Archive
My Favorite Fourth of July Speech
I like the Fourth of July. Almost everyone does. Friends and neighbors gathered in parks and back yards throughout the nation, sharing food and drink and happy thoughts in a festive atmosphere. What’s not to like?
Perry’s Prayer-Palooza
When Texas became a republic in 1836, its constitution banned “ministers of the gospel” from holding any political office.
Think Indifferent
Pay Attention to Climate Change, Even if It’s Bad for Business
If a meteor were headed for Earth, there would be saturation media coverage. Little else would occupy the headlines. Schemes to deflect the collision would dominate the news.
The Lineup: Week of June 20-26, 2011
John Feffer says that Sen. Jim Webb would make a great Secretary of Defense, and Donald Kaul explains why Michele Bachmann isn’t a serious presidential candidate.
A Politician Who Distinguishes Fact from Fiction
I’d like to propose a new electoral law that would require all Senate candidates to be novelists. If we had 100 novelists in the Senate, the body might finally be able, like Sen. Jim Webb, to distinguish fact from fiction.
Paving the Road to a Hungrier, Unhealthier, and Less-Educated Nation
The number of poor children had already grown by 2.1 million in 2009, over pre-recession levels, with continuing high joblessness among parents raising concerns that poverty will continue to worsen for some time. Since kids who spend more than half their childhood in poverty earn on average 39 percent less than median income as adults, we can expect lasting costs that will hurt the nation’s future economic growth.
And yet, a majority of House lawmakers want to narrow the deficit by making things worse for today’s kids.
Separate but Unequal Borrowers
Home ownership as we know it could be a thing of the past if a proposed Qualified Residential Mortgage Rule (QRM) takes effect. The proposed rule would be especially damaging to the homeowner aspirations of minority and working class citizens, as I recently explained in a letter to the heads of the six federal agencies charged with developing risk retention regulations under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. Here’s why.
McDiabetes: Top Docs Tell McDonald’s To Stop Marketing Junk
McDonald’s should heed a call from some of the nation’s leading health professionals and stop marketing junk food to kids.
Sideshow Candidate
n the recent New Hampshire GOP debate, Bachmann emerged as the star. Television networks, newspapers, and blogs all agreed that she had handled herself well and since then have given her the respect accorded a serious candidate.
