Archive
Food Stamp Foolishness
Maybe you thought the lowest possible point of Republican miserliness was reached when Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Agriculture proposed that ketchup be counted as a vegetable in the school lunch program. If so, you’ve not taken a peek at the GOP’s astoundingly penurious budget proposal recently pasted together in a fit of ideological extremism by the party’s budget guru, Rep. Paul Ryan.
Vegan on Board
The Pipeline from the Black Lagoon
Poor TransCanada. Everything looked so promising. The company had just finished drawing a line across Saskatchewan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Oklahoma, with hardly a peep of protest. The folks back in Alberta were solidly behind turning their valued forests into moonscape to harvest all those petrodollars and all those jobs. The provincial government, too, had already dismissed the environment and embraced the delicious expected profits.
A Ditty on Newt Gingrich: The Apogee of a Would-be Nominee
We’ll carry on with Barack and Mitt, but we lament that you called it quits.
A Rich Man’s Message to America: You Need Us To Get Even Richer!
How can you tell a really smart rich guy from a really silly one? The really smart one would never spend four years writing a book that tries to justify the incredible riches of incredibly rich people. Mega-millionaire Edward Conard has done just that.
The Lineup: Week of April 30-May 6, 2012
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The Strange Case of Charles Taylor
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who was found guilty of 11 charges by a court in the Netherlands, is a man of many firsts. He’s the first head of state to have escaped from a medium-security prison in the United States. He was the first sitting head of state to face charges of international crimes against humanity since the Nuremberg trials. Now, he’s the first head of state since World War II to have been convicted of war crimes by an international tribunal.
Shortchanging America
Verizon shareholders gathering in Huntsville, Alabama at the company’s annual meeting on May 3 will be greeted by large crowds of protesters. The nation’s second-largest telecom company became the latest target of the 99 Percent Power campaign — a national network of grassroots and national advocacy organizations — by demanding huge concessions from workers, avoiding state and federal taxes, and lavishing its CEOs with bloated pay packages.
The Class of 2012’s Choice
Millions of college graduates will soon walk across the stage to accept their diplomas. Given the harsh reality of today’s economy, here’s the commencement speech I’d like to deliver to the class of 2012.
Walmart’s Arrogance
The New York Times recently dropped a bombshell about Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and biggest private U.S. employer. The Times revealed that in 2005, an internal Walmart investigation found evidence that its rapidly growing Mexican affiliate had distributed $24 million in bribes to speed approval of new stores by government officials. Rather than pursue the evidence or alert U.S. and Mexican authorities as required by law, Walmart shut down the investigation.
