Excerpts

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Would a President Hillary Investigate Bush's Eight Years of Scandal?

By Robert Parry, Consortium News. October 5, 2007.
If elected, would Hillary Clinton sweep Bush White House scandals under the rug like her husband did?

The United States' Failing Food System

By Kevin Danaher, Shannon Biggs, Jason Mark, PoliPoint Press. October 1, 2007.
Environment: An interview with a leading food expert on the crisis of the America food system, the fallacy of labels and the organic vs. local conundrum.

The Conflicted Consumer

By Robert B. Reich, Alfred A. Knopf. September 26, 2007.
The awkward truth is that most of us are two minds: As consumers and investors we want the great deals. As citizens we don't like many of the social consequences that flow from them.

The Pentagon Rivals Hollywood at Telling War Stories

By Tom Engelhardt, University of Massachusetts Press. September 22, 2007.
World: With its dazzling array of propaganda techniques in Iraq, the U.S. military has learned how to conduct war and defeat the press at the same time, as this excerpt from author Tom Engelhardt's End of Victory Culture explains.

Pornography and the End of Masculinity

By Don Hazen, AlterNet. September 22, 2007.
Sex and Relationships: Mainstream porn has come up with more ways than ever to humiliate and degrade women. Why then, is porn more popular? Includes an excerpt from Robert Jensen's new book, Getting Off.

Top Military Recruitment Lies

By Aimee Allison, David Solnit, Seven Stories Press. September 20, 2007.
World: The new book Army of None reveals the scummy truth about the military recruitment complex.

America's Deadly Shock Doctrine in Iraq

By Naomi Klein, Henry Holt. September 14, 2007.
World: This excerpt from Naomi Klein's controversial new book, "The Shock Doctrine," explains how the U.S. set about to destroy the Iraqi national psyche and then push through a disastrous privatization of its economy.

Are You on the Government's 'No Fly' List?

By Naomi Wolf, Chelsea Green Publishing. September 13, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: A new book reveals how thousands of Americans who do not fit a terrorist profile are routinely harassed and detained at the airport.

Hooked on War: Thomas Friedman's Deadly Addiction

By Norman Solomon, CounterPunch. September 7, 2007.
World: Nowadays you'll read the NYT's Thomas Friedman decrying the "madness that is Iraq," but the real Friedman is the man who called invading Iraq "one of the noblest things this country has ever attempted abroad."

The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America

By Katherine S. Newman, Victor Tan Chen, Beacon Press. September 6, 2007.
Health and Wellness: Hospital patients in low income communities often receive second-rate care -- even when they are insured.

God’s Harvard: The New Grooming Ground of the Evangelical Movement

By Hanna Rosin, Harcourt. August 23, 2007.
A small Christian school outside the nation’s capital is dispatching the next round of evangelicals to the front lines of science and politics, where they will battle for control of the nation.

Chomsky: There Will Be a Cold War Between Iran and the U.S.

By Noam Chomsky, City Lights. July 30, 2007.
Despite the saber-rattling, it is unlikely that the Bush administration will attack Iran. A "cold war" of sorts between the two is likely to ensue.

Five Ways Bush's Era of Repression Has Stolen Your Liberties Since 9/11

By Matthew Rothschild, The New Press. July 24, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: In his new book, Matt Rothschild examines how the Bush White House constructed the edifice of repression to brazenly access our private data and shred the judicial process.

Doing Time on the Outside: Falling in Love with a Prisoner-for-Life

By Bridget Kinsella, SMITH Magazine. July 16, 2007.
After meeting through a prisoner's writing program, Bridget Kinsella found herself getting close to Rory Mehan, a 30-year-old man serving life without parole for a revenge murder -- eventually falling in love with him.

The Best Health Care Is Reserved for Congress

By Don Sloan, Caveat Press. July 11, 2007.
Health and Wellness: In an excerpt from his new book, Practicing Medicine Without a License, Don Sloan, M.D., shows that members of Congress enjoy health coverage with unlimited doctor visits, no deductibles and no co-pays -- all for $35 a month. So what about the rest of us?

Sorry, Thomas Friedman, the World Is Round

By Stephen Marshall, The Disinformation Company. July 5, 2007.
In an excerpt from the new book, Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, Stephen Marshall takes on liberals like Friedman, who would have you believe that our capitalist system is inherently just and self-regulating when, in reality, it is anything but.

Assimilation is a Double-Edged Sword for Immigrants

By Aviva Chomsky, AlterNet. June 26, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: The problem is that, in America assimilation means learning one's place in the nation's racial hierarchy, Aviva Chomsky writes in her new book, They Take Our Jobs! And 20 Other Myths About Immigration.

Despite Large Majorities, Democrats Are Chicken on Gun Control

By Drew Westen, The American Prospect. June 25, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: When it comes to gun control, Democrats fall silent. As with many hot-button social issues, they can't figure out how to reach people's emotions. Here's how they can regain their moral compass -- and their power of speech.

Fair and Balanced, My Ass! The Bizarre Reality of Fox News

By Joseph Minton Amann, Tom Breuer, Nation Books. June 21, 2007.
Media and Technology: Watching Fox News can be as funny as it is frustrating. But the new book Fair and Balanced, My Ass! shows we dismiss them at our peril.

American Foreign Policy Is Broken; Time for a New Approach

By John Feffer, AlterNet. June 19, 2007.
ForeignPolicy: The bipartisan push to protect American empire has served us poorly in the post-Cold War era. A group of progressive analysts offer a rethink.

Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics and the Battle for Our Energy Future

By Wendy Williams, Robert Whitcomb, Public Affairs Books. June 8, 2007.
Environment: A new book, "Cape Wind," tells the controversial story of what happens when a wind farm is proposed for the backyard of some of America's most wealthy, famous and politically powerful people.

The Untold Story of America's Health Care Crisis

By Jonathan Cohn, Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.. May 29, 2007.
Health and Wellness: The U.S. has not had a serious political discussion about health care reform since the early 1990s, and the system is unraveling. In his latest book, Sick, Jonathan Cohn lays bare the consequences any one of us could suffer if we don't replace it.

The Disturbing Truth About Doctors and Your Medical Safety

By Atul Gawande, AlterNet. May 18, 2007.
Health and Wellness: One of the easiest ways to prevent the spread of hospital infections is also one of the most neglected.

A Power Governments Cannot Suppress

By Howard Zinn, City Lights. May 3, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: An excerpt from Howard Zinn's new book -- a collection of essays on history, class and the strength of ordinary citizens -- explores the unfair trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and the flawed justice system that still haunts us today.

How to Stop the Planet From Burning

By George Monbiot, South End Press. May 2, 2007.
Environment: We know that climate change is happening. But can it be stopped? George Monbiot's book "Heat" shows how it can.

A Global Democratic Movement Is About to Pop

By Paul Hawken, Orion Magazine. May 1, 2007.
Environment: Something earth-changing is afoot among civil society -- a significant social movement is eluding the radar of mainstream culture.

PETA's Agent 007: A James Bond for the Animal Rights Movement

By Dan Mathews, AlterNet. April 27, 2007.
Environment: From donning a Catholic priest's habit to wearing a rabbit costume, PETA veteran activist and party crasher Dan Mathews knows how to steal the headlines for the animal rights cause.

The 'Silent' Ninth Amendment Gives Americans Rights They Don't Know They Have

By Daniel A. Farber, Basic Books. April 23, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: The First Amendment right of free speech and the Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination are well-known, but the Ninth Amendment is ignored. Pity, because it bears directly on abortion, the right to die and gay rights.

Birth of the Christian Soldier: How Evangelicals Infiltrated the American Military

By Michael L. Weinstein, David Seay, Thomas Dunne Books. April 21, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: It took decades for evangelicals to infiltrate the military, but eventually fundamentalist theology adapted as its entry points the culture of authority, duty, and sacrifice in the armed forces.

The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body

By Courtney E. Martin, AlterNet. April 18, 2007.
Health and Wellness: Thinness and beauty are prerequisites for perfection, which to today's young women appears to be the only road to happiness. Under that logic, women's bodies have become places where that drive for perfection -- however self-destructive -- gets played out.

How a PR Firm Helped Establish America's Cigarette Century

By Allan M. Brandt, AlterNet. April 16, 2007.
Media and Technology: How the tobacco industry-hired Hill & Knowlton to develop many of the propaganda techniques against science used today to attack climate change and evolution.

A Former Fat-Camper's Life in a Teenage Waistland

By Abby Ellin, SMITH Magazine. April 13, 2007.
Health and Wellness: An overweight teenager's year abroad is anything but an escape from the diet-obsessed social life she was hoping for.

The U.S. 'War on Drugs' Is an Assault on South America’s Poorest

By Benjamin Dangl, AKPress. April 12, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: Cocaine may be considered a scourge in America's cities, but in the Andes, the plant from which it's derived is a way of life that provides food, shelter, healthcare and education.

Laura Flanders: To Beat the Right, Clinton and Obama Need to Be Clear About Supporting Gay Rights

By Laura Flanders, AlterNet. April 9, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: Democrats will keep getting attacked on sexuality, marriage and abortion for as long as they dodge the discussion.

The Evidence Is There: It’s Time for Congress to Investigate the Ties Between the Bush Family and Osama bin Laden

By Lucy Komisar, IPS News. April 5, 2007.
ForeignPolicy: How the Bush family's private connection to a dirty offshore bank is the only link between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

How George H.W. Bush Helped Saddam Hussein Prevent an Iraqi Uprising

By Barry Lando, AlterNet. March 30, 2007.
World: This devastating passage from Barry Lando's book on the history of American and British imperial lies about Iraq exposes the efforts that the first Bush president made to keep Hussein in power after the first Gulf War.

America, Maxed Out

By James Scurlock, Scribner. March 24, 2007.
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Hard times, easy credit and the era of predatory lenders.

Why Having More No Longer Makes Us Happy

By Bill McKibben, Mother Jones. March 22, 2007.
Environment: The formula of human well-being used to be simple: Make money, get happy. So why is the old axiom suddenly turning on us?

From Sex Workers to Restaurant Workers, the Global Slave Trade Is Growing

By David Batsone, Sojourners. March 15, 2007.
Rights and Liberties: A thriving commerce in human beings is taking place behind the facade of most major cities and towns in the U.S. and worldwide. Activists are pushing back, but they need reinforcements.

Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist

By Mike Farrell, AlterNet. March 13, 2007.
Media and Technology: Actor Mike Farrell, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt in the popular TV-series M.A.S.H., reflects on his path from fame to progressive activism.

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