May 20
Can you hear it? Conservatives are beating their war drums and banging their tambourines, trying to gin up support for U.S. intervention in Syria. Republican Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have been particularly vocal about their desire to get us deeply embroiled in yet another Middle Eastern conflict. They …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.easttexasreview.com/middle-eastern-re-run/
May 18
My state of Texas seems to have an inordinate share of nincompoops in public office. But it’s only fair that office holders from other states be considered before deciding which one is the nincompoopiest of all. Give credit to Pennsylvania, for example, whose GOP governor, Tom Corbett, recently scored big nincompoop points by explaining why …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.easttexasreview.com/rep-gohmert-wins-nincompoop-roundup/
May 14
You may think that your most significant interaction with bees is trying not to get stung. But, in fact, you have bees to thank for nearly one-third of all food crops: almonds, apples, peaches, honey, and watermelons, to name a few. If our bees are in trouble, then we’re in trouble too. For years now, …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.easttexasreview.com/hollow-bee-hives-may-threaten-our-lives-too/
May 11
You see it in stores across our country and around the world: colorful and stylish clothing with happy-sounding brand names like Children’s Place, Papaya, Joe Fresh, and Mango. But you don’t see the factories where these cheerful garments are made. Nor are we shown the strained faces of the impoverished workers who make them, paid …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.easttexasreview.com/fashion-victims-the-gravitational-pull-of-corporate-greed-makes-clothing-factories-prone-to-disasters-like-the-recent-tragedy-in-bangladesh/
May 04
Ebenezer Scrooge, the Dickens character, perfectly personified the nasty rich. For example, when asked to make a charitable donation for people trapped in poverty, Scrooge curled his lip in contempt and snarled: “Are there no prisons?” Blessedly, our American society has progressed well past such heartless disdain. Unless, of course, you happen to be poor …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.easttexasreview.com/making-poverty-a-crime/
Apr 29
Yes, I know I said I wasn’t going to write any more columns on gun control, largely because the exercise is: 1. Futile. 2. A waste of time. 3. Unproductive. But with Congress taking up the issue again and Washington awash with hypocrisy amid rumors of progress, it is a time that cries out for …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.easttexasreview.com/no-progress-on-gun-control-to-report/
Apr 24
The federal budget is, according to many experts, a “political document.” It’s how our political leaders convey their priorities to the people they serve. So what’s the political lesson of Barack Obama’s recent budget plan? He apparently thinks older people could get by with less. The Obama budget has attracted a lot of attention — …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.easttexasreview.com/cutting-your-benefits-isnt-the-middle-way/
Apr 20
I started running about four years ago to lose weight. At first I hated it. My lungs burned and my head hurt and every footstep felt like sledge hammers pounding on my calves. I persisted out of stubbornness. I’d bought a good pair of shoes and I didn’t want to waste them. A few months …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.easttexasreview.com/lets-lace-up-and-keep-running-we-cant-close-down-the-world-and-huddle-in-our-houses-after-the-boston-marathon-attack/