Archive
Rattling Democracy in Latin America
In late September, tear gas and the smoke from burning tires filled the air as Ecuador’s president was held hostage in a police hospital.
The Faces of Government
I had dinner the other night with one of those villains, a “faceless bureaucrat” working as a wildlife biologist for the Department of the Interior in northern Florida. A college friend of my wife, she had spent many years in research on endangered species, and now has moved into an administrative position where she supervises the research of other wildlife scientists.
Confronting the Reality of Climate Change
It got so hot in downtown Los Angeles the other day that the thermometer broke. The National Weather Service’s device hit 113 degrees at about noon (the highest temp ever recorded in LA), then just quit. Climate change hawks were quick to seize on this as evidence that global warming is revving up and we ought to do something about it before it’s too late.
Save the Billionaires’ Tax Loophole
Look out. They’re angry. Foaming-at-the-mouth angry. And they’re lashing out, saying they won’t take it anymore. As one of their leaders angrily cried, “It’s a war.” Indeed–they’re on the move to take their country back.
Save the Billionaires
Trim NASA Down to Size
President Barack Obama is surely on the right track in scratching our return to the moon and in dropping the Space Shuttle program.
The Lineup: Week of October 4-10, 2010
Here’s what you’ll find in the latest OtherWords editorial package, which includes an op-ed by Marge Baker and a column by Donald Kaul regarding the tea party’s GOP candidates this election season.
More Jobs, Less War
The Great Recession may be officially over but the United States is stuck in a prolonged economic crisis, with joblessness hovering around 10 percent. Millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans are fed up. They want jobs. But many lawmakers are reluctant to invest more revenue in job creation because of concerns over the national debt.
A Radical Agenda in Troubled Times
It hasn’t been an easy two years. In 2008, Americans flatly rejected a party that had created a devastating recession, sent our troops off to two seemingly unending wars, and refused to find solutions to crises in our immigration and health care systems. Two years later, we’ve seen some progress. Our troops are out of Iraq, Wall Street has been forced to end some of its most dangerous practices, and millions more Americans have health insurance. Other important reforms have been stalled by obstructionists in the U.S. Senate. The economic hard times, and the frustration, still linger.
Really ‘Making It Right’ on the Gulf Coast
BP is everywhere in the media vowing “We will make it right.” Pardon my skepticism, but BP has a long and dishonorable history of greenwashing, even prior to its Deepwater Horizon disaster.
