Archive
3 Freaky April Fools’ Day Stories
On a recent morning, after checking news reports, I thought: What a freaky news day. Freaky Story No. 1: The Governor of Texas rarely has any ideas. But apparently one unexpectedly erupted from the usually dormant cluster of low-voltage brain cells in Rick Perry's...
Rigging the Electoral System for the Rich
A poll conducted late last year found that more than seven in ten voters think our election system is "biased in favor of the candidate with the most money." While nothing about this number is surprising — except, perhaps, that it's not even higher — it does reveal...
Billionaires Score Big Win with McCutcheon Decision
The Supreme Court's McCutcheon ruling dealt another 5-4 body blow to our democracy. To justify striking down limits that cap aggregate campaign contributions during a single election cycle, the Roberts Court ignored the way the world really works and made it far more...
This Week in OtherWords: April 2, 2014
This week in OtherWords, William A. Collins and I weigh in with some good news and bad news about the news business while Andrew Korfhage calls on Apple to do something about the cancerous chemicals poisoning the Chinese workers making iPhones and other gadgets....
Toxic Tech
Ming Kunpeng went to work for ASM Pacific Technology — a chip supplier for Apple — when he was 19 years old. Required to handle the known carcinogen benzene on a daily basis without adequate training or protective gear, the young worker fell ill at the age of 22....
Tech Titans Must Do More than Criticize NSA Snooping
In the 21st century, technology companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo are the ubiquitous faces of corporate power. In the last quarter of 2013 alone, these five companies totaled $104 billion in revenue and made $17.5 billion in profits — with...
Changing our Climate of Indifference
A new scientific report predicts more dire and irreversible consequences of the climate crisis than ever before. "No one on this planet will be untouched by climate change," declared Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which...
Lobbying to Sustain Inequality
Congress will soon vote on a measure that would raise the national minimum wage to $10.10 and bring the tipped wage to 70 percent of the full minimum. The Fair Minimum Wage Act would give millions of American workers a long-overdue raise. Today's $7.25-per-hour...
I Think They Can
Like that little choo-choo in the classic children's book "The Little Engine that Could," Moral Monday is the little movement that says, "I think I can" and keeps chugging up the hill. This new progressive coalition became a full-throttle citizen uprising in North...
Good News and Bad News about News
There's some good news about the news business for a change. The big headwound traditional media venues like newspapers and TV suffered with the advent of Internet ads is starting to heal. The bleeding has either stopped or slowed to a less-painful trickle for most...
