Z Nightly Commentaries
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Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Solomon: Public Option Disaster
Mar 19, 2010
Not long ago, the most prominent supporters of the public option were touting it as essential for healthcare reform. Now, suddenly, it's incidental.
Gordon: Rachel Corrie's Memory
Mar 18, 2010
Seven years ago, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9R Israeli bulldozer while nonviolently protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, along with other members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Now her parents, sister and brother are suing the State of Israel and the defense minister, claiming wrongful death.
Wallerstein: The Case of Brazil
Mar 17, 2010
On the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT, the Workers' Party) in Brazil, the principal independent left newspaper, Brasil de Fato, published interviews with four leading left intellectuals in Brazil. All four were once active in the PT, indeed among its founders. Three of them have withdrawn from the PT - the historian Mauro Iasi to join the Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB); the sociologist Francisco de Oliveira to join the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL); and the historian Rudá Ricci to be an independent leftist. The fourth, the historian Valter Poner, remains in the PT as a leading figure in its left faction.
Shah: Star Wars Malaria Killer
Mar 16, 2010
Doesn’t Nathan Myhrvold get enough attention? The guy is the former chief technology officer of Microsoft, a multimillionaire, a gourmet chef, a prize-winning photographer and keeper of multiple higher degrees from prestigious institutions. As the CEO and founder of Intellectual Ventures, a private outfit that invests in “pure inventions,” he frequently finds himself in the news.
Shiva: Water Wisdom
Mar 15, 2010
Since 1966 - and as a consequence of the introduction of the Green Revolution model of water-intensive, chemical farming - India has over-exploited her groundwater, creating a water famine.
Spannos: Crisis of Global Governance
Mar 14, 2010
Standing before an audience at the Brookings Institute on March 8, a day before meeting U.S. President Barak Obama, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou made the case that today’s European crisis involves American interests and that today there is a “crisis of global governance.”
Kagarlitsky: New Opiate of the Masses
Mar 13, 2010
If the new law recently passed by the State Duma goes into force, it will deliver a big blow to the Russian culture, education and public health.
Pilger: Murdochracy
Mar 12, 2010
Adelaide is Australia's festival city. Its arts festival is currently in swing. Polite debate, aesthetics and high-octane wine are putting the world to rights. With one exception. Adelaide is where Rupert Murdoch began his empire. The voracious trail starts here. No statue stands; his is a spectral presence, controlling the only daily newspaper, even the printing presses. Across Australia, he owns almost 70 per cent of the capital city press and the only national newspaper, and Sky Television, and much else. Welcome to the world's first murdochracy.
Cook: 7 Years After Corrie
Mar 11, 2010
Seven years after Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist, was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, her family was to put the Israeli government in the dock today.
Schechter: Whither Financial Reforms
Mar 10, 2010
What will it take? What are they waiting for? What part of the reality of a systemic crisis that will get worse don't they get?
Blum: Informed Consent
Mar 09, 2010
About half the states in the US require that a woman seeking an abortion be told certain things before she can obtain the medical procedure. In South Dakota, for example, until a few months ago, staff was required to tell women: "The abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being"; the pregnant woman has "an existing relationship with that unborn human being," a relationship protected by the U.S. Constitution and the laws of South Dakota; and a "known medical risk" of abortion is an "increased risk of suicide ideation and suicide." A federal judge has now eliminated the second and third required assertions, calling them "untruthful and misleading."
Quigley: Time U.S. Revolution
Mar 08, 2010
It is time for a revolution. Government does not work for regular people. It appears to work quite well for big corporations, banks, insurance companies, military contractors, lobbyists, and for the rich and powerful. But it does not work for people.
Jamal: Corporate Supremacy
Mar 07, 2010
The recent Supreme Court decision on corporate personhood, The Citizen's United case, has evoked considerable comment, and even some indignation: "Corporations have the right to spend unlimited amounts of money on politicians?!" - "outrageous!"
Rebick: Israel Losing Legitimacy
Mar 06, 2010
Before Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) even began members of the Ontario Legislature and the Canadian Parliament are falling all over each other to denounce it. I can't remember another time when elected legislators formally denounced a student activity like this. Perhaps during the 1950s when McCarthyism was rampant but that was before my time.
Landau: Pentagon Appetite 2/2
Mar 05, 2010
During pre game Super Bowl ceremonies Queen Latifah sang America the Beautiful. Following her, American Idol winner Carrie Underwood began warbling the Star Spangled Banner. Four jet fighters swished over the stadium. Did any of the cheering crowd or the tens of millions watching on TV ask how much it cost to have the thrill of two screaming jets offer the public supersonic foreplay before extra large men smashed and bashed through the thin membrane (the line) to reach the tantalizing quarterback?
Glick: Principles, Program, Strategy, Tactics
Mar 04, 2010
I have discovered, over the course of my years as an organizer for positive social change, that it is important that members of an organization or movement learn to distinguish between principles, program, strategy and tactics. An inability to do so often leads to internal division and, sooner or later, a falling away of support and energy.
Wallerstein: Euromess
Mar 03, 2010
Everyone is discussing what Fortune magazine is calling the "Greek maelstrom" and everyone is pointing the finger at someone else. Whose fault is it? The Greek government is accused of cheating and allowing Greeks to live beyond their means. The European Union is accused of having created an impossible structure for the euro.
Quigley: Mercenaries Circling Haiti
Mar 03, 2010
On March 9 and 10, there will be a Haiti conference in Miami for private military and security companies to showcase their services to governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the earthquake devastated country.
Landau: Elephant in US Living Room
Mar 01, 2010
History quiz: Name the greatest robbery committed in the last 100 years...
Engler: Canada & Israel
Mar 20, 2010
In my new book Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid I argue that the trajectory of this country's foreign policy has been clear: The culmination of six decades of one-sided support, and four years into the Stephen Harper government, Canada is (at least diplomatically) the most pro-Israel country in the world.