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This Week in OtherWords: February 13, 2013
This week in OtherWords, John Cavanagh explains why President Obama's State of the Union address falls short, Ben Freeman says that scaling back the Pentagon's budget isn't just for progressives any more, and Donald Kaul skewers the latest Republican antics. Please be...
Enough is Enough
I've had enough. Enough of rape being subject to terms like "legitimate." Enough of hearing that my peers just "raped" their final exams. Enough of being labeled too-politically-correct when I challenge the oversimplification and distortion of a word that is a dark...
No Laughing Matter
Sarah Silverman is a great comedian — she makes many of us laugh, myself included. I admire her, not only because we need more mirth in the world, but because she's an activist. Remember her "Great Schlep" ad in 2008 in which she urged Jewish grandkids "to schlep over...
No Game-Changer
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama deftly nudged the national debate further away from the dominant austerity framework that brought us the misguided budget deal on New Year's Day. He also brought much-needed attention to the critical jobs...
Mission Essential
It's getting easier to find people inside Washington's Beltway who want to cut the fat from the Pentagon budget. Scaling back military spending isn't just for the most progressive members of Congress anymore. Even the tea-partying Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) favors defense...
It’s Time to Move Forward on Climate
As President Barack Obama's second term gets underway, Americans are expecting big actions from him — especially on climate disruption and clean energy. The decision to block the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline should be the cornerstone of his positive,...
What about Gun Control Abroad?
A 14-year-old Honduran, Hasked Brooks Wood, perished when police in the town of Ahúas opened fire on him and other civilians riding in a boat down a winding river. This incident, in May 2012, didn't garner much U.S. media coverage. But it should have — because the...
Bulwark of Ignorance
The other day, House Speaker John Boehner accused Barack Obama of being mean to the Republican Party. Our president, he said, was trying to "annihilate" the party and "shove us into the dustbin of history." Would that it were so. If ever a political party needed...
A More Down-to-Earth CEO Pay Plan
When do societies start taking a new idea seriously? Easy. New ideas gain traction when starkly different sorts of people champion them. This process is beginning to unfold with the notion of a "maximum wage," the idea that we should limit the income of our society's...
Another Side of the Immigration Debate
Until a few years ago, Rosa Acosta had never even seen a flush toilet. She raised her 12 children in a tiny adobe home in rural Jalisco, Mexico. Several of her kids left it to work in the United States. One son, who left at age 12 to earn money as a farmworker in...
