Health Reform Moves Forward in the Senate
After an eleventh hour push by health insurance lobbyists to derail reform by threatening to raise premiums if a reform bill passes, the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of a reform bill with a bipartisan majority, October 13.
Australia: Red Sky in the Morning, Radioactive Warming
The spectacular dust storm that hit the central and eastern Australian states last week was the third in twenty five years, and the worst. It blacked out inland areas in mid-afternoon and reached New Zealand and Norfolk Island.
Intellectual Capital
In 1970 the General Motors workers’ strike cut the U.S. GDP by 4 percent and is estimated to have been the reason for the poor 2 percent growth that the country experienced in the following years.
Give Up on Construction of New US Military Base in Okinawa
Okinawa's Environmental Impact Assessment Council has advised Okinawa Governor Nakaima Hirokazu to request that the Defense Ministry recompile its documents laying out methods for the environmental impact assessment regarding the plan to construct a U.S. air base in the Henoko district of Nago City for the U.S. Marine Corps.
Atlanta: Vegan Protesters Prevail over Cops in Court
On Thursday, September 24, 2009, a federal jury in Atlanta ruled that the Dekalb County Department of Homeland Security and the Dekalb Police Department violated the constitutional rights of two vegan protesters when they arrested the protesters in conjunction with an action the protesters held at a Honey Baked Ham in 2003.
Why NFL Owners Must Flush Rush
National Football League owners could be on the verge of a catastrophic error in judgment. In a league that is 70 percent African American, an unapologetic racist is in talks to buy a team. Yes, Rush Limbaugh, along with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts, is close to buying the St. Louis Rams.
Rainforests Still in Forests
Pinning down exact numbers is nearly impossible, but most experts agree that we are losing upwards of 80,000 acres of tropical rainforest daily, and significantly degrading another 80,000 acres every day on top of that. Along with this loss and degradation, we are losing some 135 plant, animal and insect species every day—or some 50,000 species a year—as the forests fall.
October 10th, 1868: The Beginning of Cuba’s Independence Wars
The dawn of October 10, 1868, could have been one of the most normal for that month: humid and with moderate temperatures. Meanwhile, in the countryside, sugar cane, bathed by dewdrops, swayed in the wind with slow and faint movement.
Birds of a Feather: GOP Lawmakers, Colombian Death Squads Fly to Defense of Honduras Coup Regime
“Dios los hace, y ellos se juntan.” “God makes 'em, and then they get together.” The English equivalent is “birds of a feather flock together.” Thus it is not a surprise that the news out of Honduras is that both Republican politicians and right-wing Colombian death squad members have been flocking to Honduras to lend support, rhetorical and practical, to that country's right wing de-facto regime.
Media Frames Stories for War: The Afghanistan Case
'Media frames' are orientations towards information that shape the interpretation of events: what facts are used to report key events, what words are used to describe events, and what options are presented to address the problem in the story.
