by Donald Kaul

We celebrated the third anniversary of the war in Iraq a couple of weeks ago. Did you put on your party hats and blow your noisemakers?

No? Some anniversaries are happier than others, I guess.

Still a milestone is a milestone and perhaps this is a good time to take a step back and see what we've accomplished.

First of all, we've gotten rid of Saddam. That is a good thing.

Second of all, uh, we've gotten rid of Saddam.

Wait a minute! Democracy. I forgot about democracy. We have brought democracy to Iraq---democracy and freedom....   more »

by Jim Hightower

Here's a question for Bush & Company: Can any of you even spell h-y-p-o-c-r-i-s-y?

I'm prompted to ask because of back-to-back news items I saw regarding Donald Rumsfeld's recent jaunt to Moscow. At a press conference, our Pentagon honcho expressed concern about Russian arms sales around the world – sales that the Pentagon calls "disruptive weapons technologies."

Then, the very next day, Rummy was in Algeria, meeting with the country's strongman president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Our Pentagon chief was again talking about arms sales – but rather than condemning them, he was trying to make some! "They have ...   more »

by Patricia Lynn

Do you remember when you got your water from water fountains? When did that stop--and more importantly--why did it?

Well, corporations like Coke, Nestlé and Pepsi have spent tens of millions of dollars convincing us that bottled water is cleaner, healthier and better for us than tap water. The reality, however, is that bottled water is less regulated than tap water.

The bottled water industry has been booming for the last decade, fueled by misleading advertising. Half of all Americans drink bottled water, and one in six Americans drink only bottled water.This is about much more than ...   more »

by Peter Phillips

If a national movement calling for the impeachment of the president is rapidly emerging, and the corporate media are not covering it, is there really a national movement for the impeachment of the president?

Impeachment advocates are widely mobilizing in the United States. Over 1,000 letters to the editor of major newspapers have been printed in the past six months asking for impeachment. “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette” letter writer George Matus says, “I am still enraged over unasked questions about exit polls, touch-screen voting, Iraq, the cost of the new Medicare…who formulated our energy policy, Jack Abramoff, the Downing ...   more »

by Arnold Oliver

Hey, I haven’t heard from you for a while. Three years ago, you called me a "traitor", just before the invasion of Iraq. You also wrote, "Your voice against our elected government is a voice against its people, a voice against this nation."

I guess I must have set you off with my skepticism about an Iraqi nuclear weapons program and other nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, not to mention the dubious claims being made that Iraq was involved with 9/11 or Al Qaida.

I am sure that you had every intention to contact me and apologize ...   more »

The two recent, brilliantly insightful and brave pieces on George W. Bush's relationship to alcohol, Dry Drunk by Alan Bisbort in American Politics Journal (1) and Addiction, Brain Damage and the President, "Dry Drunk" Syndrome and George W. Bush by Katherine van Wormer in Counterpunch (2) are the most incisive, analytical explanations of his irrational behavior yet in print. They also provide a basis upon which we must argue for a debate on his mental competence to govern. An ambiguous proviso: Those of us in recovery hold that only an alcoholic can diagnose him/herself. It is too ...   more »