Top Powell aide says Congress is most ’spineless’ he’s seen in 65 years
by David Edwards and John Byrne
The former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell — who of late has been supportive of more liberal positions — launched a stunning broadside against the Democratic-controlled Congress Wednesday, asserting that it’s been “spineless” when it comes to oversight and the most feckless he’s seen in 65 years. |
Cultivating Peace in Palestine
by Roane Carey
In the days leading up to Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, Yisrael Beiteinu, the far-right party led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, announced that it would seek a bill in the Knesset banning Palestinian citizens of Israel--now 20 percent of the population--from commemorating the anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe), their way of marking the founding of Israel, which involved the expulsion or flight of some 750,000 Palestinians. |
Obama Takes a Hit on Guantánamo
by Joseph Williams
Democrats tie funding to a plan for prisonersWASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats, dissatisfied with President Obama's lack of a detailed plan to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison, yesterday rejected his request for $80 million to transfer the 240 detainees still held there, a high-profile rebuke to Obama, who has pledged to close the facility within a year of taking office. |
US Army Paid Bonuses to KBR Despite Questions
by Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army paid "tens of millions of dollars in bonuses" to KBR Inc, its biggest contractor in Iraq, even after it concluded the firm's electrical work had put U.S. soldiers at risk, according to a source close to a U.S. congressional investigation. |
Too Slow Zelikow: UVA Backs Torture
by David Swanson
If I could feel more shame over my country's torture it would be over my university's support for torture. The University of Virginia, which has long paid its employees poverty wages while increasingly becoming a major partner of the U.S. military and its "intelligence" operations, nonetheless still holds for me an image of individual honor and principle. I still imagine that UVA students and professors, staff and alumni, can be expected not to stoop to the lowest possible forms of human behavior. |
Credit Where Credit is Due: We're not out of the woods yet
by Mike Whitney
The financial channels are abuzz with talk of a recovery, but we're not out of the woods yet. In fact, the deceleration in the rate of economic decline is not a sign of recovery at all, but proof that the economy is resetting at a lower level of activity. That means the recession will drag on for some time no matter what the Fed does. The problem is the breakdown in the securitzation markets which has cut off the flow of easy credit to consumers and businesses. The credit-freeze has caused a sharp drop in retail, auto sales, furniture, electronics, travel, global trade etc. Every sector has been hammered. Fed chief Ben Bernanke's lending facilities have helped to steady the financial system and Obama's fiscal stimulus will take up some of the slack in demand, but these are not a cure-all for a broken credit system. If the system isn't fixed, asset prices will continue to plunge and hundreds of financial institutions will face bankruptcy. |
Our Loss Is BlackRock's Gain
by Robert Scheer
— from TruthdigHow much do you know about the BlackRock hedge fund? Better bone up fast, now that the folks at BlackRock are calling the shots in the government's trillion-dollar bailout program. As both The New York Times and The Wall Street journal reported on Tuesday, BlackRock execs are now directing key elements of the government program at a time when they stand to reap great profits from the fallout of a problem they helped create. |
Now The Hard Work Begins
by Steve Young
(Transcript from my victory speech last night)(Applause)Thank you.(Applause)Thank you.(More applause)Please.(Sustained applause)Shut up! They only gave me a couple minutes!(Applause dies out)What a night.(From this point on, most every sentence was an applause line, so instead of transcribing it, use your imagination) |
Update: John Bolton Still Crazy
by Allison Kilkenny
You have to hand it to the Wall Street Journal. At a time when the newspaper industry is desperately trying to remind America it's important and relevant, the WSJ has carved out a nice little niche for itself as a halfway house for discredited political figures. I think it's really humane of them. Their most recent charity case is John Bolton, America's former ambassador to the United Nations. |
Obama Expands the American Warfare State
by Sherwood Ross
Although the U.S. is not in imminent danger of attack from any country, President Obama's first budget further expands the Pentagon's already dominant global operations.Not even the prospect of a $3.1 trillion combined budget deficit for this year and next deters him. Let them chop the budget for black colleges and police officer death benefits, the Pentagon and its contractors continue to feast at the champagne-and-caviar table. |
Accidental Empire: The Rise of the Liberal Blogosphere
by Eric Boehlert
Two images, courtesy of Philadelphia blogger Chris Bowers, have stayed with me over the last two years as I wrote and researched my new, rise-of-the-netroots book, Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press. To me, the impressions perfectly capture the phenomena of the liberal blogosphere, which has come to define this decade in terms of politics and the press. The images capture how an unlikely band of (underpaid) liberals changed both landscapes and helped elect a new Democratic Congress and a new Democratic president. |
Obama, Democrats, Republicans Support Credit Card Rip-Offs and Rate Hikes
by Brent Budowsky
Now the Senate has passed a bill that would allow credit card abuses, rip-offs, interest rate hikes and fee increases to continue for nine more months.The president didn't tell you this in his town meeting or radio address. Democrats who passed this don’t want you to know this either, but it is true. The effective date of this travesty of a bill is nine months from the date of enactment. Until then, all abuses continue and probably accelerate. |
Will Obama Move Supreme Court Rightward?
by Jeff Cohen
I learned long ago, while working at the media watch group FAIR, to be wary of New York Times headlines.Hearing news that President Obama has a shortlist of candidates to replace David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court, I dug up a front-page New York Times Week in Review piece written soon after Obama's inauguration about his possible impact on the Court. It was headlined: "To Nudge, Shift or Shove the Supreme Court Left." |
Neil Rogers suspended over F-word that got on air
by Tom Jicha
Fans of the Neil Rogers show heard some unexpected voices when they tuned to WQAM (AM 560) for his program this morning. Joe Rose seemed to be extending his morning drive program with fill-in host Damon Amendola. Amendola eventually took over the program. |
