AltWeeklies Wire
ALEC Normalizes Corruption In Statehouses Across the Landnew
For almost four decades, the American Legislative Exchange Council, known by its acronym, “ALEC,” has worked hard on behalf of corporate America and right wing causes, helping to draft, build support for and pass laws through state legislatures across the nation—and doing so in relative anonymity, even as it skirts numerous state laws limiting corporate gift-giving and other forms of influence-peddling. It was never really clear why ALEC’s existence stayed such a secret, particularly since it wasn’t a secret. It’s just that, somehow, people seemed to ignore it, even though it wielded staggering amounts of power in legally questionable ways.
Random Lengths News |
Paul Rosenberg |
06-01-2012 |
Commentary
Why I Could Care Less About The L.A. Dodgersnew
The connection between fascism and sports.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
05-07-2012 |
Commentary
Remembering Tiberiusnew
The tragedy of forgetting history.
Random Lengths News |
James Preston Allen |
03-21-2012 |
Commentary
Tags: Tiberius
Free Trade Doesn't Worknew
There's been something wrong in this land for several decades now--most people have been sensing that but haven't been able to put a name to it. Finally, economist Ian Fletcher wrote a book called, "Free Trade Doesn't Work" which pretty effectively says it all.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
02-13-2012 |
Commentary
Thoughts On Steve Jobs, Capitalism, Cybernetics & Old Reactionary Bankersnew
I’ve never been a fan of capitalism, but Steve Jobs made that a difficult position to uphold.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
10-10-2011 |
Commentary
An Insidious Pack Of Scoundrelsnew
The insidious pack of scoundrel running for President on the Republican side make it difficult for me to figure out if I should shit or go blind in the event Obama were defeated by one of them. On the one hand, it's clear that the smartest among them is John Huntsman. He's not an obvious scoundrel like a Perry or a Bachman. He is intelligent, and for that reason I hope he is not the candidate. He's the only one who would have a chance of successfully going head to head with Obama. Hopefully he won't be the Republican candidate, I guess, but then I get the chills. I used to think that Ronald Reagan was a man who could never be elected president. I was wrong.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
09-14-2011 |
Commentary
The Fake On the Rightnew
Don’t be fooled or surprised by the tactics of the
unscrupulous who use false morality and deceit to gain
power for their own benefit.
Random Lengths News |
James Preston Allen |
06-21-2011 |
Commentary
The “Opposable Thumb” Will Be Celebrated In Downtown Los Angelesnew
Whether it’s an incredible coincidence or something more, the class struggle between those who use their opposable thumbs to create wealth and those who own the means of production has come full circle.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
03-08-2011 |
Commentary
Torn From Today’s Headlinesnew
Hoyt Hilsman, a well-known screenwriter and most recently a Democratic candidate against Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, has written his first novel, "Nineteen Angels," snatched right from today's headlines.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
02-28-2011 |
Commentary
Tags: Hoyt Hilsman, David Dreier
The Mad Hatter's Tea Partynew
There is a simple underlying fact that seems to be missing in all of this talk about deficit spending––something that you can check out for yourselves without having to take my word for it––the federal budget has only been in balance or had a surplus 24 of the last 110 years.
Random Lengths News |
James Preston Allen |
02-25-2011 |
Commentary
Democracy On the Vergenew
I applaud the uprising in Cairo at Tahrir Square and wish them a swift victory over all those who oppose the aspirations of democracy both at home and abroad. May their spirit inspire a whole generation, if not the whole world.
Random Lengths News |
James Preston Allen |
02-11-2011 |
Commentary
Despairnew
I was talking to a friend about the increasing despair I had been feeling since Boryana left me. I said I was afraid it was starting to morph into a black hole that would all but consume me. “Maybe it’s not just her,” Lee said. “Maybe it’s all the bad news that’s going on,” he said.
Boek said that we had had a shadow government for decades now. “The politicians are just the fronts for them,” he said. “Obama has to know that, even if he tries to get as much for the workingman as possible.”
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
12-20-2010 |
Commentary
The Tea Party Was Foretold by Sinclair Lewis' Classic, "It Can't Happen Here"new
As the Tea Party has forced a new low in American politics, making the threat of fascism the most real it has been in decades, I am reminded of a novel Sinclair Lewis wrote about eight decades ago called "It Can't Happen Here."
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
12-10-2010 |
Commentary
Who Was The Real Hero of The 1910 Bombing of The Los Angeles Times?new
The bombing of the Los Angeles Times building in 1910 -- whose centennial is in October -- undercut the power of the American labor movement for decades.
Random Lengths News |
Lionel Rolfe |
08-09-2010 |
Commentary
Tags: Los Angeles Times
Economics of War and Fearnew
In a war economy much of what gets built gets blown up, destroyed, or wasted, as it were, on the unquestionable goal of winning.
Random Lengths News |
James Preston Allen |
08-09-2010 |
Commentary
Tags: Iraq, Afghanistan
