November 17, 2008by Jim Hightower Maybe you – like most of the media and most Congress Critters – think that the Bushites’ bailout of their pals on Wall Street is limited to the sum that Congress approved: $700 billion. If only. That’s a pretty big wad in itself, but...

By John Nichols, The Nation via alternet.org, 11-20-08 Quick! Name the veteran Department of Justice insider who, shortly after the USA Patriot Act was signed into law as the Bush administration was proposing to further erode barriers to governmental abuses, said that dissenters should not be...

by Ian Williams in The Guardian via CommonDreams.org, 11-19-08  As George Bush shuffles off to a long absence that is not only with leave but with a heartfelt global sentiment that it is long overdue, he leaves behind a lot of unfinished business. One wonders whether, just in case,...

Hoover's inaction in the face of the mounting crisis has made him an enduring symbol of economic mismanagement, but as bad he was, his neglect was nowhere near that of his secretary of the treasury, Andrew Mellon. Faced with a financial crisis even greater in scale than our current troubles,...

from Paul Krugman ...To pull us out of this downward spiral, the federal government will have to provide economic stimulus in the form of higher spending and greater aid to those in distress — and the stimulus plan won’t come soon enough or be strong enough unless politicians and...

Goodbye and Good Riddance by Paul Waldman, prospect.org via OurFuture.org, 11-14-08 ... [I]n just a few weeks, George W. Bush will no longer be our president. Let me repeat that: In just a few weeks, George W. Bush will no longer be our president. So though our long national ordeal isn't...

By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com via alternet.org, 11-13-08 On the day that Americans turned out in near record numbers to vote, a record was set halfway around the world. In Afghanistan, a U.S. Air Force strike wiped out about 40 people in a wedding party. This represented at least the...

Obama Transition Team Rejects Lobbyists: Why It Matters by Steven Rosenfeld , AlterNet, November 11, 2008. The Obama Transition Team has issued rules for lobbyists who want to advise the incoming administration. The rules seek to stop Washington's revolving-door culture...

Beyond the Fat Cats by Bob Herbert in The New York Times, 11-11-08 The most important thing the Democrats and President-elect Obama can do with regard to the economy is bring back a sense of fairness and equity. The fat cats who placed the entire economy at risk with their greed and...

All over but the lying by Jamison Foser, Media Matters, 11-7-08 On Tuesday, Americans chose as their next president an African-American named Barack Obama who campaigned on a near-universal health-care plan, allowing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to expire, and a move away from the...

Bring on the Puppy and the Rookie by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, 11-6-08 I walked over to the White House Tuesday night and leaned against the fence. How can such a lovely house make so many of its inhabitants nuts? ...I had been astonished by the overt willingness...

It hurts me deeply to say this, but here goes: I’m not a real American. Oh, I’m proud to live in America and grateful for all the opportunities I’ve been given in this great country. Also, I would probably seem pretty American to you: I was born and raised in Texas, I came up through...

Studs Terkel: He’ll Never Be Silenced by Jeff Cohen on CommonDreams.org, 11-2-08 The irrepressible Louis "Studs" Terkel was many things – oral historian, radio and TV host, actor, activist, Bronx-born icon of Chicago, the "great listener" who was hard of hearing, Pulitzer...

The New Know-Nothings by Larry Beinhart on CommonDreams.org, 11-2-08 ... Sarah, I love you for having revealed unto the media the snarling heart of the beast that is the base (and the soul) of the Republican Party. Yes, you have the lipstick and the heels, not to mention...

... Republicans rule, rather than govern, when they are in power by imposing their authoritarian conservative philosophy on everyone, as their answer for everything. This works for them because their interest is in power, and in what it can do for those who think as they do. Ruling, of...

The Bailout: Bush's Final Pillage by Naomi Klein, in The Nation via CommonDreams.org, 10-31-08 In the final days of the election, many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But that doesn't mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow...

Republicans are never going to allow genuine bipartisanship to happen during an Obama presidency. They've portrayed Barack Obama as a radical, a socialist who pals around with terrorists. They've called him anti-American and elitist. They've intimated that he's a dark-skinned foreigner,...

Sometimes, when a political campaign has run out of ideas and senses that the prize is slipping through its fingers, it rolls up a sleeve and plunges an arm, shoulder deep, right down to the bottom of the barrel. The problem for John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the Republican Party is that the...

A Choice and an Echo by Bob Herbert in The New York Times, 10-28-08...This election is hardly over, despite the impulse of the pundits to write the McCain campaign’s obituary. But Senator McCain has diminished his chances of winning the presidency in many ways, the most important of...

Here are two  articles  making clear the problems with  Sara  Palin  Palin Defends RNC Clothing, Discusses Accessories By Rachel Weiner, Huffington Post via alternet.org, 10-28-08 Sarah Palin addresses the $150,000 in clothing purchased for her by the...