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Where our defense money goes

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Boston Globe - By Bob Edgar, Bill Goodfellow - Aug. 05 (Opinion) - The same week the Senate voted to cut funding for additional F-22s, for a savings of $1.75 billion, the Senate Armed Services Committee added another $9 billion in earmarks to the 2010 defense authorization bill. Earmarks direct money to a specific program or company in a member’s district for something that has not been requested by the Pentagon and has not been subject to any public review or hearing. It is a gift from a member to a constituent, a gesture that usually is repaid with a generous campaign contribution.

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Action at State Department on Tar Sands - World's Dirtiest Oil

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Jun. 26 (Press Release) - The Canadian Tar Sands are located a day’s drive from Glacier National Park and are one of the most destructive projects on Earth. Already visible from space, the Tar Sands, - a lunar landscape of 'sacrifice zone' -are scheduled to grow to the size of Michigan. Tar Sands oil production generates 3-5 times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventional oil. Production of Tar Sands oil destroys fresh drinking water, pollutes the air, and razes some of the world’s last remaining endangered forests. Dirty Tar Sands oil cannot be made clean by technological solutions.

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Drinking from Plastic Bottles 'Increases Exposure to Gender-Bending Chemical'

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Telegraph - By Murray Wardrop - May. 22 (News Report) - Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that polycarbonate containers release the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) into liquid stored in them. BPA has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans.

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What Was I Fighting For?

Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Rick Reyes - May. 21 (Opinion) - I never detained or arrested anyone guilty of a crime. I witnessed firsthand the ineffectiveness of US military strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, I didn't fully grasp the extent of these failed foreign policies or our government's deception until I returned home from war. Realizing there never were weapons of mass destruction, and that we would have difficulty tracking terrorists even if we had committed all the troops in our military, I felt as though my patriotism had been exploited for political gain. A select few were profiting from these wars, while the majority of Americans shouldered the enormous tax burden.

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"How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America"

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Robert Weissman, Harvey Rosenfield - Mar. 04 (Investigative Report) - "The financial sector invested more than $5 billion in political influence-purchasing in Washington over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the current financial collapse.

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Coen Brothers Direct New "Clean Coal" Ad

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - Feb. 26 (Advocacy) - The Reality Campaign has released a new ad. They're the folks behind the widely-played ad that featured a foreman in a hard hat taking viewers on a tour of a non-existent clean coal facility. In this new ad, a pitchman gives us the hard sell on a "Clean Coal Clean"-scented air freshener that works just as well as "clean coal."

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Senate's socialist scores a win

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By Lisa Lerer - Feb. 12 (News Report) - Sanders is often dismissed as a novelty in two-party Washington. But the move toward heightened corporate regulation moves him a step closer to the political mainstream. The Vermont independent spent 16 years in the House and has spent another two in the Senate railing against corporate greed and the rising income gap.

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Investing in Our Human Infrastructure: The Real Wealth of Our Nation Is Its People

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

files.tikkun.org - By Riane Eisler - Feb. 05 (Opinion) - Over half a million people lost their jobs last month. There's no question we need a job-creation plan. The real question is what kind of plan will most quickly stimulate the economy and at the same time provide the best long-term investment for our nation. Let's urge President Obama and Congress to use the American Recovery and Reinvestment Job-Creation Plan to massively invest in our human infrastructure: that is, in human capacity development. Investment in our material infrastructure (bridges, roads, etc.) and our natural infrastructure (green jobs, etc.) is certainly important. But study after study shows that when our nation invests in its people, starting in childhood, the economic benefits are enormous. By creating, subsidizing, and providing training for jobs in childcare, early education, healthcare, eldercare, and other "caring industries," as well as supporting caring work in homes, we quickly stimulate the economy, help families, radically reduce poverty and violence, reward women's economic contributions, save billions in crime and prisons - and develop the "high quality human capital" needed for our post-industrial economy.

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NSA Spied on Journalists? Whistleblower Reveals Surveillance Target

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Olbermann, Russell Tice - Jan. 22 (News Report) - In an exclusive interview tonight on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," former NSA analyst Russell Tice says that the agency under the Bush administration secretly collected communications data on civilians, including journalists.

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Mumbai was not our 9/11

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Arundhati Roy - Dec. 13 (Opinion) - ...But November isn't September, 2008 isn't 2001, Pakistan isn't Afghanistan and India isn't America. So perhaps we should reclaim our tragedy and pick through the debris with our own brains and our own broken hearts so that we can arrive at our own conclusions

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Homes with No People, People with No Homes

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Tamara Lush - Dec. 08 (News Report) - he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment. Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes. "We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.

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A Message for Climate Change Negotiators: Small Farmers Key to Combating Climate Change

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Annie Shattuck - Dec. 02 (Special Report) - It's little wonder. The Via Campesina Declaration casts small farmers in the developing world as both global warming's victims and a potential solution. ... While industrial agriculture is one of the world's biggest climate culprits, small-scale farmers actually cool the planet.

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New Study: Large Counties in Swing States May Face Election Day Problems

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Oct. 28 (Press Release) - Voters in the largest counties in 10 key swing states may experience problems on Election Day because of insufficient preparation and inadequate poll booth and machine allocation plans, according to a report released today by FairVote, a nonpartisan advocacy group. FairVote surveyed 26 election administrators in counties with over 500,000 residents in Colorado, Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

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US Should Disclose its Funding of Opposition Groups in Bolivia and Other Latin American Countries

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Dan Beeton - Sep. 15 (Press Release) - "USAID is not supposed to be a clandestine organization, but nevertheless the U.S. government refuses to divulge which groups in Bolivia are supported with U.S. tax dollars," Weisbrot said. "By providing clandestine aid to groups that are almost certainly in the opposition, it gives the impression that the U.S. is contributing to efforts to destabilize the Bolivian government."

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McCain's Michigan Melt-Down Madness

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Harvey Wasserman - Aug. 10 (News Report) - Leave it to John McCain to pick the site of a horrific atomic meltdown to symbolize his push for nuke power.

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'What About Afghanistan?'

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Robert Naiman - Jun. 13 (News Analysis) - What about Afghanistan? A majority of the U.S. population and the Congress -- like the majority of Iraqis and Iraqi parliamentarians -- want the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq by a date certain. Senator Obama, the Democratic nominee, is expected by his supporters to get the U.S. out of Iraq if he is elected President. But about our other war, the war in Afghanistan, there is little public debate. Why not?

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The US War on Journalists

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

TruthDig - By Amy Goodman - May. 09 (Special Report) - Targeting journalists, the Bush administration has engaged in direct assault, intimidation, imprisonment and information blackouts to limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs.

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Why Wal-Mart Does Not Strengthen Our Economy

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By David Nassar - May. 01 (Opinion) - With its low price focus, Wal-Mart may appear to help the U.S. economy. But, the reality is that with its poor wages and benefits, massive China sourcing and tax avoidance, Wal-Mart makes its workers and the communities where it operates poorer. As our nation's largest employer and most financially-successful company, Wal-Mart is a singular American institution. It occupies a unique position in our world by virtue of its size, reach and responsibility for the livelihoods of millions of workers and the needs of billions of consumers. And with such overwhelming influence comes certain moral responsibilities. It is the acceptance or rejection of those responsibilities that determines greatness. For the time being, Wal-Mart has rejected those responsibilities and because of that choice, the money spent there does nothing of what it could to strengthen our economy. Higher salaries, quality affordable healthcare and paying what they owe like any good American, are just three things Wal-Mart can do tomorrow that will make them a company worthy of our money.

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Greenpeace Marks Earth Day '08 With New Website Exposing Corporate 'Greenwash' Claims

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Apr. 22 (Statement) - "Consumers are being misled, corporations are preying upon the public's good will and lawmakers are being distracted with marketing pitches that overstate concrete action and results," Greenpeace Research Director Kert Davies said. "This epidemic of greenwashing must stop and companies must adopt genuine green solutions to protect the environment."

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A Trade Transformation - CommonDreams.org

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By David Sirota - Feb. 22 (News Analysis) - When NAFTA was originally debated and polls showed the country divided over its passage, the Washington Post's editorial page editor Meg Greenfield justified her refusal to publish anti-NAFTA commentary by saying that "columnists of the left, right and middle are all in agreement" in support of the deal.

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Friends of The Earth Challenges Obama, Clinton on Seabrook Station

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Nick Berning, Brent Blackwelder - Jan. 06 (Statement) - Friends of the Earth Action believes nuclear power is no solution to global warming because it is more expensive and takes longer to deploy than alternatives like wind power and energy efficiency. There is also no good storage plan for nuclear waste. Moreover, nuclear plants are vulnerable to accidental disasters as well as intentional sabotage.

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Anti-Nuclear Renaissance: A Powerful but Partial and Tentative Victory Over Atomic Energy

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Harvey Wasserman - Jan. 05 (Special Report) - The Appropriations Bill finally passed both houses of Congress in late December. But the legislative standing and ultimate outcome for the loan guarantees is murky at best, with legal and procedural experts still debating over what exactly has been done. Ostensibly, the DOE has been authorized to grant $18.5 billion in reactor loan guarantees over the next two years, plus another $2 billion for uranium enrichment. There is also some $10 billion for renewable energy projects (though the definition of exactly what "renewable" means in the eyes of the Bush DOE remains to be seen). And there is apparently money for coal liquification and gasification. The DOE is also required to submit the specific guarantees to Congress for review 45 days before they can be authorized. But there agreement ends.

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Move to Impeach Cheney Gains Support in Congress

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Tim King - Jan. 02 (News Report) - The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution.

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Creeping Fascism: Lessons From the Past

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Ray McGovern - Dec. 27 (Opinion) - And are Democratic leaders about to cave in and grant retroactive immunity to those telecommunications corporations-AT&T and Verizon-who made millions by winking at the law and the Constitution? (Qwest, to it's credit, heeded the advice of its general counsel who said that what NSA wanted done was clearly illegal.) What's going on here? Have congressional leaders no sense for what is at stake? Lately the adjective "spineless" has come into vogue in describing congressional Democrats-no offense to invertebrates. Nazis and Those Who Enable Them You don't have to be a Nazi. You can just be, well, a sheep.

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Faith and Politics: Rules of the Game

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Ira Chernus - Dec. 24 (Opinion) - Those who base their political values on their religion have to translate faith statements into value statements that non-believers can evaluate and debate in rational terms. That's what Dr. King did. When he preached that we are all woven together in a single garment of destiny, no doubt he had theological ideas in mind. But the concept itself is one that any atheist can think about, interpret, and debate in purely secular terms. So Dr. King never imposed his religion on anyone.

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