Occasional Planet

Starving the infrastructure beast: Privatization vs. the American Jobs Act With 13.1 million Americans waking up every morning with no job to go to, how should we make sense of...

0January 27, 2012
Starving the infrastructure beast: Privatization vs. the American Jobs Act

With 13.1 million Americans waking up every morning with no job to go to, how should we make sense of...
0January 26, 2012
Can we please spare our candidates from the triviality?

Recently there was a little spat in New Hampshire between CNN correspondent Dana Bash and presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX)....
0January 25, 2012
Wheels to work

If you can’t get to a job interview, you can’t get a job. If you’re homeless and don’t have a...
0January 24, 2012
Chicago has money for security, but not for libraries

Chicago will be the site of both the G8 and NATO summits from May 19-21, 2012. President Obama will act...
0January 23, 2012
Kudos to Pelosi for urging Obama to run against Congress

Progressives are all too familiar with Barack Obama’s desire, upon assuming the presidency, to want to work collaboratively with Congress....
0January 19, 2012
What Republicans can learn from a hockey coach

Suppose that after nine-eleven, the Bush Administration had taken time to let their obvious and justified anger about the senseless...
1January 18, 2012
The continuing shame of healthcare for Native Americans

American Indians and Alaska Natives die at higher rates than other Americans from tuberculosis (500% higher), alcoholism (514% higher), diabetes...
2January 17, 2012
A new approach to democracy — Americans Elect 2012

Occupiers, Tea Party members, actually most Americans feel that somehow our democracy is not working. The ultimate goals that each...
0January 16, 2012
Illinois struggles to help returning vets

Illinois has been trying to assist veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. On December 14th, 2011, Governor Quinn signed into...
1January 13, 2012
Kids in prison: Illinois’ expensive, dangerous and failed policy

America has one of the highest rates of incarceration for juveniles in the world – as of 2008, the US...
1January 13, 2012
Bill Moyers is back from retirement with a new TV show: Moyers & Company

After 20 months of retirement, Bill Moyers, now 77, will return to PBS with a new show called “Moyers &...
1January 12, 2012
Photojournalist’s notebook: What we’ll lose in a post-Post-Office America

Times were tough. The country was barely on its way out of a crippling economic disaster. Jobs were scarce. People...