Archive
A Radioactive Waste of Money
Can a single example illustrate why the federal budget is so hard to get under control? A somewhat obscure nuclear processing plant on the Savannah River in South Carolina might do the trick. The Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, known by the awkward acronym MOX,...
Stripping Detroit of Its Remaining Riches
My old hometown — or, as I like to call it: “The Late Great City of Detroit” — is threatening to add an oak leaf cluster to the badge of humiliation it wears like an Olympic medal. It's bad enough that the city's previous mayor is awaiting sentencing on corruption...
The Day the Music Stopped
What do bank executives who make $19 million a year do in their spare time? The same thing they do in their executive suites. They squeeze America's middle class. That's not, of course, what the flacks at U.S. Bancorp, the nation's fifth-largest bank, will tell you....
Casting a Spotlight on Frankenfoods
Do you have a right to know how your food is produced? Look at any label on something made for human consumption. Whether it's a bite-sized candy bar, a box of cereal, or a gallon of pickles, you'll see lots of information: a list of ingredients, allergen warnings,...
Catching Monsanto’s Drift
Bob Dylan once sent a two-word lyric to Ben Harper, a talented songwriter he admired. "Well well," was the lyric, and Dylan challenged Harper to make a song of it. He did! By adding another "well" to the title, Harper wrote "Well, well, well" — a stinging lament about...
Egging On North Korea
As our dust-up with North Korea stumbles inexorably onward, the U.S. media is tearing its hair out over how any sovereign nation could possibly act so irrationally. Well, how about looking in the mirror? North Korea's policies and supreme leader may seem kooky, but...
It’s Time Corporations Flew Old Glory Instead of the Jolly Roger
The swashbuckling pirates of olde amassed private fortunes by raiding ships and stealing them. Once they captured a ship, they would replace its flag — which represented one of the world's sovereign nations — with the Jolly Roger. By flying the skull and crossbones,...
Pirates of the Cayman Islands
Another Jersey Shore Show
If you see things that really are not there, are you losing it? Maybe not. Maybe the ones who put the non-existent things there for you to see are to blame. Recently, this surrealistic phenomenon of unreal "thereness" appeared in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. This...
Showing Our Caregivers We Care About Them
I am a physician and my husband works in finance. I work early hours and he travels for work. With two sons under the age of 6 and busy schedules, we needed flexible childcare and found this in the au pair program. After phone calls, emails, and exchanged photos of...
