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By Martha Nussbaum
$15.48
By Mark Edward Taylor
$28.00
$35
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The British PM has announced a plan to spend the equivalent of nearly half a billion dollars providing free laptops and broadbrand Internet access to 270,000 low-income families. The program will need parliament’s blessing.
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While the real-life Mrs. Robinson, an ultraconservative, “sanctity of marriage” homophobe from Northern Ireland, was shtupping a teenager, our feet were all getting bigger. Confused? Head on past the jump for clarification—and maybe even a little enlightenment.
Posted on Jan 12, 2010
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AP / Richard Drew
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By Chris Hedges — When the bailout trillions run out, Wall Street’s maladjusted gamblers will come back for more until our currency becomes junk. Not that any of these people, who exhibit the same traits as psychopaths, have thought this through.
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By Ruth Marcus — After the screw-up comes the inevitable demand for a head to roll. Call it faux-countability, the phenomenon by which someone takes the fall for a mess for which he or she is at most only partly responsible.
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The “God Hates Fags” people have a new villain: Lady Gaga. On today’s list, hear their song, find out how the rich cope with meltdown, and explore whether a Siamese twin would be libel for a murder committed by his conjoined brother.
Posted on Jan 7, 2010
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Flickr / TenSafeFrogs
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The nation’s biggest and richest state has been called ungovernable because, among other reasons, budgets and taxes have to be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Legislature. George Lakoff, the guy who gave us framing, is out to change things. (continued)
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Two Malawian men could spend the next 14 years in jail after taking part in an unofficial marriage ceremony in the southeast African country. Under the guise of the law, the couple have been subjected to beatings, they say, as well as other indignities, such as the threat of a medical examination to determine whether they’ve had sex.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Democrats can avoid a midterm rout if they get progressives excited without turning off independent voters. Here’s how.
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Transportation Security Administration
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Passengers traveling to the U.S. from or by way of certain countries on the U.S. government’s naughty list, which includes Yemen and Cuba, will be subject to “enhanced screening” starting Monday. (continued)
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AP / Muhammed Muheisen
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By Robert Fisk — The story of the Protestant "settlements" in Ireland provides a ghostly narrative of those modern-day "settlements" in the West Bank, where the Israelis insist on fighting the world’s last colonial war with the assistance of that great anti-colonial nation known as the United States.
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By William Pfaff — Iran appears to be in the throes of popular uprising, yet the U.S. and Israel continue to flirt with military intervention for dubious reasons.
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By Amy Goodman — Dennis Brutus, who fought apartheid with soaring, searing words, died in his sleep early on Dec. 26 in Cape Town, at the age of 85, but he lived with his eyes wide open.
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Wikimedia Commons / YooTube
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The New York Times picks the brain of John Yoo, who compares George W. Bush to Abraham Lincoln and says “It was my job” to write the memos that sought to legalize torture. Yoo now teaches at the University of California at Berkeley, of which he says: “I remind myself of West Berlin ... surrounded by East Germany during the Cold War.” (continued)
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AP / Evert Elzinga
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By Eugene Robinson — The United States will soon have about 100,000 troops chasing shadows in Afghanistan, not long after an airliner was nearly blown up by a terrorism suspect who had no connection to that country. What’s wrong with this picture?
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White House / Pete Souza
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By Bill Boyarsky — The flawed health care bill could still be improved if the president would stand up to the insurance companies that have, so far, been the most powerful force shaping reform.
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Flickr / Richard.Fisher
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China has plenty of Prada and an economy to match, but don’t think Beijing has gone soft on “stability preservation.” A speech published by state media shortly after a prominent dissident was thrown in the can encourages security forces to “Strike hard against hostile forces at home and abroad.”
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Twas the night before Christmas, and ... eh, screw it. Enough of Christmas. Here are the newsy bits you’ve been craving more than that pumpkin pie: The Simpsons, torture, gay marriage, crime-fighting music and more.
Posted on Dec 24, 2009
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AP
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By William Pfaff — The immense crowds gathering in Iran identify either a pre-revolutionary situation or political decadence suggesting that the end may be near, but might also be very bad.
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Collage from fly navy and soundfromwayout
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By Chris Hedges — Ralph Nader describes his new book as a “practical utopia.” His quixotic answer to Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” it is a window into the world the consumer advocate and independent presidential candidate wishes he could create.
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msnbc.com
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By Ruth Marcus — Those who denounce the Senate plan imagine that Obama and fellow Democrats possess political muscle to achieve something more. They don’t.
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China will soon become “the most powerful and influential country in the world,” says celebrated journalist Martin Jacques. But to what end?
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What have you been doing all weekend? If the answer isn’t reading about Fox’s goofy polls, the man who hid 44 lizards in his pants and great moments in Orwellandia, hop on past the jump for the weekend list and catch up.
Posted on Dec 13, 2009
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Original (minus the thumb): Senate.gov
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The health care deal the Senate and president are so excited about would scrap a public option in favor of a plan administered by the Office of Personnel Management. Guess who oversees the OPM? Joe Lieberman, unless Democrats take away his chairmanship, which they’ve shown no inclination of doing. (continued)
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U.S. Air Force / Master Sgt. Scott Reed
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By Scott Ritter — Key to Barack Obama’s surge is his expansion of targeted assassinations taking place under the guise of unmanned aerial drones operating in the Af-Pak region.
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White House / Pete Souza
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Accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Thursday, President Barack Obama acknowledged the controversy of his award, as “the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars.” He spoke of one of those wars, Afghanistan, in terms of self-defense and shared his thoughts on the concept of “just war.” (full remarks inside)
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Flickr / The Gifted Photographer / CC-BY-SA
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By Joe Conason — Evading the challenges of climate change—and the human responsibility to save the planet—is simple enough even for the laziest citizen.
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By Ellen Goodman — Countries are wrangling over everything about human-induced climate change except the increasing number of humans inducing it.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — When it comes to passing sensible gun laws, Congress typically offers Profiles in Cowardice.
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By William Pfaff — Why, if the electorate is less than enthusiastic about providing global underwriting, and would like to see others provide their own insurance, does Washington persist in its role?
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White House / Pete Souza
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By Stanley Kutler — We have a “regulation czar,” but no new regulations. It seems we can expect little from those with a track record of enabling bad policies.
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AP / Leslie E. Kossoff
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By Mike Rose — What’s new about them? They sound like the skills one would have gotten from a good 20th century education—or from a lot further back than that.
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Flickr / ianduffy
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Who needs Congress? The EPA officially determined Tuesday that “greenhouse gases (GHGs) threaten the public health and welfare of the American people.” Under the Clean Air Act and with the blessing of the Supreme Court, the agency might now be able to regulate emissions that contribute to the climate crisis. (continued)
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AP / Jens Meyer
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By Chris Hedges — The gravest danger we face as a nation is not from the far right, although it may well inherit power, but from a bankrupt liberal class that has lost the will to fight and the moral courage to stand up for what it espouses.
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cironline.org
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By Lance Williams, California Watch —
Wealthy corporate farmer Stewart Resnick (shown above with wife Lynda) has written check after check to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s campaigns, and when he needed her help, he got quick results.
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White House / Pete Souza
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — President Obama’s speech on Afghanistan and his subsequent jobs summit underscored why it’s essential to get a health care bill done quickly.
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By Joe Conason — Now it’s “Obama’s war,” but we should not ignore the events that led us to this moment and the inexplicable decisions of the Bush administration.
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U.S. Marine Corps / Gunnery Sgt. Scott Dunn
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Stephen M. Walt takes the “especially fatuous” Tom Friedman to task for one of his obstinate screeds. By the most conservative estimates, Walt explains, the U.S. has killed 30 Muslims for every American killed by Muslims, extremist or otherwise.
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AP / Charles Dharapak
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By Robert Scheer — After 30 years of failure, and thanks to the political opportunism of the current commander in chief, the Afghanistan war is still without end or logical purpose.
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By Joe Conason — The puzzling thing about politicians of either party who claim to be “centrist” or “moderate” is how much they sometimes sound like party-line right-wing Republicans.
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By Ruth Marcus — Law students may debate whether Congress has the right to mandate health insurance, but in the real world, it’s not a big worry.
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U.S. Marine Corps / Sgt. Mark Fayloga
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By David Sirota — Any hope that we aren’t turning into a full-on slobbering idiocracy was snuffed out last week by two of the Washington intelligentsia’s most respected voices.
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By William Pfaff — I have never understood the widely touted idea or assumption of China-U.S. equality or partnership or joint rule of the world or superpower partnership that has dominated the press coverage of Barack Obama’s trip to Asia.
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AP / Manuel Balce Ceneta
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Democrats in the Senate may engage in collective suicide, but it’s Republicans who, with Machiavellian brilliance, have brought the country to a halt.
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By Joe Conason — The loudest voices on the right never tire of telling us that they are the truest patriots, but when did fear-mongering in a time of war become an act of patriotism?
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By Ruth Marcus — Let’s dispense with three fallacies swirling about the question of abortion coverage in health care reform.
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Modified from an archival White House photo by David Morse
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By William Pfaff — Barack Obama has made a welcome change to the presidency, dropping the praetorian guard that used to flank his predecessor at every opportunity.
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Flickr / Rachel Zack
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That recession is over statement looks more unfortunate every day. The Department of Agriculture disclosed Monday that a little more than 49 million Americans had trouble putting food on the table last year—the highest percentage since the government began keeping track in 1995, up 13 million people from the previous year. (continued)
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The military does not rely solely on patriotic feelings to build its force, and neither should the civilian parts of government.
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By David Sirota — Save $110 billion, or spend $6.3 trillion? In recent months, tea party protesters and Congress’ so-called fiscal conservatives chose the latter.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Pro-choice Democrats need to accept that their House majority depends on a large cadre of anti-abortion colleagues. They can denounce that reality, or they can learn to live with it.
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