Progressive News Feeds

Irin Carmon This was supposed to be ladies’ night at the RNC, and it was no time for subtext. “I love you, women!”  blurted out Ann Romney, in a departure from her prepared remarks

Tags: convention, her-prepared, progressive news, reuters, romney, she-addressed, tampa, the-second

Today Mitt Romney unveiled an energy plan that he claims will enable North America to achieve energy independence by 2020 by expanding domestic oil and gas production. Reuters’ Steve Holland was quick to report on Romney’s lofty aspirations, but he left out several key details in the process. Although Romney advertises his plan as a ” comprehensive energy strategy ,” it focuses almost exclusively on developing fossil fuel resources

Tags: america, author, climate, elections, environment, health, media matters, reuters, security, taxes

Anger over austerity measures spilled into the streets across Spain on Thursday after parliament passed an $80 billion austerity package. Tens of thousands of protesters across 80 cities demonstrated against the imminent cuts, which include pay cuts for civil workers, an increase in sales tax, benefits cuts and a raise in retirement age

Tags: against-the-imminent, benefits-cuts, commondreams, imminent, imminent-cuts, over-austerity, pay-cuts, progressive news, reuters, spain-on-thursday, streets, thursday

A round-up of the top climate and energy news. With widespread power outages still plaguing a multistate swath from Indiana to Virginia after the severe “derecho” event on Friday night, the late June heat wave continues to make headlines

Tags: action, archives, climate, economy, global-warming, headlines, lgbt, power, reuters, stephen-lacey

Chase Madar Bradley Manning, Washington and the blood of civilians.

Tags: admiral, bradley manning, entertainment, function-load, iraq, mike mullen, pakistan, private first class, reuters, taliban, technology, united nations

From: Greg Mitchell Greg Mitchell

Tags: bus driver, entertainment, greyhound, reuters, script, spokesman, typeof-window-onload, var-addtl, var-oldonload, white house

When National Rifle Association (NRA) executive vice president Wayne LaPierre isn’t pontificating about the purported ” massive Obama conspiracy ,” there’s a decent chance he’s hurling personal insults and employing other types of overheated rhetoric in pursuit of his political agenda.  Some of LaPierre’s greatest hits: Bill Clinton accepted shooting deaths to advance his political agenda. Federal law-enforcement agents are ” jack-booted government thugs .” Gun control advocates are ” ghouls .”   Likening President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to mobsters . Referred to airport security screenings as ” wand-rape “. And recently suggested it would be apt to to view New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a ” petty tyrant .” LaPierre is free to say whatever he wants, but do the media really have to cover his comments? According to the Media Research Center (MRC), the answer yes, even when the NRA doesn’t bother to the return its calls. This morning, the MRC blog NewsBusters posted a critique of Reuters’ coverage of a recent investigation of online guns sales by New York City that showed that many private sellers were willing to sell guns to people who identified themselves as unable to pass a background check. MRC complained there was insufficient gun lobby criticism of Bloomberg in the article: The next big misstep in this article is its one-sentence dismissal of Bloomberg critics. “The National Rifle Association, the powerful U.S. gun lobby, was not immediately available for comment on the study.” MRC’s message to the media: Print overheated NRA talking points whether or not the NRA gets around to giving you a comment before your deadline. What should Reuters have done according MRC? Dig through the NRA’s website and find the most recently available blog posts written about Bloomberg’s efforts with Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The blog posts the MRC identifies as appropriate representations of the NRA’s views were written before the online gun sale investigation was announced, so naturally, they weren’t responsive to the topic of the article. The first of the two blog posts MRC suggests could have been represented in the Reuters report includes LaPierre’s suggestion that Bloomberg could aptly be viewed as a ” petty tyrant .” The MRC: In the first post, which deals with an earlier anti-gun address Bloomberg gave to students at MIT, the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre made the observation that “Bloomberg should also remember that a ‘ruler’ (which is what he seems to think he is) that denies the people of their Right to Keep and Bear Arms while maintaining a large ‘army’ (the NYPD) is apt to be viewed as a petty tyrant, not a benevolent and wise leader.” The second post highlighted by the MRC suggested that by opposing the NRA’s favored legislation, Mayors Against Illegal Guns was engaging in a “shameful attack on the individual liberties of law-abiding Americans”. LaPierre’s history of demonizing those who disagree with him might well deserve more media attention than it gets, but it’s hardly essential context for a news report documenting the ease with which criminals can get guns online.

Tags: articles, author, feeds, guns, media matters, political, reuters, the nation

From: Dana Goldstein Dana Goldstein The media love reporting on year-to-year fluctations in the American teen birth rate. Less attention is paid to the fact that teen pregnancy is exponentially more common in the United States than in other developed world nations.

Tags: bristol, bristol palin, entertainment, healthcare policy, human interest, jamie lynn spears, juno;, media, reuters, teen mom

Welcome to Clean Start, ThinkProgress Green’s morning round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Here is what we’re reading. What are you? An Iowan photographer has seen first hand the dramatic changes in the Arctic Ocean and glaciers around the world due to rapid global warming. [ Des Moines Register ] UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will open a forum in Bangladesh on Monday at which countries most vulnerable to climate change will try to unite ahead of global talks in South Africa in December. [ AFP ] Knowing that aid from the government or insurance will fall short, Vermonters have been raising money through benefit concerts, fundraising campaigns and events like barbecues and pie sales to help those whose homes were damaged or lost in the flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Irene. [ AP ] Policies to protect the global climate and limit global temperature rise offer the most effective entry point for achieving energy sustainability, reducing air pollution, and improving energy security, according to an article published in the latest issue of Nature Climate Change. [ Sicence Daily ] A string of climate disasters and earthquakes has exposed a vulnerability in global supply chains : How do you set up a network that is compact enough to be efficient but spread widely enough that no single unexpected event can knock it out? [ Reuters ] Residents of remote Alaska towns and tiny Native villages were working on Friday to tally up damages from a near-record storm that lashed the state’s west coast, officials said. [ Reuters ] An execeptionally warm October has brought a freakish, false spring to Great Britain, disrupting the natural cycle of flowers, birds, and bees. [ Guardian ] The United States expects Asia Pacific leaders on Sunday to take a “significant step” toward reducing tariffs and other barriers that block trade in environmentally-friendly goods and services, a senior administration official said on Sunday. [ Reuters ] Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he will step up efforts to supply oil to Asia after Washington delayed a decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from Canada to the United States. [ Reuters ]

Tags: economy, feeds, green, keystone-xl, november-2011, reuters, tar-sands, yglesias

From: George Zornick George Zornick The environmental movement scored a major victory today—but the fight over Keystone XL is far from over.  

Tags: bernie sanders, disaster, environment, function-load, keystone xl pipeline, oil, president, reuters, spokesman, tony iallonardo, var-oldonload, white house