The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – How was I to know 10 years ago that we would end up where we are now? I was living in Alexandria, Virginia working for States News Service and free-lancing as a reporter for the likes of Time magazine covering stories related to the Abu Ghraib torture…
A new standard that limits miners’ exposure to the coal dust that causes black lung “will save miners’ lives,” the AFL-CIO Executive Council said in a statement issued Thursday at the council’s summer meeting at AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Mine Safety and Health Administration issued the final rule in April and it goes…
By Wayne Ruple – HEFLIN, Ala. — Standing only 26 miles from the Alabama-Georgia state line, a candidate for Attorney General told a crowd in Heflin recently, “Right now Alabamians are funding the education of Georgia’s children, funding the education of Tennessee’s children, funding the education of Florida’s children. Now in my opinion it’s only…
The signs of climate change are all around us, according to a new report just released by the White House. The average temperature in the United States during the past decade was 0.8° Celsius (1.5° Fahrenheit) warmer than the 1901-1960 average, and the last decade was the warmest on record both in the United States…
By Glynn Wilson – Mercedes was found guilty this week of violating labor law against employees by an administrative law judge ruling for the National Labor Relations board. Judge Keltner W. Locke ruled that Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance near Tuscaloosa committed three violations in dealing with employees who were working to try to unionize…
Eschew Obfuscation – By Michael Douglass – I’m a little embarrassed. I do hope you enjoy my etchings because of my unapologetic approach when taking on the big issues. I just love the big cats. I confess I’ve been hiding on this one. My reluctance is informed by personal relationships and the deafening heat of…
The American Federation of Government Employees union supports of the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s unanimous vote on Friday to allow federal prisoners serving time for low-level drug offenses to apply for early release, according to a press release issued shortly after the decision was announced. Overcrowding in federal prisons has become a significant problem in recent…
By Amrit Singh – The European Court of Human Rights has finally officially confirmed the facts of a story that the U.S. and European governments have sought to deny for more than a decade: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operated a secret torture center on Polish soil in the aftermath of the attacks on the…
A new study by scientists at NASA and the University of California at Irvine finds more than 75 percent of the water loss in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin since late 2004 came from underground sources. The extent of groundwater loss may pose a greater threat to the water supply of the western United States…
Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have gone looking for water vapor in the atmospheres of three planets orbiting stars similar to the sun — and have come up nearly dry. The three planets, known as HD 189733b, HD 209458b, and WASP-12b, are between 60 and 900 light-years away from Earth and were thought to…
By Nick Sheppard – From The Sheppard Post – When it comes to Benghazi, the Conservative commentariat is willing to make an association with almost anything that happens, past or present, domestic or international, relevant or irrelevant. On the Fox network’s show The Five, Andrea Tantaros opined about the missing Malaysian airliner: “Think how long…
NASA embarked this week on a coordinated ship and aircraft observation campaign off the Atlantic coast of the United States in an effort to advance space-based capabilities for monitoring microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food chain. Phytoplankton, tiny ocean plants that absorb carbon dioxide and deliver oxygen to Earth’s atmosphere, play…
A new report released by the U.S. Department of Labor provides solid evidence that raising the minimum wage in states tends to spur job growth, the opposite of what conservative critics claim. The state-by-state hiring data, released Friday by the Labor Department, provides ammunition to the camp in favor of raising the minimum wage. In…
Alabama Public Service Commissioner Terry Dunn, who made waves in the state by having the gall to try to do his job by calling for hearings on utility rates, was routed by challenger Chris “Chip” Beeker Jr. in the July 15 Republican primary runoff election. Beeker took 59 percent of the vote, 119,041 votes, over…
By Robert Reich – In a new Pew poll, more than three quarters of self-described conservatives believe “poor people have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything.” In reality, most of America’s poor work hard, often in two or more jobs. The real non-workers are the wealthy who inherit their fortunes.…
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Eschew Obfuscation – By Michael Douglass – What special…
Hillary Clinton is currently the best known and best liked of 16 potential 2016 presidential candidates, according to the latest Gallup poll on the subject, due to her 91 percent familiarity score and plus 19 net favorable rating. The net favorable is based on her 55 percent favorable and 36 percent unfavorable ratings. In the…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Rumors of my mother’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. But not without causing great harm. She’s not Mark Twain. Every time someone loads up their guns and goes on a shooting rampage in an office building, a school or a church, national broadcast news anchors like Brian…
By Robert Reich – Dozens of big U.S. corporations are considering leaving the United States in order to reduce their tax bills. But they’ll be leaving the country only on paper. They’ll still do as much business in the U.S. as they were doing before. The only difference is they’ll no longer be “American,” and…
By Joe Womack – To commemorate the 155th anniversary of the beginning of the Africatown saga and the 154th anniversary of the landing of the last recorded shipment of slaves to this country, here is a summary of the “Africatown Story” from 1859 to today. (As told to me by Mr. Henry Williams as he…
