Rights and Democracy
The Power of Reconciliation and Unity
Nelson Mandela's heroic struggle for a free, non-racial, and democratic South Africa inspired freedom-loving people around the world but was especially intertwined with the spirit of our nation's Civil Rights movement. African Americans felt a special relationship...
Equality Lets the Good Times Roll
World Bank economist Branko Milanovic does serious work. His explorations into global income distribution have won him a wide — and appreciative — audience in scholarly and policy-making circles the world over. But Milanovic isn't always crunching data and writing up...
Marriage Equality Hits Critical Mass
During his recent bar mitzvah ceremony, Duncan McAlpine Sennett had to chant a biblical passage in Hebrew and deliver a short sermon in English putting that text into perspective. The Portland, Oregon 13-year-old had an unusual challenge with this routine part of the...
A Bunch of Subversives
A Poor Educational System
There's a growing army of the working poor in our nation, and big contingents of these folks are now on the march. They're strategizing, organizing, and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Walmart,...
Thou Shalt Not Tolerate Inequality
Sometimes you don't have to say anything "new" to make news. Consider the "apostolic exhortation" the Vatican recently released. This statement from Pope Francis, observers note, didn't really break new theological ground. But the Pope's exhortation, his first since...
Just Say No to the Drug War
Old habits die hard. Take the War on Drugs. Please. Yes, its momentum has sagged a bit now, what with the Pew Research Center finding that a majority of Americans believe marijuana should be legal. But don't hold your breath waiting for new national laws. There's way...
Pope Francis Riles Wall Street
This Conservative Fad Stinks
Tenacity can be an admirable trait in a leader — except when it's stupid. Stupid tenacity has afflicted several right-wing governors and lawmakers who grabbed hold of a bad idea that, in practice, has proven to be even worse than expected. The bad idea was to whup the...
Finally, Hollywood Discovers the Drama in Everyday Poverty
I love movies, but they're usually about people I have nothing in common with. The new film Sunlight Jr. starring Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon so accurately portrays the difficult yet mundane lives of a working poor family in Florida that I was struck with a mix of...
