New Year's Resolutions To Help Make Corporate Fat Cats and Our Politicians Human Again

Jim Hightower, AlterNet

I was working on my list of New Year's resolutions when it occurred to me that some of the people running our country could benefit from my suggestions.

The Award for Nonexcellance in Climate Journalism Goes To ...

Dr. Joseph Romm, Climate Progress

PEEK: Unfortunately, the list is pretty long.

3 Reasons Why Progressives Are So Frustrated

Chris Bowers, Open Left

PEEK: Really, it's pretty simple.

Rep. Keith Ellison: Public Option Still Possible If We Get Loud

AlterNet Staff, AlterNet

PEEK: Ellison still fighting.

They're Building Nuclear Missile Parts in Woodstock? You Can't Escape America's War Economy

CounterPunch

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: The New York small town has a worldwide association with peace, yet its largest employer has been making components for nuclear missiles for six decades.

Hordes of Angry Activists and a $27 Billion Court Case Is Making Oil Giant Chevron Pretty Nervous

Peter Asmus, East Bay Express

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: A dozen nonprofits are going right after the company's greed, and the outcome will likely have repercussions in the oil industry for years to come.

Top 10 Ethics Scandals of 2009

CREW Staff, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

Politics: Madoff, Sanford and Murtha are just a few who made it onto the top 10 list of the nation's most ethically challenged players of the year.

If We Don't Fix the Senate's Miserable Health Bill, the Repercussions Could Last for Decades

Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post

Politics: Calling the Senate's health bill a "awesome achievement" like Paul Krugman did is to encourage the preservation of a hideously broken system.

Senate Passes Health-Care Reform Bill; Feingold, Rockefeller Issue Appeals to Progressives

Adele Stan, AlterNet

Politics: With no public option or Medicare buy-in, the Senate's health-care reform bill passes in the early hours of Christmas Eve.

I Volunteered For Obama in 2008, But His Support of Landmines Is the Last Straw

Clancy Sigal, Comment Is Free

World: Obama's cruel and pointless refusal to ban child-killing landmines was my personal breaking point against the candidate I worked hard to elect.

Powerful House Rep. Slaughter: Senate Went off the Rails and Passed a Weak Health Care Bill

Rep. Louise Slaughter, AlterNet

Health and Wellness: Supporters of the weak Senate bill say "just pass it -- any bill is better than no bill." I strongly disagree.

War Vet: I Served 40 Months in Iraq, After Which I Didn't Want to Go Back Home

Anonymous, New America Media

World: Veteran with PTSD: "I don't feel comfortable at home anymore. My threat tolerance and response to perceived threats is so finely tuned that I felt safer in Iraq. "

Obama's Mortgage Program: FAIL?

Paul Kiel, ProPublica

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Confusion and delays have plagued the administration's loan modification program, causing homeowners to fall behind on mortgage payments, risking foreclosure.

Will Dur$t's Xma$ Gift Wi$h Li$t

Will Durst, AlterNet

These are the presents that folks may not receive wrapped up with bows but certainly deserve: for Joe Lieberman, a diamond-studded collar to befit his position as GOP lap dog.

Is Obama's Problem That He Just Doesn't Want to Deal with Conflict?

Drew Westen, AlterNet

Politics: Somehow Obama has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010.

Moyers, Moore and Maddow are the Most Influential Progressives

Don Hazen, AlterNet

Media and Technology: Recently we asked our readers to rank the most influential progressives. Here are the results.

The Ten Worst Nightmares Bush Inflicted on America

Juan Cole, Informed Comment

Politics: Here are my picks for the top ten worst things about the wretched period, which will continue to follow us until citizens stand up to fix them.

What Does College Football Have to Do With Abortion? Tons, According to Anti-Choice Wingnuts

Amanda Marcotte, RH Reality Check

PEEK: The brouhaha over Notre Dame is an opportunity for the right to wage war on women, intellectuals and sexual freedom all at once.

Commander Changes Tune, Says He Won't Court-Martial, Jail Pregnant Soldiers

Amanda Terkel, Think Progress

Rights and Liberties: But he also has no plans to expand soldiers' access to emergency contraception (Plan B).

Christian Story of Jesus's Birth Is a Myth Born of Politics

Rev. Howard Bess, Consortium News

Belief: Beautiful as it is, the story of the birth of Jesus is a myth born of the political needs of early Christians.

Why Men Fake Orgasms

Elizabeth Black, AlterNet

Sex and Relationships: Many women would be surprised to learn that men often fake orgasms. But why? Our limited, patriarchal view of sexuality, of course.

How Real Health Reform Was Killed by Politicians Trying to Look 'Moderate'

James Ridgeway, CounterPunch

Health and Wellness: 'Moderation' has come to mean weighing the interests of campaign contributors -- Big Pharma vs. the insurance companies -- with little concern for the American people.

Obama's Af-Pak War is Not Just Deadly and Counterproductive: It's Illegal

Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: Some 30 percent of all U.S. deaths in Afghanistan have occurred during Obama's presidency. His escalation of that war is not what the Nobel committee envisioned.

This Is Your Brain on Kafka

Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune.com

Media and Technology: Does absurdist literature make you smarter? Giraffe carpet cleaner, it does!

10 Greediest People of 2009

Sam Pizzigati, Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: As ordinary Americans reel from the Great Recession, these gluttonous all-stars continue to claw in absurd amounts of money.

How Wall Street Bought Barney Frank

Kevin Connor, AlterNet

Politics: Barney Frank takes pride in being the Left's darling, but he's almost entirely funded by Wall Street and his votes show it.

Glenn Beck's Year of Wild Conspiracies, Paranoid Delusions and Cynical Lies

* Staff, Media Matters for America

Politics: Beck's unbridled ignorance and confidence in his own manipulative half-truths and lies make him the most dangerously effective misinformer of 2009.

The "Slow Money" Movement May Revolutionize the Way You Think About Food

Kari Lydersen, AlterNet

Health and Wellness: In an economy structured around industrial agriculture, sustaining small farms can be a challenge. 'Slow money' economics could be the answer.

Hey, Dr. Dean, President Obama: It's Time to Get Real with Progressives

Harold Pollack, AlterNet

Politics: We can all agree that the Senate health care bill is far from perfect. What now?

Obama's Senate Health Care Bill: A "Uniquely American" Idiocy (and 35 Ways It Can Be Fixed)

Scarecrow , Jon Walker, Firedoglake

The White House and the Senate Democratic leadership should be assailed for the travesty of a health "reform" bill now slouching towards Christmas eve.

Osama bin Laden Nearly Killed Bill Clinton?

Daniel Tencer, Raw Story

According to a new book, Osama bin Laden attempted to assassinate President Bill Clinton during a summit in the Philippines in 1996.

GOP's New Prayer Guru Says Gays Possessed By Demons

Bruce Wilson, AlterNet

Politics: Lou Engle has led GOP Senators in nationally broadcast prayer and anointed Huckabee and Gingrich

Matt Taibbi, Bill Moyers and Robert Kuttner: Why Can't Democrats Do Anything Right?

Bill Moyers, Matt Taibbi, Robert Kuttner, Bill Moyers Journal

Could a crushing defeat on health reform teach Democrats to stop prioritizing corporate interests?

Corporations (and Sarah Palin) Are Cyborgs Sent to Scuttle the Fight Against Climate Change

Rebecca Solnit, Tomdispatch.com

Environment: Why does it seem as if we're in an action movie in which the fate of the Earth is at stake?

Women Soldiers Forced to Resort to Back-Alley Abortions: Why Are Their Reproductive Rights Denied?

Kathryn Joyce, Religion Dispatches

Reproductive Justice and Gender: Thanks to anti-abortion forces in Congress and other culture warriors, female soldiers are not protected by the Constitution they defend.

Stunning Statistics About the War in Afghanistan Every American Should Know

Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports

World: Contrary to popular belief, the U.S. actually has 189,000 personnel on the ground in Afghanistan right now -- and that number is quickly rising.

Democratic Senator: GOP on Desperate Mission of Propaganda, Obstruction and Fear

Sheldon Whitehouse, AlterNet

Politics: In his Senate floor speech on the health-care bill, the Rhode Island senator accused the GOP of fomenting the kind of paranoia that led to Kristallnacht and lynchings.

Most of Us Hate X-mas: Let's End That Holiday As We Know It

Bill McKibben, Grist.org

Environment: If you poll Americans this time of year, far more regard the approaching holidays with dread than anticipation. How can we make Christmas worthwhile again?

Sexy Mormons, the Joy of Vibrators and Sticking it to Puritans: 10 of Liz Langley's Best Pieces

AlterNet Staff, AlterNet

Sex and Relationships: Sex and relationships writer Liz Langley wrote some of the sexiest -- and smartest -- stories about the politics and culture of sex this year.

Stephen King Meets the Estate Tax

Bill Gates, Sr., Chuck Collins, AlterNet

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: What horrors will befall our nation's wealthy when one of the most bizarre twists in tax legislation in history comes to pass?