NewsTrust - All Rated Stories

Scrubbing In: Will health innovation be stymied by U.S.?

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Rachel K. Sobel - Jul. 21 (Opinion) - The epiphany came in a dentist's chair. That's where Charles Kelman, a former Wills Eye resident, dreamed up the idea of modern-day cataract surgery. Why not use the same ultrasound technology for teeth cleaning to take out cloudy lenses in the eyes?

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Inquirer defends the indefensible: A monthly column by torture architect John Yoo

Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Will Bunch - May. 12 (Opinion) - It was Yoo's immoral guidance that aided the United States in sanctioning the torture practice known as waterboarding -- used in the Spanish Inquisition, by despots such as Pol Pot and by Chinese Communists in the Korean War to obtain false confessions from Americans -- as well as slamming detainees into walls, part of a harsh interrogation regime that has been linked to the deaths of at least a dozen U.S, detainees and possibly more.

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Gen. David Petraeus makes the case for Obama's war.

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Trudy Rubin - Apr. 12 (Opinion) - When Gen. David Petraeus testified on Capitol Hill 11 days ago about the new U.S. policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the story was relegated to the inside pages of major papers. What a contrast to the media circus when Petraeus testified on the Iraq war. Shell-shocked by the financial crisis, the American public hasn't focused on Obama's war, which calls for 17,000 more combat troops this year, as well as 4,000 new military trainers. Polls show the public is wary about the AfPak conflict, but opposition is more muted than to the war in Iraq. That could change should casualties increase, as is likely over the next year.

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Rendell opens door to energy stimulus money

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Diane Mastrull - Mar. 24 (News Report) - For a Bensalem producer of energy-efficient windows and doors, yesterday's visit from Gov. Rendell meant a publicity surge.

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Beyond the Spin: How the GOP lost blacks

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By George Curry - Feb. 21 (News Analysis) - Michael Steele's election as the first black chairman of the Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday have created a lot of discussion about the relationship - or lack of one - between African Americans and the party of Lincoln.

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The American Debate: He damaged party in two fundamental ways

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Dick Polman - Jan. 11 (Opinion) - We already know that George W. Bush will walk away from his wreckage nine days hence, having bequeathed us record budget deficits, a tanking economy, a needless war costing half a trillion dollars and thousands of lives, a sullied global image, and so much more. But one other facet of his legacy is widely overlooked: He wrecked his own Republican Party. Don't take my word for it. Various Republicans rendered their verdicts on Bush long before the November election. For instance, Peggy Noonan, the commentator and former Reagan speechwriter, argued a year ago that "Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart."

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Wharton professor analyzes the crisis

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Maria Panaritis - Oct. 20 (Interview) - Siegel said employees looking to boost revenue at their otherwise profitable global financial firms "took the house money" and acted like gamblers. "I'm going to place it on Number 14 on the roulette table. Almost that's what they did. . . . No one was in control and no one understood what was going on."

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The American Debate: The Republican veepstakes

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Dick Polman - Jul. 06 (Opinion) - Surely the perfect running mate exists. Colin Powell would work splendidly, but he hasn't even endorsed McCain, which should tell you plenty about the '08 political landscape. Failing all other choices, however, there's still one vetted Republican who would make McCain look youthful and vigorous. Bob Dole, call your office.

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President Bush committed political treason today

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Will Bunch - May. 15 (Opinion) - President Bush went on foreign soil today, and committed what I consider an act of political treason: Comparing the candidate of the U.S. opposition party to appeasers of Nazi Germany -- in the very nation that was carved out from the horrific calamity of the Holocaust.

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Clinton wins in Pennsylvania

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Thomas Fitzgerald - Apr. 23 (News Report) - Stitching together a coalition of blue-collar workers, white men and women, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton kept her presidential candidacy alive yesterday with a convincing victory in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary. She was running close to or leading Sen. Barack Obama in the crucial Philadelphia suburbs and was crushing him in southwestern Pennsylvania and the Scranton region.

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An open letter to Charlie Gibson and George Stephanapoulos

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Will Bunch - Apr. 17 (Opinion) - With your performance tonight -- your focus on issues that were at best trivial wastes of valuable airtime and at worst restatements of right-wing falsehoods, punctuated by inane "issue" questions that in no way resembled the real world concerns of American voters -- you disgraced my profession of journalism, and, by association, me and a lot of hard-working colleagues who do still try to ferret out the truth, rather than worry about who can give us the best deal on our capital gains taxes. But it's even worse than that. By so badly botching arguably the most critical debate of such an important election, in a time of both war and economic misery, you disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy itself. Indeed, if I were a citizen of one of those nations where America is seeking to "export democracy," and I had watched the debate, I probably would have said, "no thank you." Because that was no way to promote democracy.

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Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Will Bunch - Apr. 15 (Opinion) - Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted -- but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law."

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Bob Casey to endorse Obama, join bus tour

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Thomas Fitzgerald - Mar. 29 (News Report) - The endorsement comes as something of a surprise. Casey, a deliberative and cautious politician, had been adamant about remaining neutral until after the April 22 primary. He had said he wanted to help unify the party after the intensifying fight...Casey puts himself at odds with many top state Democrats - including Gov. Rendell, Rep. John P. Murtha and Mayor Nutter - who are campaigning for Clinton.

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One brave Afghan's mission

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Trudy Rubin - Mar. 10 (Opinion) - Women's gains since the Taliban's fall have been mainly symbolic, she says, especially in rural areas. Poverty is rising, and few jobs are available. Pakzad recalled seeing women working 11-hour shifts for $2 a day in terrible conditions cleaning goat hair for pashmina scarves.

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Setting a Standard in Fear-Mongering

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Richard A. Clarke - Feb. 03 (Opinion) - When I left the Bush administration in 2003, it was clear to me that its strategy for defeating terrorism was leaving our nation more vulnerable and our people in a perilous place. Not only did its policies misappropriate resources, weaken the moral standing of America, and threaten long-standing legal and constitutional provisions, but the president also employed misleading and reckless rhetoric to perpetuate his agenda. This week's State of the Union proved nothing has changed.

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Judiciary Committee should move to impeach Bush and Cheney - Philadelphia Inquirer - 01/27/2008

Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Elizabeth Holtzman - Jan. 27 (Opinion) - There is more than ample justification for impeachment. The Constitution specifies the grounds as treason, bribery or "high crimes and misdemeanors," a term that means "great and dangerous offenses that subvert the Constitution." As the House Judiciary Committee determined during Watergate, impeachment is warranted when a president puts himself above the law and gravely abuses power.

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The American Debate: Bailing on Clinton?

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Dick Polman - Jan. 20 (News Analysis) - There once was a time when the Clintons were demigods in the black community. I can recall, back when I was canvassing folks in South Carolina a few years ago, how the mere mention of the family name made them swoon. Pastor Joe Darby raved about Bill's "wonnnnn-derful touch." Anthony Dicks, an embalmer in a funeral home, smiled rapturously and said, "He gave me a warm feeling all over." Bill and Hillary had probably assumed that the love for him could be seamlessly transferred to her, that African American fealty to the Clinton brand was a given in Democratic politics. But the steady ascendancy of Barack Obam

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Edwards refusing to give up

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:11:44 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Larry Eichel - Dec. 10 (News Report) - Despite the widespread view that the national Democratic race for president has become a two-candidate affair, number three keeps hanging on out here in the Midwest.

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N.J. wants voting machines opened

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 14:40:04 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Jan Hefler - Nov. 09 (News Report) - New Jersey's attorney general yesterday asked a judge to open eight Camden County voting machines whose votes were not retrieved by poll workers after the election Tuesday. Camden County election officials had said they would ignore any votes cast on the machines, which poll workers mishandled on election night, for now. But after The Inquirer raised questions about that decision, Attorney General Anne Milgram's office yesterday petitioned Superior Court to open the machines and keep any votes from being disregarded. "All votes should be counted," David Wald, spokesman for the attorney general, said.

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Author sees stark choice: Serve society, or sell out

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:01:57 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Matt Blanchard - Sep. 03 (Interview) - In his new book, The Trap: Selling Out to Stay Afloat in Winner-Take-All-America (Times Books), Brook argues that while small luxuries from sangria to Ikea may come cheap these days, the ballooning costs of education, housing and health care are likely to drive talented twentysomethings into a Faustian bargain with corporate America....Simply accepting that the rich will always get richer, and that they will dominate our educational and political systems, Brook argues, "is basically giving up on the whole point of America."

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What If Our Mercenaries Turn On Us?

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 16:56:07 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Chris Hedges - Jun. 03 (Opinion) - The privatization of war hands an incentive to American corporations, many with tremendous political clout, to keep us mired down in Iraq. But even more disturbing is the steady rise of this modern Praetorian Guard. The Praetorian Guard in ancient Rome was a paramilitary force that defied legal constraints, made violence part of the political discourse, and eventually plunged the Roman Republic into tyranny and despotism. Despotic movements need paramilitary forces that operate outside the law, forces that sow fear among potential opponents, and are capable of physically silencing those branded by their leaders as traitors. And in the wrong hands, a Blackwater could well become that force.

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Young adults eschew traditional nightly news for 'The Daily Show'

Tue, 15 May 2007 10:59:51 -0700

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Gale Shister - May. 15 (News Report) - Before Katie Couric was signed last year, rumors surfaced that Comedy Central's Jon Stewart might be in the running to anchor CBS Evening News.

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NJ guardsmen don't know Iraq duty extended

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 23:19:31 -0800

Philadelphia Inquirer - By Mari A. Schaefer - Jan. 14 (News Report) - Families of the New Jersey Army National Guard troops stationed in Iraq met yesterday with Guard representatives and voiced frustration that they knew more about the Army's orders than did their loved ones overseas. Why, they wanted to know, have the 159 New Jersey guardsmen still not received official notice that their Iraq tours have been extended by 125 days? "I will not make excuses for the lack of communication in theater," Maj. Gen. Glenn K. Rieth, New Jersey's adjutant general, said at a meeting in Bordentown Township. He apologized to the families for the Army's not keeping troops in Iraq up to date.

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