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By Tony Blair
$18.89
By Chris Hedges
$20.75
$17
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By Ellen Goodman — Somewhere in the waning hours of this interminable primary, I found myself channeling Barack Obama as he began a long overdue and eagerly anticipated conversation ... on gender.
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Flickr / Jeff Keen
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For the working poor who depend on food stamps to feed their families, it’s hard enough keeping up with inflation, let alone the steep price of food these days. Even in the richest country on Earth, the cost of basic foods has a huge impact on families that count every dollar, and benefits simply aren’t keeping pace.
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Well, as you’ve probably noticed by now, John Edwards has publicly backed Barack Obama as his candidate of choice. There’s just one problem, as Stephen Colbert reminds us: Edwards previously said on Colbert’s show that he’d support the candidate who pledged to do the most for the nation’s poor—and the one who supplied him with a jet ski. But he hasn’t gotten that jet ski yet, has he now, Mr. Obama?
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AP photo / Charles Rex Arbogast
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John Edwards announced his endorsement of Barack Obama on Wednesday. Edwards’ support has long been coveted by both Democratic candidates, particularly because of his populist appeal. Indeed, he won about 7 percent of the vote in West Virginia, despite having dropped out of the race at the end of January.
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AP photo / Joao Padua
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Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, will face a confidence vote in the next 90 days as opposition groups continue their push to remove him from power. The vote comes on the tail of last week’s unofficial and meaningless referendum for autonomy in which the wealthy state of Santa Cruz voted for greater independence from the federal government.
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Flickr / John Edwards 2008
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As North Carolinians head to the polls, John Edwards, their former senator, has disclosed that after months of being politically courted he will not endorse any candidate in the Democratic primaries. The two-time presidential contender and his wife, Elizabeth, recently sat down with People magazine to explain what they like—and don’t like—about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
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A star reporter for the Los Angeles Times has written a clear, even elegant anatomy of an economy that is much worse than you probably think.
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By David Sirota — Congress is ravaged by a disease inside the Washington Beltway inhibiting emotions like compassion and integrity. As the housing crisis intensifies, this malady is getting worse.
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AP photo / H. Rumpf Jr.
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By Paul Cummins — Much is made of the dropout rate in America’s schools, and usually it’s the students who are the focus of the discussion. But what happens when teachers themselves opt out of their roles in the classroom? [In this short analysis, Truthdig educational expert Paul Cummins looks at teachers’ heartbreak, frustration and depression.]
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AP photo / Monica Matiauda
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Former Roman Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo’s campaign against poverty has won him the presidency of Paraguay, a country that has been ruled by the same conservative party for 61 years—arguably longer than the run of any party in any other country.
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By Eugene Robinson — Much has changed in the years since Martin Luther King Jr.‘s death, and yet many black Americans struggle now more than ever. We must acknowledge progress if we are to take up the work that is left incomplete.
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Kelly Branan
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Forty years after his death, Martin Luther King, one of the great prophets of American democracy, has been reduced to little more than a lifeless statue. Yet his courageous call for peace and criticism of his government at a time of war must not be lost to history.
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By Amy Goodman — It has been 40 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel.
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By David Sirota — For all the hype about generational and gender wars in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, we have a class war on our hands. And incredibly, corporate America’s preferred candidate is winning the poorer “us” versus the wealthier “them.”
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todbrilliant.com
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Paul Krugman argues in Friday’s New York Times that if the Democrats win in 2008, it will be because of their big ideas, and for that, Krugman writes, “they’ll have Mr. Edwards to thank.” He’s got a point. Does anyone remember that John Edwards was the first one out of the gate with a bold health care plan that bears a striking resemblance to the bold health care plans that followed?
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With mere days left before Super Tuesday and down to just two candidates, Thursday’s Democratic debate in Los Angeles gave voters a crucial eleventh-hour look at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who kept things friendly enough while staking out their differences on several key issues—health care, the economy and, most importantly, the Iraq war.
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observer.com
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Pledging to soldier on in his quest to fight poverty, Democratic candidate John Edwards dropped out of the presidential race Wednesday. Edwards has not yet endorsed either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. His two former rivals both praised him Wednesday as he made his exit.
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By Marie Cocco — House Republicans were able to keep an extension of unemployment benefits out of the recently announced stimulus package, which is too bad, since it’s one measure that would actually help the ailing economy.
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By Chalmers Johnson — A powerful new book by a young South Korean-born economist at Cambridge University provides a compelling critique of the contradictions and hypocrisies of globalization and neoliberalism. The perfect antidote to the nostrums of Thomas Friedman.
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AP photo / Haraz N. Ghanbari
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“Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
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Angel Boligan, El Universal, Mexico City —
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AP photo / Matthew Putney
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By Bill Boyarsky — John Edwards’ words at the last Iowa Democratic debate sounded so out of tune with this year’s campaign discourse—and so sensible and important—that the man might as well have been campaigning on another planet.
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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to demolish thousands of public housing units in New Orleans this weekend, despite an urgent need for affordable homes in the city. This video explains why, and what you can do about it.
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AP photo / Thibault Camus
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Unrest has broken out in the city of Toulouse in southern France as riots continued for a third night in Paris. France’s prime minister has called the youths involved “criminals,” and President Nicolas Sarkozy has scheduled an emergency meeting of his security staff for Wednesday.
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AP photo / Thibault Camus
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French youths rioted for a second night in the suburbs of Paris, injuring nearly 80 police officers and torching more than 70 buildings and cars. Police officials said the violence was “far worse” than two years ago, when rioters set fire to 10,000 cars and 300 buildings over three weeks.
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By Eugene Robinson — We think of the United States as a land of unlimited possibility, not so much a classless society, but as a place where class is mutable—a place where brains, energy and ambition are what counts, not the circumstances of one’s birth. But three important new studies suggest that Horatio Alger doesn’t live here anymore.
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whitehouse.gov
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Along with family gatherings and counting one’s blessings, Thanksgiving has come to signify a rather rosy view of the unity of American society. This weekend, however, two largely overlooked news items—one about unexpected financial issues that some wounded American veterans face and another about hunger in New York City—tell a different story.
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By Eugene Robinson — I can’t summon any schadenfreude for Winfrey, just sympathy—both for her good intentions and her determination to live up to them. And I pity anyone foolish enough to stand in her way.
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The “Real Time” host takes aim at the über-rich, as well as the disadvantaged who vote against their own economic self-interests, because “In America it’s not the haves and have nots, it’s the haves and been hads.”
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Dario Castillejos, Dario La Crisis —
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — You know the religious right is in trouble when some of its leaders threaten to bolt the Republican Party if it nominates a candidate who supports abortion rights. But the well-publicized warning directed against Rudy Giuliani earlier this month is decidedly not the most important sign that religious conservatives are facing the disintegration of their movement.
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By Eugene Robinson — To say that George W. Bush spends money like a drunken sailor is to insult every gin-soaked patron of every dockside dive in every dubious port of call.
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The House has passed an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program but failed to win enough votes to override President Bush’s promised veto. Still, SCHIP has overwhelming public support, and Democrats welcomed the opportunity to force Bush and his congressional allies to take a stand against poor children.
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AP photo / Charles Rex Arbogast
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Truthdig regulars Sheerly Avni, James Harris and Josh Scheer put their heads together to try to figure out why the big problems that plague our communities never get solved.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — This week’s showdown over children’s health insurance is the first skirmish in the new battle for universal health coverage. It is also the first confrontation between the president and Congress fought out almost entirely on terms set by the new Democratic majority.
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AP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
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By Chris Hedges — Bill Clinton has written a new book about charity, a fitting subject for a president who betrayed the poor and led his party into the arms of corporate America.
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AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
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Truthdig regulars Sheerly Avni, James Harris and Josh Scheer put their heads together to try to figure out why the big problems that plague our communities never get solved.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — One of the many lessons we should have learned from Hurricane Katrina is that Americans care about the suffering of other Americans, no matter how much the media would rather cover glitz and scandal.
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By Bill Boyarsky — Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. both understood the relationship between war abroad and poverty at home—an insight, says Boyarsky, that the nation sorely needs right now.
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By Sharon Scranage — Students aren’t the only ones who worry about grades—teachers also have to meet performance standards and follow curricula dictated by their districts. However, as educator Sharon Scranage points out, teachers working with socioeconomically disadvantaged children have to deal with even greater challenges without the aid of a specific “core” curriculum to address their students’ special needs.
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Defying President Bush’s promise to veto the bill, House Democrats approved a broad expansion of the popular SCHIP program that would offer healthcare coverage to millions more poor children. The Senate version appears likely to pass, which would force Bush to make good on his vow and in the process deny poor children fiscally responsible healthcare.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Say what you will about John Edwards’ expensive haircut, he’s been an integral player in changing the national conversation on poverty.
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Kudos to PBS for hosting an excellent debate—or “All American Presidential Forum” as it’s known in public television land. The event featured a “panel of color” asking questions on a range of often-ignored topics. And did we mention equal time for all candidates? What a novel concept.
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AP Photo / Leslie Mazoch
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Renowned sociologist Dr. Troy Duster discusses the war on drugs, race, public policy and the 2008 election.
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AP Photo / Leslie Mazoch
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Renowned sociologist Dr. Troy Duster discusses the war on drugs, race, public policy and the 2008 election.
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boingboing.net
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First daughter Jenna Bush (left) may be known for late-night reveling and getting kicked out of Argentina, but HarperCollins is betting at least $300,000 that she has enough gravitas to carry off a nonfiction book about AIDS and poverty in the Third World. According to Radar Online, “Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope” is bad, but at least Jenna (unlike her dad) endorses the condom.
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AP Photo / Evan Vucci
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By Chris Hedges — When it comes to abortion, the Christian right presents a false choice between self-condemnation and a life of struggle. Until the impoverished and imperiled, so frequently driven into the arms of demagogues, are truly cared for, the freedom of all women will be at risk.
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Immigration: Time to Choose Sides
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