Readings

Progressive Book Club

admin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:11:55 -0700

The best new way to buy books. Part bookseller, part online magazine, the Progressive Book Club is a vibrant new forum for progressive ideas. Enjoy competitive discounts on the best and latest progressive books chosen by an Editorial Board including Michael Chabon, Barbara Kingsolver, John Podesta, and Katrina vanden Heuvel, and give-back with every book you buy! Join Progressive Book Club now and get 3 books for $3!
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Barack Obama for President

admin — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:20:19 -0600

Nine Days before the Feb. 5 presidential primaries in Missouri and Illinois,
this editorial page endorsed Barack Obama and John McCain in their
respective races. We did so enthusiastically. We wrote that either Mr.
Obama's message of hope or Mr. McCain's independence and integrity offered
America the chance to turn the page on 28 years of contentious, greed-driven
politics and move into a new era of possibility.

The Choice

admin — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:46:30 -0600

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/10/13/081013taco_talk_editors

Never in living memory has an election been more critical than the one fast approaching-that's the quadrennial cliché, as expected as the balloons and the bombast. And yet when has it ever felt so urgently true? When have so many Americans had so clear a sense that a Presidency has-at the levels of competence, vision, and integrity-undermined the country and its ideals?

A Bailout We Don't Need

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:08:23 -0600

Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Paulson's $700 Billion Bailout

admin — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:56:08 -0600

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008093928/top-5-reasons-vote-against-paulsons-700-billion-bailout

9/28/08
There's news this hour of a congressional deal to bailout Wall Street fatcats with $700 billion of taxpayer cash. Though the deal is better than what Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson originally proposed early last week, it remains an insulting atrocity.

The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning

admin — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:38:48 -0600

Friends,
Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

Dictator Bush’s great illusion is exposed

admin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:33:10 -0600

There is a core principle behind Anglo-American democracy as it has evolved in the past few centuries. Which is that you cannot rely on the judgment of one man or woman, unchecked by the law, or by parliament or Congress or the press, to govern a country. The reason is that human beings - all of us - are fallible. We get things wrong; our egos get the better of us; our self-interest blinds us; power corrupts us.

Jonathan Raban

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:10:39 -0600

I want a hero: an uncommon want
When every year and month sends forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
The age discovers he is not the true one.

Byron, Don Juan

Iraq War "Caused Slowdown in the US"

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:09:23 -0600

Thursday 28 February 2008
The Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. The former World Bank vice-president yesterday said the war had, so far, cost the US something like $US 3 trillion ($3.3 trillion) compared with the $US 50-$US 60 billion predicted in 2003.

John Edwards's Valedictory Address

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:08:44 -0600

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/30/1544/31454/67/446390

Thank you all very much. We're very proud to be back here. During the spring of 2006, I had the extraordinary experience of bringing 700 college kids here to New Orleans to work. These are kids who gave up their spring break to come to New Orleans to work, to rehabilitate houses, because of their commitment as Americans, because they believed in what was possible, and because they cared about their country.

The Edwards Effect

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:08:02 -0600

February 1, 2008
So John Edwards has dropped out of the race for the presidency. By normal political standards, his campaign fell short. But Mr. Edwards, far more than is usual in modern politics, ran a campaign based on ideas. And even as his personal quest for the White House faltered, his ideas triumphed: both candidates left standing are, to a large extent, running on the platform Mr. Edwards built.

HISTORY WILL NOT ABSOLVE US

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:07:14 -0600

08/30/07
If and when there's the equivalent of an international Nuremberg trial for the American perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Guantánamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the CIA's secret prisons, there will be mounds of evidence available from documented international reports by human-rights organizations, including an arm of the European parliament-as well as such deeply footnoted books as Stephen Grey's Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program (St. Martin's Press) and Charlie Savage's just-published Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy (Little, Brown).

A Republic, If We Can Keep It

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:06:31 -0600

"THE CRISIS PAPERS" --- WHY NOT IMPEACH? THE CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS OFFERED SEVERAL EXCUSES FOR KEEPING IMPEACHMENT "OFF THE TABLE."

July, 27, 2007
The Congressional Democrats offered several excuses for keeping impeachment "off the table."

One familiar response (even by such estimable Senators as Russ Feingold and Bernie Sanders), is that following a successful impeachment in the House, the Senate would surely not convict.

A Warming World

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:05:37 -0600

NO TO NUKES

IT'S TEMPTING TO TURN TO NUCLEAR PLANTS TO COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE, BUT ALTERNATIVES ARE SAFER AND CHEAPER.

Will Al Gore Face His Inconvenient Truths About Our Stolen Elections?

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:04:37 -0600

Al Gore has just made his second major contribution to our national political dialog. His first, "An Inconvenient Truth," has helped make the perils of global warming real to the American mainstream.

Originally posted: May 18, 2007

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/7541

Al Gore has just made his second major contribution to our national political dialog.

His first, "An Inconvenient Truth," has helped make the perils of global warming real to the American mainstream.

The Must-Do List

admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:03:29 -0600

The Bush administration's assault on some of the founding principles of American democracy marches onward despite the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections.

New York Times
Editorial

The Must-Do List