AMERICA’S CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO HER FAVORITE DESPOTS, Truthdig “The U.S. closed the first $30 billion half of a major arms deal Thursday to send 84 F-15 fighter jets to a country that […]
Another fine read from Robert Reich
Why the Republican Crackup is Bad For America “Two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, the Republican crackup threatens the future of the Grand Old Party more profoundly than at any time since […]
Lowe’s ethical standards too low for B.C.
Lowe’s pulls TV ads – and gives a Christmas gift to Target et al, Wajahat Ali, The Guardian: “The decision by Lowe’s, behemoth chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores, to […]
America’s turmoil taking it toward disaster UPDATED
At Truthdig, Joe Conason peels recent layers of respectability that hide a reprehensible man who happens to be frontrunner in Iowa presidential caucuses. The Bigots and Billionaires in Ron Paul’s Orbit. “For […]
Would-be skippers on the Ship of Fools
The day before making her official presidential campaign announcement, in Waterloo, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, who was born and grew up in Waterloo before moving to Minnesota, told Fox News, “John Wayne was […]
Equality before the law, maybe not
News item from the streets of America: Due to harsh sentencing, a disproportionate number of young Black and Hispanic men are likely to be imprisoned for life under scenarios in which they […]
The war machine grinds on
Marines promoted inflated story for Medal of Honor winner, By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers, Dec. 14, 2011 “WASHINGTON — With Dakota Meyer standing at attention in his dress uniform, sweat glistening […]
What will you tell us next?
More sleaze reports: Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes? Federal Judge Pimp-Slaps the SEC Over Citigroup Settlement Congressional perks: Lawmakers’ most surprising benefits Super-PACs and Dark Money: ProPublica’s Guide to […]
We don’t see what we most need to notice
Take note America: the public is angry, Moisés Naím, Financial Times, October 26, 2011 “Over a century ago Alexis De Tocqueville wrote that Americans’ higher tolerance for inequality relative to Europe’s was […]
Wall Street aristocracy got US$1.2-trillion in secret loans
“Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year […]
American Taliban and spiritual warfare
Paul Rosenberg, ALJAZEERA, America’s Own Taliban Prior to 9/11, the Taliban government in Afghanistan did not register very much on American radar screens, with one notable exception: when it blew up two […]
Worth Remembering
From Ralph Deline’s blog Read My Mind: “On 4 May a rally drew approximately two thousand students, many merely curious onlookers. National Guard officers ordered the protesters to disburse, shooting tear gas […]
A Gathering Storm
From Tomgram, July 26: China’s economy soars on one side of the planet (though with a multitude of half-hidden problems). . . On the other side of the same planet, from Greece […]
Will the final loser be the G.O.P. or the U.S.A.?
Regular readers will know there is one mainstream writer for whom I have particular admiration, as a skilled wordsmith and a thoughtful humanist. Roger Ebert’s Journal is one of the finest opinion […]
Alex Pareene, next time say what you mean . . .
I have written occasional criticism of mainstream media masters but never quite like this one. I have had the opinion that, as a political analyst, George Will makes a good baseball writer. […]
"It’s like the damn planet of the apes!"
My father was born in Oregon and his father and grandfather in Arkansas, although the working class family fought for the Union side in the Civil War. For years, in work and […]
in-sights.ca 
Blair Fix at _Economics from the Top Down_ also wrote two very good papers on the converion of housing into…