Archive
Citizens United, the Sequel
Did you get sick of that barrage of attack ads during last year's elections? Brace yourself: It could get worse. One deep-pocketed Alabama donor named Shaun McCutcheon, joined by the Republican National Committee, will soon ask the Supreme Court to let him put even...
Faster Chicken Processing, More Injured Workers
Oscar was good at his job. He folded chicken wings at an Alabama poultry plant. As bird carcasses zipped by on the processing line, he twisted the wings into position, folding fast enough to meet a quota of about 40 chicken wings per minute — roughly 18,000 wings per...
Our Road to Elysium
The Hollywood blockbuster film, Elysium, depicts a polarized Los Angeles in the year 2154. The vast majority of inhabitants live in overpopulated and polluted slums, toiling in grinding poverty. Meanwhile, a wealthy elite live on Elysium, a space station modeled after...
No North Colorado on the Horizon
National media outlets from The Wall Street Journal to The Washington Post and beyond have put the national spotlight on an alleged "movement" by a dozen Colorado counties to secede and form their own western state. Actually, this is a wacky media stunt by right-wing...
Taking Stock of Factory Farm Pollution
One of the biggest drawbacks of the factory farms producing most of our food is the amount of pollution they generate. Factory farms, which raise the bulk of our chickens, hogs, and turkeys, and house most of our dairy cows, are one of the nation's largest sources of...
Bursts of Light and Fresh Air
I know that life is supposed to be full of surprises but the last few weeks have been ridiculous. For example, you had the unnerving spectacle of Vladimir Putin, the former KGB thug who runs Russia, rescuing Barack Obama, the former community organizer who runs his...
A Golden Rule that Might Chip Away at Inequality
Watching grown men fulminate in public can be unnerving. Michael Piwowar and Daniel Gallagher — two distinctly CEO-friendly members of the federal Securities and Exchange Commission — recently did plenty of fulminating. Piwowar and Gallagher had little choice. They...
Junking Food Is Bad for Everyone
Several years ago, I worked in a grocery store bakery. At the end of each day, we threw away piles of perfectly good food. Before the store closed, employees walked down each aisle, checking the expiration dates of bread, bagels, and cookies to toss out whatever...
Colorado’s Fracking Disaster
As the people of Colorado are presently learning, it's horrendous enough to suffer the ravages of a natural disaster, but it's doubly horrific to then be faced with a more devastating unnatural disaster. First came the epic floods that recently ripped through the...
The Latest Trend in Trade Secrets
As our jobs And pay degrade, Moguls smirk And tout “Free Trade” It's no wonder President Barack Obama refuses to let Americans see those two new trade deals he's negotiating. Neither the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) nor the Transatlantic Trade and Investment...
