Archive
Buying Our Future
Already, four of the top GOP presidential contenders have dropped out. Michele Bachmann went first, because she was too wacky, followed by Jon Huntsman, because he was too sane. Herman Cain gave up because he was too exposed, and Rick Perry because he was too dim-witted.
Overthrow Wall Street
One reason the media can’t quite grasp what the Occupy movement wants is that it’s not really anxious to find out.
USS Super PAC
Good News and Bad News about GDP Growth
The Lineup: Week of Jan. 23-29, 2012
Jim Hightower describes the Drug War’s losing battle in Afghanistan.
Wealthy Tax Cheats
Tax systems that heavily tax the rich are asking for trouble — or so the politicians who cater to the 1 percent incessantly argue. The higher the tax rate on high incomes, their argument goes, the greater the incentive the rich have to waste time and energy figuring out ways to pay less.
Cheering Obama’s Wise Tar Sands Choice
We cheered when the Obama administration formally denied a federal permit for the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline put forth by Canadian oil giant TransCanada. The 1,700-mile pipeline would have run through six states, carrying toxic, highly corrosive tar sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries and ports in Texas.
Climate Insurance
I feel uneasy sleeping in a house without functioning smoke detectors. I lock my doors at night. I salt my sidewalk when it’s icy. I always wear my seatbelt. Like most people, I prefer to minimize my chances of getting hurt or wrecking my car or house, despite the fact that my house, my car, and my health are all (thankfully) insured.
Dollar Democracy
Corruption is as American as apple pie. “The quality of government is seriously compromised when decisions made by elected politicians benefit those who funded their ascent to power,” says the anti-corruption watch-dog group Transparency International. That sounds like just another U.S. election campaign.
A Zero on the Home Front’s Richter Scale
Among the strange things that happened last year — and there were many — perhaps the strangest was the end of the war in Iraq.
