Battles between news anchors have

historically been between rival networks

But today's ripest feud is

a purely CBS affair: Katie vs. Dan

The rivalry took a humorous turn

when this outtake shows Katie Couric

mocking Dan Rather and herself

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Keywords: news, media, anchor

Giuliani's problems go well beyond

his immediate associates

- criminals and ne'er-do-wells like

best buddy/Mafia bagman Bernie Kerik,

South Carolina cocaine dealer Tom Ravenel,

or an assortment of monstrosities in his inner circle

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Keywords: 2008, giuliani, president, mafia

I don't know why I was so shocked listening to Keith Olbermann's insulting, degrading and uninformed remarks about President Hugo Chavez yesterday.

Perhaps because Olbermann is the only man on commercial television who has so far had the guts to make a frontal attack on Bush and his coterie of war criminals.

I suppose I thought his articulate and courageous stand against the Republicans, his criticism of their comrades, the spineless Democrats and other collaborators with the Bush regime, indicated a superior knowledge, analysis and understanding of politics in general.

I hoped that his bold commentary indicated a suspicion of a system glued together by massive lies. Sadly, it appears that I was wrong.   more »

At times, long after laying the big flagstones on the path to war, mainstream US media outlets resolve to be more independent next time. And why not? As Mark Twain commented, “It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it hundreds of times.”

When the president and his team set out to prepare the media ground for war, they can rely on a repetition compulsion that’s widespread in the American press.

Major outlets seem unable to resist White House agenda-setting for war. Cases in point span decades, from Vietnam and the Dominican Republic to Grenada and Panama, to Iraq and Yugoslavia, to Afghanistan and Iraq again - with Iran likely to join the list next year.   more »

Almost forty years ago, Paul Streeten rigorously documented for the ILO the perverse connection between economic growth and injustice.

He demonstrated that greater growth corresponded to greater poverty, and that there is a relation of cause and effect between one and the other.

He demonstrated as well that the famous “trickle down effect” - the idea that concentrated riches spill out onto the majority generating well-being in their wake - is a perverse and unfounded illusion.

To concentrate social efforts on economic growth disguises the real goal: greater opulence for a few, at the expense of generalized poverty and the destruction of the natural patrimony.   more »