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Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Rethinking Marriage. The World Has Changed. It's Time!

By Melissa Harris-Lacewell, The Nation
Sex and Relationships: We must do more than simply re-integrate new groups into an old system. We need to seriously consider our assumptions about the system itself.

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The Battle Against Letting Wall Street Continue to Make a Killing on Derivatives

By Art Levine, AlterNet
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Protections for consumers and Wall Street's skullduggery are at stake in an obscure series of hearings going on in Congress right now.

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The Untouchables: Right-Wingers Put Themselves in an Uncompromising 'World Apart'

By Isaiah J. Poole, Blog for Our Future
Politics: A report issued Friday by Democracy Corps shows that the most conservative Republicans consider themselves part of an underdog minority.

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Saving Women From Breast Cancer: Are Mammograms Really the Answer?

By Naomi Freundlich, Health Beat
Health and Wellness: New research suggests that mammograms may lead to the over-treatment of some breast diseases while missing lethal cancers. Is there a better answer?

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Dept of Homeland Security Expands Controversial Program Empowering Local Police

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
Immigration: The 287(g) program gives local law enforcement authority to enforce federal immigration laws, which has led to accusations of racial profiling.

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Tree Spiker: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Life of a Radical Environmental Activist

By Mike Roselle, St. Martin's Press
Environment: One of the most controversial figures in the conservationist movement shares personal stories of (often hilarious) radical activism.

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Why Do Men Catcall?

By Ronnie Koenig, AlterNet
Sex and Relationships: Screaming at women about their appearances reinforces some men's sense of dominance -- but it's street harassment.

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Clear Majority Now Backs the Public Option, and the Numbers Are Growing

By John Byrne, Raw Story
Health and Wellness: New polling shows greater movement toward support of plan for government-run health care.

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Media Enabled Bush 1's Savage Attacks on Maddow and Olbermann, Yet Continue to Ignore Bush Family's Sordid Past

By Russ Baker, AlterNet
Politics: George HW Bush gets a free pass for attacks without evidence, meanwhile his CIA ties remain largely ignored and his son's lies about Iraq remain unprosecuted.

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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Meet the Senators in the Creepy Right-Wing Cult Trying to Defeat Health Care Reform

By Adele M. Stan, AlterNet
Politics: The Family has spent decades consolidating power within the GOP and may have come to dominate the party even among those who do not belong to the cult.

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Bill Moyers: How Can the U.S. Be an Empire and a Democracy at the Same Time?

By Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal
World: An interview with Mark Danner, whose new book, Stripping Bare the Body, explores the strange notion of a democratic empire and the wars it wages.

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Dangerous Hype: Infant Formula Companies Claim They Can Make Babies 'Smarter'

By Ari LeVaux, AlterNet
Health and Wellness: Companies have fortified their products with synthetic versions of certain fatty acids associated with brain development. But evidence shows it may be making children sick.

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Has 'America's Toughest Sheriff' Lost It?

By Isabel Macdonald, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: Local community organizers are calling on the DHS to go further in stripping rogue Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s powers.

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Why Obama Has to do What Letterman Did: Refuse to Pay Hush Money

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog
Politics: The former labor secretary says that by buying off Big Pharma in return for its support on health-care reform, the president has succumbed to blackmail.

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A National Treasure -- The Memoirs of Gay Rights Pioneer Martin Duberman

By Doug Ireland, Gay City News
Rights and Liberties: Father of gay studies programs in universities, Duberman was early to embrace the nascent, post-Stonewall gay liberation movement and join its militant ranks.

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Will the Soldiers We Train in Afghanistan End Up Trying to Kill Us in the Future? It's Happened Before

By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com
World: For 30 years we've been deeply involved in creating, financing, and sometimes arming a part of the world that has shown willingness to create violence on our own soil.

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Major Blow to 'War on Drugs': Obama Tells Fed Prosecutors, Don't Waste Your Time with Medical Marijuana Arrests

By Allen St. Pierre, NORML
DrugReporter: Department of Justice memo formalizes what marijuana advocates had been pushing Obama to do for some time.

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Why Won't Obama Draw a Line in the Sand and Take on the Wall Street Wrecking Crew?

By Frank Rich, The New York Times
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: We know Obama has good values, but we don't know if he has convictions.

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Monday, October 19th, 2009

The Robber Barons Are Back -- Hide Your Money!

By Scott Thill, AlterNet
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: The Dow's at 10,000, and the bankers are reaping huge bonuses, but the economy in which the rest of us live is a disaster.

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Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh Are Crazy -- Yet Corporate Media Legitimize Them

By Jamison Foser, Media Matters for America
Media and Technology: When Limbaugh, Beck and Fox news are treated like legitimate players, it causes the rest of the media to run to the right.

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Democrats Risk Electoral Disaster If They Drop the Public Option

By Robert Parry, Consortium News
The public option offers the only means for a reform to be quickly implemented and to demonstrate a beneficial effect for the people by 2010 and 2012.

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Going Green Means Having Fewer Kids

By Emily Badger, Miller-McCune.com
Reproductive Justice and Gender: There are already just too many people on the planet. What are we supposed to do about it?

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Playing God? Texas Jury Consulted Bible Before Sentencing Man to Death

By Liliana Segura, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: Khristian Oliver is set to be executed next month, after jurors used Old Testament passages to determine whether he should live or die.

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Got Pot? It's Legal to Take It on the Plane in Oakland

By Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune
DrugReporter: Oakland International Airport may be the nation's only airport with a specific policy letting users of medical marijuana travel with the drug.

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8 Foods You Think Are Healthy ... But Aren't

By Sarah Irani, EcoSalon
Health and Wellness: Processed foods, even organic and vegetarian ones, don’t provide the optimal health for our bodies.

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CodePink Founder Jodie Evans Challenges Obama Up Close and Personal on His Afghanistan Policy

By Don Hazen, AlterNet
World: Armed with the signatures of thousands of Afghan women asking him not to send more troops, Evans told Obama that women must have a seat at the negotiating table.

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Dog-Fighting Ring Allegedly Operated Out of Home that Doubles as a Day-Care Center

By Martha Rosenberg, AlterNet
Health and Wellness: Reports of a dog-fighting ring operating out of a home that houses a day-care center were bad enough. Then, a cell-phone video showed a dog burned alive.

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Saturday, October 17th, 2009

Working With the Victims in the Complex Struggle to Fight Sex Trafficking

By Noy Thrupkaew, The Nation
Sex and Relationships: The Philippines suffers from a significant problem with child sex exploitation, but it also provides more fertile ground for US work on anti-trafficking.

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"Clean, Safe and High-Value" Neighborhoods Are Nice Ways of Saying "White" Without Bringing Race into It

By Rich Benjamin, Hyperion Books
Rights and Liberties: The law does not forbid segregated or discriminating neighborhoods. It simply forbids intentional discrimination.

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Striking Graphic History Tells Story of Honduras Coup and Unrest

By Dan Archer, Nikil Saval, AlterNet
World: Check out this stunning graphic portrayal of the unrest that's ripped through Honduras.

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Why Is Everyone Pretending Olympia Snowe Is so Darn Important?

By David Sirota, Creators Syndicate
Politics: Now all of American politics is focused on this unaccomplished backbencher and whether or not she will endorse the final bill.

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Politicians Have Failed in Efforts to Stave Off Climate Change, Now It's Up to Us

By Bill McKibben, Mother Jones
Environment: The political method has not worked so well. In fact it's lurching toward something between abject and embarrassing failure. Let's try something else.

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Unprecedented Civil Disobedience For Hemp Legalization

By Phillip S. Smith, Drug War Chronicle
DrugReporter: Hoping to focus the attention of the Obama administration on the DEA's bad policies, leading activists were willing to get arrested to make their point.

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The 10 Most Notorious Sex Scandals in Hollywood History

By Phil Nugent, Nerve.com
Sex and Relationships: We can learn a lot about shifting mores by charting the careers of those caught in the spotlight with their zippers down.

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No One Wants to Die From Dinner -- Here's a Quick Primer on What's Safe to Eat and Who's Looking Out for Your Health

By Vanessa Barrington, EcoSalon
Health and Wellness: Thousands are dying every year from food-borne illness and we have a confusing morass of regulations and agencies charged with enforcing them. How to sort out the mess?

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The Rise of the Religious Left -- Why Christianity Isn't Just for Conservatives

By Anna Hartnell, Comment Is Free
Belief: It's easy to paint American Christians as right wing free-marketeers -– but the truth is far more complex.

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Friday, October 16th, 2009

4 TV Series That Should Not Be Missed

By Vanessa Richmond, AlterNet
Media and Technology: Serial TV is the best way to get a mini-escape into another land, another life, another person’s head -- here are four shows that will help you understand where the country is.

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Big Whoop: 1 Republican Signs on to Watered-Down Health Reform, and the Media Gets in a Bipartisan Tizzy

By Robert Scheer, Truthdig
Politics: The 13 Dems on the Senate Finance Committee get one faintly rational GOPer to join them in a meaningless stab at health care reform, and it throws them into a tizzy.

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What's the Big Hubbub Over a New Book Arguing NYC Is America's Greenest City?

By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
Environment: New Yorker writer David Owen has environmentalists shooting broadsides at his new book; do we really want to replicate the Big Apple across America?

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How to Have Sex Like a Virgin for Only 30 Bucks

By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet
Sex and Relationships: Who doesn't want to have sex with virgins?

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Health Insurer Accused of "Attempted Murder" by Man Stripped of His Coverage

By William Ehart, Washington Times
Health and Wellness: Insurer would rather end health coverage for entire categories of illness such as muscular dystrophy than pay out one dime.

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Hightower: Obama, Time to Work on Creating Jobs for Hardworking Americans

By Jim Hightower, AlterNet
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: FDR, when he faced deep and spreading national insecurity, made jobs first -- not last. And so should Obama.

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Why Is L.A.'s District Attorney Aiding and Abetting Mexican Drug Cartels?

By Bruce Mirken, Daily News
DrugReporter: Attorney Cooley has sweeping plans to boost the profits of drug cartels, and increasing the slaughter these vicious gangs perpetrate on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Get Out of Afghanistan Now

By G. Pascal Zachary, In These Times
World: The case for an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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Dr. Frankenstein of Fox News Creates Another Right-Wing Monster

By Karl Frisch, Media Matters for America
Media and Technology: Fox News president Roger Ailes -- a former Republican communications guru -- is turning his attention to the Fox Business Network.

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Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Not Your Father's Chamber of Commerce: National Organization Is Now a Tool of the Radical Right

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Politics: Once a sane advocate and even community-minded organization, the Chamber of Commerce has been captured by the Republican Party.

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Without Drastic CO2 Cuts Immediately, the World Faces a Massive 'Oh Shit' Moment

By Mark Hertsgaard, The Nation
Environment: A frightening new climate change study says the United States must eliminate its enormous rate of carbon emission within ten years.

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The Great Challenge of Our Time: Re-Creating America's Great Middle Class

By Marie Cocco, Washington Post Writers Group
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: In her final column, Cocco writes that we face "hard political tasks. But being pushed further down is harder, still. Because no one knows where the new bottom lies."

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Why Does America Leave It to NFL Owners to Tell Rush Limbaugh Where to Go?

By Rory O'Connor, RoryOConnor.org
Media and Technology: Shock jock Limbaugh was thinking about buying a piece of the St. Louis Rams and was promptly told that he and his divisive comments are not welcome in the NFL.

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Getting to the Bottom of the Bizarre Bank Merger Between Wells Fargo and Wachovia

By Kevin Connor, Eyes on the Ties
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Why did Wells Fargo, a reasonably healthy bank, merge with a debt-laden disaster like Wachovia in the middle of the financial crisis? Ask Vulcan Materials Co.

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Should Liberals Watch More TV?

AlterNet Media and Technology: Vanessa Richmond's article about progressives watching television stirred some furious debate. Here are the highlights.

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The Samsung Reclaim: A Corn-Based Cell Phone Has Finally Arrived, But Is it Worth It?

By Peter Z. Scheer, Truthdig
Environment: The Reclaim is a new green phone from Samsung and Sprint that hopes you're more interested in the environment than in apps.

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Video: Birther Queen Rapped With $20,000 Fine: The End of Orly Taitz?

By Adele Stan, AlterNet
Politics: The right-wing activist who keeps filing law suits alleging that Obama is not a U.S. citizen is fined and dismissed as a kook by a federal judge.

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Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Ridiculous Study Blames Feminism for Non-Existent 'Happiness Gap' Between Men and Women

By Barbara Ehrenreich, Tomdispatch.com
Reproductive Justice and Gender: Much-discussed study claims that women are more depressed relative to men in recent decades, when it actually suggests that neither marriage nor children make women happy.

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Obama Vs. Rupert Murdoch: Fox News' Blatant Transition into GOP TV

By Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America
Media and Technology: Fox News is now explicitly a pro-Republican channel. Now the press needs to change the way it covers Fox News.

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How My Dispute with Joe Scarborough Sheds Light on the Civil War Within the GOP

By Max Blumenthal, AlterNet
Politics: Scarborough is trying to play the part of a 'real conservative,' appalled by the GOP fringe, but he's just as unwilling to compromise with Obama's agenda.

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CNN Can't Have It Both Ways: It Can Either Broadcast Hateful Lou Dobbs or Have a Latino Audience

By Roberto Lovato, AlterNet
Media and Technology: Latinos across America are intensely concerned about CNN's hypocrisy: Broadcasting Dobbs' anti-immigrant extremism while running a Latinos in America special series.

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Dick Gephardt's Fall: How a Progressive Stalwart Turned into a Spectacular Political Sellout

By Sebastian Jones, The Nation
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: As a politician, he was a champion of progressive reform. Now he lobbies for its enemies.

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Judge Finds Abusive Gitmo Interrogations Yield False Confessions, Bad Info

By Christopher Flavelle, ProPublica
Rights and Liberties: A judge's recently-released opinion opens a window on Gitmo's harsh interrogation techniques, and the bad intel they yield.

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The Enormous Environmental Consequences of Artificially Lighting Up the Night

By Judith Stock, Miller-McCune.com
Politics: The nighttime sky shines brighter than it did less than 10 years ago with potentially serious consequences to humans, animals and ecosystem.

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Is Canada More Pro-Israel Than the United States?

By Yves Engler, CounterPunch
World: "No other country in the world has demonstrated such full understanding of us," says Ultra-Right Wing Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman of Canada.

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