The Return of the Neocons
In The Washington Independent, James Risen says, "Ever since the Rumsfeld era at the Pentagon ended abruptly in the aftermath of the Democratic victory in the 2006 mid-term elections, the civilian hawks who ruled the Defense Dept. during the early years of the Iraq war have remained largely silent. They have not engaged publicly even as their culpability for the Iraq war's myriad failures has congealed into accepted wisdom."

For the complete commentary, click here.

Democrats Legalize Bush's Crimes
Writing for Consortium News, Robert Parry says, "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claims that a key positive feature of the new wiretap 'compromise' is that the bill reaffirms that the President must follow the law, even though the same bill virtually assures that no one will be held accountable for George W. Bush's violation of the earlier spying law."

For the complete column, click here.

Is the Tyranny of Right-Wing Radio Coming to an End?
Roy O'Conner writes for Medicachannel.org: "Conservative fears of an impending Democratic attack on talk radio - dubbed the “Hush Rush” effort in an homage to top-rated radio talker Rush Limbaugh — continue to escalate, despite ample evidence that such an assault is unlikely to occur when (as is likely) Democrats sweep back into power in the forthcoming elections in November."

For complete commentary, click here.

Disabled Soldier Returning to War, Facing "Stop Loss"
The Handford Sentinel's Tom Philpott writes: "One day last August, while manning the .50-caliber gun atop his a Humvee on a dirt road in northern Iraq, Army Spc. Daniel 'Joey' Haun suddenly lost consciousness. His vehicle had struck a buried bomb, an 'improvised explosive device.' Haun was ejected, his vehicle flipped over."

For complete article, click here.

Is Obama Flipflopping on So-called "Free Trade"
Jonathan Tasini writes for glabour writers: "Yesterday, Senator Obama made comments to a business reporter that leave the impression that he is already shifting his stated position on NAFTA and, by extension, so-called "free trade." It is worth looking at as a sign where Senator Obama really intends to lead us on trade if he wins the White House."

For the complete article, click here.

Health Care and Ghosts of War
For Truthout, Norman Solomon writes: "Speaking in a time of war, Martin Luther King Jr. said: 'Somehow this madness must cease.' Forty-one years later, young soldiers are returning to the United States from terrifying zones of carnage. The old claims of a justified war have melted away. So have the promises of a humane society back home. Statistics about the war dead tell us very little about human realities. And familiar downbeat numbers about health care - 47 million Americans with no health insurance, perhaps an equal number woefully underinsured - tell us very little about the actual consequences or other options."

For the complete column, click here.

A Government of Law, not Fear.
Stanley Kutler writes for Truthdig.com on McCain, Obama and the abuse of power the following: "The Constitution holds, albeit by a slender thread. The Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote in Boumediene v. Bush, ruled unconstitutional a 2006 law barring enemy combatants held at Guantanamo from seeking writs of habeas corpus. For now, we are not under Chief Justice John Roberts’ or Justice Antonin Scalia’s constitution. Fear reigns in their dissent amid Cassandra-like threats that we are doomed unless we scrap our constitutional protections for the duration of that never-ending and nebulous 'war on terror.'"

For the complete commentary, click here.

Weather Reports Are Missing the Story.
Journalist Amy Goodman write for Truthdig.com: "The floodwaters are rising, swamping cities, breaching levees. Tens of thousands are displaced. Many are dead. No, I am not talking about Hurricane Katrina, but about the Midwest United States. As the floodwaters head south along the Mississippi, devastating communities one after another, the media are overflowing with televised images of the destruction. While the TV meteorologists document “extreme weather” with their increasingly sophisticated toolbox, from Doppler radar to 3-D animated maps, the two words rarely uttered are its cause: global warming."

For the complete column, click here.