IPS Blog

his week in OtherWords, Jill Richardson puts her own brush with food stamps into a broader context, Jim Hightower lampoons a rich Tennessee lawmaker who wants to slash spending on the program but pockets plenty of farm subsidies, and Marc Morial calls for raising the minimum wage. Donald Kaul, meanwhile, bids Michele Bachmann a not-so-fond farewell.

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Here's a clickable summary of all our latest commentaries and a link to our new cartoon.

1. None of My Business / Chris Schillig
   We have a cockeyed view of poverty in America.
2. Prosperity for All / Richard Kirsch
   The economy that matters is measured by whether enough Americans hold decent jobs, not the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
3. Boosting the Economy from the Bottom Up / Marc Morial
   It's time to raise the minimum wage and peg it to inflation.
4. Michele Bachmann Bows Out / Donald Kaul
   Her most hilarious accomplishment was being named to the House Intelligence Committee.
5. The Wealthy’s Free Pass / Sam Pizzigati
   Our tax code pads the bottom line of the Americans who need help the least.
6. Feeding the Economy / Jill Richardson
   The government should expand the food stamp program, not shrink it.
7. A Frog-Jumping Double Standard on Food Subsidies / Jim Hightower
   Millionaire lawmaker Stephen Fincher is pushing for cuts to food stamps and increases in subsidies that will pad the Tennessee Republican's own bottom line.
8. Cleaning Up Our Portfolios / Emily Schwartz Greco and William A. Collins
   A new movement is putting pressure on people and institutions to dump their investments in dirty energy companies.
9. Food Stamps SOS / Khalil Bendib 
   
   Emily Schwartz Greco is the managing editor of OtherWords, a non-profit national editorial service run by the Institute for Policy Studies OtherWords.org
    

This week in OtherWords, Bob Lord points to the larger story behind Apple's outrageous-without-being-illegal tax record and Jess Hunter-Bowman notes that Latin America is leading the way toward a more rational drug policy.

Here's a clickable summary of all our latest commentaries and a link to our new cartoon. As always, these materials are available for use at no charge in newspapers and new media under a Creative Commons license. Editors may find information about that on our website or contact me with any questions at OtherWords[ AT ]ips-dc.org.

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1. Charting a New Course on Illegal Drugs / Jess Hunter-Bowman
   After 40 years of failing to stem the drug trade, there's a global conversation about new approaches.
2. The Irish Tax Blight / Bob Lord
   Apple has illuminated how corporations can easily avoid taxation as our economy becomes more global.
3. How to Help Syria Now / Chris Toensing
   Washington should step up diplomacy and humanitarian aid rather than taking a more belligerent stance.
4. Oklahoma’s Biblical Irony / Donald Kaul
   Sen. Coburn's underlying logic goes to the heart of the snake oil that Republicans are selling the American people these days.
5. These Hedges Need Trimming / Sam Pizzigati
   Are hedge funds a financial service or a racket?
6. How I Fell for Farmers’ Markets / Jill Richardson
   Eaters everywhere across America are discovering the joy of buying directly from local farmers.
7. The New Face of Poverty in America / Jim Hightower
   The suburbs have become the fastest-growing home of American poverty.
8. Neglecting Mother Nature / William A. Collins
   There's no clear sense of urgency regarding the environment in the United States today.
9. Oklahoma’s Silly Goose / Khalil Bendib cartoon
   
   Emily Schwartz Greco is the managing editor of OtherWords, a non-profit national editorial service run by the Institute for Policy Studies OtherWords.org
    

This week in OtherWords, Martha Burk weighs in on the military's lackluster efforts to stop sexual assaults within the ranks and Donald Kaul reviews the Obama administration's outbreak of scandals.

Here's a clickable summary of all our latest commentaries and a link to our new cartoon. We're also featuring Jim Hightower's take on Budweiser's latest marketing maneuver on our blog.

If you haven't already subscribed to our weekly newsletter, please do. 

1. Our Women in Uniform Deserve Better / Martha Burk
   The Pentagon has a systemic problem with foxes guarding henhouses when it comes to doing battle with the military's sexual assault problem.
2. With Americans Moving Forward on Gay Rights, Why Won’t the GOP? / Drew Courtney
   Congress will soon debate something the rest of America decided years ago: whether or not it’s okay to fire people for being gay.
3. Faking Farm Savings / Ryan Alexander
   It's a time-honored tradition in Washington to do as little as possible and look good while (not) doing it.
4. Scandal Season at the Obama White House / Donald Kaul
   If Karl Rove is running a social welfare outfit, I'm the Queen of Romania.
5. Money Still Can’t Buy Happiness / Sam Pizzigati
   And we finally have a nation that's taking that reality to heart.
6. Censoring Our Food / Jill Richardson
   If farms and slaughterhouses are rife with repulsive and sadistic abuses, why should we pass laws to help hide it?
7. The New Crime of Eating While Homeless / Jim Hightower
   By outlawing dumpster diving, Houston is making life impossible for the most vulnerable.
8. Cannon Fodder, 21st Century-Style / William A. Collins
   If the IEDs, PTSD, and risk of sexual assault don't get you, the disillusionment will.
9. The Pentagon’s Assault Guidelines / Khalil Bendib cartoon
   
   Emily Schwartz Greco is the managing editor of OtherWords, a non-profit national editorial service run by the Institute for Policy Studies OtherWords.org
   
   
   
    

This week in OtherWords, Jill Richardson warns readers gearing up for their summer barbecues about the rise of superbugs. Those antibiotic-resistant bacteria are getting hard to avoid if you buy meat in American supermarkets.

We also have an op-ed by Raul A. Reyes on the Heritage Foundation's ill-fated report that was supposed to pinpoint the high cost of giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. As Reyes explains, this "study" instead exposed the think tank's shoddy research standards and the racist outlook of one of its lead authors.

OtherWords normally releases all our newsroom-ready commentaries on Wednesday mornings, but we make exceptions for work tied to breaking news. Following the resignation of disgraced report co-author Jason Richwine, we ran this op-ed on Saturday instead. We're increasingly tinkering with our timing, so please visit our website more often. When you do, be sure to check out our blog, where we offer bonus commentaries by Jim Hightower. This week, we're featuring our columnist's hilarious salute to Rep. Louie Gohmert and other political "nincompoops."

Here's a clickable summary of all our latest commentaries and a link to our new cartoon. If you haven't already subscribed to our weekly newsletter, please do.

1. The Swinging Electorate / Marc Morial
   Despite formidable efforts to disenfranchise African Americans in 2012, a larger percentage of black voters than white voters turned out at the polls to assure Obama's victory on Election Day.
2. License to Kill / David Reingold
   Without environmental regulations, many companies would gladly poison you to earn bigger profits.
3. No Junior Partner / Jess Hunter-Bowman
   Could someone please tell Secretary Kerry that Latin America is no longer our "backyard"?
4. Heritage’s Immigration Nightmare / Raul A. Reyes
   If the conservative think tank's intent was to derail immigration reform, that's a losing battle.
5. Uncle Sam: Please Tax the Titans / Donald Kaul
   Don't ask me what a hedge fund is — if I knew, I'd manage one.
6. A Primer for Taming Corporate Power / Sam Pizzigati
   For social change, slow and steady may win the race.
7. Those Uninvited Guests at Your Barbecue / Jill Richardson
   With most samples of several common store-bought meats testing positive for antibiotic-resistant "superbugs," factory farming practices must change.
8. The Parched Truth About American Jobs / Jim Hightower
   The recent good news about job creation obscures the bad news facing the nation's middle class.
9. Don’t Fence Me In / William A. Collins
   The prosperous are further isolating themselves physically, as well as economically, from the rest of us.
10. Superbugs at the Supermarket / Khalil Bendib cartoon

This week in OtherWords, Jason Salzman makes the case against the Koch brothers’ potential purchase of the Los Angeles Times and other Tribune Media newspapers while Jim Hightower weighs in on the larger context behind the recent garment worker tragedy in Bangladesh.

Here’s a clickable summary of all our latest commentaries and a link to our new cartoon. If you haven’t already subscribed to our weekly newsletter, please do.

1. Turning Journalism into a Joke / Jason Salzman
   Obama’s serious comments about the value of journalism stand out as the Koch brothers consider buying the Los Angeles Times.
2. Ohio’s Poorly Performing School Assessment / Chris Schillig
   Test scores don’t tell the whole story.
3. Fighting the Foodopoly / Wenonah Hauter
   Only four gigantic companies process 80 percent of the beef we eat.
4. Middle Eastern Re-Run / Donald Kaul
   Unless you have something better that can replace a brutal regime like Assad’s government in Syria, what can you accomplish with military intervention?
5. How We Pay for CEO ‘Performance’ / Sam Pizzigati
   A gaping tax loophole pads executive pay and the federal debt.
6. Hollow Bee Hives May Threaten Our Lives Too / Jill Richardson
   The United States should follow Europe’s example and ban pesticides that may be wiping out these key pollinators.
7. Fashion Victims / Jim Hightower
   The gravitational pull of corporate greed makes clothing factories prone to disasters like the recent tragedy in Bangladesh.
8. Our Stake in Guatemala’s Genocide Trial / Emily Schwartz Greco and William A. Collins
   Thirty years after Ríos Montt’s atrocities, U.S. military policy in Latin America remains a human rights disaster.
9. Made in Bangladesh / Khalil Bendib cartoon