Archive
An Awfully Bitter Brew
Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall/ 99 bottles of beer/ Take one down, pass it around… only one bottle of beer on the wall. Most people never sang that old song all the way to the end. But one multinational brewing corporation is finally ready to belt out the...
Noexitistan
In OtherWords: October 14, 2015
This week in OtherWords, Donald Kaul, John Morlino, and Khalil Bendib weigh in on the price our country keeps paying for lax gun laws. Do you want to make sure you don’t miss the latest from OtherWords? Please subscribe to our free weekly newsletter or follow us on...
Another Day, Another Massacre
Yes, it’s happened again. A man with a legally acquired arsenal walked onto a college campus. Moments later, 10 people were dead, and nearly as many wounded. Sick to your stomach? Of course you are. Surprised? Didn’t think so. Like Aurora, Newtown, and a lengthy list...
Your Internet Provider Is Distorting Free Speech
Earlier this year, the Newseum Institute asked 1,000 Americans to name their rights under the First Amendment. A clear majority listed freedom of speech first — before freedom of religion, assembly, and other core civil liberties. And that makes sense. Protecting free...
Don’t Pave Our Potholes with Corporate Tax Cuts
Life was different in the 1990s. Back in ‘93, a lucky few used dial-up Internet to access one of 800 websites available worldwide. Smart phones were a distant dream. The TV dinosaur Barney had just started “edutaining” America’s children. And gas cost about $1.30 a...
Will the Carnage Ever Cease?
I’ve written at least 75 columns on gun control over the years. It might have been as many as 100. Every time some demented loser would haul a gun — usually some sort of automatic — into a public place and lay waste around him (it’s always a him), I would get on my...
Will This Documentary Change Everything?
Writer Naomi Klein and her filmmaker husband Avi Lewis lucked out with the release of their new documentary, This Changes Everything. This film about why humanity must kick our fossil-fuel habit before it wrecks the planet arrived at an ideal time. For one thing,...
The Sad Fate of America’s Whistleblowers
What is it about whistleblowers that the powers that be can't stand? When I blew the whistle on the CIA’s illegal torture program, I was derided in many quarters as a traitor. My detractors in the government attacked me for violating my secrecy agreement, even as they...
Letting Pepsi Police Itself Isn’t Very Sweet
If you drink Mug Root Beer or the apple-flavored Manzanita Sol soda, you might unwittingly become one of the first people to try a brand new artificial sweetener. The new product is called Sweetmyx 617, and PepsiCo is blending it with high fructose corn syrup to...
