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2002: In My Rearview Mirror (Part Two)
(December 30, 2002)
In my last column, I offered a list of all the sad and sordid things I wanted to forget from 2002. Unfortunately, it turns out there was just too much gunk clogging up my internal hard drive to get rid of with a single cleansing. Here then is another attempt to delete all of the previous year's political and cultural spam. [ read more ]
2002: In My Rearview Mirror
(December 27, 2002)
While so many year-end publications tend to focus on what we should remember about the year now slouching to a close, I prefer to continue this column's contrarian tradition of identifying all the sad and sordid things we'd all be better off never having cross our minds again. [ read more ]
A Very Corporate Christmas: No Need To Ask If They've Been Naughty Or Nice
(December 23, 2002)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Actually, for corporate America, more the latter than the former, what with all the Congressional investigations, indictments, camera ready perp walks, SEC fines, multimillion dollar restatements of earnings, and billion dollar bankruptcies. (Welcome to the club, Conseco!) [ read more ]
In Praise Of Making A Stink
(December 19, 2002)
The battle between the public interest and the special interests can be a demoralizing one. It sometimes seems like every dispatch from the front brings bad news. A judge appointed by President Bush rules that Dick Cheney can keep all the secrets he wants. Major GOP donor Eli Lilly gets a legislative gift worth billions anonymously slipped into the Homeland Security Bill at the last minute. The president's pick to take over the Treasury is CEO of a company that, despite close to a billion dollars in profits, paid not a penny in federal taxes in three of the last four years. [ read more ]
America's Apostrophe Catastrophe
(December 16, 2002)
That's it. I'm at the end of my rope. Or, more appropriately, "my rope's end" -- because what Iím so worked up about is the growing misuse of that puny piece of punctuation called the apostrophe. The phenomenon is spreading so rapidly, it's practically, well, an apostrodemic. [ read more ]
White House Chutzpah
(December 12, 2002)
Remember how the Bush administration ambled unassumingly into office -- downing Texas-sized helpings of humble pie at every meal? [ read more ]
The Righteous Wrath Of John McCain
(December 09, 2002)
Given Sen. John McCain's propensity to stray off the ranch and courageously speak his mind, he's been a pretty loyal soldier over the last two years. But last week he finally had enough and opened fire on the White House. [ read more ]
Finding The Answer To Washington's Hottest Whodunit
(December 04, 2002)
Quick, somebody call Sherlock Holmes. Or at least the Hardy Boys. Or maybe even newly-designated Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. There's a Washington mystery that needs solving. [ read more ]
One For The Ages: Congress Rewards Corporate Tax Evaders With Our Money
(December 02, 2002)
As the war on terror shows troubling signs of becoming a war of error, the Bush administration is waging a far more successful war on behalf of its corporate backers. The latest victory comes courtesy of Congress' 11th hour reversal of a provision in the Homeland Security Bill banning government contracts for companies that move offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes. [ read more ]
Why Oil Sheiks Love A Good Hummer
(November 25, 2002)
Once again, America is a nation divided. I'm not talking about the irreparable, brother-against-brother split between those who think the Bachelor should have proposed to Brooke instead of Helene. I'm talking about a contentious clash that is just beginning to rage. Call it the SUV war. As you read this, the opposing camps are staking out their turf. [ read more ]
D.C. Mystery: Who Sucked The Life Out Of Nancy Pelosi?
(November 21, 2002)
Was it "Meet the Press" or the Sci-Fi Channel? Watching Nancy Pelosi make her first Sunday morning TV appearance since being elected House Minority Leader, I had to check the cable box twice to make sure. [ read more ]
The A-B-Cs Of Crony Capitalism
(November 18, 2002)
All right, children, gather 'round. It's time to practice our ABCs: "A" is for apple, "B" is for baby -- and "C" is for Citigroup and crony capitalism, the subject of today's lesson. [ read more ]
The Pollsters Can't Hear The Silent Majority
(November 14, 2002)
I'm still trying to figure out who had a more wretched Election Night 2002, the Democratic Party or America's pollsters. While Democrats lost control of the Senate, they will live to fight another election day. Pollsters, on the other hand, in losing what scraps of credibility they had, may -- with a little help from the public -- find their entire profession obsolete, gone the way of chimney sweeps, organ pumpers, and those guys who used to make buggy whips. [ read more ]
President Bush Asks Not What You Can Do For Your Country
(November 11, 2002)
During his final, frantic -- and ultimately wildly successful -- 15-states-in-five-days campaign spree, President Bush repeatedly exhorted Americans to be "willing to serve something greater than ourselves." But, in truth, itís pretty obvious he didn't really expect us to listen. [ read more ]
Bring Me The Head Of Terry McAuliffe!
(November 07, 2002)
The Republicans got it all on Tuesday night. They got the House. They got the Senate. They got at least 20 of the 36 governorships at stake. And they got a massive boost of political momentum -- just as those increasingly unreliable polls were hinting at a leak in the president's high-flying popularity balloon. The Democrats, on the other hand, got very little -- other than a kick in the butt, some good experience at giving concession speeches, and, one hopes, a wake-up call. [ read more ]
Election 2002: Hold Your Nose, Vote, Then Fight For Reform
(November 04, 2002)
What an absolutely dreadful campaign season this has been -- an interminable Bataan death march of ruffle-no-feathers issues, sleazy, mud-slinging TV ads, and insipid poll-driven candidates. In fact, the only truly compelling aspect of Election 2002 has been trying to decide which campaign was the most inept. [ read more ]
Drugging Our Children The Legal Way
(October 31, 2002)
Chalk up another profitable victory for those promoting the legal drugging of America's children -- also known as the good folks of the pharmaceutical industry. Earlier this month, a federal judge struck down a Food and Drug Administration regulation that required drug makers to test medicines routinely given to children. [ read more ]
Paul Wellstone: America Loses A Bold Leader
(October 25, 2002)
"Something died in America," said civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Robert F. Kennedy's untimely death. "Something died inall of us." Paul Wellstone's entire political career was dedicated tobringing that something -- that soul -- back to American politics. From his out-of-nowhere populist election to the Senate in 1990 to his courageous, polls-be-damned vote against the president's Iraq invasion resolution, Wellstone always let his conscience guide the votes he cast and the policies he espoused. [ read more ]
Will The NRA Once Again Gun Down Common Sense Legislation?
(October 24, 2002)
Let it bleed. That's been the traditional route movie moguls have taken to win the public's heart. In mayhem-happy Hollywood, it's become axiomatic that the road to big box office is paved with dead bodies. But what becomes of this cinematic bleed-motif when the blood being spilled is all too real -- and the film being screened is a withering indictment of America's culture of violence? [ read more ]
Got Oil?
(October 21, 2002)
The Bush team's ridiculous and wildly inflammatory anti-drug ads are still running in heavy rotation. You know the ads I'm talking about -- the ones where innocent-looking, middle-class teens admit their culpability for the consequences of the drug trade. "I helped blow up buildings," says one doe-eyed youth. [ read more ]
Upstairs/Downstairs
(October 17, 2002)
Pity the poor Democrats. They just can't get a break. At a time when the public is calling for the heads of corporate miscreants, you would have thought that the latest Census Bureau report on poverty and income would be great campaign fodder for Democrats. [ read more ]
Corporate Restitution: Must CEO TV
(October 10, 2002)
The next wave of corporate reform is about to hit the shore. We've had some half-baked legislation aimed at curbing future corruption. And we've had a few high-profile arrests aimed at plucking the bad apples out of the boardroom barrel and scaring off as yet undetected executive thieves. Now it's payback time for corporate America. [ read more ]
Why Is No One Talking About Casualties?
(October 07, 2002)
Sitting on a desk somewhere in the Pentagon is a computer printout listing projected American casualties for a range of Iraq invasion scenarios. Unfortunately, these vital figures are the only numbers that haven't been part of the war debate. [ read more ]
The Torch Fizzles
(October 01, 2002)
As human beings, our natural instinct is to empathize with those who are at a low point, to extend a hand if they stumble and fall. Only the worst among us -- crooked cops, bad guy wrestlers, or Paulie Walnuts -- enjoy the idea of kicking a guy when he's down. But Robert Torricelli is making it very hard to resist the temptation to kick his butt -- even when he's on all fours. His self-serving, teary-eyed, 'I've-been-done-wrong' speech announcing the end of his reelection bid was enough to curdle even the sweetest milk of human kindness. [ read more ]
The White House On Iraq: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Proof!
(September 30, 2002)
We all know who attacked us on Sept. 11, 2001, don't we? No, not Osama bin Laden. God, that is so last year. It never turns out to be the person you first suspect. It was Saddam Hussein. For some reason we couldn't find him when we went after him in Afghanistan, bringing that magic elixir of regime change along with us. But now we've got a better idea: track him down where he actually lives, in Baghdad, and punish him right in his own backyard. It's the only way to obtain justice for the thousands he killed on 9/11. [ read more ]
The Latest Bush Doctrine: Out With The Old, In With The Old
(September 26, 2002)
Make no mistake. President Bush is right. At least, that is, about the basic assumptions behind the new Bush doctrine. We are, as he says, living in a post-containment, post-deterrence, post-Cold War world. So why has the White House chosen to deal with this new reality by traveling back to the future to take on Saddam? It's Us vs. The Evil Empire all over again, only this time with a Middle Eastern accent. [ read more ]
Campaign 2002: Send In The Populists
(September 23, 2002)
Only a tone-deaf politician could fail to realize that there is much political hay to be made from the current bumper crop of corporate scandals. So, with control of the Senate at stake, candidates -- especially in tight races like Minnesota, Missouri, and Texas -- are slipping into the mantle of the reformer and doing all they can to squeeze their way into the crowded populist tent. [ read more ]
It's Gut Check Time For Corporate America
(September 19, 2002)
So Jack Welch, the former head honcho of General Electric, has decided that the company's shareholders should no longer have to foot the bill for most of the pricey perks bestowed on him as part of his ultra-cushy retirement package. Welch's gravy train into the sunset includes an $80,000-a-month Central Park apartment (I'm guessing at that price that it probably has a park view), lifetime use of a company jet, maid service at his multiple homes, membership at an array of country clubs, flowers, limos, phones, computers, furniture, and prime tickets to Wimbledon, the opera, the U.S. Open, and every New York Knicks home game. [ read more ]
A Crack House Divided
(September 16, 2002)
I feel nothing but sympathy and concern for Noelle Bush. Her latest stumble on the rocky road to recovery -- being caught with crack cocaine at a drug rehab center -- shows that she is in desperate need of help. [ read more ]
Politicians And CEOs Gorge At The IPO Feast
(September 12, 2002)
The Loch Ness Monster. Papal infallibility. Angelina and Billy Bob's endless love. To this collection of shattered modern myths we can now add the heavily hyped notion that, with roughly half of Americans currently invested in the stock market, Wall Street has been "democratized" -- that all of us are equally free to travel its level road to riches. [ read more ]
Remembering September 12
(September 09, 2002)
This week, Americans will mark the solemn anniversary of Sept. 11. As we do, we'll think back to where we were when we first heard that the unthinkable had happened. As we observe moments of silence, light candles, listen to sermons and speeches, or sing "God Bless America," we'll remember the bewilderment, the fear, the horror, and the outrage. [ read more ]
Trickle Down Trickles Up Again
(September 05, 2002)
Like a lung cancer patient reaching for a pack of smokes, the Bush administration has greeted the latest run of gloomy economic news -- Tuesday's stock market plunge, a ballooning federal deficit, flagging consumer confidence, mounting unemployment, not to mention those pictures of Dennis Kozlowski literally wrapping himself in the flag in his yacht over Labor Day -- with a nerve-settling puff of its favorite brand of economic relief: tax cuts for the rich. And considering the imprudence of that idea, maybe they're smoking something a little stronger than Marlboros. [ read more ]
When "Back To School" Means "Tough Luck, Kid"
(September 02, 2002)
Back to school. For many kids, those words evoke a time for new teachers, new supplies, new clothes, new possibilities. But for millions of others, the phrase signals little more than the start of another miserable year stuck in a miserable failing school. [ read more ]
Fun Facts for the Dog Days of Summer
(August 29, 2002)
The dog days are here. Counting down to Labor Day, the most depressing holiday of the year, summer is gasping its last as our kids squeeze their last few droplets of fun from the withered husk. With the Dog Star, Sirius, looking down on these rituals, I thought Iíd offer up a Labor Day quiz, to take your mind off all the serious things we have to confront in five, four, three, two, good lord, just one day. You can read it aloud on your final visit to the beach, play for money around the barbeque, or use it to keep the designated driver alert on the way home. Of course, you can always wrap the catch of the day in it, if you prefer. Do with it what you will -- itís still a free country. [ read more ]
Mutual Funds: Corporate Crime's Narcoleptic Giant
(August 26, 2002)
As the wildfire of corporate scandals rages around us, it's clear itís being fueled by the dry rot of conflicts of interest: accountants double dipping as consultants, Wall Street analysts acting as investment bankers, politicians turning a blind eye on the dirty deeds of their campaign donors. But there is another, even more combustible conflict of interest that has yet to hit the headlines. The two-faced status of mutual funds managers. [ read more ]
Scandal Fatigue: Putting The Corporate Crime Wave Into Perspective
(August 22, 2002)
I'm tracking a new phenomenon called "scandal fatigue." It sets in when the corporate crime rate gets too high and the numbers being bandied about become too boggling to get your mind around. [ read more ]
Will The Corporate Powder Keg Ignite A Populist Explosion?
(August 19, 2002)
When I logged on to AOL to check my e-mail last week, I was more than a little surprised to find myself confronted not with one of those annoying pop-up ads for a cheap subscription to Teen People or the now-standard promo for the latest Warner Bros. movie, but with the faces of three smiling men. The caption read: ëThe Greediest Execs of All: They made billions as investors lost big.í [ read more ]
Wacko In Waco: The Brunch Bushians Drink The Kool-Aid
(August 15, 2002)
At the behest of their charismatic leader, the cult members gathered in Waco, a hot, dusty town on the flat, featureless central Texas plain. They had been summoned to hear an endless series of droning sermons from the leader himself and his fellow fanatics. [ read more ]
Redefining The Bottom Line: The Coming Corporate Revolution?
(August 12, 2002)
Goaded by a rash of bad press, a very public lashing at the Congressional whipping post, and a 38% drop in the company's stock this year, Citigroup announced last week a major change in the way the banking giant does business. CEO Sandy Weill characterized the move as part of Citigroup's campaign "to be a leader in defining and adopting higher standards". [ read more ]
A Democracy On Corporate Autopilot
(August 08, 2002)
The combination of the back-from-the-dead passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate responsibility bill and the broadcast-ready perp walks of Adelphia's John Rigas and WorldCom's Scott Sullivan may give the public the sense that corporate reform is a done deal. [ read more ]
Holding Dick Cheney "Accountable"
(August 05, 2002)
By now, you'd think the Bush White House would be pretty adept at responding to the rising tide of corporate scandals washing over the White House lawn. [ read more ]
One Flew Over The CEOs' Nest
(August 01, 2002)
Watching the latest installments of Must CEO TV -- disgraced corporate execs carted off in handcuffs or robotically taking the Fifth in front of congressional committees -- I found myself thinking that instead of the usual talk show pundits, it would be more useful to convene a roundtable discussion on the subject featuring Dr. Phil, Dr. Jung and Dr. Freud. Call it ìThe Three Doctors.î [ read more ]
The Little Guy Takes It On The Chin -- And In The Wallet
(July 29, 2002)
While visiting friends in Aspen last week, I had a close encounter of the disgraced CEO kind: I spotted Kenny Lay, garbed in a spiffy jogging suit, getting in a little morning cardio not far from one of the two multimillion dollar vacation homes he keeps there. I guess that second-hand shop his wife opened to sell off some of their booty has been doing brisk business. [ read more ]
How Can This Be Legal?
(July 25, 2002)
Responding to the bombshell revelation that senior bankers at Citigroup actively helped Enron hide billions in debt, Enron Lawyer of Last Resort Robert Bennett deftly summed up the real reasons for the current economic crisis: "Most of the problems -- not all of them -- are things that have been legal and acceptable". [ read more ]
Capitalism Without Conscience
(July 22, 2002)
"It is just the tip of the iceberg." Such is the well-worn clichÈ that has become the mantra of the moment, as soothsayers from think tanks, the media, politics, academia and even the business world, assess the current wave of corporate scandals. [ read more ]
Does Bush Have The Willpower To Cure Our National Hangover?
(July 18, 2002)
Sloshed. Three sheets to the wind. One too many. Thatís how the president is trying to explain away the avalanche of corporate corruption -- the billion dollar restatements, the endless stacks of cooked books, the sweetheart deals for corporate insiders -- as nothing more than the predictable result of a little too much economic hooch, the inevitable hangover from a decade-long corporate binge. [ read more ]
Crime And (Very Little) Punishment
(July 15, 2002)
Send the bastards to jail! At least, so goes the refrain from Americaís newest anti-corporate activists -- the Senate, the House, and the President. Clearly, corporate crime is finally starting to register on pollsters' seismographs because suddenly all of official Washington is high on corporate punishment -- drunk on the idea of tossing CEO scofflaws in the slammer. The Big House is all the rage, with politicians on both sides of the aisle dancin' to the jailhouse rock. [ read more ]
Undercover Brothers: The Anti-Reformers Blend In
(July 11, 2002)
Well, it seems the most recent scandals have made a WorldCom of difference. Any politician with an instinct for self-preservation (and what other kind is there?) can no longer be seen as standing against corporate reform. So the "genius of capitalism" crowd has adopted a new strategy: publicly embrace reform while working diligently behind the scenes to undermine it. [ read more ]
Corporate Crime And The President's Restatement Of Yearnings
(July 08, 2002)
Every scandal, it seems, produces at least one classic and defining euphemism -- a judiciously chosen word or phrase diligently employed to sugarcoat the sour reality at hand. [ read more ]
"R.I.P., P.I."
(June 17, 2002)
The last episode of "Politically Incorrect" will be broadcast on June 28. I'm going to be on it one last time, and I've promised myself I won't cry on the air. Once the cameras go off -- well, that's another story. [ read more ]
Still Life in Prison Stripes: A CEOís Not So Artful Dodge
(June 13, 2002)
Why? Thatís the question on everyoneís lips in the wake of the indictment of Tycoís former superstar CEO, Dennis Kozlowski, on charges of evading $1 million in sales taxes on paintings he bought. [ read more ]
Congress And Enron: Why The Bang Turned Into A Whimper
(June 10, 2002)
To the list of recent Next Big Things that fell far short of expectations -- an ignominious inventory that includes the Y2K bug, killer bees, New Coke and the Segway scooter -- we can now add the Enron scandal. [ read more ]
Analyze This: Wall Street Gives Investors The Finger
(June 06, 2002)
Weíve dodged the recession bullet. The worst is past. Everythingís coming up roses. At least, thatís what Washington wants you to believe -- even as Wall Street stubbornly refuses to shake off its doldrums. Whenever more bad news arrives -- such as Mondayís sell-off that sunk the market to an eight month low, more CEO scandals, and more corporate execs unloading company stock at a frenzied pace -- itís greeted with a note of surprise. Isnít it time the designated mouthpieces of the political-financial complex wiped that look of incredulity off their faces? [ read more ]
Did The Drug War Claim Another 3,056 Casualties On 9-11?
(June 03, 2002)
The Phoenix memo. The Rowley letter. The Oklahoma red flag. All elements in this true and tragic story of fumbling feds that has more smoking guns than a Quentin Tarantino movie. [ read more ]
Why Is Washington Ignoring The Warning Signs Of Economic Devastation?
(May 30, 2002)
Hindsight -- it's all the rage in Washington. But though the story of the missed terror warning signals is eating up all the headlines, there is another story of warning signs being ignored by our elected officials that's getting hardly any ink at all, even though these signs are multiplying at an alarming rate. [ read more ]
How Can I Never Repay You? The CEO Loan Racket
(May 23, 2002)
To the ever-growing mountain of evidence that corporate kingpins live in an entirely different world from the rest of us we can now add the latest revelations about the gargantuan loans CEOs receive from their companies: the $2.3 billion Adelphia Communications loaned to John Rigas and his kin, the $408 million WorldCom loaned to Bernie Ebbers, the $162 million Conseco loaned to Stephen Hilbert, the $88 million Tyco loaned to Dennis Kozlowski, and the millions upon millions in less ostentatious -- but no less outrageous - raids on company coffers by senior executives all across the corporate landscape. [ read more ]
Has The Patent Expired On The Pharmaceutical Industry's Invincibility?
(May 20, 2002)
Thanks to mega-millions spent on campaign contributions and lobbying, the pharmaceutical industry has long been Washington's 800-pound gorilla -- able to skirt government oversight of its patent-extending and price-gouging schemes by muscling politicians into doing its bidding. But now it's payback time for the big ape as drug companies find themselves under fire on a series of fronts -- assailed by Congress, federal prosecutors, federal regulators, human rights activists and international health organizations. [ read more ]
Tax Avoidance And A Tan: Why I'm Thinking Of Moving This Column To Bermuda
(May 15, 2002)
It's official: I've decided to move this column to Bermuda. But don't worry about getting me a house-warming present, because I'm not really going anywhere. I'll still live in America, earn my living here, and enjoy the protection, technology, infrastructure, and all the other myriad benefits of the land of the free and the home of the brave. I'm just changing my business address. Because if I do that, I won't have to pay for those benefits -- I'll get them for free! [ read more ]
Scooby Dooby Doo, Harvey Pitt, Where Are You?
(May 13, 2002)
You know things have really gotten out of hand when the most scathing attacks on corporate greed and Wall Street malfeasance are being launched not by knee-jerk business haters and anti-globalization Jeremiahs but from the glittering towers of corporate America. [ read more ]
America's Latest Air Campaign: Broadcasting For Peace In The Middle East
(May 09, 2002)
One step forward, fifteen bloody steps back. So goes the grisly struggle to find a solution to the violence in the Middle East. The hope generated by the agreement to end the standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was quickly dashed by the latest suicide attack -- ripping through a crowded pool hall south of Tel Aviv at the same time President Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were meeting in the Oval Office. [ read more ]
Greed, Fraud, And Apologies: Corporate America's New Bottom Line
(May 06, 2002)
Every day the morning paper brings a fresh example of the flotsam bubbling to the surface following the collision of corporate greed and post-Enron reality: golden boy executives forced to walk the plank, formerly high-flying companies ìrestatingî fraudulently inflated earnings, internal emails exposing the depths to which Wall Street firms have sunk to boost their bottom lines. [ read more ]
Penny-Wise, Dirty Nuke Foolish
(May 02, 2002)
If President Bush's goal is to make the United States a safer country, he's got an odd way of doing it. In a desperate attempt to trim the budget and minimize the projected $100 billion deficit, the Bush administration has slashed by 93 percent a Department of Energy (DOE) request for $379 million to better secure America's storehouse of nuclear weapons and waste -- the number one item on every terrorist's shopping list. [ read more ]
The Madness Of Newark's King James
(April 29, 2002)
Those holding political power in America today are so used to going unchallenged -- the turnover rate for incumbents is only a smidge higher than for Popes -- that when it actually happens, they go nuts. [ read more ]
Bingeing On Blake: The Media Falls Off The Wagon
(April 24, 2002)
The addicts have fallen off the wagon. Again. Alert the media. [ read more ]
My Big Fat Greek Column
(April 22, 2002)
Diversity. From newsrooms to boardrooms to classrooms, America's high priests of culture are working to promote it. [ read more ]
The Free Market Shrugged
(April 18, 2002)
"Businessmen," said Ayn Rand in 1961, "are the symbol of a free society -- the symbol of America. If and when they perish, civilization will perish." But then, the high priestess of free enterprise never met the men of Enron. [ read more ]
Tulia And Beyond: Taking Drug Task Forces To Task
(April 15, 2002)
Ever heard of Tulia? It's a little town in Texas that was the scene of one of the most shameful miscarriages of justice in modern American history -- a highly questionable undercover drug sting that in the summer of 1999 led to the arrest of one out of every six of the town's African-Americans. [ read more ]
Will Saddam's Oily Scheme Help Save Bush's ANWR Dream?
(April 11, 2002)
The president, never shy about playing the increasingly dog-eared national security card for political gain, is now using the growing crisis in the Middle East to justify his renewed call for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. [ read more ]
The New Bush Doctrine: "See You Next Week"
(April 08, 2002)
Did you catch the following through-the-looking-glass exchange regarding President Bushís appeal to the Israelis to withdraw immediately from the West Bank? [ read more ]
Charter Schools Are Transforming Public Education: Is Anyone Running For Office Paying Attention?
(April 04, 2002)
There are only 214 days left until the midterm election, and, like Diogenes going door-to-door in search of an honest man, Democratic Party strategists, desperate to win back the House, are wandering across the political wasteland in search of an issue to run on. They seem so lost: the economy is bouncing back, fear of an energy crisis has dimmed, Enron's stink has proved bipartisan and President Bush's wartime popularity has Republican candidates feeling smug enough to question the patriotism of any dissenters. (The only question is: when will the first "Can you trust your family's safety to Dick Gephardt?" ads hit the airwaves?) [ read more ]
What Has The Supreme Court Been Smoking?
(April 01, 2002)
In an infuriating blow to reason, logic, fairness, compassion and equal justice, the Supreme Court ruled last week that people living in public housing can be evicted for any drug activity by any household member or guest -- even if the drug use happened blocks away from the housing project and even if the tenant had no inkling that anything illegal was taking place. [ read more ]
Hollywood Sends A Message: Sign the Mine Ban Treaty
(March 27, 2002)
Lights, camera... landmines. Ever since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has been looking to Hollywood for help in burnishing America's image around the world. Who can forget roving ambassador Karl Rove taking a meeting in Beverly Hills with the entertainment industry's heaviest hitters back in November? [ read more ]
Poverty, The President And The Pest
(March 25, 2002)
Browsing the back pages of my morning paper the other day, I came across the following passionate pronouncement: "The growing divide between wealth and poverty, between opportunity and misery, is both a challenge to our compassion and a source of instability. We must confront it." [ read more ]
Political Oscars 2002
(March 21, 2002)
It used to be that we had to wait until an election year for negative campaigning, rumor-mongering, mud-slinging, and win-at-all-cost consultants. But, now, thanks to the increasing convergence of Washington and Hollywood, we get to be treated to these unseemly political staples every year come Oscar time. [ read more ]
Homeland Security: The White House Shows Its True Colors
(March 18, 2002)
Let me get this straight: While Tom Ridge and his Office of Homeland Security were spending months looking at swatches before unveiling their colorful terror alerts, their partners in safety over at the INS were routinely approving student visas for Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi? [ read more ]
National Missile Defense: Blowing The Whistle On Bad Science
(March 14, 2002)
It's the biggest comeback of the millennium to date: nuclear weapons. [ read more ]
Dave And Ted's Excellent Adventure
(March 11, 2002)
What a letdown! So after all the Sturm und Drang of the last 10 days -- the bruised egos, the corporate intrigue, the "I am too relevant!" New York Times Op-Ed -- the David Letterman-Ted Koppel imbroglio ends not with a climactic, Nielsen-grabbing bang but a yawn-inducing whimper. Score one for entropy and the status quo. [ read more ]
Good-Bye, Soft Money; Hello, Hard Choices
(March 07, 2002)
As we await with bated breath and crossed fingers congressional passage of the first meaningful campaign finance reform bill since Watergate, I just can't shake this scene from the future that keeps popping into my head. (I may not be the oracle from Delphi, but I am Greek.) [ read more ]
The GOP-Teamsters Love Affair: A Match Made In ANWR
(March 04, 2002)
Itís a match made in heaven. Actually, not quite that far north -- in Alaska. With the Senate scheduled to begin debating the administration's energy bill this week -- including its plan to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- the president is expending a great many kilowatts of his own energy to guarantee its passage. His partner in this oily scheme is none other than the Teamsters Union. Yes, the very same Teamsters who endorsed Al Gore and who, in the last election cycle, funneled 93% of their PAC donations to Democrats. [ read more ]
Cheney's War On The Public's Right To Know
(February 27, 2002)
The war has moved into a new phase: Walker vs. Cheney. No, it's not John Walker and the War on Terrorism. It's David Walker and the War on the Public's Right to Know. Walker is the comptroller general of the United States. His foe is the vice president of the United States. Their battleground is government accountability versus the Bush administration's desire to keep secrets. Sunshine vs. Shadows. [ read more ]
George W.'s Book Club -- Join Now!
(February 25, 2002)
Call him the Reader of the Free World. [ read more ]
The Bush Oil-igarchy's Pipeline Protection Package
(February 21, 2002)
With the stench of Enron growing more acrid each day, you'd think the last thing President Bush would want is to be seen toadying to another deep-pocketed energy giant. [ read more ]
The Rubber Meets The Road: Powell Commits Sin Of Honesty
(February 18, 2002)
No matter how overwhelming the evidence, there are always a few true believers who just won't admit they're wrong. This eccentricity of human nature accounts for the fact that you can still find people who insist that the earth is actually flat or that evolution is little more than an interesting theory or that Elvis is alive and well and living in Cincinnati. [ read more ]
Drugs In Our Food: A National Security Issue?
(February 14, 2002)
Would you like a side of fries with that cruise missile? [ read more ]
AmeriCorps And Dick Armey's Friendly Fire
(February 11, 2002)
Talk about friendly fire. That was House Majority Leader Dick Armey pronouncing the president "so wrong" on his plan to greatly expand federal funding for AmeriCorps -- the national service program Armey called "obnoxious." Poring over Armey's tirade, I could only shake my head knowingly and think: Been there. Done that. And Armey is as dead wrong as I was. [ read more ]
The War on Terror's Newest Target: America's Kids
(February 07, 2002)
Did you know you are harboring terrorists in your furnished basement? To the terrible trio of Iran, Iraq and North Korea, we've now got to add millions of American kids. At least that's the cock and bull story the commander in chief is peddling with a slick new $10 million ad campaign that is one of the most offensive displays of drug war propaganda ever. And that's saying something. [ read more ]
World Economic Forum: Takin' It To The Suites
(February 01, 2002)
NEW YORK -- "Rich and Powerful Gathering at Elite Forum on Economy," trumpeted the headline of a front-page New York Times story on the World Economic Forum. So how come I keep running into activists, academics, social entrepreneurs, consumer advocates and fellow journalists rather than the corporate elite? [ read more ]
The Giant Sucking Sound Of The Other Chapter 11
(January 31, 2002)
Chapter 11 is all the rage right now. And many of the biggest, the best and the brightest corporations are doing it. But while the multibillion-dollar bankruptcies of Enron and Global Crossing are grabbing all the headlines, there is another Chapter 11, one you most likely haven't heard of, that poses an equally great danger to our democracy. [ read more ]
Political Contributions Have Absolutely No Impact... And Other Beltway Lies
(January 28, 2002)
Well, at least one good thing has come out of the Enron debacle, other than a post-Thanksgiving spike in shredder sales. Prodded by revelations that almost half of Congress had cashed Enron checks, campaign finance reformers finally snagged the last two signatures needed to bring the Shays-Meehan ban on soft money to a long-overdue vote. Maybe it's Enron's way of giving a little something back. [ read more ]
The Evil Ones Here At Home
(January 23, 2002)
"I'm worried," the president said in a speech last week, "about the fact that the evil ones hit us and it caused people to lose their jobs." No, he wasn't talking about Enron, but he could have been. [ read more ]
Dr. King And The Leader In The Mirror
(January 18, 2002)
In this time of lilliputian public figures -- calling Tom Daschle, paging Denny Hastert -- the life of Martin Luther King, whose birth we celebrate this week, stands out in sharp relief. Even 34 years after his death, the lessons he can teach us are of indestructible value. They are lessons of courage, justice and tolerance. And especially of the meaning of authentic leadership. [ read more ]
Memo To Washington: We Can Handle The Truth
(January 17, 2002)
I already miss the straight talk of 2001. [ read more ]
America's Other War Heats Up
(January 14, 2002)
It looks like the war is about to turn a lot uglier. No, I'm not talking about Afghanistan. I'm talking about America's Other War -- the Drug War -- and the way it's playing out down in Colombia, where a simmering civil war is wired to explode. [ read more ]
Compassionate Conservatives vs. Enron Conservatives
(January 10, 2002)
So now we know why the White House has spent the better part of a year fending off congressional efforts to find out who Vice President Cheney met with for input on his Energy Task Force. Turns out the VP and his staff had at least six meetings with representatives from Enron -- including one with Chairman Kenneth Lay -- the last of which occurred just six days before the company revealed that it had vastly overstated its earnings, signaling the beginning of the end for the energy giant. [ read more ]
2002: A Watershed Year For Political Leadership
(January 07, 2002)
We stand at a watershed moment in the annals of political leadership. If you believe the pundits, that is. To hear them tell it, not since Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton and Franklin crossed quills at the Constitutional Convention have we seen such a confluence of greatness. [ read more ]
2002: Fuggedaboudit
(January 03, 2002)
Standing here on the threshold of the New Year, let's take a moment and scrape off our shoes -- no need to sully 2002 with the muddy remnants of all the nasty stuff we stepped in over the last 12 months. [ read more ]
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