Saturday, November 28:
Chaz Valenza:
A Simple Plan to Screw the Big Banking. Use Cash. (5 comments)
Use Cash: a low-tech, easy, effective, and unstoppable way to fight Big Banking abuse. Every cash transaction snatches a dime, a dollar, thirty-five dollars, a hundred dollars or more out of the greedy, blood soaked hands of Big Banking. Each transaction denied is a cut. Together it's death by a billion cuts daily.
Betsy L. Angert:
Thanksgiving; Time with Family. No Thanks
Toddlers and tots rarely have opportunities to quietly, calmly, and genuinely converse with parents or the caregivers they are fond of. Hence, lads and lasses feel a sense of loss. By the teen years, the thought of another Thanksgiving celebration with relatives evokes an almost automatic response, “No thanks.”
Friday, November 27:
Dave Berman:
Book Review: "am I being kind" by Michael J. Chase
Presenting stories of his own imperfect self and spiritual evolution as context, Chase delivers a simple and digestible message influenced by The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Eckhart Tolle, Ram Dass, Buddha and Christ (among others), without being cerebral, esoteric or religious.
Cindy Sheehan:
You Get What you Vote For! (13 comments)
the peace movement will definitely have to increase our peace as the war machine increases it's violence!
Stephen Lendman:
Political Prisoner Jalil Muntaqim Denied Parole
Political persecution in America
michael payne:
President Obama prepares to “finish the job” and follow Lyndon Johnson into history (3 comments)
President Barack Obama has just signaled that he intends to “finish the job” in Afghanistan by adding more troops. If he follows through on this decision he will severely wound his presidency. His decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan, directly in opposition to the majority of Americans, will see him follow President Lyndon Johnson into history.
Robert Davidson:
Are Big Pharma and the PDUFA to Blame for Healthcare Mess? (5 comments)
Recent $2.3 billion Pfizer settlement indicates an underlying systemic malady within the FDA. Since the passage of PDUFA, user fees have played an important role in expediting the drug approval process. The implicit underlying assumption, that expediting the drug approval process is good for public health, is seriously flawed.
Thursday, November 26:
Michael Roberts:
Generals Not Always Right (1 comments)
Why President Obama Must Take His Time On Afghanistan;32 Years Ago Another Young President Had To Make Similar Decisions
Eric Walberg:
Canada 's Guantanamo
It seems the world's favourite peaceniks are complicit in torture
Joan Wile:
THE BROKEN THREAD
A free-style poem about my loss of faith in Obama
Steve Clemons:
Thankful that Obama Has Helped Make Dissent and Debate Patriotic and Safe Again (1 comments)
This White House embraces differences, rivals, and debate. This is extraordinarily important, and of all things this Thanksgiving - I'm thankful that challenging the government's course and trying to put better ideas on the table are unabashedly patriotic again.
Don Williams:
Go ahead, hug that tree and give thanks (2 comments)
It may be impossible to say anything truer about happiness than this: Giving thanks is the key to happiness.
Stan Stahl:
Thanksgiving 2009 (1 comments)
An Essay on Freedom in Celebration of Thanksgiving
Joe Perez:
Thanksgiving is the Gayest of Holidays (1 comments)
The day given over to gratitude is the most Homophilic of the holidays, because the act of expressing thanks is one of the most immanent or self-directed of spiritual acts (just as Christmas, defined by the act of giving, is the most Heterophilic of the seasonal celebrations). In receiving gifts with gratitude, we accept that which is, and we take into our soul Fullness; in giving gifts, we open to Emptiness.
Ralph Lopez:
*Fire Insubordinate McChrystal Now! Civilian Government! (1 comments)
Continuing to try to paint the president into a corner and infringing on the president's prerogative to shape his own foreign policy is serious insubordination, and the leak and spin wars now conducted by "military officials" could not be more in the open.
Mikhail Lyubansky:
Thanksgiving's Many and Complicated Needs (2 comments)
The early relationship between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag in many ways continues to be controverial, but two peoples came together in peace and mutual assistance that first year and the resulting Thanksgiving, in turn, paved the way for a half century of peace. Is this event worth celebrating, or is it yet another example of white insensitivity toward its indigenous peoples?
Wednesday, November 25:
Elayne Clift:
Women Scientists and the Nobel Prize
The bad days of ignoring women scientists may be over, but there are still invisible barriers to overcome.
Fred Cederholm:
Thanksgiving ... it was a time of fellowship, remembrance, and gratitude...
The third Thursday in November, we in the US observe a truly unique American celebration. It was a time of fellowship, remembrance, and gratitude. We look back upon where we have been, we consider where we find ourselves, and we contemplate where we are headed: normally we are thankful.
Suzana Megles:
A Presidential Turkey Pardoning
Do we really need to eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day or any other day for that matter? CBS's Sunday Morning Offering this week was all about celebrating Thanksgiving with meat. How disappointing. Don't they have any vegetarian or vegan reporters? Don't they care about the impact of so much animal raising on the environment?
Sheila Dean:
*Fusion center data consolidation effort failing, Texas seeks public input
Since the passage of the PATRIOT Act, data collection has been a part of an ambitious effort to coordinate national security efforts. Many state governments are in the process of developing warehouses for private and public information in centralized digital hubs called fusion centers, over 70 of which have already been established around the country.One fusion center is the North Central Texas Fusion Center (NCTFS).
David Model:
A Tax Increase for What? (2 comments)
Two powerful members of Congress called for a war tax to pay for new troops to be deployed in Afghanistan. It is interesting that these two members of Congress are suggesting the unthinkable, a tax increase. When was the last time you heard a member of Congress call for a tax increase for healthcare, poverty, homelessness, veterans? Washington's priorities are defined by the urgency of this tax increase to support a war.
Harvey Wasserman:
Still more fluff, lies and radiation from TMI and the new nuke media machine
Like this vast core of green groups, Moody's, Standard & Poor, Citibank and a powerful cohort of financial analysts see atomic power as a horrific investment that can only be described as, well, radioactive. The risks of building a new reactor, says a recent Citibank report, "are so large and variable that individually they could each bring even the largest utility company to its knees."
Stephen Lendman:
New Report Shows Ten States Face Fiscal Crisis (3 comments)
State crises getting worse, not better.
Tuesday, November 24:
earl ofari hutchinson:
It's Official: Afghanistan Is Now Obama's Baby
There was never doubt the moment General Stanley McChrystal flatly told President Obama last summer that the US must deploy up to 45,000 more troops in Afghanistan that'd he heed his command. The Pentagon had officially spoken through McChrystal. With the rare exception of JFK's pushback against the generals during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Pentagon speaks presidents listen.
Dave Lindorff:
UK Inquiry: Blair Conspired with Bush as Early as February 2002 to Plot Iraq Invasion (11 comments)
In the UK, people are learning about the deceit and lies of their former prime minister. In the US, there's no such investigation, and most of the media won't even report on the UK probe.
Lawrence Velvel:
Let Us Now Seek Competent Men. (2 comments)
Let us now seek competent men.
Monday, November 23:
Daniel Vojir:
The Manhattan Declaration: The Christian Right Declares Global Warfare, Giving Africa The Gift Of ...Fear (2 comments)
Warren is still nowhere to be seen in regards to criminalizing homosexuality in Africa. However, his imprint is on the Manhattan Declaration - the signed document that purports to speak for all of Christianity with all of its mind-numbing messages of hypocrisy.
P. Orin Zack:
Short Story: "Striking the Set Piece" (12th in a series)
If corporations could be convicted of their crimes, which ones would you want to bring to justice? Some, such as Blackwater, are obvious choices, because they boldly flaunt the law, or sidestep it by operating in the grey zones between government and private industry. Others are more subtle. They bankroll campaigns and pad pockets, and in return, get legislation either passed or blocked. Don't be hoodwinked by the puppeteers.
Franz J. T. Lee:
Fifth or New International? Preliminary Food for Human Emancipation
If ever we would organize a New International, and realize the above transhistoric goals, it will be the very Last International.
David Glenn Cox:
What goes around comes around (1 comments)
There is only one thought that is important to remember: Anything we are willing to do to some third-world peasant to obtain information, we are just as willing to do to you. The cascading effect is all too clear all throughout history, be it hunting for witches or hunting for Al Qaeda. The Taser weapon was first introduced to the United States as an alternative to deadly force.
Paul Craig Roberts:
A Trial That Will Convict Us All (34 comments)
Considering that some Muslims will blow themselves up in order to take out a handful of Israelis or US and NATO occupation troops, the payoff that Mohammed will get out of a guilty verdict is enormous. Are we really sure we want to create a Muslim Superhero of such stature?
Sunday, November 22:
Mary MacElveen:
NY State Assembly Member, Marc Alessi wins my Founding Fathers award
I hereby award my Founding Fathers award to Assembly member, Marc Alessi of the great state of New York for truly representing the needs of his constituents. Those being the hungry amongst us.
Richard Girard:
The Social Element of Social Capitalism
"Women and children first!" cried the Titanic's Captain as she prepared for her final, fatal plunge.
In our modern world, I believe that how we treat children and the opposite sex is a direct reflection of how we react to different and diverse peoples and ideas. There are few if any supporters of the ERA in the KKK; we need to examine the basis for this truth.
Thomas Farrell:
*The Catholic Bishops' Views About Contraception and Abortion in the First Trimester Are Ridiculous (3 comments)
The Catholic bishops are wrong to ban artificial contraception and abortion in the first trimester. Therefore, American Catholics should disregard what the Catholic bishops say.
Gustav Wynn:
Is Sean Hannity's Political Talk Hampering Our Children's Critical Thinking? (14 comments)
The Supreme Court will soon be deciding if McCain-Feingold campaign regulation should allow corporations to fund election propaganda. But we already have this going on every day in talk radio, where the #1 broadcasters in the US are openly partisan and supported by corporate contributors like the Heritage Foundation. Should we allow propaganda over public airwaves and if so, what will this do to our children?
Robert Parry:
The Madness Returns
As soon as the mainstream news correspondents sensed that the tide was turning again, they smoothly readjusted to the resurgence of know-nothing-ism. Palin's recitation of right-wing talking points was treated with deference and respect, except by the likes of Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's “Daily Show.”
Susan Galleymore:
The Tea Party as Good Beginning (1 comments)
My "left-leaning" friends had persuaded me that "right-leaning" folk are successful at spreading their message because they know they how to tow the party line, how to follow, and how to obey. And that this is unlike those of us on the "left" who march to our own tune, squabble for meager media attention, and splinter off to form smaller and less effective groups when challenges arise.
Mary Shaw:
What's Thanksgiving Really All About? (2 comments)
The Thanksgiving holiday is just around the corner, but this year I am tempted to skip the festivities.
Jason Paz:
The Anti-Death Squad; the Right to Live (1 comments)
Throughout the ages the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have reigned supreme. The chances are the curses of war, pestilence, famine and disease have visited your doorstep. If you were lucky enough to be at work at the time, perhaps they claimed your spouse. In the final analysis they kill all of us, but this is not an excuse to make their mission easier for them.
shamus cooke:
Obama's Fraudulent “Job Summit”
A new stimulus package must be much larger, and wholly dedicated to creating jobs, not merely “saving” them. The current situation in the U.S. is one of complete social failure; there is immense work that needs to be done — in infrastructure especially — while there exists millions of workers available to do the job. But nothing happens.
michael payne:
China vs. U.S.: economic power vs. military might; which will prevail? (11 comments)
Two world powers, with two distinctly different political philosophies, proceed in world affairs on strikingly different courses. China has chosen to flex its economic muscle while America's strategy is based on using military might in pursuing its agenda.
Saturday, November 21:
Emily Spence:
Towards Resolving Thanksgiving Contradictions (2 comments)
Why not avoid cutesy repugnant myths concerning "Indians" and Pilgrims? Instead, one might consider the suffering that arose after the "New World" became seen as a land of opportunity -- a fresh spot to environmentally plunder while removing natives. One might, also, reflect on the debt that we, connected in myriad ways, owe to each other. Assuredly, it's especially obliged by people who have cornucopian bounty in their lives.
Grant Lawrence:
Would Americans be Pro-Wars if They Had to Pay for Them with Higher Taxes? (11 comments)
I wonder if Americans would opt for blood or revert to the greed if they knew their occupations would hit them right in their own wallet right now.
Douglas A. Wallace:
A RACKETEERNG INFLUENCED CORRUPT ORGANIZATION FRONTED BY A CHURCH IS SUBJECT TO PROSECUTION UNDER (RICO) (1 comments)
Over time so called religious orders have committed crimes against humanity for which no recourse is available. However under the RICO statute a church can be defined as a Racketeering Corrupt Organization which allows private prosecution.
Under this statute the writer is seeking justice against his former
church Mormon (LDS) Church.
Liz Grover:
*My Experience in Afghanistan & My Message to President Obama
Liz Grover, an activist who lived and worked in Afghanistan for two years, makes her please to President Obama to use dialogue and genuinely listen to what the Afghan people want.
Ed Tubbs:
The GOP's Limbo Rock and How ‘Low' Can We Go? (1 comments)
In an accent she'd never completely been able to overcome, 'Of course . . . I didn't agree with everything the Nazis did.'
Jason Paz:
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied (3 comments)
We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. - Martin Luther King
Susan Galleymore:
Melissa - Raped! -- For Band of Buddies War Series (3 comments)
MELISSA stopped drinking water in the early afternoon so she didn't have to walk to the latrines after dark. Women were being raped by members of their own battalion and she didn't want to risk that. She knew the risk of dehydration in 120 degree heat but " raped by fellow troops? Wasn't going to happen to her.
Ed Tubbs:
Rosaries, Rostrums, and the God's Awful Truth
Looking over the course of history, all the way to today, I don't think we can . . . handle the truth. At least insofar as the truth tends to impale many of our most sacred and endearing beliefs we can't.
James Brett:
The End of an Era?
The portent for our holiday economy is laden with opportunity for even more unemployment, bankruptcies and business failures.
Do these in turn portend an end to American consumerism. The answer is not "no"; it is "maybe," and that is good!
Friday, November 27:
Taxing the Speculators by Paul Krugman (1 comments)
While a financial transactions tax would not completely prevent any future crisis, it could
generate substantial revenue while providing a useful check on reckless short-term speculation. Europe
is beginning to do it. But Geithner opposes it. Time for Geithner to go.
The rabid right has made me doubt my faith in America
What troubles me about the US today in ways I never expected to witness in my lifetime is not Obama's failure to solve all its urgent problems in a year, or even four. It is the scale of the irrational, emotional and ignorant, reaction his presidency has unleashed on the American right, some of it understandable in a fast-changing and confusing world, much of it ugly and increasingly violent in tone.
Thursday, November 26:
Merck's Vioxx scandal widens: Drug maker knew Vioxx was deadly for years before risk was made public (1 comments)
Merck knowingly and maliciously allowed a deadly drug to continue to be sold to patients for years. It's a clear case of profits before patients from a drug company mired in one scandal after another. (Merck is also the maker of Gardasil, the cervical cancer vaccine.)
Wednesday, November 25:
Geithner's Disgrace. - By Eliot Spitzer (Slate)
Barofsky's report reads like a case study in failed negotiation. The New York Fed didn't have the backbone to stand up to Wall Street, didn't understand its capacity to protect taxpayers, and didn't appreciate that its responsibility was to taxpayers.
Tuesday, November 24:
Russia: Cleaning Up the Media Garbage
It's hard to imagine that Medvedev's hope for a better Russia will ever be realized if he doesn't address the issue of media corruption.
Monday, November 23:
Sanctions and Strategy
Iran has rejected, at least for the moment, a proposal from the P-5+1 to ship the majority of its low-enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment. The P-5+1 are not even committed to the idea of sanctions. But they will move to sanctions if it appears that Israel or the United States is prepared to move aggressively. Sanctions satisfy the need to appear to be acting while avoiding the risks of action.
What Ever Happened to That Prosperity the Tax-Cutters Promised?
Older households in the bottom and middle income thirds — those over age 50 — have, to be sure, seen their after-inflation net worths increase between 1983 and 2009. But these households have lost at least 22 percent of the wealth they held in 2007. As older families, Bosworth and Smart note, they now “have less time to recover.”
That recovery may take some time.
Why Afghans Dig Empire Graveyards
It is precisely the far greater dangers that people in other countries have faced in the past that enable them to put the threat of terrorism in perspective. Paradoxically, it is the relative safety of the United States that makes Americans so vulnerable to panic and propaganda when faced with such a limited threat.
The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete ... If It Weren't for Archives
What happened to all the initial reports that accused Fort Hood killer Maj. Nidal Hasan snapped because he was distraught over the Army's refusal to grant him either a discharge or an exemption from being deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, wars which the Muslim psychiatrist abhorred?
Sunday, November 22:
Obama's extra-judicial killers
Bush authorized the CIA to operate freely and fully in Afghanistan with its own paramilitary teams—and to go after Al Qaeda on a worldwide scale, using lethal covert action to keep the role of the US hidden. As he has now continued other Bush-Cheney legacies, President Obama has permitted the CIA to operate freely and fully, with its dread pilotless Predator drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Is There Such a Thing as Agro-Imperialism? (1 comments)
Investors who are taking part in the land rush say they are confronting a primal fear, a situation in which food is unavailable at any price. Over the 30 years between the mid-1970s and the middle of this decade, grain supplies soared and prices fell by about half, a steady trend that led many experts to believe that there was no limit to humanity's capacity to feed itself.
