Naomi Klein Town Hall Seattle, WA 28 September 2014 Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future… Continue reading →
Chris Hedges Missoula, MT 3 February 2014 The demonic Captain Ahab in Melville’s epic novel Moby Dick represents a quest for power and domination that is a death wish. Hubris will doom Ahab and his Pequod crew, all perish except for Ishmael. Is there a larger lesson to be learned? Is the United… Continue reading →
Jeremy Scahill Lincoln Center Fort Collins, CO 9 April 2014 The National Security Beast is a terrifying behemoth that extends its tentacles across the globe. Like a many-headed hydra it grows and grows. It has an insatiable appetite for weaponry. For example, in late 2013, the navy launched the… Continue reading →
Richard Wolff Brecht Forum, New York, NY 9 October 2012 Cascading economic problems and crises, coupled with dysfunctional political responses, have plunged many societies into deepening turmoil. Capitalism, the dominant economic system of our time, has once again become the subject of criticism and… Continue reading →
Noam Chomsky Denver, Colorado 7 May 2013 The Magna Carta is the foundational document of the legal system. It crucially asserted that law is sovereign, not the king. Today, the term rule of law is invoked by whoever is in the White House. But you have to wonder what do they mean? There is one set of… Continue reading →
Barbara Ehrenreich Lecture, then interview by David Barsamian (This event was presented by the Lannan Foundation.) Santa Fe, New Mexico 13 March 2013 The rise in New York’s poverty rate as a result of the ongoing recession has pushed nearly half of the city’s population into the ranks of the poor or… Continue reading →
Dennis Kucinich Santa Barbara, CA February 8, 2013 The U.S. has the world’s most powerful military machine. Its navy controls the seas, its air force the skies. Almost 70 years after the end of World War Two, its armies occupy bases from Germany and Italy to South Korea and Japan. Its CIA-operated… Continue reading →
Paul Cienfuegos Missoula, MT March 1, 2012 Modern corporations trace their origins to the trading companies of imperial Europe more than three centuries ago. Their rise in power and influence has been a steady trajectory to the point where today they are the dominant institution in society… Continue reading →
by Robert L. Borosage Washington’s obsession with deficits is illogical for two reasons: first, there is no sign of accelerating inflation; interest rates are near record lows, as global investors seek shelter in US securities from economic turmoil abroad. We will never have a better opportunity to… Continue reading →
Michelle Alexander Santa Fe, NM September 12, 2012 available from Alternative Radio You can listen to Michelle Alexander speak for herself here. Michelle Alexander is an associate professor of law at Ohio State University and holds a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race… Continue reading →
by Dave Lindorff Summer 2011 (appearing in Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion, edited by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank) When Barack Obama was running for president, back in 2008, he was pretty definite about his seemingly progressive position on Social Security. While he… Continue reading →
Glenn Greenwald Socialism 2012 Rosemont, IL June 28, 2012 available from Alternative Radio You can listen to Glenn Greenwald speak for himself here. Glenn Greenwald is an attorney and the author of How Would a Patriot Act?, Great American Hypocrites, and Liberty and Justice for Some. He is the… Continue reading →
by John Cusack From Truthout Tuesday, September 4, 2012 I wrote this a while back after Romney got the nom. In light of the blizzard of bullshit coming at us in the next few months I thought I would put it out now. ______________ Now that the Republican primary circus is over, I started to think… Continue reading →
One of the weapons Holmes used to shoot up the Aurora theatre by Jay Wenk, World War II veteran, member Veterans for Peace> A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. What part of “regulated” isn’t… Continue reading →
Morris Berman Elliot Bay Bookstore Seattle, WA November 4, 2011 available from Alternative Radio You can listen to Morris Berman speak for himself here. From the boarded-up storefronts to foreclosed homes to the homeless and unemployed, the signs of decay in the U.S. are all too apparent. The… Continue reading →
by Paul Buchheit Appearing in Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter Reprinted from CounterPunch. Paul Buchheit teaches Economic Inequality at DePaul University. He is the founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (Us Against Greed, Pay Up Now, and Rapping History) and the editor… Continue reading →
by Jack A. Smith editor, Activist Newsletter This year’s presidential campaign is taking place within an extremely conservative era in American political history that will substantially influence the domestic and foreign priorities of the next administration, regardless of whether it’s headed by… Continue reading →
Max Rameau Eugene, OR April 19, 2012 available from Alternative Radio You can listen to Max Rameau speak for himself here. Max Rameau is a community organizer. He is Executive Director of Movement Catalyst. He helped establish Take Back the Land, which organizes resistance to foreclosures and… Continue reading →
By Jack A. Smith, Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter editor Less than six months before the November presidential elections in an exceptionally distressed United States the narrow, unpleasant parameters of political possibility are emerging. Two alternatives confront the American people, both to the… Continue reading →
Gar Alperovitz Interviewed by David Barsamian Cambridge, MA January 19, 2012 available from Alternative Radio You can listen to Gar Alperovitz speak for himself here. Gar Alperovitz is Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland and co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative. He is… Continue reading →
interview with Richard Wolff by David Barsaminan New York, NY December 29, 2011 available from Alternative Radio You can listen to Richard Wolff speak for himself here. Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and currently a visiting professor… Continue reading →
Check out this brief and crucial history of the United States… In less than 23 minutes, you’ll get the big picture. Let your life be a friction to stop the machine. Continue reading →
by Paul Cienfuegos Eugene, OR May 16, 2011 available from Alternative Radio You can listen to Paul Cienfuegos deliver this address here. Paul Cienfuegos lectures and leads workshops on dismantling corporate rule. He co-founded Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County in northern California. He’s based… Continue reading →
by Richard Wolff Santa Fe, NM September 13, 2011 available from Alternative Radio You can listen to Richard Wolff deliver this address here. Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and currently a visiting professor at the New School in New York… Continue reading →
by Naomi Klein, the author of Shock Doctrine, currently working on a book about climate change. Her article originally appeared in The Nation. What the right gets–and the left doesn’t–about the revolutionary power of climate change. This is the most powerful article I’ve seen on explaining what’s… Continue reading →
by Jodie Evans Interviewed by David Barsamian Boulder, CO August 7, 2011 available from Alternative Radio Jodie Evans is a veteran activist with more than 30 years experience in organizing for social change. She cofounded Code Pink with Medea Benjamin. They’ve also edited the book Stop The Next War… Continue reading →
by Fred Nagel, Rhinebeck, NY in a letter to the Woodstock Times September 22, 2011 Even for a politician who has made his career out of serving the rich and well connected, these must seem like dismal times. Back in Chicago, all Obama had to do was to obey the corrupt Democratic machine. And he did… Continue reading →
Part 2: Problems ahead for Obama? by Jack S. Smith, Activist Newsletter The New Yorker magazine published a memorable front cover a year after President Barack Obama assumed office. It was a four-panel cartoon-like drawing by artist Barry Blitt of a man walking on water, a reference to the Apostle… Continue reading →
Part 1: What both parties are up to by Jack S. Smith, Activist Newsletter When was it that the most extremely disturbed inmates seized control of the madhouse known as the American political system? We know they are wielding decisive influence within the two-party structure by their destructive… Continue reading →
by Thom Hartmann Published on Monday, January 26, 2009, by CommonDreams.org Thom Hartmann (thom@thomhartmann.com) is a Project Censored Award-winning New York Times best-selling author, and host of a nationally syndicated daily progressive talk program, The Thom Hartmann Show. His most recent books… Continue reading →
Here’s from my friend Fred Nagel Now is the right time to revisit the “lesser of two evils” theory of governance. As destructive as Obama has been to the interests of working people, the Republicans always appear to be just a little bit worse. And so it goes for the next election cycle, American… Continue reading →
Over the past century, America’s rich made their millions and billions through the use of public assets shared by everyone. By virtue of those profits, they have not only a moral, but a rational obligation to pay more for the upkeep of public services. See this article. And see this article by… Continue reading →
Those accusations that Obama is a wimp getting pushed around by the right wing are false. It’s a bad-cop-good-cop game. See this article by Jeff Cohen. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont — widely seen as “America’s Senator” — is so disgusted by recent White House actions that he called… Continue reading →
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: The problems today are not the the evil actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and inaction of the good people. Linda Milazzo: Peace and non-violent solutions are beyond the capacity of this US government. We The People must govern. As an American, it is my… Continue reading →
The liberal, progressive base appears to have no breaking point with the Democrats here in Washington. And that’s true for—that’s also true for the liberal intelligentsia. They have no—when you ask them, “Do you have any breaking point? How bad do these Democrats have to be, even though the… Continue reading →
She comes to Washington at the request of Harry Reid to head a special congressional oversight entity, pursuant to the Wall Street collapse and bailout, does a sterling job, has a heavy cross-examination of Timothy Geithner in public. He didn’t like that, and he never forgot that. And she is—then… Continue reading →
See Democracy Now!. I find it tragic that we’re talking about cutting Medicare and Social Security in this environment, when we, first of all, don’t really need a budget-balancing plan right now. The budget-balancing plan we need in the future is really related to the rise in healthcare costs… Continue reading →
Check out Democracy Now! and ALEC exposed for insights on just how it seems the John Birch Society is finally winning. Barry Goldwater and Robert Welch would be very pleased. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), formed nearly four decades ago, has become, in its own words, “the nation’s… Continue reading →
by Chris Hedges, interviewed by David Barsamian Santa Fe, NM 18 May 2011 available from Alternative Radio Chris Hedges is an award-winning journalist who has covered wars in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central America. He writes a weekly column for Truthdig.org and is a senior fellow at The… Continue reading →
by Robert Jensen, speech delivered at the Monkey Wrench Bookstore, Austin, TX, 10 February 2011 available from Alternative Radio Robert Jensen is professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of Citizens of the Empire, The Heart of Whiteness, and All My Bones Shake… Continue reading →
by Arun Gupta, speech delivered at the Red Emma’s Bookstore, Baltimore, MD, 15 April 2011 available from Alternative Radio Arun Gupta, journalist and activist, was founding editor of The Indypendent newspaper in New York. He’s a regular contributor to Alternet and Z. He also appears on Democracy Now… Continue reading →
Check out this article in Rolling Stone, with illustrative graphs: The budget has more of what Americans say they want — new taxes on the rich and cuts to defense — than either the GOP’s or the president’s budget. And it has none of what Americans say they hate: changes to the social compact that’s… Continue reading →
See this short video. This is how a president should talk: To hell with wars, let’s feed and clothe the world with all the military money. How far we have fallen since the New Deal! Continue reading →
An op-ed by Margaret Kimberley in Eurasia Review: The latest Wikileaks revelations about the prison camp at Guantánamo bring all the horror [that] began with Bush [and that] candidate Obama pledged to end…. He obviously had no intention of ever doing so, because two years into his term, the prison… Continue reading →
by Chris Hedges, a speech he made at Union Square in New York City in April 15, during a protest outside a branch office of the Bank of America: We stand today before the gates of one of our temples of finance. It is a temple where greed and profit are the highest good, where self-worth is… Continue reading →
by Chris Hedges in truthdig: The uprisings in the Middle East, the unrest that is tearing apart nations such as the Ivory Coast, the bubbling discontent in Greece, Ireland and Britain and the labor disputes in states such as Wisconsin and Ohio presage the collapse of globalization. They presage a… Continue reading →
from Democracy Now!: President Obama has failed the American people. He hasn’t led. His job in our constitutional system is to help show a way forward and help to explain, help to say why we need to go this way, not to stand in the back and then announce how historic an agreement is…. That’s not his… Continue reading →
Stop the Republican attacks! from Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter by Jack A. Smith, editor of the newsletter Republican politicians in Washington, DC, and the nation’s state houses are virtually wilding in the streets. It’s as though they are drunk with power, even though the Democrats actually… Continue reading →
by Chris Hedges Sanctuary for Independent Media, Troy, NY 15 October 2010 from Alternative Radio (www.alternativeradio.org) Chris Hedges is an award-winning journalist who has covered wars in the Balkans, the Middle East and Central America. He writes a weekly column for Truthdig.org and is a senior… Continue reading →
by Paul Cienfuegos speech delivered in Portland, Oregon, 26 February 2010 from Alternative Radio (www.alternativeradio.org) Paul Cienfuegos is a community organizer and activist. He co-founded Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County in Northern California an organization which works to dismantle… Continue reading →