Nobel Prize-winning economist and columnist Paul Krugman writes today in a piece titled “The Destructive Center“: “What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses? “A proud centrist. For…

Reuters reports: “Afghan President Hamid Karzai renewed criticism of U.S. and NATO-led forces on Wednesday and said he was determined his government would take a stronger role in the deployment and work of foreign troops. … The U.N. said on Tuesday the civilian death toll in 2008 had increased by 40 percent to 2,100, more…

GARETH PORTER Porter recently wrote the piece “Is Gates Undermining Another Opening to Iran?” Porter is following the Iran envoy issue. He is an investigative historian and journalist specializing in U.S. national security policy and author of the book Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam. More Information RAY…

Many media outlets have echoed a Wednesday front-page piece in the New York Times headlined “Relief Seen for Jobless and States in Health Care Plan,” which asserted: “The stimulus bill working its way through Congress is not just a package of spending increases and tax cuts intended to jolt the nation out of recession. For…

“America was not born as a colonial power.” — Barack Obama in his interview on Tuesday with al-Arabiya ROXANNE DUNBAR-ORTIZ Author of the forthcoming Myth and Empire: Indigenous History of the United States, Dunbar-Ortiz said today in response to Obama’s claim: “The United States was founded as a European settler state, with maps and plans…

KATHY KELLY AUDREY STEWART AP reports that Mideast special envoy George Mitchell’s trip “will include stops in Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian West Bank and Saudi Arabia.” Kelly and Stewart are just back from six days in Gaza. Kelly is co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She said today: “Mitchell has such an opportunity to make…

JOSH BIVENS Bivens is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, which has posted information contrasting the economic benefits of various stimulus provisions, per dollar spent: Food stamps: $1.73 Extend unemployment benefits: $1.64 Infrastructure spending: $1.59 Aid to states: $1.36 In contrast: Make dividend and capital gains tax cuts permanent: $0.37 Corporate tax cuts: $0.30…

GWENDOLYN MINK Co-editor of the two-volume Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics and Policy and author of Welfare’s End, Mink said today: “The Administration for Children and Families is THE critical agency for low-income families with children: It is the administrative center of federal poverty policy. Given its reach into family…

NASEER ARURI Aruri is chancellor professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth and author of the book Dishonest Broker: The U.S. Role in Israel and Palestine. He said today: “This is Senator Mitchell’s second assignment in the Middle East since the year 2000, and it may not prove to be…

ALLAN NAIRN Currently in Indonesia, Nairn is available for a limited number of interviews with major media outlets. A noted independent journalist, he runs the weblog “News and Comment.” He just wrote the piece “U.S. Intel Nominee Lied About ’99 Massacre. U.S., Church Documents Show Adm. Dennis Blair Knew of Church Killings Before Crucial Meeting,”…