A Voice of Dissent Is An Engine of Change

Pakistan's Tipping Point: Musharraf Implicated In Bhutto Assassination

Banazir Bhutto is dead. The late Pakistani politician and secular reformer was shot through the neck and chest by a suicide bomber who then detonated his explosives, killing some 20 bystanders.

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CIGNA Healthcare Killed Nataline Sarkisyan

Nataline Sarkisyan died yesterday. She was seventeen years old. She died because her health insurance provider, CIGNA, backed away from a previously authorized liver transplant that could have saved her life.

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Willing To Listen: The American Obession With News That Offends

There is a tiny mountain town in rural West Virginia where the spark-plug, the key to the internal combustion engine, is banned.

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Political Armageddon: Or Why It's All Joe Lieberman's Fault

Around this time next month the Democrats will mark the end of their first year in Congressional power since the 2006 elections.

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Obama's O-Factor: Endgame For the Democratic Nomination

They call it "the O Factor." Oprah Winfrey is, at least in marketing and sales terms, a force of nature.

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Users As Editors? How About Users As Panelists? Can Social Networks Identify/Create Quality Content?

As MSNBC's acquisition of Newsvine demonstrates, social networks are gaining influence in the national media. As raw information sources grow, the ability of any individual or even any corporate entity to adequately sift through the rising mountain of data is fast diminishing.

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Fortuna, Virtus, and the American Dream

Busboys can buy the hotel! The American dream! Wall Street is ready to sell! The American dream! Come make a life from thin air! The American dream! Come and get more than your share! The American dream! --Miss Siagon

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A Nation of Liberals: The Quiet Death of American Conservatism

The United States is a nation of Liberals. Americans don't think or speak of themselves that way; we prefer to imagine great philosophical gulfs that divide us on matters of profound political importance, but in truth, we are united in our Liberalism.

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In Betrayal of Defense or Defense of Betrayal?

The United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan: every country that has a nuclear weapon of almost any sort has an accompanying policy, procedure, and technology designed to somehow safeguard those weapons.

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Vinemeet North-East Chili

At some point or another during Vinemeet North East I foolishly volunteered to make chili for - well - everyone. Adam Hobson, eligible bachelor that he is (ladies, take note) lives in the typical bachelor pad and so I had to improvise a few things.

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Remember Remember The Fifth of November

Remember, remember the Fifth of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot, I know of no reason Why Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent To blow up King and Parliament. Three-score barrels of powder below To prove old England's overthro …

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Amateur Mistakes - Policy Trainwrecks in the Democratic Debate

One thing is for certain, the Democratic Candidates were not kidding when they said they would engage much more aggressively in the October 30th debate.

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What Is Left Unsaid

Though the general election is still more than a year away, it certainly feels like election season in America. Crisp fall air, a shower of falling leaves, and non-stop political coverage from CNN to MSNBC have set the stage for yet another in a long string of primary debates.

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A Google Analytics Primer

Newsvine started offering Google Analytics back in August in response to author requests for more data on the performance of user generated content.

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Glenn Beck's McCarthy Moment

"I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today." -- Glenn Beck October 22, 2007

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Elections By Lottery -- Adding A Dose of Sanity and a Touch of Luck To the Primary Process

Campaign finance reform aside, the 2008 Presidential Election is going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 billion dollars; that comes to roughly ten dollars for every man, woman, and child in the United States.

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Guns For Hire -- The Legacy of the Blackwater and the American Mercenary

Of the roughly 300,000 Americans presently in Iraq, one third are mercenaries -- or contractors in a more polite phrasing.

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While Burma Burns - A Westerner's Guide To the Protests in Myanmar

The images are hard to ignore. Scarlet clad monks march through the streets of Rangoon, vehicles lie in smoking ruin, and soldiers and police stand against thousands of civilian protesters.

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Rube Goldberg Republicanism

If you've been watching the Republican Debates, you've probably come to the conclusion that the candidate the Grand Old Party really wants to run isn't standing on the stage.

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Too Quiet -- A Thought Experiment In The "War On Terror"

Last week a thought provoking editorial appeared on a small and independent blog asking a disturbing and challenging question: "why don't the terrorists attack us more?" It is a question that goes to the heart of the "War on Terror" and casts a shadow over the apparent security  …

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Censure? Be Serious -- It's Time For A Reality Check On Partisan GOP Priorities

We have big problems in this country. Thousands of US troops have died in the streets and sands of Iraq. Tens of thousands lie wounded from combat there. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have perished in the war and millions more are homeless, refugees, or worse.

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Iraq: What We Can Do, What We Will Do, And What We Ought To Do

"Shocked" may be too weak a word to describe the reaction of of the media and much of the nation's political cognoscenti when President Bush began referencing Vietnam in his increasingly contrived list of reasons to keep the United States in Iraq.

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Dell's Debacle -- Laptop Shipping Delays Could Cost Dell Big Time

Dell is on the ropes. The customizable PC giant's assembly lines have been brought to a veritable stand-still by massive delays relating to the manufacture of their popular XPS M1330 series laptops.

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Trial By Media -- Vick, Lohan, and the Court of Public Opinion

Americans are willing to forgive quite a lot when it comes to celebrities. Lindsay Lohan for example, has inexplicably avoided drug possession charges despite being apprehended under the influence while operating a motor vehicle and in possession of cocaine.

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To avoid specifics while eschewing generalities: I am an ardent progressive, a product of the public schools, a graduate of the University of Virginia …

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