Archive
Unmanned Drones
The Lineup: Week January 3-9, 2011
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Our Slow-Motion Global Accident
The Cancun agreement could open a loophole that lets companies in the United States continue to pollute–as long as they pay someone else in another country to reduce their emissions. It’s called carbon offsetting, and it means U.S. families living in the toxic shadow of big polluters will have to suffer the health impacts of dirty energy, while companies get to claim credit for cleaning up their act.
The Con to Criminalize Immigrants
A person might be detained in a for-profit center like Stewart for any number of reasons, many of them bureaucratic. Some detainees were seeking refuge in the United States as victims of U.S.-sponsored military training and atrocities in Latin America. Other detainees are farmers, whose only economically viable option was to find work in the United States in order to provide for their families. Trade policies beneficial to American agribusiness are often at the root of this type of migration.
Enough Already: Close Gitmo
In January 2009, as one of his first acts as president, Obama signed an executive order that committed the United States to closing the prison within a year and ending the practice of torture.
Modern Mad Men, Targeting Our Kids
The television series Mad Men, set in the early 1960s, shocks young parents today with scenes of children riding in station wagons without seat belts and putting dry cleaning bags over their heads for fun. Thank goodness so much more about keeping our kids healthy is now known, we chuckle.
America the Exceptional
We are the greatest country on earth. If you don’t believe it, just ask us.
Misdemeanors for the Rich
As Dr. Milo later noted, “Erzinger struck me, fled, and left me for dead.”
Profitable Immigrants
Energy Beast Still Running Wild
There is doubtless some solace in learning that China is now the world’s top energy glutton. That takes a bit of the pressure off us. America’s slip to second place, however, isn’t due to any moral superiority. Our chief energy subsidies still go to oil, coal, gas, ethanol, and nuclear energy.
