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…
Secret Vistas – By Glynn Wilson – BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY, Va. — The National Park Service calls this “America’s Favorite Drive,” but if you go by the traffic, U.S. Highways 81 and 66 to Washington, D.C. might better fit the bill. After camping in the mountains of Virginia for a couple of nights in an…
By Glynn Wilson – MANASSAS, Va. – Driving south from Washington, D.C. we ended up exiting Interstate 66 at Centerville, hitting Highway 29 on part of what is also called Lee Highway, named after the Commander of the Confederate Army in the American Civil War — or War Between the States. The drive takes you…
Watch the video – WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 4) — We made our way from the Hungry Mother State Park — after a cool summer night July 3 in the mountains by the creek — through the crowds in the nation’s capital on Friday to a Pentagon parking lot by the Lady Bird memorial, where we…
Coming Clean – By Michael Brune – Everyone has an occasional bad day at work, but it’s tough to top the one that Rep. Eric Cantor had last month in Virginia. Overnight, he went from being one of the most powerful figures in Congress to a trivia question: Name the first House majority leader in…
By Glynn Wilson – MARION, Va. — Who says government is so bad? The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation employs young people every summer to engage Virginia’s youth in a structured program of important conservation and park projects on public lands while providing learning that fosters teamwork, self-esteem, social responsibility and respect for the…
By Glynn Wilson – MARION, Va. — The Council of Economic Advisers released a report on Wednesday detailing the negative effects on local economies and public health in states where Republican administrations failed to cooperate with the federal government and expand Medicaid. The report, entitled Missed Opportunities: The Consequences of State Decisions Not to Expand…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
