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Kennedy Family Pick Paul Kirk Is New Massachusetts Senator
By John Nichols
Rejecting prospects who had sought and won statewide office, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has selected a veteran political insider, former Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk, to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
Kirk, a close Kennedy family friend who served as the former senator's special assistant during the challenging period from 1969 to 1977, is currently the chairman of the board of directors for the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
Kirk, 71, was reportedly the pick of the Kennedy family.
(44) CommentsSeptember 22, 2009
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Obama At the UN: Think of Me as FDR, Not Bush
By John Nichols
Distancing himself from George Bush and embracing the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt -- to the point of quoting the 32nd president on the need for "the cooperative effort of the whole world" to build peace and prosperity -- Barack Obama addressed the United Nations Wednesday as an old-school liberal internationalist.
After reviewing the breaks he has made with the Bush administration's unilateralist approaches -- with a heavy emphasis on the determination of the United States to engage with the UN and international groupings that promote human rights and cooperation between nations on issues such as disability rights -- the president said in his first speech to the UN: "We have reached a pivotal moment. The United States stands ready to (usher in) a new era of international cooperation."
Obama portrayed that readiness as an opportunity that nations that had come to distrust the U.S. during the Bush-Cheney era should now embrace. And he suggested an ambitious global agenda.
(84) CommentsSeptember 23, 2009
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What Obama Should Be Saying About a Public Option
By John Nichols
President Obama did all the Sunday morning talk shows, as part of a ramped-up campaign to promote his sincere if ill-defined belief that health care should be reformed, and he continued to argue, albeit tepidly, that this reform probably needs to include a public option.
Obama was smooth and smart and presidential and the appearances on ABC's "This Week," CBS's "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN's "State of the Union" and on the Spanish-language Univision network will undoubtedly aid his personal approval ratings.
But these exercises in pulled punches and anti-government apologia will do little to advance the cause of genuine health care reform.
(138) CommentsSeptember 21, 2009
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AFL-CIO's Trumka Embraces All Workers -- Including Immigrants
By John Nichols
Richard Trumka's great strength as a leader of the AFL-CIO has always been his willingness to challenge this country labor movement to be better not just than its past but also its present.
Long before he assumed the presidency of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations on Thursday, the former head of the United Mineworkers positioned himself as the "old labor" warrior who was determined to push union members to embrace new realities and new opportunities.
Trumka did that last year, in the thick of the 2008 presidential race, when he boldly confronted the reality of racism within the ranks of the movement to which he has devoted his life.
(84) CommentsSeptember 18, 2009
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Saving Social Security From the Benefit Cutters
By John Nichols
Conservative critics of all things governmental love to talk about "saving Social Security."
But they use the term "saving" in the Orwellian sense.
Conservative plans to "save," "preserve" or "maintain" Social Security invariably involve gutting the program that provides an essential safety net for retired Americans and others in need.
(97) CommentsSeptember 17, 2009
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Michael Moore on Leno: "Capitalism is Legalized Greed"
By John Nichols
Americans who didn't witness filmmaker Michael Moore's appearance Tuesday night on NBC's "The Jay Leno Show" missed one of those rare moments when the vast wasteland gives way to an oasis of realism.
Rarely since the days when author Gore Vidal regularly appeared on the "Tonight" show with Johnny Carson has a popular television program on a commercial broadcast channel provided such extended and respectful treatment to a scathing critique of the corrupt status quo.
Leno hailed Moore's new movie, "Capitalism: A Love Story," as "the best film he's done."
(229) CommentsSeptember 16, 2009
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Sarkozy Wants G-20 to Reject "Cult of the Market"
By John Nichols
When the G-20 meets in Pittsburgh next week, French President Sarkozy will urge world leaders to make two moves -- one immediate and one long-term -- that have the potential to temper capitalism's worst abuses and reassert human values at the national and international levels.
Sarkozy's aides say he will walk out of the summit of presidents and prime ministers from the world's most developed countries if the leaders fail to endorse a plan to curb bonuses for bankers.
That's the immediate demand. And it is an important one, as it could put the G-20 in the unusual position of trying to tame -- rather than cheer on -- the banksters and corporate CEOS that have so unsettled the global economy.
(149) CommentsSeptember 15, 2009
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One Year of Bankster Bailouts and Meltdown Madness
By John Nichols
Happy Meltdown Day
OK, not so "happy."
But this is the anniversary of the collapse of the house of cards that was Lehman Brothers.
(111) CommentsSeptember 14, 2009
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Sanders Calls for National Dialogue on Afghanistan Exit Strategy
By John Nichols
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has joined Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold is declaring that the United States needs to start thinking about how to extract its military from Afghanistan.
While almost 100 members of the House (including many conservative Republicans) have signed on to Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern's call for the development of an Afghanistan exit strategy, Feingold has been a relatively lonely Senate advocate for a rethink of the eight-year-old occupation.
At the annual "Fighting Bob Fest" gathering in Baraboo, Wisconsin, however, Sanders drew loud and sustained applause from the crowd of 8,000 when he said, "We need to take a very, very hard look at our war in Afghanistan. We need to be clear in our goals and we need a real discussion about an exit strategy to bring our troops home."
(43) CommentsSeptember 13, 2009
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Afghanistan Election Fraud and the High Price of Empire
By John Nichols
It is amusing, if remarkable, that there are still some players in Washington who try to maintain the fantasy that Afghan President Hamid Karzai governs with anything akin to legitimacy.
Karzai, an alleged oil industry fixer awarded control of his country by occupying powers, has always served with strings attached.
And the Afghan people have been quite aware of that fact.
(34) CommentsSeptember 9, 2009
John Nichols
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