Archive
Razing the Garden of Eden
The Bible tells us that the Garden of Eden was heaven on Earth — until Adam ate that apple. Then all Hell broke loose. Now, Arlington, Texas, has updated this tale. At about 7:30 in the morning of August 2, a SWAT team of armed police agents, code enforcement...
Don’t Embarrass Authority
Tell us stuff We need to know, And soon it's off To jail you'll go. Don't get fooled by terms like "classified secrets" or "aiding the enemy." They just cover up the darker sides of our national security state. Pointing out that the emperor is naked isn't dangerous....
Heads They Win, Tails We Lose
Scott Walker’s Sick Leadership
To paraphrase an old bumper sticker: "When the people lead, leaders will follow. Or not." Not when the "leaders" are in the pocket of corporate interests that don't like where the people are leading. Take Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a conservative Republican who...
This Week in OtherWords: August 21, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Fredric Rolando describes how letter carriers often serve their customers across the country in unexpected ways and Sam Pizzigati discusses how Utah's distinction as one of the most economically equal states is fading. Do you want to make sure...
The False Choice between Security and Liberty
Even before Edward Snowden disclosed that the National Security Agency (NSA) was harvesting seemingly every detail of our digital lives, our nation has been wrestling with a Faustian bargain: How do we maintain fundamental American rights of liberty and privacy while...
When Postal Workers Double as First Responders
America's letter carriers deliver letters and packages to nearly every address in the country six days a week. They also serve their customers in unexpected ways. Letter carriers know and care about their neighborhoods and customers, and they can sense when something...
The Un-American Way
The United States is negotiating a NAFTA-style trade deal that should be alarming to American consumers. The main reason it's not getting much attention is that the mainstream media is largely ignoring it. This pact deserves more news coverage. It threatens to...
Et Tu, Buddhist?
Throughout the centuries people have killed each other in vast numbers for the very best of reasons — religion. Oh they've done it for other reasons too — money, politics, geography, skin color, revolution — but never with more enthusiasm than when the cause was holy....
In America’s West, Equality Takes a Hit
In The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Us Stronger, the landmark 2009 book on the impact of deep economic divides on our daily lives, the surprise societal star — at least for most American readers — turns out to be the state of Utah. On all sorts of measures...
