153 QuickLinks

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Take America Back from the Banks
The elites hate to acknowledge it, but when large numbers of ordinary people are moved to action, it changes the narrow political world where the elites call the shots. Reining in the financial industry's power and greed will be a long, hard-fought war. But it is one that must be fought.

Friday, October 9, 2009
Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize -- Now Please Earn it!
How outstanding that you've been recognized today as a man of peace. Your swift, early pronouncements -- you will close Guantanamo, you will bring the troops home from Iraq, you want a nuclear weapon-free world, you admitted to the Iranians that we overthrew their democratically-elected president in 1953, you made that great speech to the Islamic world in Cairo... BUT ...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Democrats Help Republicans Kill Public Healthcare Option in Committee
Five Democrats joined eight Republicans and voted against the public health care option. The 15-8 rejection marked a victory for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the committee chairman.

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Greenpeaces Takes Direct Action Before G20 in Pittsburgh
As G20 world leaders arrive in Pittsburgh, Greenpeace took action Wednesday. The environmental activists daringly hung a sign reading, "Danger, Climate Destruction Ahead" off of the West End Pittsburgh Bridge in a call for dramatic action against climate change at this year's summit. Check out this video about Greenpeace's goals which includes the harrowing bridge hanging footage.

Sunday, September 6, 2009
Inside Sarah's Church
(1 comments) An excerpt from Max Blumenthal's new book Republican Gomorrah examines the radical beliefs about witchcraft and the “serpent seed” that propelled Sarah Palin into politics. Published on the Daily Beast.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Does Sally Kern Have Someone Crying for Her in Argentina?
Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern believes that our economic crisis is a result of America's moral crisis. She has put forth the "Oklahoma Citizen's Proclamation for Morality," which invokes the guidance of Almighty God and calls upon "Holy God, our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, to have mercy on this nation, to stay His hand of judgment, and grant a national awakening of righteousness and Christian renewal as we re

Saturday, June 27, 2009
Michael Jackson, Islam, and the Middle East
JUAN COLE's Op-Ed on Michael Jackson | Michael Jackson's sad death at age 50 has provoked an outpouring of emotion around the whole world. Because of globalization, it is an event that affects fans in Asia and the Middle East, as well. In early 2007, his brother Jermaine, a Muslim, announced that Michael would embrace that religion...

Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Iranian Election and a Hysterical Media
DISSIDENT VOICE | Here comes the hysteria and bold-faced lies. In the wake of the Iranian election, various commentators and so-called reporters in the United States are reacting as if the end of the world was at hand...There has been no verification of this from any objective source, nor has there been any proof beyond the speculation of media folks who either want to create a story or are so convinced of what they believe...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
TED Blog: Q&A with Clay Shirky on Twitter and Iran
I'm always a little reticent to draw lessons from things still unfolding, but it seems pretty clear that ... this is it. The big one. This is the first revolution that has been catapulted onto a global stage and transformed by social media.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Notes from Northwest Blog: Thoughts on Iran, pt. II
With hundreds of thousands out on the streets of Iran, however, it's too preliminary for the U.S. to throw its hat into that corner at this point. Just as we have nothing to gain by taking a hard line against Ahmadinejad's supposed re-election, we have nothing to gain by overtly recognizing it at the moment either.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Defying the Crackdown on Foreign Media in Iran
(1 comments) The long-standing Middle East correspondent for The Independent, Robert Fisk, is defying the government crackdown on foreign media reporting in Iran. This is his street scene report.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Twitter Acknowledges Role in Iran, Reschedules Maintenance
A campaign waged against Twitter's planned maintenance by Iranians and people sympathetic to the current plight of the people of Iran has succeeded. The campaign involved the inclusion of the tags #NoMaintenance and/or #TwitterStayUp to bring attention to Twitter's scheduled maintenance. Twitter now reports rescheduling so Iranians can use this tool that has been critical to the success of demonstrations tomorrow morning.

Sunday, June 14, 2009
"An election without free flow of news and information is not democratic"
(4 comments) Reporters Without Borders urges the international community, especially European countries, not to recognise the results of the first round of the presidential election that Iran held on 12 June because censorship and a crackdown on journalists are preventing a democratic electoral process. Arrests of journalists and media censorship measures are growing as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's "victory" continues to be disputed.

Sunday, June 14, 2009
Free Flow of Information in Iran is Halted: Election Stolen?
The Daily Dish reports on a leak from Iran that may be "the real results" from Iran's election, Joe Biden appears on Meet the Press, al-Arabiya's Tehran bureau is shut down, and more video from Iran.

Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Revolution Will Be...Twittered?
Mock not. As the regime shut down other forms of communication, Twitter survived. With some remarkable results. Those rooftop chants that were becoming deafening in Tehran? A few hours ago, this concept of resistance was spread by a twitter message. Also, Huffington Post liveblogging and updates from the Lede over at NYTimes.com.

Saturday, June 13, 2009
Liveblogggin the Fallout from Iran's Election
(1 comments) Over at Huffington Post, Nico Pitney gives you the latest on the protests, violence, and unrest that has spread in reaction to the "outcome" of the election

Friday, May 29, 2009
Warning: Your Government is Currently Withholding Torture Photos
The Bogus Torture Cover-up --- The Pentagon is denying the facts: Photographs of Abu Ghraib torture are even more sexually explicit than first reported, including rape and sodomy, writes The Daily Beast's Scott Horton, who has obtained specific and detailed corroboration of the photos. (By Scott Horton)

Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tea Partying in Chicago: Are You Shitreous?
(1 comments) With the help of Urban Dictionary, the conservative right wing anti-tax protests were given a theme to hold this thing together.

Thursday, April 2, 2009
An Open Letter to the International Olympics Committee
Ben Joravsky of the Chicago Reader discusses how Chicago is broke and cannot afford the 2016 Olympics. He tells the IOC "some things about Chicago [they'll] never hear from Mayor Daley, who's acting like a used-car salesman, trying to sell you an old beater without letting you look under the hood."

Saturday, March 28, 2009
OpEdNews & Monsanto: St. Louis Post-Dispatch Covers OpEdNews Poll on Monsanto
(4 comments) For years, environmental and food activists have made good use of YouTube video and Facebook to skewer Monsanto in the blogosphere. Now, the biotech giant is turning the tables and use sites on the Internet like OpEdNews.com and their own to turn the tables.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Civil liberties showdown in Chicago, city appeals 6th anniversary Iraq war protest permit
There was much jubilation when Thayer announced the unexpected victory to the anti-war coalition, but the joy was short-lived. Apparently one can't go up against St. Patrick in this Irish-run town and get away with it, because Thayer learned on Monday that the city had filed an appeal against Prosser's ruling.

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Proposed legislation in Congress would set up camps for U.S. citizens
(3 comments) A bill proposed by Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings would set up a series of emergency centres on U. S. military installations. House Resolution 645 provides that no fewer than six such centres will be built and would give emergency aid, housing and relief services for citizens during a time of disaster or national emergency.

Friday, January 30, 2009
Obama lawyers set to defend Yoo
In Democratic legal circles, no attorney has been more pilloried than former Bush Justice Department official John Yoo, chief author of the so-called torture memos that Barack Obama last week sought to nullify. But now President Obama's incoming crew of lawyers has a new and somewhat awkward job: defending Yoo in federal court.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Israeli citizens call on international community to stop Israel
(1 comments) It is the signatories' belief that Israel's atrocities will not cease without a massive intervention by the international community. In particular, they ask world leaders to implement the call by Palestinian human rights organizations which urges...

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
High Five 2008
So, as politics and music continue passing through each other like the clouds that bring the showers, here are the Top Five Moments of 2008 worth remembering.

Saturday, December 6, 2008
The Real Bill Ayers
In the recently concluded presidential race, I was unwillingly thrust upon the stage and asked to play a role in a profoundly dishonest drama. I refused, and here's why

Monday, November 17, 2008
Documenting the Surge: US Soldier's Films Expose the Realities of the Occupation
"We have an entire generation of people in their twenties and thirties who have never gone through a war...the media and government have gotten so good at the creation of messages, people don't know the reality" - Casey J. Porter

Friday, November 14, 2008
Change We Can Believe In?
Obama's landslide victory marks the beginning of a new era, a moment of enormous possibility and for those of us fed up from the past eight years, long overdue prospect of change. But the change needs our continued efforts and work, unless we are willing to settle for another version of the Clinton years.

Monday, November 10, 2008
Ron Paul: "Hopes for the Future"
(1 comments) With the election behind us, our country turns hopeful eyes to the future. I have a few hopes of my own.

Monday, November 10, 2008
America the Illiterate
(1 comments) We live in two Americas. One America, now the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world. It can cope with complexity and has the intellectual tools to separate illusion from truth. The other America, which constitutes the majority, exists in a non-reality-based belief system. This America, dependent on skillfully manipulated images for information, has severed itself from the literate, print-based culture...

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Obama Should Implement the Tutu Agenda
Desmond Tutu's op-ed in the WaPo titled, "The Man of Tomorrow" which celebrates Obama's win and asks him to not squander the goodwill that has been generated by his election.

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Obama Quashes Iran's Hope for Change (BBC News)
If anybody had hoped that Barack Obama's election victory would lead to a swift breakthrough in Washington's relations with one of its toughest adversaries, Iran, the honeymoon seems to be over before it even began.

Saturday, November 8, 2008
Obama Cabinet: What a Progressive Cabinet Looks Like
In These Times asked its editors and writers to suggest their top progressive choices for a potential Obama Cabinet. We asked that contributors weigh ideological and political considerations, with an eye toward recommending people who have both progressive credentials and at least an arguable chance at being appointed in an Obama White House.

Saturday, November 8, 2008
Rahmbo vs. The Chicago Peace Movement
From Chicago, this is a first-hand account of how Rahm Emanuel dealt with the peace movement while George W. Bush was in power.

Friday, November 7, 2008
Obama's New Chief of Staff: "Worst of the Clinton Years"
The first trumpet blast of change ushers in Rahm Emanuel as Obama's chief of staff and gate keeper. This is the man who arranges his schedule, staffs out the agenda, includes, excludes. It's certainly as sinister an appointment as, say, Carter's installation of arch cold-warrior Zbigniev Brzezinski as his National Security Advisor at the dawn of his "change is here" administration in 1977.

Friday, November 7, 2008
Is Obama Screwing His Base with Rahm Emanuel Selection?
(3 comments) I had really wanted to celebrate Barack Obama's remarkable victory for a day or so before becoming cynical again. I really did. And yet, less than 24 hours after the first polls closed, the president-elect chose as his chief of staff -- perhaps the most powerful single position in any administration -- Rahm Emanuel, one of the most conservative Democratic members of Congress.

Monday, November 3, 2008
Between Hope and Reality
In your nearly two-year presidential campaign, the words "hope and change," "change and hope" have been your trademark declarations. Yet there is an asymmetry between those objectives and your political character that succumbs to contrary centers of power that want not "hope and change" but the continuation of the power-entrenched status quo. [from Ralph Nader]

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
What Do They Have to Do to Lose Your Vote?
If voting for war appropriations and taking away civil liberties was bringing us closer to a more democratic and egalitarian society, well, I would advocate it. But it isn't doing that.

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Nader campaign pushes for Guiness World Record
In a presidential election full of firsts, longshot candidate Ralph Nader is hoping to make his own mark - with his mouth. Nader planned to deliver 315 minutes of speeches in 21 communities Saturday, which would set a Guinness World Record for most campaign speeches in a day.

Monday, October 13, 2008
America's Political Cannibalism
Financial collapses lead to political extremism. The rage bubbling up from our impoverished and disenfranchised working class, glimpsed at John McCain rallies, presages a looming and dangerous right-wing backlash.

Saturday, October 11, 2008
Radio Ads: Now or Never
The Nader/Gonzalez campaign discusses the idea of radio ads and explains why ever since the bailout they have become the opposition for Americans to support.

Friday, October 10, 2008
Rolling the Dice on Derivatives
The derivatives markets of today have become a high stakes casino of unimaginable magnitude. Wall Street's bets have gone bad, and now the whole financial system is in peril. In a best-case scenario, it appears, the taxpayers will be required to rescue the system from itself. This is why Warren Buffett labeled derivatives "weapons of financial mass destruction."

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
LIVE at 9:30 PM ET ---Nader Speaks About the Bailout and the Grassroots Uprising
Ralph Nader, Candidate for President of the United States will talk with Tabitha Soren, Former Political Reporter for MTV and NBC. Tonight, sit back and watch a live feed of Ralph Nader's speech to the San Francisco Commonwealth Club at 9:30 p.m. EST. The focus will be: The Bailout of Wall Street Crooks and the Grassroots Uprising Against the Corporate Dominated Two Party System.

Monday, September 29, 2008
Chicago student makes the call for opening the debates
(1 comments) When 81 percent think this country is heading in the wrong direction and 60 percent think the two parties are failing us, that signifies the need for a certain agenda-one which involves the people inventing a new way forward instead of being cynical about the future.

Monday, September 29, 2008
Bailout fails on first vote, Dow plummets
(2 comments) The House failed to pass a $700 billion economic bailout package Monday, sending lawmakers back to the drawing table to try to stave off an economic collapse, and the stock market plummeted on the news.

Monday, September 29, 2008
Scroll Down, Find Your Congressman, And Call Them to Say Thanks or Get Angry
The roll call vote for the bailout vote today. The legislation failed. All progressives should be thankful that it failed but weary of the fact that more Democrats are voting for this than Republicans.

Thursday, September 25, 2008
Lawmakers reach deal on terms of Wall Street bailout
Congressional negotiators said Thursday that they'd agreed on key principles that will guide massive financial rescue legislation that will cost taxpayers $700 billion, but specific details remained elusive.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Should Third-Party Candidates Like Ralph Nader, Bob Barr, and Cynthia McKinney Be Included in the Presidential Debates?
(4 comments) U.S. News and World Report covers the issue of open debates.

Monday, September 22, 2008
An Open Letter to Michael Moore
(4 comments) I'm concerned that your written and oral statements are so contradictory that you are losing any residual political credibility you might have enjoyed. I think the youth of America and non-voters deserve answers, as you have anointed yourself as their representative.

Friday, September 19, 2008
APA Passes Resolution Against Members Participating in U.S. Gov't Detention Facilities
(1 comments) Be it resolved that psychologists may not work in settings where persons are held outside of, or in violation of, either International Law (e.g., the UN Convention Against Torture and the Geneva Conventions) or the US Constitution (where appropriate), unless they are working directly for the persons being detained or for an independent third party working to protect human rights[7].

Thursday, September 4, 2008
Rage in the Streets: Concert-goers peaceful, 102 arrested
Hundreds of police (and dozens of media personnel) greeted concert-goers as they left the Rage Against the Machine concert at the Target Center in Minneapolis. No violence or property damage was observed, but 102 people were arrested for "blocking traffic."

Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Minnesota Monster Mash: Police-State Zombies in a Dead Republic
(1 comments) Is it any wonder then that, within our own borders, law enforcement will use potentially lethal weapons in the absence of any serious threat - simply to gain compliance? When the state decides that your behavior matters, you will obey. Yes, you may engage in debate - within the parameters established by the state. Yes, you may ask questions - if the state approves them...

Monday, September 1, 2008
ColdSnapLegal's Twitter: An Invaluable Source for RNC Police & Protest Coverage
ColdSnapLegal is offering minute-by-minute coverage of the RNC protests and police repression in the Twin Cities

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Police raid & detain protestors before they protest
YouTube video of the president of Minnesota's NLG chapter defending Americans' right to free speech and speaking out against "preventive detention" of protestors.

Sunday, August 31, 2008
RNC protest group files court order to stop police seizures
(2 comments) Two organizations said today they filed an emergency motion with the court Saturday to try to prevent police from seizing video equipment and cell phones used to document officers' conduct.

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Houses raided, 5 arrested; critics decry crackdown
"To go in and arrest people on conspiracy charges without any solid evidence is to start to criminalize protected political activity and speech," Nestor said. People planning to protest at the convention and St. Paul City Council Member Dave Thune called the actions a pre-emptive strike before the RNC. The convention is slated to start Monday.

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Police raids enrage activists, alarm others
...a St. Paul City Council member described it as excessive, while activists, many of whom were detained and then released without charges, called it intimidation designed to quash free speech.

Thursday, August 28, 2008
Protesters denied access to attorneys, forced to march in leg shackles, ACLU charges
The ACLU issued a stinging rebuke to the Denver Police Department Wednesday, alleging that the department may have violated laws and constitutional rights of protesters arrested outside the Democratic National Convention.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Amy Goodman Barred from Entering AT&T Fundraiser
(1 comments) Despite the fact that bloggers and reporters like Amy Goodman had press passes, they were not allowed to enter the event.

Friday, August 15, 2008
Blowback from Bear-Baiting
Americans have many fine qualities. A capacity to see ourselves as others see us is not high among them...For a decade, some of us have warned about the folly of getting into Russia's space and getting into Russia's face. The chickens of democratic imperialism have now come home to roost -- in Tbilisi.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Nader's Super Rally Hits on Eve of Obama's Big Night
(2 comments) Hoping to pry open the debate agreements soldered together by the Obama and McCain camps through the auspices of the Commission on Presidential Debates, Nader is hosting a "Super Rally" on the eve of Obama's Big Night and inspire people to make the demand for open debates. The linked video is hip. A short history of debate management discussed.

Saturday, August 9, 2008
What's Sex Got to Do With It?
(7 comments) Over here at OpEdNews, we were wondering how best to cover John Edwards' affair. We didn't want to saturate the site like the cable news networks were saturating their airwaves. We didn't want to have many stories on this and let them overshadow stories not being reported (properly). But, I think this should do it. This is how the affair should have been covered by the media. Thank you, Chris Hedges.

Thursday, August 7, 2008
Green Party Takes on Electoral College
Green civil action seeks to democratize the Electoral College by enforcing 14th Amendment voter protections, names Vice President Cheney as defendant! The Green Party's national platform endorses a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College and providing for the direct election of the president by instant runoff voting.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Conservatives for Hillary Clinton?
Right-wing commentators are feigning outrage over Ludacris's sexist rap lyrics in order to tarnish Barack Obama's campaign

Thursday, July 24, 2008
Judiciary committee head rigs Bush impeachment hearing
(4 comments) Conyers is now taking the position that no one at the hearing can accuse Bush or Cheney of any crime, any impeachable offense, dishonorable conduct, or even lying. Conyers' staffers have reportedly told various witnesses that according to Congressional rules he would be forced to shut down the hearing if any such accusations are made.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008
What Obama missed in the Middle East
Barack Obama's visit to Israel and Palestine this week seemed designed to appease pro-Israel groups in the US

Friday, July 18, 2008
Invoking the Memory of Mandela the Freedom Fighter
It's just been a few weeks since Nelson Mandela was taken off the United States terrorism watch list. No doubt so that they too could join in the celebrations of this living icon, without the embarrassment of hoisting up a revolutionary.

Thursday, July 17, 2008
Memo to Obama, McCain: No One Wins in a War
For someone like myself, who fought in World War II, and since then has protested against war, I must ask: Have our political leaders gone mad? Have they learned nothing from recent history? Have they not learned that no one "wins" in a war, but that hundreds of thousands of humans die, most of them civilians, many of them children?

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Naomi Klein: Bush Sees Crises in Fuel, Food, Housing and Banking as Chance to Exploit Us More
"There is a clear political strategy, and has been for several decades, to exploit these moments when people are desperate for quick-fix solutions and more inclined to believe in a kind of a magical cure, to push through very, very unpopular policies that don't actually solve the crisis at hand, that don't actually help people, but are incredibly profitable for multinational corporations."

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Obama Wants to Shrink One War, But Expand Two Others
Barack Obama has restated his phased withdrawal plan for Iraq in response to public questioning, but committed himself to expanding the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
A gloomy day for the economy, except at the White House
President Bush began Tuesday trying to calm consumers troubled by an increasingly shaky economy, but his words had little effect. By the end of the day, the Dow had closed at its lowest level in two years, the government reported that prices had jumped at their sharpest pace in 27 years, and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board warned that "significant challenges" lie ahead.

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.