INSANITY is defined as repeating one mistaken action again and again, each time expecting a better result that never comes. Prime example: the United States in Iraq. Washington perceived a weapons of mass destruction threat from Saddam Hussein, but instead of responding with diplomacy - internationally coordinated weapons inspections - it went to war. When Saddam Hussein was toppled, the initiative should have passed from the Pentagon to a State Department-led program of stabilization and reconstruction, but instead a crudely violent military occupation was begun. Diplomacy was once again rejected. More...

Listen to almost any politician, President Bush included, and you’ll hear that the fight against global warming cannot be won without cleaner technologies that will ease dependence on fossil fuels. Yet these same politicians are on the verge of allowing modest but vital tax credits to expire that are crucial to the future of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. More...

A roadside bomb almost killed Iraq's first lady on Sunday in Baghdad, striking her car and wounding three of her bodyguards. More...

Or September 11th Redux, since the first one was so good for corporations run by CEO’s so bloated that every time they waddled to the bank their eyelids jiggled.

Things must be going well in Baghdad. So well, in fact, that the Pentagon‘s backing a five billion dollar plan for corporate development that will feature high-rise hotels, resorts and shopping centers. More...

IT'S JUST a change in wording on a government form. But the revision of the security clearance question on mental health is a welcome sign that the military is serious about changing how those in need of mental care are perceived and treated. It comes none too soon for service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with invisible wounds. More...

We didn't elect them. We can't throw them out. And they're getting more powerful every day.

Call them the superclass.

At the moment, Americans are fixated on the political campaign. In the meantime, many are missing a reality of the global era that may matter much more than their presidential choice: On an ever-growing list of issues, the big decisions are being made or profoundly influenced by a little-understood international network of business, financial, government, cultural and military leaders who are beyond the reach of American voters. More...

shit like this happens:

In September of 2007, the principal at Hollis F. Price Middle College High told teachers she wanted the names of all student couples, “hetero and homo,” because she wanted to monitor them personally to prevent students from engaging in public displays of affection. More...

The news media often uncritically report federal government national economic indicators, without explaining how they are calculated. Well, it seems Mark Twain was right when he noted (quoting Benjamin Disraeli), “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The unsurprising truth, according to John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics (SGS): “Inflation and unemployment reports are understated, while employment and other economic data are overstated, deliberately.”

The government began fudging the numbers during the Reagan administration, although the Clinton administration continued doing it. SGS calculates economic indicators according to the original criteria, so that the real trends become evident. More...

The hole the US Democratic party is digging for itself just keeps getting deeper. In the past few days, after the grisly reappearance of Jeremiah Wright – the former friend who came not to praise Barack Obama but to bury him – Hillary Clinton’s standing in the polls has improved again. In Tuesday’s primaries, she is hoping for a comfortable win in Indiana and a close result in North Carolina, a dramatic change from just a month ago. More...

The interrogation room in Guantanamo Bay, Christmas Eve 2002. Detainee 063 – an Al-Qaeda suspect called Mohamed al-Kahtani, who may or may not be that sought-after 20th 9/11 hijacker – is crying in his chair. It is his 33rd day of continuous interrogation – a month with almost no sleep – and the interrogators have started up with the white noise again and are pouring water over his head. More...

(CBS) Democrat Barack Obama appears to have rebounded from some of the damage caused by the controversy surrounding his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll. More...

A large bulk of the political and pundit class are forever stuck in 1972, reflexively viewing every political conflict through its myopic prism (any war-opponent-candidate = George McGovern = loser). But as a New York Times article by Robin Toner this morning illustrates, the far more relevant precedent for this year's election is 1988. Toner quotes something I wrote after Barack Obama's Philadelphia race speech to define the critical question:

Sometimes, as Senator Barack Obama seemed to argue earlier this year, a flag pin is just a flag pin. More...

(CBS) In states such as Indiana where open primaries allow independent and Republican Party members to vote for Democratic presidential candidates, right-wing radio commentators are exhorting their listeners to cross party lines and vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton, in the hope that she - and not Sen. Barack Obama - will become the nominee against Sen. John McCain, a supporter of Obama said. More...

The last war won't end, but in the Pentagon they're already arguing about the next one. More...

My Times colleague Barry Bearak was imprisoned by the brutal regime in Zimbabwe last month. Barry was not beaten, but he was infected with scabies while in a bug-infested jail. He was finally brought before a court after four nights in jail and then released.

Alas, we don’t treat our own inmates in Guantánamo with even that much respect for law. More...