From the Archive: More than a quarter century after President Reagan ordered President Carter’s solar panels removed from the White House roof, new ones are being installed, a belated nod to the foresight of one president and a rebuke to the…
Category: Politics
How False History Props Up the Right
Exclusive: The Right’s policy nostrums are failing across the board from free-market extremism to austerity as a cure for recession to continuing the old health-care dysfunction leaving only an ideological faith that this is what the Framers wanted. But that…
Greasing the Capitol’s Locked Gears
Even the hyper-partisan Newt Gingrich has chastised his fellow Republicans for endless negativity and lack of positive ideas. Still, as the wheels of government grind to a standstill, business lobbyists continue to grease them with lots of money, notes Michael Winship.
The Permanent ‘War on Terror’
Over the past dozen years, the “war on terror” has taken a profound toll on U.S. constitutional protections and democratic principles, a process that continues despite President Obama’s promise last May that “this war like all wars must end,” as…
A Method to Egypt’s Madness
The bloody assault on Egyptians protesting the ouster of democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi has the look of madness as the military pushes Islamists toward more violence but there is a sick logic if the generals see more Islamic extremism…
Blaming Obama for Syrian Mess
Exclusive: As the Syrian civil war drags on, al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists are emerging as the fiercest fighters in the rebel coalition and complicating how the conflict can be resolved. So, U.S. neocons are trying to pin the blame…
’42’ and 44
From the Archive: American rightists and many Republicans continue to treat President Obama with a personal disrespect that reeks of racism: hoisting signs about his “Kenyan birth,” laughing at him as a rodeo clown, wishing for his impeachment hostility that recalls…
How Congress Overlooked NSA Spying
Edward Snowden’s leaks about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs might have been avoided if more members of Congress had done their duty to stay informed about these classified activities, rather than get distracted by the fluff of politics, says…
The Moral Imperative of Activism
Exclusive: Today’s crises endless war, environmental catastrophe, desperate poverty and more can seem so daunting that they paralyze action rather than inspire activism. But the imperative to do something in the face of injustice defines one’s moral place in the…
Scoring Points Over a Terror Threat
Though it’s summer, Official Washington’s factionalism never takes a vacation. The neocons are in workaholic mode, claiming the precautionary closure of some U.S. embassies proves al-Qaeda remains a major threat, despite the fact that no terror attack has actually happened, as ex-CIA analyst Paul…