Z Nightly Commentaries
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Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Shiva: Plate of Toxins
Sep 14, 2009
In times when food is genetically manipulated and chemically contaminated, the metaphor "food for thought" can also stand for manipulated information and be toxic food for thought. Unfortunately, Dr M.S. Swaminathan’s GM: Food for Thought (August 26), is as manipulated as the genetically-modified (GM) foods which were the subject of his article.
Solomon: Men with Guns
Sep 09, 2009
For those who believe in making war, Kabul is a notable work product. After 30 years, the results are in: a devastated city.
Solomon: Little Girl in Kabul
Sep 02, 2009
Yesterday, I met a little girl named Guljumma. She's seven years old, and she lives in Kabul at a place called Helmand Refugee Camp District 5.
Schechter: The Kennedys
Aug 30, 2009
It's been hard for me to unplug from this weekend's telethon honoring Teddy Kennedy. First there was Friday night, at the Kennedy Library where the wake, or what was called a memorial service took place with so many recollections pumped up with more of that black and white footage that has documented the Kennedy family for so many decades.
Solomon: Afghanistan Gap
Aug 27, 2009
These days, a lot of media stories are comparing President Johnson's war in Vietnam and President Obama's war in Afghanistan. The comparisons are often valid, but a key parallel rarely gets mentioned -- the media's insistent support for the war even after most of the public has turned against it.
Schechter: Finding Depression
Aug 25, 2009
Last week I was telling a visiting filmmaker from overseas about the financial crisis and how it was getting worse. He looked at me askance. The market had just gone up, he said, and the White House was talking about an emerging recovery.
Shiva: India's Crisis
Aug 15, 2009
Intensification of drought, floods and cyclones is one of the predictable impacts of climate change and climate instability. The failure of monsoon in India and the consequent drought, has impacted two thirds of India, especially the bread basket of India's fertile gangetic plains. Bihar has had a 43% rainfall deficit, Jharkhand - 47%, Uttar Pradesh - 64%, Haryana - 61%, Punjab - 26%, Himachal Pradesh - 63%, Uttarakhand - 42%.
Schechter: C.O.G
Aug 13, 2009
Do the initials C.O.G mean anything to you? That acronym stands for Continuity of Government. We heard about it back in 2001 when Dick Cheney was taken to that undisclosed location just in case the White House went up in smoke again like it did in 1812 (Reference from the must see new Britfilm, "In The Loop"). The government's main commitment in times of disaster is preserving itself. (God forbid that people find out that the country could go on without the government in its present humongous configuration!)
Street: Blue Dogs
Aug 12, 2009
The United States' "representative democracy," crippled by "too much [corporate and military] representation and too little [actual popular] democracy" (Arundhati Roy) abounds with Kafka-esque, Orwellian, and Vonneguttian absurdity. Take, for one example among many, the determination of the United States Congress's fifty-two "Blue Dog Democrats" [1] to de-rail any sort of mildly robust public health insurance plan that might be able to remotely counter the nation's for-profit health insurance firms.
Schechter: Bernanke?
Aug 02, 2009
In his recent press conference, after which President Obama would be called to task for lambasting the police in Cambridge Mass for acting "stupidly"-a comment he later withdrew-he also charged that Wall Street knew what they were doing when they made predatory loans. No one called him on that, not even Wall Street.
Schechter: US Workers
Jul 19, 2009
Leo Gerard of the United Steelworkers union is one of America's most progressive and outspoken labor leaders. I met him at a Cornell University conference that brought environmental organizations and labor unions together to fuse a forward looking consensus on the need for green jobs as key to the transformation of our declining industrial base.
Schechter: Markets Manipulated
Jul 15, 2009
Everyone has heard of the Wikipedia but not everyone knows about the Investopedia, a Forbes website, that monitors finance for market players. One of the issues it is concerned about is market manipulation, actions by rogue and not so rogue players who, working alone or together, unduly influence the way our supposed "free" markets function.
Solomon: Escalation Scam
Jul 13, 2009
A few times since last fall, the Obama team has floated rising numbers for how many additional U.S. soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan. Now, deployment of 21,000 more is a done deal, with a new total cap of 68,000 U.S. troops in that country.
Shiva: Food Security
Jul 09, 2009
The proposed introduction of a Food Security Act by the UPA Government is a welcome step. The Right to Food is the basis of the Right to life, and Art.21 of the Constitution guarantees the right to life of all Indian citizens.
Schechter: Independence Day
Jul 03, 2009
Our Declaration signed on a July 4th declared us so to be. And, dutifully, generations of Americans have believed we were and always would be. The late Michel Jackson even had us singing and thinking "We Are The World."
Street: Business Liberalism
Jun 26, 2009
Early last April the New York Times published an article with an ironic title: "In Cuba , Change Means More of the Same." This "news" item reported that "rather than dismantling Cuba 's socialist framework," Cuba 's President Raul Castro "seems to be trying to make it work more efficiently." Castro, the Times reported, sought to keep power concentrated "at the top."
Solomon: Anti-War Democrats
Jun 23, 2009
Days ago, a warning shot from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue landed with a thud on Capitol Hill near some recent arrivals in the House. The political salvo was carefully aimed and expertly fired. But in the long run, it could boomerang.
Schechter: Crisis Sharpens
Jun 22, 2009
Can it possibly be true that the Congress can't walk and chew gum at the same time? This question is prompted by the announcement that financial reform is being pushed back as health care becomes the priority.
Solomon: Words and War
Jun 09, 2009
It takes at least tacit faith in massive violence to believe that after three decades of horrendous violence in Afghanistan, upping the violence there will improve the situation.
Sep 17, 2009
President Obama's highly anticipated health care speech started on a totally different subject: The economy.