An Interview With Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist and Author Fred Kaplan
by Intrepid Liberal Journal
The topic below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal as well as The Wild Wild Left, the Independent Bloggers Alliance, The Peace Tree and Worldwide Sawdust.Most Americans are eager to turn the page on the Bush years. Yet even as we elect a new president we’re still coming to terms with an era that has both tarnished America’s reputation and diminished its influence. |
What Hillary Clinton and George Bush Have in Common
by Brent Budowsky
George Bush and Hillary Clinton both share a politics where they are disliked by large numbers of Americans and rather than try to get their numbers up, they are reduced to trying to get their opponent's numbers down.Hillary Clinton entered this campaign with about 45-46% of Americans who would never support her. After one negative tactic after another her positive support has gone down and the number of people who will never support her has gone up. |
Bring Back Protectionism
by Dave Johnson
America used to have a policy of protecting our wages against unfair competition from low-wage countries. We placed a tariff on imported goods made by workers who were paid substandard wages. We protected our national interest.The idea was to encourage the companies that made those goods to pay better wages. This way their countries' economies would improve and their workers would be able to buy the things that we make. Thus, the policy of protectionism was a way to improve living standards for workers everywhere, growing our own economy and improving our standard of living in the process. |
Is Co-operating with the Government Always a Good Thing?
by Cenk Uygur
President Bush had a press conference last week to talk about why he needs a bill that immunizes telecommunication companies for breaking the law by allowing the government to wiretap people without getting warrants. Of course they need immunity because they broke the law. Otherwise immunity would be pointless. |
Whores of Babylon
by Mark Biskeborn
Bush led us on a righteous crusade, but most Americans now see through the smoke and mirrors. Now John McCain campaigns for more of the same.Ironically, the fundamentalist Muslims who headed the 9/11 attack probably enjoy seeing how the fundamentalist Christians in America exploited our fears. In the aftermath of the catastrophe, we allowed G. W. Bush to erode our rights in exchange for his claims to security. Meanwhile, in the name of national security, he grabbed power far beyond the limits of our own Constitution. Has our society begun to resemble that of our theocratic enemy? |
GUNS: The National Rifle Association Is More Than A Well-Funded Gun Lobby...
by Fred Cederholm
I’ve been thinking about guns. Actually I’ve been thinking about the Northern Illinois University shootings, reason and logic, legislation, twenty-seven words, profiling, and the NRA.Last Thursday on St. Valentine’s Day, a deranged individual took five innocent lives and wounded sixteen others in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University just ten miles east of my home. |
Washington Post Style editor killed gossip piece on New Orleans madam, columnist says
by John Byrne
A Washington Post Style editor killed a story on a New Orleans madam who alleged she arranged trysts for Louisiana senator David Vitter (R-LA), a Post gossip columnist says.Post gossip guru Amy Argetsinger arranged an interview with a madam in New Orleans after Vitter admitted his name appeared on the phone records of a DC madam. Speaking to the Washington City Paper's Erik Wemple in an article published Friday, she said her editor, Steve Reiss, "spiked the story on sourcing grounds." |
Just In Time For RNC Convention, St. Paul Police Orders Tasers For Every Officer
by CommonDreams.org
St. Paul police are about to issue Tasers to all 370 officers on the force. Police say they are a safe way to stop a potential threat, but some people say Tasers are dangerous and sometimes deadly.0218 08Police spokesman Tom Walsh says the Taser is stronger than a verbal order and less dangerous than a gun, especially in the case of a violent or unstable subject. |
US banks quietly borrow massive amounts from Federal Reserve
by Raw Story
Banks in the United States have been quietly borrowing "massive amounts" from the U.S. Federal Reserve in recent weeks, using a new measure the Fed introduced two months ago to help ease the credit crunch, according to a report on the web site of The Financial Times. |
Britain Releases Secret File From Before Iraq War
by Luke Baker
The British government released a once-secret draft document on Monday that was drawn up to justify going to war in Iraq, succumbing to three years of pressure from freedom of information campaigners.0218 01The 32-page document, written by a former director of communications at the Foreign Office, cites intelligence sources to state that Iraq had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and could easily use them since it had done so before. |
Clinton Bought Bush’s War Talk, Obama Didn’t
by Stephen Zunes
In determining which of the two leading Democratic candidates would make the most competent and credible commander in chief, it is revealing to compare the public statements of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during October 2002, when Congress voted to authorize the U.S. invasion of Iraq. |
Screw the Voters. Let Superdelegates Decide!
by Paul Rockwell
Millions of Americans, many of them first-time activists, voted for Barack Obama in the Democratic Party primary. They voted in good faith, expecting their votes to be counted and respected.Now many young voters are discovering that there are two kinds of delegates at Democratic Party Conventions: real delegates (duly elected from the states) and fake delegates, delegates artificially created by the Democratic National Committee. These delegates, who lack direct support from primary voters, are called superdelegates. |
Castro's resignation won't change U.S. policy, official says
by CNN
The U.S. embargo on Cuba will remain in place despite Fidel Castro's announcement that he's resigning as Cuba's leader, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Tuesday. Asked whether Castro's resignation would change U.S. policy, Negroponte said, "I can't imagine that happening any time soon." |
Wikileaks fights on after court's shutdown attempt
by Nick Juliano
It may not be at Wikileaks.org anymore, but the whistle-blowing Web site that prides itself in exposing secrets is still publishing and vows to fight a court's attempt to shut it down.While Wikileaks will return to court Feb. 29, the ruling sets a "disturbing precedent" that could make it easier for judges or lawmakers to censor online content, says Steve Aftergood, who researches government secrecy, told RAW STORY. |
Board: Teach evolution as `scientific theory'
by Marc Caputo
For the first time ever, evolution is to be taught clearly and explicitly in Florida classrooms now that the Florida Board of Education Tuesday approved a batch of new science standards that says the ''E'' word.But there's a catch: Evolution will be taught as ``the Scientific Theory of Evolution.'' |
