Gov. Ed Rendell And The Death Penalty

Gov. Ed Rendell has a historic opportunity to honor a campaign pledge and put a stop to Pennsylvania’s archaic, ineffective and profoundly cruel and unfair death penalty. Daylin Leach, a Democratic state senator from Montgomery County, last week introduced a bill that seeks to add Pennsylvania to the list of states like New Jersey, New Mexico and New York that have recently abandoned capital punishment.

Non-Partisan Think Tank Played Key Role In Afghanistan Surge

A Washington think tank that bills itself as “independent and nonpartisan” actually “played a key role in selling the escalation of the war in Afghanistan,” “The Nation” magazine reveals. The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) exemplifies a new influence game, writes Nathan Hodge in the March 29th issue. “Think tanks, once a place for intellectuals outside government to weigh in on important policy issues, are now enlisted by people within government to help sell its policies to the public, as well as to others in government,” he writes.

Helen Thomas On Her One Question For Obama

In part one of his interview with Helen Thomas, longest-serving member of the White House Press Corps, Paul Jay asks her about her first question for President Obama. The question, asking President Obama to name all the countries in the Middle-East that have nuclear weapons, was avoided by the President, who claimed to not want [...]

Citizens United vs. Citizens United

Eighty-five percent of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans tell pollsters when asked that they oppose the Supreme Court’s decision in “Citizens United” which lifted limits on corporate political spending. I’m willing to bet that at least those same percentages would tell you the decision violates the U.S. Constitution. And I would bet that if you explained to people that the CU decision was based on the ideas that spending money on elections is speech and that corporations claim the First Amendment right to free speech which was meant for people, the numbers would increase.

The Collapse of Journalism/The Journalism of Collapse: New Storytelling and a New Story

There is considerable attention paid in the United States to the collapse of journalism — both in terms of the demise of the business model for corporate commercial news media, and the evermore superficial, shallow, and senseless content that is inadequate for citizens concerned with self-governance. This collapse is part of larger crises in the political and economic spheres, crises rooted in the incompatibility of democracy and capitalism. New journalistic vehicles for storytelling are desperately needed.

Rep. Barney Frank Condemns GOP Complicity In Tea Party Insanity

Guantanamo: Now In Afghanistan?

The U.S. is considering holding international terror suspects at its Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. If approved, the facility north of Kabul could essentially become a new Guantanamo Bay, the notorious camp in Cuba that President Obama has pledged to close. Currently the U.S. administration is struggling with the task of relocating over 180 inmates still [...]

Bin Laden Threatens US In New Audiotape Over Prosecution Of 9/11 Mastermind

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, released a new audio recording in which he threatens to kill any captured Americans if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered to be one of the masterminds behind the September 11 attacks, is executed.

Boo! The Scary, Scary Social Security ‘Crisis’ is Back!

Get ready kids. It’s time for more scare stories about Social Security. The New York Times weighed in Wednesday with a dire warning that this year, six years ahead of what had been predicted only a few years ago, the Social Security system would be paying out more in benefits than it takes in from the payroll tax. The reason for this earlier-than-anticipated event is the Great Recession, the paper explained.

Wittes, Goldsmith, And KSM: ‘Absurd,’ ‘Cynical’

It’s been a few days now since Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith wrote their op-ed in the Washington Post calling the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed “dispensable” and proffering that “the politically draining fight about civilian vs….. military trials is not worth the costs.” Their proposal: “Instead of expending great energy on a battle over the proper forum for an unnecessary trial of Mohammed and his associates, both sides would do well instead to define the contours of the detention system that will, for some time to come, continue to do the heavy lifting in incapacitating terrorists.”