| Feb 6, 2012 | Environment / HealthFolks, I’ve got some good news and some bad news about the nation’s ever-elusive quest for a sound energy policy. The good news: Finally there’s some under-the-radar bipartisan consensus in Washington. The bad news: Both parties are dead wrong. This...
| 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...
| Oct 31, 2011 | Rights / DemocracyIf you turn on your local evening news, you may not notice anything out of the ordinary. But if you change the channel, you’ll think you’ve entered a parallel universe. The same reporter may appear on three supposedly independent stations, reading the same...
| 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...
| Sep 5, 2011 | Peace / SecurityThe 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is sure to bring televised images of somber reflection. Looking back is, in some ways, easier for commentators and pundits than wrestling with the current state of Washington’s so-called “war on terror.” The...
