Archive
If Obama Hadn’t Drawn a Red Line, Would We Be Talking about Bombing Syria?
Can anyone say with a straight face that if President Barack Obama hadn't asserted one year ago that the use of poison gas would be a "red line" for military intervention, we would now be discussing a unilateral U.S. missile attack on Syria? They can dress this up as...
This Week in OtherWords: September 4, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Donald Kaul and Mitchell Zimmerman weigh in on the specter of U.S. military action against Syria and Sanho Tree unpacks the political ramifications of the Justice Department's new approach to states that legalize pot for recreational use. Do...
The Political Side Effects of Tolerating Legal Pot
Attorney General Eric Holder's recent announcement that the federal government wouldn't challenge Colorado and Washington state's ability to implement a legal regulatory system for adult recreational marijuana use marked a tremendous political victory for reform if...
Good Governance Must Start With the Courts
The highest court in America has been in the spotlight lately. Following its historic decisions on marriage equality and voting rights, Americans recognize the importance that the Supreme Court's decisions can have on our lives as well as the power they have to shape...
Deadly Double Standards
President Barack Obama wants Congress to grant him the power to go to war with Syria, for as long as and in any way he chooses. Now it's up to the American people, as it was to the British, to say no — we don't buy it. Even if Bashar al-Assad's regime is responsible...
Another View of the Capitol
Four and a half miles due East of the U.S. Capitol is a neighborhood called Capitol View. It sits on a hill that offers that iconic view of the Capitol and the Washington Monument that symbolizes official Washington. But the view feels less than majestic for the...
Exporting Unrest to Colombia
After shutting down major highways and key trucking routes for nearly two weeks, two million farmers and workers brought the Colombian government to the negotiating table to reform trade policy. Didn't know about that? Well, few in the United States are taking note...
There We Go Again
So we're going to war in Syria. Maybe. We won't know for sure until Congress gets back from the vacation it's taking from its other vacations. One can live in hope, however. What would autumn be without a fresh war in the Middle East to occupy us? I know, the...
The Political Calculations behind Growing Inequality
Fifty years ago, average Americans lived in a society where less than $10 of every $100 in personal income went to the nation's richest 1 percent. Our top 1 percent are now grabbing just under 20 percent of America's income, double the 1963 level. How did this happen?...
California’s Smarter Stewards
Ten days before Christmas 2006, I moved to California, the Shake 'n Bake State. The first friend I met in my new home was a firefighter with the Forest Service. The first gift I received was a wind-up flashlight for use in the next major earthquake. That's our state....
