contributions

Now that we’re all completely fried and bitter and media punch-drunk, it’s time to act
by Mark Morford So here we are, staring down a rather historic moment amidst the sputtering ideological orgy that is the American experiment and if you’re paying any sort of attention at all you’re doubtlessly drunk on election hype and saturated with Bush/Kerry platitudes and you wish a white-hot death upon every screeching TV pundit who is right now analyzing yet another insidious national poll that (…)

By Winona LaDuke
I am voting for John Kerry this November. I love this land, and I know that we need to make drastic changes in Washington if we are going to protect our land and our communities. I am committed to transforming the American democracy so that it is reflective of the diversity of this country. I believe in a multi-party system and a multi-racial democracy. I believe there are many opinions, not simply two, that merit a hearing on any issue. I believe we should be working (…)

Seymour Hersh gives an inside view of Iraq and foreign policy Journalist says insurgency has and will use missiles
By Daniela Perdomo
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, who most recently broke the story of the abuses at the Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib with the CBS news program "60 Minutes," gave a scathing portrait of U.S. policy in Iraq in the Terrace Room on Friday.
"Let’s begin by questioning the word ’democracy,’" Hersh said by way of introduction, hinting at what would (…)

By Mark Mazzetti
Reporters taped troops apparently finding munitions. A Pentagon photo implies otherwise.
Washington - On April 18, 2003, a television news crew from Minnesota videotaped U.S. troops in Iraq using bolt cutters to break through chains and wire seals on the door of a dusty bunker and finding explosives stored inside.
The video did not appear significant at the time, particularly because it did not reveal weapons of mass destruction.
But now, days before a (…)

The unprecedented loss of payroll jobs 42 months after the start of the last recession is well known. However, it has been argued that the two surveys of employment conditions (the payroll survey and the household survey) tell conflicting stories.1 Some have claimed that the household survey paints a much more favorable employment picture. Last spring, however, two economists at the Cleveland Federal Reserve issued a study entitled "Employment Surveys Are Telling the Same (Sad) Story."2 (…)

by Lawrence Mishel, Michael Ettlinger, and Elise Gould
The economic well-being of middle-income families has changed significantly over the last few years, largely as a result of three important dynamics. First, the recession that started in March 2001 was followed by an unusually long period-two and a half years-of job losses, despite an increase in output of goods and services. Although employment has grown since September 2003, it has not done so at a sufficient rate to diminish the (…)

This Marine was a true believer in the reasons for the Iraq war. He talks to AlterNet about his loss of moral certainty, the gift of wisdom and "regime change" at home.
By Lakshmi Chaudhry
Editor’s Note: This is the last in a series of profiles of some of the tens of thousands of Iraq War veterans who have come home bearing the scars of battle - emotional and physical wounds that may never heal unless the nation pays them the attention and care that they deserve. We at AlterNet believe (…)

A death in Iraq transforms a nine-year Marine veteran from a soldier into an anti-war activist.
By Lakshmi Chaudhry
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of profiles of some of the tens of thousands of Iraq War veterans who have come home bearing the scars of battle - emotional and physical wounds that may never heal unless the nation pays them the attention and care that they deserve. We at AlterNet believe that in an election defined by a deep and bitter partisan divide, it is (…)

A Florida National Guardsman learns how to survive and protect his men in a war zone - without body armor.
By Lakshmi Chaudhry
David Grimm signed up to join the Florida National Guard in 1999. The former Marine, who’d entered the military straight out of high school, was glad to answer the call of duty when he was called up for combat duty in Iraq in December, 2002. But the veteran of U.S. operations in Somalia was in for a rude shock when he went into a war zone, this time as a member (…)

The 35-year-old Army reservist suffered a spine-shattering injury that left him permanently disabled. But he reserves his compassion for those who need it most: Iraqi children.
By Lakshmi Chaudhry
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of profiles of some of the tens of thousands of Iraq War veterans who have come home bearing the scars of battle - emotional and physical wounds that may never heal unless the nation pays them the attention and care that they deserve. We at AlterNet (…)