Archive
ALEC’s Comeuppance
No one likes a smart aleck — or a stupid one, for that matter.
Graduating into Debt
U.S. Torturers are Still Awaiting Arrest
Torture isn’t a good subject to fail on one’s moral report card. If you’re an individual, St. Peter is likely to take a dim view. If you’re a nation, it can cost you plenty of international prestige, besides putting hot-headed zealots yearning for revenge on your trail. We acknowledge these determined folks each time we try to board an airplane.
The Lineup: Week of April 23-29, 2012
Martha Burk weighs in on what’s at stake for women this election year.
The War on Mommies
The so-called “mommy wars” are heating up again. Once more, we’re seeing stay-at-home moms supposedly pitted against working moms during an election year.
Romney’s Borking Strategy
Many presidents leave their most enduring legacy to the nation in the justices that they name to the Supreme Court. So what inspired former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to name former judge Robert Bork to co-chair his presidential campaign advisory committee on law, the Constitution, and the judiciary?
An Exit Strategy for Afghanistan
Here in Washington, it’s easy to find boosters for the current U.S. war strategy in Afghanistan. Outside of Washington, it’s harder. A CNN poll late last month found that three-quarters of Americans now oppose the war and more than half would like U.S. combat troops to leave Afghanistan sooner than 2014, their scheduled withdrawal date. France, Spain, and Australia are all planning to accelerate the withdrawal of their soldiers from Afghanistan.
Immigration is a Human Rights Issue
Carlos Ruiz was born in Mexico but grew up in California. He speaks English better than Spanish and has two young daughters who were born in the United States. He was deported back to Mexico nearly two years ago, and since then hasn’t seen his children, mother, or sister, who are still in California. People like him are at the center of the immigration debate, especially this election year.
The Freedom to Fear
Serious commentators are telling us not to assume that the Supreme Court is going to find “Obamacare” unconstitutional just because the conservative justices gave the government lawyer a hard time when the case came before the Court last month.
Two Heads Aren’t Always Better than One
The corporate propensity for rationalizing the irrational in the pursuit of profit appears to be boundless. Consider J.R. Simplot, a giant agribusiness conglomerate whose phosphate mining operations in Idaho have grossly polluted creeks with selenium, a highly toxic metal.