It's very authoritative because Dean spent time at the nexus of political power in the Nixon Administration witnessing the stress of a war gone bad during a scandal. The implications of his insight should satisfy many of Obama's supporters who want to prosecute war crimes. Presidents can't always do what is right.

The interview itself is only moderately interesting, but my attention was caught by the participants. Alternet is one of my favorite organizations, and Liliana Segura is one of their best writers. My daughter has read Howard Zinn's Young People's History. I am impressed enough that I will probably be one of the two million to buy the adult version.

This is a four-page article that lays out the comparison between our situation now and that of Germany after WWI. Talk about fascism has been co-opted by the right since the election of Obama. Nancy Pelosi has been compared to Hitler, and Obama to Madoff, but the danger of fascism has not gone away. It is good that Freeman has brought up the subject again in a serious way, continuing the watch begun during the Bush presidency. Democracy is by no means safe.

Excuse the excitement very much but there isn't much to this story. It's about 5% news and 95% hyperventilation. The headline is just the most depressing example of shoddy journalism. This thing was posted on msnbc.com too with no editing. It appears that General Electric is pissed over the drubbing Jim Cramer took. Also, the bosses at NBC told the troops not to mention the Cramer debacle, and even Olbermann and Maddow had to obey.

Is it the kind of journalism that sells these days? No, it's only 5 miles from the border of naivete, and you can almost feel the emotions of the writer. There isn't enough of the big-shot authority in it to convince people who don't like to do their own thinking. The writer is just too excitable at a time when it's best to be more cynical. It suggests that Obama-Clinton-Mitchell want to, and have a chance to stand up to the raging bulls of the Middle East while lifting up those ... More »

I think it's very timely as conservative talk radio is under scrutiny because of Limbaugh's confession. The article deserves wide distribution for its examination of the situation in California, which is often the harbinger of things to come nationwide. I like it because it doesn't stray into ideology or opinion, but just tells it like it is right now. I offer my appreciation to the writer for helping me keep my attention on this important aspect of our pollitics.

Just the kind of thing we need but on a larger scale. A cooperative effort which puts the reality of political life into the spotlight without undue recrimination. It really brings up the question of whether we have the political will to solve some of these problems facing our public servants or will we continue to let them come up with their own solutions, which inevitably go against the public interest.

I like this article because it puts the arrow right into the heart of its subject, and because it came through several portholes before it got to me, Progressive Populist, The Institute for Southern Studies, and Buzzflash. It's like hearing a name for your disease. You don't like it, but at least you know what it is. It's not JUST racism, it's oligarchy. Bob Corker knows how to get to the top and stay there. You put on your spikes and climb up there on the backs of your fellow ... More »

It is like a voice (or two) crying in the wilderness, "Make zero tolerance the basis of your Middle East policy". I comes loud and clear from the tiny crevice between those who claim "This land is my land.' and those who claim, "This land is my land". It is a plea arising from the horrendous putrid rash that continues to develop and worsen in the lands so many refer to as "holy". This has been going on during my whole lifetime, and has forced me to abandon any sense of faith, ... More »

This is legitimate critcism from the progressive community about an issue that has gained in urgency every year since Ronald Reagan. Segura treats it with the intensity it deserves while showing no trace of anger or frustration. The separation of church and state is as important to democracy as voting rights are.

It asks a good question, even if it doesn't fully answer it, but then how can one fully explain why McCain is such a dick? My theory is that he is suffering from dementia, and all those around him are being studiously clueless like those around Reagan in the late White House years. Who has the clappers necessary to remove a belligerent momma's boy from such a position of influence? At least Mike Madden has the cohens to fly at the subject on an oblique course, and I commend him ... More »

As an intelligence report it is hard to find fault. Behind the report is a courageous reporter and behind him, the courageous defenders of human rights, including the officials of the SPLC. It shouldn't be surprising that there are hate groups in the world, given the fact that the world itself is a vicious place. The surprising thing is that there are so many people who are struggling to establish a new kind of world in which terror, hatred, and viciousness have all but died out. ... More »

This is a journal entry that makes its author feel good about himself but doesn't have much connection to reality. It's Frank Barnes' opinion, and that is all. He is in a distinct minority that still believes that the Bush tax cuts have kept the economy from tanking even more deeply than it has. It's irrational to find nothing good to say about a man whose political talents outshine Clinton and even Reagan. Roosevelt and Lincoln were dead before I was born, so I won't invoke ... More »

It's journalism. Anybody can keep a journal. A stupid person will keep a stupid journal. The problem these days is there are pleny of publications that are willing ot publish stupid journal entries. The fundamental assumption of the article is that the cartoon is racist. It isn't necessarily racist. It does condone and even encourage assassination. The cartoon is drenched in violence of various kinds, violence against animals, police brutality (one shot would have killed the ... More »

It is what it claims to be, a letter from Atlanta, a mysterious place utterly unknown to me, a far-north white small-town boy. Somehow, in a tiny space, Cobb manages to give me a flavor, a whiff, of what it might have been like to be black in Atlanta. He does it by making me look through the milky corneas of an old black woman who lived in Atlanta her whole life. An act of charity, a spark of interest, and an attitude of humility made this remarkable piece possible. Though it ... More »

This article grounds itself in the recent past and makes a good projection into the near future of what dangers we face as a democracy because of the violence-loving right wing of the now practically defunct GOP. Ironically, in preparing for the permanent Republican majority, the Bush Administration handed over a military honed to a razor's edge in Iraq, and plenty of precedent for violating and ignoring the Constitution in the name of national securtiy. A civil war would be the ... More »

Chris Hedges puts himself in line with Naomi Wolf and Naomi Klein among others whose urgent warnings about the future permeate every line. The age of optimism is over, the age of denial is not. Hedges has an impressive world view, and he is not afraid of criticism. This article lays out the likely course of events that even the National Security establishment is beginning to make public. It is looking more and more like those who cashed in during the Bush years were aware of the ... More »

My compliments to the Boston Globe for featuring this economics special report. Dean Baker has thought this through in the course of his research and produced a superb article laying out the way to regulate the economy in a fair and deliberate way, forsaking the "more or less" regulation model that has only served to obfuscate the motives of the political factions. What more can you ask of a reporter?

This seems to be Barney Frank himself, that's the way he talks, but to see his thoughts in writing is even more impressive. Only someone of his stature on the national stage could bring this subject up in public without losing his seat. The military is a scary institution, and has been joined by industry, corporations, financial institutions, and government itself in greedy competition for money and power. Unless there is a great reckoning led by the Obama Administration and this ... More »

This is a clear mismatch between one journalist who is trying to entertain people who don't know how to think (Goldberg) and one who works very hard to keep the truth in front of people who do (Boelert). Obviously Boelert has the more difficult and time-consuming task. For anyone who has the time, patience, and interest, Boelert's criticism of Goldberg's criticism of the press is very rewarding. It is the tactic of the misunderstood conservative writer's club to hide the obvious ... More »

Despite its deliberately informal and self-deprecating style, this article is a sophisticated but futile attempt to take on the advanced cancer that is killing America. Just like Rome, we are now in a position where we may be only able to choose amongst the disasters we need to find our way out of the hell we have created in the name of "democracy" and "capitalism". As the author points our, these things are not easy to contemplate from the inside. I have been able to watch it ... More »

I read this article three times. I seldom do that, and I love it when a writer is that interesting. Seymour resolves some of the perplexity attendant upon the attitudes and positions that writers and politicians who could have been called "liberal" before 9/11 apparently abandoned their positions in favor of invading Iraq. I can't summarize the piece easily because its logic is systemic. You must begin at the beginning and read all the way to the end. Then repeat as needed.

It is somewhat whimsical and half-serious, which makes it neither funny nor profound. I get a whiff of Thomas Friedman when the parade of point support goes by. The reasons for the public's switching parties can't all be put in the spending category. Carter lost the election on national securty and macho grounds. The article doesn't treat transitions from Republican to Democrat regimes, which at least leaves me suspicious of his point.

Chris Hedges comes down somewhere between the two Naomi's. He has no doubt about his convictions, and his conversation with Sheldon Wolin has only reinforced his belief. The underlying truth of the crisis is that there is a lot of money floating around, but people have no faith in it. The stimulus is made up of phantom value, and more of it will be demanded in the future. When Americans and other peoples finally perceive that they have lost practically everything, they are going ... More »

I certainly appreciate the information, and hope that it is just a symtom of the kind of reporting we will see in the future from all our media outlets. It is characteristic of the quality often achieved when two or more reporters collaberate on a complicated investigation and report.

I might recommend it to those who are opposed to the inclusion of loan guarantees to nuclear and coal interests. It isn't long enough to be excellent journalism. It's barely news at all, rather good news for a narrow interest group and some much needed publicity for NIRS.