Archive
The Lobbyists at Your Dinner Party
Remember the old food pyramid? Until "MyPlate" replaced it a few years ago, the U.S. government's official dietary advice for Americans fit neatly into that triangle. The government recently moved toward updating those standards again. And the result isn’t nearly as...
Going off the Rails
When 27 CSX tanker cars loaded with fracked North Dakota crude tumbled onto a West Virginia riverbank on President’s Day, the ensuing fireballs leveled a house and forced hundreds of people to flee amid a heavy snowstorm. Even though 19 of the derailed cars — each...
A Model Philanthropist
When you get fed up with all the greed and narcissism that seems to rule our country, a good way to restore your faith in humankind is to reflect on the generosity of people like Ron Read — a philanthropist from Dummerston, Vermont. Read was no splashy,...
Big Oil’s Lethal Game
An Escape Hatch for Corporate Cons
"Do the crime, do the time," goes the old saying. Unless, of course, the criminals are corporate executives. In those cases, the culprits are practically always given a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Even the corporate crimes that produce horrible injuries, illnesses,...
In OtherWords: February 18, 2015
This week in OtherWords, Mitchell Zimmerman, Jill Richardson, and Khalil Bendib weigh in on the tragic murder of three young Muslim Americans in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. And Michael Brune and I make the case for moving quickly to a fossil-free future. And do you...
When Your Armed Neighbor Comes Knocking
A North Carolina grand jury has indicted an atheist with a history of virulently anti-religious statements in the murder of three Muslim American students in Chapel Hill — a young couple and the wife’s sister. The victims’ family and friends say the killings were the...
A Mythical Right to Discriminate
The Supreme Court is now considering cases that could usher in nationwide marriage equality, and state-level gay marriage bans are falling faster than you can say "equal protection under the law." People who want to turn back the clock on rights for their lesbian,...
Forging Our Future
Flush with their victory in the midterm elections, the Republicans in Congress promised fresh leadership. Instead, both the Senate and House GOP majorities made the speedy and symbolic approval of Keystone XL pipeline bills one of their first priorities. They did this...
Money to Burn
Someday soon, will all our jobs involve keeping extraordinarily rich people entertained? These days, that prospect doesn’t seem all that far-fetched. "The rich," as journalist Chanelle Tourish notes, "seem to be willing to pay almost any price for outstanding service...
