When fire hoses sent black bodies skidding and writhing along the sidewalks of Birmingham in 1963, a lot of white people, high and dry, nodded, “Well, if that’s what it takes to keep the peace . . . “ And so it goes, 51 years later: different police-tactic horrors, but the same nodding of…
DetailsHow to describe Congressman Paul Ryan’s reaction when Ray Jose showed up at his Florida book signing? Let’s say it was like a vegetarian who, suitably bibbed for a suitable meal, sees a rack of lamb slide before him. Jose is an organizer for United We Dream, a political group made up…
DetailsFor Colorado, with a new wave of state test scores just released from the previous school year, it’s a “gulp” moment. Years of intensive school “accountability” have yielded little but air. The Denver Post editorial board says it this way: “Despite 10 years of bold efforts in educational reform, very little seems to have…
DetailsThe name is New Belgium, and if you’re a beer drinker, most likely you are familiar. It started 23 years ago in Jeff Lebesch’s basement in Fort Collins, Colo. Now, with Fat Tire its most popular label, it’s the nation’s eighth-largest brewery. It’s also one of the most socially responsible corporations in America. …
DetailsBy review: If the Affordable Care Act were blown up as congressional Republicans desire, 12 million Americans who now have health insurance would have none. That being the case, one of the most telling comments of the last six rip-roarious years came the other day from Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. In…
DetailsWhen the ovum is ready, even if the woman isn’t, sperm introduced into the picture will come from every direction. That’s the picture for women on the public policy front right now. They’re getting it from every direction. They’ve gotten it from five males on the Supreme Court who see birth control…
DetailsThose of us who walked this planet 45 years ago this week remember exactly what we were doing that day when man first landed on the moon. I was in the back seat of the family station wagon in my pin-striped jersey and navy-blue ball cap, headed to an American Legion baseball game.…
DetailsMy son, the skateboarder, has a name for people who dress the part, talk the part, but who don’t really do what dedicated skateboarders do. He calls them “posers.” On immigration, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is a poser. He talks about it – oh, my, yes. But when it comes to…
DetailsBlack helicopter watch can get lonely, even if there’s one always just over the horizon. Any day now, for instance, President Obama will assemble the death panels of his health-care designs, appointing the extraterrestrials we suspected he would, to a thousand cable-televised told-you-sos. So much that was evil, we were told, would dawn…
DetailsThose who oppose the president’s initiatives to reduce carbon emissions appear to fit into three camps. The first, exemplified by Sens. Marco Rubio and James Inhofe, choose not to believe what's said by the vast majority of those who know the most about climate. The second, embodied by Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson,…
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