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Why TV News in the US Is Utter Rubbish
Kieren McCarthy writes for the Guardian: "Well, the truth is that it's far, far worse than that. There are a multitude of news channels - CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox. But after an hour of flipping between them during lunchtime last week, this was the sum total of information gleaned: there are two US presidential candidates; they have produced campaign ads; people have made video parodies and posted them on the internet; a US TV news host appeared on a US TV chatshow last night; and someone said something controversial (read ignorant) on a different TV show the day before."

One Year after the Jena Tree Was Cut, Little Progress Has Been Made
David A. Love writes for The Progressive Media Project: "We have made some progress since the ugly incidents in Jena, La. But we still have a long way to go to make the noose a thing of the past. On August 31, 2006, a black student at Jena High School asked the principal if he could have permission to sit under the 'white tree,' the tree where white students typically congregated. The principal told the student to sit wherever he liked. The student and his friends decided to sit under the white tree. The next day, three nooses - a potent symbol of racial hate - were found hanging from the tree, the act of three white students at the high school."

Libraries Step Up to the Age of the I-Pod.
Paul Thomasch writes for Reuters: " It may be about time to dig out that old library card. Hoping to draw back readers, libraries have vastly expanded their lists of digital books, music, and movies that can be downloaded by their patrons to a computer or MP3 player -- and it doesn't cost a cent, unlike, say, media from Apple Inc'siTunes or Amazon.com Inc."

Greed Above, Death Below
The New York Times comments: "The need for a criminal inquiry into the Crandall Canyon mine disaster is shockingly clear now that investigators have detailed how greedy mine operators concealed danger warnings and literally chiseled underground pillar supports to the breaking point. The roof of the Utah mine collapsed last summer, killing six miners and leading three would-be rescuers to their deaths."

Net Neutrality Is Important for Open Internet Access for Users, Innovators and Content Providers
Free Press Communications Director Craig Aaron talks with Air America's Jon Elliot about the continued importance of creating a good Net Neutrality policy that keeps the Internet open to everyone -- users, innovators and content providers. (Audio 15:48)

Open-Source E-Voting: A Fix for the Nation's Voting Problems?
Todd R. Weiss writes in Computerworld: "Computer engineer Alan Dechert didn't like what he saw during the controversial vote tallying in Florida in 2000's presidential election. That was when he decided that there had to be a better way for US citizens to safely and accurately cast their ballots. More than seven years later, Dechert is here at the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, publicly displaying the open-source e-voting system he helped develop that fixes some of the problems that he and other critics found in the nation's voting systems almost a decade ago."

Threats, Lies and Audiotape
Amy Goodman discusses with no end in sight in Afghanistan and Iraq, military recruiters must be prevented from using desperate and aggressive measures to lure our nation’s young people—the poorest and most vulnerable—into the line of fire in this Truthdig.com commentary.