By Mike Ferner
September 29, 2009
No longer the stuff of disturbing futuristic fantasies, an arsenal of “crowd control munitions,” including one that reportedly made its debut in the U.S., was deployed with a massive, overpowering police presence in Pittsburgh during last week’s G-20 protests.
Read on.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Review: Michael Moore's 'Capitalism'
By Lisa Pease
September 28, 2009
Michael Moore’s latest film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” is his best, most mature film to date.
Read on.
September 28, 2009
Michael Moore’s latest film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” is his best, most mature film to date.
Read on.
Intelligence Vets Back Torture Probe
By Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity
Memo to President Obama dated September 27, 2009
We write you, Mr. President, as former intelligence professionals to voice strong support for Attorney General Eric Holder’s authorization of a wider investigation into CIA interrogation. We respectfully disagree with the direct appeal to you by seven former CIA directors to quash that wider investigation.
Read on.
Memo to President Obama dated September 27, 2009
We write you, Mr. President, as former intelligence professionals to voice strong support for Attorney General Eric Holder’s authorization of a wider investigation into CIA interrogation. We respectfully disagree with the direct appeal to you by seven former CIA directors to quash that wider investigation.
Read on.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
The Mystique of 'Free Market' Obama
By Jeff Cohen
September 26, 2009
September 26, 2009
No matter what the facts are, some liberal activists and leaders persist in seeing President Obama as a principled progressive reformer who lives and breathes the campaign rhetoric about “change you can believe in.”
An Insider's View of ACORN
By David Swanson
September 26, 2009
If someone told you that a bunch of low-income people, most of them African-American or Latino, most of them women, most of them elderly, had been victimized by a predatory mortgage lender that stripped them of much of their equity or of their entire homes, you might not be surprised.
Read on.
September 26, 2009
If someone told you that a bunch of low-income people, most of them African-American or Latino, most of them women, most of them elderly, had been victimized by a predatory mortgage lender that stripped them of much of their equity or of their entire homes, you might not be surprised.
Read on.
Friday, September 25, 2009
The Republican War on ACORN
By Jason Leopold
September 25, 2009
In recent days, the Washington Post, the New York Times and other major news outlets have recounted the “troubled” history of the poor people’s advocacy group ACORN, but left out the five-year anti-ACORN campaign waged by White House adviser Karl Rove and other Republican operatives.
Read on.
September 25, 2009
In recent days, the Washington Post, the New York Times and other major news outlets have recounted the “troubled” history of the poor people’s advocacy group ACORN, but left out the five-year anti-ACORN campaign waged by White House adviser Karl Rove and other Republican operatives.
Read on.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
WPost Blasts Obama's Missile Reversal
By Melvin A. Goodman
September 24, 2009
For the past several months, the editorial and op-ed writers of the Washington Post have railed against Russia as expansionist and assertive toward the West and have argued against improving bilateral relations between the United States and Russia.
Read on.
September 24, 2009
For the past several months, the editorial and op-ed writers of the Washington Post have railed against Russia as expansionist and assertive toward the West and have argued against improving bilateral relations between the United States and Russia.
Read on.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Why Obama Must Demand Openness
By Melvin A. Goodman
September 24, 2009
Last week, seven former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency, who made their own contributions to the CIA’s lost esteem over the past 35 years, asked President Barack Obama to make sure there is no criminal investigation of the crimes associated with the Agency’s detentions and interrogations policies over the past eight years.
Read on.
September 24, 2009
Last week, seven former directors of the Central Intelligence Agency, who made their own contributions to the CIA’s lost esteem over the past 35 years, asked President Barack Obama to make sure there is no criminal investigation of the crimes associated with the Agency’s detentions and interrogations policies over the past eight years.
Read on.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Neocon Judge's History of Cover-ups
By Robert Parry
September 23, 2009
Laurence Silberman, a U.S. Courts Appeals Court judge and a longtime neoconservative operative – part of what the Iran-Contra special prosecutor called “the strategic reserves” for convicted Reagan administration operatives in the 1980s – is back playing a similar role for the Bush-43 administration.
Read on.
September 23, 2009
Laurence Silberman, a U.S. Courts Appeals Court judge and a longtime neoconservative operative – part of what the Iran-Contra special prosecutor called “the strategic reserves” for convicted Reagan administration operatives in the 1980s – is back playing a similar role for the Bush-43 administration.
Read on.
Monday, September 21, 2009
The American Doomsday Machine
By Daniel Ellsberg
September 21, 2009
One day in the spring of 1961, soon after my 30th birthday, I was shown how our world would end. Not the Earth, not—so far as I knew then—all humanity or life, but the destruction of most cities and people in the Northern Hemisphere.
Read on.
September 21, 2009
One day in the spring of 1961, soon after my 30th birthday, I was shown how our world would end. Not the Earth, not—so far as I knew then—all humanity or life, but the destruction of most cities and people in the Northern Hemisphere.
Read on.
Was the Iranian Election 'Rigged'?
By Robert Parry
September 21, 2009
It is conventional wisdom in the U.S. press corps that Iran’s June 12 presidential election was rigged, with the word “fraud” now sometimes appearing without the qualifier “alleged.” But a new poll of Iranians uncovered a different opinion, an overwhelming judgment that the election was legitimate.
Read on.
September 21, 2009
It is conventional wisdom in the U.S. press corps that Iran’s June 12 presidential election was rigged, with the word “fraud” now sometimes appearing without the qualifier “alleged.” But a new poll of Iranians uncovered a different opinion, an overwhelming judgment that the election was legitimate.
Read on.
Why Not Look Backwards, with Clarity
By Dennis Loo
September 21, 2009
September 21, 2009
In the Sept. 19 Washington Post, we learn that the Justice Department’s investigation of torture by U.S. personnel will be even narrower than originally proposed by Attorney General Eric Holder.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Review: Reassessing 'The Informant!'
By Lisa Pease
September 20, 2009
I’m always disappointed when the film doesn’t match its advertisements, no matter how good the film or important its message. So I have to admit I was a little disappointed with The Informant! because I was expecting a comedy, but got something quite a bit darker.
Read on.
September 20, 2009
I’m always disappointed when the film doesn’t match its advertisements, no matter how good the film or important its message. So I have to admit I was a little disappointed with The Informant! because I was expecting a comedy, but got something quite a bit darker.
Read on.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
CIA Torturers Running Scared
By Ray McGovern
September 19, 2009
For the CIA supervisors and operatives responsible for torture, the chickens are coming home to roost; that is, if President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder mean it when they say no one is above the law – and if they don’t fall victim to brazen intimidation.
Read on.
September 19, 2009
For the CIA supervisors and operatives responsible for torture, the chickens are coming home to roost; that is, if President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder mean it when they say no one is above the law – and if they don’t fall victim to brazen intimidation.
Read on.
What Did Ahmadinejad Really Say?
By Robert Parry
September 19, 2009
It is an important principle of journalism that when someone makes a statement, especially a controversial one with grave implications, the comment should be put in the fullest possible context so the reader can make an informed judgment. But that rule doesn’t seem to apply when the New York Times writes about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Read on.
September 19, 2009
It is an important principle of journalism that when someone makes a statement, especially a controversial one with grave implications, the comment should be put in the fullest possible context so the reader can make an informed judgment. But that rule doesn’t seem to apply when the New York Times writes about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Read on.
Industries Battle Obama's Reforms
By Michael Winship
September 18, 2009
September 18, 2009
If you ever needed proof that Washington is governed by the Golden Rule - the one that says, he who has the gold, rules - you only have to look at the wagonloads of cash being dumped by big business into crushing President Obama's domestic agenda.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Hate Radio Hollows Out America
By Jay Diamond
September 17, 2009
For months radio lout Steve Malzberg screamed 10 times a day that "Folks, Barack Obama HATES! this country and his WIFE HATES! this country."
Read on.
September 17, 2009
For months radio lout Steve Malzberg screamed 10 times a day that "Folks, Barack Obama HATES! this country and his WIFE HATES! this country."
Read on.
Monopoly Looms in Electronic Voting
By Lisa Pease
September 16, 2009
While we’ve been concentrating on the healthcare debate, the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, another story important to American democracy has gotten inadequate attention: a single company is poised to monopolize the counting of over 75 percent of the nation’s votes.
Read on.
September 16, 2009
While we’ve been concentrating on the healthcare debate, the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, another story important to American democracy has gotten inadequate attention: a single company is poised to monopolize the counting of over 75 percent of the nation’s votes.
Read on.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Protest of War Games Prompts Arrests
By Linda Milazzo
September 15, 2009
Last Saturday, six members of various anti-war groups, including World Can't Wait and Military Families Speak Out, and an OpedNews journalist, were arrested at a protest organized to shut down The Army Experience Center, a venue at Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia that invites young people to engage in simulated war games.
Read on.
September 15, 2009
Last Saturday, six members of various anti-war groups, including World Can't Wait and Military Families Speak Out, and an OpedNews journalist, were arrested at a protest organized to shut down The Army Experience Center, a venue at Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia that invites young people to engage in simulated war games.
Read on.
Challenging Americans on Torture
By Ray McGovern
September 15, 2009
On April 16, President Barack Obama released official memoranda demonstrating serious crimes by the previous administration.
Read on.
September 15, 2009
On April 16, President Barack Obama released official memoranda demonstrating serious crimes by the previous administration.
Read on.
How the Soviet Menace Was Hyped
By Melvin A. Goodman
September 15, 2009
A recently declassified study on Soviet intentions during the Cold War identifies significant failures in U.S. intelligence analysis on Soviet military intentions and demonstrates the constant exaggeration of the Soviet threat.
Read on.
September 15, 2009
A recently declassified study on Soviet intentions during the Cold War identifies significant failures in U.S. intelligence analysis on Soviet military intentions and demonstrates the constant exaggeration of the Soviet threat.
Read on.
Torture First, Justify Afterwards
By Jason Leopold
September 15, 2009
The Bush administration gave its initial clearance for CIA interrogators to brutalize an al-Qaeda “high-value detainee” through verbal guidance and didn’t follow up with a formal legal opinion until “months later,” the CIA’s former inspector general said.
Read on.
September 15, 2009
The Bush administration gave its initial clearance for CIA interrogators to brutalize an al-Qaeda “high-value detainee” through verbal guidance and didn’t follow up with a formal legal opinion until “months later,” the CIA’s former inspector general said.
Read on.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Ray McGovern Warns of 'Two CIAs'
By Brad Friedman
September 13, 2009
During my interview last week with 27-year CIA analyst Ray McGovern on the Mike Malloy Show (which I've been guest hosting all this week), the man who used to personally deliver the CIA's Presidential Daily Briefings to George Bush Sr., among other Presidents, offered an extraordinarily chilling thought --- particularly coming from someone with his background.
Read on.
September 13, 2009
During my interview last week with 27-year CIA analyst Ray McGovern on the Mike Malloy Show (which I've been guest hosting all this week), the man who used to personally deliver the CIA's Presidential Daily Briefings to George Bush Sr., among other Presidents, offered an extraordinarily chilling thought --- particularly coming from someone with his background.
Read on.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Bush's Interrogators Stressed Nudity
By Robert Parry
September 12, 2009
The CIA shared with George W. Bush’s Justice Department the details of how an interrogation strategy – with an emphasis on forced nudity and physical abuse – could train prisoners in “learned helplessness” and demonstrate “the complete control of Americans.”
Read on.
September 12, 2009
The CIA shared with George W. Bush’s Justice Department the details of how an interrogation strategy – with an emphasis on forced nudity and physical abuse – could train prisoners in “learned helplessness” and demonstrate “the complete control of Americans.”
Read on.
Obama Faces Tough Afghan Choice
By Michael Winship
September 12, 2009
There was a certain ironic and painful symmetry at work last month. As one iconic image of war was called into doubt, another was being created, a new photograph of combat's grim reality that already has generated controversy and anger.
Read on.
September 12, 2009
There was a certain ironic and painful symmetry at work last month. As one iconic image of war was called into doubt, another was being created, a new photograph of combat's grim reality that already has generated controversy and anger.
Read on.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Old Hands Picked for CIA Oversight
By Melvin A. Goodman
September 11, 2009
The appointment of former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden to the Public Interest Declassification Board(PIDB) and former Sen. Warren Rudman to the CIA’s External Advisory Board (EAB) will ensure less openness in the intelligence community and more obduracy in the CIA.
Read on.
September 11, 2009
The appointment of former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden to the Public Interest Declassification Board(PIDB) and former Sen. Warren Rudman to the CIA’s External Advisory Board (EAB) will ensure less openness in the intelligence community and more obduracy in the CIA.
Read on.
The Real Lessons of 9/11
By Robert Parry
September 11, 2009
On this eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it’s worth reflecting on how even a mildly competent U.S. President might have prevented the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and drove the United States into a spasm of revenge that has wasted untold blood and treasure.
Read on.
September 11, 2009
On this eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it’s worth reflecting on how even a mildly competent U.S. President might have prevented the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and drove the United States into a spasm of revenge that has wasted untold blood and treasure.
Read on.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Careerists Pull Obama to Afghan Mess
By Melvin A. Goodman
September 8, 2009
September 8, 2009
President Barack Obama is currently facing the most two important decisions of his young presidency.
The Speech that Obama Should Give
By Ray McGovern
September 8, 2009
Good evening, both to you members of Congress assembled here, and fellow Americans in our wider TV and radio audience.
Read on.
September 8, 2009
Good evening, both to you members of Congress assembled here, and fellow Americans in our wider TV and radio audience.
Read on.
Ronald Reagan's Torture
By Robert Parry
September 8, 2009
Lost amid the attention given George W. Bush’s “war on terror” torture policies was the CIA’s cryptic admission that it also engaged in interrogation abuses during Ronald Reagan’s anti-leftist wars in Central America, another era of torture and extra-judicial killings.
Read on.
September 8, 2009
Lost amid the attention given George W. Bush’s “war on terror” torture policies was the CIA’s cryptic admission that it also engaged in interrogation abuses during Ronald Reagan’s anti-leftist wars in Central America, another era of torture and extra-judicial killings.
Read on.
Monday, September 07, 2009
At Glenn Beck's Call
By David Swanson
September 7, 2009
Fox News screaming head Glenn Beck now tells President Obama to fire White House employees, and Obama obeys.
Read on.
September 7, 2009
Fox News screaming head Glenn Beck now tells President Obama to fire White House employees, and Obama obeys.
Read on.
Obama Must Respect Afghan Humanity
By Sherwood Ross
September 7, 2009
The war in Afghanistan hangs like some cloud of poison gas over Washington that won’t blow away.
Read on.
September 7, 2009
The war in Afghanistan hangs like some cloud of poison gas over Washington that won’t blow away.
Read on.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Anti-Hillary Movie Tests Legal Limits
By Michael Winship
September 6, 2009
The envelope, please. And the winner for "most influential motion picture in American politics" is... “Hillary: The Movie.”
Read on.
September 6, 2009
The envelope, please. And the winner for "most influential motion picture in American politics" is... “Hillary: The Movie.”
Read on.
Friday, September 04, 2009
Colin Powell and Lessons of My Lai
By Robert Parry
September 4, 2009
September 4, 2009
In an Aug. 28 editorial, The New York Times applauded a belated “note of personal regret” from former Lt. William Calley for his role in the massacre of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in 1968. But neither the Times nor any other leading U.S. news outlet has ever suggested that remorse might also be due from Colin Powell, who as a young Army major helped cover up the crime.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Broder Is Latest Torture Apologist
By Melvin A. Goodman
September 4, 2009
David Broder, the senior op-ed writer at the Washington Post, has joined his colleagues (Fred Hiatt, David Ignatius and Richard Cohen) in condemning Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to name a special counsel to examine possible law-breaking by CIA interrogators.
Read on.
September 4, 2009
David Broder, the senior op-ed writer at the Washington Post, has joined his colleagues (Fred Hiatt, David Ignatius and Richard Cohen) in condemning Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to name a special counsel to examine possible law-breaking by CIA interrogators.
Read on.
Mercenaries Hide Costs of War
By Sherwood Ross
September 3, 2009
The growing use of private armies not only subjects target populations to savage warfare but makes it easier for the White House to subvert domestic public opinion and wage wars.
Read on.
September 3, 2009
The growing use of private armies not only subjects target populations to savage warfare but makes it easier for the White House to subvert domestic public opinion and wage wars.
Read on.
The War on CIA's Inspector General
By Melvin A. Goodman
September 3, 2009
President Barack Obama is permitting CIA Director Leon Panetta to weaken the Agency’s’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Read on.
September 3, 2009
President Barack Obama is permitting CIA Director Leon Panetta to weaken the Agency’s’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Read on.
Ignoring the Truth about Lockerbie
By William Blum
September 3, 2009
If there's anyone out there who is not already thoroughly cynical about those on the board of directors of the planet, the latest chapter in the saga of the bombing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland might just be enough to push them over the edge.
Read on.
September 3, 2009
If there's anyone out there who is not already thoroughly cynical about those on the board of directors of the planet, the latest chapter in the saga of the bombing of PanAm 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland might just be enough to push them over the edge.
Read on.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Afghanistan for Dummies
By Ray McGovern
September 2, 2009
I’m going to ask for my money back. I’ve seen this Afghanistan movie before. The first time, Vietnam was in the title.
Read on.
September 2, 2009
I’m going to ask for my money back. I’ve seen this Afghanistan movie before. The first time, Vietnam was in the title.
Read on.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
WPost Misses Real Problem at CIA
By Melvin A. Goodman
September 1, 2009
It only took 24 hours for The Washington Post to go from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Read on.
September 1, 2009
It only took 24 hours for The Washington Post to go from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Read on.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Cheney May Balk at Torture Probe
By Jason Leopold
August 31, 2009
Dick Cheney says Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to have a federal prosecutor examine one dozen or so cases of torture that U.S. interrogators allegedly inflicted on suspected terrorists “offends the hell out of me” and may not merit the former Vice President’s cooperation.
Read on.
August 31, 2009
Dick Cheney says Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to have a federal prosecutor examine one dozen or so cases of torture that U.S. interrogators allegedly inflicted on suspected terrorists “offends the hell out of me” and may not merit the former Vice President’s cooperation.
Read on.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
WPost Takes Pro-Torture Side
By Melvin A. Goodman
August 30, 2009
The lead story in Saturday’s Washington Post, headlined “How a Detainee Became An Asset,” provides a one-sided and distorted account of the torture and abuse of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (KSM) and demonstrates the need for a blue-ribbon bipartisan commission to create a comprehensive and authoritative narrative of the misgovernment of the Bush administration over the past eight years.
Read on.
August 30, 2009
The lead story in Saturday’s Washington Post, headlined “How a Detainee Became An Asset,” provides a one-sided and distorted account of the torture and abuse of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (KSM) and demonstrates the need for a blue-ribbon bipartisan commission to create a comprehensive and authoritative narrative of the misgovernment of the Bush administration over the past eight years.
Read on.
WPost Helps CIA Defend Torture
By Ray McGovern
August 30, 2009
August 30, 2009
EXTRA! Read all about it in the Washington Post: Torture worked; Cheney and torture practitioners vindicated.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
What Would Jesus Really Do?
By The Rev. Howard Bess
August 29, 2009
The Bible is a collection of ancient writings. The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek.
Read on.
August 29, 2009
The Bible is a collection of ancient writings. The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was originally written in Greek.
Read on.
Health Care for Camelot
By Michael Winship
August 29, 2009
Toward the end of George McGovern's failed presidential bid in 1972, I was helping advance a bus trip for vice presidential candidate Sargent Shriver.
Read on.
August 29, 2009
Toward the end of George McGovern's failed presidential bid in 1972, I was helping advance a bus trip for vice presidential candidate Sargent Shriver.
Read on.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
WPost Again Plays Torture Apologist
By Melvin A. Goodman
August 26, 2009
The Washington Post continues to campaign against any accountability for the detentions policies of the Central Intelligence Agency, using its own editorials and op-ed writers as well as outsiders who support the efforts of the newspaper.
Read on.
August 26, 2009
The Washington Post continues to campaign against any accountability for the detentions policies of the Central Intelligence Agency, using its own editorials and op-ed writers as well as outsiders who support the efforts of the newspaper.
Read on.
Closing In on the Torturers
By Ray McGovern
August 26, 2009
Do you think the wardens will let George Tenet wear his Presidential Medal of Freedom over the orange coverall?
Read on.
August 26, 2009
Do you think the wardens will let George Tenet wear his Presidential Medal of Freedom over the orange coverall?
Read on.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
US Interrogators Back Torture Probe
By Jason Leopold
August 23, 2009
Support for a wide-ranging criminal investigation into the Bush administration’s use of torture has grown to include a former top FBI interrogator and a career military intelligence officer with more than two decades of experience conducting interrogations.
Read on.
August 23, 2009
Support for a wide-ranging criminal investigation into the Bush administration’s use of torture has grown to include a former top FBI interrogator and a career military intelligence officer with more than two decades of experience conducting interrogations.
Read on.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
CIA: Osama Helped Bush in '04
By Robert Parry
August 22, 2009 (Originally posted July 4, 2006)
On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as “Osama’s endorsement of John Kerry.” But behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: that bin Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term.
Read on.
August 22, 2009 (Originally posted July 4, 2006)
On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as “Osama’s endorsement of John Kerry.” But behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: that bin Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term.
Read on.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Lockerbie Doubts
By Lisa Pease
August 21, 2009
In any kind of major transnational event, there is the historical truth, what actually happened, and the political truth, what must have happened for the nations involved to continue on as before.
Read on.
August 21, 2009
In any kind of major transnational event, there is the historical truth, what actually happened, and the political truth, what must have happened for the nations involved to continue on as before.
Read on.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Blackwater's Unwritten Death Contract
By Ray McGovern
August 20, 2009
August 20, 2009
Hats off to Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times for reporting that it was after CIA Director Leon Panetta’s holdover lieutenants finally told him that, under President Bush, they had farmed out assassinations to their Blackwater subsidiary, that he abruptly stopped the project and told Congress.
Tom DeLay Stomps Woodstock Nation
By Michael Winship
August 20, 2009
A sorry state of affairs. If it wasn't for all the 40th anniversary celebrations of Woodstock, the primary cultural contribution of the month would be the announcement that former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas will be a contestant in the next round of “Dancing with the Stars.”
Read on.
August 20, 2009
A sorry state of affairs. If it wasn't for all the 40th anniversary celebrations of Woodstock, the primary cultural contribution of the month would be the announcement that former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas will be a contestant in the next round of “Dancing with the Stars.”
Read on.
The Republican Ayatollahs
By David Swanson
August 20, 2009
You gotta keep 'em separated. My colleagues over at Velvet Revolution noticed a striking resemblance between certain Republican senators here at home and certain theocrats over yonder in Iran.
Read on.
August 20, 2009
You gotta keep 'em separated. My colleagues over at Velvet Revolution noticed a striking resemblance between certain Republican senators here at home and certain theocrats over yonder in Iran.
Read on.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Robert Novak Was a Liar
By Robert Parry
August 19, 2009
Washington’s punditocracy is in mourning over the death of right-wing columnist Robert Novak, with many warm remembrances about his outsized personality and his supposed love of reporting. But Novak often served as a dishonest propagandist and would have been condemned in a healthy journalistic world.
Read on.
August 19, 2009
Washington’s punditocracy is in mourning over the death of right-wing columnist Robert Novak, with many warm remembrances about his outsized personality and his supposed love of reporting. But Novak often served as a dishonest propagandist and would have been condemned in a healthy journalistic world.
Read on.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Why the Right's Propaganda Works
By Robert Parry
August 19, 2009
August 19, 2009
Many on the Left are blaming President Barack Obama and middle-of-the-road Democrats for maneuvering health-care reform into a fast-approaching head-on collision. And some of that criticism is well deserved for foolishly letting Republicans get their hands on the wheel at all.
A Power Equal to a Thousand Words
By David Kasper
August 18, 2009
It may be that President Obama and those who surround him are fighting a losing battle in their effort to conceal and leave behind us the crimes of the Bush era.
Read on.
August 18, 2009
It may be that President Obama and those who surround him are fighting a losing battle in their effort to conceal and leave behind us the crimes of the Bush era.
Read on.
Monday, August 17, 2009
PanAm 103 Verdict: Justice or Politics?
By William Blum
August 18, 2009
The newspapers were filled with pictures of happy relatives of the victims of the 1988 bombing of PanAm 103.
Read on.
August 18, 2009
The newspapers were filled with pictures of happy relatives of the victims of the 1988 bombing of PanAm 103.
Read on.
Fromme-Peltier: Inequality of Mercy
By Dennis Bernstein and Miguel Gavalan Molina
August 18, 2009
August 18, 2009
Child protégé and Manson cheerleader Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme walked free last week, straight through the front doors of Fort Worth Federal Prison, into a brilliant Texas sun.
Iraq War's Winners and Losers
By Sherwood Ross
August 17, 2009
“On my last day in Iraq,” veteran McClatchy News correspondent Leila Fadel wrote August 9, “as on my first day in Iraq, I couldn’t see what the United States and its allies had accomplished. … I couldn’t understand what thousands of American soldiers had died for and why hundreds of thousands of Iraqis had been killed.”
Read on.
August 17, 2009
“On my last day in Iraq,” veteran McClatchy News correspondent Leila Fadel wrote August 9, “as on my first day in Iraq, I couldn’t see what the United States and its allies had accomplished. … I couldn’t understand what thousands of American soldiers had died for and why hundreds of thousands of Iraqis had been killed.”
Read on.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
WTimes' Hypocritical Obama-Nazi Slur
By Robert Parry
August 17, 2009
One of the ugly ironies in the Right’s depiction of President Barack Obama as Hitler and health reform as a plan for Nazi-style euthanasia is that the owner of the Washington Times, which has pushed this line of attack, has longstanding ties with World War II-era Nazis, neo-Nazis and rightist “death squads.”
Read on.
August 17, 2009
One of the ugly ironies in the Right’s depiction of President Barack Obama as Hitler and health reform as a plan for Nazi-style euthanasia is that the owner of the Washington Times, which has pushed this line of attack, has longstanding ties with World War II-era Nazis, neo-Nazis and rightist “death squads.”
Read on.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
A Gorilla Dust-up Over Health Care
By Michael Winship
August 15, 2009
When I was 15, my father was in a near-fatal car collision with a semi-trailer truck. At Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, he lay in a coma for two months.
Read on.
August 15, 2009
When I was 15, my father was in a near-fatal car collision with a semi-trailer truck. At Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, he lay in a coma for two months.
Read on.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Cheney's New Gambit
By Ray McGovern
August 14, 2009
The stenographers of the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) are missing the most obvious explanation for former Vice President Dick Cheney’s widely reported “disappointment” with former President George W. Bush on the issue of pardons -- self-interest.
Read on.
August 14, 2009
The stenographers of the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) are missing the most obvious explanation for former Vice President Dick Cheney’s widely reported “disappointment” with former President George W. Bush on the issue of pardons -- self-interest.
Read on.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Truth Will Not Out,, on Its Own
By Robert Parry
August 13, 2009
The right-wing fury at town hall meetings over health care and the Republican obstruction of any serious reform in Washington are not just symptoms of a complex debate on an issue packed with powerful special interests; it is a test of whether reality matters in the United States.
Read on.
August 13, 2009
The right-wing fury at town hall meetings over health care and the Republican obstruction of any serious reform in Washington are not just symptoms of a complex debate on an issue packed with powerful special interests; it is a test of whether reality matters in the United States.
Read on.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Rove Implicated in Prosecutor Firings
By Jason Leopold
August 12, 2009
Political adviser Karl Rove and other officials inside George W. Bush’s White House pushed for the firing of a key federal prosecutor because he wasn’t cooperating with Republican plans for indicting Democrats and their allies before the 2006 election, according to internal documents and depositions.
Read on.
August 12, 2009
Political adviser Karl Rove and other officials inside George W. Bush’s White House pushed for the firing of a key federal prosecutor because he wasn’t cooperating with Republican plans for indicting Democrats and their allies before the 2006 election, according to internal documents and depositions.
Read on.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Palin's 'Death Panel' and GOP Lying
By Robert Parry
August 11, 2009
False Republican claims about President Barack Obama’s health-care initiative, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s demagogic charge about a “death panel,” are part of a pattern of systematic lying that has marked the GOP’s political tactics at least since Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s.
Read on.
August 11, 2009
False Republican claims about President Barack Obama’s health-care initiative, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s demagogic charge about a “death panel,” are part of a pattern of systematic lying that has marked the GOP’s political tactics at least since Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s.
Read on.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Holder's Torture-Probe Plan Faulted
By Jason Leopold
August 10, 2009
Civil liberties advocates are criticizing an expected decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to limit a criminal probe of the Bush administration’s torture practices to CIA interrogators who exceeded Justice Department guidelines.
Read on.
August 10, 2009
Civil liberties advocates are criticizing an expected decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to limit a criminal probe of the Bush administration’s torture practices to CIA interrogators who exceeded Justice Department guidelines.
Read on.
Friday, August 07, 2009
Keeping an Eye Out for Planet Earth
By Michael Winship
August 7, 2009
August 7, 2009
For a bit of change, let's talk about a different kind of health care reform - the kind that affects the health of the planet.
Ex-CIA Analyst Criticizes State Secrets
By Melvin A. Goodman
August 7, 2009
My 24 years as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency (1966-90) taught me that national security is only the ostensible reason for using the state secrets privilege in cases before the court. The real reason usually has more to do with national embarrassment and not national security.
Read on.
August 7, 2009
My 24 years as an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency (1966-90) taught me that national security is only the ostensible reason for using the state secrets privilege in cases before the court. The real reason usually has more to do with national embarrassment and not national security.
Read on.
Olbermann-O'Reilly 'Truce' Frays
By Robert Parry
August 7, 2009
The agreement between top brass at General Electric and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation – to tamp down the war of words between MSNBC host Keith Olbermann and Fox News star Bill O’Reilly – has broken down after the truce was revealed by the New York Times last weekend.
Read on.
August 7, 2009
The agreement between top brass at General Electric and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation – to tamp down the war of words between MSNBC host Keith Olbermann and Fox News star Bill O’Reilly – has broken down after the truce was revealed by the New York Times last weekend.
Read on.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Ellsberg's Hiroshima Remembrance
By Daniel Ellsberg
August 6, 2009
August 6, 2009
It was a hot August day in Detroit. I was standing on a street corner downtown, looking at the front page of The Detroit News in a news rack. I remember a streetcar rattling by on the tracks as I read the headline: A single American bomb had destroyed a Japanese city.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
GE Muzzles Olbermann about Fox
By Robert Parry
August 5, 2009
August 5, 2009
The emergence of liberal evening hosts on General Electric’s MSNBC has been welcomed by Democrats and others on the American Left as a counterweight to the right and center-right bias of much of the U.S. news media. But there is a difference between GE testing out whether this lineup will produce a ratings boost and actual independence in journalism.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Bush's Conspiracy to Riot
Robert Parry
August 5, 2009 (Originally posted August 5, 2002)
More than three decades apart, two political riots influenced the outcome of U.S. presidential elections.
Read on.
August 5, 2009 (Originally posted August 5, 2002)
More than three decades apart, two political riots influenced the outcome of U.S. presidential elections.
Read on.
Battling for Single-Payer Healthcare
By Siobhan Kolar
August 4, 2009
August 4, 2009
The people started lining up an hour early in Aurora, Illinois, 40 miles west of Chicago and not a hotbed of radical socialism, to hear Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, talk about HR 676, the single payer bill he co-authored with Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan.
Assessing Rumsfeld's Military Strategy
By Ivan Eland
August 4, 2009
In his new book, By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld, Bradley Graham argues that although ideology and arrogance played a role in the fiasco of invading and occupying Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld’s concept of transforming the military into a leaner, more deadly force also played a role.
Read on.
August 4, 2009
In his new book, By His Own Rules: The Ambitions, Successes, and Ultimate Failures of Donald Rumsfeld, Bradley Graham argues that although ideology and arrogance played a role in the fiasco of invading and occupying Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld’s concept of transforming the military into a leaner, more deadly force also played a role.
Read on.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Bashing Obama on Taxes
By Robert Parry
August 3, 2009
Across the cable TV news shows on Monday was a smirking cynicism about President Barack Obama supposedly reneging on his campaign pledge not to raise taxes on the middle-class, but this new conventional wisdom rested on a weak foundation.
Read on.
August 3, 2009
Across the cable TV news shows on Monday was a smirking cynicism about President Barack Obama supposedly reneging on his campaign pledge not to raise taxes on the middle-class, but this new conventional wisdom rested on a weak foundation.
Read on.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Panetta Pleads for No CIA Punishment
By Melvin A. Goodman
August 2, 2009
The ideological partnership between the Washington Post and the Central Intelligence Agency is becoming despicable.
Read on.
August 2, 2009
The ideological partnership between the Washington Post and the Central Intelligence Agency is becoming despicable.
Read on.
How Pay-to-Play Corrupts Washington
By Michael Winship
August 2, 2009
August 2, 2009
As we marvel over the depths of hypocrisy and greed currently plumbed in the health care reform debate, it may help to remember that even Honest Abe Lincoln had his share of tainted colleagues, one of the most notorious of whom was his first Secretary of War, Simon Cameron.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Christians Largely Mum on Torture
By Ray McGovern
July 31, 2009
Anyone harboring doubts that the institutional Church is riding shotgun for the system, even regarding heinous sin like torture, should be chastened by the results of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.
Read on.
July 31, 2009
Anyone harboring doubts that the institutional Church is riding shotgun for the system, even regarding heinous sin like torture, should be chastened by the results of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.
Read on.
US Judge Orders Afghan Youth Freed
By Jason Leopold
July 31, 2009
Rejecting arguments from both the Bush and Obama administrations, a federal judge has ordered the release of an Afghani who may have been as young as 12 when he was detained 6 ½ years ago for allegedly wounding two U.S. soldiers and an Afghan translator by throwing a grenade at their unmarked jeep.
Read on.
July 31, 2009
Rejecting arguments from both the Bush and Obama administrations, a federal judge has ordered the release of an Afghani who may have been as young as 12 when he was detained 6 ½ years ago for allegedly wounding two U.S. soldiers and an Afghan translator by throwing a grenade at their unmarked jeep.
Read on.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Cheney's Fondness for the Dark Side
By Sherwood Ross
July 30, 2009
Some in Congress are stung by charges that former Vice President Dick Cheney ran an international assassination op from the White House without telling them about it. They say he told the CIA to withhold the facts from Congress.
Read on.
July 30, 2009
Some in Congress are stung by charges that former Vice President Dick Cheney ran an international assassination op from the White House without telling them about it. They say he told the CIA to withhold the facts from Congress.
Read on.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Holder Ponders Limited Torture Probe
By Jason Leopold
July 29, 2009
Last year, in the heat of the presidential campaign, Eric Holder was a featured speaker at the American Constitution Society’s annual convention where he told a packed crowd that the “American people are owe[d] a reckoning” as a result of the “abusive” and “unlawful” policies of the Bush administration.
Read on.
July 29, 2009
Last year, in the heat of the presidential campaign, Eric Holder was a featured speaker at the American Constitution Society’s annual convention where he told a packed crowd that the “American people are owe[d] a reckoning” as a result of the “abusive” and “unlawful” policies of the Bush administration.
Read on.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Obama Faces Carter/Clinton Parallels
By Robert Parry
July 29, 2009
After six months in office, Barack Obama’s presidency reveals striking parallels not only to Bill Clinton’s troubled first term, but to Jimmy Carter’s only term. And, how those dangers are reappearing show that the Democrats and American progressives have learned little over the past 30 years.
Read on.
July 29, 2009
After six months in office, Barack Obama’s presidency reveals striking parallels not only to Bill Clinton’s troubled first term, but to Jimmy Carter’s only term. And, how those dangers are reappearing show that the Democrats and American progressives have learned little over the past 30 years.
Read on.
Sudan's Lesson for Iraq, Mideast
By Ivan Eland
July 28, 2009
Sometimes you just have to shake your head and wonder how the human race has avoided self-extinction and prospered on the planet.
Read on.
July 28, 2009
Sometimes you just have to shake your head and wonder how the human race has avoided self-extinction and prospered on the planet.
Read on.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Obama, the Great Wealth Creator?
By Robert Parry
July 27m 2009
In early March, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank to about 6,500, CNBC stock analyst Jim Cramer blamed Barack Obama for “the greatest wealth destruction” ever, citing declines in “all indices, since the inauguration of the President,” an attack theme that resonated across the right-wing and much of the mainstream U.S. news media.
Read on.
July 27m 2009
In early March, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank to about 6,500, CNBC stock analyst Jim Cramer blamed Barack Obama for “the greatest wealth destruction” ever, citing declines in “all indices, since the inauguration of the President,” an attack theme that resonated across the right-wing and much of the mainstream U.S. news media.
Read on.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Obama's Health-Care 'Waterloo'
By Bill Moyers and Michael Winship
July 25, 2009
July 25, 2009
Push finally came to shove in Washington this week as the battle for health care escalated from scattered sniper fire into all-out combat. If it all seems to be getting more and more confusing, join the club. It's hard to see what's happening through all the gun smoke.
Read on.US Has New Plan to Hold Afghan Youth
By Jason Leopold
July 25, 2009
Faced with impending defeat in a U.S. District Court habeas corpus case, the Obama administration devised a new strategy for continuing the detention of Mohammed Jawad, an Afghani who may have been as young as 12 in 2002 when he allegedly wounded two U.S. soldiers with a grenade.
Read on.
July 25, 2009
Faced with impending defeat in a U.S. District Court habeas corpus case, the Obama administration devised a new strategy for continuing the detention of Mohammed Jawad, an Afghani who may have been as young as 12 in 2002 when he allegedly wounded two U.S. soldiers with a grenade.
Read on.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Recalling the Downing Street Minutes
By Ray McGovern
July 24, 2009
Seven years ago this week, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair gathered his top national security advisers at 10 Downing St. to hear a report from U.K. intelligence chief Richard Dearlove, just back in London from face-to-face talks with then-CIA Director George Tenet in Washington.
Read on.
July 24, 2009
Seven years ago this week, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair gathered his top national security advisers at 10 Downing St. to hear a report from U.K. intelligence chief Richard Dearlove, just back in London from face-to-face talks with then-CIA Director George Tenet in Washington.
Read on.
Spinning Health Reform to Death
By Norman Solomon
July 24, 2009
July 24, 2009
"I want to cover everybody," President Obama said at his news conference Wednesday night. "Now, the truth is that unless you have a - what's called a single-payer system, in which everybody's automatically covered, then you're probably not going to reach every single individual ..."
Thursday, July 23, 2009
WPost Writer Weeps Again for the CIA
By Melvin A. Goodman
July 24, 2009
David Ignatius, the mainstream media’s leading apologist for the Central Intelligence Agency, has written another exculpatory brief for the CIA.
Read on.
July 24, 2009
David Ignatius, the mainstream media’s leading apologist for the Central Intelligence Agency, has written another exculpatory brief for the CIA.
Read on.
Dallas: Into the Belly of the Beast
Ray McGovern
July 23, 2009
The hellish-hot weather persuaded me that I was wise to ignore the caution expressed by a close friend who grew up in Dallas, as I set off to give talks there. Better wear a bulletproof vest, he told me.
Read on.
July 23, 2009
The hellish-hot weather persuaded me that I was wise to ignore the caution expressed by a close friend who grew up in Dallas, as I set off to give talks there. Better wear a bulletproof vest, he told me.
Read on.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Obama Lawyers Shield Cheney on Leak
By Jason Leopold
July 22, 2009
The Obama administration asserted a legal argument that a federal judge called the Jon Stewart “Daily Show exemption,” as the Justice Department continued a court fight to protect ex-Vice President Dick Cheney from disclosures about his role in the leak of a CIA officer’s identity six years ago.
Read on.
July 22, 2009
The Obama administration asserted a legal argument that a federal judge called the Jon Stewart “Daily Show exemption,” as the Justice Department continued a court fight to protect ex-Vice President Dick Cheney from disclosures about his role in the leak of a CIA officer’s identity six years ago.
Read on.
Christ's Teachings v. US Health Care
By The Rev. Howard Bess
July 21, 2009
In the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John, the writer tells the story of a man that had been crippled for 38 years. Jesus asked him a simple question: “Do you want to be healed?” Jesus told him to stand up and walk, and so he did.
Read on.
July 21, 2009
In the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John, the writer tells the story of a man that had been crippled for 38 years. Jesus asked him a simple question: “Do you want to be healed?” Jesus told him to stand up and walk, and so he did.
Read on.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Making Sense of Cheney's Madness
By Ivan Eland
July 21, 2009
July 21, 2009
The seeming irrationality behind the George W. Bush administration’s “against the grain” (and the law) policies on torture, warrantless domestic surveillance, and now notification of Congress about CIA covert operations was not irrational at all.
GOP & KAL007: 'The Key Is to Lie First'
By Robert Parry
July 20, 2009 (Originally posted in 1998)
It's not entirely clear when the Republican Party made disinformation a political weapon of choice.
Read on.
July 20, 2009 (Originally posted in 1998)
It's not entirely clear when the Republican Party made disinformation a political weapon of choice.
Read on.
To Save the Republic, Tax the Rich?
By Robert Parry
July 20, 2009
For all the laid-off “Joe the Plumbers” who share the Right’s fury about the “class warfare” of imposing higher taxes on millionaires, there is this hard truth: the rich don’t need as many of you as they once did – and taxing the rich may be the only way to make the economic system work for you.
Read on.
July 20, 2009
For all the laid-off “Joe the Plumbers” who share the Right’s fury about the “class warfare” of imposing higher taxes on millionaires, there is this hard truth: the rich don’t need as many of you as they once did – and taxing the rich may be the only way to make the economic system work for you.
Read on.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Cronkite's Unintended Legacy
By Robert Parry
July 19, 2009
With his measured calm and seriousness of purpose, Walter Cronkite set a high standard for television journalism that has rarely been met since his retirement in 1981. But the legendary CBS anchorman who died Friday also may have unintentionally contributed to the American Left’s dangerous complacency about media.
Read on.
July 19, 2009
With his measured calm and seriousness of purpose, Walter Cronkite set a high standard for television journalism that has rarely been met since his retirement in 1981. But the legendary CBS anchorman who died Friday also may have unintentionally contributed to the American Left’s dangerous complacency about media.
Read on.
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