By Glynn Wilson – A three-judge panel of federal judges all appointed to the court before there was an open Internet or a Web Press has struck down a complicated set of rules set forth by the Federal Communications Commission to preserve competition on the Web in what critics call a major blow to what’s…
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
A Large Majority of Americans Now Favor Legalization of Marijuana for the First Time
By Glynn Wilson – Public opinion data now shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that a clear majority of Americans, 58 percent, favor the legalization of marijuana, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. Can the legal system be far behind? Legalization advocates have seen a “period of unprecedented success” over the…
Republican Party Favorability Rating Sinks to Record Low
By Glynn Wilson – While the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is engaged in a tense, government-shuttering budgetary standoff against a Democratic president and Senate, the Republican Party is now viewed favorably by only 28 percent of Americans, down from 38 percent in September, the lowest favorable rating measured for either party since Gallup began asking…
New Report Concludes Human Influence on Global Climate is ‘Clear’
By Glynn Wilson – As if there was still any doubt in the scientific community, we now know that “human influence on the climate system is clear,” according to a new report just out from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause…
EPA Proposes Carbon Pollution Standards for New Power Plants
By Glynn Wilson – The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new Clean Air Act standards to cut carbon pollution from new power plants “in order to combat climate change and improve public health,” according to the announcement sent out Friday morning. The new standards are set to go into effect by June 1, 2014. The…
A Groundbreaking Year for Environmental Journalism and Activism
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – It’s been one of the most interesting and groundbreaking years in a long time for environmental activism, environmental journalism and the Sierra Club nationally and in my home state of Alabama. Since I made the decision to cross the line and join the club to get personally…
Senate Gridlock Breaks: McCarthy Approved at EPA, Perez at Labor
By Glynn Wilson – Something has come over the Republicans in the U.S. Senate. Gridlock in Washington is cracking, and President Obama’s nominees are now working their way through confirmation like water through an open dam. A bipartisan deal was reached this week with the Republicans to allow votes on all seven of the pending…
Fracking Leases Proposed for National Forests White Washed at ‘Public Meeting’
Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management on the Hot Seat – By Glynn Wilson – MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A so-called “public meeting” on oil and gas leases proposed for the state’s national forests at a city park by a golf course was not exactly attended by many average citizens and working folks, so far from…
Fracking in the Talladega National Forest is Not in the National, State or Local Interest
Editors Note: The nightmares of natural gas fracking being documented all over America are coming soon to Alabama, brought to you by Halliburton and its real estate agent, the federal Bureau of Land Management — unless enough people get together and lodge enough political protests now to stop it. The Bureau of Land Management and…
AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka Joins Labor With Environmentalists in BlueGreen Alliance
Watch the Video – Key segments from the speech – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 17) — The head of the largest and most powerful coalition of unions in America voiced his unequivocal support for the growing alliance between organized labor and the environmental community under the umbrella of the BlueGreen Alliance, a…
Union Leaders, Environmentalists Discuss Building a National Dialogue on Green Jobs, Reclaiming Democracy
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Some of the most powerful union leaders and environmentalists in the country came together in the nation’s capital this week to find common ground on the critical question of how to create jobs and improve the economy while at the same time protecting the environment of the U.S.…
More Than 200 Pack Mobile Bay Conference Center to Fight Canadian Tar Sands Crude Pipeline
Watch the video – Share the video – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE BAY, Ala. – More than 200 concerned citizens, public officials and environmental activists showed up at a citizens-called town hall public hearing Tuesday night to learn more about a plan to pump thick, hot Canadian tar sands crude oil making its way…
The Powell Memo Formed the Basis of A Call to Arms for Corporations
Should American Democracy Be Purely About Capitalism? Or Is There Room for Compassion? Editor’s Note – An informed reader and contributor recently reminded me of the Powell Memo or Manifesto, what some credit as the beginning of the hyper activity on the part of American corporations to change the debate in the United States to…
President Obama Outlines Ambitious Plan to Combat Global Climate Change
President Obama spoke to the nation Tuesday at Georgetown University and laid out his vision for the steps needed to prepare for the impacts of climate change and lead the global effort to fight it – By Glynn Wilson – President Barack Obama, who was already guaranteed to go down in history as the first…
The American Public’s Confidence in Newspapers Continues to Decline
ANALYSIS – By Glynn Wilson – The American public’s confidence in newspapers as an institution to report accurate information and serve as “the press” under the U.S. Constitution to write about public affairs in a way that serves their interests continues its historical decline, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject. Survey research…
Public Concern About Global Warming is On the Rise Again
A Majority in the U.S. Believe Global Warming is Happening Already – By Glynn Wilson – Apparently all the recent attention in the media about global warming and climate change is having an effect on public opinion. Public concern about global warming is on the rise again after several years of growing skepticism due to…
How Karl Rove Took Over the Alabama Supreme Court and Created a ‘No Win Zone’ for Citizens
How the Corporate Republican Courts Turned From ‘Tort Reform’ to ‘Sovereign Immunity’ for Hospitals and Destroyed Americans’ Sixth Amendment Jury Rights – Watch this video interview with Mark Kennedy – By Glynn Wilson – How did Karl “Turd Blossom” Rove, the adopted son of a gay man with pierced balls and a drunk, drug addict…
On 10th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion, Majority of Americans See War as Mistake
Republicans Still Support War – By Glynn Wilson – It has been 10 years since the Bush-Cheney administration made the decision to invade Iraq, and according to public opinion research, a majority of Americans consider this a regrettable anniversary. According to the latest Gallup poll on the subject, 53 percent of Americans believe their country…
We Can Save the Planet and the Economy Too
Who Needs Jobs on a Dead Planet? – The Big Picture – by Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following folks from all over the country willing to travel thousands of miles and brave freezing temperatures and a bone chilling wind to march from the Washington Monument around the White House and back to bring…
About 35,000 March on Washington for Action on Climate Change
Watch the video here… By Glynn Wilson WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 17 – During President’s Day weekend and in freezing temperatures and against a brutal wind, more than 35,000 activists marched from the Washington Monument around the White House to support immediate action to contain climate change due to global warming. People from more than 30…
