Clarion’s Clothiers

Insights into who funded the mysterious Clarion Fund remain few and far between, but new information about two funders surfaced this week giving a better outline of the network of donors who supported Clarion’s activities. The obituary for ‘’retail magnate’’ Sy Syms’ ran in The Forward on Tuesday and mentioned, ‘’Through the Sy Syms Foundation, Syms [...]

Torture Still Prime-Entertainment

Three Cheers for Doonesbury today! Unfortunately, prominent half-wits take their own values from this TV show. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told an assembly of judges in the summer of 2007: ““Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles . . . . He saved hundreds of thousands of lives… Are you going to convict Jack Bauer?” [...]

David Swanson Book Event

David Swanson, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, author of Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union and recent guest on Antiwar Radio, will be giving a talk and signing some books at St. Bede’s Church in Mar Vista, California (near Venice) Monday, November 23, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. 3590 Grand View Blvd., 90066 in [...]

Lou Dobbs: ‘US Troops Out Now!’

I don’t know how I missed it, but Lou Dobbs has called for immediate withdrawal of US troops. From Afghanistan? YES! From Iraq? YES! From Germany, Japan, South Korea, and everywhere else around the world? YES! He even has a petition on his Website! Here’s Lou Dobbs, in his own words:

County GOP Goes Non-Interventionist? Not Yet…

Last week the executive committee of the Alameda County (Calif) Republican Central Committee approved a resolution to be voted on by the full committee calling for a non-interventionist foreign policy. Alameda County covers the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, with about 1.5 million people. Tuesday night the full committee met. [...]

E.J. Dionne Jr. | Obama's Afghan Third Way

Washington - When there is no good solution to a problem, a president has three options. One is to avoid the problem. The second is to pick the least bad of the available options. The third is to mix and match among the proposed solutions and minimize the long-term damage any decision will cause.

Afghanistan has presented President Obama with exactly this situation, and he is soon likely to settle on something closest to the third approach. This will make no one very happy. Yet it might be the least dangerous choice.

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The Insincerity of the Public Option Haters

When Sen. Joe Lieberman first announced he would filibuster any health care bill with a public option, I noted that he lied, falsely calling the public option an "entitlement program" that would be "trouble ... for the national debt." In fact, the public option is an "option," not an entitlement, which would help our federal government save money.

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A Tale of Two Immigrants: Deportation of Popular Businessman Shocks Massachusetts Community

Great Barrington, Massachusetts - Until this fall, Albaro Francisco was living the classic American dream: A penniless immigrant, he came to this country as a teenager, worked hard, made his way up the economic ladder and became the owner of a successful business. Seemingly, he had a great future.

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Naomi Klein on Climate Debt: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations to Poor Countries for the Climate Crisis

With the Copenhagen climate summit in two weeks, best-selling journalist Naomi Klein examines the grass-roots movement behind the climate debate proposal that argues all the costs associated with adapting to a more hostile ecology—everything from building stronger sea walls to switching to cleaner, more expensive technologies—are the responsibility of the countries that created the crisis. Klein also discusses the 10th anniversary of the Seattle WTO protests and the 10th anniversary of her first book, "No Logo."

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Should We Defend Undocumented Workers?

One winter morning in 1996, Border Patrol agents charged into a Los Angeles street-corner clinic where 40 day laborers had lined up to be tested for AIDS. One worker, Omar Sierra, had just taken his seat, and a nurse had inserted the needle for drawing the blood. As agents of the migra ran across the street and sidewalk, Sierra jumped up, tore off the tourniquet, pulled the needle out of his vein and ran.

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Democracy Now! 2009-11-23 Monday

Headlines for November 23, 2009; By 60-39 Vote, Senate Agrees to Open Debate on Healthcare Bill; Naomi Klein on Climate Debt: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations To Poor Countries For The Climate Crisis.

Democracy Now! 2009-11-20 Friday

Headlines for November 20, 2009; As UC Regents Approve Major Tuition Hike, Students, Faculty Decry Erosion of Public Education in CA and Nationwide; On 20th Anniversary of Killings of 6 Jesuit Priests by US-Backed Salvadoran Forces, Thousands to Protest "School of the Assassins" at Ft. Benning; Israel Under Widespread International Criticism for Settlement Expansion Plan

Democracy Now! 2009-11-19 Thursday

Headlines for November 19, 2009; Shunning Dissidents, Obama Leaves China Without Firm Pledges on Trade, Climate; Iraq Vote in Limbo with Veto of Election Law; As Wall Street Posts Record Profits and US Hunger Rate Grows, Robert Scheer Asks: "Where Is the Community Organizer We Elected?"

Democracy Now! 2009-11-18 Wednesday

Headlines for November 18, 2009; EXCLUSIVE: Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart Responds to Court Ruling Upholding Conviction and Ordering Her to Prison; Amidst California Fiscal Crisis and Political Gridlock, Scholar and Activist George Lakoff Proposes Ballot Measure to End 2/3 Rule in State Legislature; "The Card Game" - New Doc Investigates History of Credit Card Industry and Proposals for Reform