Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE We’ve got a new darling in the GOP presidential race: Carly Fiorina! Being the darling du jour, however, can be dicey – just ask Rick Perry and Scott Walker, two former darlings who are now out of the race, having turned into ugly ducklings by saying stupid things. […]
President Obama
Posted inOpinion
GOP’s ‘hell no’ faction
Ah, August – that time of year when the going gets tough … and Congress gets going. On vacation that is. And, to be fair, maybe Congress needs a vacation. All the stress of not passing laws and constantly thwarting any attempt by President Obama to fix America’s problems seems to be straining their sanity. […]
Posted inOpinion
Do-nothing Congress takes a vacation
Gosh, has it already been three weeks since Congress took a vacation? Those poor stiffs must be pooped from trying to catch up on all the heavy lifting that piled up while they were away from their lawmaking duties. And – gosh, again – in just a few days, Congress will go back on vacation, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Building empathy
The public is invited and encouraged to participate in Springfield Race Unity Committee’s “Building Racial Unity: A Grass-Roots Discussion,” Friday, Sept. 20, at Springfield Baha’i Center. The event is inspired by President Obama’s suggestion that grass-roots discussions on race can be helpful in building unity and empathy. A screening of the president’s remarks after the […]
Posted inOpinion
Wall Street hogs still running wild
Wall Street is a beast. And proud of it! In fact, a pair of animals are the stock market’s longtime symbols: One is a snorting bull, the other is a bear. But I recently received a letter saying that we need a third animal to depict the true nature of the Wall Street beast: a […]
Posted inOpinion
Do more than the minimum on minimum wage
“In the wealthiest nation on earth,” President Obama declared in his State of the Union speech, “no one who works full time should have to live in poverty.” Right! Way to go! Not only does his call to raise America’s minimum wage put some real pop in populism, but it could finally start putting some […]
Posted inOpinion
Watch out – the drones are coming
For nearly four years, President Obama refused to admit a foreign-policy “secret” that was widely known – that the White House, Pentagon and CIA are engaged in ethically questionable and rapidly escalating drone warfare that’s killing innocent civilians as well as enemy soldiers in Afghanistan, Yemen and elsewhere. But by nominating John Brennan, the architect […]
Posted inOpinion
Latino voting soars in Illinois
Back in 1992, Latinos made up about 8 percent of Illinois’ population, yet only 1 percent of that year’s total Election Day voter pool was Latino. The trend continued for years. Latinos just didn’t vote. Twenty years later, things have changed in a big way. According to exit polling, 12 percent of Illinois voters last […]
