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Saturday, December 26th, 2009

Can We Rescue the Republic Before the Dark Politics Take Over?

By Kirk Nielsen, Miller-McCune.com
Politics: Books by Chris Hedges, Thom Hartmann and Cass Sunstein suggest that we've nearly lost our sense of self-government. None show the way to get it back.

Will Our 'Green Jobs' Dollars Help a Ritzy Car Company Open a Toxic Manufacturing Plant?

By Seth Sandronsky, AlterNet
Politics: Tesla makes a sleek electric roadster at $110,000. A new model's generating buzz, but one possible manufacturing site's haunted by ghosts of the old economy.

For Obama, No Opportunity Is Too Big to Blow

By Naomi Klein, TheNation.com
World: No President since FDR has been handed as many opportunities to transform the U.S. into something that doesn't threaten the stability of life on this planet. Is he blowing it?

Nigerian Man Attempted to Blow Up US Airliner

Agence France Presse Rights and Liberties: A young Nigerian man with reported links to Al-Qaeda was under arrest Saturday after trying to blow up a US airlinerv headed for Detroit.

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

By 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 ...

By Dr. Joseph Romm, Climate Progress
PEEK: Unfortunately, the list is pretty long.

3 Reasons Why Progressives Are So Frustrated

By Chris Bowers, Open Left
PEEK: Really, it's pretty simple.

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

By 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.

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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?

By 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

By 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.

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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'

By 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

By 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

By Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune.com
Media and Technology: Does absurdist literature make you smarter? Giraffe carpet cleaner, it does!

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

10 Greediest People of 2009

By 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

By 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

By * 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

By 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

By 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)

By 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?

By 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

By Bruce Wilson, AlterNet
Politics: Lou Engle has led GOP Senators in nationally broadcast prayer and anointed Huckabee and Gingrich

Monday, December 21st, 2009

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

By 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

By 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?

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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

By 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?

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

10 Ways to Screw Over the Corporate Jackals Who've Been Screwing You

By Scott Thill, AlterNet
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Tired of getting pushed around by faceless big business? Here are 10 ways to push back!

Health Care Reform Is Not Reform If It Denies Women Coverage

By John Nichols, TheNation.com
Health and Wellness: Sen. Harry Reid and the Senate Dems aren't winning any friends among the broad base of voters who support reproductive rights.

Howard Dean Is a Genuine Hero: Taking on Corporate 'Centrists' Like Lieberman

By David Sirota, AlterNet
Politics: Dean's attacks on the Lieberman-gutted health insurance "reform" bill are creating the political space for the final version to be better and more progressive.

Pockets of White America Are in the Throes of an Existential Crisis

By Rich Benjamin, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: As the Census "time bomb" ticks, fear mounts over a perceived loss of whites' raw power - demographic, social, economic, and political.

7 Reasons for Atheists to Celebrate the Holidays

By Greta Christina, AlterNet
Belief: Even though the standard winter holidays are supposedly religious, there are ample reasons for atheists to celebrate, too.

Copenhagen Talks End With Agreement, But No Binding Deal: So, How Screwed Are We?

AlterNet Environment: 'The governments which moved so swiftly to save the banks have bickered and filibustered while the biosphere burns.'

Quitting Meat Is at the Heart of 2009's Health Zeitgeist, And Author Kathy Freston Is Leading the Debate

AlterNet Health and Wellness: Have you been missing out on one of AlterNet's most popular authors? Here are 10 of Freston's best works from the year.

"We Can Make Him Disappear": Immigration Officials Are Holding People In Secret, Unmarked Jails

By Jacqueline Stevens, The Nation
Rights and Liberties: In addition to publicly listed field offices and detention sites, ICE is holding prisoners in 186 unlisted, unmarked locations, many in suburban office parks or commercial spaces.

Neocons Must Be Pissed; China and Russia Are Getting the Sweet Oil Deals in Iraq

By Pepe Escobar, Asia Times
World: Cheney and Rumsfeld's script was never supposed to develop like this. Instead of US Big Oil getting the lion's share in Iraq, its top competitors turned out to be big winners.

James Cameron's Wizardry in 'Avatar' Movie Demands Being Witnessed on the Big Screen

By Wajahat Ali, CounterPunch
Media and Technology: Avatar elevates cinematic storytelling to an exciting, untapped visual apex that allows our eyes to finally experience images that were once only imaginable in our minds.

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Always Controversial Cornel West Disses Obama, Survives Cancer and Almost Spent His Life in Prison

By Terrence McNally, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: Cornel West dishes on his new memoirs and Obama's clique of 'recycled neo-liberals and recycled neo-Clintonites.'

$57,077.60 -- That's What We're Paying Each Minute for the Occupation of Afghanistan

By Jo Comerford, Tomdispatch.com
World: The $30 billion cost of Obama's surge alone would place the US in the top-ten for global military spending, sandwiched between Italy and Saudi Arabia.

8 Things We Love That Climate Change Will Force Us to Kiss Good-Bye

By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
Environment: We face losing everything from 50,000 species a year to the world's best wines. How to put it all in perspective?

Banks Get into the Unemployment Biz, and Quickly Start the Rip-offs

By Barbara Koeppel, Consortium News
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: As states pay unemployment benefits with bank debit cards, the jobless are seeing their fees add up.

Atheism Was one of the Year's Hottest Topics, and Greta Christina Caught the Wave as Well as Anyone

AlterNet Have you been missing out on one of AlterNet's most popular authors? Here are 10 of Christina's best works from the year.

And They'll Call This Health-Care Reform: How Three Senators Are Extorting You For Their Big-Time Buddies

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
Reproductive Justice and Gender: Harry Reid will do anything to get sixty votes -- which means Lieberman, Nelson, and Snowe can use extortion on behalf of Big Insurance, Big Pharma, the AMA, and abortion foes.

Is Handwriting Going the Way of the Dodo?

By Anne Trubek, Miller-McCune.com
Media and Technology: Writing words by hand is a technology that's just too slow for our times, and our minds.

Kucinich: 'Class War Is Over, Working People Lost'

By Sahil Kapur, Raw Story
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: "The separation between the finance economy and the real economy is real. This is not some fake idea. You can’t call that class warfare. That’s a fact."

Copenhagen Is Not Just About Climate Change -- It's About the What Kind of People We Want to Be

By George Monbiot, Monbiot.com
Environment: Here, in the plastic corridors and crowded stalls, among impenetrable texts and withering procedures, humankind decides what it is and what it will become.