Saturday, May 16, 2009

Giving Some Love to the Inquisition

By Robert Parry
May 16, 2009

At a Senate hearing this past week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, rallied to the defense of ex-President George W. Bush’s torture techniques by implicitly endorsing the Spanish Inquisition’s brutal treatment of Jews, Muslims, Protestants and other alleged heretics from the 15th to 17th centuries.

Read on.

Friday, May 15, 2009

How Washington Misses the Joke

By Michael Winship
May 15, 2009

A joke is a sometime thing, as wide as a church door or as delicate as a rose. The right or wrong word, too many or too few, their placement or emphasis can determine whether it's a total dud or fall down funny; the difference, as Mark Twain said, between the lightning bug and lightning.

Read on.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Tortured Logic; Tortured Results

By William Loren Katz
May 14, 2009

Each day the evidence piles up - highlighted by the unconvincing (and self-incriminating) rants of Dick Cheney.

Read on.

The Right Bullied Obama on Photos

By Jason Leopold
May 14, 2009

In reversing an earlier commitment to release photos of U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners, President Barack Obama succumbed to a propaganda barrage unleashed by former Bush administration officials, their congressional allies, the right-wing news media and holdovers who retain key jobs under Obama.

Read on.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

'Impolite' Questions for Gen. Myers

By Ray McGovern
May 13, 2009

Tuesday evening offered an unusual opportunity to question the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2001-2005), Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, at an alumni club dinner.

Read on.

Murtha's Caring Corruption

By Michael Winship
May 13, 2009

Headline in the May 2 New York Times: "Murtha's Nephew Named a Lobbyist for Marines." Headline just three days later in the May 5 Washington Post: "Murtha's Nephew Got Defense Contracts."

Read on.

Obama, Pakistan and the Rule of Law

By Peter Dyer
May 13, 2009

In the first hour of his administration President Barack Obama affirmed his dedication to the rule of law:

Read on.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

WPost Columnist Winks at Torture

By Robert Parry
May 12, 2009

These days, the Washington Post has the look of one of those Southern newspapers in the 1960s standing firm for segregation as the wave of civil rights swept across the region. Except for the Post, the blind commitment is to neoconservatism.

Read on.

Credit-Card Law Has Painful Impact

By Brent Budowsky
May 12, 2009

As Memorial Day arrives, veterans and military families will be victimized by continued credit card interest rate and fee hikes, and under the House-passed credit card bill, abuses will continue until next Memorial Day, because the effective date of the key provisions of the House bill is a year from enactment.

Read on.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Bloated Empire and the Financial Crisis

By Ivan Eland
May 11, 2008

A few — and only a few — prescient commentators have questioned whether the U.S. can sustain its informal global empire in the wake of the most severe economic crisis since World War II. And the simultaneous quagmires in Iraq and Afghanistan are leading more and more opinion leaders and taxpayers to this question.

Read on.