Rights and Democracy
A Deluded Consensus on Discrimination
A wide majority of U.S. voters say black Americans who can't get ahead should blame themselves for their troubles instead of racial discrimination. That's one of the more startling findings from a recent Pew Research Center effort to bunch voters into categories of...
Earning an Immigration Red Card
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) recently used a World Cup analogy to castigate his Republican colleagues for blocking immigration reform. "Leave the field, too many flagrant offenses and unfair attacks. You're out," Gutierrez said. "Hit the showers. It's the red card." (In...
A Fracking Fortune Gets Political
Televangelist James Robison recently declared that he's praying for a merger of the tea party and the religious right. Is he kidding? That merger is well underway. And it's getting a hefty push from a couple of billionaire brothers. No, not Charles and David Koch....
Defending Free Tuition in the Big Apple
In May, students and professors at Cooper Union — an art, architecture, and engineering college in New York City — filed a lawsuit against the school's Board of Trustees. Known as the Committee to Save Cooper Union, the group is pursuing legal action after the Board...
Let Them Eat Debt
50 Years after the Civil Rights Act, Discrimination Persists
July 2 marks the 50th anniversary of the day President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The landmark legislation outlawed discrimination and segregation based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. First introduced by President John...
Walker’s Money Mess
Scott Walker can't seem to run a clean campaign. He first won the governorship of Wisconsin in 2010 from his position as Milwaukee County executive. It turns out that some of his aides at the county job were doing campaign work for him on the taxpayers' dime. A total...
Highway Funding Runs out of Gas
Lawmakers writing the transportation spending bill have a problem. Actually they have 89 billion problems, because that's how many dollars they are short between what they want to spend over the next six years and the revenue bean counters expect. Considering the...
When Public Servants Demonize the Poor
For years I'd wondered about the identity of a gaggle of anonymous commenters on Blog for Arizona, the website to which I frequently contribute. These guys weighed in a lot and were very eager to burnish the reputation of Arizona School Superintendent, John...
Brazilian Order and Progress
Every four years, Brazilians wrap themselves in their cheerful green, yellow, and blue flag emblazoned with the Portuguese words "ordem e progresso." The slogan, which translates as "order and progress," stretches across a puddle of stars. It's not just the people,...
