colleagues: Point a gun at a comrade and ask, "Do you trust me?" Damian Malone believes his son's unit hid the game from their superiors and claimed they were building trust within the team. But the practice amounts to a form of hazing that should be wiped out of the military, he said.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Van Jones' Resignation Means it's Time for Us All to Work Harder
Van was a powerful spokesperson on the potential of clean energy policies to save our environment and create green jobs that provide people with a pathway out of poverty. We cannot let Glenn Beck's petty politics of personal destruction distract from the real work that needs to be done to create new jobs in the clean energy economy.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Series of attacks hit Afghanistan - Five US Troops Killed
Dozens of Afghan civilians, troops and police, and five US soldiers, have been killed in a wave of violence around Afghanistan.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
US Gives New Rights to Afghan Prisoners
Hundreds of prisoners held by the U.S. military in Afghanistan will for the first time have the right to challenge their indefinite detention and call witnesses in their defense under a new review system being put in place this week.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
91 former attorneys general support convicted Alabama governor, cite First Amendment issues
Ninety-one former attorneys general from U.S. states and territories asked the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to hear former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman's appeal of his federal bribery conviction, claiming it raises important issues on political speech.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
ANALYSIS / Clock ticking for Iran as Israel appears ready for strike
(1 comments) the moment of truth will arrive at some point between the end of 2009 and the middle of 2010: Should Iran be attacked? American experts agree that this would involve an Israeli strike. It is very unlikely that Obama will be the one dispatching American planes to Natanz.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Mobiles and cancer: the plot thickens
Evidence is increasing that radiation from handsets presents a cancer hazard, particularly to children and to those who use their phones for more than a decade.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Court dismisses Iraqi contractor torture case
A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against two U.S. defense contractors by Iraqi torture victims, saying the companies had immunity as government contractors.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Attorney General Holder decides not to charge former Bush Justice Department official
Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich said Holder oversaw an "extensive" review of the Schlozman matter. Holder found the alleged conduct of Schlozman disturbing, but ultimately chose to defer to the prosecutors' original decision not to bring charges.

Saturday, September 12, 2009
Hayden Named to Public Interest Declass Board | Secrecy News
If one were searching for an individual to represent the public interest in promoting declassification of government records, the first name that came to mind would probably not be Michael V. Hayden. As NSA and CIA Director he was integral to the practice of classification in its latest and most decadent phase.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Remember 9/11, remember Guantánamo | Andy Worthington
(1 comments) In Guantánamo, 225 men remain imprisoned, ostensibly in connection with the 9-11 attacks, or with the "war on terror" that followed, even though, in all but a few dozen cases, they have never been charged with any crime, and only one man (Ali Hamza al-Bahlul) has been tried and convicted.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Coast Guard Exercise on Potomac River Raises Fears
“FBI was not notified, and when we heard it on the news we responded the way we would to any incident,” said Katherine Schweit, FBI spokeswoman. The Federal Aviation Administration stopped flights from nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Whistleblowers Unveil More ArmorGroup Allegations
ArmorGroup was aware of widespread fraud; intentional use of non-English speaking guards to save money at the expense of embassy security; operations of a shell corporation in order to win contracts intended only for American companies; and even involvement in prostitution — and that the State Department knew about at least some of the company's illicit practices.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Eight Years after 9/11: The Bloody Legacy of Cheney's Failures
He blames the unfortunate turn of events of the past few years on George W. Bush, the man who greatly disappointed him during his second term in office by ignoring his advice. As Cheney reportedly sees it, Bush showed moral weakness and failed to realize that the focus of all considerations needed to stay on the "war on terror."

Friday, September 11, 2009
SONIC WEAPONS USED IN IRAQ POSITIONED AT CONGRESSIONAL TOWNHALL MEETINGS IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY | East County Magazine
The device, an LRAD 500-x manufactured by San Diego-based American Technology Corporation (ATC), is capable of use as an effective loudspeaker, but also has the ability to emit a deafening tone aimed at incapacitating and dispersing a crowd without use of lethal force. It was stationed at a recent town hall forum for Rep. Susan Davis (D-San Diego) and at a town hall with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-San Diego).

Friday, September 11, 2009
The New Israel Lobby - NYTimes Magazine
(1 comments) No country, whether Israel or Cuba, has identical interests to those of the United States. And yet mainstream American Jewish groups had implicitly agreed to subordinate their own views to those of the government in Jerusalem. J.J. Goldberg, editorial director of The Forward, the Jewish weekly: “We stick with Israel regardless of our own judgment.”

Friday, September 11, 2009
Perry Sends Rangers To Texas-Mexico Border
Special teams of Texas Rangers will be deployed to the Texas-Mexico border to deal with increasing violence because the federal government has failed to address growing problems there, Gov. Rick Perry said.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Iran Proposes Control System Aimed at Eliminating Nuclear Weapons
(1 comments) Iran is not prepared to discuss halting its uranium enrichment program in response to Western demands but is proposing instead a worldwide control system aimed at eliminating nuclear weapons, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's top political aide said in an interview Thursday.

Friday, September 11, 2009
U.S. to Accept Iran's Proposal to Hold Talks
The Obama administration said Friday that the United States would accept Iran's offer to meet, fulfilling President Obama's pledge to hold unconditional talks despite the Iranian government's insistence that it would not negotiate over the future of its nuclear program.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Swine Flu Vaccine Will Be Too Late to Prevent Pandemic, Experts Say
Epidemiologists are warning that even though the new swine flu vaccine works much better than expected, it will still come too late to blunt the peak of this season's pandemic.

Friday, September 11, 2009
Jeter Passes Gehrig as Yankees Hits Leader - NYTimes.com
HOORAY! Jeter accomplished the milestone 24 years to the day after Pete Rose passed Ty Cobb to become baseball's career hits leader. Jeter, 35, has more hits than Rose did at the same age. Rose played until age 45 and finished with 4,256 hits.

Friday, September 11, 2009
President Obama Racially Attacked on the Hebrew Media
A similar attack on the Israeli Prime Minister cannot be published on the Israeli media. It would be censored. Also, mentioning such a publishing by, let's say, Al-Jazeera would lead to them being blamed of being anti-Semitic by the ADL or any other similar organization. In Israel, racism is relative.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
E.J. Dionne Jr. - At Long Last, Obama Fires Back on Health Reform
The president sought to revive the enthusiasm of his base by insisting that his principles, including his belief in the public plan, remained intact and that any compromises would be undertaken with an eye toward advancing his, and his base's, larger purposes.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
U.S. Says Iran Could Expedite Nuclear Bomb
(1 comments) American intelligence agencies have concluded in recent months that Iran has created enough nuclear fuel to make a rapid, if risky, sprint for a nuclear weapon. But new intelligence reports delivered to the White House say that the country has deliberately stopped short of the critical last steps to make a bomb.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Mount Vernon Journal - Firebrand's Hometown Up in Arms Over Award
(1 comments) The question many residents here are asking is whether giving Mr. Beck the key — a decision made unilaterally by Mount Vernon's mayor, Bud Norris — is the right thing to do. “Why him?” many people wonder. “Why now?”

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Cellphone radiation levels vary widely, watchdog report says
Some cellphones emit several times more radiation than others, the Environmental Working Group found in one of the most exhaustive studies of its kind.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Another Mysterious Electrocution Death in Iraq
The military medical examiner told Hermanson's wife the cause of death was a low-voltage electrocution. "When I got the call I was told that he was found in a shower, and now I am getting told that there was even still electrical current on the shower floor when they found him," she said

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Israel's laws of persecution | Nimer Sultany
The current right-wing government is seeking to condition citizenship on loyalty to Zionist ideology, a demand unparalleled in any democracy and contrary to the most basic of human rights.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Treasury: Millions more foreclosures coming
Only 12 percent of U.S. homeowners eligible for loan modifications under the Obama administration's housing rescue plan have had their mortgages reworked, and millions more foreclosures are coming, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
UN: Settlement construction "contrary to int'l law"
Two days after Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved the construction of 455 news housing units in the West Bank, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said Israel's plans to continue building in settlements were "contrary to international law."

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Pregnant women taking part in new H1N1 vaccination trials
(1 comments) Pregnant women are usually exempt from medical research that doesn't involve issues related to pregnancy to protect them, and their fetuses, from dangerous side effects of drugs. But flu vaccines have long been used during pregnancy, and they are considered safe, Fauci says.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
Eight years after 9/11 Taliban now have a permanent presence in 80% of Afghanistan - International Council on Security a
The Taliban now have a permanent presence in 80% of Afghanistan, up from 72% in November 2008, according to a new map released today by the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS). According to ICOS, another 17% of Afghanistan is seeing ‘substantial' Taliban activity. Taken together, these figures show that the Taliban has a significant presence in virtually all of Afghanistan.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
New US spy report verifies Iran stance
The new intelligence information collected by the Obama administration once again confirmed the original reports' findings by asserting that there was no convincing evidence to prove Iran's nuclear work was in any way military.

Thursday, September 10, 2009
In US, nearly 40 million people in poverty
Last year's poverty rate of 13.2 percent was the highest since 1997, and its rise to over 12.5 percent in 2007 was the first significant bump in four years, said the US Census Bureau's latest report. The number of Americans who lived in poverty also rose last year, from 37.3 million people in 2007 to 39.8 million people in 2008.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
First Blood: GOP vs. Van Jones & Team Obama
They do not believe in democracy. They believe in power. White power. They believe in the past. They are Afrikaners, and it's about time we started calling them that.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Steven Pearlstein - It's Time for Obama to Rise Above the Partisan Health-Care Debate
By signaling that he was willing to stand up to some interests but not others, Obama gave up the moral and political high ground that would have made the opponents of reform look "small" by contrast.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Times Reporter Is Freed in Afghan Raid That Kills Aide
Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter held captive by militants in northern Afghanistan, was freed in a military commando raid early Wednesday, but his Afghan interpreter, a British commando and an Afghan woman were killed in the raid.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
'We're pinned down:' 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush
U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Iraqi shoe thrower Muntazer al-Zaidi inundated with offers and gifts
Next Monday, when the journalist walks out of prison, his 10 raging seconds, which came to define his country's last six miserable years, are set to take on a new life even more dramatic than the opening act.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Spanish Judge Resumes Torture Case Against Six Senior Bush Lawyers
Spain's Judge Baltasar Garzón is pressing ahead with a case against six senior Bush administration lawyers for implementing torture at Guantánamo.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Kids Didn't Hear Obama, But Will Be Bussed for Bush
(3 comments) You can't make this stuff up -- The Arlington Independent School District, which passed on airing President Barack Obama's live classroom address, has announced that some students will be bussed off campus to hear a message from former President George W. Bush on Sept. 21.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Liposuction leftovers make easy stem cells: study
Fat sucked out of chunky thighs or flabby bellies might provide an easy source of stem cells made using new and promising technology, U.S. researchers reported. "Not only can we start with a lot of cells, we can reprogram them much more efficiently," said Dr. Joseph Wu, who worked on the study.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Antiviral Drugs Should Be Used Cautiously to Fight Flu, U.S. Says
"Antiviral medicines are a critical part of our tool kit in countering influenza, both the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus and seasonal flu strains," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said. "Most children, adolescents and adults who have influenza-like illness do not need antiviral medicine."

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Defense Secretary Gates Reaffirms U.S. Commitment to Afghanistan
Gates acknowledged in the interview with al-Jazeera that the heavier fighting and growing number of casualties in Afghanistan have weakened public support for the war. "There is a sort of war awareness on the part of the American people," Gates said.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Israeli PM in 'secret' Russia visit over Iran
Amid rumors in the Israeli media about the mysterious disappearance of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reports reveal that he made a secret visit to Moscow to discuss Russian arms sales to Iran and Syria.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Marred Afghan Vote Leaves U.S. in a Delicate Spot
The slim majority tentatively awarded Mr. Karzai in Afghanistan's fraud-scarred election has put the Obama administration in an awkward spot: trying to balance its professed determination to investigate mounting allegations of corruption and vote-rigging while not utterly alienating Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Daily Kos: Baucus Plan Would Gut State-Level Insurance Industry Regulation
Even the most outgunned conservative on a talking head debate can vomit up “let people take their insurance across state lines to increase competition!” It sounds reasonable. But there's a very good reason why it would quickly turn into a nightmare, and you can see it in the examples of Delaware and South Dakota.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Military leery of Afghanistan escalation with no clear goals
Although recent polls have found public support for the war in Afghanistan ebbing, aides said the president is committed to the effort but aware of the need to avoid wading into a quagmire. Obama, of course, inherited a war without a strategy.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Bush White House Sought to Soften Treaty on 'Enforced Disappearances'
From 2003 to 2006, the Bush administration quietly tried to relax the draft language of a treaty meant to bar and punish "enforced disappearances" so that those overseeing the CIA's secret prison system would not be criminally prosecuted under its provisions.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Last orders for troops arriving for daily duty with hangovers
After a Nato airstrike killed as many as 125 people last week, Gen Stanley McChrystal was keen to get the situation under control — fast. When he tried to contact his underlings to find out what had happened, however, he found, to his fury, that many of them were either drunk or too hungover to respond.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
UN wants new global currency to replace dollar
The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world's monetary system since the Second World War.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Iran will not surrender nuclear rights
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced that Tehran's “undeniable” nuclear rights are non-negotiable and nuclear talks with global powers in the future would be narrowed down to “cooperation on peaceful use of atomic energy” and “non-proliferation."

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
10 of the Most Obscenely Stupid Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories and Attacks Against the President | | AlterNet
Since Patrick Henry isn't around, it was up to Rush Limbaugh to sound the rallying cry against tyranny: "Leave our penises alone, too, Obama!" roared Limbaugh in a July 24 radio broadcast.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Big Business's Hidden Hand in the Smear Job on Van Jones
(3 comments) If you thought the targeting of Van Jones for vilification by the right was about his race, his youthful flirtation with socialism, or a petition he signed about the 9/11 attacks, you'd only be a little bit right.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Bob Herbert: It's Time to Get Help
There is no end to the craziness. The entire Republican Party has decided that it is in favor of absolutely nothing. The president's stimulus package? No way. Health care reform? Forget about it. There is not a thing you can come up with that the GOP is for. Sunshine in the morning? Harry Reid couldn't persuade a single Senate Republican to vote yes.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Mr. President, We Need a Fighter to Take on the Deranged Right-Wing
(1 comments) Those crackpots on the right praying for Obama to die and be sent to hell — they're the warp and woof of home-grown nuttiness. So is the creature from the Second Amendment who showed up at the President's rally armed to the teeth. He's certainly one of us. Red, white, and blue kooks are as American as apple pie and conspiracy theories.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Health Compromise Floated Before Obama Speech
Why is Max Baucus Calling the Shots on Healthcare "Reform" That We All Know Will Only End Up Enriching the Insurance Companies?

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The World from Berlin: 'Germany Has Become a Warring Party under US Command'
It's high time the German government mapped out a clear plan for withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, write German media commentators. Shocked by last Friday's deadly air strike, voters in Germany want a new strategy that will lead to a pullout.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Israeli Company Lands US Patent That Could Make Internet Search Giants Pay
Aviv Refuah, the young CEO of the public Israeli company Netex Corporation, has managed to score a US patent on an internet search option developed by the company he founded that could well force major Internet search players like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to cough up royalties for future use of the technology.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Killing America's Kids by Fred Reed
Photographs are death to a war, boys and girls. They can asphyxiate a war faster than roadside bombs can even dream. Gates does not want the sprawling somnolent inattentive beast, the public, to see what his wars really are.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Our Gift of Silence
The lack of subtlety in Israel's policy of aggression and land theft towards the Palestinians can only be attributed to our gift of silence, one for which the Israelis' are appreciative and fully exploitive of.

Monday, September 7, 2009
An Army of Home-Schooled "Christian Soldiers" On a Mission to "Take Back America for God" | | AlterNet
When ignorant people come up, make sure you explain things in such a way that they would feel largely stupid to register Democrat. In other words, tell the truth. :)

Monday, September 7, 2009
5 Reasons Why Van Jones and Progressives are Better Off With Jones Out of the White House
(1 comments) Part of what made Jones popular was telling it like it is. Jones inspired audiences, especially young people, with the notion that a radical vision, combined with innovative ideas and fundamental organizing, could work in tandem with our political system.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Aid group says U.S. troops raid Afghan hospital
"Upon entering the hospital they tied up four employees and two family members of patients at the hospital. SCA staff as well as patients (even those in beds) were forced out of rooms/wards throughout the search," the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan (SCA) said in a statement.

Monday, September 7, 2009
E.J. Dionne - Campaign Finance Case Tests Value of Precedent
(2 comments) The full impact of what the court could do in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has only begun to receive the attention it deserves. Even the word "radical" does not capture the extent to which the justices could turn our political system upside down.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Despite Slump, U.S. Role as Top Arms Supplier Grows
Despite a recession that knocked down global arms sales last year, the United States expanded its role as the world's leading weapons supplier, increasing its share to more than two-thirds of all foreign armaments deals.

Monday, September 7, 2009
The continual selling of the Afghanistan war
The only “necessity” that draws the United States to Afghanistan is the need for oil and gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea area, the establishment of military bases in this country that is surrounded by the oil-rich Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf regions, and making it easier to watch and pressure next-door Iran.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Former Rep. Joseph Kennedy Nixes Senate Campaign - NYTimes.com
In a statement, the former six-term congressman said he cares about those seeking decent housing, fair wages and health care. But he added, "The best way for me to contribute to those causes is by continuing my work at Citizens Energy Corp."

Monday, September 7, 2009
Israel Approves Settlement Construction - NYTimes.com
Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak, authorized plans for 455 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Monday. The White House denounced the approvals last week, when news of Israel's intention to grant them emerged.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Obama: Health insurers must profit
(1 comments) "I want a health insurance system that works as well for the American people as it does for the insurance industry. "They should be free to make a profit. But they also have to be fair," Obama said.

Monday, September 7, 2009
Jonathan Cook: Israeli Ads Warn Against Marrying Non-Jews
The Israeli government has launched a television and internet advertising campaign urging Israelis to inform on Jewish friends and relatives abroad who may be in danger of marrying non-Jews.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
BREAKING: White House Adviser Van Jones Resigns Amid Controversy Over Past Activism
Jones, a towering figure in the environmental movement, had worked for the White House Council on Environmental Quality since March. He was a civil-rights activist in California before turning his focus to environmental and energy issues, and he won wide praise before joining the Obama administration for articulating a broad vision of a green economy.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Barack Obama to Cindy Sheehan: Get Lost
While there was no time for Cindy, the Obamas did make it a point to pay a highly publicized visit to another mom, Lisa X, who had lost her son in Obama's AfPak war. But protest the senseless death of your son in the Iraq war, and you get the bum's rush at Obama's gate.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Jimmy Carter - The Elders' View of the Middle East
We found a growing sense of concern and despair among those who observe, as we did, that settlement expansion is continuing apace, rapidly encroaching into Palestinian villages, hilltops, grazing lands, farming areas and olive groves.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Missing Link In Palestinian Organ Theft?
The families' fears that relatives killed by the Israeli army had body parts removed during unauthorised autopsies have been overshadowed by accusations of “blood libel” directed against reporter Donald Bostrom and the Aftonbladet newspaper, as well as the Swedish government. Israel's sensitivity to the allegation of organ theft appears to trump the genuine concerns of the families about possible abuse of their loved ones.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Exposed: The Carlyle Group: Shocking documentary uncovers the subversion of Americas democracy
(2 comments) Got 48 minutes? Care about the depth of corruption and deceit within the highest ranks of our government? Then watch this documentary about the Carlyle Group and its shameful activities.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
McChrystal tries to calm Afghans after air strike
(1 comments) Village elders said 50 people were buried in Yaqoubi and 70 more in nearby villages, although Afghan officials and the Red Cross say the precise death toll may never be known. The NATO strike was condemned by several European officials at a meeting of European foreign ministers in Stockholm.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Obama administration resists efforts to reveal information on terrorist watch list
(1 comments) Rights groups say that if White House officials get their way, it would make it difficult for people who have been improperly included on terrorist watch lists to challenge the government.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
MPs demand tighter controls on security companies in Iraq
A Foreign Office inquiry exonerated a British security company's vetting and weapons-safety procedures just before one of its private soldiers with a criminal record and history of mental illness shot dead two colleagues during a drunken row in Baghdad last month.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Ramzy Baroud: U.S. audacity of hope falters
The U.S. has decided to be ‘flexible' regarding its once touted call for a total Israeli freeze on the expansion of its occupied territories' settlements, all illegal under international law.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Israel approving new West Bank construction
Israel defied U.S. pressure to halt construction in its West Bank settlements Sunday, with key leaders speaking out in support of the contentious enclaves and preparing to sign orders to allow building of hundreds of new housing units there.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Canada to stage mock Afghan attack in Washington
(1 comments) Simulated IED blasts will bring the Afghan war–and Canada's combat role in Kandahar–home to Americans if an elaborate scheme based on modern training realism attracts widespread attention. In Washington, the staged Taliban attack in front of the imposing Canadian embassy in its prominent location may similarly require advance notification of the public.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Back to Business - Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance - Series - NYTimes.com
The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die. Chilling...

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Whistleblower ousted after exposé
A whistleblower was forced to resign after he helped a government watchdog organization expose the scandalous behavior of security contractors guarding the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Nat Hentoff: What is the CIA still hiding about interrogations?
What is the CIA hiding? Keep in mind that of the 109 pages on the widely discussed CIA inspector general report, 36 pages were completely blacked out, and 30 more were largely blacked out (ABC News, Aug 25). We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
CIA Atrocities Revealed to a National Shrug
To Holder's credit, he has appointed a special prosecutor. To his discredit, the focus of the investigation is narrow: he will only go after officials who went beyond the Bush Administration's over-the-top torture directives. He does not plan to go after the worst criminals, who are the Bush Administration lawyers and officials, including Bush and Cheney themselves, who ordered the war crimes.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Taliban's Tank-Killing Bombs Came from U.S., Not Iran
(2 comments) According to the Pentagon agency responsible for combating roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, the increased Taliban threat to US and NATO vehicles comes not from any new technology from Iran but from Italian-made mines left over from the US Central Intelligence Agency's military assistance to the anti-Soviet jihadists in the 1980s.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Iran: U.S. forged documents about our nuclear program
Iran accused the U.S. on Friday of using forged documents and relying on subterfuge to make its case that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, according to a confidential letter obtained by The Associated Press.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
U.S. 'regrets' Netanyahu plan to approve new West Bank homes
(3 comments) The White House on Friday said it "regretted" reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to approve of the construction of hundreds of new housing units in West Bank settlements. The source from the prime minister's bureau said Thursday night that the premier informed U.S. officials of his decision to authorize the construction a few weeks ago.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Finance Committee Chairman Wants Accord From Negotiators on Health Care
Sen. Max Baucus pressured his team of health-care negotiators on Friday to agree to a bipartisan overhaul plan before President Obama addresses Congress next week, warning that otherwise he will put forward his own proposal. Some Democrats are urging Obama to cease courting Republicans and to attempt to pass a Senate bill solely with Democratic votes, to preserve the public option in its full form.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
White House Says Little About Embattled Jones
Jones, a legendary figure in the environmental movement, has worked for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, as special adviser for green jobs, since March. He was a civil rights activist in California before turning his focus to environmental and energy issues, and he won wide praise before joining the Obama administration for articulating a broad vision of a green economy Democrats could embrace.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Appeals Court Says Ex-Detainee Can Sue Ashcroft, Rejects Legal-Immunity Claims - washingtonpost.com
Judges Milan D. Smith Jr. and David R. Thompson disagreed, writing that Ashcroft was not entitled to absolute legal immunity and that authorities had detained al-Kidd in part to conduct an investigation of his activities, without probable cause.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Afghanistan Isn't Worth One More American Life by Joe Galloway
We no longer have a vital national security interest or a clearly attainable goal in Afghanistan. Our stated goal is to deny any future sanctuary to al-Qaida in Afghanistan — but al-Qaida isn't based in Afghanistan and hasn't been for years.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Iran thanks IAEA for 'resisting pressure'
Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh, said Iran along with many other member states shared the view that the IAEA 'resisted the political pressure' by a few of Western countries trying to derail the agency from its 'professional technical mandate'.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
'Taliban' kidnap NYT reporter in Afghanistan
A New York Times journalist who was visiting the site of the deadly NATO airstrike in north Afghanistan along with his interpreter have been kidnapped. A regional Taliban commander has said that the Taliban leadership would decide on their fate.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Bob Herbert: Reliving the Past
Watching the American escalation of the war in Afghanistan is like watching helplessly as someone you love climbs into a car while intoxicated and drives off toward a busy highway. No good can come of it.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Israel Pursues a Settler Plan No One Seems to Like
Israeli officials said Friday that the government would authorize building hundreds of housing units in West Bank settlements, and that it then expected to freeze construction for six to nine months in anticipation of restarting peace talks with the Palestinians.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Middle East Firestorm Ahead
There is a firestorm ahead in the Middle East for which neither the US government nor the US public is prepared. They seem scarcely aware how close it is on the horizon or how ferocious it will be.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
A Few Good Kids? | Mother Jones MUST read
In the past few years, the military has mounted a virtual invasion into the lives of young Americans. Using data mining, stealth websites, career tests, and sophisticated marketing software, the Pentagon is harvesting and analyzing information on everything from high school students' GPAs and SAT scores to which video games they play. A recruiter knows more about kids' habits than do their own parents.

Saturday, September 5, 2009
Could Texas' Gingrich-Based High School History Curriculum Go National? | TPMMuckraker
(2 comments) Approved textbooks, the standards say, must teach the Texan student to "identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly, and the Moral Majority." No analogous liberal figures or groups are required.

Friday, September 4, 2009
Afghanistan 'air raid' kills scores
At least 60 people have been killed in a suspected US air raid in northern Afghanistan, government sources say.

Friday, September 4, 2009
New Jersey's largest city cuts water to working class households
The decline of manufacturing and the wholesale abandonment of the working class by the trade unions have left working class families to confront unemployment and poverty largely on their own. Falling incomes and rising debts force families to choose between paying water bills or buying food or medication or paying their rent or mortgage payments.

Friday, September 4, 2009
White House to reveal visitor names
President Obama said Friday the change follows a lengthy legal review. The policy change resolves four lawsuits filed by a watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), against the Obama and Bush administrations seeking details on White House meetings.

Friday, September 4, 2009
Scandalous Images from Kabul: Guards at US Embassy Organized Humiliating Sex Games - SPIEGEL ONLINE
(1 comments) Photos of embassy guards holding sex parties in Kabul have caused a stir in Washington. Some of the men involved claim they were forced to participate by their supervisors at the ArmorGroup security firm. The scandal could yet again call into question the role of private contractors in US military missions.

Friday, September 4, 2009
Zelaya Speaks
In a significant development in hemispheric relations, the Obama admininstration yesterday condemned the June 28 Honduras coup d'état more strongly than ever, announced the cutoff of additional millions in economic aid and declared it would not accept the legitimacy of elections under the auspices of the coup government.

Friday, September 4, 2009
Don't Be Fooled by the Public Option
The fight over the public option has occupied much of the media coverage, but left unsaid is the fact that weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations have weakened the public option proposal to the point that it is hardly an option at all.

Friday, September 4, 2009
Eugene Robinson - Medical Professionals Owe Torture Accounting
"Health professionals played central roles in developing, implementing and providing justification for torture." Dwell on that for a moment, especially if you believe that the Bush administration's decision to submit terrorism suspects to medieval interrogation practices was somehow justifiable -- or even if you believe that torture was wrong, but that now we should "look forward" and pretend it never happened.

Friday, September 4, 2009
U.S. Airlines' Cut in Seats to Be Deepest Since 1942
“There's no point putting seats in the air if people don't want to fly,” said David Swierenga, president of aviation consulting firm AeroEcon in Round Rock, Texas. “A double-digit cut, more than 10 percent, in capacity is called for.”

Friday, September 4, 2009
What Would the United States Look Like Without the FDIC?
(1 comments) What if consumers demanded more control over their currency and demanded that other federal banking institutions as well? What would the United States look like if the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was eliminated?

Thursday, September 3, 2009
t r u t h o u t | Iran Says Ready for Nuclear Talks With World Powers
Iran has prepared an "updated nuclear proposal" and is ready to talk to world powers. The official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying Iran was ready to use its "capacities to remove common concerns on the international scene."

Thursday, September 3, 2009
CIA Will Continue to Withhold Key Bush-Era Torture Documents
The CIA said in court papers late Monday that it intends to withhold hundreds of pages of documents related to the Bush administration's torture and detention policies on grounds that disclosing the information will threaten national security.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Jeremy Scahill: We Need a Special Prosecutor for Blackwater and Other CIA "Contractors"
(2 comments) it is important to remember how Erik Prince essentially hired George W Bush’s top people from the CIA’s Directorate of Operations to create his own private CIA, Total Intelligence Solutions. He also offered Alvin “Buzzy” Krongard, the former number 3 man at the CIA, a paid position on Blackwater’s board. Buzzy was the guy who got Blackwater its first known CIA contract back in 2002 in Afghanistan.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
US Audacity of Hope Falters: Settlement Freeze No Longer Required
The US has decided to be ‘flexible’ regarding its once touted call for a total Israeli freeze on the expansion of its occupied territories’ settlements, all illegal under international law.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
E.J. Dionne Jr. - The Real Town Hall Story
(1 comments) There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television's point of view "boring") encounters between elected representatives and their constituents.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Outcry over violence in Israel ignoring occupation
Even when there are no Palestinian casualties and fatalities at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces, there is no letup in the everyday bullying by the occupation regime. The occupier produces laws whose entire aim is to punish and deter the occupied who dares to resist.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Letterman Takes On Chris Wallace For "Softball" Cheney Interview (VIDEO)
After watching Chris Wallace interview Dick Cheney this week on Fox News, Andrew Sullivan said it was like "a teenage girl interviewing the Jonas Brothers."

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Security assigned to guard guards at Kabul embassy
The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan has banned alcohol and assigned American personnel to watch over the embassy's security guards following allegations of lewd behavior and sexual misconduct at their living quarters. The State Department inspector general is leading an investigation of the contractor, ArmorGroup North America.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Japan's new First Lady Miyuki Hatoyama: 'I went to Venus in a UFO'
(1 comments) “While my body was sleeping, I think my spirit flew on a triangular-shaped UFO to Venus,” she said. She had a past-life friendship with Cruise, who she says was "Japanese in his past life."

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Senator Inhofe predicts 'doomsday' for US
(2 comments) Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe has slammed the current US administration under Obama and called for a reversal of the president's socialist government polices that have "stripped America of whatever it has."

Thursday, September 3, 2009
NYT Editorial: Dick Cheney’s Version
(1 comments) Americans need much more than glimpses of the truth. They should not have to decide whether to believe former interrogators, whom they do not know, or Mr. Cheney, who did not hesitate while in office to mislead them when it suited his political aims.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Mullen: Time limit to Afghan war
Gates said: "The nation has been at war for eight years; the fact that Americans would be tired of their sons and their daughters at risk and in battle is not surprising. Support for the war in Afghanistan has been falling in the last few months, as fighters linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda inflict greater casualties among US troops.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Obama Schoolchildren Speech Drives Right-Wingers Batty
Glenn Beck announced that he would be countering Obama's address to schoolchildren by airing a "special one-hour broadcast next Tuesday on television on the indoctrination of your children." HIDE YOUR CHILDREN! OBAMA'S COMING TO GET THEM!

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Swanson Book on Bush-Cheney Power Grabs Knocks Glenn Beck Out of #1 Spot on Bestseller List
David Swanson, a tireless analyst and organizer, has taken a leaf from Emile Zola's playbook and written an American "J'accuse". And what an indictment it is.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
CIA doctors face human experimentation claims
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), a not-for-profit group that has investigated the role of medical personnel in alleged incidents of torture at Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram and other US detention sites, accuses doctors of being far more involved than hitherto understood.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Saltz: New York Challenges Glenn Beck to Art Exhibition -- Vulture -- Entertainment & Culture Blog -- New York Magazine
(2 comments) Fox News' harebrained commentator Glenn Beck took up the role of extreme right-wing art critic. He did a batty eight-minute paranoid rant tying together Obama, communism, NBC, the Soviet Union, Mussolini, Standard Oil, syphilis, fascism, the U.N., architecture, and public art in New York.

Thursday, September 3, 2009
Reconciliation, an odd name for using the nuclear option on the Republican Party
The GOP hard right has dragooned their moderates into lockstep in order to deny Obama and the Democrats any victory. It's about politics. They want to go into the midterm elections being able to claim that Obama and the Democrats are failures.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
UN nuclear watchdog says Iran threat 'hyped'
The global threat posed by Iran's suspect nuclear program is "hyped" because there's no hard proof that Tehran has an ongoing effort to build an atomic weapon, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency Mohamed ElBaradei said.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Palin Invited To Testify Before NY Senate On Elderly Care, Death Panels
The former Alaska Governor's health care policy contribution is defined by a brief Facebook message she wrote in early August in which she warned that Democratic reform would create "death panels" tasked with determining who to euthanize, including her Down Syndrome child.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
POGO Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding U.S. Embassy in Kabul
As in Iraq, the Department of State has utterly failed to properly manage another contractor, this time at the U.S. Embassy Kabul, Afghanistan. State has repeatedly warned AGNA about its performance on this security contract, but its threats have been empty. As a result, violations of the contract continue.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
UPI Commentary: Strategic retreat?
President Obama is not Lincoln with a BlackBerry as some have suggested, but Lyndon Johnson with a war the country no longer supports and a new Cronkite yapping at his Afghan heels.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Oldest Swiss Bank Tells Clients to Sell U.S. Assets or Leave
Switzerland's oldest bank is telling wealthy clients to sell their U.S. assets, or switch banks, because of concerns new rules will saddle investors with tax obligations in the world's biggest economy.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
S.C. Gov. Sanford says God on his side
(1 comments) South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford acknowledged Tuesday that he has been shaken by the failure of a single fellow Republican to back him in his fight to save his job, but vowed to fight on for conservative causes and for "what God wanted me to do with my life."

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Gonzales supports Holder on CIA probe
Former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, a man accused of politicizing the Justice Department and authorizing interrogation tactics that some say led to detainee abuses, praised as an independent legal decision his successor's probe into whether CIA agents tortured terrorist suspects.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Time for Obama to Regroup in Health-Care Battle
Obama must be prepared to wager more of his dwindling political capital, risk bucking some of the interests in his own party, challenge Republicans to be more than a party of "no" -- and get the job done.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Levi Johnston: "Me and Mrs. Palin"
(1 comments) A week or two after she got back she started talking about how nice it would be to quit and write a book or do a show and make “triple the money.” It was, to her, “not as hard.” She would blatantly say, “I want to just take this money and quit being governor.”

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Pfizer pleads guilty to felony crime in fraudulent marketing of Bextra, pays billions in fines
Along with this admission of guilt for committing a felony crime, Pfizer is paying well over $1 billion in criminal fines, plus another $1 billion or so to resolve civil allegations against its fraudulent marketing practices. In all, the multi-billion dollar settlement is the largest in the history of the DOJ.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Contractors Outnumber U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
The report says the reliance on contractors has grown steadily, with just a small percentage of contractors serving the Pentagon in World War I, but then growing to nearly a third of the total force in the Korean War and about half in the Balkans and Iraq. The change, the report says, has gradually forced the American military to adapt to a far less regimented and, in many ways, less accountable force.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Associated Press: US extends Iraq contract for Blackwater firm
State Department officials said Wednesday they have extended a contract with a subsidiary of the security firm once known as Blackwater USA despite the fact the company is not allowed to work in the country. We unilaterally extended the current task order ... to ensure the continued security and safety of US personnel in Iraq," an official said.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Lieberman: Israel won't let Palestinians declare state unilaterally
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday declared that Israel would not stand by idly should Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad go ahead with his stated plan to declare a de-facto state within two years. He vowed that Israel would respond.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Thesis Thrusts Va. Gubernatorial Candidate's Past Views Into Spotlight
In his thesis, McConnell described working women as "detrimental" to the traditional family, criticized a Supreme Court decision legalizing contraception for unmarried couples, decried "purging" religion from schools, advocated teaching "traditional Judeo-Christian values in public schools, and criticized federal tax credits for child care expenditures because they encouraged women to enter the workforce.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Ahmadinejad Plans U.N. Visit
Ahmadinejad is just one of several controversial leaders who will attend the U.N. event, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, whose government holds the presidency of the General Assembly's 65th session. China's president, Hu Jintao, will also address the General Assembly, the first time a Chinese head of state has delivered a speech during the annual session.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Pentagon worried about Obama's commitment to Afghanistan
McChrystal's new assessment is the fifth one ordered since Obama's inauguration. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said that no details of the assessment would be released. Other officials called it a "political hot potato."

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Raw Story -- CIA refuses to release torture documents
The Central Intelligence Agency has refused to turn over documents they were ordered to produce to a civil rights group under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. In a filing Monday, the CIA said they wouldn't turn over the documents, claiming their publication would threaten national security.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
PHR Analysis: CIA Health Professionals' Role in Torture Worse Than Previously Known
"Medical doctors and psychologists colluded with the CIA to keep observational records about waterboarding, which approaches unethical and unlawful human experimentation," says PHR Medical Advisor and lead report author Scott Allen, MD.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
VA won't pay benefits to Marine injured by vaccine
(1 comments) The vaccine left Lopez in a coma, unable for a time to breathe on his own and paralyzed for weeks. Now he can walk, but with a limp. He has to wear a urine bag constantly, has short-term memory loss and must swallow 15 pills daily to control leg spasms and other ailments.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Binyam Mohamed: I will fight for other prisoners
Six months after emerging as a frail and ghostly figure from the plane which brought him back to Britain from the US military prison in Cuba, Mohamed used his first public speech since his release to explain the legacy of his seven years in detention, which included his "extraordinary rendition" to a prison in Morocco where his penis was repeatedly cut with a scalpel to force him to confess as an al-Qaida terrorist.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Years wasted in Afghan effort, UN official says
An American service member died Tuesday of wounds suffered in a bombing the day before in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. command said. The death was the first for the U.S. in September and comes after the deadliest month of the eight-year Afghan war for American troops. At least 49 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan in August.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
t r u t h o u t | Honduras: Out of the Vortex, Into the Vacuum
Many believe that the US government, in spite of multiple levels of denial, has been actively involved in the Honduran coup. Certainly the principal actors involved in the coup have been close associates of US officials for many years. It is clear that the neo-cons, who have spearheaded US Latin American policy for decades, still hold sway at the US State Department.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Germany to host six-power talks on Iran nuclear program this week
Germany will host high-level talks this week between the United States, China, France, Britain, Russia and Germany on Iran's disputed nuclear program, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Monday, August 31, 2009
U.S. Considers Missile Defense Plans
More than seven months after taking office, President Barack Obama's administration is actively looking into alternatives to the missile defense plans that roiled US-Russian relations under George Bush. As a key indicator of new US thinking, analysts noted no discussion about the Polish and Czech sites took place at a US Army-sponsored missile defense conference in Huntsville, Alabama, earlier this month.

Monday, August 31, 2009
"Today Show" Hires Jenna Bush
(1 comments) NBC's "Today" show has hired someone with White House experience as a new correspondent – former first daughter Jenna Hager.

Monday, August 31, 2009
Bob Dole - Obama Should Offer His Own Health Bill
Obama's approval numbers would jump 10 points if Americans knew he was fully in charge. A tactical move of introducing his own plan would also stir more Republicans to become active for reform in critical areas. The president, Congress and the public are choking on all this, and choking is not covered by the legislation.

Monday, August 31, 2009
U.S. Meetings With Lobbyists Go Unreported
President Obama ordered federal officials to disclose their contacts with lobbyists trying to influence how the government doles out money to jump-start the economy. Yet few such communications have been reported even though lobbyists say they are busier than ever with the multibillion-dollar stimulus.

Monday, August 31, 2009
Two Mass Murderers, Two Very Different Stories and Much Hypocrisy
A new administration is in power and it has decided to investigate CIA interrogations -- but only those acts by Agency operatives (and its private contractors) that went beyond the bounds of Bush administration extremity, beyond the bounds, that is, of that administration's pretzled definitions of what was not torture. The rest gets a pass.

Monday, August 31, 2009
US general: New strategy needed to defeat Taliban
Gen. Stanley McChrystal sent his strategic review of the Afghan war to the Pentagon and NATO headquarters on Monday. The report does not address an increase in troops beacause the war in Afghanistan is growing increasingly unpopular. He will request more troops "privately."

Monday, August 31, 2009
SPIEGEL - CIA Torture Inquiry: US Not Alone in Examining War-on-Terror Wrongdoings - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - Internation
It's no secret that President Obama would prefer to avoid a process of coming to terms with the past. His dilemma involves the circularity of the whole affair: If CIA operatives are indicted for torturing detainees, they can say that the White House and the Justice Department -- the very organizations that are now driving the prosecution -- instructed them to do so.

Monday, August 31, 2009
Clinton Has Her Own Problems
(1 comments) Whether or not Clinton believes that Xe suffers from an image problem, Xe remains a vital player on the State Department's security team via a multi-million dollar contract.

Monday, August 31, 2009
Sarah Palin gets 1,070+ invitations - Mike Allen - POLITICO
Sarah Palin this week will begin accepting and rejecting the more than 1,070 invitations she has received for paid speeches and political appearances since she resigned from office.

Monday, August 31, 2009
Todd S. Purdum - Henry Paulson's Longest Night
The stimulus had been his baby. Paulson had persuaded George W. Bush, whose relations with both parties in Congress were by then close to toxic, to articulate only the broadest principles, and not to present a detailed plan.

Monday, August 31, 2009
E.J. Dionne Jr. - Saving Health Care Requires Clarity From Obama
Despite health care's summer of discontent, supporters of change are in better shape than the accounts of recent weeks would suggest. The House is poised to pass a bill in early fall that would achieve most of Obama's major goals. And Obama is a full year ahead of the schedule on which Bill Clinton's administration found itself in the 1990s.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Raw Story: Cheney ‘OK' with violating felony torture statute
(2 comments) Calling the extreme interrogation techniques “absolutely essential in saving thousands of American lives,” Cheney insisted, “It was good policy, it was properly carried out, it worked very, very well.” However, recently declassified documents show no such thing.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
U.S. Assembles Metrics to Weigh Progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan
The White House has assembled a list of about 50 measurements to gauge progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan as it tries to calm rising public and congressional anxiety about its war strategy. Officials are conducting a "test run" of the metrics, comparing current numbers in a range of categories--including newly trained Afghan army recruits, Pakistani counterinsurgency missions and on-time delivery of resources.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
RNC Uses New Scare Tactic on Reform
(1 comments) The Republican National Committee suggested in a recent fundraising appeal that Democrats might use an overhaul of the health-care system to deny medical treatment to Republicans. Katie Wright, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said the question was "inartfully worded. The RNC doesn't try to scare people," Wright said. "We're just trying to get the facts out on health care.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
VIDEO: Cheney digs in
Dick Cheney delivered another harsh rebuke of the Obama administration, calling the Justice Department's new investigation into whether CIA interrogators broke the law "an outrageous political act” and questioning Barack Obama's ability to lead the country.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Holder's CIA decision comes under fire
(1 comments) Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate CIA interrogations of high-value detainees came under attack Sunday from key figures in both parties.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
US troops ordered out of Kyrgyzstan after Russia deal
(3 comments) Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the president of Kyrgyzstan, announced he was ordering the eviction of troops from the Manas Air Base near the capital city Bishkek shortly after receiving a multi-billion dollar bailout from the Russian government. Frantic Pentagon officials attempted to deny there were plans to force the US out of its last Central Asian outpost before issuing a plea to the Kyrgyz government to change its mind.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thugs of Fortune by Jeff Huber
A singular absurdity of the 21st century is that the nation that spends more on defense than the rest of the world combined needs to hire mercenaries to fight wars against enemies who have no defense budget at all.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Former PM Olmert indicted in three corruption affairs - Haaretz - Israel News
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was indicted Sunday in three corruption affairs, concluding months of investigations into cases allegedly conducted during his tenure as Jerusalem mayor and trade minister.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Cheney advocated attack on Iran, but Bush wanted diplomacy
(1 comments) Dick Cheney told Fox News Sunday that while he advocated taking military action against Iran's nuclear program, ultimately, it was not his choice to make.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Despite mounting pressure, Israel ups settlements
Despite mounting international pressure on Tel Aviv, Israel has accelerated settlement activity in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) in the first half of 2009. Netanyahu claimed that settlement expansions were 'very different from grabbing land."

Sunday, August 30, 2009
Israel accuses IAEA of withholding Iran info
(1 comments) In his latest report on Iran released on Friday, the outgoing IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei confirmed that the country is expanding its cooperation with the agency. The report also said that the agency has been able to continue "to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran" but warned that Tehran "has not suspended its enrichment-related activities" as required by the UN Security Council.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Netanyahu calls for 'crippling sanctions' against Iran
(2 comments) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called Thursday for "crippling sanctions" against Iran to stop its disputed nuclear work. "There is not much time" to halt Tehran's nuclear ambitions, he told reporters.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
U.S. eyes 12 giant "bunker buster" bombs
(1 comments) Packing more than 5,300 pounds of explosives. it would deliver more than 10 times the explosive power of its predecessor, the 2,000-pound (907-kilo) BLU-109, according to the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
U.S. drops demand for Israel building freeze in East Jerusalem
(1 comments) The Obama administration has agreed to Israel's request to remove East Jerusalem from negotiations on the impending settlement freeze. The new Israeli proposal will exclude some 2,500 housing units on which construction has already started.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Accused in U.S. District Court of Intent to Kill
(1 comments) Attorneys for Blackwater say the lawsuit should be dismissed on a variety of legal grounds and that although the deaths were tragic, the guards were closely supervised by U.S. government officials. The allegations "go far beyond describing the harm allegedly suffered by Plaintiffs," the Blackwater attorneys wrote in their motion to dismiss. "They include an encyclopedia of vituperative assertions."

Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Washington Independent - DOJ May Skirt Court Order on Interrogation Documents
The Obama administration may circumvent the spirit of a judge's order to disclose hundreds of documents relating to the CIA's Bush-era interrogation program, delivering instead generic descriptions of the documents and legal arguments for continued nondisclosure.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Bush shoe thrower to be freed
An Iraqi journalist jailed after hurling his shoes at George Bush, the former US president, will be released in September. The act of the 30-year-old reporter during Bush's last visit to Iraq as president turned him into a folk hero across the Arab world amid anger over the 2003 invasion.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Beware Authoritative "Inside Washington" Sources
Forget the authoritative sources. Mobilize and organize. We can get comprehensive, meaningful health care reform if we push hard enough. And we must.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
US denies making deal with Israel - The National Newspaper
Israeli media reported Washington might be willing to let Israel continue settlement construction in East Jerusalem in exchange for a temporary freeze on similar construction elsewhere in the West Bank. On Friday, a state department spokesman said there had been no change in the US position on a settlement freeze.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
Opposing groups protest outside abortion doctor's clinic
A massive police presence, including heavily armed rapid-response teams, monitored the demonstrators. Streets were blocked off, and police kept both sides separated with buffer zones in between. Abortion rights supporters outnumbered their opponents nearly 2 to 1.

Saturday, August 29, 2009
As Kennedy laid to rest, a papal prayer request is revealed
The late senator's son, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, addressed those on the steps, saying how his father "knew that he was only great because he had great people supporting him." "He would be very proud to see you all out here today paying a final respect and tribute to his memory," he said.

Friday, August 28, 2009
Michael Kinsley - Health Care: Americans Want Change While Keeping Status Quo
Americans are in total agreement that the current situation is intolerable and that change--big, immediate change--is essential. Americans do agree about this--in the abstract. But as soon as it seems that change might actually happen--as soon as we leave the abstract for the particular--we panic. Sure, we want change--as long as everything can stay just as it is.

Friday, August 28, 2009
PAUL KRUGMAN: Till Debt Does Its Part
(2 comments) The only real reason for concern is political. The United States can deal with its debts if politicians of both parties are, in the end, willing to show at least a bit of maturity. Need I say more?

Friday, August 28, 2009
Abuse Issue Puts the C.I.A. and Justice Dept. at Odds
Holder and Panetta are confronting difficult balancing acts. Holder inherited a dispirited department accused of carrying out the political wishes of the Bush White House, and he must show independence while continuing to work with the administration. For his part, Panetta, also new to his job, must carry out White House orders to make a clean break with some of the Bush administration's intelligence policies.

Friday, August 28, 2009
IAEA confirms Iran's improved nuclear cooperation
The country also denies seeking any nuclear weaponry, calling for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction around the world. The report, meanwhile, added that the agency has been able to continue "to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran."

Friday, August 28, 2009
Carter urges removal of Israeli settlements
Carter described a freeze on the Israeli settlement expansion on confiscated Palestinian land as the first step to lasting peace in the region, echoing Washington's favored two-state solution which envisages the creation of a Palestinian homeland next to Israel.

Friday, August 28, 2009
New Documents Describe in Extraordinary Detail Process of "Rendition," Torture
The background paper clearly illustrated that the torture of detainees was systematic and micromanaged by the top officials at the CIA, the Justice Department, medical professionals and, likely, the White House. Previously, the CIA had refused to disclose any details of its rendition program, citing state secrets.

Friday, August 28, 2009
Organ Theft Affair: Israelis Boycotting IKEA
Boström is perfectly right in calling for an investigation. Illegal organ trade is a highly lucrative business. It is not unthinkable that people in “the most moral army in the world,” as the Israelis like to call their army, were involved at some level in this trafficking.

Friday, August 28, 2009
Reuters - INTERVIEW-CIA probe must go to highest level-UN rights boss
The US prosecutor's investigation into alleged criminal CIA interrogation techniques must go right to the top political level, the chief UN rights official said on Thursday. "the United States has to be seen to be upholding the very high standards that they claim for their own citizens."

Friday, August 28, 2009
2006 Justice Memo Cites Food Strike by Detainees at Supermax Prison in Colorado
Jameel Jaffer, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project, noted a May 7, 2004 document released this week, gives a different reason for keeping detainees in isolation: They would "likely divulge information about the circumstances of their detention. The CIA worries that if these prisoners are kept in any other kind of facility, they will talk about the torture inflicted on them."

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Patrick backs push to appoint successor - The Boston Globe
(1 comments) The timing of Kennedy's death may prompt some other changes in the law. Some election experts on Beacon Hill are suggesting that the current window for the election - set by statute to take place within 145 to 160 days of a vacancy - will not work, because it comes smack in the middle of the holiday season. There is also concern that bad winter weather could seriously dampen voter participation.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Files prove Pentagon is profiling reporters | Stars and Stripes
New revelations of the Pentagon's attempts to shape war coverage come as senior Defense Department officials are acknowledging increasing concern over recent opinion polls showing declining popular American support for the Afghan war.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Merkel: Settlement freeze crucial to resumption of Mideast peace talks
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that progress on the freezing of Israeli settlement building was of crucial importance for the resumption of the Middle East peace process and that time was pressing.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
ElBaradei Foes Leak Stories to Force His Hand on Iran
The tensions between ElBaradei and the George W. Bush administration were directly related to ElBaradei's public declaration in March 2003 that the documents on alleged Iraqi efforts to obtain uranium from Niger - later known as the "Niger forgeries" - were not authentic, after he received no response from Washington to an earlier private warning to the White House.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Health care industry contributes heavily to Blue Dogs
More than half the $1.1 million in campaign contributions the Democratic Party's Blue Dog Coalition received came from the pharmaceutical, health care and health insurance industries.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Cheney's Jihad - By Peter Bergen
Cheney did not go gently into that vice presidential night. At AEI Cheney amped up his own sky-is-falling rhetoric, claiming that the coercive interrogations of al Qaeda detainees had "prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people." Holy smokes!

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Young Afghan freed from Guantanamo to sue US government
Justice Department officials have said the criminal investigation of Jawad is still open but his transfer back to Afghanistan makes prosecution unlikely. The judge who ordered him released said the government's case was an "outrage" and "full of holes."

Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Associated Press: Kansas Rep.: GOP looking for 'great white hope'
Freshman Republican congresswoman Lynn Jenkins apologized Thursday for telling a gathering in her district that the GOP was still searching for a "great white hope" to stop President Barack Obama's political agenda. "I was unaware of any negative connotation, and if I offended anybody, obviously, I apologize," Jenkins said.

Thursday, August 27, 2009
Bernanke Personal Bank Account Struck by ID Theft - ABC News
It's not been revealed how much money was stolen from the Bernankes' account. But someone started cashing checks on their bank account just days after the purse was stolen from her chair. The thefts helped fuel an ongoing investigation into a sophisticated ring.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Feingold to Obama: Announce Withdrawal Timetable from Afghanistan
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-WI, called on President Obama to announce a timetable for withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. "This is a strategy that is not likely to succeed," Sen. Feingold said about the troop buildup in Afghanistan.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Edward Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies
Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, a son of one of the most storied families in American politics, a man who knew triumph and tragedy in near-equal measure and who will be remembered as one of the most effective lawmakers in the history of the Senate, died Tuesday night. He was 77. The death was announced Wednesday morning in a statement by the Kennedy family.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
US and Israel spar over settlements
Netanyahu sees the emphasis on settlements as unfair, and insisted conflict in the Middle East is rooted in Arab enmity towards Israel.George Mitchell may offer the prime minister a tougher US line on Iran's nuclear programme in return for Israel partially freezing settlement building.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The Deification of Gentle Ben
(1 comments) The Federal Reserve did not "avert disaster" for many millions of Americans. It helped to cause their disaster. What is fundamentally wrong with Bernanke and the Fed is they don't serve this public. They don't even see it.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The White House Needs to Go a Lot Further with the Torture Inquiry
it is good that Holder has decided to take a more serious look at the use of torture during the Bush-Cheney years. But he has done so in a disturbingly cautious manner that is described by the American Civil Liberties Union as "anemic."

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
The H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic: Manipulating the Data to Justify a Worldwide Public Health Emergency
(2 comments) What we are dealing with is a big lie. A process of generating fake data which is then used to justify a nationwide vaccination program. The political and corporate interests behind this Worldwide public health emergency must be the target of citizens' actions. This public health emergency is not intended to protect humanity.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Steven Pearlstein - Michael Steele's Disastrous Idea of a Republican Health-Care Proposal
Republicans seem determined to preserve the uniquely American system under which health care is rationed today -- on the basis of employment status and ability to pay. According to the respected Institute of Medicine, this market-based approach to rationing has held the number of untimely deaths each year to a mere 18,000 uninsured souls.