82 QuickLinks

Sunday, June 29, 2008
Crisis grows in Iraq over U.S. raid that killed Maliki relative
(1 comments) Senior Iraqi government officials said Saturday that a U.S. Special Forces counterterrorism unit conducted the raid that reportedly killed a relative of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, touching off a high-stakes diplomatic crisis between the United States and Iraq.

Sunday, June 29, 2008
Texas Supreme Court rules church can't be sued in exorcism
(1 comments) A divided Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of a former Colleyville church Friday, saying church members who were involved in a traumatic exorcism that ultimately injured a young woman are protected by the First Amendment

Sunday, June 29, 2008
Is unsolved tomato/salmonella mystery the FDA's Katrina?
As the number of people sickened by a salmonella outbreak continues to rise, federal officials say they are no longer certain that tomatoes are the cause of the illness.

Sunday, June 29, 2008
Preparing the Battlefield
L ate last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country's religious leadership.

Friday, June 27, 2008
Is Obama Turning Out to Be Just Another Politician?
(1 comments) From the beginning, Barack Obama's special appeal was his vow to remain an idealistic outsider, courageous and optimistic, and never to shift his positions for political expediency, or become captive of the Inside-the-Beltway intelligentsia, or kiss up to special interests and big money donors.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Obama's Rightward Lurch
Barack Obama arrived on the political scene with a smile as beautiful as salvation itself, like a visitor from an idealized future, one where the races have combined to a golden hue, sent here to show us the way. Of course people fell in love with him.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Senator Dodd Speaks in Opposition to FISA Bill on Floor of U.S. Senate
This legislation before us purports to give the courts more of a role in determining the legality of the telecommunications companies actions. But in my view the Title II provisions do little more than ensure without a doubt that the telecommunications companies will be granted retroactive immunity.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Will victims abandon Iowa cities?
Cedar Rapids, Iowa's second-largest city, is the focus of concerns about the flood's effects on the state's future. Other cities saw significant flooding, and several small towns were inundated. But nearly three-fourths of the 38,000 Iowans who were flooded out of their homes lived here. Many of them were thrown out of work and fear their homes are beyond salvage.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
History suggests cheaper, natural solutions can help out flood costs
Iowans today have a lot more weapons to fight floods, from GPS technology to steel-plated flood shields, but studies show we are slow to use them.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Flooding's effect on infrastructure
Here's a county-by-county glance at major flood damage to roads and bridges.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Looking for Answers: Iowans Question FEMA, Ask About Possible Buyout
About 270 residents of the Parkview Terrace neighborhood came to a meeting with Iowa City and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials demanding timelines and answers Saturday. Advertisement. However, officials were unable to provide many concrete solutions.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monsanto in the mainstream
(1 comments) The days last week Mark Pugh spent away from his job at Monsanto in Muscatine were no vacation.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Flooding Strains Home and Heart
Weary neighbors of the Mississippi River are bracing for yet another wave of high water that could test soggy levees and the spirit of thousands of volunteers who have labored to outwit and outmuscle the worst flood to hit the American heartland in years.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monsanto plants seeds for 2010
Monsanto Co., which makes Roundup herbicide, said June 16 the commercial launch date for SmartStax, a new corn seed more resistant to pests and weeds, remains on track.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Op-Classic, 2001: The Broken Levee System (NYT)
Every week, the Opinion section presents an essay from The Times's archive by a columnist or contributor that we hope sheds light on current news or provides a window on the past. The best way to handle the Mississippi's floods, Christopher Hallowell wrote in 2001, isn't by building levees and walls, but by letting the excess water take its natural course.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Call for Change Ignored, Levees Remain Patchy
(1 comments) Gerald E. Galloway Jr., a former brigadier general with the Corps of Engineers, said that few broad changes were made once the floodwaters of 1993 receded and were forgotten. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed levees protecting New Orleans in 2005, Congress passed a bill setting up a program to inventory and inspect levees, but it failed to provide the funds.

Sunday, June 22, 2008
Scientists fear flooding will swell gulf dead zone
Floodwaters loaded with farm runoff are heading down the Mississippi River, and scientists fear that the deluge will dramatically increase this summer's dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico to cover an area the size of Maryland.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Jason Leopold: Top Dems Hand Bush Key Victories
(3 comments) In November 2006 when Democrats won control of Congress for the first time in 12 years, Rep. Nancy Pelosi explained the significance behind the record voter turnout that helped shift the balance of power in Washington.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
McClatchy: U.S. President Has Less Power Than Candidates Would Lead You to Thin
In the heady days of a presidential campaign such as this one, when candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are wrapped in the majesty of traffic-clearing motorcades and surrounded by adoring fans, when they promise to deliver great things within days of taking office, Americans should remember that the reality of governing can be far, far different.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Anti-bottled water campaign enlists mayors to cause
(4 comments) Bottles of water are increasingly coming under attack from environmental activists, who maintain tap water is better and bottled water is economically unsound and environmentally harmful, a position the bottling industry disputes.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
McClatchy: America's Prison for Terrorists Often Held the Wrong Men
Akhtiar was among the more than 770 terrorism suspects imprisoned at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They are the men the Bush administration described as "the worst of the worst."

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Pentagon Blasts KBR's Operation
A Pentagon investigative report alleges the firm KBR Inc. held an illegal contract, overcharged millions to the Navy and produced shoddy workmanship on its South Mississippi jobs after Katrina.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
McClatchy: White House Asserts Executive Privilege in California Case
Setting up a constitutional showdown, the White House on Friday asserted executive privilege in denying a request to turn over thousands of pages of documents sought by Congress as part of an investigation involving California's air-quality standards.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
WaPo: White House Dismissed Legal Advice on Detainees
Senior lawyers inside and outside the Bush administration repeatedly warned the White House that it was risking judicial scrutiny of its detention policies in Guantanamo Bay if it did not pursue a more pragmatic legal strategy that considered the likely reaction of the Supreme Court.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
SeattlePiEd: All Americans should have Medicare Advantage
(3 comments) Medicare Advantage for all. Compulsory and comprehensive. From birth.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Everything is seemingly spinning out of control
Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Kucinich: Major General Taguba's Comments Add Weight to Articles of Impeachment
"Major General Taguba's comments confirm my long standing assertion that President Bush and Vice President Cheney have committed war crimes in violation of the War Crimes Act, Section 18 of U.S.Code § 2441. Commission of war crimes is an impeachable offense," Kucinich said.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
McKinney Supports Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment
(1 comments) With great satisfaction I learned of the courageous action taken by Congressman Dennis Kucinich on Monday, June 9th. On that day, on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, he rose to introduce House Resolution 1258, containing 35 Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Mississippi floodwaters cresting, costs mount
(1 comments) The crest of the swollen Mississippi River moved relentlessly downstream on Saturday as volunteers manned sandbagged levees, nursed hopes and coped with the costs of the worst U.S. Midwest flooding in 15 years.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Newspapers Facing Midwest Floods Carry Grim Reports
With floods devastating the Midwest all this week, newspapers across the region have adopted a bunker mindset, determined to bring coverage of the floods to their readers at any cost. Whatever coverage cannot be delivered in newsprint is being delivered online, an option newspapers did not have during the last bout of large-scale Midwest flooding in 1993.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Iowa Flooding Could Be Act of Man, Experts Say
(6 comments) U. of Northern Iowa environmental center director suspects that Iowa's floods resulted from heavy rains on a landscape radically reengineered by humans. Plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies. Fields have been meticulously drained with underground pipes. Streams and creeks have been straightened. Most of the wetlands are gone. Flood plains have been filled and developed.

Saturday, June 21, 2008
Flooding strands 100-plus barges on Mississippi
(1 comments) The flooding in the Midwest has brought freight traffic on the upper Mississippi to a standstill, stranding more than 100 barges loaded with grain, cement, scrap metal, fertilizer and other products while shippers wait for the water to drop on the Big Muddy.

Friday, June 20, 2008
McClellan: 'What I Know Regarding the Valerie Plame Episode'
I am here today at your invitation to answer questions about what I know regarding the Valerie Plame episode. Back in 2005, I was prohibited from discussing it by the White House ostensibly because of the criminal investigation underway, but I made a commitment to share with the public what I knew as soon as possible. That commitment was one of the reasons I wrote my book.

Friday, June 20, 2008
Bush Gives Dems STDs
The least popular, most lawless president in American history took to the Rose Garden today to thank congressional Democrats for having unprotected political sex with him.

Friday, June 20, 2008
Wexler calls for impeachment at McClellan testimony: video
(3 comments) Wexler closed by thundering: "The vice president's own hand betrays him, and implicates the President of the United States. These facts in your testimony, Mr. McClellan, are more than enough, in my view, to open up impeachment hearings."

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Corporate Complacency
(1 comments) Here is a counter-intuitive story for you. Why don't organized corporate interests challenge damage or risks to their clear economic interests?

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Deals With Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back
(2 comments) Four Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiations this month on contracts that will return them to Iraq, 36 years after losing their oil concession to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power.

Monday, June 16, 2008
One Simple Question
It started with one simple question posed by Senator Bernie Sanders to his constituents in an invitation to a town meeting: What does the decline of the middle class mean to you personally? Over 700 people replied. A second question was asked in his e-newsletter, The Bernie Buzz: Do you have a story to tell about how gas prices are affecting you? Over 1200 replied...

Friday, June 13, 2008
Voices for the Middle East and North Africa with Guest Ralph Nader
On KPFA, Nader is asked to the show to breakaway from the corporate media's bipolar view of the election and dissect Obama's recent address to AIPAC

Thursday, June 12, 2008
Gore Vidal's Article of Impeachment
...I have known for a long time that the media of the U.S. and too many of its elected officials give not a flying fuck for the welfare of this republic, and so I turned, as I often do, to the foreign press for a clear report of what has been going on in Congress.

Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Greatest Purveyor of Violence On the Planet
(1 comments) Cynthia McKinney congratulates Obama on his victory and then promotes the Power to the People campaign, the 10-Point Draft Manifesto of the Reconstruction Movement, a grouping of Black activists who came together in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to advocate for public policy initiatives that address the plight of Blacks and other oppressed peoples in this country.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Democrats protecting Bush from impeachment: scholar
If Bush is not impeached (or Cheney for that matter), it won't be for lack of crimes or war crimes. It will be for lack of political will among Democrats who continue to protect the president from impeachment and removal from office.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Ron Paul planning parallel convention to send GOP a "strong message" in Minneapolis
(3 comments) After being denied a speaking slot, Ron Paul hits back. The GOP will now pay dearly.

Sunday, June 8, 2008
Don't Mess With Moyers
O'Reilly sics his dogs on so-called partisan left wing media conference. Moyers doesn't let the doggie bite. Sends him back to FOX News with his tail tucked between his legs.

Saturday, June 7, 2008
Bill O'Reilly Sends Ambush Team to the National Conference for Media Reform
(1 comments) FOX News can't wait to showcase the "nuts" on Monday after they are done collecting video and soundbites of the conference.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Both McCain, Obama Exaggerating Iran's Nuclear Program
The presumptive Republican nominee for president and the leading contender for the Democratic nomination are exaggerating what's known about Iran's nuclear program as they duel over how best to deal with Tehran.

Sunday, June 1, 2008
From Kennedy to Obama
(4 comments) Writing in the New Statesman, John Pilger refers back to his travels with Robert Kennedy to describe the false hopes offered by those, like Barack Obama, who exploit the appeal of liberalism then present a very different realit

Monday, May 19, 2008
War's Shopping Cart
Nick Turse describes how the military-industrial complex invades our everyday lives

Thursday, May 15, 2008
VIDEO: Matt Gonzalez Campaigns From the Heart of San Francisco
(4 comments) Matt Gonzalez addresses an enthusiastic, standing-room-only crowd at the historic Roxie Theater in the heart of San Francisco, the Mission District. Gonzalez opposes the system as he describes opponent Senator Obama's voting record as evidence that all the major candidates are very susceptible to corporate influence and that voting for Obama, despite his popularity, will not bring about change.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008
U.S. Steps Up Bullying and War Moves Against Iran
by Larry Everest | Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. has been on a reactionary, imperialist crusade to crush Islamic Fundamentalism, overthrow governments not under its thumb, and forcibly restructure the entire Middle East-Central Asian regions. Today the U.S. is targeting Iran, saying it is one of the biggest problems it faces globally. And in recent weeks U.S. threats against Iran have sharply escalated on many fronts.

Monday, May 12, 2008
Taking a Stand Against War
Scott Ritter|As someone who has been urging focused citizen activism for some time now, I find it heartening that there are those in the United States who put action to words and seek to lead by example.

Sunday, May 11, 2008
Thinking Globally, Acting Locally
More than 7,000 miles separate Chicago and Tehran. But on May 14, the city council of the American city will consider whether to take a stand on an event that would have far reaching consequences for residents of both: a US attack on Iran.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008
UN: Biofuel Production 'Criminal Path' to Global Food Crisis
(1 comments) Biofuels are in both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates' plans for energy independence (unfortunately).

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Corporate Reporters Tell Lies for a Living
Journalism has, in some respects, ceased to exist as a readily available commodity in the United States, thanks largely to the "serious journalism" practiced by corporations. Stephanopoulos and Gibson are not aberrations - they are models of corporate media merit. It does the truth no service to pretend otherwise, as did the signers of the recent debate complaint letter.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Obama Camp Charging Voting Problems in Pennsylvania
(2 comments) Will Obama stand up to the electoral fraud or let it go like he did in New Hampshire earlier this year and like he did after the presidential election in 2004?

Saturday, April 19, 2008
George Galloway: Resistance is NOT Terrorism
(1 comments) George Galloway highlights the bias of SKY News' coverage of the conflict between Lebanon/Palestine and Israel.

Thursday, April 17, 2008
Presidential candidates collect millions, but don't say from whom
(2 comments) Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor who tracks campaign fundraising, said he thinks the two camps have delayed releasing more names to avoid adverse publicity at a crucial point in the race. Both campaigns, but especially Clinton's, have been hit with news reports critical of some of the major fundraisers who've been identified.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Protesters Disrupt Yoo Lecture
Boalt Hall School of Law professor John Yoo, who authored memos for the Bush administration that many have said condone torture, spoke yesterday near campus as protesters wearing orange jumpsuits and bags over their heads shouted "torture" at him. (You think being shouted at by people with bags on their heads wearing orange is scary? Think about how awful it must be to be detained as an "enemy combatant" in US military prisons

Monday, April 14, 2008
Is AP News Helping McCain Come Off as a Real Conservative?
Ask yourself if this really qualifies as a news release that upholds journalistic standards of objectivism. Does it or is this really an opinion editorial designed to help curb public opinion that McCain is a weak conservative?

Thursday, April 10, 2008
Jimmy Carter
Once again, former President Jimmy Carter is to be commended for taking the initiative toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The announcement that he will meet next week in Damascus with Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas, is consonant with a March 1, 2008 poll by the leading Israeli newspaper - Haaretz - that found 64 percent of Israelis favor direct talks with Hamas.

Saturday, April 5, 2008
Are Hillary and Obama Afraid of Talking About the New Deal?
(1 comments) We might wonder why no Democratic Party contender for the presidency has invoked the memory of the New Deal and its unprecedented series of laws aimed at helping people in need.

Friday, April 4, 2008
Democracy Now! Special: Martin Luther King's Life and Legacy 40 Years After His Assassination
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated forty years ago today. He was in Memphis, Tennessee to march with sanitation workers demanding a better wage. We spend the hour on his life and legacy.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
Iraq Becomes Somalia
I haven't seen the "precious gift of freedom" in Iraq. I mean, she's just utterly contemptible. The Democrats in general are, because they've been blaming the Iraqis. I mean, we know that the Republicans are despicable, that this is their war, but the Democrats have also been blaming the Iraqis: "The Iraqis have to choose freedom. The Iraqis have to step up to the plate."

Monday, March 31, 2008
Washington Seeks Copy of Iran Gas Contract
The United States has increased pressure on Switzerland following the signature of a gas export deal between Swiss and Iranian companies.

Monday, March 31, 2008
U.S. Sanctions on Iran Central Bank May Badly Hit Country's Economy
The US Finance Department accused the Central Bank of Iran of non-transparent economic activities, financial support to terrorism and of pursuing the policy which harms the world economic system. On 29 March, BBC reported that several US Congressmen, as well as several US Senators, sent an official letter to the President Bush in which they urged for imposing sanctions on Iran's Central Bank.

Monday, March 31, 2008
Iran: Danger and Opportunity
(1 comments) Cassandra and Yogi Berra are an unlikely pair, but I hear both of their voices today. Cassandra, like some of us, was cursed to be always disbelieved as she correctly predicted the future while baseballer Yogi Berra will be remembered for his penetrating insight into the flow of history, "This is like deja vu all over again."

Sunday, March 30, 2008
Video: Chicago Protests 5 Years of War
The wrong people are running this country. The people and the workers should be running this country.

Friday, March 28, 2008
Sen. Nelson: Create system of regional primaries, abolish Electoral College
Nelson would like to abolish the Electoral College entirely, because "people are increasingly dissatisfied when you can have the most votes for president and the other candidate ... ends up being elected, as last happened in the year 2000."

Thursday, March 27, 2008
Anti-War Campaigners Have to Change Electoral Tactics
...when it comes to Iraq, there is little to cheer. Look past the rhetoric and it becomes clear that neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton has a real plan to end the occupation. They could, however, be forced to change their positions, thanks to the unique dynamics of the prolonged primary battle.

Sunday, March 16, 2008
Reprise of Winter Soldier Antiwar Conference Held Near D.C.
(2 comments) "I'm sorry for the hate and destruction I've inflicted upon innocent people," Turner said. "Until people hear about what is happening in this war, it will continue."

Friday, March 14, 2008
Bush Dials Back Watergate Era Reforms on Spying Safeguards
A little-noticed executive order President Bush signed last month dials back checks on the Intelligence Community that have been in place since revelations that spy agencies abused their power in the 1960s and 70s.

Friday, March 14, 2008
Counter-Recruitment Is Not Counter-Military
(1 comments) Ann Wright, a colonel, speaks up with a letter concerning counter-recruitment.

Friday, February 29, 2008
Jamie Leigh Jones Undermines the War Effort
I am posting this so liberals can understand just how far the right wing will go to defend the war against the "terrorists" in Iraq. Posted on December 11, 2007, this so-called respectable conservative blogger wrote about how Jamie Leigh Jones, a raped woman, was a lying and undermining the "war on terror."

Sunday, February 24, 2008
Ralph Nader Joins White House Race
(20 comments)

Thursday, February 21, 2008
See What the Young Are Saying...
Young people take on global issues. Many choose conventional means to confront ignored issues in America. Will their solutions really address the core problems with America today?

Thursday, February 21, 2008
Whoops! McCain Fails to Collect Enough Signatures in Indiana
A traditionally Red State shows signs that McCain's national campaign is weak and disorganized. A former Bush administration member, Mitch Daniels, the current governor of Indiana, is expected to wave a magic wand, break some rules, and make some signatures appear.

Monday, February 11, 2008
The Militarization of U.S. Policy in Africa
A front in the "war on terror" that is too often ignored, unfortunately

Sunday, February 10, 2008
Nobody's Hands Are Perfectly Clean in Politics
(2 comments) A lawyer looks at Obama's Tony Rezko problems. And a few other problems here and there which do not say very good things about his character or his sense of ethics or his ability to spot the appearance of impropriety.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008
'Adultery' sisters to be stoned to death in Iran
(15 comments) Two Iranian sisters convicted of adultery face being stoned to death after the supreme court upheld death sentences against them, Iranian media have reported.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Clinton Remained Silent as Wal-Mart Fought Unions
'...one of Clinton's fellow board members, John Tate, [was] a Wal-Mart executive vice president who also served on the board with Clinton for four of her six years. Tate was fond of repeating, as he did at a managers meeting in 2004 after his retirement, what he said was his favorite phrase, "Labor unions are nothing but blood-sucking parasites living off the productive labor of people who work for a living."

Monday, February 4, 2008
Kiss Art in Schools, Student Trips to D.C., and Mental Health Services Goodbye
A few democrats and a top Republican come out against Bush's unwillingness to be compassionate or conservative by axing the funding or toning down the amount of money demanded for his precious war of terrorism or U.S. Imperialism.

Monday, February 4, 2008
Lieberman Joins the Many Americans Who Have Their Rights Violated in Elections
Point and laugh. You know he won't fight for laws to be changed nationally so this doesn't happen to voters anymore. He should. All politicians need to get tough and call for election reform.