AltWeeklies Wire
Anatomy of a Corporate Layoff
They say getting laid off is better than being "fired for cause." You qualify for unemployment benefits. It looks better to future prospective employers (ha! as though those still existed). Getting laid off isn't personal.
For me, that was the problem.
Tags: Economy
Hey Right-Wingers! Please Save Us From ObamaCare!
America desperately needs smart, strong opposition to ObamaCare. The worst part of this bad plan is its "mandate," which requires the uninsured to buy insurance at hyper-inflated prices from greedy for-profit private corporations.
Animated Cartoon: How to Save Newspapersnew
The average age of a newspaper reader is 55. Now, in handy Animated form, comes the solution: reaching out the older readers who are keeping the press vibrant!
Triumph of the Swill: Thoughts on 'The Hurt Locker'
The Motion Picture Academy's choice of "The Hurt Locker" as best film of 2009 is a sad commentary on the movie business as well as America's unwillingness to face the ugly truth about itself nearly a decade after 9/11.
Say It's So, Tiger Woods!
Let's assume that all the accusations of serial philandering are true. That no waitress was safe from Tiger Woods' charms. What right do we, the public, have to be upset? Woods never presented himself as a pillar of moral virtue. He marketed himself as a great golfer. His job was to knock balls into holes—which he did. He didn't cheat at golf.
The Haiti Memory Hole
No one could have anticipated the soaring brazenness or the cynical linguistic savagery U.S. state-controlled media would deploy while "covering" the invasion of Haiti.
Earthquake in Haiti: Made in USA
As grim accounts of the earthquake in Haiti came in, the accounts in U.S.-controlled state media all carried the same descriptive sentence: "Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere..."
Gee, I wonder how that happened?
Foreclose on the Banks
It was widely understood at the time that the federal government expected looser credit markets in exchange for the bailout. Obviously Obama should have gotten it in writing. But oral contracts are just as legally binding as written ones.
Copenhagen: Nice Show, But We're Doomed No Matter What
It is almost certainly too late to save ourselves. Like recycling and not littering, reducing CO2 output amounts to mere politeness. It's a nice gesture. But it won't make any difference.
Maui Time |
Ted Rall |
12-07-2009 |
Environment
War, More War, or Morer War
The amazing part is how far we've traveled down the path towards all war, all the time: Obama didn't even have to pretend to consider pulling out of Afghanistan. He didn't even have to appoint a token peacenik to his cabinet. He didn't even have to talk to one. Which perfectly mirrors the media.
America on Trial, via Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Never mind the Constitution, the Geneva Conventions or common decency -- on the question of what to do about POWs rotting away at Guantanamo Bay concentration camp, right-wingers' concerns are purely practical.
Maui Time |
Ted Rall |
11-19-2009 |
Crime & Justice
The Difference Between Deaths Here and 'Over There'
Thirteen soldiers die in Texas and it's all we talk about. Two million die in Afghanistan and Iraq and we don't notice -- and we don't even want to hear about it.
Dithering While America Sneezes
America's scandalous lame (non-)response to the swine flu pandemic isn't a big deal. Not compared to, say, the melting of the polar ice cap. It isn't torture. Or war. It pales next to giving hundreds of billions of dollars to wealthy bankers and nothing to homeowners facing foreclosure. But it sure is interesting.
Why Hasn't Obama Abrogated Bush's Controversial Executive Orders?
Simply put, no one man -- not even a nice, articulate, charismatic one -- ought to claim the right to suspend a person's constitutional rights. Not in America. Certainly no one man -- not even a young, handsome, likeable one -- should be able to have anyone he wants whacked.
