Beware: Astroturfing harmful to democracy
Mob rule sweeps America, Big Insurance hires storm troopers Athletes complain about it. Astroturf causes injuries. And now the fake grass spread on many a field across the country has a new meaning. “Astroturfing” and “Astroturf groups” simulate grassroots organizing. And beware: These far-right ideologically driven groups, like the name “Astroturf” implies, are phony. And they cause injury to the body politic.
Health insurance companies send me birthday greetings so why I am nervous?
I'm turning 65 soon and the only people who have sent me birthday greetings so far are private, for-profit health insurance companies.
Lonesome Hobo Economics Who should pay for universal health care?
Who should pay for universal health care? We all should, right? Or, shouldn't it be free?
Millions of unemployed need jobs or income now
Unemployment and underemployment are causing misery, homelessness, hunger, and fear in the lives of tens of millions of working class people and our families, devastating communities, and impacting people of color, particularly African-Americans, Latinos, and most of all Native Americans disproportionately.
It's time to put the pedal to the metal
In recent weeks I have seen pundits of various stripes grading the job performance of our new president. I read some of them and they invariably left me with a nagging feeling which I couldn't quite put my finger on until this morning.
No vacation for Congress
It is a disgrace that Congress is leaving the nation’s capital for summer vacation as the American people are left to deal with a healthcare crisis that has exploded into a national emergency. For each day lawmakers go fishing, 14,000 more will lose their coverage.
Sleep disorders on the rise among the nations wealthy!
Goldman Sachs just announced $3.44 billion in profits for the last quarter. The company’s top 60 executives will trouser more than the $20 million they each pocketed last year.
The Henry Louis Gates Jr Arrest: 'Uppity' in 2009
The arrest of famed historian Henry Louis Gates by the Cambridge, Massachusetts police raises some important questions about what this country has been losing in terms of civil liberties and due process.
EDITORIAL Wealthy vs. healthy
The nation’s biggest banks are awash in profits. Wells Fargo reports second-quarter profits up 47 percent over a year ago. It raked in $2.58 billion, up from $1.75 billion for the same period last year.
COMMENTARY Obama, my grandpa and health care
My grandfather retired from Chrysler in the early 1980s. He was what we in the Midwest call a 'stand-up guy.' He worked hard and did his job, but he never took any crap from anybody, especially the foreman.
