Blog

  • Sorry, Census. Poverty Really Did Increase in 2009.

    Between 2008 and 2009, unemployment increased from 5.8 percent to 9.3 percent, the largest one-year increase on record (which goes back to 1948). Over the same period, the number of Americans without health insurance coverage rose by more than four million — from 46.3 million in 2008 to 50.7 million in 2009 — and low-income…

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  • Bruce Reed Appointed Biden Chief of Staff Today

    In light of his prominent role in deficit reduction and the ‘end of welfare’ in the 1990s, Reed’s appointment sends a clear — and troubling — signal about the administration’s domestic policy priorities in the years ahead. Alice O’Connor is author of Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy and the Poor in Twentieth Century U.S.…

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  • A Statement from Former Prisoner Omar Deghayes on the 9th Anniversary of the Opening of Guantánamo

    Two years ago, President Barack Obama pledged to bring an end to the anomaly that is Guantánamo within a year, and to thereby restore America’s moral standing in the world. Yet today, on January 11, 2011, we are marking the beginning of the tenth year since the first prisoners were transferred to Camp X Ray…

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  • The Referendum in Sudan

    KHARTOUM, Sudan — Just days before the historic referendum on southern independence Khartoum is experiencing temperate weather and what may turn out to be a deceptive calm. In fact, everybody is either worried or excited, depending on their circumstances. Southerners are resolute that they will not accept second class citizenship in their own country, otherwise,…

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  • The End of New Deal Liberalism

    By William Greider We have reached a pivotal moment in government and politics, and it feels like the last, groaning spasms of New Deal liberalism. When the party of activist government, faced with an epic crisis, will not use government’s extensive powers to reverse the economic disorders and heal deepening social deterioration, then it must…

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  • Chomsky’s initial reaction to WikiLeaks’ latest

    I took a quick look at [“U.S. embassy cables: Hillary Clinton woos prickly Egyptians“].  It’s interesting that Israel does not appear, only Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon.  I found only one entry of any interest, in US Embassy to Clinton: “Soliman brokered a half-year-long truce last year, which Hamas broke in December, leading to the Israeli…

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  • The Katharine Gun Case

    Katharine Gun, a British former government employee, faced two years imprisonment in England for the “crime” of telling the truth. She was charged with leaking an embarrassing U.S. intelligence memo indicating that the U.S. had mounted a spying “surge” against U.N. delegations in early 2003 in an effort to win approval of the Iraq war…

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  • Bush and Blair: A Partnership of Deception

    British Prime Minister Tony Blair is back in Britain now facing an ever-widening scandal involving the distortion of evidence on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, but his recent trip to meet with President Bush underscores the partnership the two leaders have shared as both face growing evidence that they knowingly used faulty intelligence to…

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  • Bush in Africa: “A Cruel Hoax”?

    President Bush’s recent tour of Africa to tout his $15 billion pledge to fight the continent’s AIDS epidemic and promote trade was met with skepticism by critics who charged that his administration is attempting to mask regressive policies with staged public relations events. Bush’s trip to Africa appears to represent, more than anything else, an…

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  • Responses to Bush’s 2003 State of the Union Address

    Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, distinguished citizens and fellow citizens, every year, by law and by custom, we meet here to consider the state of the union. This year, we gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead. You and I serve our country in a time of…

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  • Pentagon “Cover-up” of Afghan Drone Strike that Killed Family “Beyond Outrageous”

    Representatives of BanKillerDrones.org say the Pentagon “must be called upon by people around the world and by the U.S. Congress to make public all of the communications and logs, including communications with the White House, pertaining to the August 29, 2021 drone attack that killed 10 members of the Ahmadi family in Kabul, including seven children.”

  • Biden’s “Slap in the Face to Black Voters”: Pushing for Former Chicago Mayor Emanuel to Become Ambassador to Japan

    “If Rahm Emmanuel’s appointment as Ambassador for Japan is confirmed, all the organizing efforts put in to remove him as Mayor of Chicago will go in vain! Rahm showed the entire world, he cannot be trusted as a public servant when he concealed the murder tape of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald for his political gain.”

  • Myths About Build Back Better

    Out of 77 actions Biden could take without Congressional mandate identified by The American Prospect, there are 15 yes, 11 partial, 6 no, and 1 no longer applicable. For example, the magazine notes that Biden could: “Implement free public college by using existing statutory authority to forgive loans equal to average public-college tuition on a rolling…

  • Joe Manchin Cannot Be Blamed for All Climate Obstruction

    “The White House could immediately direct all relevant agencies to stop approvals of new fossil fuel infrastructure, including major new oil and gas pipelines. It could put a halt to fossil fuel exports, including crude oil. These are all common sense executive actions that would demonstrate seriousness in confronting a crisis that President Biden has…

  • Global Climate Wall: How the World’s Wealthiest Nations Prioritize Borders Over Climate Action

    “We showed the United States — the world’s largest historic greenhouse gas emitter — has the world’s largest border and immigration enforcement budget. In this sense, the United States, along with other rich and historically high-emitting countries, have made a heavy investment in border regimes composed of walls, surveillance technology including drones, and armies of…

  • Hypersonic Threat to U.S. “Essentially Zero”

      “In summary, the introduction of hypersonic vehicles into the arsenals of the major countries may not introduce significant threats to nuclear stability that do not already exist unless they become numerous enough and sufficiently accurate to pose a credible zero or short-warning attack threat to the command-and-control and early warning systems of countries like…

  • “Stop Excluding Military Pollution from Climate Agreements”

    “The U.S. military is one of the biggest polluters on earth. Since 2001, the U.S. military has emitted 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the annual emissions of 257 million cars on the road.” The group adds that the Pentagon is “the largest institutional consumer of oil ($17B/year) in the world, and…

  • Will Build Back Better Deliver?

    “Democratic lawmakers are scrambling to forge an agreement on President Biden’s Build Back Better plan to address our country’s pressing human and climate change needs. The social investments in the deal, including universal pre-K, expanded child tax credits, paid leave, and Medicare expansion, have the potential to be the most consequential for workers, children, and…

  • * Sudan Coup * Israel Targets Rights Groups as “Terrorists”

    Elamin, an activist from Sudan now working in the tech sector in Washington State, said today: “The head of the sovereign council rounded up the prime minister and cabinet members. He dissolved the civilian government and declared a state of emergency. This is disheartening and Sudan’s dictators are vicious and violent. It is expected that people…

  • Biden Stops Release of JFK Papers: “The Failure to Abide by the Law is the Smoking Gun”

        Files relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were supposed to be released on Tuesday, but late on Friday, in a Friday news dump, President Biden stopped the release and issued a statement: “Temporary continued postponement is necessary to protect against identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or the…

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