Exclusive: Ronald Reagan’s Solicitor General Charles Fried sees “politics, politics, politics” at play in the apparent move by the Supreme Court’s Republican majority to kill health-care reform, but the Washington Post’s neocon editors say it’s unfair to call any of…
TV Stations Resist Listing Ad Buyers
Among the “winners” in Election 2012 will surely be the giant corporations that own many U.S. television stations as they rake in billions of dollars in SuperPAC and other political spending for attack ads. But these stations aren’t eager to make…
What Iran Can Do to Strike Back
Israel’s threats to bomb Iran have hinged on how much damage Israeli aircraft can inflict on Iran’s nuclear facilities, but another worry is how much destruction Iranian missiles can inflict on Israel, a danger that Israeli officials are downplaying, Gareth Porter writes from…
Nature of Self-Defeating Convictions
One of the curious realities of modern America is how many people especially white males have been propagandized into siding with a “free-market” power structure that treats them like tissue paper, to be used and thrown away. Poet Phil Rockstroh…
A Judicial War on Democracy
Exclusive: Comments on the U.S. Supreme Court’s three-day debate over the Affordable Care Act have focused on the damage the five Republican justices are expected to do to President Obama by striking down his prized new law. But the bigger story may be their judicial…
Health Law Dispute Hinges on Timing
Exclusive: After three days of oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, most analysts agree that the five Republican justices are likely to deliver a body blow to Democratic President Obama by declaring his landmark health-reform law “unconstitutional.” But the…
GOP Justices Ignore the Founders
Exclusive: As the Republican Supreme Court majority moves toward gutting health-care reform, the justices are making a mockery of the Constitution and the intent of the Founders who had good reasons to include the powerful Commerce Clause. But it appears GOP partisanship will…
Israel to Iran, with Love
Almost drowned out by the pounding of war drums is the rare voice for peace and sanity, like that of Israeli graphic artist Rony Edry, who designed a poster with the message, “Iranians. We will never bomb your country. We…
Calling Dr. Strangelove
Mitt Romney lashed out at President Obama for telling Russia’s President Dmitri Medvedev that after the U.S. elections, there will be more “flexibility” to deal with arms control. But the greater danger may be delays in eliminating land-based missiles that add to…
GOP Justices Clown over Health Care
Exclusive: The questions asked by the Republican partisans on the U.S. Supreme Court suggest they will overturn the Affordable Care Act. Instead of a serious debate about health care and the Constitution, they clowned around with silly what-ifs about mandating broccoli-eating and requiring burial insurance,…
Egypt Pushes Palestinians on Peace
The new Egypt guided by relatively moderate Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood is seeking a unity among Palestinian factions as a way to advance peace talks with Israel. The next question will be whether Israel and the United States welcome…
Help in Our Book Spring Cleaning
From Editor Robert Parry: We’re trying to reduce our stockpiles of books and reach our goal for the spring fundraiser. You can help in both while also getting important facts out to a broader public.
Hunt for the Historical Jesus
For years there has been a debate over not only who Jesus was but whether he existed. Historians remain split on many Jesus-related questions and the issue is fraught with religious overtones but Rev. Howard Bess believes enough is now known…
‘Hunger Games’ Left Appetite for More
Exclusive: “The Hunger Games” based on a trilogy of best-selling novels about an apocalyptic future set box-office records for a non-sequel film on an opening weekend, but Lisa Pease also found the film’s story compelling enough to leave her hungry…
Congress Finally Bans Insider Trades
Congress finally banned its members and other federal officials from stock trading based on insider government information, but not before the law was watered down in two key respects, as Michael Winship reports.
Are the GOP Justices Political Hacks?
Exclusive: The “Obamacare” debate will test whether the U.S. Supreme Court’s five Republican justices are political hacks. After all, a right-wing think tank devised the individual mandate, which was embraced by GOP front-runner Mitt Romney, but it’s now anathema because it was…
Lobby Behind Trayvon Martin’s Death
The slaying of unarmed teen-ager Trayvon Martin has shed light on the shadowy American Legislative Exchange Council, which dreams up pro-corporate legislation to peddle to the states and as with the gun-toting “Stand Your Ground” law can inflict suffering and death on…
Israeli ‘Refuseniks’ Reject Anti-Arab Bias
Many admirers of Judaic traditions, including the commitments to independent thought and social justice, have wondered why the Israeli experience has veered so far from those honorable principles. But Lawrence Davidson says some Israelis continue to ask the tough questions…
PBS Undercuts Indie Documentaries
In recent years, PBS has grown more and more timid as financial and political pressures have mounted, explaining why two of its more controversial series presenting independent documentaries have gotten stuck in a time slot guaranteeing fewer viewers. PBS veterans…
Romney’s ‘Etch a Sketch’ Foreign Policy
An aide’s remark comparing the consistency of Mitt Romney’s positions to lines on an Etch a Sketch toy suggests his presidency would follow a course designed to win him a second term, says ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar. In that, Romney’s neocon foreign policy…