Huffington Post should not be rewarded with recognition for aggregating this story. The story originates at tax.com and NewsTrust should link to the original, not a summary. This is the original by David Cay Johnston, who wrote revealing stories about the tax code at The New York Times for many years. . Really Bad Reporting in Wisconsin: Who 'Contributes' to Public Workers' Pensions? David Cay Johnston | Feb. 24, 2011 http://tax.com/taxcom/taxblog.nsf/Permalink/UBEN-8EDJYS?OpenDocument

Annenberg Public Policy Center produced bad journalism in this instance for the reason that the seeds of its own bad argument are contained in the following text: "Don't be confused by the fact that the trust funds are projected to continue growing for several more years. That's because Treasury must still credit interest payments to the funds on the borrowings from earlier years. But unless taxes are increased or other spending is cut severely, the government will have to borrow from the public to pay the interest that it owes to the trust funds." That is a whole different matter than denying that Social Security itself is running red ink. Social Security pays for itself and the Social Security system is not responsible for ... More »

These are fact-free allegations. Why is this on the recommended list? The claims in this article are purely speculative and offer no proofs. Pure conspiratorial goofiness. Why was this blog recommended? Why are we wasting our time commenting? Where exactly is the content?

A friend of Matt Bai is correct in assigning the writer the label "irrationally exuberant" for his opinions on campaign finance which appear in the NYT article, "The Post-Money Era." I look forward to the day when a member of the mainstream media, particularly the networks, examine the role of their employers in receiving much of the money that arrives to finance candidates' political campaigns. The corruption is flagrant and painfully apparent in the months leading up to every election. In place of honest reporting, the various interest groups fight it out in ads purchased for showing on network TV, cable, in handouts, mailings, billboards and wherever else they can find to publicize their viewpoint. The news outlets substitute ... More »

This is an important story and it is not obvious why it did not receive more attention except to observe that some mainstream publications play follow the leader in promoting fluff rather than stories that maybe critical of their advertisers. While the Cancer Blog got it right, I would have preferred to see links to news stories confirming the trial's outcome in the Cancer Blog report. The Cancer Blog, however, correctly reported the outcome whereas law.com got it inexplicably wrong at this link http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1171533777484. Other links support the reporting of what the Cancer Blog reports, such as http://www.news-medical.net/?id=22074 and ... More »

This the strongest, most credible presentation of the U.S. viewpoint, much more believable than what has been presented by the administration. It is credible because it is detailed and contains no obvious lies, as is often true with administration spokesmen. The single weakness in this story that I see is the unchallenged U.S. claim that Iran is "fueling the anti-US insurgency in Iraq." It is well-documented that the major insurgency in Iraq is by Sunni Muslims who lost power when the Shi'ite majority ascended to power. This article fails to point out that most of the deaths in Iraq, particularly among Iraqis because they are the majority of victims but also Americans, are dead because of the Sunni insurgency, which is funded by ... More »

Why is the Tribune newspapers presenting poor writing? Convincing argument is constructed with detail, not broad unsupported generalization. This column offers no argument, just idle-crystal ball gazing in areas where the scribe, who could be a fifth grade student, brings no new information or insight. This is not journalism. It is a poor attempt to fill space with the very first words that popped into an elementary school student's head. This column wastes readers' time. Please bring in writers who think.

An exquisite example of dishonest commentary. Pundits fail to use the words "war" or "Iraq" in their one-sided explanation of why taxes could very well be going up. Who is paying for Bush's war on Iraq and why has this war been off budget during the entire period Republicans, advised by the Heritage Foundation, held power in Congress? Not a word about indefensible budget deficits or any explanation whatsoever why the Republicans, while they held a stranglehold in Congress and in the executive branch, did not act to reign in the alternative minimum tax. The Heritage Foundation writers are dishonest hacks who do not look at the entire picture. These Heritage Foundation writers suffer bankruptcy of ideas and deficits in honesty to ... More »

Google follows in the footsteps of Project Gutenberg ( www.gutenberg.org/ ) in scanning out-of-copyright books that have long been out of print and generally unavailable. I wished that Jeffrey Toobin would have acknowledged the work of Project Gutenberg in this valuable task. So far as works in copyright, Toobin might have explored the concerns of authors and publishers in more depth so as to provide an inkling of what the eventual settlement of these lawsuits might look like. For a researcher, the prospect of entering a search term to produce hits from all or nearly all published literature is obviously useful. Not so clear from this article, however, is what a profit-driven corporation such as Google owes to creators for ... More »

Why is this ax-grinding article in this ax-grinding publication up for review? I just wasted 12 minutes of my life trying to get through this convoluted piece of ancient history that throws daggers somehow claiming that it is relevant today. It is badly sourced with anonymous sources. Phooey. I want that 12 minutes of my life back.

One reviewer claims dark energy is not defined. It is defined in a sidebar. In three more sidebars, its implications are examined in three intriguing graphics.

Asia Times Middle East analyst Pepe Escobar writes reliably, incisively and knowledgeably of the implications of the revised Bush war strategy, as it affects the Iraqi population and control of that country's oil reserves. Asia Times is based in Hong Kong with a bureau in Thailand. Escobar's stories following the US action in Afghanistan after 9/11 were valuable source of perspective.

Good catch by blogger demonstrating how WP surrenders its duty to inform in favor of assuming the mantle of nanny, censor and arbiter of what war photography is too sensitive, i.e. graphic, to be seen. Blogger scores the Post for hiding photographic evidence in its possession of civilian murders at Haditha by U.S. military personnel. Quoting from the Post's own story, Blair shows how the Post damns itself --and betrays the public trust-- with these words. "The images are contained in thousands of pages of NCIS investigative documents obtained by The Washington Post. Post editors decided that most of the images are too graphic to publish."

Though this story begins anecdotally with the real concerns of a homesick soldier, its central point underscores the major weakness in the administration's strategy in conducting its war in Iraq--soldiers ordered to carry out Bush's flawed strategy are not provided with reliable intelligence. This reporter traveled with Apache Company to a volatile area to observe the real problems of applying Bush strategy, and in direct, non-sentimental language, tells the story of how truly difficult that is.

This is mildly interesting if unbalanced. Is becoming the face of the DLC the reward for losing an election? Ford maybe popular among DLC hawks who need "black face" to prop up their failing popularity, he received the lowest ratings from CBC Monitor, which closely follows black politicians in federal service. http://cbcmonitor.voxunion.com/ Radar magazine could have broadened its "scoop" by reflecting critical comments along with adoration of the subject. Judge Ford and all politicians by the content of their character and not by skin color. More is needed than "Young, black, and good-looking." I gave this publication a low rating for trust because I have not seen it before, and am reviewing it solely on the basis of this story.

Salon has a miserable search system, making it next to impossible to find this or any story without wasting time. For example, a search of the name of this story author plus the word Detroit allegedly turned up this story, from the search view. But that's a false positive because that same search turns up many stories with the words "How to lose jobs in Detroit" coupled with "How the world works". Unless you catch the Salon story you want to read on the day it comes out, prepare to waste significant time trying but not always finding it. One problem is the database search does not turn up (or offer option to turn up) most recent articles first. The duplication of headlines is vexing. PS I did not find this story.

I look to overseas publications for balanced reporting of the conflict between Israel and Palestine because the giants of U.S. media do not report impartially on this topic for the reasons underscored in this excellent and well-sourced analysis. U.S. media--and in this instance Bronner at NYT-- does not fulfill its responsibility to be fair and impartial on this issue, to the great detriment of peace in the Middle East. I commend Patrick O’Connor for this detailed analysis. That the U.S. media has all but labeled Jimmy Carter a pariah for writing this book speaks to the greater problem of U.S. media marching uncritically, and often in lockstep with U.S. policy that is fundamental to the discord in the Middle East.