Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Oil Firms May Fuel Burma's Nuke Plans

By Dennis Bernstein
July 7, 2010

U.S. oil giant Chevron, along with the French energy giant, Total, and PTTEP in Thailand “are financing the world’s newest nuclear threat with multi-billion dollar payments, and have refused to practice financial transparency, despite calls by the Burmese and international community,” according to a newly released report from EarthRights International.

Read on.

Losing in Afghanistan

By Marjorie Cohn
July 7, 2010

Last week, the House of Representatives voted 215-210 for $33 billion to fund Barack Obama’s troop increase in Afghanistan. But there was considerable opposition to giving the President a blank check.

Read on.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

The Military-Industrial Complex's Win

By Melvin A. Goodman
July 7, 2010

Barack Obama’s crippling inheritance as President of the United States is the near-five-decade failure of the nation’s political leadership to heed President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning that “in the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

Read on.

Mississippi Gov. Barbour Fronts for BP

By Dennis Bernstein
July 6, 2010

Louie Miller, state director of the Sierra Club in Mississippi, is burning up. And its not the sweltering heat typical of Mississippi summers that’s getting to him: It’s Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and his kid-glove treatment of BP over its oil blow-out disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Read on.

Cheery Fireworks, Depressing Reality

By Danny Schechter
July 6, 2010

On the Fourth of July, two days after a jobs report showed how many Americans are down, the nation was looking up -- at fireworks signaling the anniversary of American independence (even as the BP disaster shows how dependent we’ve become).

Read on.

Monday, July 05, 2010

Thoughts on Patriotism on July Fourth

By William Blum
July 5, 2010

Most important thought: I'm sick and tired of this thing called "patriotism."

Read on.

How Reagan Charted a Dismal Future

By Gray Brechin
July 5, 2010

Novelist Arthur C. Clarke and director Peter Hyams proved less than prophetic in the optimistic vision presented in the movie 2010, but they gave the audiences of 1984 what they wanted to hear.

Read on.

What Eisenhower Could Teach Obama

By Melvin A. Goodman
July 5, 2010

Fifty years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told his senior advisers in the Oval Office of the White House, “God help this country when someone sits in this chair who doesn’t know the military as well as I do.” Several months later, he issued his famous warning about the military-industrial complex.

Read on.

Sunday, July 04, 2010

America's First Spymaster

By Robert Parry
July 4, 2010

Having grown up in eastern Massachusetts not far from Lexington and Concord, I always found the Revolutionary War’s heroes familiar and fascinating, including some whose names are little remembered except by historians.

Read on.


Friday, July 02, 2010

Video Captures Another Border Killing

By Dennis Bernstein
July 2, 2010

It's a muddy cell phone video, taken from a difficult angle, but the audio recorded on the modest device, is both revealing and chilling: the contents cast doubt on claims by the U.S. Border Patrol, regarding the death of a Mexican national who died in custody after being beaten and electric-shocked by federal agents on May 28.

Read on.

A Musical's Message from '1776'

By Michael Winship
July 2, 2010

As we commemorate the Fourth of July, one of the joys -- and there are many -- of life in these United States is that you never know what the hell we, the people, will say next.

Read on.