Truthout - Originals

Protests Don't Stop UC Regents' 32 Percent Fee Hike

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:24:03 -0500

Surrounded by campus police dressed in protective riot gear and armed with beanbag guns, hundreds of student protesters at UCLA Thursday chanted "Shame on You, Shame on You" toward the building where the UC Regents had just voted to raise tuition and fees by $2,500 over the next year.

Murder at Guantanamo?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:46:05 -0500

With recent news reports centering on Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that some Guantanamo detainees would be prosecuted in federal court and revamped, albeit flawed military commissions, important stories from previous months related to the prison facility continue to sink ever deeper into the swamp of our collective amnesia.

Who's Afraid of World Government?

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:57:55 -0500

A few weeks ago, Glenn Beck of the Fox News Channel, with that hysterical flourish that has made him the darling of right-wing extremists, proclaimed: "America, if . . . you're not really into that whole One World Government thing, watch out." This kind of warning, regularly issued on Fox News, seems rather absurd today, given the obvious weakness of the United Nations and the failure of mainstream political figures to even suggest that this international organization might be strengthened to provide more effective world governance.

Eugene Robinson | Battlefield in the War of Ideas

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:53:52 -0500

Washington - Critics of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to bring the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and four other accused terrorists to New York for trial can't seriously believe the city will have trouble handling the expected "Trial of the Century" hoopla. The critics can't really think a judge is going to give Khalid Sheik Mohammed an open microphone to spew his jihadist views, or fear that a jury -- sitting just blocks from Ground Zero -- will look for reasons to let an accused mass murderer off on some technicality.

Hoping for Cloture: Senate Liberals Drop Reconciliation Weapon In Fight for Health Reform

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:19:53 -0500

What happens if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can't get the votes he needs from conservaDems and Joe Lieberman to shut down a filibuster before a final vote on health care reform?

Obama’s Failure to Close Guantánamo by January Deadline Is Disastrous

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:11:09 -0500

President Obama’s admission in China that he will miss his self-imposed deadline for the closure of Guantánamo is disastrous for the majority of the 215 men still held in the detention facility, and for those who hoped, ten months ago, that the president would move swiftly to close this bitter icon of the Bush administration’s lawless detention and interrogation policies in the "war on terror."

Despite announcing the closure of Guantánamo on his second day in office as part of a number of executive orders rolling back the Bush

Military Tribunals - Justice Lite?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:46:50 -0500

While Sarah Palin and other right-wing opportunists create a cottage industry in drumming up public hysteria about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terror suspects from Guantanamo coming to New York for trial, many legal experts and human rights groups are being equally outspoken in their criticism of the "new and improved" Military Commissions designated to try five other detainees.

E.J. Dionne Jr. | The GOP's No-Exit Strategy

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:23:39 -0500

Washington - Normal human beings -- let's call them real Americans -- cannot understand why, 10 months after President Obama's inauguration, Congress is still tied down in a procedural torture chamber trying to pass the health care bill Obama promised in his campaign.

Last year, the voters gave him the largest popular vote margin won by a presidential candidate in 20 years. They gave Democrats their largest Senate majority since 1976 and their largest House majority since 1992.

Report: Bush Officials Knew AIG Would Use Bailout Funds to Pay Counterparties

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:12:29 -0500

Government officials were aware that billions of dollars used to bail out American International Group (AIG) last year were used by the insurance giant to pay off its creditors, according to a newly released government watchdog report.

Not So Funny After All

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:06:30 -0500

I've been writing roughly once a week for months now about the insane circus that is today's Republican Party, mostly to make fun of them. It's difficult to do otherwise; how does one write seriously about people like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and GOP Chairman Michael Steele? Try it sometime: failure is all but guaranteed.