By Robert Reich – A number of billionaires are flooding our democracy with their money, drowning out the voices of the rest of us. But Charles and David Koch are in a class by themselves. They’re using their fortune – they’re the fifth and sixth richest people in the world — to create their own…
Monthly Archives: June 2014
Environmental Groups Must Help Build the Alternative Press in America
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – When Scotsman John Muir first started the Sierra Club in 1892 with the three purposes to promote recreation in nature to help save it through conservation activism and public education, I think he grasped something about how human nature works that we seem to have lost in…
Wood Stork Removed From Endangered Species List
The wood stork, a large American wading bird, is no longer an endangered species after a successful three-decade conservation effort that has seen the population spread through the Southeast. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced Thursday that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is down-listing the wood stork from endangered to threatened under the…
The Power of a Plan
Coming Clean – By Michael Brune – In his 19th-century curmudgeon’s classic, The Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defined a plan as “the best method of accomplishing an accidental result.” When the EPA released its “Clean Power Plan” this month for reducing carbon pollution from power plants, the agency was clear about the results it expects…
A Majority of Americans Still Support the Withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Iraq and Say the War was a Mistake
By Glynn Wilson – A solid majority of Americans, 61 percent, still support President Barack Obama’s decision from 2011 to remove nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject, and 57 percent of Americans still say the war and invasion was a mistake. Public support for the U.S.…
Louisiana Protesters ‘Flood Into Baton Rouge’ to Deliver Message to Governor Jindal
BATON ROUGE, La. – While Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was in the nation’s capital last Saturday contemplating “a hostile takeover of Washington D.C.,” residents in his own state began a peaceful 155-mile walk from Grand Isle to the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge to show support for a lawsuit that would hold the oil and…
Proposed Windmill ‘Farm’ In East Alabama Dies for Lack of Local Support
By Wayne Ruple – HEFLIN, Ala. — A proposed windmill “farm” on Turkey Heaven Mountain died recently due to lack of support from Cleburne County commissioners in the face of public opposition. The County Commission met June 16 and considered four resolutions which would have effectively killed the project. They punted on supporting the proposed…
Dying American Veteran Writes Open Letter to George Bush and Dick Cheney
Hubble Finds Dwarf Galaxies Formed More Than Their Fair Share of Universe’s Stars
They may be little, but they pack a big star-forming punch. New observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope show small galaxies, also known as dwarf galaxies, are responsible for forming a large proportion of the universe’s stars. Studying this early epoch of the universe’s history is critical to fully understanding how these stars formed and…
Public Confidence in American News Media Sources Remains Low
ANALYSIS – By Glynn Wilson – Public confidence in the news media in America continues to post record lows in public opinion surveys, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. And while the public’s confidence in television news and newspapers continues to decline to record lows, the amount of crap being passed off…
Distrust In God We Trust
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala – From the agenda for the Mobile County Commission meeting on June 19, 2014: resolution authorizing the public display of the national motto “In God We Trust” in Government Plaza A campaign is underway to mount the words In God We Trust prominently on city halls and other public…
Leo Gerard: How We Can Save American Democracy
Amending the Constitution may sound audacious, but it’s not impossible – By Leo Gerard, USW – All of this has so emboldened billionaires that one of them, Tom Perkins, said earlier this year that citizens should get one vote for each tax dollar they pay. No more one person one vote. Ketchup king H.J. Heinz…
The Three Biggest Right-Wing Lies About Poverty
By Robert Reich – Rather than confront poverty by extending jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, endorsing a higher minimum wage, or supporting jobs programs, conservative Republicans are taking a different tack. They’re peddling three big lies about poverty. To wit: Lie No. 1: Economic growth reduces poverty “The best anti-poverty program,” wrote Paul Ryan,…
Political Polarization of the American Public Pollutes Democracy
How Increasing Ideological Uniformity and Partisan Antipathy Affect Politics, Compromise and Everyday LifeANALYSIS – By Glynn Wilson – Republicans and Democrats are more divided along ideological lines – and partisan antipathy is deeper and more extensive – than at any point in the last two decades, according to a new research study from the Pew…
A Majority of Americans View Democratic Presidential Front Runner Hillary Clinton Favorably
But Her Numbers Are Already Starting to Take A DiveBy Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Hillary Clinton takes the national stage as the early front runner in the presidential election of 2016, a majority of Americans, 54 percent, view her in a positive light, according to the Gallup Poll’s latest favorability rating survey.…
Trial Balloons Already Filling the Skies in the Presidential Election of 2016
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – If former Southern Baptist preacher and Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee can float trial balloons and turn his attention to the presidential election of 2016 before the 2014 midterm elections are in the bag, what the heck? It’s about time we started talking about it anyway. Every other…
Voting in Mississippi, 2014 and 1964
By Robert Reich – Mississippi used its new voter-identification law for the first time Tuesday — requiring voters to show a driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID at the polls. The official reason given for the new law is alleged voter fraud, although the state hasn’t been able to provide any evidence that voter…
Republican Gerald Dial Narrowly Wins Alabama’s District 13 Senate Seat
To Face Democrat and Independent in East Alabama Race Come November – By Wayne Ruple – HEFLIN, Ala. — In what was considered by some to be the lowest voter turn-out in 16 years for a primary in Alabama, a relatively unknown private investigator living in Heflin on the state’s eastern border came within 416…
Natural Allies: The United Autoworkers Union and the Sierra Club?
Coming Clean – By Michael Brune – I was honored to be invited to speak to the United Auto Workers in Detroit at their convention this week. Even though the Sierra Club and the UAW have been working together for years, some people don’t know we’re natural allies. Here are some other things you might…