Archive
Thou Shalt Not Tolerate Inequality
Sometimes you don't have to say anything "new" to make news. Consider the "apostolic exhortation" the Vatican recently released. This statement from Pope Francis, observers note, didn't really break new theological ground. But the Pope's exhortation, his first since...
Celebrating the Season without Worshipping Consumerism
The holiday traditions are starting already. Here's mine. My mom called me because she found a great deal on a paring knife at Williams Sonoma. Do I want it? I assured her that I'm getting along fine with the knives I have but thanked her for the thought. And I have...
Coke’s Ploy to Drain Your Wallet When You Dine Out
Coca-Cola is running a stealth advertising campaign. Stealth? Why would a corporation known for its iconic ads like Coke spend big bucks on advertising that it doesn't want consumers to notice? Shhhh. The soft drink giant's campaign is a surreptitious ploy to enlist...
Just Say No to the Drug War
Old habits die hard. Take the War on Drugs. Please. Yes, its momentum has sagged a bit now, what with the Pew Research Center finding that a majority of Americans believe marijuana should be legal. But don't hold your breath waiting for new national laws. There's way...
Pope Francis Riles Wall Street
This Conservative Fad Stinks
Tenacity can be an admirable trait in a leader — except when it's stupid. Stupid tenacity has afflicted several right-wing governors and lawmakers who grabbed hold of a bad idea that, in practice, has proven to be even worse than expected. The bad idea was to whup the...
Fast Food Giants Gorge on Subsidies
The fast food industry is notorious for handing out lean paychecks to their burger flippers and fat ones to their CEOs. What's less well-known is that taxpayers are actually subsidizing fast food incomes at both the bottom — and top — of the industry. Take, for...
This Week in OtherWords: November 27, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Marge Baker explains why Harry Reid took the "nuclear option," Jim Hightower weighs in on the Canton, Ohio Walmart's food drive for its own low-paid workers, and Tiffany Williams praises the new film Sunlight Jr. for its portrayal of the kind...
Finally, Hollywood Discovers the Drama in Everyday Poverty
I love movies, but they're usually about people I have nothing in common with. The new film Sunlight Jr. starring Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon so accurately portrays the difficult yet mundane lives of a working poor family in Florida that I was struck with a mix of...
We’re Not Broke — We’ve Been Robbed
With the Friday the 13th December deadline for a federal budget deal, the cries of "we're broke," and "we can't afford to keep spending," are ringing again. But we're not broke and acting like we are is making us poorer. One of the biggest common misunderstandings is...
