NewsTrust - All Rated Stories

Afghanistan and Iraq wars not worth fighting, say a third of US veterans

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - Oct. 05 (News Report) - One in three US veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think ...Poll finds pride in military, but not for Afghanistan, Iraq wars

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

I Counseled All My Clients To Plead Insanity

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Christopher Cooper - Jul. 29 (Opinion) - if Breivik is crazy, a great many Americans and most of the big boys in D.C. Are crazy. But if the Norwegian shooter-bomber is sane, and culpable and should be tried and sentenced (and most would suggest executed, I imagine), then we had better get started drafting juries and hiring judges because our list of mass-murderers is a long and bipartisan one.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

'The War You Don't See': A Film You Won't See

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By John Pilger - Jun. 11 (Special Report) - John Pilger Dear Noam, I am writing to you and a number of other friends mostly in the US to alert you to the extraordinary banning of my film on war and media, 'The War You Don't See', and the abrupt cancellation of a major event at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe in which David Barsamian and I were to discuss free speech, US foreign policy and censorship in the media. read more

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Nuclear Power Madness

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Norman Solomon - Mar. 14 (Opinion) - Like every other president since the 1940s, Barack Obama has promoted nuclear power. Now, with reactors melting down in Japan, the official stance is more disconnected from reality than ever. Political elites are still clinging to the oxymoron of “safe nuclear power.” It’s up to us -- people around the world -- to peacefully and insistently shut those plants down.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

When a Country Goes Insane

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Robert Freeman - Feb. 21 (Opinion) - This must be what it’s like when a country goes insane, when it falls down a rabbit hole and tries to pretend that everything is normal. It can’t tell truths from lies. Hucksters pose as upright men, and people imagine they are Solons, avatars of insight come down from the ages. Sleazy operators pass themselves off as statesmen, as thinkers of deep gravitas, and the crowds, unable to distinguish sanctimony from sincerity, bravado from bullshit, lap it up.read more

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Reconsidering Japan… Reconsidering Paul Krugman

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - Nov. 20 - by Steven HillThe New York Times is doing a series on Japan that it describes as an examination of "the effects on Japanese society of two decades of economic stagnation and declining prices." Reading the series is about as cheery a task as rubbernecking at a car wreck on I-95. But unfortunately the Times series simply repeats the "conventional wisdom" about Japan put out by the same economic experts who missed an $8 trillion housing bubble in the United States, and in fact have been wrong on most of the big economic issues over the past two decades.read more

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How the Future Will Judge Our Moral Failings

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0700

The Capital Times - By Kwame Anthony Appiah - Oct. 03 (Opinion) - Once, pretty much everywhere, beating your wife and children was regarded as a father’s duty, homosexuality was a hanging offense, and waterboarding was approved -- in fact, invented -- by the Catholic Church. Through the middle of the 19th century, the United States and other nations in the Americas condoned plantation slavery. Many of our grandparents were born in states where women were forbidden to vote. And well into the 20th century, lynch mobs in this country tortured, hanged and burned human beings at picnics.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 11 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

"Pledge to America": Drinking Sand

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Sep. 28 - by John AtchesonThe Republican "Pledge to America" doubles down on the Bush/Reagan policies which brought this country to its economic and ethical knees.And yet, one of the great paradoxes of politics in this silliest of seasons is how Republicans, whose policies created the Great Recession, can be getting traction in the polls because people are angry about the recession the Republicans created. read more

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Haitian Earthquake: Made in the USA

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Ted Rall - Jan. 14 (Comment) - As grim accounts of the earthquake in Haiti came in, the accounts in U.S.-controlled state media all carried the same descriptive sentence: "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere..." Gee, I wonder how that happened?

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Are Presidents Afraid of the CIA?

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Ray McGovern - Dec. 29 (News Analysis) - While Obama keeps repeating the mantra that "nobody is above the law," there is no real sign that he intends to face down Panetta and the Seven Dwarfs-no sign that anyone has breathed new life into federal prosecutor John Durham, to whom Holder gave the mandate for further "preliminary investigation." What is generally forgotten is that it was former Attorney General Michael Mukasey who picked Durham two years ago to investigate CIA's destruction of 91 tapes of the interrogation of "high-value detainees."

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Six Alternatives to a Troop Surge in Afghanistan

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - Dec. 02 (Press Release) - Afghanistan's crisis is in part the result of 30 years of US intervention in the region, including the covert CIA campaign that created the Taliban (and al-Qaeda). Having unleashed this violence, the US has a legal and ethical obligation to the people of Afghanistan. That obligation will not be met by putting more boots on the ground. Instead, we need policies that address the grinding poverty, mass violence against women, predatory government and ongoing warfare that plague Afghanistan.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Where our defense money goes

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Boston Globe - By Bob Edgar, Bill Goodfellow - Aug. 05 (Opinion) - The same week the Senate voted to cut funding for additional F-22s, for a savings of $1.75 billion, the Senate Armed Services Committee added another $9 billion in earmarks to the 2010 defense authorization bill. Earmarks direct money to a specific program or company in a member’s district for something that has not been requested by the Pentagon and has not been subject to any public review or hearing. It is a gift from a member to a constituent, a gesture that usually is repaid with a generous campaign contribution.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Action at State Department on Tar Sands - World's Dirtiest Oil

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Jun. 26 (Press Release) - The Canadian Tar Sands are located a day’s drive from Glacier National Park and are one of the most destructive projects on Earth. Already visible from space, the Tar Sands, - a lunar landscape of 'sacrifice zone' -are scheduled to grow to the size of Michigan. Tar Sands oil production generates 3-5 times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventional oil. Production of Tar Sands oil destroys fresh drinking water, pollutes the air, and razes some of the world’s last remaining endangered forests. Dirty Tar Sands oil cannot be made clean by technological solutions.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

What Was I Fighting For?

Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Rick Reyes - May. 21 (Opinion) - I never detained or arrested anyone guilty of a crime. I witnessed firsthand the ineffectiveness of US military strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, I didn't fully grasp the extent of these failed foreign policies or our government's deception until I returned home from war. Realizing there never were weapons of mass destruction, and that we would have difficulty tracking terrorists even if we had committed all the troops in our military, I felt as though my patriotism had been exploited for political gain. A select few were profiting from these wars, while the majority of Americans shouldered the enormous tax burden.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 12 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

"How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America"

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Robert Weissman, Harvey Rosenfield - Mar. 04 (Investigative Report) - "The financial sector invested more than $5 billion in political influence-purchasing in Washington over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the current financial collapse.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Coen Brothers Direct New "Clean Coal" Ad

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - Feb. 26 (Advocacy) - The Reality Campaign has released a new ad. They're the folks behind the widely-played ad that featured a foreman in a hard hat taking viewers on a tour of a non-existent clean coal facility. In this new ad, a pitchman gives us the hard sell on a "Clean Coal Clean"-scented air freshener that works just as well as "clean coal."

NewsTrust Rating: 2.8 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Senate's socialist scores a win

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The Politico - By Lisa Lerer - Feb. 12 (News Report) - Sanders is often dismissed as a novelty in two-party Washington. But the move toward heightened corporate regulation moves him a step closer to the political mainstream. The Vermont independent spent 16 years in the House and has spent another two in the Senate railing against corporate greed and the rising income gap.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Investing in Our Human Infrastructure: The Real Wealth of Our Nation Is Its People

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

files.tikkun.org - By Riane Eisler - Feb. 05 (Opinion) - Over half a million people lost their jobs last month. There's no question we need a job-creation plan. The real question is what kind of plan will most quickly stimulate the economy and at the same time provide the best long-term investment for our nation. Let's urge President Obama and Congress to use the American Recovery and Reinvestment Job-Creation Plan to massively invest in our human infrastructure: that is, in human capacity development. Investment in our material infrastructure (bridges, roads, etc.) and our natural infrastructure (green jobs, etc.) is certainly important. But study after study shows that when our nation invests in its people, starting in childhood, the economic benefits are enormous. By creating, subsidizing, and providing training for jobs in childcare, early education, healthcare, eldercare, and other "caring industries," as well as supporting caring work in homes, we quickly stimulate the economy, help families, radically reduce poverty and violence, reward women's economic contributions, save billions in crime and prisons - and develop the "high quality human capital" needed for our post-industrial economy.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

NSA Spied on Journalists? Whistleblower Reveals Surveillance Target

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Olbermann, Russell Tice - Jan. 22 (News Report) - In an exclusive interview tonight on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," former NSA analyst Russell Tice says that the agency under the Bush administration secretly collected communications data on civilians, including journalists.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Mumbai was not our 9/11

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The Guardian - By Arundhati Roy - Dec. 13 (Opinion) - ...But November isn't September, 2008 isn't 2001, Pakistan isn't Afghanistan and India isn't America. So perhaps we should reclaim our tragedy and pick through the debris with our own brains and our own broken hearts so that we can arrive at our own conclusions

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 12 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Homes with No People, People with No Homes

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Tamara Lush - Dec. 08 (News Report) - he is unlike any real estate agent you've ever met. He is unshaven, drives a beat-up car and wears grungy cut-off sweat pants. He also breaks into the homes he shows. And his clients don't have a dime for a down payment. Rameau is an activist who has been executing a bailout plan of his own around Miami's empty streets: He is helping homeless people illegally move into foreclosed homes. "We're matching homeless people with people-less homes," he said with a grin.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 7 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A Message for Climate Change Negotiators: Small Farmers Key to Combating Climate Change

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Common Dreams - By Annie Shattuck - Dec. 02 (Special Report) - It's little wonder. The Via Campesina Declaration casts small farmers in the developing world as both global warming's victims and a potential solution. ... While industrial agriculture is one of the world's biggest climate culprits, small-scale farmers actually cool the planet.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

New Study: Large Counties in Swing States May Face Election Day Problems

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Oct. 28 (Press Release) - Voters in the largest counties in 10 key swing states may experience problems on Election Day because of insufficient preparation and inadequate poll booth and machine allocation plans, according to a report released today by FairVote, a nonpartisan advocacy group. FairVote surveyed 26 election administrators in counties with over 500,000 residents in Colorado, Florida, Missouri, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

US Should Disclose its Funding of Opposition Groups in Bolivia and Other Latin American Countries

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Dan Beeton - Sep. 15 (Press Release) - "USAID is not supposed to be a clandestine organization, but nevertheless the U.S. government refuses to divulge which groups in Bolivia are supported with U.S. tax dollars," Weisbrot said. "By providing clandestine aid to groups that are almost certainly in the opposition, it gives the impression that the U.S. is contributing to efforts to destabilize the Bolivian government."

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 9 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

McCain's Michigan Melt-Down Madness

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - By Harvey Wasserman - Aug. 10 (News Report) - Leave it to John McCain to pick the site of a horrific atomic meltdown to symbolize his push for nuke power.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer