Carter chides Bush on secrecy in govt.
by Dorie Turner
The Bush administration has violated Americans' basic human rights by blocking access to information and creating more government secrets than at any other time in U.S. history, former President Carter said Wednesday.Carter made the remarks at the start of a three-day conference aimed at helping other countries develop "access to information" laws, drawing participants from nearly 40 nations. |
Bloomberg won’t run for president
by MSNBC
After two years of playing coy about his presidential ambitions, Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared in a newspaper editorial Wednesday that he will not run for president as an independent and said he might support the candidate who "takes an independent, nonpartisan approach." |
A Job for the Obama Campaign
by Andrew Bard Schmookler
For those who believe that it is important that the Republican Party be driven out of the White House in the coming election --and of course I am one of them-- one thing should be clear: the sooner the Democratic contest is over, and the sooner therefore the nominee and the Party can focus on winning in November, the better. |
Obama's "Inspiration" vs. Clinton's "Solutions"
by Andrew Bard Schmookler
One of Hillary Clinton's recent rhetorical tactics to try to stop the Obama momentum has been to draw a contrast between Obama, who makes uplifting speeches but, she suggests, fails to present real substance, and herself, who is the candidate who offers real solutions to real problems. |
When you lie down with dogs...
by Doug Thompson
When John McCain decided to embrace the rabid right wing of the Republican party, he also left the door open for the racists, bigots, homophobes and hate-mongers who dominate the so-called conservative movement.That decision rose up and bit him in the ass Tuesday. |
Did Turkey Point Again Take Florida to the Radioactive Brink?
by Harvey Wasserman
As many as two million Floridians were blacked out yesterday by a series of grid malfunctions that forced shut two old atomic reactors south of Miami and renewed nightmares of a radioactive catastrophe. The chain of events should serve as yet another serious warning to those who would build still more atomic reactors in Florida and elsewhere. |
What the Times Didn’t Tell About McCain
by Robert Scheer
As Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain twisted briefly in the wind kicked up by that New York Times story suggesting he had swapped political favors for the personal favors of an attractive lobbyist for the telecommunications industry, I kept waiting for the public policy punch line. Surely the Times would spell out just what it was that McCain had delivered to big media beyond what the paper originally reported: an all-too-typical congressional request that the FCC speed up its review of a broadcast licensing dispute. |
ACLU calls out US over 'absurd bloating' of terror watch list
by Nick Juliano
More that 900,000 people are currently listed as suspected terrorists on the US government's "do not fly" list, and that number will grow to beyond 1 million by summer, says the American Civil Liberties Union."If there were a million terrorists in this country, our cities would be in ruins," Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Program, stated in a press release from the group. "The absurd bloating of the terrorist watch lists is yet another example of how incompetence by our security apparatus threatens our rights without offering any real security." |
Say It Ain’t So, Ralph!
by William Hartung
I had mixed feelings when some friends of mine pointed out that Ralph Nader had mentioned me as an “independent military analyst” in his Sunday appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press. In responding to a question from Tim Russert about why he was running yet again, he cited a recent article of mine about how Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have not only ignored the Pentagon’s record spending spree, but have adopted policies that may well involve increasing the military budget. |
Clinton’s Cringe-Worthy Moment
by John Nichols
Hillary Clinton should probably spend a little more time boning up on her husband’s trade record than watching NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”That might have helped her to figure out that no good was going to come from trying to be funny, biting and substantive at the same time. |
The State Religion: The myth of national security stands between us and the future
by Robert C. Koehler
Grab your flak jackets because there's "trench warfare" on the campaign trail, as would-be commanders-in-chief prove their mettle not merely by persuading people to vote for them but by "demolishing" their opponents -- because the leader of a country as powerful as the United States of America must, above all, be someone who's tough and ruthless, right? Like George W. Bush. |
Campaign 2008: The Things They Won't Discuss
by Dave Lindorff
While Democratic candidates for the presidential nomination debate and compete over whose healthcare reform plan is best, and over whether or not it's okay to talk with "America's enemies," and while Democrats and Republicans lob attacks over whose foreign policy is more muscular, there is a lengthening list of global catastrophes all of which are simply being ignored. |
FBI documents contradict 9/11 Commission report
by Larisa Alexandrovna
Newly-released records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request contradict the 9/11 Commission’s report on the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and raise fresh questions about the role of Saudi government officials in connection to the hijackers.The nearly 300 pages of a Federal Bureau of Investigation timeline used by the 9/11 Commission as the basis for many of its findings were acquired through a FOIA request filed by Kevin Fenton, a 26 year old translator from the Czech Republic. The FBI released the 298-page “hijacker timeline” Feb. 4. |
McCain's birthplace prompts queries about whether that rules him out
by IHT.com
The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up and become president? In the case of Senator John McCain of Arizona, the issue is becoming more than a matter of parental daydreaming. |
Economy slows to near crawl
by Raw Story
The economy skidded to a near halt in the final quarter of last year, clobbered by dual slumps in housing and credit that caused people and businesses to spend and invest more sparingly.The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the gross domestic product increased at a scant 0.6 percent pace in the October-to-December quarter. The reading - unchanged from an initial estimate a month ago - underscored just how much momentum the economy has lost. In the prior quarter, the economy clocked in at a brisk 4.9 percent pace. |
1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says
by Adam Liptak
For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report.Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. The number of American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1 adults is behind bars. |
Democratic intensity showing up at the polls
by John King
It is a slow but steady trickle all day long at the Hamilton County Board of Elections: The Ohio presidential primary is Tuesday, but turnout is already smashing records. In the 2000 presidential primary campaign, 10,371 absentee ballots were requested. Four years later, there were 9,600 requests. |
Source: Feds investigate Heath Ledger's death
by CNN
Federal drug investigators have taken over the inquiry into the January 22 death of actor Heath Ledger in a New York apartment, a law enforcement source told CNN Thursday. Ledger, 28, an Oscar-nominated Australian actor, died of an accidental overdose of six types of medication, according to the New York City medical examiner's office. |
