Jim Hightower from Creators Syndicate

The Chilling Reality of America's Worsening Jobs Crisis for 05/15/2013

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

At last, some excellent economic news for folks long-mired in the stagnant labor market!

At least, those were the headlines recently trumpeted across the country. "Jobs Spring Back," exclaimed a typical headline or report that companies added a better than expected 165,000 private-sector jobs in April. Wow — the thunderous, three-year boom of prosperity that has rained r ...

Updated: Wed May 15, 2013

Corporate Cowards Divert Shareholder Funds into “Dark Money” for 05/08/2013

Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

If corporations are people, as the Supreme Court pretends, they certainly are loudmouths, constantly telling us how great they are and spreading their names everywhere.

Amazingly, though, these corporate creatures have suddenly turned demure, insisting that they don't want to draw any attention to themselves. That's because, in this case, corporations are not selling, they're buying &md ...

Updated: Wed May 08, 2013

George W's $250 Million Can of Whitewash for 05/01/2013

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Big doings in Big D — the George W. Bush Presidential Library is open for business!

What a piece of work it is: a $250 million, 226,000-square-foot edifice on 23 acres in Dallas. His brick-and-limestone structure is certainly imposing, but once inside, you quickly see that it's a $250 million can of whitewash. Of course, all ex-presidents want libraries that show their good side, ...

Updated: Wed May 01, 2013

Gagging on Ag-gag Laws for 04/24/2013

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

In most state legislatures today, "off the wall" has become the political center, and bizarre bills are no longer unusual.

Still, it seems strange that legislators in so many states — including Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Vermont — have simultaneously been pushing "ag-gag" bills that are not merely outrageous, but downright ...

Updated: Wed Apr 24, 2013

Saving Our Ravaged Planet ... and Ourselves for 04/17/2013

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Earth Day cometh — the 43rd year of this national focus on the state of our globe. So, how is Earth doing? Should we be weeping ... or cheering?

Both.

The first step to any recovery is recognition of the obvious: Earth has a problem. In fact, beaucoup of them. For example, despite the squawking of profiteering polluters and professional deniers, our very atmosphere — ...

Updated: Wed Apr 17, 2013

Where's the Cop on the Wall Street Beat? for 04/10/2013

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Bankers gone wild! Let's tally some of their crimes:

JPMorgan Chase engaged in massive, systematic fraud to foreclose without cause or due process on innocent homeowners, tossing thousands of families into the streets.

Goldman Sachs profited by marketing an investment package that was designed to fail, collecting fat fees on each sale to unsuspecting investors who lost millions, ...

Updated: Wed Apr 10, 2013

Wall Street Hogs Still Running Wild for 04/03/2013

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

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, representing surging stock prices; the other is a bear, representing a down market devouring stock value.

But I recently received a letter from a creative fellow named Charles saying that we need a third animal to depict the true nature of the Wall ...

Updated: Wed Apr 03, 2013

Corporate Kangaroo Courts Supplant Our Seventh Amendment Rights for 03/27/2013

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Being wronged by a corporation is painful enough, but just try getting your day in court. Most Americans don't realize it, but our Seventh Amendment right to a fair jury trial against corporate wrongdoers has quietly been stripped from us. Instead, we are now shunted into a stacked-deck game called "Binding Mandatory Arbitration." Proponents of the process hail it as superior to the c ...

Updated: Wed Mar 27, 2013

A blanket of PR to Make You Want to Hug a Drone for 03/20/2013

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

In a recent senatorial dustup, Sen. John McCain called Republican colleague Rand Paul one of "the wacko birds" of Congress.

McCain (who sometimes appears not too tightly wrapped himself) was giving Sen. Paul a tongue-lashing for having mounted a 13-hour, old-fashioned, stand-alone filibuster over the possibility that murderous drones could be used for targeted assassinations o ...

Updated: Wed Mar 20, 2013

“The Dow” Versus “The Doug” for 03/13/2013

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

"It's a sign," exclaims a February Associated Press story — a sign that our economy is "healing." "It signals that things are getting back to normal," added a delighted market analyst. And a March 4 New York Times report heralded it as "a golden age."

The "it" they're hailing is the Dow, that mystical force believed by faithful Dow ...

Updated: Wed Mar 13, 2013

Let's Adopt These Planks From GOP's National Platform for 03/06/2013

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0800

From Rick Perry to Rick Santorum, many Republican sparklies say they reject the science of evolution, favoring instead the "science" of the Bible, including some of its interpreters who claim the Earth is not 4.5 billion years old, but has been around only about 6,000 years. Georgia Rep. Paul Broun (who ironically serves on the House science committee) even calls evolution "lies ...

Updated: Wed Mar 06, 2013

In Battling Monsanto's Greed, Tenacity Matters for 02/27/2013

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Remember the 1950s horror movie "The Bad Seed"? Any remake should cast Monsanto in the title role, because whenever something scary is being done to our food, you can usually find Monsanto lurking in the shadows.

During the past two decades, this biotech behemoth has used its political connections to obtain a monopolistic grip on the creation, sale and proliferation of Franken ...

Updated: Wed Feb 27, 2013

Do More Than the Minimum on the Minimum Wage for 02/20/2013

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

"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 ethics back in our country's much-celebrated (but rarely honored) &q ...

Updated: Wed Feb 20, 2013

Watch Out -- the Drones Are Coming Home to Roost! for 02/13/2013

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

For nearly four years, President Obama refused to admit a foreign-policy "secret" that was widely known here and throughout the world — namely, 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 Bre ...

Updated: Wed Feb 13, 2013

A Common Sense Crop for America's Common Good for 02/06/2013

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Four years ago, Michelle Obama picked up a shovel and made a powerful symbolic statement about America's food and farm future: She turned a patch of White House lawn into a working organic garden.

That was a great move, earning kudos from just about everyone this side of Monsanto and the pesticide lobby. But now, as she begins another four years in the people's mansion, the first lady i ...

Updated: Wed Feb 06, 2013

Jamie Gets Punished for 01/30/2013

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

If you are sensitive to stories of human suffering and economic hardship, let me warn you that the following report contains material that could be upsetting, so discretion is advised.

It's about a fellow named Jamie. He lives in New York City, and he has recently had a very rough go with a large financial institution. Such behemoths can be heartless, so as you can imagine, it's tough t ...

Updated: Wed Jan 30, 2013

Obama's Inaugural Address: Progressive and Presidential for 01/23/2013

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Skies were overcast, and the temperature was a chilly 40 degrees in Washington on Monday when President Barack Obama took the oath of office and began his inaugural address. Given his own cool reserve and his first-term penchant for pursuing a tepid, middle-right governing agenda, I didn't expect to get much warmth from him this go 'round.

I was surprised. In these major speechifying mo ...

Updated: Wed Jan 23, 2013

Who's Behind “Fix the Debt”? for 01/16/2013

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

Look out, the "fixers" are coming.

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 Securit ...

Updated: Wed Jan 16, 2013

Why Does a University Need a CMO? for 01/09/2013

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 -0800

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 ...

Updated: Wed Jan 09, 2013

Ballot-measure Democracy a Notable Success in 2012 for 12/26/2012

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:00:00 -0800

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 themselves. This is an exercise i ...

Updated: Wed Dec 26, 2012