Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Is Texas Harboring Torture Decider?

By Ray McGovern
July 7, 2009

Seldom does a crime scene have so clear a smoking gun. A two-page presidential memorandum of Feb. 7, 2002, leaves no room for uncertainty regarding the “decider” on torture. His broad-stroke signature made torture official policy.

Read on.

Obama's Iran Peace Talk Dilemma

By Robert Parry
July 7, 2009

Before the disputed June 12 election, Iran’s senior leadership – speaking through backchannel intermediaries – outlined a possible framework for Middle East peace that foresaw a significant role for Russia and that raised hopes within the Obama administration.

Read on.

Monday, July 06, 2009

Iraq Still Facing the Abyss

By Ivan Eland
July 7, 2009

The Iraq War has been long forgotten and treated as a “mission abolished” after the new President pledged to withdraw U.S. forces and the American media, public and Congress turned their attention back to a war even liberals could love (or at least support) — Afghanistan.

Read on.

Judging the Iranian Election

By William Blum
July 6, 2009

What is there about the Iranian election of June 12 that has led to it being one of the leading stories in media around the world every day since? Elections whose results are seriously challenged have taken place in most countries at one time or another in recent decades.

Read on.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Republicans, a Threat to the Republic?

By Robert Parry
July 5, 2009

Sarah Palin’s abrupt decision to resign as Alaska’s governor – and her rambling explanation – underscore again how the Republican Party over the past dozen years has put up candidates for top national offices who are unqualified or ill-suited for those sensitive positions.

Read on.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Declaration of Indictment

By David Swanson
July 4, 2009

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 2009
The unanimous Declaration of the fifty united States of America

Read on.

Wealth Inequality Destroys US Ideals

By Don Monkerud
July 4, 2009

In June 2009, the U.S. economy saw its second steepest decline in 27 years. New jobless claims increased, business inventories fell and exports plunged as bad economic news persisted.

Read on.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Bush-Cheney Linked to CIA Leak Case

By Jason Leopold
July 3, 2009

In early fall 2003, as the scandal over leaking a covert CIA officer’s identity was exploding, President George W. Bush claimed not to know anything about the leak and called on anyone in his administration who had knowledge to come “forward with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations are true.”

Read on.

A Buy-Democracy Independence Day

By Graham Rankin
July 3, 2009

The recession is making clearer every day, especially with the latest job loss figures of almost half a million in the US in June alone, how difficult rebuilding Western manufacturing industry is going to be. It would be bad enough in a boom, but in a bust when weaker sales can drive even big firms under, we need to look long and hard at consumerism itself.

Read on.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Coast-to-Coast Political Gridlock

By Michael Winship
July 2, 2009

California should just be done with it and rename the entire state "Neverland Ranch."

Read on.

FBI Ignored Bush-Hussein Ties

By Robert Parry
July 2, 2009

The FBI has released reports on 20 interviews and five conversations conducted with Iraq’s deposed dictator Saddam Hussein before he was put to death, but none of the disclosed Q and A deals with the role of the Reagan administration in delivering key components for Iraq’s chemical and biological weapons in the 1980s.

Read on.

The Bible's Odd Idea of Marriage

By the Rev. Howard Bess
July 2, 2009

“Marriage is a cultural thing.” So began a very good sermon that I recently heard by the Rev. Diane O’Connell at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Anchorage, Alaska.

Read on.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Who Sits at the Health-Reform Table?

By Tom Klammer
July 1, 2009

President Obama held a town hall on Health Care Reform last week, broadcast nationwide on ABC with Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer. Once again, even though a majority of the public and now even a majority of doctors in the US favor a single-payer system, single payer was still off the table.

Read on.

America's Matrix

By Robert Parry
July 1, 1009 (Originally posted June 2, 2003)

“The Matrix” and its sequel, “The Matrix Reloaded,” offer a useful analogy for anyone trying to make sense of the chasm that has opened between what’s real and what Americans perceive is real.

Read on.

Iraq: A Bitter Strategic Failure

By Robert Parry
July 1, 2009

President Barack Obama and Iraqi leaders may try to sugarcoat the bitter pill for the United States by talking up the achievements of the six-year occupation, but the public celebrations by Iraqis marking the American pullout from Iraq’s cities tell the painful story of a U.S. strategic failure.

Read on.