Perspectives
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 “...
Obama, like past leaders, a slow starter
Happy first anniversary, Barack Obama. Although happy is probably the wrong word...
Health care, one more time
On the most important domestic issues of the day, our two political parties don’t merely lay out competing arguments; they inhabit alternative realities...
The silent jobless
Jobs are slowly coming back, but that’s small comfort to more than 13 million Americans who remain unemployed. For every current job opening, four people are still looking for a job. Many others have given up even trying to find work...
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...
Limit corporate welfare
Tea party politicians are denounced for their dangerous antics, but their doomsday warnings about profligate government spending are the conventional wisdom of the so-called “moderates” of big business, the mainstream media and too many politicians of both parties (...
The cold realities of a complicated conflict
A trip to this Palestinian town can shatter preconceptions and compel the mind to dream about the possibilities of peace and then awaken to the cold realities of a complicated conflict...
A more egalitarian economy
It’s easy to get depressed. Every social advance that progressives have won is in danger. There is a growing despair over the inability of traditional politics to address the immense economic/environmental/political crises and the deep crevasse between the rich and ...
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 ...
‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ should end now
On Tuesday, the Defense Department unveiled its...
Walmart is still bad for the planet
In May, Walmart was hit with $110 million in environmental fines after pleading guilty to improperly dumping pesticides, fertilizer and other hazardous materials into public sewers and landfills. The Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section said that it was ...
