It has been almost 80 years since novelist Sinclair Lewis set his most iconic fictional creation, a hell-raiser turned hellfire preacher named Elmer Gantry, loose on an unsuspecting America. For a clergyman in his 70s, Gantry has proven to be remarkably hale and hearty. Op-ed writers and columnists lean continually on Lewis’ parson to represent […]
Issue: Between Chomsky & Cheney
Posted inDispatches
That Other Forum
PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL — What do Bill Gates, Tony Blair, and Sharon Stone have in common? All spent the last week of January hanging out in Davos, the exclusive Swiss resort town that for the last three decades has been home to the World Economic Forum, where the world’s elite business, financial, and political leaders […]
Posted inDispatches
A Temporary Fix
With the White House and congressional conservatives ramping up to make the coming four years as memorable as the last, it is easy to miss some of their less conspicuous exploits. Many of those have taken place at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which has issued multiple decisions that are costing millions of Americans […]
Posted inDispatches
A Listless Party
Like other journalists, I first heard of the Democratic Senate opposition agenda, proposed by Minority Leader Harry Reid in late January, by e-mail — specifically, an e-mail that came from Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Ken Mehlman. The correspondence sarcastically noted that “[t]he ten-point plan Sen. Reid presented today may be called the American ‘promise,’ […]
Posted inDispatches
Squeeze Time
All budgets have got to be based on priorities,” George W. Bush said on February 8, “and mine are clear.” He wasn’t lying. The president’s $2.57 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2006 calls for a 16-percent cut in all non–homeland domestic discretionary spending — which includes most education, housing, environmental-protection, and research programs — […]
Posted inColumns
Mangling Franklin
When I appeared on FOX News’ The Big Story on February 4, anchor John Gibson asserted that Franklin D. Roosevelt anticipated George W. Bush’s privatization plan, quoting FDR as saying in 1935 that Social Security “ought ultimately to be supplanted by self-supporting annuity plans.” I told Gibson that FDR couldn’t have been referring to private […]
Posted inColumns
A Double-Barreled Attack
George W. Bush’s Social Security proposals have come under heavy and deserved attack over the past few months. But a few key points should be made clearer. First, repeat after me: Cutting Social Security benefits does not mean “saving” Social Security. It means “cutting” Social Security. We can debate whether that’s advisable, but we shouldn’t […]
Posted inColumns
Bush’s Tipping Point
The great Social Security battle of 2005 could well be remembered as the tipping point that ended George W. Bush’s remarkable winning streak. It’s now clear that Democrats are not about to provide Bush bipartisan cover for privatization. Even usually reliable Republicans are putting some distance between themselves and the president. Bush and his allies […]
Posted inDepartments
Dossier: Air, Land, and Sea
Chlorine plants release an estimated 100 tons of mercury a year in the United States … The Centers for Disease Control has found that 8 percent of women of childbearing age have levels of mercury in their blood that could endanger their offspring … In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) eliminated a 28-year requirement […]
