Archive
The New Face of Poverty in America
Fifty years after poverty in America briefly became a front-burner issue on our nation's political agenda, it's time to move it off the back burner again. Even as those at the top of our society have grown fabulously richer, those in the economic middle have seen...
Neglecting Mother Nature
Wealth and power Bring this curse, Air and water Ever worse. Whether a country's capitalist or communist, a dictatorship or a democracy, it makes no difference to Mother Nature. Regardless of the dominant economic philosophy or form of government, the environment is...
Oklahoma’s Silly Goose
Walmart Sinks to a New Low
In the 14th century, the renowned Italian poet Dante detailed a horrendous descent through nine layers of eternal damnation that he had charted, with the bottom floor reserved for the most wretched of sinners. In recognition of today's realities, Satan has added a new...
This Week in OtherWords: May 22, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Martha Burk weighs in on the military's lackluster efforts to stop sexual assaults within the ranks and Donald Kaul reviews the Obama administration's outbreak of scandals. Here's a clickable summary of all our latest commentaries and a link...
Our Women in Uniform Deserve Better
Americans have honored our soldiers and those killed in U.S. wars in late May for nearly 150 years. Memorial Day, which became an official holiday in 1868, was originally called Decoration Day and got started when civilian women decided to decorate military graves...
With Americans Moving Forward on Gay Rights, Why Won’t the GOP?
By the end of June, the Supreme Court will decide two related cases involving the right of gay couples to get married. We don’t know what the decisions will be, although it seems likely that gay-rights activists will have something to celebrate that day, even if it’s...
Faking Farm Savings
Sometimes it appears common sense and reality can't penetrate the Capitol's marble-lined walls. This financially costly phenomenon struck when both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees recently passed their versions of the Farm Bill. Instead of debating where...
Scandal Season at the Obama White House
It’s not an easy task, defending President Barack Obama from his enemies. The “scandals” keep popping up like dandelions — all of them explainable, after a fashion. Taken together, the explanations begin to sound like “the dog ate my homework.” For example: No one...
Money Still Can’t Buy Happiness
What makes us happy? In America, we've been asking this question ever since 1776, the year we declared for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Back then, Americans seeking more happiness had little more than guesswork to go by. Now we have help: a new...
