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Saturday, November 21st, 2009

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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By Dahr Jamail, AlterNet
World: "This would do irreparable harm to her child. I think they are doing this to punish her."

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

By 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

By 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

By 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.

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Economic Crisis Is Getting Bloody -- Violent Deaths Are Now Following Evictions, Foreclosures and Job Losses

By Nick Turse, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: Despite ever rosier economic predictions and a surging stock market, the body count from the economic crisis is destined only to grow in the weeks and months ahead.

Why Is Congress Demonizing an Investigation of Israel's War Crimes in Gaza?

By Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal
World: Recognition of human rights expert Richard Goldston's investigation is essential to the peace process in Israel and Palestine -- and the Congress is trying to demonize it.

Maddow: Anti-Muslim 'McCarthyism' Making Us Less Safe

By David Edwards, Raw Story
Rights and Liberties: Wave of prejudice among Republican politicians may actually be frustrating anti-terrorism efforts Maddow says.

New Right-Wing Craze: Using Bible Quote to Pray That Obama’s 'Days Be Few'

By Amanda Terkel, Think Progress
Rights and Liberties: A new slogan is making its way onto t-shirts and even teddy bears: 'Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8,' which reads, 'Let his days be few; and let another take his office.”

Thanks to GM, People Are Being Displaced So Their Forests Can Become Offsets for SUVs

By Mark Schapiro, Mother Jones
Environment: Should we focus on industries paying to preserve distant trees rather than reducing emissions closer to home? It's the question of the day in Washington and Copenhagen.

Out-of-Control Rick Perry Overrides Rare Clemency Vote, Executes Man Who Killed No One

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: The TX Board of Pardons voted to spare the life of Robert Lee Thompson, who took part in a robbery that led to a murder. The killer is serving life. Perry chose to kill him anyway.

Pharmaceutical Giant Paid $500,000 to Psychiatrist Who Used Chicago's Poor as Guinea Pigs

By Christina Jewett and Sam Roe, ProPublica
Health and Wellness: Dr. Michael Reinstein reaped a cool half million off his patients' misery.

What if People Actually Treated Religion as Just a Metaphor (Like Trekkies and Secular Jews)?

By Greta Christina, AlterNet
Belief: It's possible to keep the good parts of religion -- like the music, rituals and pageantry -- and get rid of the sex-hating dogma, the belief in god and other troublesome aspects.

Hey Guys, Don't Want Kids? A Vascetomy Is Probably the Way to Go

By Anna Clark, RH Reality Check
Sex and Relationships: Historically, the burden of family planning has almost always fallen on women. Isn't it about time for that to change?

Mystery of World's Worst Mass Arsenic Poisoning Finally Solved

AFP Water: The culprit are tens of thousands of man-made ponds excavated to provide soil for flood protection.

Reagan Didn't End the Cold War -- Leftist Intellectuals Did

By Stephen Zunes, AlterNet
World: Reagan was inspirational, but to claim he defeated Communism is a disservice to the millions of Eastern Europeans who struggled against great odds for their freedom.

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

How Limousine Liberals, Water Oligarchs and Even Sean Hannity Are Hijacking Our Water Supply

By Yasha Levine, AlterNet
Water: A group of water oligarchs engineered a disastrous privatization scheme to make a fortune out of California's most precious natural resource.

Rachel Maddow Interview with Former Evangelist Frank Schaeffer: Christian Right Is 'Trolling for Assassins'

AlterNet Rights and Liberties: Schaeffer: "There is a crazy fringe [receiving] messages that have been pouring out of FOX News ... talking about doing away with Obama, asking God to kill him."

Modern Life Is Probably Screwed by Peak Oil, But It's Not Too Late to Avoid Mass Starvation

By George Monbiot, Monbiot.com
Food: The challenge of feeding 7 or 8 billion people while oil supplies are falling is stupefying. It'll be even greater if governments keep pretending that it isn't going to happen.

An Inside Look at Nepotism and Corruption in Karzai's Afghanistan

By Pratap Chatterjee, Tomdispatch.com
World: An eye-opening inside look at how the system of nepotism and corruption in Afghanistan actually works.

Is House Health Care Bill a Threat to Our Constitution?

By Barry W. Lynn, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Rights and Liberties: The House health-care bill isn't just a threat to women's rights; with the Stupak amendment, it's a breach of the Constitution.

Do Yearly Mammograms Save Women's Lives?

By Naomi Freundlich, Health Beat
Reproductive Justice and Gender: Controversial new recommendations on breast cancer prevention have caused a stir in the women's health community. But do yearly mammograms really change death rates?

'Precious': How a Film About an Obese Harlem Teenager Turned the Tables on Hollywood

By Emily Wilson, The Women's Media Center
Reproductive Justice and Gender: The success of this harrowing new movie undermines the conventional wisdom about what audiences want to watch.

World's Biggest Polluters Strike a Deal: U.S. and China Agree to Comprehensive Clean Energy and Climate Plan

By Joseph Romm, Climate Progress
Environment: The overall plan is much more ambitious in scope and depth than anticipated.

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Hightower: Obscenely Rich Bankers Claim to Do God's Work -- They Can Go to Hell

By Jim Hightower, AlterNet
Top executives were initially hurt by the public's moral outrage. But their sense of entitlement quickly kicked in, and now they claim they're the good guys.

For 12-Year-Old Without an Arm, Insurance Has Run Out

By Danielle Ivory, The Huffington Post Investigative Fund
Health and Wellness: 12 year old Benjamin French lives in one of 33 states where insurance companies are allowed to set annual and lifetime caps on prosthetic coverage.

Stupak Amendment Could End Abortion Coverage -- For Everyone

By Daniela Perdomo, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: An independent study predicts that the Stupak amendment could end insurance coverage of abortions -- for everyone -- in the long-run.

Anti-Abortion Group to Protest Palin

By Stephanie Mencimer, Mother Jones Online
Rights and Liberties: To liberals, she epitomizes the anti-choice far right of the GOP. But to American Right to Life, Sarah Palin is not pure enough.

Pick the Most Influential Progressives. Fill Out Our Survey. Maybe Win a Prize!

By Don Hazen, AlterNet
We're eager to hear what you love, and what you might want to change about AlterNet.

When It’s Crunch Time at College, Students Turn to Adderall

By Erik Hayden, Miller-McCune.com
DrugReporter: Can ADHD stimulants like Adderall be the answer for college students looking to increase academic performance? They think so.

How Far Right Must GOPers Lean to Please a Crazy Base?

By Steve Benen, Washington Monthly
PEEK: Far enough to completely contradict themselves, apparently.

A Year After the 2008 Election Galvanized Young Voters and Organizers, Where Are They Now?

By Elizabeth Méndez Berry, The Nation
Politics: Getting to the bottom of who the "Yes We Can" generation really is.

Still No Justice for Priests in Notorious El Salvador Massacre 20 Years Later

By Norman Stockwell, AlterNet
World: In 1989, six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, were brutally murdered in El Salvador. Two decades later, the extent of U.S. complicity remains largely unspoken.

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Why Won't Obama Give You a Job?

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Politics: Wall Street's raking in massive profits and paying its execs and traders record bonuses, thanks in part to government cash. What about ordinary Americans?

Sarah Palin's Poison: The Secret of Her Right-Wing Success

By Richard Kim , Betsy Reed, The Nation
Politics: Some may secretly relish the embarrassing spectacle that is Sarah Palin. But she's dangerous; the more we chuckle, the more indignant her army becomes.

What Makes a Young Person Embrace Death and Murder? Former Jihadists Speak Out

By Johann Hari, Independent UK
World: Former radical Islamists share their tales of why they turned to extremism, and why they repented.

Why I'll Never Buy a Kindle

By Benjamin Dangl, AlterNet
Media and Technology: Fancy new book readers save lots of trees, yes, but I'll pass.

Christian Bootcamp Seeks to Arm Home-Schooled Youths for "Spiritual Warfare"

By Eleanor Bader, RH Reality Check
Rights and Liberties: "Life is not a playground," says Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas in The Kingdom Leadership Institute Manual. "It is a war zone."

Does Racism Drive Opposition to Health Reform?

By Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune.com
Rights and Liberties: In a recent study, prejudiced people were more likely to support the health plan when it was linked to Bill Clinton, than when it was linked to Obama.

Is BPA, a Chemical Commonly Found in Food Containers, Ruining Your Sex Life?

By Elaine Shannon, AlterNet
Food: Erectile dysfunction and ejaculation problems were two side effects in a recent study of men exposed to high levels of bisphenol A, or BPA.

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Sarah Palin Rules the GOP -- And She Will Destroy It

By Max Blumenthal, Tomdispatch.com
Palin's influence on a party largely devoid of leadership is expanding. If she doesn't become the GOP's future queen, she may be its future king-maker -- and its destroyer.

Catholic Bishops Put Sex Obsession Ahead of Mission to the Sick and the Poor

By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
Sex and Relationships: First they threatened to take down health-care reform over abortion coverage. Now they're threatening services to the sick and poor of Washington, D.C., over same-sex marriage.

America Is One Big Clunker and No Amount of Cash Will Buy Us a New One

By James Howard Kunstler, Kunstler.com
Environment: We continue to be childishly delusional about our dark economic and environmental prospects. Unfortunately, reality isn't amenable to lies and spin.

The New York Times Embraces 'Douche' as the Television Dirty Word of the Moment

By Don Hazen, AlterNet
The NY Times has just discovered that "douche" is used as an insult in mainstream media. Why do they seem to see the spread of a term derogatory to women as progress?

Obama's Strongest Supporters Suffering the Most in Recession, While Elites Thrive

By Bob Herbert, The New York Times
The young, the black and the poor are among those who are being hammered unmercifully in this long and cruel economic downturn that the financial elites are telling us is over.

Why We Need Bees and More People Becoming Organic Beekeepers

By Makenna Goodman, Chelsea Green Publishing
Environment: Bees teach us how to live our life in a way that by taking what we need from the world around us, we leave the world better than we found it.

Decision to Try Terror Suspects in New York Draws Praise from Human Rights Activists

By Willam Fisher, IPS News
Rights and Liberties: At the same time, the Justice Department is being strongly criticized for keeping the military commissions in place to try some suspects.

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Those Stories About Religious Groups Taking Over the World with Birth Rates Are for Suckers

By Scott Thill, AlterNet
World: Many have fallen sway to demographically data about cultural or religious birth rates -- here's why it's a fool's game.

Stealing Money, Selling Heroin and Raping Boys -- The Very Dark Side of the Afghan Occupation

By Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch
World: One reason Afghan villagers prefer dealing with the Taliban than govt. security forces is that the latter have a habit of seizing their sons at checkpoints and sodomizing them.

Don't You Think It's Time to Reinstate the Laws That Would Have Prevented the Financial Crash?

By Nomi Prins, AlterNet
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: It's been 10 years since Washington repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, the moment we got royally screwed by the banking system -- and we're still paying the price.

Did Big Oil Win the War in Iraq?

By Antonia Juhasz, AlterNet
World: As U.S. and British oil companies sign contracts with the Iraqi government, is it time to declare Big Oil the "victor" in the bloody venture?

The Relentless War on Drug Users Is Escalating Violence in the US: It's Time for Harm Reduction

By Don Hazen, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: Hundreds gather in Albuquerque to celebrate a new dawn of wider acceptance of drug reform, while still feeling a little nervous about the path ahead.

What Should a Feminist Man Look Like?

By Courtney E. Martin, The American Prospect
Reproductive Justice and Gender: Many young men reject the trappings of traditional, sexist masculinity. But what's the alternative?

The Democratic Party: Whose Team Is It, Anyway?

By Katha Pollitt, The Nation
Reproductive Justice and Gender: In the wake of the passage by Democrats of a radical anti-abortion measure, Democratic women are asking, "Whose party is this?"

Memo to the Tea-Baggers: God and Country Aren't with You

By Glynn Wilson, Locust Forks News-Journal
Politics: You don't appear to know what "freedom" means.