Truthout
Fiddling While the US Economy Burns
We know we live in hard times that are on the verge of getting harder with 500,000 new claims for unemployment last week, a recent record.
The stock market may be over for now as fear and panic drives small investors out. Big corporations hoard stashes of cash rather then hire workers. The D-Word (depression) is back in play.
Foreclosures are up, and the Administration’s programs to stop them are down, well below their stated goals, only helping one-sixth of those promised assistance.
Obama Plays Down Plan for Post-2011 Iraq Troop Presence
Washington, - When the Barack Obama administration unveiled its plan last week for an improvised State Department-controlled army of contractors to replace all U.S. combat troops in Iraq by the end of 2011, critics associated with the U.S. command attacked the transition plan, insisting that the United States must continue to assume that U.S. combat forces should and can remain in Iraq indefinitely.
But the differences between the administration and its critics over the issue of a long-term U.S. presence may be more apparent than real.
Social Security: The Republicans Are Right
President Obama comments on Social Security privatization in the last week sound like something that he stole from the playbook of the last Democrat in the White House. Just as President Clinton tried to tell us that the veracity of one of his statements on the Lewinski affair depended on "what your definition of 'is' is," President Obama is telling us that he will stand up against Republican plans to privatize Social Security.
News in Brief: CIA May Have Been Pakistan Pawn, and More ...
CIA May Have Unwittingly Undermined Taliban-Afghanistan Peace
How Has it Come to This?
The scene is post-apocalyptic. Under a grey sky, two families play in the surf just off the beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana. To get to the beach, we walk past a red, plastic barrier fence that until very recently was there to keep people away from the oil-soaked area. Now, there are a few openings that beach goers can use. The fence is left largely intact, I presume, for when they will need to close the beach again when the next invasion of BP’s oil occurs.
Skepticism Widespread in Mideast Over New Peace Talks
Jerusalem - As the Obama administration heralded a new round of face-to-face talks on Mideast peace, the abiding reaction across the region Friday was skepticism, with many expressing doubt that conditions are ripe for much to come from negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
The talks are set to resume Sept. 2 after nearly two years.
Several coalition partners of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as members of his Likud Party, have threatened to topple him if he proceeds with some of the compromises the Palestinians expect in peace talks, such as an Israeli withdrawal from some Jewish settlements.
A Permanent Housing Collapse?
The recent chaos that erupted when 30,000 people waited hours in the Atlanta, Georgia, heat to receive applications for subsidized housing is a mere symptom of a worsening national problem.
The housing market appears to be on a never-ending downward spiral, with the much-discussed "recovery" always around the next corner.
The reasons that such a recovery is impossible at the moment should be obvious: millions of people do not have jobs; millions of others work only part time; millions more work full-time but make very little money; and additional millions fear losing their jobs.
Three Pillars of a Food Revolution
As marketers learn to fake climate-friendly food, how do we spot the real thing? Anna Lappé says it's a question of values.
How Polling Places Can Affect Your Vote
Researchers argue the physical location of the polls not only affects how many people vote; it may also influence last-minute decisions regarding which box to mark or lever to pull.
"Not Written in Stone: Learning and Unlearning American History Through 200 Years of Textbooks"
"Not Written in Stone: Learning and Unlearning
American History Through 200 Years of Textbooks"
By Kyle Ward, The New Press, 304 pages, $22.50 paperback.
GOP Backslide Finds Suitable Nemesis: It's the Constitution, Stupid!
Haven't we seen this barefaced sideshow before? The GOP sabotages another Democratic president "to save America." Predictably, racism has made wary, less culpable Obama an easier mark than wayward Clinton. Deserved and not, abuse heaped on Clinton, today's most popular politician, portrayed a sex-crazed, flimflam American, distinct from the socialist-Nazi-Muslim-foreign-born illegal who menaces our freedom.
Costa Rica: US Warships Cause Unease
Costa Rica is wary of plans to allow US Naval ships to dock on its shores.
San Jose, Costa Rica - A U.S. warship capable of deploying more than 1,000 military personnel and dozens of helicopters is headed this way — right for Costa Rica's peaceful Caribbean coast.
Look Out, Palin, Arizona Governor Really Can See a Foreign Land
Yuma, Arizona - Move over, Sarah Palin, there's another rising star in the Republican Party.
Little-known even at home two years ago and locked in a tough three-way race for her party's nomination just months ago, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, 65, now has driven Republican rivals from the race, is coasting to the nomination in a primary next Tuesday and is poised to win election to a full term.
Suburban Sprawl and the Decline of Social Capital
Why Long Commutes Are Bad for the American Body and Mind
Suburban sprawl has long been criticized by urban scholars and intellectuals as damaging to the American mind and environment. On the psychological level, it is seen as damaging to communities, preventing the development of closer relations between residents of suburbs who spend more and more of their time commuting to jobs, and suffer from living within "subdivisions" with little in terms of civic cultural experiences.
Sprawl, simply defined, consists of the outward expansion of metropolitan areas, accompanied by the rise of communities with lower population density.
Deepwater Horizon Long Slog Continues
Washington - Looking towards September, National Incident Commander Adm. Thad Allen told a room of reporters at the National Press Club on Friday that he expects the Macondo well may finally be sealed. Getting to that point, however, he warned, would require an uninterrupted flow of successes. "We are not done. Nobody's declared mission complete," he said.
Family, US Offer Differing Versions of Deadly Afghan Raid
Kabul, Afghanistan - When Ismail Nemati set out from Kabul last week to join his family in nearby Wardak province for the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, friends said, his biggest fear was running into Taliban forces who might question his allegiances.
Before sunrise the next day, Nemati lay bleeding in his family guest room, alongside two of his brothers, all shot dead by U.S. special forces who were on the hunt for a Taliban leader.
Pakistan: Flood Disaster Resembles "Slow Tsunami"
Aid groups struggle to reach devastated regions as flood waters leave millions homeless.
Geneva - With an area the size of Italy now underwater and largely inaccessible, Pakistan needs immediate massive relief that the United States has the logistics capability and resources to provide.
But the last few years of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have made it politically difficult for the U.S. to deploy military helicopters and transport planes, even on humanitarian missions, especially in areas struggling with extremist groups.
Debt, Democracy and Paying Our Fair Share
It wasn't that long ago that the "smart" thing was to take on debt. But not anymore. It's no surprise that people today fear being crushed by debt. But for our own and our country's well being, we need to put government debt into perspective.
First, frugality is certainly a virtue, and buying only what you can pay for from cash on hand is often, but not always, prudent. Many of us have used home, automobile, business and student loans. In most cases, those were not bad decisions, even though it took years or even decades to pay them off.
Iran to Begin Fueling Nuclear Reactor - and That's Good News
Washington - Iran is set to cross a new nuclear threshold, but it's one the Obama administration isn't worried about.
On Saturday, technicians are scheduled to begin loading low-enriched uranium fuel supplied by Russia into Iran's first civilian nuclear reactor, and if all goes smoothly, the Bushehr plant could start producing electricity under United Nations monitoring late this year or early next.
Bushehr embodies what the administration and many experts consider an ideal solution to the Iranian nuclear dispute