| Nov 19, 2014 | Peace / SecurityReflecting on World War I, California Senator Hiram Johnson famously said: “The first casualty when war comes is truth.” Actually, in America’s recent wars, officials have slaughtered the truth even before the fighting. The Bush-Cheney regime hustled...
| Nov 12, 2014 | Rights / DemocracyDick Tuck, the legendary political prankster and wit, once ran for local office in San Francisco and lost. His concession speech, in its entirety: “The people have spoken — the bastards.” Now, you know me — I wouldn’t say anything like that about the...
| | Economy / BusinessOver a decade ago, I got a call from Bill Gates. Not the Bill Gates you’re probably thinking of. It was Bill Gates Sr., the Microsoft founder’s dad. He was eager to speak out in support of the federal estate tax, our nation’s only levy on inherited wealth....
| | Rights / DemocracyWhen she heard that the GOP had nailed a Senate majority, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska grabbed a chair, lifted it over her head and shouted “I’m the chair, maaaaaaan!” The presumptive next chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources...
| | Economy / BusinessThe demigods of Silicon Valley like to present themselves as miracle workers, able to create electronic wonders (and wondrous profits) from nothing but their vaunted imaginations and entrepreneurial prowess. Well, yes. But there’s another part to that program: their...
