NewsTrust - Bush Legacy - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

Taboo - or Not Taboo. Make That 15 Commandments.

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Smirking Chimp - By Robert Becker - Oct. 26 (Opinion) - It's good news that bad taboos, which reinforce prejudice, are falling by the wayside. But what about good taboos on which civilization depends, also falling by the wayside?

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Michael Moore Backs Call to Re-Open Investigation of 9/11 Attacks

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman, Michael Moore - Sep. 29 (Interview) - Moore is backing former Florida governor and senator Bob Graham’s call for President Obama to reopen the investigation into 9/11 after new information emerged about the possible role of prominent Saudis. According to recent news reports, a wealthy young Saudi couple fled their home in a gated community in Sarasota, Florida, just a week or so before Sept. 11, 2001, leaving behind three cars and nearly all of their possessions. "There are many unanswered questions and they should be answered," Moore says.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Ex-Bush Official Col. Lawrence Wilkerson: "I am Willing to Testify" If Dick Cheney is Put on Trial

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 30 (Interview) - s former Vice President Dick Cheney publishes his long-awaited memoir, we speak to Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. "This is a book written out of fear, fear that one day someone will 'Pinochet' Dick Cheney," says Wilkerson, alluding to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested for war crimes. Wilkerson also calls for George W. Bush and Cheney to be held accountable for their crimes in office. "I’d be willing to testify, and I’d be willing to take any punishment I’m due," Wilkerson said.

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

Army Ranger Widow Confronts Rumsfeld Over His Lies That Convinced Her Husband to Join the Military

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Aug. 30 (Interview) - We speak with the widow of a U.S. Army Ranger who confronted former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about her husband’s suicide on Saturday. Ashley Joppa-Hagemann introduced herself to Rumsfeld during a book signing by handing him a copy of her husband’s funeral program at a base south of Tacoma, Washington. She says Rumsfeld inspired her husband to join the Army after 9/11, but he later became disillusioned with the reasons for the war. Her husband, 25-year-old Staff Sergeant Jared Hagemann, killed himself ahead of what his wife says was his eighth deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. His body was found on June 28, 2011, at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average - 3 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

Guess How Much More Wall St. Spends on Bonuses Than on Penalties for Torpedoing the Economy? | | AlterNet

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Nomi Prins - Jun. 29 (Opinion) - Are you enraged about JPM Chase’s puny $156.3 million fine? The fine was part of an SEC settlement in which the firm "neither admits nor denies" any wrong-doing. Translation: Stuffing assets with carefully selected crap is not wrong. Creating the crap loans to begin with:

NewsTrust Rating: Not rated yet - See Info » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 Strategy Explained

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Gareth Porter - Jun. 10 (Opinion) - Before his murder last month, Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad detailed how al-Qaeda leaders used the 9/11 attacks to induce “cowboy” President George W. Bush to blunder foolishly into the invasions of two Muslim countries, thus advancing an al-Qaeda strategy to discredit the region’s U.S.-connected leaders

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Bush Tax Cuts Turn 10; Let's Look At the Damage They've Caused

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Sarah Jaffe - Jun. 07 (Opinion) - the top 1 percent got 65 percent of the total income gains during the economic expansion of 2002-2007, and Mark Price, a labor economist with the Keystone Research Center, notes that job growth during that expansion “was weaker than in the '90s expansion, an expansion preceded by tax increases.” Worse still, he says, “the tax rates didn't increase tax revenue and contributed to a rapid run-up in US debt.”

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Fight over Coal Mining is a “Fight About Democracy”: New Documentary with Robert Kennedy, Jr. Chronicles Campaign to Halt Mountaintop Removal

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Amy Goodman - May. 23 (Interview) - We speak with environmental activist Robert Kennedy, Jr., and filmmaker Bill Haney about the new documentary, _The Last Mountain_, which premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The film chronicles the fight against coal mining across Appalachia and Massey Energy’s devastating practice of mountaintop removal to extract layers of coal. "They have to break the law to do this. They cannot survive in the marketplace without violating the law. They violate labor laws. They violate health and safety laws. And by their own records, they've had some 67,000 violations of just one of the environmental statutes," says Kennedy of the coal giant that has tremendous political influence at the state and federal level. “It’s not just about the environmental destruction, it’s also about subverting democracy.” [includes rush transcript]

NewsTrust Rating: 4.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Weapons of Mass Exploitation

Tue, 10 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Ravi Batra - May. 10 (Opinion) - The Iraq invasion turned out to be a colossal mistake in terms of lost lives and heavy expenditures that sharply raised the federal budget deficit. However, few realize that the Bush administration made a far bigger mistake in using what may be called Weapons of Mass Exploitation or WMEs, which have all but decimated the US economy and continue to do so.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Curious Bush/Bin Laden Symbiosis

Sat, 07 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Robert Parry - May. 07 (Opinion) - while criticism has fallen on Pakistani authorities for being either complicit or incompetent, almost no attention has focused on the curious symbiotic relationship that has existed since 9/11 between Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush – and even longer between the bin Laden family and the Bush family.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Bush Gave Up on Bin Laden by 2006, Despite Eric Cantor's Trying to Give Him Credit

Fri, 06 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Monthly - May. 06 (Opinion) - In March 2002, just a year and a half after 9/11, Bush said of bin Laden, "I truly am not that concerned about him.... You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, to be honest with you." In July 2006, we learned that the Bush administration closed its unit that had been hunting bin Laden. In September 2006, Bush told Fred Barnes, one of his most sycophantic media allies, that an "emphasis on bin Laden doesn't fit with the administration's strategy for combating terrorism." And don't even get me started on Bush's failed strategy that allowed bin Laden to escape from Tora Bora. I'm happy to extend plenty of credit to all kinds of officials throughout the government, but crediting Bush's "vigilance" on bin Laden is deeply silly.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Is Now Not the Time to Start Leaving Afghanistan?

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Real Clear Politics - By Larry Kudlow - May. 05 (Opinion) - With the killing of Osama, is the Afghan mission complete? The original post-9/11 goal was to kill bin Laden and wipe out al-Qaida. Now that we've killed bin Laden and dismantled so much of al-Qaida, do we really need to trudge through an even longer war in Afghanistan?

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Debt?

Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

populist.com - By Bob Burnett - May. 05 (Opinion) - Last week, I received an angry email accusing me of ignoring the number one political story, “...the USA is broke and has $14 TRILLION DOLLARS worth of debt!” It wasn’t unusual, as many Americans are overwrought about the US public debt. Sure, it’s a problem, but not number one, and here’s why.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

John Ashcroft takes image-rehab job with Blackwater

Wed, 04 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Alex Pareene - May. 04 (Opinion) - The hiring of Ashcroft -- a puritanical straight-and-narrow type -- is obviously meant to signal to government agencies that Blackwater has totally changed since founder and real piece of work Erik Prince departed the company to concentrate on pretending he's been persecuted for anything besides his impossibly irresponsible management.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Finishing a Job: Obama Gets Osama

Mon, 02 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Consortium News - By Robert Parry - May. 02 (Opinion) - President Barack Obama touched off American celebrations with his Sunday night announcement that U.S. forces finally had killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but that long frustrating hunt might not have been necessary if George W. Bush had rejected neoconservative advice to pivot prematurely from Afghanistan to Iraq in late 2001.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

SCOTUS Rules Against Consumer Class Action Suits

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

Crooks and Liars - By Susie Madrak - Apr. 29 (Opinion) - Oh, great. The wingnut five continues to rubberstamp anything they can to give corporations the edge they need to pound us completely into the ground. We have no right to anything, other than the right to shut up and take it. This decision is a big deal, further undercutting consumer protections: WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court gave corporations a major win Wednesday, ruling in a 5-4 decision that companies can block their disgruntled customers from joining together in a class-action lawsuit. The ruling arose from a California lawsuit involving cellphones, but it will have a nationwide impact. In the past, consumers who bought a product or a service had been free to join a class-action lawsuit if they were dissatisfied or felt they had been cheated. By combining these small claims, they could bring a major lawsuit against a corporation. But in Wednesday's decision, the high court said that under the Federal Arbitration Act companies can force these disgruntled customers to arbitrate their ...

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

When Secrecy Is a Weapon

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

readersupportednews.org - By Jameel Jaffer - Apr. 07 (Opinion) - the American public surely has a right to know that the assassination of terrorism suspects is now official government policy - and reflects an opportunistic approach to allegedly sensitive information that has become the norm for senior government officials. Routinely, officials insist to courts that the nation's security will be compromised if certain facts are revealed but then supply those same facts to trusted reporters.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average (not enough reviews) - See Review » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama and Bush

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Crooked Timber - By John Quiggin - Mar. 09 (Opinion) - The announcement that military show trials are to recommence at Guantanamo Bay, combined with the brutal and vindictive treatment of Bradley Manning, make it clear that, as regards willing to suppress basic human and civil rights in the name of security, there is no fundamental difference between the Obama and Bush Administrations. The first obvious question is, why? The second is, how to respond?

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Uprisings in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt -- America Is Paying the Price for Supporting Corrupt Dictatorships in the Muslim World

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Juan Cole - Jan. 26 (Opinion) - Here’s one obvious lesson of the Tunisian Revolution of 2011: paranoia about Muslim fundamentalist movements and terrorism is causing Washington to make bad choices that will ultimately harm American interests and standing abroad. State Department cable traffic from capitals throughout the Greater Middle East, made public thanks to WikiLeaks, shows that U.S. policy-makers have a detailed and profound picture of the depths of corruption and nepotism that prevail among some “allies” in the region.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A New Year's Resolution for the Rich

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Sam Harris - Dec. 30 (Opinion) - It is easy to understand why even the most generous person might be averse to paying taxes: Our legislative process has been hostage to short-term political interests and other perverse incentives for as long as anyone can remember. Consequently, our government wastes an extraordinary amount of money. It also seems uncontroversial to say that whatever can be best accomplished in the private sector should be. Our tax code must also be reformed--and it might even be true that the income tax should be lowered on everyone, provided we find a better source of revenue to pay our bills. But I can't imagine that anyone seriously believes that the current level of wealth inequality in the United States is good and worth maintaining, or that our government's first priority should be to spare a privileged person like myself the slightest hardship as this once great nation falls into ruin.

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

2010: The Year In Crazy, Pt. 2

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

This Modern World - By Tom Tomorrow - Dec. 28 (Cartoon) - An incomplete and subjective look at the year in crazy.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

2010: The Year In Crazy, Pt. 1

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

This Modern World - By Tom Tomorrow - Dec. 21 (Cartoon) - An incomplete and subjective look at the year in crazy.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.4 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Why the Obama Tax Deal Confirms the Republican Worldview

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Robert Reich - Dec. 09 (Opinion) - Obama's new tax compromise is not only bad economics; it's also disastrous from the standpoint of educating the public about what has happened to this country over the past three decades and what needs to happen in the future.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Irony of Wikileaks

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

New Republic - By James Rubin, New Republic - Dec. 01 (Opinion) - There’s no question that many of the Wikileaks documents are a great read. These diplomatic conversations between American officials and leaders from the Arab world, China, and Europe provide important insights about the subtleties of U.S. policy and the complexities of dealing with different personalities and governments around the world. But the disclosures are not just interesting; they are also ironic. That’s because they undermine the very worldview that Julian Assange and his colleagues at Wikileaks almost certainly support.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average (not enough reviews) - See Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer