Saturday, January 09, 2010

Hard Lessons from Decades Past

By Robert Parry
January 9, 2010

Decades, more than years or even election cycles, mark a nation’s course, just as 10-year spans become personal milestones, the big-3-0 or, in my case, the big 6-0.

Read on.

Friday, January 08, 2010

Answering Helen Thomas on Why

By Ray McGovern
January 8, 2009

Thank God for Helen Thomas, the only person to show any courage at the White House press briefing after President Barack Obama gave a flaccid account of the intelligence screw-up that almost downed an airliner on Christmas Day.

Read on.

California's Dysfunctional Future Shock

By Michael Winship
January 8, 2010

A number of years ago, when I would travel to California on business with my friend the late journalist and comedy writer Eliot Wald, we always carved out time to visit a couple of those massive Los Angeles grocery chains, like Ralph's or Vons.

Read on.

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Endless Double Standards on Cuba

By William Blum
January 7, 2010

More than 50 years now it is. The propaganda and hypocrisy of the American mainstream media seems endless and unwavering. They cannot accept the fact that Cuban leaders are humane or rational.

Read on.

The Botched 9/11 Intel 'Reforms'

By Melvin A. Goodman
January 7, 2010

One week after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told the press corps, "This isn't Pearl Harbor." No, it was worse.

Read on.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Why Counter-Terrorism Is in Shambles

By Ray McGovern and Coleen Rowley
January 5, 2009

Question #1 – What lapses in the American counter terrorism apparatus made the Christmas Day bombing plot possible? Is it inevitable that certain plots will succeed?

The short answer to the second sentence is: Yes, it is inevitable that “certain plots will succeed.”

Read on.

The Myth of the Three Wise Men

By the Rev. Howard Bess
January 5, 2010

Since January 6 marks Epiphany, the first day of an extended season in the Christian Church calendar that takes traditional Christian believers all the way to the Lenten season. It is the season that celebrates the Christian gospel as light to a dark world.

Read on.

How Government Worsens Terror Risk

By Ivan Eland
January 5, 2010

The botched attempt by a Nigerian, apparently trained in Yemen by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to conduct a suicide bombing on a plane as it neared Detroit has highlighted the U.S. government’s overzealous, ineffective and even counterproductive efforts to overcome terrorism.

Read on.

Monday, January 04, 2010

Afghan 'Dirty War' Escalates

By Douglas Valentine
January 4, 2010

On Dec. 31, I listened in dismay as an NPR “terrorism” expert condemned the suicide bombing that killed seven CIA employees in Afghanistan as especially hideous because the CIA victims were spreading economic development and democracy in the area as members of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).

Read on.

Ellsberg on Vanunu's Re-Arrest

By Daniel Ellsberg
January 4, 2010

Mordechai Vanunu -- my friend, my hero, my brother -- has again been arrested in Israel on "suspicion" of the "crime" of "meeting with foreigners."

Read on.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

A Glimmer of Hope from the Past

By Lisa Pease
December 31, 2009

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has decried President Barack Obama for not taking a more belligerent tone against terrorism, accusing him of making Americans less safe when he “pretends we aren’t at war with terrorists.” But Obama is not Dick Cheney, and thank goodness.

Read on.

The Danger of Defeatism

By David Swanson
December 31, 2009

In 2004 I began speaking at rallies and forums around the country on issues of peace and justice, something I've done off-and-on ever since.

Read on.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Are Presidents Scared of the CIA?

By Ray McGovern
December 29, 2009

In the past, I have alluded to Panetta and the Seven Dwarfs. The reference is to CIA Director Leon Panetta and seven of his moral-dwarf predecessors — the ones who sent President Barack Obama a letter on Sept. 18 asking him to “reverse Attorney General Holder’s Aug. 24 decision to re-open the criminal investigation of CIA interrogations.”

Read on.

Obama's Unheralded Nuke Progress

By Ivan Eland
December 29, 2009

Attempting to make good on his pledge to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in the U.S. and other nations’ defense postures, and eventually eliminate them, President Barack Obama seems on the verge of reaching a new strategic arms reduction agreement with Russia.

Read on.

Monday, December 28, 2009

The Jesus Genealogy Myths

By the Rev. Howard Bess
December 28, 2009

The Matthew gospel does not start the story of Jesus with his birth. Rather Matthew starts the story with a genealogy.

Read on.

'Avatar': a Metaphor for the 'Long War'

By David Swanson
December 28, 2009

Let's face it, if James Cameron had made a movie with the Iraqi resistance as the heroes and the U.S. military as the enemies, and had set it in Iraq or anywhere else on planet earth, the packed theaters viewing "Avatar" would have been replaced by a screening in a living room for eight people and a dog.

Read on.

What the New Year Demands

By Robert Parry
December 28, 2009

The U.S. political battle lines for 2010 are already clear. Despite having caused many of the severe problems the country faces, the Republicans and the Right are again in the ascendancy, having shifted the blame for most of the troubles onto President Barack Obama and the Democrats.

Read on.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Reader: A Christmas Story for Truth

By Judith C. Berry
December 24, 2009

The Christmas story was indeed a wonderful story to me for many years. However, when I found out it was just a made-up story, like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” or “Pinocchio,” I was crushed. AND, that is what it is - a made-up story.

Read on.

Legal Challenges to US Health Reform

By David Swanson
December 24, 2009

Does the United States Constitution allow Congress to force people to purchase a product (health insurance) from a private corporation, and fine them or tax them if they refuse?

Read on.

A Christmas Eve Battle for Freedom

By William Loren Katz
December 24, 2009

This Christmas Eve marks the 172nd anniversary of a battle for liberty in 1837 on the banks of Lake Okeechobee, Florida, that helped shape the United States of America.

Read on.