Education Matters – By Larry Lee – Some of us can recall when Art Linkletter did a segment on his radio show called “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” He would ask questions of children and in their wonderful innocence they would give answers that often made us laugh. I read or hear comments from politicians…
By Robert Reich – Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney are zeroing in on inequality as America’s fundamental economic problem. Bush’s new Political Action Committee, called “The Right to Rise,” declares “the income gap is real” but that “only conservative principles can solve it.” Mitt Romney likewise promised last week that if he runs for president…
By Robert Reich – Jobs are coming back, but pay isn’t. The median wage is still below where it was before the Great Recession. Last month, average pay actually fell. What’s going on? It used to be that as unemployment dropped, employers had to pay more to attract or keep the workers they needed. That’s…
Eschew Obfuscation – By Michael Douglass – Does it occur to anyone else that the Joni Ernst story about bread bags on her shoes has to be complete bullshit? She’d wear holes in them on the way the to goddamn bus fer crying out loud. I read over the Internet that you’re supposed to wear…
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — How can I explain this in a way everyone will understand, including conservative Republicans, liberal Democrats and the national and state press corps? President Barack Obama is and must be our political Jackie Robinson. You may recall or have heard that Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson was the first…
By Hank Sanders – It’s a once in a lifetime experience! I know you have heard that statement before, but this really is a once in a lifetime experience. It’s once in a lifetime because it happens only once. It’s once in a lifetime because it’s so big. It’s once in a lifetime because it’s…
By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — If you are really any kind of patriotic American — Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, libertarian, whatever — you must be willing to acknowledge that what happened in Alabama and Washington in 1965 was a pivotal moment in U.S. and world history. By “pivotal” I do not…
By Nicholas Sheppard – After a year and a half of poor poll numbers, a Republican takeover of both houses of Congress, a sluggish economic recovery and numerous problems abroad, President Obama’s fortunes may be changing going into 2015. His job approval rating has been trending up in general in recent weeks, reaching 48 percent…
By Heather Gray – ATLANTA, Ga. — With the new Republican Congress being seated in January 2015 there is no doubt that there will be efforts to further expand neoliberal (politically conservative) policies at the expense of us all. In fact, the political right wing has been trying to erode the government’s “collective” benefits of…
Education Matters – By Larry Lee – The word “spin” has several meanings. Grandpa thinks it is what you do when you test drive a new car. Grandma says it’s what the washing machine does. And the soccer mom does it when she goes to the health club. But political types know it is the…
Africatown News – By Joe Womack – On December 16, 2014 the Africatown Community attended a meeting hosted by The Yorktown Baptist Church to voice their opposition to local industries attempt to re-zone a section of Africatown just North of The Community Gardens from residential to industrial. More than 150 Africatown residents, supporters and friends…
By Bob Wells – I’m posting this on Christmas day and so I want to make it somewhat on topic, the problem is I’m not a Christian so I don’t celebrate Christmas. Beyond that, I despise the wanton waste and destruction that Christmas has become and I’ve been preaching against it for a long time.…
EDITOR’S NOTE: On Monday, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. we will be talking with former CIA Analyst Ray McGovern about the US Senate’s report on torture. In 2006, McGovern returned his CIA medal to former House Intelligence Committee chair Pete Hoekstra, a Republican from Michigan – see the letter below explaining his reasons for doing…
Eschew Obfuscation – By Michael Douglass – I know this kind of deceitful seduction has been a part of American politics since our republic was born. But my mind is made up. Up until now, as cynical as I am, I bought into it. I hoped. I did. I’m guilty. But what I see now…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. – What if? What if we could figure out a way to bring American journalism back from the brink of death? Would it be possible to make American democracy work again for “the people?” Sitting here on the Gulf Coast riding out the winter of…
Education Matters – By Larry Lee – It looked innocent enough. Just another of the dozens of emails I get every day. Then I looked again and immediately did a double take. It was an email of an email. The first was from the Alabama State Director of the Alabama Federation for Children. He was…
Editor’s Note: Because we’re in the annual enrollment period for Obamacare I’m going to write about health care. I don’t pretend to understand most of this stuff, in fact, much of what I know I learned from a fellow blogger. For that reason I encourage you to go to her blog and read one of…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – MOBILE, Ala. — Where oh where is Jeb Bush and what is his position on the torture ordered by his brother? As the media across the world continues to cover the story about the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report just out on the Bush administration’s CIA torture program,…
Africatown News – By Joe Womack – The historical value of Africatown’s Hog Bayou was carved in stone long before the Oil Barons of the world discovered Africatown’s valuable wetlands. Africatown’s Hog Bayou will forever be known as the place in Mobile where the “African” slaves taught the “American” slaves how to feed themselves and…
Coming Clean – By Michael Brune – It’s incredible that, despite real progress in reducing climate-disrupting carbon emissions, the United States is still charging ahead with a “boom” in dirty fuels and extraction methods. It’s like swallowing aspirin as you beat your head against a wall. What gives? By now, it’s clear that the dirty…
