Kate Sheppard

Too often, all public discussion of Martin Luther King Jr.‘s legacy makes him into a soft, non-threatening shell of who the man he actually was. But on the 40th anniversary of his assassination, I’ve actually been heartened to see the coverage of King’s real and often very radical legacy, rather than simply focusing on his […]

I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds John McCain‘s latest web video entirely creepy. But more than creepy, I have to wonder how effective it will be, as it implies that the only way to understand war, serve one’s country, and be a true […]

Forty years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., several black economists are marking the anniversary of his death with a renewed call to embrace King’s proposals about how to reduce poverty and inequity in this country. Steven Pitts, labor specialist with the University of California-Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, and William […]

GQ has an interesting and often repugnant Q&A with Karl Rove, covering everything from his million dollar plus book deal to his thoughts on the Democratic presidential candidates. This is one of the most interesting parts, perhaps: I get the sense you respect Hillary more than you respect Obama. Off the record? Please don’t go […]

It was one year ago yesterday that the Supreme Court made the landmark declaration in Massachusetts v. EPA that the Environmental Protection Agency had a responsibility to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions as pollutants. You may have noticed that in that time, they’ve done nothing of the sort, and continue to actively […]

Howard Dean, Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman and Florida’s Democratic congressional delegation just issued a joint statement on seating Florida’s delegates that doesn’t really say much at all: We are all committed to doing everything we can to ensure that a Florida delegation is seated in Denver. We all agree that whatever the solution, […]

As he’s done throughout this Pennsylvania tour, Obama has given short speeches — only around 20 minutes. He then opens up the floor to questions from the crowd, and spends nearly twice as long answering public questions, often in great detail. Signs aren’t allowed inside, and though there have been many attempts to get chants […]

I’m waiting for the next Obama event to get underway, but in the meantime, I’ve been meaning to call attention to several recent articles about mixed race people and relationships. While all of them use Obama as a hook for the article, they reflect on a greater subject that gets little attention. How often we […]

I ran into some of the lovely folks from “Americans for Balanced Energy Choices” outside this afternoon’s Obama rally in Scranton, promoting coal and hoping to get all the attendees to as well. They’re handing out free hats, hoodies, T-shirts and pens touting the glories of coal. All part of their $35 million campaign to […]