Why One Iraqi Woman Is Suing George W. Bush For War Crimes

The Article: Why an Iraqi Single Mom Is Suing George W. Bush for War Crimes by Corey Hill in Yes Magazine.

The Text: George W. Bush keeps a low profile these days, making the rounds on the public speaking circuit, engaging in a bit of philanthropy here and there, occasionally sharing his dog paintings or offering an unsolicited opinion on the immigration debate or national security.

Given his role in the current media landscape, it may be easy to forget that just 10 years ago he led an invasion of a foreign country that many in the international community saw as criminal.

Sundus Shaker Saleh, an Iraqi single mother of three, has not forgotten. The violence and chaos that engulfed Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 had tragic consequences for her family and ultimately forced her to flee her homeland for an uncertain future. She has left Iraq, but she is determined to make sure the world hears her story and that someone is held accountable.

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How Other Countries Improved Their Healthcare: Not By Looking To The US

I think I need some aloe vera for that burn.

The College Loan Scandal

The Article: Ripping Off Young America: The College-Loan Scandal by Matt Taibbi in The Rolling Stone.

The Text: On May 31st, president Barack Obama strolled into the bright sunlight of the Rose Garden, covered from head to toe in the slime and ooze of the Benghazi and IRS scandals. In a Karl Rove-ian masterstroke, he simply pretended they weren’t there and changed the subject.

The topic? Student online loans for bad credit. Unless Congress took action soon, he warned, the relatively low 3.4 percent interest rates on key federal student loans would double. Obama knew the Republicans would make a scene over extending the subsidized loan program, and that he could corner them into looking like obstructionist meanies out to snatch the lollipop of higher education from America’s youth. “We cannot price the middle class or folks who are willing to work hard to get into the middle class,” he said sternly, “out of a college education.”

Flash-forward through a few months of brinkmanship and name-calling, and not only is nobody talking about the IRS anymore, but the Republicans and Democrats are snuggled in bed together on the student-loan thing, having hatched a quick-fix plan on July 31st to peg interest rates to Treasury rates, ensuring the rate for undergrads would only rise to 3.86 percent for the coming year.

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How A Skyscraper Turned Into A 45-Story Slum

Found in Caracas, Venezuela, the Tower of David once served as a testament to the booming banking and real estate industry. Today, as both have collapsed, it’s a grim reminder of the consequences of overzealous lending and spending, and how both disproportionately impact the poor.

Obama’s Dirty Dishes

Taking a sledgehammer to trust and privacy does a marriage–and a country–a helluva lot of good, don’t you think?