U.S. Faces Resentment in Afghan RegionBy CARLOTTA GALL July 3, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/world/asia/03helmand.htmlLASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan - The mood of the Afghan people has tipped into a popular revolt in some parts of southern Afghanistan, presenting incoming American forces with an even harder job than expected in reversing military losses to the Taliban and winning over the population. [...]
[Three days ago Israel intercepted Spirit of Humanity, a relief vessel bound for Gaza. Among those on board whom Israel detained were Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire and former Congressperson Cynthia McKinney. Below are a news story and telephone interviews with Maguire and McKinney, from their jail cells, with Democracy Now! and WBAI, respectively. -- moderator] [...]
Rush Limbaugh Is Still a Big Fat IdiotAnd so are his Fox News pals, who lambasted Sen. Al Franken's "stolen election"By Joe Conason http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/07/03/al_franken/
1 That '30s Show (Paul Krugman) 2 Nine Years of Job Growth Wiped Out (Economic Policy Institute)That '30s ShowBy PAUL KRUGMAN July 2, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/opinion/03krugman.htmlO.K., Thursday's jobs report settles it. We're going to need a bigger stimulus. But does the president know that?
This week Friday Nite Videos features a quartet of videos that address health care from four corners of the compass. SEIU's HAARM (Health Americans Against Reforming Medicine) lampoons the Big Medicine lobby and its fear campaign. Jimmy Fallon and The Roots slow jam health care in the news. Those People Documentary features the struggle of the mentally ill for care. And finally, FAIR's media alert shows how the best solution is being systematically excluded from the national health care reform discussion and gives you a way to add your voice for a real discussion. [...]
Immigration reform is hardly the front page issue it was one year ago, even though thousands of immigrants end up in detention centers every year.
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Since he took office five months ago, President Barack Obama has had to show his political cards on one issue after another.
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On the morning of June 28, masked soldiers burst into the home of Honduran President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya and forced the elected head of state onto a plane out of the country.
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High Court Ignores the Greater GoodBy Jesse Jackson http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/1644864,CST-EDT-jesse30.article June 30, 2009
Dispatches From The EdgeOf North Korea; Lebanon's Vote; Irish ShameBy Conn HallinanMost Americans think of North Korea as a nation of belligerent crazy people with a political succession system more akin to the 15th century than the 21st. Indeed, it is a repressive place, with a bizarre personality cult, but the U.S., Japan, and South Korea share much of the blame for the current crisis over nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. [...]
Undo the CoupFour Reponses to the Military Coup in Honduras1) Froim Danny Glover: Support Restoration Of Honduran President Zelaya2) Amy Goodman: Undo the Coup3) Committees of Correspondence: End US Military Aid & Close SOA4) Roberto Lovato : Obama Must Strongly and Unequivocally Condemn the Coup(1)Urgent Request To Support Restoration Of Honduran President Zelaya [...]
Israel Attacks Justice Boat; Kidnaps Human Rights Workers; Confiscates Medicine, Toys and Olive TreesJune 30, 2009http://www.FreeGaza.org[23 miles off the coast of Gaza, 15:30 local time]Today Israeli Occupation Forces attacked and boarded the Free Gaza Movement boat, the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY, abducting 21 human rights workers from 11 countries, including Noble laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (see below for a complete list of passengers). The passengers and crew are being forcibly dragged toward Israel. [...]
The business department at the Washington Post has gotten into trouble in what may be a case of too much truth in advertising.
Noticing that "the New York Times used three square inches of newsprint on Tuesday to dispatch two U.S. Army soldiers under the headline 'Names of the Dead,'" Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, 7/1/09) points out how apparently "there wasn't enough room for any numbers, names or ages of Afghans who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations."
Reacting to media noise over the economic costs of the Waxman-Markey environmental bill currently before the U.S. Congress, Dean Baker (ZNet, 7/1/09) looks to the damages of a different annual spending bill, this one perpetually unexamined in corporate news:
The folks at Fox News, so quick to denounce dissent as unpatriotic during the George W. Bush era, have now moved from generally hoping for the failure of the Obama government to wishing another September 11 upon a country too slow to violence for their taste.
Critiquing some more of National Public Radio's healthcare reportage, blogger Mytwords (NPR Check, 6/29/09) highlights Julie Rovner of Morning Edition "reporting this morning for the private health insurance lobby": "The healthcare cost debate pretty mu
Chamber of Commerce Launches $100 Million Campaign to Protect Wall Street's Power at Our ExpenseBy Zach Carter AlterNet July 2, 2009.http://www.alternet.org/workplace/141031/chamber_of_commerce_launches_%24100_million_campaign_to_protect_wall_street%27s_power_at_our_expense/?page=entirePerhaps the greatest public deception surrounding today's financial meltdown is the notion that it is unique -- a once-in-a-lifetime crisis that reflects bad luck rather than any fundamental problem with the U.S. banking system's sway in global politics. [...]
A federal magistrate yesterday denied Alex Sanchez bail in his gang conspiracy trial as expected, but the prosecution entered a surprisingly "weak" case, according to defense counsel.
Despite the best efforts of what I call "the Oligarch Diaspora" to flood the Internet with near identical messages that the Honduran coup "is not a coup" and that was a "constitutional succession" (co
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