Perspectives
Potholes in the road to privatization
“There’s a reason that there’s been so much enthusiasm in the finance community for privatization deals. You are dealing with a less savvy partner ... The bigger sucker is always the government...
Winds of change in the Middle East
On Feb. 11, 1979, Islamic revolutionaries took power in Tehran. On Sept. 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden and his al- Qaida terrorists launched their attacks on New York and Washington, killing nearly 3,000 Americans. On Feb. 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarak resigned as president of...
The Zinn witch hunt continues
In 2010, after historian Howard Zinn died, then-Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels sat down at his computer and started a quiet witch hunt with a flurry of emails to top state education officials. This only became public this summer after the Associated Press obtained copies...
They still don’t love us
If you thought America would quickly regain the world’s love, admiration and — most important — willingness to follow the U.S. lead once Barack Obama came to power, the news is disappointing. A useful guide to what has transpired comes from Venezuela’s president and ...
Single-payer health care is the answer
President Obama sold single-payer health care short in his speech to Congress. It's actually the only sensible solution to our health care crisis...
Seeger’s true politics
Folk singer Pete Seeger, who died at age 94 last month, provided a soundtrack for every progressive crusade of our time, from labor unions to civil rights, from world peace to environmentalism. He wrote, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” “If I Had A Hammer” and “...
Zombie conservatives at the schoolhouse door
Last week, the president delivered an education speech that fell somewhat short of the standard set by Lenin in his address at the Finland Station, launching the Bolshevik Revolution. In fact, Barack Obama told Americas schoolchildren to work hard, respect their ...
Stand up for democracy
I am responding to Paul Danish’s Aug. 11 article (“Banning corporate personhood would destroy U.S. economy...
Bowl a strike for reproductive freedom
Everybody knows abortion became legal for all women with the ‘Roe v. Wade’ Supreme Court decision in 1973. Fewer people know that in 1976, poor women lost that fundamental right to determine whether or when to have children. That is the year that the Hyde Amendment (...
The impacts of privatizing the turnpike
"We are privatizing ourselves into one disaster after another,” veteran journalist Ted Koppel said recently on NPR. “We’ve privatized a lot of what our military is doing. We’ve privatized a lot of what our intelligence agencies are doing. We’ve privatized our very ...
Sometimes, the government comes in handy
Americans have a love/hate relationship with government, condemning those wasteful and corrupt government bureaucrats in the abstract while praising many public services in the concrete like the fire department, schools or parks...
A half-century later, the environmental movement returns to its roots
It’s been more than four decades since the first Earth Day event held on April 22, 1970. And since that time it is fair to say that the environmental movement has had its ups and downs. So where does it stand today, and what should we expect moving forward? When it ...
