Archive
It’s Time to End our Dependence on Oil
What I have seen during my visits to the Gulf of Mexico is shocking, horrifying, and heartbreaking. One bird, covered in oil, struggled again and again to take off from the water. It’s the kind of image you want to share, not because it’s beautiful, but because you want so badly for people to understand.
Banks Profit While Our Farmers Fail
A recent survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago indicated that 11 percent of Wisconsin farmers with existing lines of credit may not have credit extended next year; this is especially significant because of the a 56 percent decline in net farm income in 2009. Dairy farmers have received prices far below their costs of production for nearly two years. With eroding equity, many are in immediate danger of losing their farms.
Our Choice: Tune out Washington or Help Rebuild
Way back in the 1960s, I held that my body was “a temple of God.” Thanks to my Christian beliefs, I wouldn’t corrupt it with mind-altering drugs. As a citizen, I saw my responsibility as finding a way to drop into government, not out of it. I made a choice to be part of a solution to the problems of war, misspent tax dollars, and racism.
It’s Your Fault
You. Yes you there, wearing your complacency like a suit of medieval armor, proud that you only have three cars in your family and that you keep the thermostat at 70 degrees in the winter.
Plutonomism
Yes, it’s an actual word, derived from “plutocracy.” It was coined in 2005 by a team of “global investment strategists” at Citigroup, the Wall Street financial giant. While populism is based on the egalitarian principle of the common good, plutonomism unabashedly espouses the virtue of “the rich getting richer.”
American Gothic, 2010
Yes, Virginia, Banks Really Are the Bad Guys
I have here in my hand, as Sen. Joe McCarthy used to say about alleged communist evidence, a bona-fide “Delivery Authorization” from Wachovia Bank (“a Wells Fargo Company”). They’ve already sent two. By simply moving a gold sticker from the top of the sheet to the reply form at the bottom, and entering the last four digits of my Social Security number, I can get my valuable “free” credit report.
Pelosi Protest Followed by Cautious Optimism at Progressive Gathering
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s speech at the America’s Future Now conference went off-script. The Washington Post did a great job telling the story of how the California lawmaker spoke for a half an hour over the garbled jeers of more than a dozen infuriated healthcare activists in orange t-shirts, many of them in wheelchairs
Arkansas and America’s Future Now
I’m spending the time I can spare while not editing OtherWords’ upcoming commentaries at America’s Future Now, which runs through Wednesday in Washington. This annual progressive summit fittingly coincides this year with Arkansas’ Democratic primary runoff.
Israel’s Flotilla Massacre: Made in the USA
When Israeli commandoes launched their pirate-style assault on the unarmed flotilla of ships carrying hundreds of humanitarian aid workers and 10,000 tons of supplies for the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least nine activists and injuring scores more, part of the operation was labeled “Made in the USA.”
