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  • 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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  • Senators “Opening a Backdoor to War with Iran”?

    “These Senators are now on the record that they want U.S. to go to war on behalf of Israel if Netanyahu says it’s go time. Ceding the decision of whether to go to war to a foreign leader is the height of irresponsibility from this Congress. But they know the President, the military, and the…

  • After 1000 Days in Prison, Manning Explains Why he Released “Collateral Murder” Video

    “I believe that if the general public had access to the information, this could spark a domestic debate as to the role of the military and foreign policy in general. … I felt I accomplished something that would allow me to have a clear conscience.” He has been held in prison for just over 1000…

  • Violence Against Women Act

    “As advocates for women who have been trafficked and abused, we are relieved that the House ‘substitute’ was defeated and that the Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act was passed in the House today.The Senate version of the bill, which passed with bipartisan support and the vote of every woman Senator, also included…

  • Supreme Court’s “Catch-22” on Government Spying

    “Having previously prompted threats of a mass resignation by Justice Department officials under the Bush administration, the program was sensibly struck down as unconstitutional by multiple federal courts, only to be reversed on appeal. Today’s decision allows government surveillance to continue in secret, without meaningful checks and balances.”

  • Intelligence Veterans to Sen. Feinstein: Brennan Falsifying “Intelligence” on Iran, as His Mentor George Tenet Did on Iraq

    “First, please find out what evidence John Brennan is relying upon for his assertion that Iran is “bent on pursuing nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile delivery systems.” Does he know something others should know? Or are we beginning to see the makings of another consequential hoax? Second, please look closely into the role Brennan…

  • Argo, Fact Check Yourself

    “The danger of this for the American public is that it paints things as black and white with Americans and the CIA as the good guys and Iranians as bad guys out to kill any American they see. In fact, there were quite a few Americans living in Iran. The embassy workers were targeted because…

  • Sequestration, Military and Trade-Offs

    CHRIS HELLMAN, [email] Hellman is military budget specialist and senior research analyst at the National Priorities Project. He said today that while many have focused on looming reductions to military spending, “in fact, the Pentagon is in a better position to absorb these cuts because of sizable growth in [its] spending over the past decade.”…

  • Oscars Use Ranked Voting — Why Can’t We?

    “All you need to do is ask voters to indicate their backup choices. With those rankings we can simulate a runoff between the top candidates if no candidate wins a majority of first choices. There’s no need to ask people to return to the polls — ranking candidates allows us to know how people would…

  • Reported Obama Energy Pick a “Nail in Coffin” for Focus on Climate Solutions

    “If we pursue our fossil fuel addiction by expanding fracking, which Mr. Moniz will likely advocate, the oil and gas industry will thrive while true energy efficiency and renewable solutions languish. Our water, public health and climate would suffer.”

  • Study: Privatizing Medicare Spikes Overhead Costs

    “The traditional Medicare program allocates only 1 percent of total spending to overhead compared with 6 percent when the privatized portion of Medicare, known as Medicare Advantage, is included, according to a study in the June 2013 issue of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.”

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