Environment and Health
Texas Is Flooded Because Our Democracy Is, Too
"It’s flooding down in Texas," goes the old song. "All of the telephone lines are down." With apologies to Stevie Ray Vaughan, there’s a lot more down in Texas than telephone lines now. Power lines are down, homes are destroyed, and cities sit underwater. Dozens have...
The President Is Removing Litter Protections from National Parks
By most measures Trump's had an ineffective presidency. If you oppose his agenda, as I do, this is no doubt a good thing. Like countless others, I rely on Obamacare for my health insurance. I sleep soundly at night only because Trump and congressional Republicans...
Soda Doesn’t ‘Feed the World’
Coca-Cola has a new ad in which a young girl wishes to grow a garden for the whole world. Then, as a grown woman who works for Coca-Cola, she says that she's fulfilling that dream. The phrase "feed the world" is one that should always be questioned, because it's often...
On Electric Cars, the U.S. Is Stuck in the Slow Lane
The French government recently announced a plan to ban sales of new gas-powered cars by 2040. Not to be outdone, the UK government is now rolling out a similar plan of its own. These plans sound shockingly radical, but in fact many analysts think those transitions...
There’s No ‘Free Market’ Solution to Health Care
The Republicans have big plans for health care in this country: to eliminate coverage for millions of Americans while delivering a big tax cut to the rich. As someone who stands to benefit from that tax cut, let me just say: I don't need it, and I don't want it. No...
Worried Sick About Prescription Costs
Ask about health care at a summer cookout, and you’ll likely get an earful about how drug corporations are gouging us, leaving many families to choose between buying medications or putting food on the table. Why? Because corporations put profits before patients. Look...
Are We Tired of ‘Winning’ Yet?
Can we stop pretending that leading Republicans care about anything beyond winning and power? To be sure, there are some in the party who are guided by conservative "principles." House Speaker Paul Ryan said he's been "dreaming" of gutting Medicaid — the program that...
Free As You Can Afford to Be
I think of freedom in positive, aspirational terms — as in FDR's "Four freedoms," or in the uplifting songs of freedom sung by oppressed people everywhere. But right-wing ideologues have fabricated a negative notion of "freedoms" derived from their twisted concept of...
Making Utility Bills Rise Again
It’s summer and the mercury is soaring. Temperatures are higher than ever, it turns out. Last year was the hottest year since humanity started recording temperatures, and it’s going to get much worse in the years to come, as a recent University of Hawaii study shows....
America Needs Service Workers — And They Need Health Care
Our country is founded on a myth that anyone can succeed so long as they work hard. That's the story of Alexander Hamilton that has swept Broadway: how a "bastard orphan" can become "a hero and a scholar." According to the lyrics he did it by working harder, being...
