Yearly Archives: 2015

Our public school system may be the best in the world. However, poverty, coupled with the fact that the people in charge are ignoring facts and turning instead to the corporate profit-seekers, is debilitating to the system.

The message we send to the unfortunate of the earth is stark and unequivocal: "We have everything and if you try to take anything away from us we will kill you." The message the dispossessed sent back was delivered in Paris.

Our continuing alliance requires us all to repeat "Je suis Charlie" in the aftermath of the atrocious terror attack on a Parisian satire magazine. It is important to look closely at what we are defending.

The power of cartoons often allows the artists to convey a message one cannot in words, but there are few outlets for this type of political media. Renowned American cartoonist, editor and comics advocate, Art Spiegelman, believes political cartooning should make a mess.

The Saudi Arabian government has issued a series of 1,000 public lashings and 10 years in prison to an activist blogger Raif Badawi for insulting Islam. U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki requested an end to this punishment, but it does not look like Saudi authorities will end this brutality.

During Gov. Peter Shumlin’s recent inaugural address, protesters took part in a sit-in desiring single-payer healthcare, which the governor had promised to create. Those participating in the sit-in were arrested on spot.

The new Congress decided that its first order of business was to go after the disabled. Republican Congress is holding disabled workers hostage in order to extract concessions on these programs.

Having American troops occupy Iraq for 8 years, humiliating its citizens and torturing people in military prisons, was a bad idea. Did Bush and Cheney model for the Kouashi brothers how you take what you want and rub out people who get in your way?

It's not only in the U.S. that these combat weapons—that is, arms developed for use on the battlefield—are being used against innocent, defenseless civilians. Shame, shame, shame.

Deflation is a double-edged sword—and is complicated by the threat it poses to our highly leveraged global financial system. Are smug politicians playing a game of chicken with the stability of the financial system?