Please note as of January 5, 2009 all commentary except original submissions will be archived here. You can also read our current newsletter online.
The Sorry State of the Union
by Robert Scheer 
"There is no doubt that Obama and his party represent the lesser evil, but it is deeply disturbing to have to defend the leaders of our nation in those terms."
Remember the illegal destruction of Iraq?
by GLENN GREENWALD
"British political news has been consumed for the last several weeks by a formal inquiry into the illegality and deceit behind Tony Blair's decision to join the U.S. in invading Iraq."
Answer to the court: The American Elections for Americans Only Act of 2010
by Brent Budowsky
"Do we want the massive investment of Chinese money in America to give the Chinese government a massive power to influence American elections by pushing for millions of dollars of campaign spending to defeat members of Congress who defend American interests?"
Some remedies for the Supreme Court power grab
by Martin Lobel
"Under the now stricken McCain-Feingold legislation, corporations could spend money that was 'voluntarily' contributed to Political Action Committees (PACs) or to overpaid lobbyists who in turn would contribute or bundle contributions to candidates."
Scream Bloody Murder
by Steve Benen
"It's not exactly a mystery. Republicans believe they can use tactics that ignore election results, make a mockery of democratic norms, and effectively prevent a governing majority from functioning because they're pretty confident that Democrats won't effectively raise a fuss, the media won't care, and the public won't know. And they're right."
Nostalgia for Bush/Cheney radicalism
by GLENN GREENWALD
"As has been voluminously documented here, one of the most notable aspects of the first year of the Obama presidency has been how many previously controversial Bush/Cheney policies in the terrorism and civil liberties realms have been embraced."
"Digital Nation": What has the Internet done to us?
We're Googling ourselves stupid. Even tech guru Douglas Rushkoff has regrets. PBS investigates our Information Age
by HEATHER HAVRILESKY
Susan Collins spreads central myth about the Constitution
by GLENN GREENWALD
"Collins recklessly accused the Obama administration of putting us all in serious danger by failing to wage War against the Terrorists."
To Pass Health Care, Dems Should Be Against It
by Bill Maher
Love, Love Me Do
by Robert Kuttner
"After the Democrats' stunning loss of the Massachusetts senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy, you might have expected Obama to change a posture of partisan conciliation that clearly is backfiring. Instead, what we got was an elegant fine-tuning of the same failed strategy."
What exactly did Bush and Cheney do wrong?
by GLENN GREENWALD
"As I noted several days ago, it is not only Republicans -- but Democratic and media establishment figures as well -- who clearly crave the preservation of the Bush/Cheney approach to Terrorism and civil liberties."
Did Tony Blair blow it as Mideast envoy?
Blair's Iraq-inquiry gaffes roused anger against him in Britain -- and may disqualify him as peace envoy
by JOE CONASON
On the claimed "war exception" to the Constitution
by GLENN GREENWALD
"Although Blair emphasized that it requires "special permission" before an American citizen can be placed on the assassination list, consider from whom that "permission" is obtained: the Preisdent, or someone else under his authority within the Executive Branch."
Now It's All About Results, Not Theories and More Promises
by Leo Hindery, Jr.
Defining the Second Great Depression
by Dylan Loewe
Terrorism Derangement Syndrome
The GOP's scare tactics work so well because the public is terrified already.
by Dahlia Lithwick
"The real problem is that too many people tend to follow GOP cues about how hopelessly unsafe America is, and they've yet again convinced themselves that we are mere seconds away from an attack."
"Voodoo Histories": When smart people believe dumb things
From 9/11 to the moon landing, how conspiracy theories have changed history -- and why we must fight back
by THOMAS ROGERS
The twilight struggle for the leadership of Iraq
Iran, the U.S. and Iraqi groups dance around each other as election approaches
by JUAN COLE
The Creed of Objectivity Killed the News
by Chris Hedges
"The creed of objectivity and balance, formulated at the beginning of the 19th century by newspaper owners to generate greater profits from advertisers, disarms and cripples the press."
The Supreme Court's Partisanship
by Robert Parry
What Obama Should Say, But Won't
by Dan Froomkin
Is White House Pressuring DOJ to Delay Torture Report Until Health Care Bill Passes?
by Jason Leopold
President Put Politics First on Afghanistan
by Ray McGovern
Obama Needs To Teach The Public How to Get Out Of The Mess We're In, But He's Not
by Robert Reich
Now We Impeach Jay Bybee
by David Swanson
SOTU plus 66
It was the other appearance that deserved attention
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
Obama to indefinitely imprison detainees without charges
by GLENN GREENWALD
"But all year along, Barack Obama -- even as he called for the closing of Guantanamo -- has been strongly implying that he will retain George Bush's due-process-free system by continuing to imprison detainees without charges of any kind."
What the Supreme Court got right
by GLENN GREENWALD
"The case, Citizens United v. FEC, presents some very difficult free speech questions, and I'm deeply ambivalent about the court's ruling."
Farewell, Air America, when we need it most
It hurts to lose Ted Kennedy's Senate seat, healthcare reform and a progressive media voice all in the same week
by RON REAGAN
Thank Scott Brown for Obama's bank crackdown
It took a Democratic meltdown for the president to realize he should get tough on Wall Street
by ROBERT REICH
Ignoring Gaza's humanitarian crisis
Haiti isn't the only place that needs help, but in Gaza, Israel is keeping aid away
by JUAN COLE
"When a relief plane for Doctors Without Borders isn't allowed to land by U.S. military authorities at the airport in Port-au-Prince, there is an outcry. But Israeli military authorities will not allow any relief planes at all to land in the Gaza Strip (the Israelis destroyed Gaza's airport in 2001)."
The Supreme Court's Citizen United Decision Is Terrifying
by Jason Linkins
How Massachusetts Can Turn Out to Be a Blessing for Democrats
by Arianna Huffington
"In the wake of Massachusetts, he should take a step back, take a metaphorical trip to the mountaintop, and reconnect with the reasons why he ran -- and why he got elected."
The price of our Middle East policy
by GLENN GREENWALD
"Israel's conduct, and America’s attitude toward that conduct, are an important lens through which Muslims see the United States."
US Democracy's End of the Road
by Robert Parry
"Especially after the Supreme Court ruling allowing corporations to spend whatever they want to punish some politicans and reward others, it is hard to see a road back for American democracy."
Time for George Mitchell to resign
by STEPHEN M. WALT
"If Mideast special envoy George Mitchell wants to end his career with his reputation intact, it is time for him to resign."
Where's The Movement?
by George Lakoff
"In forming his administration, President Obama abandoned the movement that had begun during his campaign for deal-making and a pragmatism that hasn't worked. That movement is still possible and needed now."
New Study Suggests U.S. Ambassador Rice Isn't Engaging the UN
by Richard Grenell
The sanctity of military spending
by GLENN GREENWALD
The Silence and the Shield: Depraved Indifference to the Atrocities of Power
By Chris Floyd
The Return of the Neocons
Neoconservatism was once deemed dead—'Buried in the sands of Iraq.' But it persists, not just as the de facto foreign-policy plank of the Republican Party but, its proponents assert, in Obama's unapologetic embrace of American military might.
by David Margolick
Is the president panicking?
His spending freeze invokes memories of Clinton's shift right in '94. It's worse because it could doom the recovery
by Robert Reich
Presidential assassinations of U.S. citizens
by GLENN GREENWALD
"Barack Obama, like George Bush before him, has claimed the authority to order American citizens murdered based solely on the unverified, uncharged, unchecked claim that they are associated with Terrorism and pose 'a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests.'"
A million green jobs, cheap!
Obama's green-collar economy dream may wilt in his deficit freeze. But Bill Clinton says he knows how to save it
by JOE CONASON
Drifting Toward Catastrophe: A Seven-Headed Beast
by Bernard Weiner
My Country 'tis of thee—Corporatocracy! Of Thee I Sing
by Daniel Patrick Welch
Manchurian Candidates:
Supreme Court allows China and others unlimited spending in US elections
By Greg Palast
An "independent" healthcare expert, bought and paid for by ObamaCo
by Mark Crispin Miller
Obama confidant's spine-chilling proposal
by GLENN GREENWALD
"In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and psuedo-"independent" advocates to "cognitively infiltrate" online groups and websites -- as well as other activist groups -- which advocate views that Sunstein deems "false conspiracy theories" about the Government."
Krugman, Gruber and non-disclosure issues
by GLENN GREENWALD
"Specifically, Gruber was receiveing large, undisclosed payments from the Obama administration at exactly the time when the Obama White House (and Gruber himself) were holding him out as an "objective" expert endorsing various parts of the President's the health care plan."
Democratic Presidential Bush Enablers Rehabilitate Criminal Bush
by Rob Kall
The Right Testicle of Hell:
History of a Haitian Holocaust
Blackwater before drinking water
by Greg Palast
Congress takes a bold stand against surveillance abuses
by GLENN GREENWALD
Will Scott Brown Ruin Republicans' (Secret) Plan to Pass Obamacare?
by Lawrence O'Donnell
"There are no columnists or pundits who understand Senate parliamentary procedure. There are actually very few senators who do. McConnell knows that. He knew everyone would fall for the silly stunts that looked obstructionist while he was surrendering all his power to Reid."
The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle
by Scott Horton
"Furthermore, new evidence now emerging may entangle Obama’s young administration with crimes that occurred during the Bush presidency, evidence that suggests the current administration failed to investigate seriously—and may even have continued—a cover-up of the possible homicides of three prisoners at Guantánamo in 2006."
The Official Response Begins
by Scott Horton
"When a cover-up is exposed, nothing is more telling than the first reactions from those who are involved."
The crime of not "Looking Backward"
by GLENN GREENWALD
"The single biggest lie in War on Terror revisionist history is that our torture was confined only to a handful of "high-value" prisoners. New credible reports of torture continuously emerge. That's because America implemented and maintained a systematic torture regime spread throughout our worldwide, due-process-free detention system."
It's the fault of the all-powerful Left
by GLENN GREENWALD
"In what universe must someone be living to believe that the Democratic Party is controlled by "the Left," let alone "the furthest left elements" of the Party?"
Great challenges make great leaders
Yes, Obama inherited a presidency in bad shape. But he's yet to deliver the "change" he promised
by STEVEN CLEMONS
Undressing the Terror Threat
Running the numbers on the conflict with terrorists suggests that the rules of the game should change
by PAUL CAMPOS
Crunching the Risk Numbers
by NATE SILVER
"Most of us are horrible assessors of risk. Travelers at American airports are taking extensive steps due to fears of terrorism."
Bill Moyers & Thomas Frank: How America's Demented Politics Let the GOP Off the Hook for Their Giant Mess
by Bill Moyers and Thomas Frank, Bill Moyers Journal
'Hardball' & Dumbed-Down US Politics
By Robert Parry
Why Martha Lost
by Daniel Patrick Welch
Accepting various truths
by HELEN THOMAS
"The U.S. pro-Israel policy and our shocking neglect of the beleaguered Palestinians underlie almost every initiative or tactical tilt that comes out of Washington."
US Mercenaries Set Sights on Haiti
by JEREMY SCAHILL
"We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans, and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months."
How I fought to survive Guantánamo
For nearly six years, British resident Omar Deghayes was imprisoned in Guantánamo and subjected to such brutal torture that he lost the sight in one eye. But far from being broken, he fought back to retain his dignity and his sanity
by Patrick Barkham
Obama Finally Gets His Victory For Bipartisanship
by Drew Westen
"It is a truly remarkable feat, in just one year's time, to turn the fear and anger voters felt in 2006 and 2008 at a Republican Party that had destroyed the economy, redistributed massive amounts of wealth from the middle class to the richest of the rich and the biggest of big businesses, and waged a trillion-dollar war in the wrong country, into populist rage at whatever Democrat voters can cast their ballot against."
Crimes Against Humanity
Complaint Filed Against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et al
International Arrest Warrants Requested
We tried to warn Obama, but he wouldn't listen
by Rabbi Michael Lerner
Critical Mass: Dem Agenda Opens Right-Wing Doors
by Chris Floyd
"And what is Barack Obama's agenda? What is his political program? It breaks down into three main elements: unwinnable wars, unconscionable bailouts, and unworkable, unwanted health care "reform" that forces people to further enrich some of the most despised conglomerates in the land."
MA Vote is a Rejection of "Look Forward, Not Backward"
by Roger Shuler
What Massachusetts Got Right
by Robert Scheer
"Obama’s opportunistic search for win-win solutions to our health care concerns and our larger economic problems is leading to a lose-lose outcome for the president and the country."
How Obama Lost His Way
by Robert Parry
"President Barack Obama spent his first year in office trying to reassure the Washington/New York establishments that he was not going to upset their apple carts too much, that they shouldn’t panic, that he would – despite all the speeches – be more about continuity than change."
Massachusetts and Haiti
How the latter affects the former
by Bryan Zepp Jamieson
terrorism designation Cuba doesn't deserve
by Eugene Robinson
After Helping Gordon Gekko Evade the SEC, Will Geithner Finally Now Be Fired?
by David Sirota
Never Mind the Facts, let’s have a war…
by Finian Cunningham
"This is a propaganda system at work: the choice of words and framework of logic designed to condition people into accepting certain options. In this case, the pre-determined option is a unilateral military strike on Iran either by the US or Israel."
Helen Thomas deviates from the terrorism script
by GLENN GREENWALD
"Helen Thomas shows -- yet again -- that she's one of the very few White House reporters willing to deviate from approved orthodoxy scripts. She asks the prohibited question about the motives of Terrorists, and keeps asking as she receives complete non-responses, until they all just decide to ignore her."
Tim Geithner Must Go
by Henry Blodget
Guantánamo and Yemen: Obama Capitulates to Critics and Suspends Prisoner Transfers
by Andy Worthington
Fool Me Over and Over and Over Again
by Dan Froomkin
"Our elite media has been repeatedly suckered into trumpeting glaringly unsupported assertions about the number of Guantanamo detainees that have "returned" to the battlefield. This was quite a week for it."
Did the CIA Deploy a Blackwater Hit Team in Germany?
by JEREMY SCAHILL
"German prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into allegations that the CIA deployed a team of Blackwater operatives on a clandestine operation in Hamburg, Germany, after 9/11 ultimately aimed at assassinating a German citizen with suspected ties to Al Qaeda."
The Implosion Of The American Political Consciousness
by David Michael Green
"In fact, the health of this country is tenuous, and that's on a real good day. All the obvious and tangible manifestations are there: massive unemployment, polarized wealth suitable for any banana republic, broken government and political system, environmental catastrophe and more."
"Political reporting" means "royal court gossip"
by GLENN GREENWALD
Giving corporations an outsized voice in elections
Voters stand to lose out if the Supreme Court treats political spending by businesses and other big-money players as protected speech.
by Monica Youn
Why Harry Reid Should Retire
by Dylan Loewe
The fundamental unreliability of America's media
by GLENN GREENWALD
An Iranian nuclear physicist is murdered
by GLENN GREENWALD
The last big healthcare question: Who pays?
The only major issue still on the table is whether the tax burden falls on the rich or the middle class
by ROBERT REICH
A user's guide to the 2010 elections
Key dates, trends and themes that Democrats and Republicans alike are watching between now and Nov. 2
by MIKE MADDEN
Obama disconnected
The people-power candidate brought a lot of Wall Street folks to the White House. That's no way to build a movement
by MICAH SIFRY
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