OK, Barack Obama has not exactly turned out to be Mount Rushmore material, but – good God! – the petulant pettiness of right-wing Republican congressional leaders has turned them into a na]]> Change is not the same thing as progress. In fact, change can be the exact opposite. It can be regressive, as we’re now learning from – where else? – Congress. A flock of tea party-i]]> Untitled Document About a year ago, a stinging message was delivered to the corporate honchos of Starbucks, the megachain of costly coffees. The writer decried the “comm]]> The thing that I was most thankful for on Turkey Day has not the abundance of food at my family’s table, but the rebels who produced it. No, not Butterball. And not Wal-Mart, General F]]> You might assume that the Small Business Administration exists to help, you know, small business — but that would ignore the conniving nature of big business and the weaselly nature of the SBA. ]]> "You don't tell deliberate lies," explained Britain's right-wing political icon Margaret Thatcher, "but sometimes you have to be evasive." If only such honest dishonesty were practiced on ]]> Wow, January’s gone already – time really flies when you’re having Republican presidential primaries! And what better time than Presidents Month to poke into that warren of feral Rep]]> What planet does presidential wannabe Rick Santorum live on? When it comes to grasping the situation of America’s hard-hit workaday majority, this sweater-vested ultra-right-winger is further ou]]> Oh, to be in Afghanistan again, when the poppies are in bloom!If you need a symbol of how America’s decade-long war is going in this faraway land, look no farther than the beautiful fields of re]]> Mea culpa, I misspoke, my bad – I stand corrected.In past commentaries, I have called Newt Gingrich a lobbyist. Apparently, he hates that tag, even though he has indeed gotten very wealthy by ta]]>