Newest Blog Entries:

NYT Blog: Why I’m Afraid of the Clintons

An admittedly backhanded - but nevertheless powerful - compliment.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, February 29, 2008

NYT Guest Op-Ed: Russia’s Last Hope

"Is Medvedev a Putin pawn or his own man?"
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, February 29, 2008

NYT: U.S. Imprisons One in 100 Adults, Report Finds

There are not enough words to use here: disgusting, obscene, outrageous. Between mandatory sentencing rules and unequal access to and justice under the law (read "racism and poverty"), these numbers are beyond insane. Note that 60% of all federal prisoners and 30% of all state prisoners are there for drug offenses. This means that if we eliminated mandatory sentencing for first-time drug offenders, the total number might be brought down by as much as 30% or more overall. And we call ourselves a "civilized," "First World" country?
Posted by Ian Alterman, Friday, February 29, 2008

BBC NEWS | Americas | US jail numbers at all-time high

Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, February 29, 2008

David Kirby: Government Concedes Vaccine-Autism Case in Federal Court - Now What? - Living on The Huffington Post

thanks Bill Altmiller
Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, February 29, 2008

Visas for War Zone Translators Halted

Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, February 29, 2008

Obamanomics | Dr Obama’s patent economic medicine | Economist.com

Is Barack Obama a populist, or just pretending to be one?
Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, February 29, 2008

Causes and Consequences of Our Foreign Policy in the Middle East What It Means for Americans

Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, February 29, 2008

The obstacles facing Clinton

Posted by Bill Swiggard, Friday, February 29, 2008

The last ‘Yes, We Can’ candidate

Posted by Bill Swiggard, Friday, February 29, 2008

Tomgram: Iraq, 2003-2008, Two Recipes for Disaster

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

AlterNet: Missing White House Emails: Gone and Never Coming Back

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

Truthdig - The Calm Before the Conflagration

Remember what we did in Afghanistan. This is a similar precursor. MB
Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

AlterNet: The Three Trillion Dollar War

DON'T FORGET WE WERE TOLD IT WAS GOING TO COST 2 BILLION. MB
Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

Truthdig - What the Times Didn’t Tell About McCain

Used to think the NYTimes would only print that which was fit to print. I am no fan of McCain but this is revealing. MB
Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

CommonDreams.org » Print » The Most Wanted List: International Terrorism

I think it is good for us Americans to stop every now and then and think carefully about the reality of the "terrorism" that is constantly talked about by our leading politicians of both dominating political parties as the leading foreign policy challenge to our great nation. Taking10 minutes or so to read the following essay by Noam Chomsky will do it for today.... Dr. Khalsa
Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

Iraqi Leaders Veto Law Bush Administration Hailed as Political Breakthrough

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

Afghanistan: The Brutal and Unnecessary War the Media Aren’t Telling You About

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

AlterNet: Gitmo Trials Rigged from the Start

Posted by Michael Butler, Thursday, February 28, 2008

Obama’s October 2002 Speech: Against Going to War With Iraq

go to speech
This is the first time I've read this.... "The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not — we will not — travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain" - pretty good stuff
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Thursday, February 28, 2008

Donald Macintyre: To Be in Favour of Peace Is Not Anti-Israeli

go to article
"Ehud Olmert has suggested publicly that the failure to negotiate a peace with the Palestinians may imperil Israel’s very existence as a Jewish state. Yet it remains hard to imagine a US politician bold enough to say the same thing without risking his own electability. To go further still, of course, and suggest limited engagement with Hamas... is beyond the pale. Yet is it really 'anti-Israel' to do so when a growing clutch of Israeli ex-generals, academics, and Israel’s most celebrated novelist Amos Oz - all serious Zionists who unlike AIPAC’s most hawkish members actually live there - also want talks with Hamas on one issue or another?" - Macintyre in The Independent/UK
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Thursday, February 28, 2008

Robert Naiman: Hillary is ‘Ready to Lie From Day 1′ About Venezuela

go to article
Clinton says "But I will not be penciling in the leaders of Iran or North Korea or Venezuela or Cuba on the presidential calendar without preconditions; until we have assessed... the motivations and intentions of these dictators" .. um ... "It is the opinion of The Carter Center that the Aug. 15 [2004] vote clearly expressed the will of the Venezuelan electorate" ... Seems like there's going to be a lot of this kind of thing in the next few years regardless of who's president (although some/me hold out the hope that Obama will be different) - mab
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Thursday, February 28, 2008

ZNet: Obama’s Money Cartel [Must-Read]

How is Obama defining "lobbyist?" How is he defining "special interests?" How honest is be about where his money comes from? These are legitimate questions, particularly because he holds himself out as being so principled in these regards.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, February 28, 2008

ZNet: “Calibrating” Hope in the Effort to “Patrol the Commons”: Samantha Power and the Hidden Imperial Reality of Barack Obama

Power is one of Obama's top foreign policy advisors, second only to Brzezinski himself. This is fairly eye-opening.
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, February 28, 2008

NYT Guest Op-Ed (Bloomberg): I’m Not Running for President, but …

"Here's how to win my vote."
Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, February 28, 2008