You Might Also Enjoy

tomdispatch.com — Eight years ago, 2,600 people lost their lives in Manhattan, and then several million people lost their story. The al-Qaeda attack on the Twin Towers did not defeat New Yorkers. The distortion, even obliteration, of what actually happened was a necessary precursor to launching the obscene response that culminated in a war on Iraq, a war we lost (even if some of us don't know that yet), and the loss of civil liberties and democratic principles that went with it. For this eighth anniversary of that terrible day, the first post-Bush-era anniversary, let's remember what actually happened.

more »

truthout.org — Does anyone even remember the first eight months of the George W. Bush administration? It was an unmitigated train wreck. The main article in Newsweek on September 10, 2001, was all about how the Bush v. Gore decision, and in fact his entire presidency, was a farce and a sham. Eight months in, and he had "one-termer" written all over his pinched, confused face. And then.

more »

huffingtonpost.com — Who has done a better job of keeping the country safer — George Bush or Barack Obama? Well, as soon as it we make it past the morning of 9/11, then Obama will have officially kept us safer longer than George Bush did. It's empirical. You can't argue with it.

more »

tomdispatch.com — It's high time we ended the post-Vietnam obsession with Rambo's rippling pecs as well as the jaw-dropping technological firepower of the recent cinematic version of G.I. Joe and return to the resolute, undemonstrative strength that Gary Cooper showed in movies like High Noon.

more »

thenation.com — True, he doesn't seem a bit like Lyndon Johnson, but the way he's headed on Afghanistan, Barack Obama is threatened with a quagmire that could bog down his presidency. LBJ also had a progressive agenda in mind, beginning with his war on poverty, but it was soon overwhelmed by the cost and divisiveness engendered by a meaningless, and seemingly endless, war in Vietnam.

more »

salon.com — On Bill Maher's show, Bill Moyers spoke about the core failures of Democratic Party in the context of both the health care debate and the ongoing escalation in Afghanistan: "I don’t think the problem is the Republicans . . . .The problem is the Democratic Party. This is a party that has told its progressives — who are the most outspoken champions of health care reform — to sit down and shut up."

more »

motherjones.com — How a top Pentagon official — and former Raytheon lobbyist — is undermining vital reform at the DOD.

more »

thenation.com — Wednesday's bombings in Baghdad's Green Zone were probably the most significant bombings in Iraq's capital since the attacks on the Jordanian embassy and the United Nations offices in 2003. While President Obama and the Pentagon are focused on Afghanistan, the war in Iraq is showing signs of heading south, and fast.

more »