Opinion
Low-wage corporate exploiters dressed as mom & pop
When corporate lobbyists and the Congress critters they control attack efforts to raise the minimum wage to at least a bare level of human decency, they always try to cast the issue as an intolerable squeeze on struggling mom & pop stores. But wait what are those ...
The Polis/Hickenlooper fracking compromise; thanks, but no thanks
Remember the old comedy skit wherein a well-meaning fellow decides he wants to do a good deed by helping an elderly woman cross a busy street? He eventually hauls her kicking and screaming safely through the traffic to the other side only to have the old lady kick ...
Fast food chains stealing from low-wage workers
No matter how small the haul is, a thief is a thief, right? If a poverty-wage fast-food worker sneaks out a couple of burgers to take home to the kids, the bosses yell: “Thief!” But what do you call it when the bosses steal from those same workers? How about ...
The ‘Soldier of Fortune’ memoirs
By 1975, Robert K. Brown had 1) ridden the rodeo, 2) been a Golden Gloves boxer, 3) raised money for and tried to run guns to Fidel Castro’s guerrillas while they were still in the jungle, 4) broken with Castro after he came to power and joined multiple abortive ...
U.S. debates as Syria suffers
In 2011, the Arab Spring came to Syria. It was non-violent for the first six to eight months and involved people of diverse political, ethnic and religious backgrounds...
Sniffing the ethical rot in Wall Street’s culture
Let’s review the rap sheet of Wall Street banks: Defrauding investors, cheating homeowners, money laundering, rigging markets, tax evasion, credit card ripoffs...
A modest proposal for cleaning up the mess in Washington
I have a modest proposal for cleaning up the mess in Washington...
Look out — the yummies are coming!
Attention, men. Yes, you —you with the Y chromosomes—it’s time for some man-talk. Specifically, we need to address how you dress...
Labor dispute may push shuttle drivers’ pay below poverty line
If you’ve had an early morning flight from DIA, you might have gotten a ride to the airport with SuperShuttle. Everything seemed normal. The driver came to your door and was helpful and friendly. What you didn’t know is that, for five years, the drivers have been in ...
Imagining the ‘unimaginable’
Last week the quiet town of Waseca, Minn. narrowly avoided becoming “one more in a long list of school shootings” (I will come back to this language of the CNN report). A boy, 17 years old, had plotted to kill his family and bomb the town’s junior and senior high ...
