A Global Democratic Movement Is About to Pop

AlterNet
By Paul Hawken, Orion Magazine
Posted on May 1, 2007, Printed on May 1, 2007

I have given nearly one thousand talks about the environment in the past fifteen years, and after every speech a smaller crowd gathered to talk, ask questions, and exchange business cards. The people offering their cards were working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. They were from the nonprofit and nongovernmental world, also known as civil society. They looked after rivers and bays, educated consumers about sustainable agriculture, retrofitted houses with solar panels, lobbied state legislatures about pollution, fought against corporate-weighted trade policies, worked to green inner cities, or taught children about the environment. Quite simply, they were trying to safeguard nature and ensure justice.

Gilded Once More
By PAUL KRUGMAN
NYT
April 27, 200
One of the distinctive features of the modern American right has been nostalgia for the late 19th century, with its minimal taxation, absence of regulation and reliance on faith-based charity rather than government social programs. Conservatives from Milton Friedman to Grover Norquist have portrayed the Gilded Age as a golden age, dismissing talk of the era’s injustice and cruelty as a left-wing myth.

Karl Rove in a Corner

(Old, but excellent)

The Atlantic Monthly | November 2004
Karl Rove in a Corner

Karl Rove is at his most formidable when running close races, and his skills would be notable even if he used no extreme methods. But he does use them. His campaign history shows his willingness, when challenged, to employ savage tactics
by Joshua Green

Another Path to Peace:

The Case for Kucinich
by David Swanson; AfterDowningStreet.org ; April 19, 2007

The Democratic leadership in Congress wants the war to be around in 2008 so that a Democrat can win the White House by "opposing" the war. Congressman Rahm Emanuel has explained this to the Washington Post. The ONLY way to convince the top Democrats that this calculation is wrong is to promote in the presidential primary the only candidate who is trying in every way possible to end the war now. If we do that, the Democrats will understand that they cannot wait until after November of 2008 to end the war.

The Plot Against Medicare
By PAUL KRUGMAN

April 20, 2007
NYT Op-Ed Columnist

The plot against Social Security failed: President Bush’s attempt to privatize the system crashed and burned when the public realized what he was up to. But the plot against Medicare is faring better: the stealth privatization embedded in the Medicare Modernization Act, which Congress literally passed in the dead of night back in 2003, is proceeding apace.

Excerpt
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

By Lee Iacocca with Catherine Whitney

I
Had Enough?

Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course."

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

Birth control prices rise

Students adjust to dramatic cost increase as clinics lose discount

By Eric Weslander LJW

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Just last semester, a version of the birth control pill Ortho Tri-Cyclen cost a Kansas University student $8 per month. Now it costs $38.

Children Versus Insurers
By PAUL KRUGMAN

The New York Times

April 6, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist

Consider the choice between two government programs.

Program A would provide essential health care to the eight million uninsured children in this country.

Program B would subsidize insurance companies, who would in turn spend much of the money on marketing and paperwork, and also siphon off a substantial fraction of the money as profits. With what’s left, the insurers would provide additional benefits, over and above basic Medicare coverage, to some older Americans.

This is a response to a Gannett News Service - Springfield Missouri News-Leader article quoting hometown Congressman Roy Blunt. Congressman Blunt has been one of the prime proponents of congressional pork since 1994. Chef à la maison Blunt, who until control passed to House Democrats recently has been a "prince of earmarks," made the following statement about the House Democratic funding bill passed on March 23rd. Only two Republicans voted for the bill that contains benchmarks and a time -certain withdrawal date from the occupation of Iraq.

Big News! Rich getting richer

Income Gap Is Widening, Data Shows 29 Mar 2007 Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, with the top 1 percent of Americans — those with incomes that year of more than $348,000 — receiving their largest share of national income since 1928, analysis of newly released tax data shows.