| Feb 13, 2012 | Food / FarmingHere’s a case of good news oozing out of bad news, and vice versa. The bad news is that Hostess Brands has sunk into bankruptcy. It couldn’t stay afloat with the $860-million debt piled onto it after a group of Wall Street speculators took over the...
| Feb 6, 2012 | Economy / BusinessThe Oscar-nominated film “The Help” has already earned armfuls of awards. But I’m not a fan. The sentimental film reminds me how far the United States, and Hollywood in particular, has to go. When Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American...
| Nov 14, 2011 | Rights / DemocracyThe latest local and state elections results suggest that voters have second thoughts about the tea party’s political agenda. Consider the following: In Ohio, unions scored a victory. Voters elected tea-party-backed John Kasich as their Republican governor last...
| | Environment / HealthHow small can a giant corporation get? I don’t mean in size, but in spirit. Once again, America’s biggest commercial empire — Walmart — is displaying its incredibly shriveled ethical center by whacking the already meager health care benefits...
| Oct 17, 2011 | Economy / BusinessBack in the “Happy Days” of the 1950s and 1960s, most young American couples graduated from high school or college, got married, and immediately bought the most expensive house they could afford. They bought their houses on credit, their cars on credit,...