Maybe it's the weather...

So I'm reading a Matt Welch column on manufacturing dissent, and I find the name Barbara Kingsolver as one of them, so I get curious and check out her website (yawn) and that leads to Common Dreams - News & Views for the Progressive Community. Why is it considered "progressive" to assault any notion of western thought, philosophy, capitalism, etc.? I found one article that was critical of Arafat, but only after making sure you understood that the Israelis and the US were still all wrong. Others had little blurbs like:

Mr Bush's Titanic War on Terror Will Eventually Sink Beneath the Waves

Dirty Bombs, Blowback, and Imperial Projections

Have You Had Your Bush Outrage This Week?

Tainted Corporations Sing the Blues

Is Henry Kissinger a War Criminal?

Cheney's Mess Worth a Close Look

Perverse Incentives of Terrorism War

United Spies of America

The Jihand Against 'Jihad' [my favorite title]

So again I ask, why is all this considered "progressive"?