Top Stories
Friday, February 10th, 2012
By Chauncey DeVega, AlterNet
Conservatives have created a story of white victimhood, because it is easier than critically engaging the real problems facing America.
By Lynn Parramore, AlterNet
When it comes down to business, FB just looks like another triumph of the superrich. With friends like that, who needs enemies?
By Jacqueline Detwiler, The Fix
A brief journey through time, from ancient Sumeria to modern New Jersey, uncovers the mysterious origins of the world's most beloved substances.
By Eleanor J. Bader, RH Reality Check
Some leave because they oppose the church's doctrinal stance. Others are turned off by its hostility to science. Others reject the limitations placed on sex.
By Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon
"One Million Moms" is angry JC Penny is sticking by Ellen, their spokesperson. Ellen had some choice words for them in return.
By Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism
Forty-nine of 50 states have agreed to join the so-called mortgage settlement. Here's why it's a major letdown.
By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatch.com
From Manning to Kiriakou, critics are aggressively targeted as the White House turns a blind eye to abuses.
By Dustin Beilke, PR Watch
Hundreds of state legislators from across the nation went to an "island" resort on the coast of Florida to a unique "education academy" sponsored by ALEC.
By Jill Dolan, AlterNet
People should be able to choose their sexual practices, and not be penalized when their partners don’t mirror the conventional norm.
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
By Arun Gupta, AlterNet
New research goes beyond the New York Times to show just how disturbing labor conditions at Foxconn, the "Chinese hell factory," really are.
By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
Birth control is under attack by all of the candidates competing for the Republican presidential nomination.
By Paul Armentano, AlterNet
At the same time public support for marijuana legalization reached record highs, Obama shifted from one time medicinal cannabis sympathizer to White House weed-whacker.
By Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet
Santorum's success in the Midwest has come through a combination of race and class-based grievances as well as his appeal to social conservatives.
By Mark Oppenheimer, Salon
Maggie Gallagher has devoted herself to stopping same-sex marriage.
By Ari LeVaux, AlterNet
An opinion piece in the journal Nature suggests ways the government could regulate added sugar, including a sugar tax, distribution controls and age limits.
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
Black Bloc adherents detest those of us on the organized left and seek, quite consciously, to take away our tools of empowerment.
By Susie Cagle, TruthOut.org
Chris Hedges' "Black Bloc" takedown is only the most recent in a series of critiques bashing anarchists within the national Occupy movement. Here's why they're not helpful.
By Elena Shore, New America Media
Civil rights groups are turning to a new potential ally in the fight against Alabama’s harsh immigration law: the state’s top automakers.
Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
By Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet
Right-wingers claim Obama and Democrats across the country are waging a war on religion -- and of course, conservatives are the civilian casualties.
By Christopher D. Cook, Salon
I call myself frayed white collar -- part of the privileged poor. I'm a semi-accomplished, mid-career journalist and writer, but now I'm hurtling precipitously toward poverty.
By Erik Loomis, AlterNet
We've won a temporary reprieve from the Keystone XL Pipeline, but there are still places greatly at risk in the country.
By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
The 2012 money race is on, with both sides looking to secretive groups to fuel their ad wars.
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
In the era of Citizens United, early money from deep-pocketed donors played a major role in shaping the GOP field.
By Don Hazen, AlterNet
Conservatives' anti-worker crusade will not go unchallenged. We're ratcheting up our worker coverage by establishing a unique Labor special coverage area.
By Tina Dupuy, AlterNet
It's clear from advertising that the market does not favor the GOP's social agenda.
By Felipe Delerme, AlterNet
Looking at the legacy of the beloved show host and newsman, who passed last week at age 75.
By Peter Montague, Maria B. Pellerano, AlterNet
The fund for lead-poisoning prevention was almost entirely eliminated. And here's why this is such a big deal.
By Erika Christakis, Huffington Post
Like people once thought little about their food's provenance, porn consumers think little about where their porn is sourced. But that could change.
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
A movement to reform the Electoral College and elect the president based on the national popular vote has half the states it needs.
By Sarah Seltzer, AlterNet
How many of the rumors are inflated, and how many get at the real heart of why people responded to this decision with so much outrage?
By Lynn Parramore, AlterNet
If she doesn't find a way to offer a mea culpa, some of her devotees may desert her shrine and find another idol.
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
A report found that since President Obama took office between 282 and 535 civilians have been reported as killed in Pakistan, including more than 60 children.
By Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet
Two progressive champions are facing off for one seat in Congress. What's a voter to do?
By Tracy Clark-Flory, Salon
Sex therapist Marty Klein's message is antithetical to the sex advice found everywhere from self-help books to the supermarket checkout line.
By Editorial Staff, AlterNet
Frank talks about Communism, the Tea Party and his new book, "Pity the Billionaire."
By Kristin Rawls, AlterNet
As the horrific "kill-the-gays" bill resurfaces in Uganda, Republican politicians deny connections, but their rhetoric is frighteningly similar.
By Laura Clawson, Daily Kos
That's what's on the rise: Management attempting to exercise control over their workers -- in a brutal display of power. Give in to us or lose your paycheck right now.
Monday, February 6th, 2012
By Max Blumenthal, al-akhbar
Should Mitt Romney make it to the White House, his Middle East policy and plan for Iran may be as hawkish as that of Bush Junior, thanks to Eliot Cohen.
By Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet
Jan Brewer has decided to get in on the union-busting action, introducing a bill that makes Ohio's and Wisconsin's attacks on public workers look mild.
By Emily Badger, Miller-McCune.com
The GOP seems to understand a psychological phenomenon that researchers are studying: conservatives appear to be motivated by fear in a way that liberals are not.
By Mike Konczal, Salon
From schools to prisons, outsourcing government's works typically ends with cronyism, waste and unaccountability
By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch.com
Make no mistake: we’re entering a new world of military planning. It won't make the Pentagon smaller, but it will change the nature of empire.
By Nancy L. Cohen, Counterpoint Press
With a little pharmaceutical ingenuity, the double standard relaxed its clawing grip on female humanity.
By Brendan Fischer, AlterNet
The embattled Wisconsin governor hires two young Republicans who are veterans of no-holds-barred campaigns and propaganda efforts.
By Channing Kennedy, ColorLines
"The Help" is building Oscar buzz despite historical mistruths -- while white/male Oscar contenders derail serious conversation about structural racism in Hollywood.
By Laura Flanders, The Nation
To make the deal that saved the auto industry, Treasury demanded concessions from workers and a ban on strikes. Now Obama's bragging that he saved workers.
By Gregory Harms, TruthOut.org
The New York Times' foreign affairs coverage belies its "liberal" reputation--but reinforces the class biases of its readers.
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
By Bill Quigley, AlterNet
Millions of people in the U.S. work and are still poor.
By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, AlterNet
And you thought this was supposed to be entertaining.
By Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company
Bill Moyers explains what we need to know about community activist Saul Alinsky, and why Newt Gingrich might be so afraid of him.
By Gary G. Kohls, Consortium News
Though founded by a pacifist, Christianity has justified some of the most brutal slaughters in human history, but we may be able to recapture its peaceful essence.
By Emily Michele, ButterBeliever.com
Outrageous salaries, drug company ties, and less than a dime of every dollar looks for a cure.
By Michael T. Klare, TomDispatch.com
The Strait of Hormuz--through which one-fifth the planet's oil supply travels--is suddenly the site of tensions between the US and Iran.
By Jamilah King, ColorLines
The NFL’s Players Association, the union that represents the league’s athletes, has come out in opposition to Indiana's proposed Right to Work legislation.
By Jefferson Morley, Salon
What had started as a politically-tinged eviction of an entirely peaceful encampment had suddenly turned into an aggressive display of force by the National Park Police officers.
By Lee Fang, Republic Report
Some of America's wealthiest Republicans flew into Palm Springs last weekend to update their stealthy political strategy for 2012.
By June Carbone, AlterNet
Prosecutors like Eric Schneiderman need cops on the beat to put financial crooks behind bars. But thanks to Bush, these cops are missing in action.
By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet
When it comes to a spate of new technologies, our privacy protections are wildly outdated.
By Lauren Kelley, AlterNet
The big win here is that an anti-choice power play failed in the court of public opinion.
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
DC is the most liberal region of the country, but until now all the talk on the radio dial skewed right.
By Ari Berman, The Nation
Republicans—to protect and expand their gains from 2010— are diluting the minority vote in swing districts held by white Democrats.
By Brendan Smith, Jeremy Brecher, AlterNet
The Keystone campaign was a great success, but environmental advocates must still convince the public that they care about jobs.
By Paul Armentano, NORML
Even after the Commissioner told cops to follow the books on pot charges, small time weed arrests continued, breaking records for the past decade.
Friday, February 3rd, 2012
By Sarah Seltzer, AlterNet
Whether Americans were suspicious of Komen to begin with or just fed up with the politicization of women's health, this feels like the last straw.
By Michael Hudson, Michael Hudson's blog
Banks weren't meant to be in control of our economy and our governments. How did it get like this and how can we restore sanity to our banking system?
By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
We've somehow turned watching a sport into eating (and drinking) like it's a sport.
By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
These companies hide their electioneering and don’t care. But here's how we can change that.
By Alex DiBranco, AlterNet
Charitable organizations geared towards non-believers are growing.
By Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet
A new study on government employees' earnings has the Right buzzing -- and some progressive pundits repeating the myth that government workers are "overpaid."
By Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company
Here are some important movies and documentaries that try to make sense of the financial collapse.
By Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now!
Fox talks with Democracy Now following his arrest Wednesday while trying to film a Congressional hearing.
