A Bailout We Don't Need

By James K. Galbraith, WashingtonPost.com

Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Paulson's $700 Billion Bailout

By David Sirota, Campaign for America's Future

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008093928/top-5-reasons-vote-against-paulsons-700-billion-bailout

9/28/08
There's news this hour of a congressional deal to bailout Wall Street fatcats with $700 billion of taxpayer cash. Though the deal is better than what Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson originally proposed early last week, it remains an insulting atrocity.

The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning

A message from Michael Moore

Friends,
Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

Dictator Bush’s great illusion is exposed

The president thinks he is above the law. Mercifully, he is now being challenged : By Andrew Sullivan, Times Online

There is a core principle behind Anglo-American democracy as it has evolved in the past few centuries. Which is that you cannot rely on the judgment of one man or woman, unchecked by the law, or by parliament or Congress or the press, to govern a country. The reason is that human beings - all of us - are fallible. We get things wrong; our egos get the better of us; our self-interest blinds us; power corrupts us.

Wallet Pop

Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators.

Jonathan Raban

London Review of Books: March 20, 2008

I want a hero: an uncommon want
When every year and month sends forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
The age discovers he is not the true one.

Byron, Don Juan

Iraq War "Caused Slowdown in the US"

By Peter Wilson, The Australian

Thursday 28 February 2008
The Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. The former World Bank vice-president yesterday said the war had, so far, cost the US something like $US 3 trillion ($3.3 trillion) compared with the $US 50-$US 60 billion predicted in 2003.

John Edwards's Valedictory Address

As posted on Daily Kos.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/30/1544/31454/67/446390

Thank you all very much. We're very proud to be back here. During the spring of 2006, I had the extraordinary experience of bringing 700 college kids here to New Orleans to work. These are kids who gave up their spring break to come to New Orleans to work, to rehabilitate houses, because of their commitment as Americans, because they believed in what was possible, and because they cared about their country.

The Edwards Effect

By PAUL KRUGMAN

February 1, 2008
So John Edwards has dropped out of the race for the presidency. By normal political standards, his campaign fell short. But Mr. Edwards, far more than is usual in modern politics, ran a campaign based on ideas. And even as his personal quest for the White House faltered, his ideas triumphed: both candidates left standing are, to a large extent, running on the platform Mr. Edwards built.

HISTORY WILL NOT ABSOLVE US

by Nat Hentoff, Village Voice

08/30/07
If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg trial for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guantánamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights organizations, including an arm of the European parliament-as well as such deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program (St. Martin's Press) and Charlie Savage's just-published Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy (Little, Brown).

A Republic, If We Can Keep It

By Ernest Partridge

"THE CRISIS PAPERS" --- WHY NOT IMPEACH? THE CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS OFFERED SEVERAL EXCUSES FOR KEEPING IMPEACHMENT "OFF THE TABLE."

July, 27, 2007
The Congressional Democrats offered several excuses for keeping impeachment "off the table."

One familiar response (even by such estimable Senators as Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders), is that following a successful impeachment in the House, the Senate would surely not convict.

A Warming World

By The Los Angeles Times

NO TO NUKES

IT'S TEMPTING TO TURN TO NUCLEAR PLANTS TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE, BUT ALTERNATIVES ARE SAFER AND CHEAPER.

Will Al Gore Face His Inconvenient Truths About Our Stolen Elections?

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman

Al Gore has just made his second major contribution to our national political dialog. His first, "An Inconvenient Truth," has helped make the perils of global warming real to the American mainstream.

Originally posted: May 18, 2007

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/7541

Al Gore has just made his second major contribution to our national political dialog.

His first, "An Inconvenient Truth," has helped make the perils of global warming real to the American mainstream.

The Must-Do List

By The New York Times

The Bush administration's assault on some of the founding principles of American democracy marches onward despite the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections.

New York Times
Editorial

The Must-Do List

Stick Your Neck Out, America!

By Ray McGovern, AlterNet.

Posted June 12, 2006.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/37381/

Americans, for the most part, are blissfully unaware of our own power -- even as the claws of fascism creep steadily closer.

Hope is here. The cold light of truth is piercing the cloud of lies conjured by Donald Rumsfeld and others about the war in Iraq -- even in the defense secretary's own bailiwick.

A matter of conscience ...

The Worst President in History?

By Sean Wilentz, Rolling Stone

One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush
www.Rollingstone.com

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.