be just

Insurance Premiums Still Rising Faster Than Inflation and Wages - Prescriptions Blog - NYTimes.com : "President Obama may not have much trouble persuading the nearly 160 million people who have health insurance through their employers that the system needs to be fixed, if a new survey of employer health benefits is any indication. Many working Americans may be experiencing something akin to sticker shock. The average cost of a family policy now exceeds $13,000 a year, having doubled over the last decade, according a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation."

Google News : "Former President Jimmy Carter's view that some of the recent protests against President Obama, including the “You Lie!” outburst by Representative Joe Wilson last week, are “based on racism,” has fueled a new war of words over this ..."

Breaking The Silence - Israeli soldiers talk about the occupied territories - Press - Op-ed: Why Is Israel Trying To Break Breaking the Silence? : "Ever since Breaking the Silence published testimonies from Israeli soldiers who participated in Operation Cast Lead, various government bodies and public figures in Israel have waged an aggressive smear campaign against the organization. Rather than engaging in meaningful analysis and debate of the disturbing contents of these testimonies, Israeli officials have chosen to try to silence and discredit the messenger while completely ignoring the message."

Democracy Now! | Radio and TV News Israeli war crimes,,,,,,,,,,,real news

In Iraq, freedom is marching backward - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com : "So what was accomplished by the whole venture? Aside from the grotesque immorality, criminality, loss of innocent life and the disappearance of untold billions upon billions of dollars, the only real change seems to be that we replaced one brutal tyrant with another, although the one that used to be there at least was an enemy of and check against our Current Enemy (Iran, the nation against whom Tom Friedman assures us we are waging a new Cold War), while the one that is there now is a strong ally, perhaps even a client, of those Persian Hitlers. So -- other than finding an excellent way to prop up our National Security State -- the one thing we 'accomplished' with the invasion of Iraq was to provide the largest possible benefit to the country that is supposedly our Greatest Enemy. We never learn the lesson, because we don't want to, that things don't work out well when we invade, bomb, occupy...

Freed From Prison, Shoe-Throwing Journalist Promptly Flees Iraq -- News from Antiwar.com : "Just over six months after the Iraqi government sentenced journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi to a three-year prison term the reporter turned international celebrity was released from an Iraqi prison today, and promptly fled the nation. Zeidi, a relatively anonymous reporter who rose to fame in December when he pelted outgoing President George W. Bush with shoes , had his sentence eventually reduced to a single year, and then was released three months early on the basis of his failing health. The journalist delivered a brief statement before reporters regarding his mistreatment in Iraqi custody, then boarded a private flight to Syria, his first stop on the way to Greece where he will seek treatment for torture. Though his b rother Uday had previously reported that Zeidi had been subjected to torture in government custody, including being forced to write an “apology” letter publicly delivered by...

US Sending 1,000 More Troops to Iraq -- News from Antiwar.com : "The latest report comes less than a week after it was revealed that the Pentagon has added thousands of additional contractors to Iraq, ostensibly to replace US troops during the drawdown. But of course the drawdown isn’t actually happening. President Obama inherited a war with roughly 135,000 troops in Iraq, and today there are 131,000 and thousands of contractors. Officials have previously insisted there will be no meaningful troop level changes until at least 60 days after January’s parliamentary elections."

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - Israeli guards 'humiliated inmates' : "A group of female former Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails have accused prison guards of carrying out 'humiliating' internal body searches in violation of Israel's prison code. In an exclusive report, former detainee Sabreen Abu Amara told Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh that she spent six years living in fear of intrusive and degrading treatment at the hands of Israeli guards. Abu Amara said the guards strip-searched female prisoners, sometimes forcing them to squat and undergo a thorough internal examination. One lawyer is now collecting evidence from 10 female prisoners who say they were strip-searched in an effort to lodge an official complaint."