Mass. Pushes Mandatory Health Insurance

In what would amount to the country’s first universal coverage plan, the Massachusetts Legislature approved a bill that will require all its residents to buy health insurace or face legal penalties.
How did they finally eke out a winning strategy for such a long-sought goal? The program is modeled on the state’s policy on auto insurance.

Posted on Apr 4, 2006 READ MORE  | 60 READS

Saddam Charged for 1980s Gassing of Halabja

The Iraqi tribunal charged Hussein on Tuesday with new criminal charges—steming from the late 1980s gassing that allegedy left 5,000 civilians dead. (more)

Posted on Apr 4, 2006 READ MORE  | 38 READS

Time: Card Was Pushed Out

The newsweekly reports about Bush’s recently departed chief of staff: “Card did not want to go. But he ‘heard the tom-toms.’ ”

The magazine also writes that Card’s replacement, Josh Bolten, has “less disdain for the press and more interest in policy.”

Posted on Apr 4, 2006 READ MORE  | 19 READS

Drone Aircraft May Prowl U.S. Skies

The Congress hears from police agencies that envision using unmanned military drones for surveillance—in one troubling example, high above American cities.

Posted on Apr 4, 2006 READ MORE  | 25 READS

U.S. Military Wants Control of Telecom Spectrum

A sobering report commissioned by Rumsfeld details how U.S. military planners want to take control of the Earth’s electromagnetic spectrum, allowing America to dominate telcommunications for propaganda and psy-ops purposes.

Posted on Apr 4, 2006 READ MORE  | 40 READS

Barack Obama Slams Bush’s Oil Policy

The Illinois senator says Bush’s “plan” to reduce dependence on oil is “like admitting alcoholism and then skipping the 12-step program.”

Posted on Apr 4, 2006 READ MORE  | 26 READS

No Further DeLay

The scandal-tarred former House majority leader won’t seek reelection to Congress and intends to resign in May or June.
(more)

Posted on Apr 3, 2006 READ MORE  | 20 READS

Russert Grills McCain on his Hard-Right Stances

The Arizona senator tries (and fails) to explain why he’s voting for tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. He also lamely tries to explain his newfound embrace of Jerry Falwell, the man he once called “an agent of intolerance.” (video)

Posted on Apr 3, 2006 READ MORE  | 21 READS

Stewart Serves up Steaming Satire on Immigration

When Sen. Bill Frist calls it “workable” to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, Stewart replies, “It’s absolutely workable! Just think about Elian Gonzalez. How easy that was!” (video)

Posted on Apr 3, 2006 READ MORE  | 78 READS

Bill Maher Takes on Christian Paranoia

Maher tells Christians, “If you’re going to be that paranoid all the time, just get high.” (video)

Posted on Apr 2, 2006 READ MORE  | 60 READS

Reporting in the Red Zone

The American Journalism Review chronicles the perilous conditions under which NPR reporter Deborah Amos and others like her work to get the hardest stories in Iraq—those found outside the Green Zone.

Posted on Apr 2, 2006 READ MORE  | 26 READS

U.S. Project to Build Iraqi Hospitals Falls Badly Short

After two years and roughly $200 million expended, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects to complete only 20 out of 142 primary health centers. The World Health Organization’s rep calls it “shocking.”

Posted on Apr 2, 2006 READ MORE  | 14 READS

Gen. Zinni Calls on Rumsfeld to Resign

The former commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East called on the secretary of defense and other Bush officials to resign for making a “series of disastrous mistakes” in Iraq. (video)

Posted on Apr 2, 2006 READ MORE  | 12 READS

Desperation in Iraq

“The United States, in its hubris, helped bring all this to pass,” says a Sunday New York Times editorial about the mounting horrors in Iraq…(more)

Posted on Apr 2, 2006 READ MORE  | 41 READS

Iraqi Blogger Laments Rise of Clerics

The young, U.K.-raised Iraqi dentist—whose writing has run in the Washington Post—says this in a recent blog: “Islamic clerics (of all denominations) never fail to disgust me…(more)

Posted on Apr 2, 2006 READ MORE  | 7 READS