Rights and Democracy
Right-Wing Politicians Expose Themselves on the Radio
If you really want to understand conservatives these days, you should check out some talk radio shows.
Michigan Locals Fight for Democracy
Snyder is the right-wing, corporation-hugging governor of Michigan. The Mackinac Center, a front group bankrolled by the radical Koch Brothers, handed him an extremist anti-worker, anti-government agenda.
People-Powered Media
Our power to influence politics is limited by the media’s willingness to cover the stories about the rest of us. That’s why some of the largest protests in U.S. history failed to stop the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and why months of pro-labor protests in Wisconsin this year attracted scant attention compared with much smaller-scale tea party rallies.
High Noon in Washington
Most Americans, riveted by reports about the manufactured crisis surrounding the debt ceiling, assumed that we “dodged the bullet” when Congress finally authorized the U.S. Treasury to pay its bills.
You Can’t Milk a Butter Cow
Less than 17,000 Republicans showed up to vote in this year’s poll, and they were charged $30 each for the privilege of casting their straw. In previous years there have been accusations that some candidates rigged the election, Chicago-style, by busing in out-of-staters and paying their poll tax.
Diplomas vs. Deportation
When a group of undocumented young people took the stage at an immigration reform rally outside the White House in late July, they had a catchy chant: “Hey, Obama, don’t deport my mama!” High school students dominated the crowd, which included protesters wearing shirts emblazoned with the words “I am the Maryland DREAM Act.”
Deporting Mom and Dad
The Ugly Business of Lethal Injection
The pretense of lethal injection as a peaceful and painless way to execute prisoners is unraveling, and this may change the face of the death penalty in the United States.
Playing Chicken in the Capitol
The problem with the game of chicken — two people racing toward each other, each daring the other to turn aside — is that the crazy one always wins. The one who doesn’t care about head-on collisions has a stunted imagination and can’t conceive of the consequences a crash would produce.
Murdoch Gets Caught Red-Handed
Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born media tycoon, finally got his you-know-what caught in the wringer.
