AlterNet Mobile Edition

Higher Ed. Racket: How Kids Are Paying a Fortune for Rip-off 'Prestige' Educations
By Daniel Luzer, Washington Monthly
How some colleges realized they could offer Timex educations at Rolex prices.

The Dems Need to Speak to Progressive Values, or Else Lose Badly Come November
By George Lakoff, AlterNet
Only moral leadership backed by actions effective communication can excite the Obama base once more. Without it, the Democrats will lose big.

Are We a Kleptocracy and What Does That Mean Anyway?
By Ismael Hossein-zadeh, William Astore, Counterpunch and Tomdispatch.com
Two articles consider what the real economic patterns we face are, and whether the big process we're undergoing is basically just a massive transfer of wealth.

Will Glenn Beck's Creepy "Black Robe Regiment" Use Churches to Sway Voters?
By Joe Strupp, Media Matters for America
Though Beck keeps insisting that his "Black Robe Regiment" won't be about endorsements, two members say their mission is to return to their churches and boost voter involvement.

7 Ways the Tea Party's Sugar Daddy Billionaire Brothers Are Ripping Us Off
By Jan Frel, AlterNet
It’s limiting to see the billionaire Koch Brothers’ funding of arguments against big government and socialism as hypocritical in light of their pursuit of big government money and ties to socialism. “Hypocritical” is a rational con

True Blood: Sex, Gore, and Abortions Performed by Spellcraft
By Sarah Seltzer, RH Reality Check
The show takes an interesting turn when a conservative character doesn't want to have a murderer's baby.

Surprise! Alaskans Don’t Want Sarah Palin to be President
By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet
Like almost everyone else, Alaskans don’t want Sarah Palin to run for President. From Public Policy Polling: If Sarah Palin runs for President in 2012 she can’t count on a whole lot of support back home. 62% of Alaska Republicans are oppose

4 Things Dems Can Do to Head Off Total Disaster in the Midterms
By mikelux, Open Left
This post first appeared on Open Left. This has been a pretty weird political cycle, and I’m starting to wonder whether it is the strangest ever. There have certainly been cycles that have been more dramatic- such as the 1968 cycle of assassinati

Radical Eco-Activist Imprisoned for 'Friending' Someone on Facebook
By Adam Federman, Earth Island Journal
Who knew that accepting a Facebook friend invitation could be a parole violation?

Pentagon Watchdog Misses Billion Dollar Audit
By Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch
Whistleblowers charge that instead of actively pursuing fraud, DCAA management was obsessed with signing off on as many audits as possible in the shortest period of time.

Global Warming Deniers Aren't "Experts" At All: It's Time for a New View of Science
By Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, Bloomsbury USA
The "debate" over global warming has never been about productive dialogue. Rather, it's an indication of our eagerness to doubt issues that threaten our very existence.