Archive
Congress Opts to Keep Poisoning Children
Yes, we certainly need to cut unnecessary and frivolous federal spending, because…well, because it’s unnecessary and frivolous.
Off Our Backs
Energy: Too Important to Leave to Corporations
In some nations, electricity is actually generated and distributed by the government itself. In some countries, oil and gas production benefits everyone, not CEOs.
Letter from Kenya: An On-the-Ground Take on Kony 2012
A number of people have asked me about the new media sensation, Kony 2012 by the group, Invisible Children. I normally don’t try to download video because my system here in Kenya is still too slow. After one and one half hours, I had downloaded 4:44 minutes. When I tried to look at even this beginning part, it went away and said it was no longer available.
Health Care Q & A
Not all the arguments about the Affordable Care Act take place in the Supreme Court. One major complaint from opponents is that they don’t want the government involved in their health care. I can imagine this conversation with a doctor:
The Lineup: Week of March 26-April 1, 2012
Fran Hunt makes the case against drilling for oil in the Arctic.
Ryan’s Medicare Hot Air
Most of what the Wisconsin Republican calls “unfunded promises” are the future Medicare benefits that the government expects to have to pay through the late 2080s. To get a scare out of Medicare, you have look seven decades into the future.
Greening the Pentagon
The U.S. military is going green. Don’t take it from me. “[T]he Department of Defense…the world’s largest consumer of energy, will make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history,” President Barack Obama declared in this year’s State of the Union address.
Washington’s Strange Nuclear Bedfellows
Indonesia ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) late last year. As the most recent nation to pledge to halt nuclear weapons testing and agree to global monitoring to ensure compliance with that promise, it brought the total number of signatories to 157.
Avoiding the Next Arctic Oil Disaster
Exxon’s Valdez disaster illustrated not only the risks of offshore drilling, but also the difficulty of cleaning up a spill in Arctic conditions. After weeks of effort and several failed attempts, Exxon only managed to clean up a small amount of the oil.
