Republicans' parallel reality about to implode.
by Tony Burman
How dumb are the American people? Don’t they see the presidential choices in front of them?
Oct 242012
USA watch
Oct 112012
Lawyers’ committee lawsuit temporarily halts scam targeting homeowners.
from the Lawyers' Committee
SAN DIEGO, CA — The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers' Committee) has filed a lawsuit in Riverside County, California against a network of for-profit loan modification companies on behalf of 16 homeowners from California and five other states. The suit alleges that defendants defrauded vulnerable homeowners out of tens of thousands of dollars by falsely promising to obtain — for substantial upfront and monthly membership fees — much-needed mortgage modifications on the homeowners’ behalf, but consistently failing to deliver results.
Sep 052012
Transcript of first lady Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention, as prepared for delivery:
Over the past few years as First Lady, I have had the extraordinary privilege of traveling all across this country. And everywhere I've gone, in the people I've met, and the stories I've heard, I have seen the very best of the American spirit.
I have seen it in the incredible kindness and warmth that people have shown me and my family, especially our girls.
Sep 042012
Veterans' stories expose how war self-perpetuates.
by David Swanson
About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War, is a book that should be stacked up on a table in every high school cafeteria, next to the vultures. Sorry, I mean the war pushers. Sorry, I mean the good recruiters for the services of the profiteers of death. Sorry, you know the people I mean. That is, unless useful books can make it into classrooms, which would be even better.
Aug 222012
Military claims Pentagon creates jobs.
by Miriam Pemberton
From the crowd that wants to shrink government because this will create jobs, we are now hearing that we can't shrink the Pentagon because that would cost jobs. Here are the main points of their case, rebutted one by one.
Aug 082012
Private success starts with strong public facilities.
by George Lakoff, Rockridge Institute, and Elisabeth Wehling
America is divided about its future. Should it keep and expand the system that brought past opportunity, prosperity and freedom? Or should it dismantle that system?
Jun 122012
It's too simple to say that money bought this election.
by John Stauber
We're nice people out here in Dairyland. Just ask anyone — that's our reputation. But the purple state of Wisconsin is a political microcosm of today's divided America.
The bitter battle over whether to recall our governor divided this state like the Civil War. In the end, union-crushing Governor Scott Walker won, despite the efforts of the Madison- and Milwaukee-based uprising that at times put more than 100,000 people into the streets. They protested many of Walker's actions, but above all they objected to what the tea party governor himself described as a secret "bomb" — his bid upon taking office in early 2011 to destroy public employees' right to collectively bargain.
May 222012
Time to end the glory mentality that gets nations into wars.
by David Swanson
MILITARIZED CHICAGO, MAY 20, 2012 — Next month in Baltimore they're going to celebrate the War of 1812. That's what we do with wars.
We say wars are the last resort. We say they're hell. We say they're for the purpose of eliminating themselves: we fight wars for peace. Although we never keep peace for wars. We claim to wage only wars we have been forced into despite all possible effort to find a better way. And then we celebrate the wars.
May 142012
Polls or no, Obama could crush Romney.
by Sherwood Ross
If President Obama keeps drubbing Republican challenger Mitt Romney as he has this month, pollsters calling the election a toss-up may be in for a November surprise.
The president not only has the ability to stage headline-grabbing events but has a far better command of the issues than Romney and is infinitely better at expounding them.
Romney edged Obama 48 to 47 percent in a Politico-George Washington University Battleground Poll and Obama beats Romney 47 to 45 percent in the Gallup Swing States poll, the Chicago Tribune reports.
May 082012
TransCanada moves to steamroll application for controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
from Friends of the Earth
WASHINGTON, May 4, 2012 — The State Department today confirmed that Canadian pipeline firm TransCanada has submitted its re-application to the department for the transboundary, northern leg of the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Steele City, Nebraska. Along its path, the pipeline would still cut through the heart of Nebraska's fragile Sandhills and Ogallala Aquifer, which provides drinking water for 2 million people in the Midwest and supports $20 billion in agriculture.
Friends of the Earth last year uncovered stunning conflicts of interest in the State Department's handling of the review for Keystone XL. Among other things, the department allowed firm Cardno Entrix to conduct the environmental impacts review for the pipeline despite its ties with TransCanada. State Department officials also showed bias and complicity in allowing TransCanada to drive the review process, as evidenced by email communications between department officials and TransCanada lobbyist Paul Elliott, previously a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide.