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What Consumers Need to Know About Rent-to-Own Businesses

Elayne Clift January 28, 2010 Elayne Clift

NYC Rent-A-Center Protest
A single mother in Washington State used the store to furnish her living room. But the goods she received were damaged and worn. When she stopped making payments while awaiting replacements her home was accosted by employees of the Rent-A-Center she had patronized. Elsewhere in the same state, a man who called to say his payments would be late due to his wife's hospitalization said collectors tried to kick his door down to repossess his rent-to-own goods.

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US Planning, Arming Yemen Military Operations

Democracy Now! January 27, 2010 Democracy Now!

Source: Democracy Now!

The Washington Post is reporting the US is deeply involved in secret joint operations with Yemeni troops that have killed scores of people, including civilians and suspected al-Qaeda leaders, in the past six weeks. The operations were approved by President Obama and involve several dozen troops from the Joint Special Operations Command. Although US advisers are said not to take part in the raids, they’ve reportedly planned missions, developed tactics, shared intelligence, and provided weapons. read more

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Iraq Inquiry Panel: Britain’s Pride and Shame

Stefan Simanowitz January 27, 2010 Stefan Simanowitz

By the end of his six hour cross examination by the Iraq Inquiry panel in London, Tony Blair's former director of communications and strategy, Alastair Campbell, must have felt as if he had been, in the immortal phrase of a veteran British politician, "savaged by a dead sheep." Arriving at the Chilcot Inquiry, the bags under his eyes suggested that Tony Blair's former communications and strategy director might have suffered a few sleepless nights.

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Voices of Participatory Democracy in Venezuela

Hans Bennett January 26, 2010 Hans Bennett

There are many different ways that the corporate media continues to misrepresent the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela. Many critics of this biased media coverage have directly challenged the demonization of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but very few critics, if any, have exposed the media's virtual erasure of the vibrant and growing participatory democracy in Venezuela.

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Guns and Oil: Obama’s National Security Policy Toward Africa

Daniel Volman January 25, 2010 Daniel Volman

A year into his presidency, Barack Obama is essentially following the same course of militarised action in Africa pursued by his predecessors over the past decade. A consequence of the US president's faith in the necessity of the global war on terror and pragmatic political concerns around retaining oil supplies, Obama's approach to Africa has been entirely rooted in asserting his country's military might.