Top corporate chieftains and Wall Street gamblers want to tell Washington how to fix our national debt, so they’ve created a front group called “Fix the Debt” to push their agenda. Unfortunately, they’re using “fix” in the same way your veterinarian uses it – their core demand is for Washington to spay Social Security, castrate […]
National – Jim Hightower
Posted inOpinion
Why does a university need a CMO?
The “ivory tower” of academia has become overshadowed by a new edifice on campus that is reaching ridiculous heights: the tower of mammon. As public universities have been driven by budget-whacking lawmakers to seek ever-more private funding, schools that once prided themselves as being centers of free thinking are increasingly dominated by corporate-think, turning their […]
Posted inOpinion
Small town USA averts police state takeover
No doubt you had a lot on your mind in December – the dancing of sugar plum fairies, America stumbling toward the fiscal cliff, the outcome of the classic Beef O’Brady’s Bowl game and whatnot – so you might have missed this bit of big news that got very little news coverage: Our Constitution had […]
Posted inOpinion
Ballot-measure democracy a notable success in 2012
This being the season of giving, it’s worth looking back at some special gifts from November’s election that received little acknowledgement at the time. These victories came in campaigns that had no candidates – no Democrats, Republicans or other party designations. Rather, they were ballot initiatives – policy ideas put to a vote of people […]
Posted inOpinion
What’s for dinner?
As we enjoy the traditional holiday season of food-centered celebrations, let’s not only consume, but also reflect on, discuss and consider, what we can do to shape our food future. We’re presented with two starkly different visions of that future: the industrialized, conglomeratized, globalized, monopolized, plasticized and heavily subsidized vision of Agri-business, and the localized, […]
Posted inOpinion
The mass media favorites fall out of favor
Let us address the declining fortunes of today’s mainstream mass media. The honchos of America’s establishment media are quick to blame such external causes as the Internet for their problems. But if they looked internally, they might notice that they’re damn near eaten up with a bad case of conventional wisdomitis. The problem with conventional […]
Posted inOpinion
The airline industry’s fee-for-all
Big news, holiday travelers! American Airlines has a new family deal for you. If you and the kids are headed off to grandma’s house, Disney World or wherever, American will make an effort to seat you next to each other. Well, that’s not exactly new or special, since most airlines have long done this. But […]
Posted inOpinion
A death in the family – and the question is: whodunit?
Born in 1930 in Schiller Park, Ill., the deceased was 82 years old at the time of passing, which ironically was the day before Thanksgiving. Having long enjoyed the sweet life, the end was a bit bitter, for the dearly departed’s estate had been mercilessly plundered in recent years by unscrupulous money managers. This left […]
Posted inOpinion
Lord help us – bosses gone berserk
The sky is falling! The end times are upon us! It’s all over for America! And it’s all because of you execrable voters. This is the wretched wail of a few corporate chieftains who claim to be somewhere between flummoxed and furious that Barack Obama is back in the White House. With his diabolical Obamacare […]
Posted inOpinion
Billionaires crap out in 2012 elections
They came. They spent! Then, they limped home, tails between their legs. “They” are the far-right corporate billionaire extremists who tried to become America’s presidential kingmakers this year. Unleashed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United edict allowing unlimited sums of cash in our elections, they spewed an ocean of money into efforts to enthrone Mitt […]
Posted inOpinion
Bothering to vote, and bothering voters
Two heroes emerged at the polls this year, and neither was named Barack or Mitt. Their names are Galicia and Ken – ordinary Americans with extraordinary depths of civic spirit. While nearly 40 percent of eligible voters didn’t bother to cast their ballots this year, these two demonstrated that our democratic right to vote is […]
Posted inOpinion
The corporate mad dogs of Citizens United
As feared, our people’s democratic authority has been dogged nearly to death by the hounds of money in this election go ’round, thanks to the Supreme Court’s reckless decree in the now infamous Citizens United case. A little-reported consequence of the malevolent decision: It has unleashed mad-dog corporate bosses to tell employees how to vote. […]
