Archive
Gouging the Sick
Words can be discombobulating, especially when people twist them to fit concepts that mean the exact opposite of what you think is being said. Consider the current debate in Washington over the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a controversial trade and investment pact...
In OtherWords: May 13, 2015
This week in OtherWords, John Kiriakou calls for an end to impunity for the people responsible for the CIA's use of torture and Donald Kaul pokes fun at the newfound interest among presidential hopefuls in inequality. Do you want to make sure you don’t miss the latest...
Add Korea to the Axis of Diplomacy
The George W. Bush administration famously dubbed Iran, Iraq, and North Korea the "Axis of Evil." The White House accused that ominous-sounding triumvirate of funding terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction. The goal was to garner public support for the...
Subsidizing the Idle Rich While Poor Kids Go Hungry
To hear some politicians tell it, America's welfare system is facing a grave crisis: Millions of poor people, they say, are idling away their time eating lobster and relaxing on cruises. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, for example, recently signed welfare reform rules...
Stripping Bare the Arguments against Marriage Equality
What’s the marriage equality debate really about? Proponents see it as a question of equality. There’s no reason, they say, not to let loving, same-sex couples wed. Opponents frame the issue as a fight over whether the courts have the right to change their definition...
Closing the Door on Torture
After I blew the whistle on the CIA’s torture program in 2007, the fallout for me was brutal. To make a long story short, I served nearly two years in federal prison and then endured a few more months of house arrest. What happened to the torture program? Nothing....
Virginia Is for Dirty-Energy Lovers
If you live in Virginia and would like to shrink your carbon footprint, here’s what passes for good news: We’re now officially free to ban fracking. For two years, Old Dominion communities weren’t at liberty to prevent that kind of oil and gas drilling. After the...
Lending Dreams
Nina Bailey has wanted to buy a home in her adopted city of Detroit for years. Instead, like tens of thousands of other Detroiters, she rents an apartment, where she lives with her two children. Bailey can afford a monthly mortgage payment. She’s got a decent-paying...
Wisconsin’s Grocery Dictators
Republicans may like to rail against big government. But here in Wisconsin — where conservative lawmakers just introduced a bill to dramatically restrict what people can buy with their own food stamps — Republicans want to cook up a new kind of nanny state. This isn't...
Send in the Clowns
Hardly a day goes by that another candidate doesn’t announce his or her intention to run for the presidency. One day it’s Carly Fiorina, the next it’s Mike Huckabee, Bernie Sanders, or Hillary Clinton, even. It’s like the circus — when the little car rolls into the...
