The Real Legacy of the "Reagan Revolution."
Robert Scheer, editor of Truthdig.com writes a compelling column in which he states: McCain campaign co-chair Phil Gramm is right: We have “become a nation of whiners.” But who is whining more than the bankers that former Sen. Gramm’s financial deregulation legislation benefited? The very bankers who now expect a government bailout, such as those at UBS Investment Bank, where Gramm found lucrative employment.

To read the whole commentary, click here.

The House that Gramm Built
Marie Cocco, contributor on Truthdig.com also looks at Phil Gramm and his dismissal of America’s economic suffering that has forced him to the political sidelines, but as one of the congressional architects of Republican economics, the mess he made will haunt Americans no matter who the next president is.

To read her commentary, click here.

Drilling Without Oil, Tax Cuts Without Growth
Dean Baker, writing for Truthout, says: "Senator McCain is in the unenviable position of running on the track record of a president with the worst economic performance since Herbert Hoover. He has adopted the strategy of ignoring the record while embracing his predecessor's policies. McCain is betting the media will be so incompetent that they will not notice. He might be right."

For the complete article, click here.

New York: 50 Percent of Sequoia Voting Machines Flawed
Kim Zetter writes for Wired: "New York state is in the process of replacing its lever voting machines with new voting equipment, but the state revealed recently that it has found problems with 50 percent of the roughly 1,500 ImageCast optical-scan machines that Sequoia Voting Systems has delivered to the state so far - machines that are slated to be used by dozens of counties in the state's September 9 primary and November 4 presidential election."

To read the complete article, click here.

Birth-Control Denial the Height of Arrogance
Dan K. Thomasson, for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, says: "So when is a pharmacy not a pharmacy? Better yet, when can a licensed pharmacist not fill a legitimate prescription because of political or religious reasons? Should a state licensing authority permit the dispensing of male-enhancement drugs but not those that permit a female to guard her own health? Those are health, ethical and legal questions that most state authorities now find themselves facing with a growing number of pharmacists who refuse to honor prescribed contraceptives or sell those available over the counter on grounds it violates their consciences."

Read the complete column by clicking here.

Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column? Corporate media colludes with democracy’s demise
Bill Moyers rewrites his National Media Reform Conference presentation (video of which is available above) as a column in In These Times, opening with: "I heard this story a long time ago, growing up in Choctaw County in Oklahoma before my family moved to Texas. A tribal elder was telling his grandson about the battle the old man was waging within himself. He said, 'It is between two wolves, my son. One is an evil wolf: anger, envy, sorrow, greed, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is the good wolf: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.'”

For the complete article, click here.

Price of Admission for Migrant Women
Tim Vanderpool, for The Tucson Weekly, reports, "According to experts, rape is now considered 'the price of admission' for women crossing the border illegally. But this scourge goes largely ignored, and is suspected to be vastly underreported. Not surprisingly, few women care to describe their ordeals to authorities in stark government detention facilities. And if they do, it's often as they're already being deported back across the border - sometimes back into the very situations where the assaults occurred."

For the complete article, click here.

FCC Chief Says Comcast Violated Internet Rules
John Dunbar, of The Associated Press, reports: "The head of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday he will recommend that the nation's largest cable company be punished for violating agency principles that guarantee customers open access to the Internet. The potentially precedent-setting move stems from a complaint against Comcast Corp. that the company had blocked Internet traffic among users of a certain type of 'file sharing' software that allows them to exchange large amounts of data."

To read the complete story, click here.