Jennifer Granholm explains that Michigan’s new “right to work” law actually is a “right to work for less,” resulting in thousands of dollars a year less income for the average worker and even a lower education budget. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who is in the back pocket of the notorious oil billionaires, the Koch brothers, […]
In Memoriam: Ravi Shankar teaches George Harrison to Play Sitar
Ravi Shankar, the great sitar player who deeply influenced the American popular music of the 1960s and after, was among the figures who got me interested in India and led to my becoming a historian of South Asia. He died in San Diego on December 11 at age 92. Here is a video of Ravi […]
America’s Achipelago of Garrisons abroad costs $1 Trillion a Decade (Vine)
David Vine writes at Tomdispatch.com : “Are you monitoring the construction?” asked the middle-aged man on a bike accompanied by his dog. “Ah, sì,” I replied in my barely passable Italian. “Bene,” he answered. Good. In front of us, a backhoe’s guttural engine whined into action and empty dump trucks rattled along a dirt track. […]
Polling tries to make Republicans look like conspiracy nuts (Colbert Report Video)
The Colbert Report criticizes opinion pollsters for results that seem to make members of the US Republican Party look like conspiracy theorist nut cases. Or… does it? The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
South Damascus a Battlefield, as Bodies Pile up, and Bread Crisis in Capital Worsens
The forces seeking to overthrow the Baath government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad have made further advances both in the north in Aleppo and its surroundings, and in the suburbs of the capital of Damascus. But the civilian population in the war-torn country’s urban areas are facing food and electricity shortages: On Damascus, the USG […]
Bangladeshis have Sinking Feeling about Do-Nothing Doha Climate Conference (Video)
Bangladesh, among the countries most threatened by climate change, is deeply disappointed by the do-nothing COP18 climate conference that just wrapped up in Doha, Qatar. The country is very low-lying, and rising seas could displace some 30 million of its population of 150 million over the next 50 years. The country also suffers from the […]
The Green-Khaki Alliance: Morsi Deploys the Military for Referendum
Faced with the prospect of substantial public resistance to his scheduling of a referendum on a Muslim Brotherhood-tinged constitution on December 15, Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi has turned to the military. (The green in the title is a reference to political Islam, not the environment). Morsi has ordered that the Egyptian army guard government buildings […]
Bye, Bye Alexandria: A 1-Meter Sea Rise is Certain
COP18, the Climate Change Conference held in Doha, Qatar, is a dismal failure, with the United States and Russia being the chief villains. The failure of the world’s leaders to have their hair on fire about the extreme challenges of the climate change we are producing with our carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions […]
On the Real Reason John Boehner can’t Compromise on Obama Budget (Saturday Night Live Spoof)
From Saturday Night Live a comedic press conference starring Barack Obama and John Boehner, with Obama playing the elder brother trying to protect a victim of Tea Party bullying:
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