Sometimes I truly think that if President Obama had just invited Cornel West to the White House and baked him some cookies he'd never have anything to mean to say. In the professor's latest interview, West wraps up legitimate concerns about the poor and Civil Rights with "Where's my extra Inauguration tickets?" and "Why didn't you call me back?" Falling the logic line of "jilted lover," West goes from a "Neo-Liberal" critique about Jews and finance reform to his version of Prince's "How Come Yo...

Shortly after Jared Lee Loughner had been identified as the alleged shooter of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, online sleuths turned up pages of rambling text and videos he had created. A wave of amateur diagnoses soon followed, most of which concluded that Loughner was not so much a political extremist as a man suffering from "paranoid schizophrenia." For many, the investigation will stop there. No need to explore personal motives, out-of-control grievances or distorted political anger. The m...

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Matthew Wald of The New York Times reports the details of the previously obscure Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a $1.6 billion fund financed by a minuscule tax on oil -- eight cents per barrel, which Wald says is roughly 0.1%. According to Wald, the fund is designed to pay damage claims resulting from oil spills, though not cleanup and containment costs. But that's not all it does. It also limits the liability of oil companies like BP. Under the law that established the reserve, called the Oi...

American Meat Is Even Grosser Than You Thought By Ari LeVaux, AlterNet Posted on May 1, 2010, Printed on May 2, 2010 (Link)/ In 2008, Mexican authorities rejected a shipment of U.S. beef because the meat exceeded Mexico's regulatory tolerance for copper. The rejected meat was returned to the United States, where it was sold and consumed, because the U.S. has no regulatory threshold for copper in meat. Incidents like this are why the food safety arm of USDA, known as the Food Safety and Inspec...

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MARK KARLIN, EDITOR, FOR BUZZFLASH Through the confused feeling of progressives about a White House that has confounded expectations and tipped corporatist, we appear to be underestimating a serious and real threat to our nation: sedition, violence and assassinations. Sedition is Coming to a Town Near You: The Potential Domestic White "Christian" Terrorists in Our Midst are Locked and Loaded As I wrote when the latest seditionists were arrested, members of a so-called "Christian" militia, "Se...

By Roland S. Martin, CNN Political Analyst (CNN) -- Based on the hundreds of e-mails, Facebook comments and Tweets I've read in response to my denunciation of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's decision to honor Confederates for their involvement in the Civil War -- which was based on the desire to continue slavery -- the one consistent thing that supporters of the proclamation offer up as a defense is that these individuals were fighting for what they believed in and defending their homeland. In ...

It seems that the teabagger element, wholeheartedly embraced by the Republican party, are equal opportunity haters: Looks like black and gay lawmakers aren’t the only ones being pelted with vicious slurs by folks who oppose the health reform proposal. Add a Hispanic lawmaker to the list. Trifecta! Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of Texas has confided to colleages that he was hammered by ethnic slurs by people opposed to reform passing, one of those colleagues tells me. Rep March Kaptur told me in the hal...

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Source: (Link) Wal-Mart officials are looking at security tapes after an announcement was made for "all black people'' to leave a store in South Jersey. A man used the public-address system at the Route 42 store in Washington Township Sunday night and calmly announced: "Attention Wal-Mart customers: All black people leave the store now.'' Patricia Covington and Shelia Ellington were inside the store when it happened and told the Courier Post that customers and store employees looked stunned w...

for receiving retirement benefits. This is complete and utter nonsense. "The $2 Trillion Hole" Promised pensions benefits for public-sector employees represent a massive overhang that threatens the financial future of many cities and states. Then, too, pension funds are being hit by baby-boomer retirements. A report from the National Association of State Retirement Administrators underlines this impact: It found that in 2008, for every state retiree collecting benefits, only 2.02 current w...

What does that tell you about these corporations. Savings have no liability to them thus, wouldn't it make more sense that he would be allowed to open this type of an account versus a checking. I hate big banks.........off to find a local bank to do business with.

Tea Baggers get racist - as we expected. (Link)/

NEW ORLEANS -- Under pressure from the National Rifle Association, police this week began returning guns confiscated after Hurricane Katrina. The police department is making the guns available three days a week. At the close of the second day Wednesday, police said only 17 of about 700 weapons had been returned. Police and soldiers removed guns from houses after the storm flooded the city, and they confiscated guns from some evacuees. .... Percy Taplet, 73, said the National Guard and state...

by Dr. Terence Fitzgerald on Aug 28th, 2009 1. Déjà vu, in Psychology–The illusion of having already experienced something actually being experienced for the first time. 2. An impression of having seen or experienced something before: Old-timers watched the stock-market crash with a distinct sense of déjà vu. Dull familiarity; monotony: the déjà vu of the tabloid headlines. Machiavelli once said that “hoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past; for human events ever resemble...

(Image) The unique confrontation played out in Municipal Court on Thursday and quickly became a topic of courthouse gossip. It was also recorded on the courtroom’s audio and video systems. Belden was holding a preliminary hearing to see if there was sufficient evidence for Harry Brown’s case to be reviewed by a county grand jury. Charged with robbery and obstructing official business, Brown, 51, of 529 Clarendon Ave. NW, is accused of fighting with Wal-Mart security officers who said they wer...

By Bob Allen Wednesday, June 03, 2009 (Link) NEW YORK (ABP) -- A former Southern Baptist Convention officer who on June 2 called the death of abortion provider George Tiller an answer to prayer said later in the day he is also praying "imprecatory prayer" against President Obama. Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., and former running mate of American Independent Party presidential candidate Alan Keyes, said June 2 on Fox News Radio he didn't understa...

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(Image) resident Obama hugged his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, at her December 2003 wedding to Konrad Ng, third from right, in Hawaii. From left, his daughters, Sasha and Malia; his grandmother Madelyne Dunham, seated; Konrad’s parents, Joan and Howard Ng, and brother Perry Ng; and Michelle Obama. - NYT

(Image) President Obama hugged his half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, at her December 2003 wedding to Konrad Ng, third from right, in Hawaii. From left, his daughters, Sasha and Malia; his grandmother Madelyne Dunham, seated; Konrad’s parents, Joan and Howard Ng, and brother Perry Ng; and Michelle Obama. - NYT edit: added caption

Mrs. Obama Speaks Out About Her Household By MARIAN BURROS WASHINGTON — Reporters are not the only ones with a particularly keen interest in what Michelle Obama wears. Her husband, Mrs. Obama says, notices everything. In fact, she has learned not to wear a certain gray metallic belt when the president is around. “Barack calls it my ‘Star Trek’ belt,” the first lady said in an interview this week. “He doesn’t understand fashion.” The interview, which started out on the subject of the new White...

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Today as I was running errands, I decided to drop into AT&T and pay my bill and ask questions about new phones. I walked into the store and found no other customers while four employees were standing around. I was greeted cheerfully by one of the young ladies and I responded and told her I was there to pay my wireless bill. She directed me to a kiosk. I responded by asking her if she could just take my payment (I have no interest in learning to use AT&T kiosk) - I just want to get in and out...

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From the Huffingtonpost.com The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Ty Dolls, the company responsible for the 1990's Beanie Babies craze, is trying to cash in on a new trend with a pair of "Sasha" and "Malia" dolls. The company insists there's no connection to the Obama daughters. They just chose what they thought were "beautiful names." "There's nothing on the dolls that refers to the Obama girls," spokeswoman Tania Lundeen said. "It would not be fair to say they are exact replication...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There are so many things that we could take away and remember forever regarding the inauguration of the first African-American president in the history of the United States, but I'll always remember the laughter of a little girl. Shortly after President-elect Barack Obama finished the oath and became President Barack Obama, he joined hands with his family and waved to the cheering voices of 1.8 million people packed from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. People cried, ot...

by Bay Area News Group OAKLAND — Johannes Mehserle, the BART police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man New Year's Day, has been arrested, a high-ranking Oakland city official confirmed late Tuesday. It was not clear what charges Mehserle could face. David Chai, the chief of staff for Mayor Ron Dellums, who confirmed the arrest, said he knew no further details. Mehserle's killing of Oscar Grant III has led to massive public outcry, particularly since video of the shooting surfaced. s...