Archive
Tricky Treats
Kids look forward to Halloween all year. They obsess over their costumes, dwell on decorations, and plot how to bag as much candy as possible when they go trick-or-treating. Even though I’m very concerned about good nutrition, I love handing out chocolates to all of the little ghosts, witches, and princesses who come by.
GOP Looks in Mirror, Spots Voter Fraud
But now comes a Houston-based, tea-party outfit calling itself True the Vote. It claims to be dedicated to sniffing out ineligible voters — in particular, your darker-skinned types who favor the Democratic Party. True the Vote claims that hordes of these undesirables are swarming America’s polling places to vote illegally. Sadly, though, these self-appointed guardians of ballot integrity have not had much luck in sniffing out, you know, actual documented cases of such fraud.
Trick or Mistreat
Middle Class Fantasy
America is big on fantasies. We savor staged reality shows and overhyped football games. We fawn over celebrities and video games. But perhaps our biggest fantasy is the persistent belief that nearly all of us are middle class. More than 80 percent of us think we’re perched on one of its rungs.
Mitt Wants to be President – This President
Conservatives are going to bed very nervous tonight. They must be realizing that Mitt really is the liberal they were afraid he was. Peace, love, and… gender equality?
The Poison Pill of Tax Cuts
The presidential candidates are debating George W. Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which were supposed to expire in 2010. Obama wants restore tax rates on the wealthiest families to earlier levels. Romney’s campaign is standing up for the top 2 percent with incomes over $250,000, and then sweetening their pot by abolishing the Alternative Minimum Tax and estate taxes too. His plan would give people earning over a million dollars an average tax break of $160,000 a year.
A Tribute to George McGovern
I am saddened to hear that progressive champion Sen. George McGovern is reported to be at the end of his days. He has lived a life nearly as large as his heart.
This Week in OtherWords: October 17
Half a century ago this month, the Cuban Missile Crisis didn’t culiminate in an exchange of nuclear blows between Washington and Moscow.
Can Obama Get His Groove Back?
One January night before his re-election campaign heated up, President Obama took the podium at the Apollo theatre in Harlem. He scanned the room and flashed his megawatt smile, prompting the crowd of 1,400 young professionals to cheer “Four More Years! Four More Years!” The president gave a shout out to the singers India.Arie and the Rev. Al Green. Then, channeling Green, Obama sang: “I’m so in love with you.” The crowd, predictably, went nuts.
Pulling the Plug on Ex-Gay Quackery
Jerry, a 23-year-old gay Texan, endured seven years of so-called “conversion therapy” starting at the age of 13. One of the most humiliating “treatments” entailed being taken to Nevada, where prostitution is legal, and forced to perform sex acts — which he found revolting — with female “sexual healers” who were twice his age.
