By JONATHAN COOK - Counterpunch

Of the three politicians who announced the military assault on Gaza to the world on Saturday, perhaps only the outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert has little to lose...Flanking the Israeli prime minister were two of the main contenders for his job: Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister and the new leader of Mr Olmert’s centrist party, Kadima, and Ehud Barak, the defence minister and leader of the left-wing Labor Party...The attack on Gaza may make or break this pair’s political fortunes as they jostle for position against Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing party, Likud...

"In Chicago, we've gotten a foretaste of the new breed of the foundation-hatched black communitarian voices; one of them, a smooth Harvard lawyer...has won a state senate seat on a base mainly in the liberal foundation and development worlds."

By Guy Charron - Znet

11 December 2008 -- Held under conditions of the biggest global economic crisis since the Great Depression, [last] Monday's Quebec election was marked by the lowest voter turnout in at least 80 years (57 percent) and the near annihilation of the right-wing populist Action-démocratique du Québec (ADQ)...The Liberals—who have held power since 2003, but were reduced to a minority government in an election 20 months ago—secured a parliamentary majority, but only barely.

By Justin Podur - December 02, 2008

...[A] better frame for understanding Canadian politics in recent years isn't alternating Liberal and Conservative minorities, but a stable Conservative-Liberal majority...Conservatives...don't want to play by the same rules as their coalition partners. Conservatives and Liberals are in agreement on pro-US foreign policy and economic policies that favor investors and corporations over working people. Both have proven willing to persecute indigenous movements and stoke fears against Muslims. But Conservatives want to do this more brutally. And, perhaps because so much of their politics is based on fear and bigotry, they'll play those up against whoever is in front of them - including Liberals.

By Gideon Levy - November 25, 2008

[Benjamin] Netanyahu may not be as awful as it would appear for the left, but the sweeping support he enjoys in the polls signals to us and to the world, including the Arab world, the true nature of Israeli society. Good riddance to the deceptive myth that most Israelis want peace; you can forget about all the deceitful polls that showed most of the public supports a two-state solution. No solution and no two states, but only the truth, which once again has been exposed: a nationalistic, belligerent society electing its spitting image as its leader.

By ROGER BURBACH - Counterpunch

Evo Morales is the latest democratically-elected Latin American president to be the target of a US plot to destabilize and overthrow his government...[T]he Bolivia coup attempt was a conscious policy rooted in US hostility towards Morales, his political party the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) and the social movements that are aligned with him.

By John Pilger - Znet Commentary

...Obama's election is historic, a symbol of great change to many. But it is equally true that the American elite has grown adept at using the black middle and management class. The courageous Martin Luther King recognised this when he linked the human rights of black Americans with the human rights of the Vietnamese, then being slaughtered by a liberal Democratic administration. And he was shot.

Regardless of who takes power at city hall after November 15th we demand the cancellation of "Project Civil City" in its entirety following the city council meeting on December 16th 2008. Any inaction or delay regarding the cancellation of the project after this date will result in action against Project Civil City and the part[ies] who continue to support it.

Once again the public was fooled, but soon enough they'll realize they were had and Obama is not much different than the others.

Rachel Evans

While celebrations over Barack Obama's victory in the presidential elections dominated US streets, gay rights supporters rallied against the banning of same-sex marriage in California.

By Dan La Botz - November 09, 2008

Obama has his job to do, for those he serves. We have our job to do. And, since November 4, they are not the same. In fact, they were never the same.

David Rovics

Friends around the world keep asking me questions. Are you excited? What do you think of Obama? Others are simply congratulating me. And I must say, it was a thrilling moment.

By CARLOS FIERRO - Counterpunch

It was not [Presidents] Cleveland, Harrison, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, or even FDR that had anything to do with advances in labor rights or suffrage. It wasn't [Supreme Court 'Justices'] Brandeis, Berger, Brennan, Holmes or Marshall that led to the advancement of this nation as a more equitable state. It wasn't JFK, Robert Kennedy or Johnson in the White House, or Mansfield and Dirksen in the Senate that lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It was people on the street marching and fighting for a more equitable nation. It was many of those same people that brought about the end to the Vietnam War, not the mainstream media or any of those mentioned above.

By Federico Fuentes - October 28, 2008

The right's offensive to topple [Evo] Morales, which climaxed with the September 11-12 "civic coup" attempt, has been decisively rolled back by the combined action of the government and social movements.

WARNING: voting is wrong because you are just signing
a License to Kill.

How and why U.S. citizens pick a leader with the participation of the entire free world and still vote freely (willingly).