Why Was a Lightweight Montana Senator on the Finance Committee Tasked to Take on Health Care Reform?

Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown

Health and Wellness: Entrusting Baucus with the heavy job of shepherding health care reform through the upper chamber is like asking Tweety Bird to lift a bowling ball.

Why Obama Has No Business Trying War in the Nuclear-Armed Powder Keg of Pakistan

Fred Branfman, Truthdig

World: The U.S. has even less control over events in Pakistan than it does in Afghanistan -- Obama's really playing with fire here.

Rachel Maddow Takes on the Man Doing Corporate Agribusiness's Dirty Work

Paula Crossfield, Civil Eats

Environment: Rachel Maddow continues her work pulling back the layers of American politics to expose underhanded and manipulative lobbying tactics to the public.

Marriage Equality in Califorina: Why We Can't Wait Until 2012

Love Honor Cherish

Politics: Every day that Prop 8 remains part of the California Constitution, we each lose something. Here's why we should not lose a moment in the fight to repeal it.

Here's How to Stop Using Toilet Paper and Save Water, Trees and Energy

Lloyd Alter, TreeHugger

Water: Making a roll of toilet paper uses 1.5 pounds of wood, 37 gallons of water and 1.3 KWh of electricity.

Michael Moore Was Right: Progressives Don't Watch Enough TV

Vanessa Richmond, AlterNet

Media and Technology: Why TV is ground zero for understanding American culture -- the 9 best shows on air that you should be watching.

Who Ran Away with Your 401K?

James Ridgeway, MotherJones.com

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: What starts with "f," ends with "k," and means "screw your workers"? That's right -- 401(k).

Michael Moore: Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize -- Now Please Earn it!

Michael Moore, AlterNet

In a letter to Obama, Moore writes, "The irony that you have been awarded this prize on the 2nd day of the ninth year of our War in Afghanistan is not lost on anyone."

On the Eve of Big D.C. March, Leaders Argue California Should Be Patient About Same-Sex Marriage

Troy Perry and Hans Johnson, AlterNet

Politics: The founder of the nation's largest LGBT church and a noted activist say when it comes to restoring same-sex marriage to California, patience is a virtue.

Wacky Congresswoman Thinks Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh Are the Voices of America -- Who Is She Kidding?

John Nichols, The Nation

Politics: Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann argues that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are the new voices not just of the GOP but of America. Good luck with that.

Supposed Progressive Obama Religious Leader Uses Health Care Debate for Anti-Abortion Views

Adele Stan, AlterNet

Reproductive Justice and Gender: Rev. Jim Wallis says he's progressive. That got him a seat on a White House council despite his opposition to abortion -- which he's using to monkey-wrench health-care reform.

Corporate Media Performing Miserably in Health Care Debate

Peter Dreier, Todd Gitlin, AlterNet

Politics: If it bleeds, it leads. So what happens when demonstrators play nice?

48 Year-Old Blogger Has Gone 9 Years Without Spending Money

Brian Merchant, TreeHugger

Environment: He's never taken food stamps or other government assistance, and despite what his lifestyle may lead you to believe, he's certainly not crazy.

"Tired, Strained, Confused" -- Why U.S. Troops Have Hit the Breaking Point in Afghanistan

Martin Fletcher, The London Times

World: American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions in Afghanistan.

The Story of My 'Socialist Kidney'

Jennifer Nix, AlterNet

Health and Wellness: If a public option works for one disease, there's no reason why Americans shouldn't enjoy the same level of care for all of them.

Republican Gomorrah: The Shattered GOP, Taken Over by Authoritarian Radicals, Is Incapable of Compromise

Max Blumenthal, Fresh Air - NPR

Politics: Max Blumenthal, author of Republican Gomorrah, argues the right is incapable of anything but scorched-earth politics, and are trying to delegitimize the Obama presidency.

8 Shocking Ways the Billionaires Have Schemed to Rob Us of Every Last $

Mark Ames, eXiled Online

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: American billionaires keep cooking up scheme after scheme to shake down Americans and plunder the national wealth, as if the last one was too easy and boring.

Everything Is Bright and Sunny Again, Unless You Have to Work for a Living

Dean Baker, AlterNet

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: So far we've seen economic recovery for the few, while the many live in continued pain.

A Solution For Diabetes: A Vegan Diet

Kathy Freston, AlterNet

Health and Wellness: More Doctors and nutritional scientists are saying that a diet high meat is disastrous to our health, while a plant-based (vegan) diet prevents disease and is restorative to it.

Bare Naked ... Not So Young ... Ladies

Vanessa Richmond, The Tyee

Media and Technology: What does it say when aging superstar models keep trying to emulate their far younger "sisters?"

Eight Years Is Long Enough: What You Can Do to End the War in Afghanistan

Peter Rothberg, The Nation

World: Antiwar activists are reallocating their attention from Iraq towards Afghanistan, organizing protests and demonstrations for the coming weeks.

Senate Climate Bill Revealed: A Quick Guide

Brian Merchant, TreeHugger

Environment: Here's a first look at its pros and cons, how it's different from the climate bill that passed the House, and what to expect next.

Racially Exclusive Suburbs Across U.S. Dubbed the New 'Whitopia'

Lewis Beale, Miller-McCune.com

Politics: Some of the fastest-growing areas in America are also the most Caucasian -- author Rich Benjamin's new book explores the new establishment of white ghettos.

Secret Plan to Ditch the U.S. Dollar's Dominance Uncovered

Robert Fisk, Independent UK

World: Arab states have launched a secret plan with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading.

The Economic Revolution Is Already Happening -- It's Just Not on Wall St.

Maria Armoudian, AlterNet

Rights and Liberties: Thousands of alternatives to the punishing corporate model have sprouted up across the US, building up an alternative economy as Wall St. crumbles.

Conservative Bible Project Aims to Delete 'Liberal Bias' from the Bible

Daniel Tencer, Raw Story

Rights and Liberties: "Liberal bias has become the single biggest distortion in modern Bible translations," its website asserts.

Taibbi: Michael Moore Wants Us to Go Kick Ass

Matt Taibbi, True/Slant

PEEK: If we got up off our chairs and went after the villains that Moore attacks in his latest documentary, everyone would be better off.

Why It's a Good Idea for the Well-Off to Share Their Health Care with the Rest of Us

Ann Neumann, AlterNet

Politics: Nearly half of Americans have little access to health care, while the rest are overmedicated, overtested or kept alive against their wishes. Could rationing be the answer?

Pig and Turkey Farming in the Inner City: One Woman's Amazing Adventures in Taking Urban Farming Beyond the Garden Plot

Twilight Greenaway, Culinate

Environment: Dumpster diving for her hungry pigs is only one of the many hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking adventures Novella Carpenter experienced in taking urban farming to a new level.

We Interact with 100,000+ Chemicals, and the Dangers Are Barely Understood

Monona Rossol, AlterNet

Health and Wellness: Our regulatory system works according to a 'guilty until proven innocent' logic, where new chemicals are available and safe, until the day we realize they aren't.

How I Caught Obama's Team Trapping Themselves into a Corner on Their Afghanistan Spin

David Corn, MotherJones.com

World: The White House Press Corps jumped on Robert Gibbs when they saw the glaring contradiction of demanding a corruption free government and not withdrawing from Afghanistan.

Betsy 'Death Panels' McCaughey Made to Look Ridiculous by Progressive Stalwart in Key Health Care Debate

Linda Hirshman, AlterNet

Politics: Debate with Rep. Anthony Weiner lays bare why nobody is buying Betsy McCaughey's whoppers and fearmongering over health care reform.

The Human Cost of War: The Images the Corporate Media Doesn't Want You to See

Liliana Segura, AlterNet

World: Robert Greenwald's Rethink Afghanistan brings you jarring images of civilian suffering. Not surprisingly, the NY Times isn't on board.

The Fight for the Public Option Hits Home Stretch -- Is Obama Hiding?

Adele Stan, AlterNet

Politics: Pressure from progressives led the White House back to the public option. But will it be in name only?

Has Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Created Titillating TV Fascism in Italy?

Nina Burleigh, AlterNet

World: An interview with Erik Gandini, director of the documentary Videocracy, an account of how Berlusconi's sex-obsessed media empire has shaped the country over the past 30 years.

Greenwald Film on Afghanistan Destroys the Logic of the War, Leading the New York Times to Whine

Jeremy Scahill, Rebel Reports

World: The "paper of record" also complains that Robert Greenwald's film has no 'sympathy' for pro-war views.

What Recession? As the Economy Crashed Around Them, 400 Richest Americans Lined Their Pockets with $30 Billion

Les Leopold, AlterNet

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: Their combined wealth is more than enough to insure the uninsured for the next twenty years or more.

Conservative Majority in Supreme Court Threatens Our Politics and Most Basic Freedoms

Think Progress

Rights and Liberties: The conservative majority has immediately begun stripping women's reproductive freedom, entrenching public school segregation, and undermining equal work pay.

Celebrating Slaughter: How War Memorials Help Us Forget the Horrors of Violence

Chris Hedges, Truthdig

World: War memorials and museums sanitize the instruments of death that turn young soldiers into killers, and small villages in Vietnam or Afghanistan into hellish bonfires.

Pot Crusader Marc Emery Jailed in Canada Pending Extradition to US

Phillip S. Smith, Drug War Chronicle

DrugReporter: Emery is in jail in Vancouver, awaiting extradition to the US to accept a five-year plea bargain for selling marijuana seeds to US customers.

The Rise of the Student Sex Columnist Movement

Alex DiBranco, The Nation

Sex and Relationships: The explosion of student sex columns represents a campus movement possessed of the same subversive potential that fueled 1960s student activism.