In January 2002, President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind. NCLB requires states to develop assessments (standardized testing) to measure skills in order to receive federal funding. No Child Left Behind began the hysteria of “high stakes testing.” The...
government
Capitalist overproduction and the banking crisis
Just weeks before the U.S. presidential election, the economic and financial crisis that started with a weakening of the U.S. housing market in mid-2006 has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Panicky runs on major banks has caused new failures and forced mergers....
Why the U.S. backs Kosovo ‘independence’
While the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and developments in Venezuela, Pakistan and Palestine have dominated the world news, another crisis has been building in southeastern Europe. There, the U.S.-NATO-backed "independence" of Kosovo, a predominantly Albanian...
Al Gore, imperialist: some inconvenient truths
Former U.S. Vice President and Senator Al Gore has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work against global warming. Gore does have a long history of speaking out on the issue of global warming. His film, "An Inconvenient Truth," has played a role in bringing...
Why the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 6 and 9 mark the anniversaries of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Numerous historical and personal accounts will emerge in the press, recounting the destructiveness, inhumanity, and long-term misery created by the two U.S. bombs. Nuclear...
The United Nations and imperialism
On Sept. 20, Venezuela’s president Hugo Chávez gave a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Unlike most of the diplomats who gave bland speeches about lofty ideals, Chávez took the opportunity to condemn U.S. imperialism’s drive for world domination. He also...
The evolution of the modern capitalist state
At a meeting in early February, an activist from South Korea told me: “We only wish Bush could run for office a third time. No other political force could have helped the progressive and pro-reunification movement in Korea make so much progress. Bush’s hard-line...
The anti-war movement and Congressional ‘opposition’
Nearly three years after launching the war on Iraq, the Bush administration has a crisis on its hands. The war has proven to be unwinnable militarily. Bush’s goal of setting up a stable client Iraqi regime remains a distant fantasy. The Iraqi resistance to foreign...