Archive
The Cutting Edge of Waste
Lots of folks in America today really need more money. Our kids, for starters. We ought to be investing in their futures, not stuffing them in overcrowded classrooms or forcing them to graduate from college with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. And plenty of...
The War on Love
A lot of conservative religious leaders say people of faith are being "silenced" or "persecuted" here in the United States. They’ve sung that refrain for decades. It's especially common in their losing battle against the growing public support for the legal equality...
GOP Climate Denial Syndrome Sweeps Wisconsin
It's well-known that harsh climate conditions can mess with your mind — from cabin fever to heat delirium. But America is now experiencing an even more dangerous disease: Climaticus Non-Vocalism Extremism. This syndrome almost exclusively afflicts a narrow segment of...
Of Course Jeb Bush Would Have Invaded Iraq
Jeb Bush must have set some kind of record for political flip-flopping this month. "Knowing what we know now," he was asked — that Saddam Hussein didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction, for example — “would you have authorized the invasion" of Iraq? “I would've,”...
The GOP Bucks Teddy Roosevelt’s Legacy
Republican lawmakers celebrated Tax Day by voting to repeal the estate tax. If they get their way, the multi-millionaires and billionaires who fund their election campaigns will reap a huge tax break. First, some myth busting. The federal tax on inheritance only...
The High Cost of Low Taxes
Earlier this month, I arrived in San Diego following five days of driving across the country from Wisconsin. I pulled into my friend's driveway, brought my things inside, and went back to my car to park it on the street. Almost immediately, a cop's siren and flashing...
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...
