By John Pilger.

Washington: The TV anchorwoman was conducting a split-screen interview with a journalist who had volunteered to be a witness at the execution of a man on death row in Utah for 25 years. “He had a choice,” said the journalist, “lethal injection or firing squad.” “Wow!” said the anchorwoman. Cue a blizzard of commercials for fast food, tooth whitener, stomach stapling, the new Cadillac. This was followed by a reporter in Afghanistan sweating in a flak jacket. “Hey, it’s hot,” he …

By Stephen M. Walt.
The late George Carlin was a brilliant comedian and social critic, especially in his obsession with how language can be used to distort or deceive. He’s also a lot funnier than Derrida or Bourdieu.
In one of his best routines, Carlin began by noting:
You can’t be afraid of words that speak the truth. I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t like words that conceal reality. I don’t like euphemisms or euphemistic language. And American english is loaded with euphemisms. Because Americans …

by Scott Creighton.
I recently met with my doctor, Dr. Vasco Marques, a cardiologist here in Tampa, Fl. where I currently live. Now I am going to tell you the story about that meeting, devoid of my usual overly emotional hyperbole or intentionally leading contextualism… and I am going to do that for a reason. The reason is simple; because this isn’t about me.

First, a little work background.
I had my first real job when I was 14 years old washing dishes at the Lynchburg College Burton Center, …

Dear Every Peace Activist,
The world dramatically changed on 9/11, though, not for the reasons that were given by the Bush administration less than twenty four hours after the attacks, but for reasons that are deeply disturbing, and revealing; reasons that are either unknown, or have been repressed by activists in the peace movement.
As we enter the ninth anniversary of the War on Terror, the war in Afghanistan is intensifying, tensions in Iraq are resurfacing, and the …

Noam Chomsky interviewed by Roger Hurwitz, David Woolf & Sherman Teichman
Leviathan, 1:1-3, Spring, 1977, pp. 6-9, 86 [March, 1977]
QUESTION: Given the fact that now you have a government dominated by people like Carter and Brzezinski who were deeply involved in the Trilateral Commission, which emphasized maintaining a strong relationship with both Western Europe and Japan, will there be a new emphasis on new policy?
CHOMSKY: First of all, I don’t think there is any significant difference between the Trilateral view and the Kissinger view. The difference is …

By Bill Van Auken, 5 July 2010.
Sunday, July 4 marked the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This founding document of the American republic proclaimed the profoundly democratic principle that “all men are created equal” and endowed with “inalienable rights.”
It was issued in 1776, one year into a bitter armed struggle against an occupying British army. This revolutionary struggle to put an end to colonial rule was a profoundly liberating event, whose reverberations were felt round the world.
Two hundred and thirty-four years on, the federal government in Washington commemorated the …

by Alex Newman.
As credit and economic activity continue to contract, analysts are warning of big problems and unprecedented fiat-money creation by the Federal Reserve System in the near future.
“Get ready for the cliff-edge,” warned Royal Bank of Scotland credit chief Andrew Roberts in a note to clients late last week. He said “monster” quantitative monetary easing (money printing) is coming and that investors should “Be long gold. Think the unthinkable.”
“We cannot stress enough how strongly we believe that a cliff-edge may be around the corner, for the global banking system (particularly …

By Terry Morrone.
I feel guilty and inferior about my unconventional views and about my affliction. I’ll tell you about it later. But I’m reminded of the history of Christianity. There were different versions during the first few centuries of the Christian era. The early church argued about the nature of Christ. Was he divine? Was he subordinate to the father? Was the God of the Old Testament the same as the God of the New Testament, etc., etc.? The version of Christianity of the Roman church eventually won out, and …