By Bill Boyarsky —People are just barely hanging on at employment offices around the country. Help is needed right away and Barack Obama is struggling to give it.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney made a stop on his book tour for a somewhat awkward chat with a mustachioed gent and a flaxen-haired She-publican from the right-leaning Newsmax.com, during which he signaled his disapproval of big government, his firm support of free-market principles and his concerns about a potential tea party spinoff from the GOP.
On Monday, Haitian officials freed Charisa Coulter, a Baptist missionary from the U.S. who was held on kidnapping charges following January’s catastrophic earthquake in Port-au-Prince. One other American from Coulter’s group remains in custody in the island nation’s capital, according to The Associated Press.
In a newly available interview, Truthdig’s Chris Hedges sits down with filmmaker Michael Moore and poignantly argues that capitalism is driving humanity’s downfall. Moore conducted the interview for his latest movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” but eventually cut it from the documentary.
Tracing talent to its origins probably isn’t ever going to be a precise science, but there’s a particular and pervasive brand of genetic determinism that butts its way into discussions, in scientific circles and in the media, about everything from health to intelligence to the roots of genius. According to author David Shenk, this line of argument leads us to make the wrong conclusions about human potential.
It was the first Iraq war movie to really break through, and now “The Hurt Locker” has won six Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, marking the first time an Oscar for directing has gone to a woman. The movie opens with a quote from Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges. (continued)
It’s Oscar night, but that should not cause us to ignore the results of a recently released study of the 100 top-grossing films of 2007 showing that men filled almost all the directing jobs, with women accounting for only about 3 percent. Writing and producing find similarly problematic, but less pronounced, gender gaps.
An unusual trial begins in Israel this week, and people around the world will be watching closely. It involves the tragic death of a 23-year-old American student named Rachel Corrie. On March 16, 2003, she was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer.
Internationally speaking, there are only two subjects to talk about in the Middle East. These are Israel, the Palestinians and the Americans; and Iran and Israel.
People are just barely hanging on at employment offices, homeless shelters, food banks and community centers around the country. Help is needed right away and Barack Obama is struggling to give it.
The former vice president’s ambitious daughter has in her hand a list of nine Justice Department lawyers whose “values” she has the gall to question. She ought to spend the time examining her own principles, if she can find them.
The urgency of containing the damage the Supreme Court could do to our electoral system creates an opportunity for a rare convergence of interest and principle.
The senator said not only did the car drive him to the gay nightclub, but it forced him to enter the club and party there for hours, resulting in his later arrest for DUI. (Editor’s note: Although Roy Ashburn is a real state senator who really was arrested on a DUI charge after allegedly being at a gay club, in this column Borowitz takes the liberty of manufacturing a set of quotations for satire’s sake.)
What keeps old men in power in Egypt? And what keeps middle-aged men wanting power in a country whose crippled society, increasing sectarianism, brutal police force and endemic corruption are only compounded by an electoral system widely regarded as a fraud?
When criticized, many followers of one faith or another mistakenly perceive a personal attack, and tend to elevate the sacredness of their own individual beliefs at the expense of universal free expression, thus sullying the discourse before it can even begin.
If former Rep. Eric Massa hoped he’d get a post-resignation PR boost from his guest spot on Glenn Beck’s Fox News show Tuesday, he made some bad choices in his quest for support. Those included his selection of venue and his whimsical approach to clearing up the sexual harassment issue that played a key part in his strange, memorable exit from office.
The final tally from Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Iraq hasn’t been announced yet, but that didn’t stop Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his opponent, Ayad Allawi, from claiming victory for their respective teams.
On Sunday, hundreds of people were killed in three Nigerian villages near the city of Jos in a retaliatory massacre that might have been thwarted, according to a local governor, had the military paid attention to warning signs before it began and distress signals once it was under way.
Dubai’s Police Chief Dahi Khalfan had some fighting words for Israel on Tuesday, accusing the Israeli government of forging passports used by a hit squad of 27 suspects in the January murder of Hamas leader Mahmud al-Mabhuh, who Dubai police believe was killed by members of the Mossad.
Vice President Joe Biden went a-courtin’ in Israel on Tuesday, meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem in an effort to bring the U.S. and Israel closer and “allay that layer of mistrust that has built up in the last several years,” as Biden put it.
Fed up with a certain automotive academic who has been challenging Toyota’s claims about its car troubles, the automaker demonstrated similar problems in its competitors’ vehicles and fielded a team of experts to argue counterpoint. One of those experts runs a consulting firm for hire that once found no link between secondhand smoke and cancer. (continued)