contributions

By Paul Krugman The New York Times
Right after the 2004 election, it seemed as if Thomas Frank had been completely vindicated. In his book "What’s the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America," Mr. Frank argued that America’s right wing had developed a permanent winning strategy based on the use of "values" issues to mobilize white working-class voters against a largely mythical cultural elite, while actually pursuing policies designed to benefit a small economic (…)

By John Prados
It is important to view Kissinger’s advice in his September 10, 1969 memo to Nixon in its appropriate context. The specific circumstances of this advice are these: a first cosmetic withdrawal of 25,000 American troops from South Vietnam had already begun. The Nixon administration faced a decision about further withdrawals, while the president struggled to craft a strategy under which he could coerce North Vietnam into ending the war on Nixon’s terms. Nixon and Kissinger had (…)

by Michael Klare
Michael T. Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts and the author of Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America’s Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum . This piece originally appeared in TomDispatch.
What the hell is going on here? Just six weeks ago, gasoline prices at the pump were hovering at the $3 per gallon mark; today, they’re inching down toward $2-and some analysts predict even (…)

Arrest over Cheney barb triggers lawsuit
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News October 3, 2006
A Denver-area man filed a lawsuit today against a member of the Secret Service for causing him to be arrested after he approached Vice President Dick Cheney in Beaver Creek this summer and criticized him for his policies concerning Iraq.
Attorney David Lane said that on June 16, Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of (…)

The right wing of the Republican Party has a problem with the truth. The American press corps has an addiction to euphemisms.
Bob Woodward called his book "State of Denial." The press around the book raises the question of whether President George W. Bush and his highest officials-Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condi Rice- are unable to face the truth ("in denial").
Yet the sort of anecdote Woodward tells, and the new information surfacing on Tenet’s briefing of Rice and Hastert’s (…)

Taken from www.valenzuelasveritas.blogspot.com
The Road to Authoritarianism
Behold and bear witness to what has become of America, in this era of uncertainty and bewilderment, in this time of fear and intimidation, that since towers were brought down and demolished has methodically fallen into the viper pit of neocon decadence, becoming, as it stands today, an authoritarian’s heaven and a corporatist’s promised land, its people ignorant, as always, to the barrage of waves systemically (…)

“Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government, when it deserves it.” - Mark Twain
Washington, D.C. If you need a boost to your morale, or better yet something to restore your faith in our fast-fading Republic, then I suggest that you make room on your schedule to attend a hearing of the “Out of Iraq Caucus” (Caucus) of the House of Representatives. This Ad Hoc Committee, founded in June, 2005, is chaired by a wonderful, gutsy lady from California’s 6th congressional district, (…)

The Erosion of Democracy and Freedom in America - by Stephen Lendman
On December 8, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the US Congress the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He said that "date....will live in infamy" because of what the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan did. Two and one-half months later on February 19, 1942, FDR himself committed an infamous act signing into law Executive Order 9066 which authorized the internment of 120,000 Japanese (…)

October 2, 2006 — , . . Pentagon sources report that plans for a massive and quick U.S. military evacuation from Iraq have been drawn up — and that they borrow heavily from the U.S. evacuation experience in South Vietnam.
Pentagon and U.S. Central Command contingency planners, fully expecting a major insurgent offensive against U.S. forces in Iraq that will result in a mandatory U.S. military withdrawal, have already identified evacuation staging locations, including from the grounds of (…)

OAXACA CITY - Protesters in Oaxaca City were on full alert Saturday after two Navy helicopters conducted several flyovers over the besieged state capital.
When the helicopters were spotted, members of the Oaxaca People’s Assembly (APPO) set off signal rockets from the Zócalo to alert supporters who were manning barricades throughout the city.
APPO quickly began broadcasting on Radio La Ley - one of the radio transmitters in the city that they have taken over - preaching calm, but at the (…)