| Jul 25, 2011 | Economy / BusinessLike a pack of men in suits mud wrestling, Washington’s budget battle would be entertaining to watch if we the people weren’t about to get hurt. The zeal of Republican lawmakers and their compliant counterparts in the Democratic Party to slash spending on...
| Jul 18, 2011 | Environment / HealthWest Virginia’s Upper Big Branch coal mine was a disaster even before it exploded into an underground inferno last year, killing 29 miners. A new investigative report by federal safety inspectors found that this mine — owned by the enormously profitable...
| Jul 4, 2011 | Peace / SecurityThis summer, members of Congress are threatening to shut down the federal government or block efforts to raise the limit on how much the U.S. government can borrow unless lawmakers agree on tough action to cut federal spending. With the budget deficit expanding and...
| Jun 27, 2011 | Economy / BusinessIf you listen to the pundits and TV commentators, the federal budget problem has a simple solution: cuts, cuts, and more cuts. They cheer politicians for making “tough choices,” which usually entails taking money away from schools, stiffing public workers,...
| Jun 20, 2011 | Peace / SecurityI’d like to propose a new electoral law that would require all Senate candidates to be novelists. If we had 100 novelists in the Senate, the body might finally be able, like Sen. Jim Webb, to distinguish fact from fiction. Webb, a Virginia Democrat who has...
