>Why Democrats are afraid to raise taxes on the rich

>Could it have something to do with the recent affection of hedge-fund managers for the Democratic Party?by Robert Reichhttp://www.salon.com (October 25 2007)New data from the Internal Revenue Service show that income inequality continues to widen. The wealthiest one percent of Americans earn more than 21 percent of all income. That's a postwar record. The bottom …

>Assumptions

>Clusterfuck Nationby Jim KunstlerComment on current events by the author of The Long Emergency (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005)www.kunstler.com (October 29 2007)When historians glance back at 2007 through the haze of their coal-fired stoves, they will mark this year as the onset of the Long Emergency - or whatever they choose to call the unraveling of …

>The Road Well Travelled

>Are we already shutting our minds to the consequences of climate change?by George MonbiotPublished in the Guardian (October 30 2007)A few weeks ago I read what I believe is the most important environmental book ever written. It is not Silent Spring, Small is Beautiful or even Walden. It contains no graphs, no tables, no facts, …

>The Man Who Builds Hillaryworld

>by Alexander Cockburnhttp://www.counterpunch.com (October 20 / 21 2007)The pollster and immensely influential tactical adviser at Hillary Clinton's elbow is Mark Penn. Penn's polling played a crucial role in Bill Clinton's recovery from the nadir of 1994, when he joined Team Clinton as part of the rescue party summoned by Hillary Clinton and headed by Dick …

>Plastics are Forever

>by Suzanne Elstonhttp://yourearth.blogspot.com (May 22 2007)Like a lot of Canadians, I divided my Victoria Day weekend between garden centres and dallying in our flower gardens at home. Aside from the perennials that we've inherited from our mother's and grandmother's gardens, up until now most of our flowers have been annuals. This year we decided to …

>Ecological Warfare

>Iraq's Environmental Crisisby Jeffrey St Clair and Joshua Frankhttp://www.counterpunch.com (October 25 2007)The ecological effects of war, like its horrific toll on human life, are exponential. When the Bush Administration and their Congressional allies sent our troops in to Iraq to topple Saddam's regime, they not only ordered these men and women to commit crimes against …

>The Politics of "Appeevement"

>Is There a Method to Bush's Middle East Madness?by Rannie Amirihttp://www.counterpunch.org (October 22 2007)Over the past several weeks, the United States has gone out of its way to offend, irk and otherwise provoke a select group of leaders and nations. Through a series of deliberate and calculated actions intended to purposefully estrange those most likely …