| Sep 17, 2012 | Environment / HealthWould you believe that 45 million adult Americans still smoke? That’s about one in five of us grownups. Worldwide this killer habit ends about six million lives each year. But what’s most disturbing — 10 percent of victims never even took a puff....
| Jan 30, 2012 | Rights / DemocracyThere’s a drama playing out on American TV screens. It features villains and heroes, as well as big bucks and political intrigue. There may even be a happy ending by the time we see the turbulent finale. But the plot is unfolding off-screen, in corporate...
| Dec 19, 2011 | Food / FarmingRemember when “natural” meant things like blue sky, green grass, and food you could trust to be good for you? No more. Thanks to corporate greed, “natural” foods aren’t necessarily wholesome. Even when applied to granola, the term often...
| Oct 24, 2011 | Food / FarmingIf you worry that American corporations have lost the innovative, can-do edge necessary to compete in today’s global economy, you need to spend some time with Dr Pepper. I don’t mean a shrink, but the soft-drink. It’s a brand that, let’s face...
| Oct 17, 2011 | Rights / DemocracyIt’s been a little more than 50 years since I first walked into the Des Moines Register newsroom to begin a career in journalism. It was a beat-up scruffy place filled with beat-up scruffy people, almost all men. They worked in a big room lined with gray steel...
