Tuesday, November 24:

Janet Weil: *Barbara Lee Still Speaks for Me! Barbara Lee calls for opposition to a troop escalation in Afghanistan; an end to US troops and military contractors in that country; "Smart Security"; and a repeal of the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force, as hundreds cheer in downtown Oakland.

Monday, November 23:

Patricia Mailloux: How to Win in the Game of Life About the health care reform and why we should consider universal health care as a viable option for our future.

Daniel Vojir: The Manhattan Declaration: The Christian Right Declares Global Warfare, Giving Africa The Gift Of ...Fear (1 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.

Rob Kall: China Buys Hummer Brand-- Further Evidence of a Shock Doctrine Assaulted America? (13 comments) Naomi Klein described, in her breaktrhough book, Shock Doctrine, how a nation is attacked, shocked and torn apart, destroying the middle class. It looks like the GM sale of Hummer to a wealthy Chinese investor, probably with the help of Morgan Stanley, is an example of how it's happening in the US.

Kevin Gosztola: Rejecting the Narrative for Health Reform in America, Believing in a Better Way (8 comments) To the extent that politicians in Washington, D.C. have not attempted reform of this magnitude with a concerted effort for a decade (perhaps, decades depending on how you regard Hillary Clinton's past efforts), the recent votes on health reform in the House two weeks ago and in the Senate this weekend are historic. But the dominant political culture has channeled righteous outrage into something terribly inadequate.

Stephen Lendman: Targeting Muslim Charities in America (2 comments) Targeting the innocent is the face of a police state.

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.

Kiilu Nyasha: America's Supermax Prisons Do Torture These conditions are a flagrant violation of article 6 of the U.S. Constitution which affirms that treaty law (i.e. international law) is the “supreme law of the land.” Thus, article 10 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights stipulates that “The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social rehabilitation.

winston: Any involvement in Afghanistan is futile. Keeping military in Afghanistan is pointless as “you could have 200,000 troops there and Afghanistan will swallow them up as it has done in the past.” Funds spent on reconstruction don't make it out of the corrupt leaders' hands. NATO is planning on a phased withdrawal. We shouldn't be left holding the bag as we were in Iraq again.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue: After a visit to the Ana Soto Socialist farm in Venezuela, I say hell to the begrudgers! (1 comments) One of the myths currently being spun with care and malice abroad by opposition think tanks, such as VenEconomy or Veneconomia is that state companies and expropriated farms are "unproductive, highly political, inefficient and badly administered."

Thomas Farrell: *The Catholic Bishops' Views About Contraception and Abortion in the First Trimester Are Ridiculous (2 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? (8 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?

Nancy Tobi: Organized Crime Fighting (1 comments) America's elections are no longer run by public officials. Everyone's heard of Diebold, but who are the people hired by Diebold to really run our elections? In New England, we know at least one of them is a convicted felon - a drug trafficker. We don't know too much about the rest of them, because their identities are kept secret. Is this any way to run a democracy?

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.”

Saberi Roy: Are the Terrorists Homeward Bound? (2 comments) Analysis of Al-Qaeda strategy and why there are increased incidents of terrorism in South Asia.

Bryant Welch: Fort Hood: A Harbinger Of Things To Come? (6 comments) If we can identify the real problem that caused the tragedy at Ford Hood we can possibly prevent such episodes in the future. Our troops have been through enough.

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.

Richard Clark: *New JFK assassination bombshells (15 comments) Bombshells in the new trade paperback of a good JFK assassination book are featured in a new Discovery Channel special, "Did the Mob kill JFK?" produced by NBC. It premieres Sunday, November 22, 2009, on the Discovery Channel (US) at 8pm and again at 11pm. Authors of the book, Legacy of Secrecy, Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann, are extensively interviewed in the documentary, which will continue to air in the coming months.

PETA: 4-H: Cruel to animals and kids What does it say about society's mindset when children are encouraged to participate in a program that ultimately means the death of an animal they've befriended and whose trust they actively courted? 4-H programs teach the wrong lessons about animals—and they should have no place in our schools.

Ann Garrison: Planting bio-fuels, in Rwanda, while Rwandans go hungry Rwanda's greatest natural resource is its fertile agricultural land, but most is centralized in the hands of government elites and planted in export crops, coffee, tea, flowers, and soon, bio-fuels----while Rwandans go hungry.

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.

ALONE: Germany's Sleeping PTSD Crisis (1 comments) Germany has been keeping quiet about growing PTSD related stress from the nation's various peace keeping duties in recent years.

Saturday, November 21:

Daniel Tilson: Bad News For American Women Comes In Threes (4 comments) From the U.S. House version of health reform that included further abortion restrictions, to new recommendations on screenings for breast cancer and cervical cancer, the signs have not been good.

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.

Alen Salerian: Betrayal by JFK's Four Trusted Men: McNamara, Bundy, Hilsman and Forrestal (1 comments) An exploration of the inner workings of some of President Kennedy's most trusted advisers and their influence on international policy and conflict.

Rick Rozoff: Rumors Of Coups And War: U.S., NATO Target Latin America Rumors Of Coups And War: U.S., NATO Target Latin America

Jason Paz: Justice Delayed is Justice Denied (1 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.

Dan Fejes: The Long Climb Back (2 comments) The damage done by the Bush administration to the rule of law occurred over a few years - relatively quickly in legal terms. Repairing it will be a much longer task, as repairing always is.

George Washington: Is America Finally Starting to Stand Up To Wall Street? (2 comments) ???

Friday, November 20:

Ray McGovern: McChrystal to Obama: Fogh You; McChrystal Testing the Limits (14 comments) It's hard to know if the Obama-led ongoing consultation on Afghanistan is for real, or just a charade. I seem to be in the minority comprised of those who tend to give the President the benefit of the doubt. This decision is a BIG one. What is abundantly clear is the extreme pressure he is under, mostly from the senior military, some of whom (Petraeus) have political ambitions of their own.

Kevin Gosztola: Weak Public Option Myths That Liberals Believe (7 comments) As the Senate takes its first vote on moving the debate on health insurance legislation forward, doctors from prominent organizations for universal healthcare speak out about the myths surrounding the public option.

Chaz Valenza: What the Economists Aren't Saying: Americans' Finances in Tatters, Bankruptcies to Skyrocket (6 comments) My analysis of three indicators shows that within 12 months the annualized number of bankruptcies will roar past 1.5 million. This analysis forces us to ask many questions, including: When and how will Main Street emerge from the Great Recession?

Daniel Vojir: Will James David Manning Be Tried As A Martyr ... Or As An Idiot? (3 comments) Are fraudulent ministers just plain stupid? Maybe so. James David Manning, "Ph.D" has been operating ATLAH Ministries Worldwide and calling for the death of the President. His last video was so threatening that Homeland Security paid him a visit on November 16th. He fully expects to be carted away any day now for his reasonless rantings. We hope he is. Pray for the members of his congregation.

James Brett: Reasons Not to Abandon Afghanistan While looking for reasons to stay in Afghanistan, it would be beneficial to check out some of the assumptions being bandied about these days.

Glenn Greenwald: The Washington establishment suffers a serious defeat (3 comments) Populist anger over elite-favoring economic policies has long been brewing on both the Right and Left (and in between), but neither political party can capitalize on it because they're both dependent upon and subservient to the same elite interests which benefit from those policies.

Abbas Sadeghian, Ph.D.: My Comrade is an Octopus;The case for the war in Afghanistan: (16 comments) The American system of government is like a giant octopus. It is the biggest octopus you have ever seen. He has taken large areas for himself, and he is not scared of anybody.

Jordan Thornton: *A Bush in Obama's Clothing? UPDATE: Qom Site Clean The IAEA has found nothing suspicious or threatening about the "secret" Iranian facility at Qom, contradicting the hysterical claims made by the politicians trying to lie/frighten us into another senseless war, and the press that's helping them.

Muhammad Khurshid: Another Army Takeover Is Imminent In Pakistan (2 comments) There are reports that Pakistan Army has almost finalised the plan for taking over the power as the civilian leadership has failed in controlling the situation. It is not yet clear whether General Kiyani will take all the matters in his own hands or he will allow formation of a national government.

Angola 3 News: The Arrest and Torture of Syed Hashmi --an interview with Jeanne Theoharis (4 comments) Jeanne Theoharis is the author of an April, 2009 article in The Nation, entitled “Guantanamo At Home,” which focuses on the arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment of US citizen Syed Hashmi in a New York City prison with Guantanamo-like conditions. Hashmi's trial will begin in New York City on December 1.

Stephen Lendman: Lynne Stewart: Heroic Human Rights Lawyer Jailed (5 comments) Lynne Stewart - betrayed by the criminal justice system she defended for 30 years.

Thursday, November 19:

Andreas Umland: Understanding the Orange Revolution: Ukraine's Democratization in the Russian Mirror On November 21st, 2009, Ukrainian democrats will be celebrating the fifth anniversary of the start of demonstrations in Kyiv which led to larger political developments that came to reshape our understanding of post-Soviet politics. During the last five years, the 2004 events in Ukraine known as the Orange Revolution have become important reference points in the international study of democratic transition and consolidation.

Mick Youther: *Do You Know Afghanistan? President Obama says that he is still weeks away from a decision on Afghanistan--So call your Senators and Representative at the Congressional switchboard ((202) 224-3121), and call the Obama White House at (202) 456-1111, and let them know that the United States has wasted enough money on George W. Bush's misadventures in the Mideast. We have sacrificed enough lives. Enough is enough.

Jim Hightower: Obscenely Rich Bankers Claim to Do God's Work -- They Can Go to Hell (8 comments) While top executives of Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and other big investment houses were initially puzzled and hurt by the public's moral outrage, their audacious sense of personal worth and entitlement quickly kicked back in. So Europeans are now witnessing the spectacle of bankers draping themselves in radiant robes of ethical purity.

Grant Lawrence: President Obama: The Agonizer-in-Chief (7 comments) Will President Obama send more troops to die for the occupation in Afghanistan?

Richard Cummings: Going Rogue;A Missed Opportuity Why Sarah Palin is not a real populist and how she might have been one.

Richard Wise: If Health Reform Fails: Insurers' Double-0 “License to Kill” If health care reform fails, the result will not be a return to the status quo. It will be much worse. The banks and the insurance companies will have won the big prize and they will pay themselves handsomely for their victory. Meanwhile, Democrats in disarray will slink off stage left, blaming everyone but themselves for the outcome.

Michael Collins: HHS Task Force Mammogram Recs Slammed (11 comments) Now it's time to find out how this HHS research organization could impanel a group of experts to recommend cancer treatment protocols when none of the physicians on the panel were oncologists and none had any identified clinical experience treating cancer.

Stephen Lendman: Media Disseminated Myths about Obamacare Corporate media lies and deception about Obamacare

Bob Patterson: Ambush Alert! (1 comments) Are the electronic voting machines going to be used to ambush Latino voters in Colorado?

Ronnie Manns: What's the Difference between a Rhino and a Dino? Republicans in name only are being purged from the party but they were attempting to help find solutions while the Democrats in name only are standing in the way of progress.

Saberi Roy: Obama's Visit to Asia - Taking Up Real Issues (3 comments) Obama's tour across Asia - human rights issues, China and Burma

Frosty Wooldridge: Perfect storm approaching the United States while leaders snore and citizens sleep (11 comments) In all great social change, it takes an educated citizenry to create “consciousness shift” which moves to “critical mass shift” that ends with a paradigm shift via “tipping point."

Wednesday, November 18:

Dana Jill Simpson: Are Alabama Democrats being mislead into believing that Senator Shelby can block with a blue slip the appointment of an (1 comments) For far too long Alabama Democrats have been politically targeted by a small group of Republicians called, "the Alabama Gang". And after all, it was not the Alabama Republicans who voted for President Obama. In fact, they did everything they could to defeat him. The time has come for President Obama to support the Alabama Democrats in their fight against Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions and "the Alabama Gang".

Kathy Malloy: Criminal Injustice (3 comments) Why are Republicans afraid of the law? Did they collectively buy into Dubya's belief that the U.S. Constitution, and therefore our entire system of government, was nothing more than a “goddam piece of paper,” and, furthermore, should be abandoned if it might possibly be used to protect a swarthy Muslim?

George Washington: January 9th: National Citizens Day (5 comments) It's the American thing to do.

David Swanson: Why Can't We Do to DC What We Did to Seattle? (3 comments) I've been reading a brand new book called "The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle," which is in large part an analysis of what worked in the protesting of the World Trade Organization 10 years ago. Why is it, I wonder, that activists were able to shut down the center of this major city in Washington state, but for years we have been unable to shut down the center of Washington, D.C., in opposition to wars.

Ralph Nader: Dear President Obama; Who Are You Getting Your Afganistan Advice From? (8 comments) Who would have thought last year that on assuming the presidency, that you would consider plunging deeper in to this quagmire without an exit strategy? The deeper you plunge, the greater your rejection of the history of occupations fueling insurgencies in that region. The more you insulate yourself from contrary judgments to those you have been receiving from your inner councils.

Uri Avnery: Federation? Why Not? (3 comments) The more trust between the parties develops, the easier it will be to deepen the partnership and to widen the powers of the joint institutions. Perhaps, at this stage, conditions may be ripe for the founding of a wider association of the entire region, on the lines of the European Union.

Jason Paz: Martin Luther King and Unjust Laws Today "I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

Jay Janson: *Hu Jintao Abides US Surveillance, Suspects in Prison, Torture, Rendition, Massacres (6 comments) n Confucian ethics and in the Martial Arts, confrontation is a sign of ineptitude a show of weakness. If one makes a move that is ungracious or forward and unbalanced, his opponent will withdraw to take advantage of this lack of balance or propriety in behavior and allow awkwardness to do the punishing, preferably without resorting to any retort at all. Hu Jintao silently observed Obama, a guest, criticizing his host's country

Noeline Clayfield: *Accountability An outline of the status quo and how we have relegated our personal power to our elected representatives who pay only lip service to their constituents and line their pockets with gold from the lobbyists representing special interest groups with a personal agenda.

Brent Budowsky: 2010: A progressive strategy to win (2 comments) The issues discussed in this column stand at the heart of the American economy and the source of discontent that now spreads throughout the land. With the principled stand of progressive patriotic populism, we speak for the majority of voters. With a total mobilization to support those who stand with us in 2010, we can confound the experts again, as we did in 2006 and 2008.

Saberi Roy: Obama's visit to Asia – Taking up Real Issues (2 comments) Obama's visit across Asia - Expectations and Agenda

Rowan Wolf: Is the "Tea Party" Really An Appropriate Name? (3 comments) The "Tea Party" is more akin to the nativist Know Nothings than the colonists rebelling against British corporate monopoly.

Rob Kall: Flashback from 2003: A Positive, Liberal Vision of The Future; 37 Ways Democrats Will Make the USA Better. (11 comments) here's an article I wrote almost exactly six years ago, the first year OpEdNews was in existence. Any comments on progress on these ideas?

Jim Fetzer: *THE DARTMOUTH JFK-PHOTO FIASCO (10 comments) A Dartmouth computer scientist, Hany Farid, claims that it is "extremely unlikely" that backyard photographs of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald are fake based on a digital analysis of shadows. Had he conducted a literature search, he would have known that the shadows are but one of multiple indications of fakery. Even if he were right about the shadows, he would be wrong about the photos, one of which was on LIFE's cover.

Stephen Lendman: Universal Single-Payer Healthcare Coverage: An Economic Stimulus Plan (3 comments) Imagine - doing the right thing is economically beneficial.

Tuesday, November 17:

Mary MacElveen: There are far more powerful women in our lives instead of Sarah Palin (4 comments) There are women, who wear our military uniforms to insure this country's safety day-in-and-day-out, but their faces are not seen or heard from as the media concentrates on her. Many of them have died in service to God and country. Who exactly does she think she is in denigrating those around her as women have come home in caskets in service to you and me?

Frosty Wooldridge: Temporal blindness and overpopulation in America “TEMPORAL BLINDNESS is a limitation in cognitive process. People with temporal blindness cannot gather and process available information into predictions of future conditions. Their processes cannot connect future conditions to a causing behavior.

Kellia Ramares: *Open Letter to House Progressive Caucus (Except Kucinich & Massa) (4 comments) Taking the House Progressive Caucus to task for voting for the "Greater Health Insurance Industry Profits Act", especially at the expense of women's rights.

Arthur Shaw: Colombian dictatorship is a puppet that doesn't need strings Even after Eva Golinger's recent disclosure of a document prepared by US Air Force, most of the bourgeois media and reactionary bourgeois regimes persist in spreading lies that this US military build-up in Colombia ... that is, increasing the number of US military bases there from 3 to 10 and expanding their operational capabilities ... aims

Stephen Fox: World's largest aspartame maker Ajinomoto is trying to rename it AMINOSWEET! (6 comments) Evidently, the heat from the truthful bad press about the medical effects of aspartame has gotten to the corporate giant Ajinomoto, who is trying to change the name to something more warm and fuzzy: AMINOSWEET. Let's hope Obama's FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg, MD, rejects their name change and kicks this neurotoxic carcinogen out of the USA once and for all! Please google and readRead RUMSFELD'S BIOWEAPON LEGACY!

Richard Clark: *New evidence of the terrible social and personal costs of excessive income inequality (5 comments) New cross-cultural evidence shows conclusively that all of the following problems are much more common in societies (like the US) where opportunities to gain educational and income vary greatly from one class to another: Mental illness, drug abuse, teenage births, obesity, the proportion of the population in prison, educational performance of school children, levels of trust and strength of community life, and social mobility

Chris Hedges: The New State Solution (1 comments) The Israelis have orchestrated acute misery and poverty in the Palestinian territories over the past two decades in an effort to subdue and ethnically cleanse the captive population. They have reduced Palestinians, many of whom now live on less than $2 a day, to a subsistence level.

Dahr Jamail: U.S. Army Underreporting Suicides, Says GI Advocacy Group (1 comments) The suicide rate for the Army for 2008 was calculated roughly at 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers, which for the first time since the Vietnam War is higher than the adjusted civilian rate. Thus far, 2009 is on pace to set another record for the number of suicides in the Army.

Paul Rockwell: Welcome Home, Soldier. Now Shut Up More and more U.S. soldiers and Marines, at great cost to their own careers and reputations, are speaking publicly about U.S. atrocities in Iraq, even about the cowardice of their own commanders, who send youth into atrocity-producing situations only to hide from the consequences of their own orders.

John Nichols: Democrats to Obama: Get Out of Afghanistan (2 comments) In place of a continuing U.S. military presence, the California Democrats are urging Obama "to oversee a redirection of our funding and resources to include an increase in humanitarian and developmental aid."

Robert Parry: The Ugly Truth about Jobs (10 comments) Many Americans have been sold on the right-wing and neoconservative message that any government effort to address the nation's domestic needs is dreaded “socialism” and that the government's primary -- if not only -- role must be to lavish money on the military to “keep us safe.”

Mark Karlin: Harry Reid: Speak Wobbly and Carry No Stick (1 comments) Don't believe any rumors about Reid promising to sink the Stupak Amendment or including a stronger Public Option in the joint reconciliation bill with the House. Harry swings like the wind, buffeted by forces from all sides that he has no inherent ability to keep in line.

David Swanson: They Should Get a Union (1 comments) "If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It's that simple. We need to stand up to the business lobby and pass the Employee Free Choice Act. That's why I've been fighting for it in the Senate and that's why I'll make it the law of the land when I'm president of the United States." --Barack Obama

Scott Baker: Dealing with Anti-Semitism from a Jewish Perspective (28 comments) A number of readers, and even some editorial staff, have pointed out the rise of anti-semitism, both in American society, and even here on Op Ed News. To counter that, I went to one of the leading Jewish Pro-Israel Groups, Facts And Logic About the Middle East (FLAME) for another side.

Dan Fejes: On What Planet Does Barney Frank Spend Most of His Time? (3 comments) Barney Frank has become something of a darling on the left because of his feistiness. That quality seems to work best for someone who will go down with the ship on principle... someone like Dennis Kucinich, who voted against the House health care bill under just that circumstance. It does not work so well with someone who appears to be at least half in the pocket of the interests he ostensibly oversees.

Don Williams: *Say No to a New Nuclear Bomb Plant (3 comments) If you love our world, drop everything for ten minutes and visit http://www.Y12SWEIS.com. Leave a comment there telling the US government to get behind a vision embraced by unlikely bedfellows who have envisioned a nuclear-weapons-free future. Specifically, ask our politicos and bureaucrats to drop plans to build a ruinous new weapons complex in Oak Ridge, TN.

Mary MacElveen: Based on a Politico.com article: I am sick of game-playing politicians So, game-playing politicians, tell us how you will help us with detailed plans instead of floating a picture of a hug between two politicians. If you are successful in your campaign, the hardest part is now upon you to actually get the people's business done. My question is by using tactics like these: Are you even up for the job?

Jesselyn Radack: Breaking Justice Dept. Corruption in Birkenfeld Case: U.S. Gave UBS Kingpin Immunity (4 comments) It's gone from bad to worse. I've written previously about how Brad Birkenfeld, the whistleblower who shattered 75 years of Swiss bank secrecy, is the only one going to jail in this multi-billion dollar scandal. But now my dyspepsia has turned to projectile vomiting. I have asked in previous diaries why, when the U.S. had UBS kingpin Martin Liechti in its claws, it set him scot-free back to Switzerland.

Harvey Wasserman: For Obama it's one (term) if by war, two if by peace (3 comments) Standing down in Afghanistan & Iraq would be truly historic.It could end the epoch-dating to 1492-when Europe continually marched throughout the Third World.More narrowly,it would acknowledge,at last,America's inability to shape every corner of the Earth to its overbearing whim.Perhaps it would finally curb this nation's addiction to squandering blood & treasure on these absurd,hopeless&ultimately suicidal military excursion.

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.

The Pro-War, Anti-Gun Wing of the GOP | by Jerry Salcido Save Those Bullets for the Monsters

Obama's First Judicial Nominee Confirmed (5 Months Later) Judge Hamilton had the support of both his home state Senators – Senator Lugar, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, and Senator Bayh, a well-respected moderate Democrat. He was rated “well qualified” by the American Bar Association, and his nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in June. But despite all this, conservatives had since prevented a final vote, arguing Hamilton was too liberal.

ZIHOP as Limited Hangout The Military Industrial Complex did not arise from some flaw in the American character, nor indeed from Zionism. It arose, simply put, because capital requires more capital, power more power still. Powerful states act out. “Small states are virtuous only because of their weakness.” (Bakunin).

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.

Eric Margolis: Critics of Afghanistan need to look in mirror Ironically, across the Muslim world, the same western powers scourging Karzai are seen as major sources of corruption, keeping a repressive regime in power by buying dictators, generals and politicians. Many Afghans support the Taliban because it is seen as an enemy of corruption and an enforcer of justice, however harsh.

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?

Paul Krugman: The Phantom Menace (2 comments) it's politically difficult for the Obama administration to enact a full-scale second stimulus. Still, he should be trying to push through as much aid to the economy as possible. And remember, Mr. Obama has the bully pulpit; it's his job to persuade America to do what needs to be done.

Sunday, November 22:

Frank Rich: The Pit Bull in the China Shop The fact-checking siege of “Going Rogue” — by the media, Democrats and aggrieved McCain campaign operatives alike — is another fruitless sideshow. Palin's political appeal has never had anything to do with facts — or coherent policy positions.

Saturday, November 21:

Engineering California's Economic Collapse by Ernest A. Canning As shocking as it may seem, California looming financial meltdown is the intended product of a Republican-led privatization scheme.

Bob Herbert: An American Catastrophe Detroit and its environs are suffering the agonies of the economic damned because of policies, crafted at the highest national and corporate levels, that resulted in the implosion of crucially important components of America's manufacturing base. Those decisions have had a profound effect on the fortunes not just of Detroit, or even Michigan, but the entire U.S. economy.

Yes Virginia: Bob Dylan is a Santa Claus, Rachel Corrie a Light unto the Nations and The Wall Must Fall Yes, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist"

Israel: As the light onto the nations ‘Israel is the light onto the nations' says the Torah. Indeed it is, and not just because the Torah says so. Israel is ahead of everyone else in many fronts. Take for instance, terrorizing civilian populations and practicing some of the most devastating murderous tactics upon elders, women and young.

The Washington Establishment Suffers a Serious Defeat Glenn Greenwald: Something quite amazing happened yesterday in Congress: the House Finance Committee -- in a truly bipartisan and even trans-ideological vote -- defied the banking industry, the Federal Reserve, the Democratic leadership, and mainstream Beltway opinion in order to pass an amendment, sponsored by GOP Rep. Ron Paul and Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, mandating a genuine and probing audit of the Fed.

Could Gender Play Role in Wall Street Reform? Not surprisingly, two women have emerged as the leading thinkers, sayers and doers of the post-financial crisis world: Sheila Bair, chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and Elizabeth Warren, director of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the $700 billion bank-bailout package, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Iraqi Freedom One of my correspondents has said that from what she's heard, the Iraqis appreciate the freedom that the US military is "providing" them. If that's so, they have an interesting value system.

Climategate: the final nail in the coffin of ‘Anthropogenic Global Warming'? The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet.

Holder's decision on Mohammed trial defended In either trial forum, defendants will make an issue of how they were treated and attempt to undermine the trial politically. Some say it is wrong to give Mohammed trial rights ordinarily conferred on Americans, but a benefit of civilian trials over commissions is that they make it harder for defendants to complain about kangaroo courts or victor's justice.

Friday, November 20:

Is the Israel lobby doing more harm than good? We are at a pivotal point. The rise of the right in Israel's last election does not signal that the voters are opposed to territorial compromise and a two-state solution. On the contrary, polls consistently show a clear majority of Israelis favoring this outcome, but they seem to prefer a right-wing prime minister to carry out a leftist policy.

Paul Krugman: The Big Squander So here’s the real tragedy of the botched bailout: Government officials, perhaps influenced by spending too much time with bankers, forgot that if you want to govern effectively you have retain the trust of the people. And by treating the financial industry — which got us into this mess in the first place — with kid gloves, they have squandered that trust.

Learning the Wrong Vietnam Lessons The Thomas-Barry article – subtitled “Unraveling the mysteries of Vietnam may prevent us from repeating its mistakes” – is not really about learning from those mistakes. It's actually about persuading the American public to support escalation in Afghanistan.

Did Hitler Inspire the U.S. Post-9/11 Tribunal System? by Jacob G. Hornberger I don't know how President Bush and the Pentagon came up with the idea of establishing a new judicial system for trying terrorists, but there is the distinct possibility that they got the idea from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler.

Paul Krugman: The Big Squander (1 comments) The A.I.G. rescue was part of a pattern: Throughout the financial crisis key officials — most notably Timothy Geithner, who was president of the New York Fed in 2008 and is now Treasury secretary — have shied away from doing anything that might rattle Wall Street.

Thursday, November 19:

Eliot Spitzer: Obama Economic Policies Ineffective, A Continuation Of Bush (2 comments) Spitzer takes aim at the administration's economic policies, accusing the Obama Administration of shying away from the kind of comprehensive reform that the financial system needs. The Obama administration is not so different from the Bush administration, he says, at least so far as their approach to the banking crisis goes:

Arianna's PC Delta Force by David Nathan Another of the media's enforcers of Acceptable Opinion was unleashed the other day, this one at the Huffington Post. There Sam Stein exposed the terrible extremists—including Tom Woods, Charles Goyette, and Thomas Naylor, the three I focus on here—who have been featured on the Glenn Beck television program.

Glenn Beck and Fox News (2 comments) Some see Beck as a joke, and some see him as a danger, and some—especially those who like guns, don't want health-care reform, and feel that their freedom is somehow threatened by every political initiative of the Obama Administration—are grateful to him, for his efforts to “take back America.”

Conyers Blasts Obama for Health Care Strategy n a radio interview with Bill Press, AUDIO of 11 minutes -- Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) ripped into President Obama and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel saying they are caving in to "nutty right-wing" proposals just to get a health care bill passed.

Holder Acts Like A Patriot As Republicans Continue To Shriek In Terror "The spectacle of a trial" thing is the card the Republicans always play. Translated, it means they think so little of Americans' patriotism (after eight years of Bush, who can blame them?) that the second KSM launches into a terroristy diatribe, American men will run out to acquire the necessary chemicals to build dirty bombs, while the women fashion burkas out of the courtroom's drapes.

E.J. Dionne: The GOP's no-exit strategy Is it any wonder that Congress has miserable approval ratings? Is it surprising that independents, who want their government to solve a few problems, are becoming impatient with the current majority? Democrats in the Senate -- the House is not the problem -- need to have a long chat with themselves and decide whether they want to engage in an act of collective suicide.

Project Syndicate - Obama's Vietnam Syndrome Does the American body politic have a reverse gear? Does it know how to cut losses? Is it capable of learning from experience? Or must it plunge over every cliff that it approaches? At the heart of these questions is another: must liberals and moderates always bow down before the crazy right over national security? What is the source of this right-wing veto over presidents, congressmen, and public opinion?

Dan Froomkin: Obama's Afghan Dilemma: The Only Real Exit Strategy Is Political Suicide (1 comments) What's taking so long? Obama wants his plan to include an exit strategy--or an "endgame" as he put it yesterday. And there isn't one--at least not one that's politically palatable. The only genuine exit strategy left involves unilateral disengagement. But politically, that's a nonstarter--he would be derided in the press and by Republicans as a coward and a quitter.

Wednesday, November 18:

A Terrorist Trial in New York City Although there has been much criticism of the decision to hold the trial in New York City, when it comes to prosecuting terror suspects, the Southern District of New York knows what it's doing. Manhattan — given its recent history of civic trauma and intense focus on counterterrorism — may very well possess the safest civilian court in the country.

Exposing Britain's Pro-Israel Lobby: Channel 4 TV Makes a Bold Start Last night Channel 4's ‘Dispatches' program set out to investigate the pro-Israel lobby in Britain, and to boldly go where no TV team had gone before.it would be no bad thing if all our Westminster politicians had the Second Principle of Public Life tattooed on their forehead – Integrity.

Who Are You and What Have You Done With the Community Organizer We Elected President? What's up with Barack Obama? The candidate for change once promised to take on the powerful banking interests but is now doing their bidding.

Free Speech—At a Price | Freedom From The Press While doing my usual research I happened upon a lecture titled: Michael Parenti discusses “Lies, Wars, and Empire” at the Center For Creative Change at Antioch University in Seattle, Washington. Check the broadcast schedule on Free Speech Television available on the Internet and some cable systems. Dish Network FSTV channel 9415. Progressives and Independents must unite as one. The poor and middle-class need our support.

Tuesday, November 17:

Carol Miller: We Need Health Care, Not Insurance A very complex, mandatory private insurance scheme recently passed the U.S. House. The public is being overwhelmed by sound bites on one hand about how great it is, on the other, how terrible. We are hearing few of the details that are actually in the bill. Having read the bill, it is clear now that what started as health reform has emerged from the political process as health "deform," building on ...

Marc Ash: An Engagement in Burma Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced Ong Sahn Soo Chee), both fragile and defiant, stands as today's heir apparent to the legacy of Gandhi and King. She was born June 19, 1945, quite literally into the fate of Burma's political history.

VIDEO: Gideon Levy -- Addicted To Occupation Israel needs an adult who will save it from its own addiction to the occupation. It needs a guide who'd push or lead or any other way to take us out from the impossible situation we are stuck in. I think this balance of power, this twisted relationship between the US and Israel, which is unprecedented—there's no country in the world that reacts like Israel vis-à-vis the United States. This is not a healthy pattern.

The Degradation of America's Military is Taking a Toll Because America's military is morally bankrupt, soldiers and their families have become expendable. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been based primarily on lies and deceptions, and, in the case of Iraq, control of oil reserves, which are now being plundered by American oil companies. Despite promises from then-Presidential candidate Barack Obama to end the wars, they have continued.

David Sirota: NEW POLL: Do You See What Happens, Max? (1 comments) This is what happens to Democrats - even from red states like Montana - when they overtly and publicly shill for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries: U.S. Sen. Max Baucus' approval rating dropped significantly this year over two years ago in a Montana State University Billings poll released Monday.

Palin's Prayer Leader Hinted Terrorist Attack Could Make Her President "There was a twenty-four year old woman that God began to speak to about entering into politics. She became a part of our prayer group out in Wasilla. Years later, became the mayor of Wasilla. And last year was elected Governor of the state of Alaska. Yes! Hallelujah! At her inauguration she dedicated the state to Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"

Now Is Our Time: UN Secretary-General on the Copenhagen Climate Summit Science tells us that the stakes at Copenhagen could not be higher. But the benefits of taking urgent, united action are similarly powerful. We must not squander this unique opportunity to chart a new path to low-carbon prosperity for all. It is essential that we achieve an ambitious climate deal in Copenhagen. The moment is now.

Richard Cohen - Time for some Palintology The Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin might conclude that she represents the exact moment important Republicans gave up on democracy. She was clearly seen as an empty vessel who could be controlled by her intellectual betters.

Renouncing Islamism: To the Brink and Back Again From Britain: Seventeen former radical Islamists have "come out" in the past 12 months and have begun to fight back. Would they be able to tell me the reasons that pulled them into jihadism, and out again? Could they be the key to understanding – and defusing – Western jihadism? I have spent three months exploring their world and befriending their leading figures.

Tuesday, November 24:

Spin meter: Legislation inflation grips GOP Republicans: You Lie! Read how the simple-minded Republicans artificially inflate the 209 page healthcare reform bill into a 2,000+ page back-breaker. It is NOT longer than War & Peace, & it is barely longer than Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.

Monday, November 23:

G.O.P. Considers ‘Purity' Resolution for Candidates Republican leaders are circulating a resolution listing 10 positions Republican candidates should support to demonstrate that they “espouse conservative principles and public policies” that are in opposition to “Obama's socialist agenda.”

Ann Garrison: Rwanda Green Party activists claim illegal detention Saboteurs disrupted the Rwandan Green Party's fourth attempt to meet, on 10.30.2009, which was then shut down by police. Today's Rwandan News Agency reports that eight Rwanda Greens charge they were illegally arrested and detained during the following week, and that they have now been prevented from convening again.

Pakistan's Battle with Taliban Militants Expands North Pakistan's Army says that while the South Waziristan offensive has taken out the country's largest Taliban sanctuary, militants falling back into Orakzai could become the military's next focus, Bloomberg reports. (Click here for a map of Pakistan that includes Orakzai, Peshawar, and South Waziristan.)

SC gov faces 37 charges he broke state ethics laws South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford faces ethics charges he broke state laws more than three dozen times by violating rules on airplane travel and campaign money, according to details of the allegations released Monday.

Palin quizzes Billy Graham about Bible's view of Middle East Sarah Palin, the hottest name in the Republican Party, took a detour from her book-signing tour Sunday to dine with Billy Graham at his mountaintop home in Montreat, NC. Graham's son, Franklin, who was present for the 2 1/2-hour get-together, said, "Daddy feels God was using her to wake America up."

Public option at center of debate What Democrats lack in consensus they make up for in determination to pass a bill. Not for years has the Senate seen legislation as big as the health-care measure -- weighing in at more than 2,000 pages -- move forward at such a steady, if plodding, pace.

Hostility between British and American military leaders revealed In the papers, the British chief of staff in Iraq, Colonel J.K.Tanner, described his US military counterparts as “a group of Martians” for whom “dialogue is alien,” saying: “Despite our so-called ‘special relationship,' I reckon we were treated no differently to the Portuguese.”

4 American Military Personnel Die in Afghanistan Four United States troops have died fighting in Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, NATO said in a statement Monday. American forces lost 59 service personnel killed in October, the deadliest month in the war that began with the overthrow of the Taliban regime in late 2001. The latest deaths brought to 16 the number of Americans killed so far this month.

Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government The surge in borrowing over the last year or two is widely judged to have been a necessary response to the financial crisis and the deep recession, and there is still a raging debate over how aggressively to bring down deficits over the next few years. But there is little doubt that the United States' long-term budget crisis is becoming too big to postpone.

Sunday, November 22:

Forced labour and rape, the new face of slavery in America Figures from the State Department reveal that 17,500 people are trafficked into the US every year against their will or under false pretences, mainly to be used for sex or forced labour.Human trafficking–forcing someone against their will to work for no reward–has been dubbed modern slavery. At the Dayton conference, it was discussed as a growing social problem, not in some far-off land, but among the cornfields of Ohio.

Religious Leaders Call for Civil Disobedience if Laws Don't Respect Faith A formidable coalition of 150 Catholic, Orthodox and evangelical leaders are calling on Christians in a new manifesto to reject secular authority – and even engage in civil disobedience – if laws force them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideas that betray their religious beliefs.

UK paper questions Iraq war timing The UK's Sunday Telegraph newspaper published details of private statements made by senior British military figures that show plans for the US-led 2003 invasion were being made more than a year earlier than Blair said.

Lest We Forget: Kennedy Killed in Dallas on this day 46 years ago (2 comments) Dallas, Nov. 22--President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot and killed by an assassin today. He died of a wound in the brain caused by a rifle bullet that was fired at him as he was riding through downtown Dallas in a motorcade.

Legislative Pileup Looms in the Senate “It has been a very difficult year on the Democratic side,” Senator Durbin said Friday. “We have faced, again, this onslaught of filibusters and delaying tactics by the Republicans. That it would take four weeks for us to extend unemployment benefits in the worst recession since our Great Depression is an indication of the extremes that the Republican Senate leadership has gone to.”

Patrick Kennedy Banned From Communion Over Abortion Rights Stand (3 comments) Church law permits Bishop Tobin to ban Kennedy from receiving Communion within the Diocese of Providence, which covers Rhode Island, but he cannot stop Kennedy from receiving Communion elsewhere.

Partisan divide widens as Obama considers Afghanistan policy The internal debate has morphed into a much broader debate, a virtual Rubik's Cube in which Obama is weighing not just the number of troops, but when and where they would be deployed as well as how long they should be committed there and at what cost.

The Cornucopia Institute: Food Manufacturers and Organic Industry Lobbyists Circle the Wagons Two powerful lobby groups in the food industry, The Grocery Manufacturers of America and the Organic Trade Association, recently intervened as friends of the court in a federal consumer class-action lawsuit accusing the nation's largest supplier of private-label organic milk of consumer fraud.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue: Venezuela's Chavez wants to see a united PSUV coming out of weekend congress Addressing delegates to the extraordinary congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), President Chavez lambasted the cynical remarks of Colombian Foreign Minister, Jaime Bermudez who said he was disappointed in the silence shown by the South American Union of Nations (Unasur) to President Chavez' war-mongering discourse.

Saturday, November 21:

Eileen Fleming: Gilo and Last Straws This week's announcement of Israel's plan to build 900 more dwellings in Gilo with a price tag of NIS 1.86 million for a 5-room apartment has garnered international criticism as well as from the US.

Prison holds promise for job-strapped town The Obama administration, anxious to deliver on a campaign promise to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has told Illinois officials that a firm decision about acquiring the state facility at Thomson will be made in four to six weeks.

Rob Kall: And They Have 60; Landrieu and Lincoln End First Phase of Senate Drama (19 comments) The last holdouts are on board for opening discussion on the highly vaunted Health Care Reform Senate Bill. Big deal.

Landrieu, a Holdout, Will Support Democrats' Health Bill Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, one of two last hold-outs, announced on Saturday afternoon that she would vote in favor of bringing the bill to the floor for weeks of full debate.

Bill Moyers to Leave Weekly Television PBS mainstay Bill Moyers said he was retiring from weekly television and would end his Friday night public affairs show, “Bill Moyers Journal,” on April 30, 2010. That date will also be the last for “Now on PBS,” which has been canceled.

Conyers Derides White House Strategy on Health Care Conyers blasts Obama for not leading on health care.

Friday, November 20:

Water – Not Oil is Central Asia's Most Precious Resource Most foreign investors have been focused on Central Asia's vast hydrocarbon resources and the extractive industries of energy and Minerals. But water is an issue of rising concern throughout the region as after years of soviet mismanagement geopolitical tensions are running high. These regional problems present outside companies willing to think outside the box with an incredible opportunity and a guaranteed red carpet

BBC News - 'Fat for cosmetics' murder suspects arrested in Peru What do they do with all that fat that gets liposuctioned out of your body? Did you know there was a use for that? If crooks are willing to kill you for your fat, is it possible your doctor could be selling your fat to cosmetic companies. Yuk! Hey, where's my discount?

Lawmakers To Take Up Impeachment Proceedings Against Sanford (2 comments) Yesterday, a state ethics panel announced it would move ahead with its investigation of S.C. Governor Mark Sanford's travel and his use of state funds in connection with the affair. Next week, they will take up impeachment proceedings against the disgraced governor.

Glenn Beck to announce ‘big plan' for 2010 (1 comments) At a rally Saturday at a massive retirement community in central Florida, Beck is planning to unveil what he has billed as a “big plan” for 2010, which is expected to involve the 9.12 Project, the group he started earlier this year and named for the day after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Ethics Committee chides Burris for misleading statements on appointment The Senate Ethics Committee has issued a “qualified admonition” of Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) for making false and misleading statements in response to questions about his appointment to the Senate.


Sen. Nelson will vote for motion to push health bill forward in Senate Nelson's declaration eliminates one of the question marks facing Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-Nev.) leading up to the vote, set for Saturday night. Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) have not yet stated their positions but both have hinted in recent days they are leaning toward supporting the vote.

Gates: No handover to Afghan forces any time soon President Barack Obama claimed in an interview on Wednesday that he would bring the Afghan war to an end before he leaves office. Obama also emphasized that "a multi-year occupation won't serve the interests of the United States." However, none of the options have called for the scaling back of the US presence in Afghanistan.

Islamabad under pressure over Blackwater presence Blackwater, now known as Xe Services LLC, attracted international condemnation for killing 17 civilians in Iraq in 2007. The State Department, however, has refused to waive the company's permission to carry arms there. It also continues to be extensively involved in Afghanistan where nearly 70,000 US-commissioned contractors almost doubly outnumber the US troops.

FDL Book Salon Welcomes Maggie Mahar, Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much It’s an overwhelming story & through it all we read of physicians torn between the traditional ethics of their profession & incentives & temptations of the money-driven system that surrounds them.Mahar shows the best of them struggling to create islands of ethical sanity,to collaborate & share information (using IT reforms,evidence-based medicine)in a hospital & drug industry that would rather withhold information because

Short Selling American Lives: Deutsche Bank Life Insurance Fund in Hot Water The closed-end funds buy life insurance policies from Americans and assume responsibility for paying their future premiums. When the original policy-holder dies, the entire payout goes to the fund. It is like short-selling US life expectancy.

Ron Paul's Amendment Passes Committee! The House Financial Services Committee earlier today rejected Representative Mel Watt's attempt to hijack Audit the Fed by voting 43-26 to pass Ron Paul's amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue: Venezuela: Zamorian farm in in full production; a beacon for agrarian reform Carlos Gutierrez says he is 45 years old and is one of the leaders of the Ana Soto Zamorian farm near the village of Bobare (Lara State).

Torture Memo Author Sets Up Defense Fund to Fight Possible Impeachment Jay Bybee, a US Court of Appeals judge in Las Vegas, quietly set up a defense fund last July following widespread news reports that he and a former deputy, John Yoo, were the focus of a long-running investigation by the Justice Department's internal ethics unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), over their role in crafting the memos.

Religious Leaders Unite Against Abortion and Same-Sex Unions Christian leaders say they will not obey any law that tries to force them to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other antilife act; nor bend to any rule purporting to force them to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent.

Lawmakers Call Ft. Hood Shootings ‘Terrorism' Senator Joe Lieberman said that the Nov. 5 shootings allegedly carried out by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was a “homegrown terrorist attack” and that law enforcement and military agencies may have failed to act appropriately.

OilGuy: The Great Geopolitical Battle Over Energy Transit Routes (1 comments) An extraordinary game of Geo-strategy is underway to lock in long term agreements in the energy sector. At a global level, the transit routes of future oil & gas pipelines become the object of a power struggle involving not only the suppliers and end-users but also the transit countries.

Thursday, November 19:

Michael Pollan: Help Protect Our Farmers From Assaults By Monsanto - The True Food Network (1 comments) Here's an activist group that is taking on Monsanto and agribusiness. I'm not advocating that you give them money; I just am pleased to see an activist organization taking on the big guys (Monsanto, Cargill, others) that so effectively lobby congress and exploit the law and the courts. Maybe you are too. (Disclaimer: I have no connection with the organization or its principals. I'm not recommending it as a charity.)

Geithner Hopes for Quick End to Bailout Program By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: November 20, 2009 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told a joint economic committee that the government would close the $700 billion program “as soon as we can.”

Belgian PM named as EU president Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium's prime minister, has become the first president of the European Council. Van Rompuy will serve a two-and-a-half year term, which is renewable once.

Joe Lieberman slams public option, brushes off critics (4 comments) Sen. Joe Lieberman's threat to filibuster any health care bill with a public option could kill health reform this year — and embolden Democratic challengers who'd like to send him packing in 2012.

Sanford actions may have broken law, ethics panel finds A state ethics panel has found evidence Gov. Mark Sanford may have broken state law, charging him with "several" undisclosed violations after an investigation into his travel and campaign spending.

Deborah Emin: A Letter from Jennie Green about Afghanistan A letter from a friend about the state of affairs in Afghanistan.

Capitol Briefing - Fort Hood hearing focuses on homegrown threats, 'political correctness' Lieberman lamented that some commentary in the aftermath of the attack attributed Hasan's alleged actions to "mental stress or instability" and thus not to his adherence to any radical or jihadist ideology.

Tony Blair Has Dropped Out Of The Race To Be EU President Gordon Brown had decided that support for ex-PM Tony Blair was insufficient for him to back him at a meeting of EU leaders to decide the appointment.

Fox News displays old campaign footage to claim Palin is getting ‘huge crowds' at her book signings Fox News host Gregg Jarrett proudly announced that Sarah Palin is “continuing to draw huge crowds while she's promoting her brand new book. Take a look at — these are some of the pictures just coming into us.” But the pictures that the network chose to display on-air appeared to be old file footage of Palin rallies from the 2008 presidential campaign.

Eric Lotke: Obama's Home And The Report Is Out: China Takes Us To School (7 comments) President Obama is home from China and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission today releases its 2009 report to Congress. What have we learned? That we need to pay attention because we're getting schooled.

Dori Sig: International Moneytary Fund - kiss of death ? iceland banking crisis

Patrick J. O'Donoghue: INTI Pedro Moreno: On the front line of agrarian reform in Venezuela's Lara State Pedro Moreno has been leading the government's agrarian reform program in Lara State for the last five years and has already received death threats from landowners opposing occupancy of idle lands for production by peasants.

R-CALF USA: 40 Groups Disagree with USDA's Latest BSE Court Submission; Agency Poised to Conform to Global Edict Instead of Domestic (8 comments) On Nov. 17, 2009, R-CALF USA and 39 other groups sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to express their serious concerns about the agency's status submission.

Tim Alexander, Earl of Stirling: BIOTERRORISM IN THE UKRAINE? (7 comments) An article by Tim Alexander, Earl of Stirling, detailing the latest facts about the Ukraine Pandemic which very much looks like pneumonic plague.

Wednesday, November 18:

Report: CIA torture prison found in Lithuania (7 comments) After former president George W. Bush visited Lithuania in 2002 and pledged to support its bid to join NATO, the country agreed to allow the CIA prison, according to ABC News.

Dissection of Palin's 'Going Rogue' begins (1 comments) When asked where she's going next, Palin said, "I'll be heading home to Alaska, of course. Back to that kitchen table. We'll discuss the day's news and the next stop. I always tell my kids that God doesn't drive parked cars, so we'll talk about getting on the next road and gearing up for hard work to travel down it to reach new goals."

Jordan's king rejects pro-Israeli anti-Iran plans Jordan's King Abdullah II has expressed his country's “rejection” of any anti-Iran measure. His comment came after Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon rejected speculations that the warnings of any military attack on Iran are just a bluff, insisting that they are very real.

Getting Serious about Tackling Corruption: Afghan Attorney General to Indict Five Leading Politicians - SPIEGEL ONLINE - The pressure on Karzai is immense. In recent days, a veritable parade of ambassadors has descended on his office. Diplomats are speaking of a "shopping list" that they have presented to Karzai, who has found himself weakened since the manipulated elections that recently returned him to office.

VIDEO: Obama: I'd Fire Afghan Decision Leakers (2 comments) "Afghans are responsible for their own security," Mr. Obama said. "We have to get Pakistan involved in a more effective way. There is a range of things we have to do at this point; it's fine-tuning a strategy that we can be confident we'll be successful. I think that Gen. (Stanley) McChrystal shares the same goal I do, for us to protect homeland, protect our allies and U.S. interests around the world."

Clinton visits Afghanistan with message on corruption On the eve of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's inauguration to a second term, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Kabul Wednesday with a message that the Afghan leader needed to "make a new compact" with Afghan people by improving governance and cracking down on corruption.

Reid bill would cost $849B, expand coverage to 31 million people, aide says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has assembled a compromise health package that would expand coverage to more than 31 million Americans at a cost of $849 billion over the next decade.

Wells Fargo Settles Lawsuit Over Auction-Rate Securities - The decision settles a lawsuit brought against the firm by California's attorney general for violating the state's securities laws. Wells Fargo also agreed to pay the state's expenses related to the lawsuit. The brokerage arm of the bank marketed the securities, which resemble corporate debt and whose interest rates were regularly reset by auctions, as an alternative to cash for years, even after analysts warned the market

Obama Orders Financial Fraud Task Force Beefed Up Short Video: Citing a wide belief that "Wall Street does not play by the same rules as Main Street," Attorney General Eric Holder announced Tuesday the creation of a sweeping state-federal task force to uncover crimes contributing to the recent financial crisis or threatening to cause one in the future.

How the US Funds the Taliban (1 comments) US military officials in Kabul estimate that a minimum of 10 percent of the Pentagon's logistics contracts--hundreds of millions of dollars--consists of payments to insurgents.

Roger Shuler: Will Obama Appoint "Rabid Republican" to Key Alabama Post? An Alabama news Web site is reporting that the Obama administration is leaning toward the appointment of a "rabid Republican" as U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama.

Obama Bids China Farewell with Great Wall Tour, Modest Expectations President Obama flew to South Korea Wednesday, ending his maiden visit to China and leaving behind a strong impression that the new partnership he seeks with the Asian giant remains to be built, issue by issue US officials made the same point. The president had not expected that "the waters would part and everything would change" during the visit, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

Senators have tough questions for Holder - USATODAY.com Holder is facing criticism about the Fort Hood suspect Hasan, as well as about his plan to hold civilian trials for alleged 9/11 suspects. Maybe Holder deserves the boot for failing to prosecute Bush Adminstration criminals.

Tuesday, November 17:

Ed Tubbs: The earwig and soldier suicide If we stand idly by, saying nothing to anyone lest we dampen the holiday spirits of those around us, we will be the ones inserting the earwig into their ears. Whatever violence a returning combat veteran may visit upon anyone, possibly including one of us or one of our kids or one of our parents, will be of our own doing. We will have no one to blame but ourselves.

Ed Tubbs: Through Sara Palin, Billy Mays lives (2 comments) What got me was not anything Ms. Winfrey asked, nor anything Palin said, but the ga-ga looks on the faces of Winfrey's audience. I couldn't determine whether it was that of a “When Harry Met Sally”sexual orgasm or . . ..

C Street House No Longer Tax Exempt The house -- despite being home to numerous lawmakers -- had been tax exempt, because it was classified as a church. The C Street house has lately been the subject of unwanted attention thanks to its role in three GOP sex scandals.

Nato chief promises Afghanistan will get 'substantially more forces' (2 comments) Nato and its allies will order "substantially more forces" into battle in Afghanistan over the next few weeks, the alliance's secretary general said today.

US against unilateral Palestinian state move The United States voiced its opposition on Monday to unilateral Palestinian moves to seek recognition for an independent state, saying negotiations with Israel were the best way forward.

Obama threatens Iran, Hu urges dialogue US President Barack Obama once again threatens Iran over its nuclear program, while his Chinese counterpart stresses the need to find a diplomatic solution.

Obama lawyers to Democrat alleging political prosecution: Go back to jail The seeming disconnect between Obama's team and numerous Democrats -- including House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr., who's investigated Siegelman's case -- may be because President George W. Bush's US Attorney in Alabama is still in office. Democrats still haven't settled on a replacement, some eleven months after Obama's inauguration.

Georgianne Nienaber: International Court Acquits Suspect in Murder of Dian Fossey The International Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) announced it has overturned a 20-year sentence and acquitted Protais Zigiranyirazo, accused genocidaire and suspected murderer of American primatologist Dian Fossey. Citing "serious errors" during the 2008 trial, ICTR Chamber Judge Theodore Meron ordered the immediate release of Zigiranyirazo, known as Mr. Z.

U.S. 'dismayed' at Israel plan to build 900 homes beyond Green Line The White House responded angrily Tuesday to Israel's plan to build 900 new housing units beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem, despite specific objections from the U.S., saying that "we are dismayed."

Dream-Home Raffles Having Mixed Success The concept marries two of America's favorite obsessions - gambling and real estate - with that good feeling you get from supporting a worthy cause Once a novelty, dream-home raffles are becoming a popular but risky way for nonprofit organizations to raise money.

Under Friendly Veneer, China Pushes Back on Obama By HELENE COOPER and EDWARD WONG Published: November 18, 2009 President Obama made a big effort to present his visit as a step forward in America's relationship with China. But a picture emerged of a nation more willing to say no to the U.S.

IRS settles with 14,700 over foreign accounts Taxpayers flocked to the amnesty program after the U.S. reached an agreement in August with the Swiss government and UBS to obtain names of 4,450 U.S. taxpayers believed to be hiding assets in secret bank accounts. Seven of those people have been charged criminally, with at least two getting sentenced to prison time.

Obama asks Republican Pearce to step down from pipeline post The Republican who heads up the federal agency overseeing the proposed construction of Alaska's natural gas pipeline is stepping down at the request of President Barack Obama.

Roger Shuler: Will Justice Move Forward Now that Karl Rove's Buddy Has Left the White House? (1 comments) Greg Craig has exited the Obama White House. Is that good news for those who want to see accountability for Bush-era political prosecutions?

War-torn nations 'most corrupt' The issue of corruption in Afghanistan is particularly pressing. Widespread fraud marred the country's last elections, while the US is still debating whether to increase troop levels. The UK ranked 17th, down one place from last year. The US also fell one place to 19th.

Ann Garrison: DU weapons use in Iraq; drastic birth defects in Fallujah (1 comments) On Friday, 11.13.2009, the London Guardian reported a "Huge rise in birth defects in Fallujah," Iraq. I sent the news to KPFA Radio 94.1FM Weekend News Anchor Anthony Fest, along with contact info for Bob Nichols, San Francisco Bay View Newspaper correspondent and winner of a 2004 Project Censored Award, then edited the result and posted to the Youtube.

Govt May Get Billions Under Forbes' Divorce Decree - ABC News The federal government might get to collect billions of dollars in court-ordered restitution under a new divorce decree between imprisoned former Cendant Corp. chairman Walter Forbes and his wife of 27 years. Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Howard Owens issued a ruling Thursday that orders Forbes' ex-wife, Caren, to transfer ownership of homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island to him.

National intelligence director to evaluate CIA missions In a memo to subordinates Friday, Blair cited new guidance from the White House that his responsibilities "include assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of sensitive operations." The majority of those, he said, "are conducted by the CIA." But in a sign of ongoing skirmishing in the intelligence community, other officials dismissed Blair's memo and said the CIA's covert-action authorities remain intact.

AP IMPACT: Tobacco Execs Quickly Find Tax Loophole The Obama administration says it is working on clearer definitions of pipe and roll-your-own tobacco. Until then, Art Resnick, a spokesman for the Tax and Trade Bureau, said there's no way to know how many companies are reinventing their brands as pipe tobacco, or whether the new offerings are just cigarette tobacco with pipes on the labels.

Tax Amnesty Program Ends with Calls for Stricter Legislation While the increase in voluntary disclosures pleases congressional members like Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who noted in a press release that hidden accounts came in from more than 100 banks in 70 countries, he claims Congress needs to do more to check tax havens. In his Wednesday press release, Levin claimed there are “thousands of other taxpayers...still in the shadows, working to keep their offshore accounts hidden.

Michael Scott Through the Years - a Suicide (3 comments) The death of Chicago school board president Michael Scott has been ruled a suicide by the Cook County medical examiner's office. Scott was found with a gunshot wound to the head, according to the office. His body was found early this morning at the water's edge of the Chicago River behind the Chicago Apparel Center at 350 N. Orleans along the north branch of the river, police said.

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