White House's Ties to Health Care Industry Deeper Than Visitor Records Show

Daniela Perdomo, AlterNet

Politics: The White House released records cataloguing 575 visits by health care industry heavyweights since Jan. 20. The ties run deep.

Is Obama Following in the Footsteps of Bill Clinton?

Jeff Cohen, AlterNet

World: Obama's shown a Clinton-like willingness to roll over progressives to enact corrupt legislation and compromise for the votes of Republicans.

The Battle of Durban II: New Film Brings Dose of Sanity to Debate Over Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Brian White, Gotcha Movies

World: It's a great feat to bring an even view to international politics. The Battle of Durbin II does just that.

Citing "National Defense Needs," Obama Administration Says it Won't Sign Ban on Land Mines

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

World: Stephen Goose, director of Human Rights Watch's arms division, called the decision to keep the Bush-era policy "an appalling decision."

47,000 Women Could Die As a Result of the New Mammogram Guidelines

George Lakoff, AlterNet

Reproductive Justice and Gender: Cost-benefit analysis can kill. Scaling back on mammograms, as a government task force suggested, could result in 47,000 unnecessary deaths.

Is Belief in God Hurting America?

David Villano, Miller-McCune.com

Belief: According to a new study, prosperity is highest in countries that practice religion the least.

Is Amazon.com Screwing You Over?

Steve Brown, AlterNet

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Amazon is charging -- and pocketing -- exorbitant shipping and handling fees, and someone somewhere is getting rich from it.

Black Teacher May Get 15 Years in Prison for Cutting in Line at Wal-Mart

Devona Walker, The Loop

Rights and Liberties: This is not how our criminal justice system is supposed to operate.

Drink Some Booze, Smoke a Joint and Relax: How to Have a Hedonistic Thanksgiving

Ben Reininga, Nerve.com

Thanksgiving is a holiday about three things: eating, drinking, and fun. If you haven't realized that yet, you're doing it wrong. Here's how to do it right.

The Vampire Banks Are Back: Will There Ever Be Meaningful Financial Reform?

Dean Baker, CounterPunch

Politics: The halls of Congress are infected with financial industry lobbyists looking to block necessary changes to our broken financial system.

Conservative "Purity Test" Too Right Wing for Ronald Reagan

John Nichols, The Nation

Rigid conservatives in the RNC want to establish a purity test for the party's candidates. Guess what? Reagan the conservative hero would have failed most of the criteria.

What Nidal Hasan, Timothy McVeigh, and the Beltway Sniper Have in Common: All Were Scarred by Pointless U.S. Wars

Nora Eisenberg, AlterNet

World: Some of the most notorious massacres of the past 15 years have been committed by veterans whose brains have been severely damaged from trauma or exposure to toxic chemicals.

Don't Be Scared of Food: Are We Being Needlessly Hysterical About Food Safety?

David E. Gumpert, Chelsea Green Publishing

Food: Despite all the media hype, there's little to actually suggest we're facing a major food safety crisis.

Feeling Nervous? 3,000 Behavior Detection Officers Will Be Watching You at the Airport This Thanksgiving

Liliana Segura, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: Nearly 100,000 passengers were pulled aside by TSA behavior watchers last year, and it remains to be proven whether you can spot terrorists by the looks on their faces.

Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan Revealed

Jeremy Scahill, The Nation

World: An elite division of Blackwater plans targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. And everyone's denying it.

Why Can't We Look Away From Sarah Palin?

Vanessa Richmond, AlterNet

Reproductive Justice and Gender: She's an incompetent has-been. Yet she keeps getting our attention. Is it that she embodies a set of contradictions that many women grapple with?

10 Tips for a Sustainable Thanksgiving

Sarah Newman, Takepart

Food: Here's what you need to know, from tips on a meatless meal to options for a humanely raised turkey to having diversity on your actual dinner table.

Is the House's Health Bill Really Worse than Nothing?

Joshua Holland, AlterNet

Politics: Some progressive opponents of the health care bill say it's so bad, we may as well drop it. That analysis ignores the millions of Americans who stand to get coverage.

When Sex Hurts, and No One Can Tell You Why: The Mysterious Condition Called Vulvodynia

Carey Purcell, AlterNet

Sex and Relationships: Imagine a choice between no intercourse or sex with unbearable pain. Then imagine that no doctor knows how to fix it. That's the world occupied by women with vulvodynia.

Why the New Breast Cancer Guidelines Are Racist

Devona Walker, The Loop

Reproductive Justice and Gender: Black women get breast cancer at younger ages, but the new breast-cancer guidelines entirely ignore that fact. This is the very definition of institutionalized racism.

The War on Weed: Marijuana Is Basically Harmless -- The Monumentally Stupid Drug War Is Not

Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown

DrugReporter: The war on marijuana is insane; our officials keep sacrificing tax dollars, lives, civil liberties, and their own credibility in this misguided and losing effort.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe: 3 Potential Obstacles to Health-Care Reform

Adele M. Stan, AlterNet

Politics: Harry Reid may have gotten the Senate to move his health-care bill forward, but a handful of conservative Democrats could still keep the bill from getting a final vote.

Why Is Malcolm Gladwell So Successful?

Maureen Tkacik, The Nation

Good writing succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head.

The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete ... If It Weren't for Archives

Mark Ames, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: That Maj. Hasan tried to get a military discharge before the massacre is largely being erased -- we're supposed to keep focusing on the Muslim part.

Why Do Conservatives Love Sarah Palin? Because She Never Stops Whining

Matt Taibbi, True/Slant

Sarah Palin constantly complains about the imaginary injustices done to her person. And our country loves whiners.

Barbara Ehrenreich: Our Maniacal Optimism Is Ruining the World

Anis Shivani, In These Times

Many people are not getting by. The human species faces dire ecological threats. Pretending everything will be OK helped get us into this mess, and it won't get us out.

Will There Be Justice for the Victims of El Salvador's Jesuit Massacre?

Pamela Merchant, AlterNet

World: El Salvador's President Funes has affirmed his commitment to seeking the full truth of the military's role in the massacre.

5 Bad Things That Immediately Happen to Your Body When You Eat Sugary Junk

Vicki Santillano, Divine Caroline

Sugary food tastes great going down, but the effects it has on our insides are far less appetizing.

The War on Soy: Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare

Tara Lohan, AlterNet

Water: Vegetarians aren't the only ones who should be concerned; there's soy in just about everything you eat these days -- including hamburgers, mac 'n cheese and salad dressing.

15 Signs American Society Is Coming Apart at the Seams

David DeGraw, Amped Status

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Are we nearing a tipping point as rapacious elites push a heavily armed populace too far?

In Trying to Prevent Gay Marriage, Texas May Have Accidently Abolished it for Everyone

Liz Langley, Liz Langley's Blog

Sex and Relationships: It's rare a story about banning gay marriage actually has a silver lining.

Army Sends Mom to Afghanistan, Infant to Protective Services

Dahr Jamail, AlterNet

World: "This would do irreparable harm to her child. I think they are doing this to punish her."

Senate Votes to Move Forward on Health-Care Bill: McCain Accuses Reid of Criminal Scheme

Adele Stan, AlterNet

Politics: In debate leading to vote, McCain compared Reid to Madoff, Hatch invoked socialism, and Lincoln promised trouble ahead

Is Right-Wing Media Hustler Trying to "Blackmail" Obama's Attorney General over ACORN Videos?

David Edwards, Muriel Kane, Raw Story

Media and Technology: Andew Breitbart appears to be threatening to release more ACORN smear videos to avoid a serious DOJ investigation.

20 Weird, Crazy Ideas for Helping the Earth

WebEcoist

Environment: Many ideas for stemming environmental catastrophe have turned out to be impossible, dangerous, or just … ridiculous.

Companies Kill 16 Workers A Day

Robert Greenwald,

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Sixteen workers are killed a day in the United States because of reckless negligence on the part of their employers.

Dobbs' Resignation Was Long Overdue

Janet Murguía, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: My problems with Dobbs surfaced more than two years ago, during the debate over the last version of immigration reform.