Through a Freedom of Information Act request, USA today uncovered more evidence that the State Department refused to discipline Blackwater guards who lied during a shooting investigation in 2005. The article connects the incident to the 2007 Blackwater shootings, and clearly demonstrates lax state department oversight of Blackwater.

The journalism quality is wanting, but the importance of the article lies in the revelation by Seymour Hersh that Cheney had his own special ops that carried out assassinations on his orders. Hersh has proven possibly the most dependable investigative journalists of modern times (he uncovered Abu Ghraib and My Lai).

Matt Taibbi uses humor and Thomas Friedman's own writing to clearly illustrate what an imbecile the celebrated New York Times columnist is. This is criticism at its best.

Chomsky continues to be the most insightful writer on foreign policy and world politics.

90% of the stories about the bailout written in the mainstream press, including this one, suffer from a lack of point of views. In this article, we hear mainly from the legislators who voted for the bill, lip service is paid to those who opposed the bill, and there were absolutely no non-partisan, outside organizations asked to weigh in. Avid consumers of news can predict exactly what legislators on both sides are going to say. We've heard their message for the past two weeks. I want to know what the organizations who work to advocate for issues I care about think about the passage of this bill--organizations like Public Citizen, Common Cause, League of Women voters, environmental groups and even the fiscally conservative ... More »

"It's cold today, so obviously global warming is a scam!" Like a person who makes this argument, the author of the article ignores long term global warming trends. Additionally, the title and first paragraph greatly exaggerate the finding of the NSIDC report he cites. Here are a few findings from the report: "The pattern that has dominated the summer of 2008, so far, seems less favorable for ice loss [than 2007]. However, the melt season has a long way to go. Furthermore, as discussed above, large areas of the pack ice with fairly low concentrations are likely to melt out soon." And: "The current pattern of sea ice retreat is noticeably different than last summer, with some areas showing less ice and others showing more."--this ... More »

Why has Obama's internet fund raising decreased in each of the last two months? Read this article for the answer. Good story (despite poor sourcing) with a great lesson for Obama. It's also a great explanation of how Gore and Kerry lost the last two elections (and part of the reason Nader won--and did not "steal"--my vote in 2000). If Democrats start talking like Republicans, they end up deflating momentum and votes from their base.

The author doesn't advocate voting against Obama in anyway. She merely pionts out that this failed Democratic strategy of appealing to the "center" has only succeeded in shifting our nation to the right, and she presents the imporant question: "What will Obama do after he wins? Why should we believe he will suddenly tack back to being a defender of civil liberites?" This article complements the July 10 Christian Science Monitor article "Why 'base' and 'independent' campaign strategies converge". Both present sound reasoning as to how Obama is deflaiting enthusiasm from his base (especially from the new young voters he attracted during the primaries) and is endangering his campaign by shifting right and appealing to the "center". ... More »

Hersh is possibly the most dependable and trustworthy investigative journalist working today. He once again seems to have dug up important facts on U.S. foreign policy that no other journalist has been able to find (or has attempted to find). In a perfect world we would read stories such as this in the morning paper daily.

Scahill continues his exceptional coverage of Blackwater in this article. The subject is incredibly important--Blackwater is the future of the military-industrial complex--and he always seems to offer insight readers can't find anywhere else. Scahill is one of the most consistant and and dependable journalists writing today.

This story is the exact opposite of the Wired story I reviewed earlier: well sourced, detailed, and informative. I would like to see a some of this article devote space to the Price-Anderson Act which socializes the insurance of running a Nuke plant--without which nuke companies would fail to profit form nuke power. The Price-Anderson Act is especially insulting to tax payers because we pay for the great risk of running a Nuke plant, while the private companies collect all the profits. Great article overall, though.

This is a brief, badly written, poorly documented, biased report on a controversial article that seems designed to promote the propoganda of the nuke industry. It doesn't take in consideration the environmental devistation caused by plutonium enrichment (for a good article check out the Utne Reader "Atomic Dreams": http://www.utne.com/2008-01-01/Environment/Atomic-Dreams.aspx and one about mining the grand canyon at the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-uranium4-2008may04,0,5607560.story). Like most advocates of nukes, the author makes a mistaken assumption that human error will not play a factor, nor has played a factor, in nuclear engineering. This is demonstratably false (see Nine Mile Island, ... More »

David Postman fails to interview critics of NAFTA who have researched its devastating effects (like Public Citizen, which may be the best source for Free Trade related research http://www.citizen.org/trade/ ). As demonstrated by the massive anti-globalization protests during the past decade, a diverse and monumental coalition opposes such free trade deals. Yet somehow Postman failed to find one critic with an articulate, well researched argument against the trade deals. He obviously did not try very hard to seek out such voices, or, more likely, didn't try at all. He also fails to consider that Ohioans blame NAFTA for job loss because it is the most widely recognized name in free trade. When criticizing NAFTA, they likely mean ... More »

The article doesn't address important issues such as: How much carbon and resources are required in producing the essential parts of such a plant? What kind of environmental damage may such a plant cause, if any at all? The reader is to assume this type of plant is an improvement just because the word "solar" is invoked.

Main stream news needs to start reporting important background information on their sources--like where do these skeptic "scientists" get funding for their research? The issue is raised, but ironically in the context of questioning Al Gore's statement that much of the skeptical science is funded by the energy industry. The New York Times proof: one skeptic's claim that he does not receive funding from the energy industry. Well, where does he get his funding from? As usual, the New York Times does not expend the energy to investigate and/or report relevant background information on its sources, instead they amplify their claims in this article: "From a Rapt Audience, a Call to Cool the Hype. --Does anyone else notice a pattern ... More »