Bush announces the newest (and worst yet) reason for having our troops in Iraq

Look how low the bar has now gotten.   This is from the President's May 2, 2007 address to the Associated General Contractors of America: ..."But slowly but surely, the truth will be known. Either we'll succeed, or we won't succeed. And the definition of success as I described is sectarian…

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Bill Moyers returns to PBS to dissect the corporate media: “Buying the War”

On Wednesday evening, Bill Moyers' Journal presented "Buying the War," a terrific special describing the failure of the U.S. media during the run-up to the Iraq invasion.   If you missed it, you can watch the entire show here.   Here's the official description of the special: Four years ago on May 1, President Bush…

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Attention Sickness

Marty Kaplan describes the symptoms and gives a name to "the very real nausea that culture (to use a kind word for it) can cause":  Attention Sickness.  First the BIG THING was ANNA NICOLE. Then it was WAR FUNDING. Then it was SANJAYA, and vote-for-the-worst sadism. Then it was CANCER, and…

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Howard Zinn on patriotism

Howard Zinn recently spoke on patriotism on DemocracyNow: Patriotism to me means doing what you think you're country should be doing. Patriotism means supporting your government when you think it's doing right, opposing your government when you think it's doing wrong. Patriotism to me means really what the Declaration of…

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Selective empathy

We’ve had a horrible tragedy back here in the United States.   Thirty-three students are dead at Virginia Tech, with many others wounded. Our papers are going to spill a lot of ink on this story, as they should.  But on the other side of the world, multitudes of innocent civilians…

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