Laura Flanders

Read the papers and listen to the news and you'll get a pretty scary picture of voting in the USA. Long lines, bewildered workers. frustrated voters...broken machines. So far, the picture from early voting's like one of those psychological testing graphics. Seen one way it's a portrait of a war against Democracy.

Anyone elected president next week faces the daunting task of jump starting the US economy. Not so easy -- even for the clearly intelligent and magnetic Mr. Obama. While the US government has provided loans, guarantees and bail out funds to the private sector in excess of $5 trillion dollars -- gulp -- the amount of leverage the government has over the USE of those funds is surprisingly

And so it ends where it began. The front page of Tuesday’s Wall St. Journal reports that “The U.S. is actively considering talks with elements of the Taliban, the armed Islamist group that once ruled Afghanistan and sheltered al Qaeda.”According to the story, Senior White House and military officials believe that when it comes to Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, engaging some levels of the Taliban could help improve security.It's a familiar

With all the finger pointing going on today in this all-out international financial crisis, the names Bush, Clinton, Greenspan, Rubin, Paulson, and a host of Wall Street CEOs get mentions all the time. And well they should. But rather than pick one of them, let’s figure out what they have in common - all of them.

Be afraid, be very afraid. Now the recession is hurting the Pentatgon. That's the word in response to the news that the Defense Department has cancelled a $1.7 billion spy satellite program. The next question we'll hear in Congress come appropriation time: "Are you willing to let the US credit crisis limit our “defense” capability?"

Spread the weatlth, spread the wealth. The McCain campaign makes it sound something out of a Halloween horror film. But put ideology aside, and the fact is, when regular Americans get word of a person in toruble, spread the wealth is typically what they do.

"If passed, 48 will spread from state to state-threatening abortion, access to emergency contraception, and even birth control pills and IUDs," says the Feminist Majority. There's a state based coalition : Protect Families Protect Choices purchasing media ads and mobilizing voters statewide now.

The American way is just naturally the corporate way. That's what Henry Paulson would have you believe. In Europe, the infusion of capital into banks this week has come in exchange for ownership and some conditions. Representing the taxpayers, European governments have said, why shouldn't we get the best bargain we can get.

The stock market took off—up almost 1,000 points the other day and the cheers rang through wall street and the media. But what exactly is there to cheer about? Face the facts: for most Americans life is tough and going to get a whole lot tougher. For three decades the US has been defined by wage stagnation.

Barack Obama’s poll numbers are up – and the McCain campaign’s gloves are off. This time the GOP’s target isn’t merely the Democratic candidate -- it's a poor people's group – and if we're not careful, the impact of the targetting may be felt long after the '08 election.in a new ad running online, the John McCain campaign reprises its attack on commnity organizers.