Jul 12 2010
Analyzing the Verdict in the Trial over the Shooting Death of Oscar Grant
After only 9 hours of deliberation, a Los Angeles jury found former Oakland transit officer, Johannes Mehserle, guilty of involuntary manslaughter last Thursday in the fatal New Year’s Day 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man. The case marks the first time in state history that a law enforcement officer has been charged with murder in the …
After only 9 hours of deliberation, a Los Angeles jury found former Oakland transit officer, Johannes Mehserle, guilty of involuntary manslaughter last Thursday in the fatal New Year’s Day 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man. The case marks the first time in state history that a law enforcement officer has been charged with murder in the …
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported last week that the federal debt had risen from 40% of gross domestic product in 2008 to 62% of GDP this year. In a surprising response, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday that in addition to cutting government spending – its usual prescription – the Obama administration will also have to …
Earlier this year the US war in Afghanistan surpassed in length, the war in Vietnam. It is now officially considered the longest war the US has ever been engaged in. Despite the recent change in leadership from General Stanley McChrystal to David Petraeus, there seems to be little movement in the direction of wrapping up the war …
Glen Ford is a writer and radio commentator and the Executive Editor of 
As tar balls begin to wash up on the shores of Texas, and journalists decry the banning of media from covering the BP oil spill up close, the devastating spill has reached a new milestone: it is now considered the worst ever oil spill in the history of the Gulf of Mexico, not just the United States. The …
With Republican Nikki Haley set to become South Carolina’s first non-white (and first female) governor, conservative bloggers are citing her political rise, as well as the governorship of Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal as evidence of a post-racial tide in politics. With the election in 2008 of Barack Obama, post-racialism has become a convenient context in the national dialogue. It has also …
For the past five years, Get Lit has served over 10,000 teens in the Los Angeles area through various programs inspiring them to utilize the power of literature to change their lives. Formed in 2005 by Diane Luby Lane, the non-profit organization has since gone on to combat teenage illiteracy while providing the LA Unified School District with an …
While pundits and economists worry about Wall Street’s well-being, Americans are out of work, losing their homes, and struggling to pay the bills. Our planet is warming and overwhelmed by pollution. The Capitalist marketplace promotes the exploitation of people and natural resources as cheap fixes. But saving a buck doesn’t require abandoning your values. Welcome to the People’s Marketplace. 
After spending more than a year designing a complex piece of legislation to reform Wall Street, the House of Representatives last week passed a roughly 2000 page bill creating, among other things, a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. While the Senate rejected an amendment to break up the biggest banks, it does seek to push failing banks into a orderly …
