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President Obama Comes to School (And It Is Not Good News)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:45:36 -0500

by Ruth Conniff

It was a big, big day for the students at James C. Wright Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin, when the President came to town.

"The President of the United States is here in the same place where you walk the halls, where you learn," Wright principal Nancy Evans told the students. "Take this moment in history as nourishment."

Israeli Settlements Could Cause One-State Solution

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:39:35 -0500

by Juan Cole

Saeb Erekat, chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization Steering Committee, said Wednesday that Palestine Authority president Mahmoud Abbas should be frank with the Palestinian people and admit to them that there is no possibility of a two-state solution given continued Israeli colonization of the West Bank.

Co-Authors Question Stand Alone Vote on National Single Payer

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:05:25 -0500

by Dennis Kucinich & John Conyers

Dear Friends,

We thank you for your continued devotion to the cause of health care for All Americans. We have worked together for many years to write, promote and campaign for HR676, a single payer, not for profit health care system. Your work, in communities across America, has been instrumental in helping at least ten states create single payer movements, with many more states to come.

Public Option is Just Another Private Party – and We’re Not Invited

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:01:04 -0500

by Sandy LeonVest

The Show Must (not) Go On

The elaborate Congressional circus whimsically referred to as ‘healthcare reform' - the one that has held the nation captive since President Obama's earliest weeks in office - came complete with dancing clowns, disappearing acts and trained tigers jumping through hoops.

But today the magic is gone.

The performance is degenerating. The public is beginning to understand what the political players knew all along - that this three ring circus was never meant to be more than a sideshow.

Obama Faces His Anzio

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:49:09 -0500

by Paul Krugman

Remember those Republican boasts that they would turn health care into President Obama's Waterloo? Well, exit polls suggest that to the extent that health care was an issue in Tuesday's elections, it worked in Democrats' favor. But while health care won't be Mr. Obama's Waterloo, economic policy is starting to look like his Anzio.

Horror at Fort Hood Inspires Horribly Predictable Islamophobia

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:16:55 -0500

by John Nichols

Thursday's shootings at Fort Hood army base in Texas -- which have left at least 11 people dead and 31 others wounded -- were of course the "horrific outburst of violence" that President Obama bemoaned and condemned Thursday.

But, because a soldier identified as the gunman had a name that led to the presumption that he was Muslim, the incident inspired an all-too-predictable outbreak of Islamophobia.

After Fort Hood: Count All the Dead

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:05:38 -0500

by Aaron Glantz

Perhaps the most depressing aspect of Thursday's shoot-out at Fort Hood is that none of the 12 people who died in the melee will be counted as casualties of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These soldiers - "brave Americans," President Obama called them - will join an unknown number of American soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines, who are not among the 5,267 the Defense Department counts as having died in our most recent wars, but who have perished nonetheless.

Would We Listen to Nature if Our Lives Depended on It?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:01:43 -0500

by Derrick Jensen

People who read my work often say, “Okay, so it’s clear you don’t like this culture, but what do you want to replace it?” The answer is that I don’t want any one culture to replace this culture. I want ten thousand cultures to replace this culture, each one arising organically from its own place. That’s how humans inhabited the planet (or, more precisely, their landbases, since each group inhabited a place, and not the whole world, which is precisely the point), before this culture set about reducing all cultures to one.

Can You Hear Us Now?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:53:15 -0500

by David Michael Green

So, let me see if I have this straight.

One year ago, the Democrats won commanding victories resulting in control of the presidency and lopsided majorities in the House and Senate.

One year ago, the Republican brand was so weak that the party was on death watch, literally capable of sliding into the history books alongside the Whigs and the Federalists.

Corporate Agribusiness Divides Farmers

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:41:57 -0500

by Jim Goodman

Why is conventional agriculture so wound up? Are they afraid of organic agriculture? What's all the fuss about? After all, a recent study by the Lieberman Research Group showed that organic food sales account for only 3.5% of all food product sales in the US.

Eight Reasons the Democrats Lost Virginia & New Jersey—and How to Recover

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:36:34 -0500

by Paul Rogat Loeb

Losing the Virginia and New Jersey governorships hurt. Local factors played a part, but these are major states. So it matters why the Democrats lost them. Here are eight reasons, with lessons on how to reclaim the momentum of just a year ago:

Time for Hardball on the Health Care Bill

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:32:43 -0500

by Tom Gallagher

If there's a point where single payer supporters in Congress should draw a line in the sand and say, "Beyond this we do not go," we've probably reached it with the refusal of the House Leadership to restore the Kucinich Amendment to the health care reform bill. The amendment, which guarantees states the power to create their own single-payer health care systems, passed the House Committee on Education and Labor by a 27-19 in July but was eliminated in the bill reported out to the House floor for a vote.

Three Steps to Save Wall Street

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:08:13 -0500

by Mike Lapham

For the first time in decades, Washington is daring to tackle financial reform. It took the collapse of the whole sector and the resulting public outrage to get them started, and it will take pressure to keep them going. It’s not certain that Congress and the Obama administration will have the courage to prioritize the long-term health of our economy and the legitimate interests of the public over the self-serving demands of their friends on Wall Street.

2014 or Bust: In Afghanistan, The Pentagon Digs In

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:49:52 -0500

by Nick Turse

In recent weeks, President Obama has been contemplating the future of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. He has also been touting the effects of his policies at home, reporting that this year's Recovery Act not only saved jobs, but also was "the largest investment in infrastructure since [President Dwight] Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s." At the same time, another much less publicized U.S.-taxpayer-funded infrastructure boom has been underway. This one in Afghanistan.

Economic Growth Has Failed Us. What's the Alternative?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:26:33 -0500

by Tim Jackson

Economic growth is supposed to deliver prosperity. Higher incomes should mean better choices, richer lives, an improved quality of life for us all. That at least is the conventional wisdom. But things haven't always turned out that way.

Growth has delivered its benefits, at best, unequally. A fifth of the world's population earns just 2 per cent of global income. Inequality is higher in the OECD nations than it was 20 years ago. Far from improving the lives of those who most needed it, growth let much of the world's population down. Wealth trickled up to the lucky few.

Stop US Meddling; Support Afghan Women at the Table

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:12:00 -0500

by Jodie Evans

During my recent trip to Afghanistan, I never heard Afghans calling for a runoff election. Yes, they were furious that the U.S.-sanctioned election in August was fraught with fraud, and they knew (with the current election commission) only fraud could again result. Their hopes had been dashed on the rocks once, and they didn't want it repeated. Yet Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations-talked Karzai into a "runoff election." Did Senator Kerry ask the Afghan people if they wanted one? Apparently, this didn't matter.

Localization is Way to Redefine Globalization

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:55:56 -0500

by Michael Shuman

Madison residents love their farmers' markets, windmills, rural health cooperatives, credit unions and hundreds of other green businesses, appreciating how they simultaneously benefit the local economy, environment and civic life. Less appreciated, however, is the essential role localization plays in promoting global prosperity, sustainability and peace - the central theme of this weekend's Future Cities 2009 conference taking place in Madison.

Glenn Beck's Hotline to Nowhere

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:29:10 -0500

by Thomas Frank

Glenn Beck, the popular Fox News host, has a red telephone on his desk that never seems to ring. Every now and then, in a moment of acute frustration, he will pick it up and give the camera his trademark pleading-puppy look.

War Resisters Reach Out in Dialogue

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:16:46 -0500

by Dialogues Against Militarism

The Dialogues Against Militarism (DAM) delegation has arrived in Be'er Sheva, Israel, a small city that sits in the middle of the Negev Desert. Our travels from San Francisco, California lasted two days, including a twenty hour flight and a long ride through the Sinai Desert. As with crossing any border, the terrain was heavily militarized.

Clash on Investment: Global Trade and an Opportunity for Civil Society

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:12:36 -0500

by Sarah Anderson

During the past several months, I spent nearly 30 hours in meetings of a private sector committee tasked with advising the Obama administration on a particular set of international economic policies.

My seat at the table was one of many signs of the new opportunities for advocates of progressive change in Washington. At the same time, my experience was an up-close-and-personal look at how hard corporate lobbyists are fighting to make sure nothing changes.

Mourning Gay Marriage in Maine

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:05:02 -0500

by Melissa McEwan

Tuesday night in Maine, supporters of a state law that would have legalised same-sex marriage lost, 53-47%.

Time to Rally for Financial Reform

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:00:33 -0500

by Danny Schechter

To paraphrase Marat-Sade: ‘the Election came, and the election went, and unrest turned back into discontent.'

The Dems lost two Governors, one an unpopular former head honcho at Goldman Sachs (not exactly a populist crusader), and picked up one house seat in a Congressional District no one ever heard about before.

They hope that all the recovery-is-coming news will stem the tide of growing disenchantment with the centrists in Obamaland who have been swimming hard to stay in place.

Congress, Accountability, and the Goldstone Report

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:57:03 -0500

by Salena Tramel

I have been to the Gaza Strip twice and southern Israel once since the 2008-09 war, where I had the opportunity to listen to accounts from both people about what had happened to them during that time. Israelis showed me thickly walled rooms that act as bomb shelters and explained air raid siren systems in Sderot and Ashqelon. As difficult as their situation was, nothing could have prepared me for the level of destruction I found in Gaza.

Bipartisan Attack on International Humanitarian Law

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:30:10 -0500

by Stephen Zunes

In a stunning blow against international law and human rights, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Tuesday attacking the report of the United Nations Human Rights Council's fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict.

A Hole in the Night

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:23:13 -0500

by Robert C. Koehler

It all felt wild and uncontained, like on the playground. I was the outsider kid, wrong jacket, wrong hat. Or maybe I just stepped out of my car at the wrong time. With a whoop they were on me, surrounding me, laughing. What great fun.

President Obama's Credibility on the Line in Honduras

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:17:23 -0500

by Mark Weisbrot

Last Friday an agreement was reached between the de facto regime in Honduras, which took power in a military coup on 28 June, and the elected president Manuel Zelaya, for the restoration of democracy there.

The Next Phase of Healthcare Apartheid

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:10:07 -0500

by Norman Solomon

In Washington, "healthcare reform" has degenerated into a sick joke.

At this point, only spinners who've succumbed to their own vertigo could use the word "robust" to describe the public option in the healthcare bill that the House Democratic leadership has sent to the floor.

House Shames Itself on Goldstone Report

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:46:56 -0500

by Matthew Rothschild

Shame on the House of Representatives, and on the Democratic leadership of the House, for pushing through a resolution once again blindly taking the side of Israeli aggression.

I’m referring to the vote on Tuesday, by a lopsided 344-to-36 margin, to condemn the Goldstone report on Gaza.

A Year Later, Obama Needs to Start Campaigning Again

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:42:04 -0500

by John Nichols

MADISON, WI -- One year ago today, Barack Obama had redefined American electioneering to such an extent that it was possible to believe that his transformational campaign would lead to a transformational presidency.

After all, he had already changed most of what America "knew" about politics.

The freshman senator from Illinois was not only winning an election for the presidency of the United States on November 4, 2008.

Happy Anniversary, Obama. Now Sign a Climate Deal

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:34:21 -0500

by Janet Redman

It's been a year since Barack Obama's historic election as our first African-American president. That night, many Americans shed tears of joy, exchanged congratulatory embraces, and voiced high expectations for real change.