Obama's Perilous Compromise with Wall Street Looters

Jeffrey Klein, Huffington Post

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: President Obama has made a bad mistake: Instead of cracking down on serial looters and complicit regulators, he plans to reward them.

Why Big Finance Is Laughing All the Way to the Bank

Rob Larson, AlterNet

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Instead of making loans to help the economy, they're shoring up their own finances and buying up their competitors.

Tragedy in Gaza -- Desperately Seeking Leadership from Obama

Sunera Thobani, rabble.ca

ForeignPolicy: Unfortunately, Obama is missing in action and silent on this first foreign policy challenge to his presidency.

The Long and Bloody Hypocrisy of U.S.-Israeli Acts of Terrorism

Robert Parry, Consortium News

ForeignPolicy: Without an extreme double standard on terrorism, it's hard to see how today's bloodbath in Gaza would be possible.

Shopaholics, Big Spenders and People in Debt, Getting Smacked by Economic Reality

Anneli Rufus, AlterNet

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: This is the season for how-did-we-go broke books, stories of shopping hangovers and life ripped down to the basics.

Why Head Shop Raids Are Unfair and Unjust

Norman Kent, CounterPunch

DrugReporter: How a reckless mayor, heartless federal agents and a disorganized drug-consuming public led to a pointless raid on head shops.

America's Hidden Role in Hamas's Rise to Power

Stephen Zunes, AlterNet

ForeignPolicy: No one in the mainstream media or government is willing to acknowledge America's sordid role interfering in Palestinian politics.

Israel's Ground Invasion of Gaza Continues

Siun, Firedoglake

PEEK: Updates: Conditions worsen; Civilian causalities include women and children; American International School destroyed; Is Israel using cluster bombs?

World's Worst Job? Meet the Couple Who Clean Up After Messy Deaths

Liz Langley, Orlando Weekly

Health and Wellness: One couple have built a business helping people deal with the very messy reality of death by cleaning up after murders, suicides and the like.

Are Modern Women Miserable?

Vicki Haddock, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine

Women can dream bigger than ever before. But social progress has plateaued short of true gender equity, keeping many of those dreams out of reach.

Did You Know 200,000 Vets Are Sleeping on the Streets?

Aaron Glantz, New America Media

Election 2008: America's promise to "Support the Troops" ends the moment they take off the uniform and try to make the transition to civilian life.

The Iraq War Is Now Illegal

Bruce Ackerman, Oona Hathaway, The Daily Beast

War on Iraq: Ongoing combat in Iraq is illegal under US law. As of January 1, Congress' authorization of the war expired.

Business Is Booming for Industry Catering to Survivalists

Josh Allen, Christian Science Monitor

Environment: Once seen as a radical and paranoid ideology, survivalism is expanding as a business, and growing fast.

6 Reasons Why Nuclear Power Can't Save Us

Rob Hopkins, Chelsea Green Publishing

Environment: A new book shows that it is not just the cost of nuke plants and their deadly waste that is the energy source's only problems.

My Grandpa Lives in Gaza

Laila Al-Arian, The Nation

Rights and Liberties: My family has struggled to get in touch with my grandfather. As missiles rain over his Gaza neighborhood, I can only imagine what he is thinking.

10 Reasons To Be Hopeful About 2009 -- and 3 Reasons To Be Terrified

Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine

Corporate power is waning, health reform is gaining ground and a climate-friendly economy is on the horizon. Will change finally happen?

Are 'Hail Mary' Technological Solutions Our Only Hope to Prevent Disastrous Climate Change?

Steve Connor, Independent UK

Environment: In a recent survey, the majority of scientists said artificially lowering global temperatures could be a "Plan B" for saving the planet.

Everything You Need to Know about Iran But the Mass Media, the Republicans and Hillary Clinton Wouldn't Tell You

Col. Ann Wright, TruthOut.org

A conspiracy of myths about Iran has been pushed on us to make it seem scary. Want to hear some facts?

The Paradox of Israel: Regional Super Power and the Largest Jewish Ghetto Ever Created

Ira Chernus, AlterNet

ForeignPolicy: Israelis keep saying they only want security, while they go on electing leaders whose policies make them less secure.

Are Blagojevich and Jesse Jackson Jr.'s Money Dealings with Chicago's Indian Community Tied to the Corruption Charges?

Vijay Prashad, CounterPunch

Democracy and Elections: Clues emerge in the possible connection between Jesse Jackson Jr., Blagojevich, and the money for Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Adding Up Bush's Damage

Bob Herbert, The New York Times

Bush's catalog of his transgressions against the nation's interests would keep him in a confessional for the rest of his life.

Boatloads of Trouble: How We Are Importing Our Way to Destruction

Stan Cox, AlterNet

Environment: As our consumer goods travel thousands of miles by boat, train and truck, they're leaving a trail of soot and cancer in their wake.

Shopaholics, Big Spenders and People in Debt, Getting Smacked by Economic Reality

Anneli Rufus, AlterNet

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: This is the season for how-did-we-go broke books, stories of shopping hangovers and life ripped down to the basics.

9 Steps to Peace for Obama in the New Year

Deepak Chopra, AlterNet

Environment: Steps the incoming president can take to build a peace-based economy.

The Ten AlterNet Stories from 2008 That Outraged Readers the Most

AlterNet

From our coverage on Sarah Palin's gaffes to Matt Taibbi's battles with the 9/11 Truth movement.

Killing Without Consequences in Gaza

Mustafa Qadri, Foreign Policy in Focus

ForeignPolicy: It is becoming increasingly clear that Israel’s latest attack on Gaza was a pre-meditated attempt to destabilize the Hamas regime.

Obama Alone Can't Halt the Surge in Black Murders

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media

Rights and Liberties: Murders involving young black males are bucking national crime trends. But is the answer job programs, crime prevention or more cops?

College Loan Slavery: Student Debt Is Getting Way Out of Hand

Nan Mooney, AlterNet

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: The quest for a college degree is dumping millions of young people deep into a pit of debt from which many will never recover.

Alberto Gonzales Considers Himself a 'Casualty of the War on Terror'

Steve Benen, Washington Monthly

PEEK: Bush's former attorney general appears to be trying to making some kind of comeback.

The Bizarre Life and Angry Times of Bill O'Reilly

John Dolan, AlterNet

Media and Technology: O'Reilly's book tells the tale of how he blustered and threatened his way through life to reach TV stardom.

Sleeping Around Craigslist

Anna Reed, Lily Penza, East Bay Express

Sex and Relationships: Two middle-aged women discover that casual sex can be anything but casual.

Israel Is Foolishly Breeding the Next Generation of Islamic Militants in Gaza

Chris Hedges, Truthdig

Israel is using hunger and terror to break a hostile population -- it will pay a huge price down the road.

Israel's Actions Are Irrational, No Matter How Much U.S. Politicians Try to Cast Them As Normal

Wallace Shawn, The Nation

Rights and Liberties: It is not rational to think that the Palestinians will be terrorized by force, starvation or slaughter into a docile acceptance of the occupation.

The GOP's 'Magic Negro' Debacle

John Avlon, The Daily Beast

In the era of Obama, the GOP’s tone-deafness on race could ultimately destroy the party.

My Dangerous Encounter With a Supermarket Security Guard & His Gun

Linda Milazzo, AlterNet

'For the first time in my life, I experienced overwhelming, palpable fear.' Was it a Brink's guard or a Blackwater mercenary pointing his gun at her?

Financial Crisis Sends Tuition Costs Sky-High as Colleges Face Crunch

Pedro de la Torre III, Campus Progress

Not everyone is suffering equally: low and middle income students are particularly vulnerable in the current economic environment.