Presenting the Ten Greediest Americans of 2011

You don't have to make a million to rate as an all-star greedster. You do have to be ruthless, self-absorbed and grossly insensitive.
December 13, 2011

The greediest among us in 2011 probably haven’t been any greedier, as a gang, than any greedy of the recent past. They just seem that way.

Why so? We have a whole new frame of reference. This fall’s sudden — and exhilarating — rise of the Occupy movement has helped us remember what we, as a society, had sadly forgotten: that decent, smart societies never let the few grab away rewards that ought to be shared among the many.

Who grabbed most greedily in 2011? We have no statistical yardstick to help us make that call. You don’t, after all, have to make a million to rate as an all-star greedster. You do have to be ruthless, self-absorbed, and grossly insensitive.

That description, we’ll admit, fits far more folks than our ten dis-honorees below. Maybe next year, we can hope, we’ll have a harder time filling out our top ten. READ MORE

10 Stupidest Moments of Fox and Friends

Fox & Friends punctuates its incessant campaign to promote conservative politics with some extremely absurd moments.
December 16, 2011

Anyone who has had the misfortune to regularly watch Fox News' morning show, Fox & Friends, knows how unique a program it is. Hidden behind the three friendly, smiling faces of the show's co-hosts Brian Kilmeade, Steve Doocy, and Gretchen Carlson, lie some of the network's most aggressive and unrelenting misinformers. But just like last year, Fox & Friends punctuated its incessant campaign to promote conservative politics with some occasional funny and outrageous moments. Therefore, we present Fox & Friends' stupidest moments of 2011. Enjoy!
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Wisconsin Recall Breaks Record for Signatures Despite Best Efforts of Pro-Walker Media to Undermine Campaign

Behind reports of recall volunteers being harassed, effort crossed half-million signature mark on Thursday.
December 16, 2011

The grassroots campaign to recall Wisconsin’s embattled Republican Gov. Scott Walker crossed a major milestone this week that displayed its organizing prowess and growing political power. The Democratic Party announced that it gathered more than a half-million signatures midway through a 60-day petition drive—breaking state records.

But if you were only learning about the recall from Wisconsin’s mainstream media in recent weeks, particularly watching television news, where millions of dollars of pro-Walker ads have been airing, you wouldn't be left with a view of a competent new political operation. Instead you'd be hearing all about Walker supporters attacking the petition circulators -- including some arrests, Walker opponents signing petitions numerous times, fueling GOP fears of voter fraud -- and reports questioning the credibility of the state board that is overseeing the recall campaign. READ MORE

Is Sheriff Joe Arpaio Going Down?

Is Sheriff Joe Arpaio Going Down?
A Justice Department report blasts the embattled Arizona lawman for discriminating against Latinos.
December 16, 2011

The clock struck at 1,095 days and 11 hours today for Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Ariz. — or, at least according to the ticking icon on the Phoenix New Times home page that had asked readers for years: “How long has Sheriff Joe been under investigation by the feds?”

That investigation culminated Thursday when the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice released its long-awaited report, which found a “chronic culture of disregard for basic legal and constitutional obligations” in Arpaio’s office. Drawing from tens of thousands of documents and over 400 interviews with sheriff’s department personnel, inmates and experts, the report documented “a widespread pattern or practice of law enforcement and jail activities that discriminate against Latinos,” resulting in gross violations of constitutional rights.
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Has the Israel Lobby Gone Too Far?

Will a recent attack on progressive journalists help spark a sea-change in the debate over Middle East policy?
December 16, 2011

When Josh Block, a former communications director for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), sent an “oppo dump” about a group of progressive journalists and bloggers at the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Media Matters to a list-serv of conservative journalists and asked them to push the narrative that the writers were echoing “the words of anti-Semites,” he probably didn't think much of it.

After all, this is how self-identified “pro-Israel” activists have long policed the discourse surrounding the Middle East conflict and the “special relationship” that exists between the United States and Israel.

In 2009, an influential Israeli think-tank carefully cherry-picked posts from the Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Salon, quoted them out of context and concluded that “progressive blogs and news sites in the United States are a new field where Jew-hatred, in both its classic and anti-Israeli forms, manifests itself.”
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When Cults Collide: How Big Sports and CEO Worship Threaten Societies

Jerry Sandusky will likely go to prison. But when values poisonous to healthy societies are fostered, crimes will continue to be committed-- and condoned.
December 13, 2011

The silence. The lack of accountability. The blind loyalty. The case of Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky (who waived his right to a hearing on Tuesday) and similar horrors have shown us that under certain circumstances, otherwise normal people will stand by in the face of crimes as heinous as systemic child abuse and child rape. How could it happen that a university would protect a football program over the lives of innocent children?

The real question is: How could it be otherwise?

The Church of Football READ MORE

Who We Are and Why We Fight: "People Who Do Drugs, and People Who Don't, Will End the War on Drugs"

The foremost U.S. authority on the harm of the drug war paints a clear and brilliant picture of the path to a better future.
December 14, 2011

Ethan Nadelmann electrified the audience with this comprehensive and provocative address at the 2011 International Drug Policy Reform Conference in November in downtown Los Angeles. At the conference, anti-drug war activists from all over the world, and all walks of life, converged to plan and discuss the movement to end the drug war. Former police officers with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), Students for a Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), and representatives from the NAACP and other organizations joined formerly incarcerated drug offenders, addicts, and individuals as prominent as the Mexican poet Javier Sicilia for three days of collaboration and education.

Let me tell you something. We are all the future of this movement. We are all the future. You know, it is the young, the old, and the in-between. The black, the white, and the in-between. The gay, the straight, and the in-between. The drug users, and the non-drug users, and the in-between. READ MORE