Do you believe Vermont’s economic prospects are the worse in the nation? vt.Buzz (blog) The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) issued its latest edition of “Rich States, Poor States” and it ranked Vermont dead last based on its current economic policies and prospects for growth. The news release accompanying the link to the …

According to an analysis from the Los Angeles Times , the states with the greatest need to expand Medicaid also, unfortunately, have Republican leaders who are refusing to participate. This opposition could leave millions of the nation’s poorest residents without insurance coverage, and will likely widen the divide between the nation’s healthiest and sickest states. Colon cancer deaths in states opposing Medicaid expansion, for example, are an average of 16% higher than in pro-expansion states, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of state health data.

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Global warming is here to stay, whichever way you look at it by Kevin Trenberth , University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, The Conversation, May 22, 2013 Has global warming stalled? This question is increasingly being asked because the local weather seems cool and wet, or because the global mean temperature is not increasing at its earlier rate or the long-term rate expected from climate model projections.

Several thousand determined anti-nuclear activists made our second attempt to occupy the construction site of the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station in the marshes on the coast of New Hampshire on May 24, 1980. Surprising considering how brutal the authorities had been when we tried to take down the chain link fences and take the site the October before. A young law student Brian Feigenbaum was arrested on charges of assault of a police officer.

Mashaei (left) and Rafsanjani source: http://isna.ir/ Once again the Islamic regime’s desire for absolute control of political life in Iran surprised many when it announced their selection of only eight shortlisted presidential candidates out of more than 600 hopefuls who registered .

Source: Institute of Development Studies, Oxfam Country: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Pakistan, Viet Nam, World, Zambia Food prices squeezing poor people and driving social change by stealth A new era of high and volatile food prices go beyond affecting what people can afford to eat and are causing life-changing shifts in society, experts warn today. The report, Squeezed*, reveals a global snap-shot of how the failure of wages to keep pace with five years of food price rises is putting a strain on families, communities and society, including increased levels of domestic violence and alcohol and drug abuse. Roles and social needs are changing as women who once remained at home are entering the job market and agricultural jobs are being abandoned for more lucrative jobs in an attempt to afford higher food prices

In a major speech Thursday at the National Defense University President Barack Obama described in broad terms what his administration has framed as a new more limited approach to waging what’s known as the war against al Qaeda and associated forces The speech covered many topics including the role of…

TEL AVIV, May 23 (RIA Novosti) – The sale by Russia of S-300 air defense systems to Syria would be “destabilizing” for the region, US Secretary State John Kerry said on Thursday. ‘S-300 missiles coming from Russia, or other countries, Iranian missiles, are destabilizing to the region,’ Kerry said. ‘The United States is committed, not only in its defense of Israel, but in its concerns for the region to try to address this issue.’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this month that Russia would honor a deal with Syria to supply it with S-300 air defense systems