Reporting the endgame | The Afghanistan war and Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal COMMENTARY One of the thorniest issues in an American troop pullout is concern over Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. Does the U.S. have to keep a strong presence in Afghanistan to ward against that – or is it, as some experts argue, a wrongheaded concern? It's a new domino theory and, writes John Hanrahan, the press needs to do a better job describing it to the American people.

Unemployment unmentionables | What we don't talk about when we talk about jobs
COMMENTARY
The yawning chasm between the black and white employment rates is a problem that spans generations, goes remarkably unnoticed, and condemns millions of black Americans to a life of scraping by, writes Andy Kroll.

'A glass half full' | The Freedom of Information Act on its 45th anniversary
COMMENTARY| July 182, 2011
Lyndon Johnson opposed FOIA — said it was a plot against his administration — but a tenacious backbencher from California, John Moss, had pursued it for 12 years and LBJ finally relented, signing the legislation on July 4th, 1966. Here Michael Lemov, author of a new book on Moss and FOIA, recounts events leading to the enactment.

Social Security | Reporting without context on the nation's greatest policy achievement ever
COMMENTARY
A scholar at the Claude Pepper Foundation argues that despite the talk in Washington, Social Security remains a bulwark of society and the evidence is clear that it needs to be built up, not watered down.

Events without notice | In Des Moines, Gannett’s cuts are devastating COMMENTARY For those who depend on the Register to tell them what is going on in Iowa, writes former editor and NBC News president Michael Gartner, 'what matters is all the news that we won't know. And, of course, we don't know what we won't know.'

Never let reality intrude | Real data v. WSJ editorial page, Fox News, and talk radio
COMMENTARY
David Cay Johnston talks about taxes with a true believer who’s got fact after fact showing that tax cuts increase revenue – except all the facts are wrong. Also: Whistle-blowers and the IRS, and Formula 1 and laying off Texas schoolteachers.

A decade of renege | Time to break up the communications trusts?
COMMENTARY
Telecom analyst Bruce Kushnick says Verizon, AT&T, and Comcast are dragging down the nation’s economy and bilking millions of Americans. The chief firms in the communications oligopoly got $340 billion to upgrade telephone and broadband systems but have almost totally reneged. Instead, they manipulate data and buy support from experts and citizens groups. In response, regulators on the federal and state levels…well, there is just about no response.

Reporting the endgame | A cold calculation: How much is too much to spend on Afghanistan?
COMMENTARY
Some in Congress are pushing legislation that would require a tally of the true financial and human costs of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. It’s clear that even the enormous appropriations – $1.28 trillion over the past ten years – are dwarfed by the actual costs. If the real costs were known, would that prompt Congress to demand the speedier removal of American troops?

Their credibility is suffering | Have the Iowa GOP caucuses been reduced to irrelevancy?
COMMENTARY
Romney’s scaling back leaves the Iowa Republican party, controlled by the religious right, flailing and hard up for funds, and with an even dimmer outlook for future campaigns. For front-runners there is the ‘why bother’ element.

| Six serious proposals to protect Medicare
COMMENTARY
The Center for Medicare Advocacy offers six measures to protect Medicare as we know it and reduce costs at the same time. They are so reasonable, and so obvious, that they probably won’t stand a chance with Congress. We thought we’d pass them along nevertheless.

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