The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – President Obama said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that the state of America is “strong.” If you listen to conservative Republican politicians, they’ll tell you without exception that “right to work” for less laws are an essential tool in recruiting industry and providing…
The Word ‘Liberal’ is Experiencing a Resurgence in American Life – By Glynn Wilson – Could it be that the people of my home state are finally starting to get their news online and waking up to the ravages of run amok corporate capitalism and the do-nothing nature of conservative Republicans who don’t know how…
Full text of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union Address 2014. THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, my fellow Americans: Today in America, a teacher spent extra time with a student who needed it, and did her part to lift America’s graduation rate to its highest level in more than…
By Glynn Wilson – TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Workers at the Mercedes auto plant say they can talk all day long on the job about Alabama football or hunting and killing deer. They just can’t talk about organizing a union. Mercedes employees and union supporters from across the state gathered at the United Auto Workers union…
Grandpa Tell me ’bout the good old days. Sometimes it feels like This world’s gone crazy. Grandpa, take me back to yesterday, Where the line between right and wrong Didn’t seem so hazy. Did lovers really fall in love to stay Stand beside each other come what may was a promise really something people kept,…
By Glynn Wilson – The fight over an oil pipeline through the drinking water supply for Mobile, Alabama has landed in court. Environmental groups are challenging a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Plains Southcap, LLC pipeline routed through the Big Creek Lake watershed. The lawsuit filed Friday in Federal…
Unions to Hold Press Conference and Rally in Coaling Alabama Monday, Jan. 27 – By Glynn Wilson – The National Labor Relations Board has found probable cause to hold a hearing charging Mercedes officials in Vance Alabama with violations of the National Labor Relations Act by acting to prohibit union organizing. A formal hearing on…
By Jackie Tortora – President Barack Obama will give his annual State of the Union address to the American people next week. But what is the state of our union? The vast majority of America’s working families have experienced a raw deal in recent decades. Wages are falling, the gulf between the rich and everybody…
Scientists using the Herschel space observatory have made the first definitive detection of water vapor on the largest and roundest object in the asteroid belt on a dwarf planet, a body in the solar system bigger than an asteroid but smaller than a planet, called Ceres. Plumes of water vapor are thought to shoot up…
By Glynn Wilson – Scientists now say 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures, according to a new report out from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years in the 134-year record…
Democrats and Independents More Dissatisfied Than Republicans – By Glynn Wilson – Two out of three Americans are dissatisfied with the way income and wealth are distributed in the United States, according to Gallup’s Mood of the Nation poll. This should come as no surprise considering all the news stories over the past decade or…
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – Facebook always asks “what’s on your mind” in the Status Update box. But rather than answering that question on Facebook, I will reveal my thoughts for today here and then put the link on Facebook for people to read. That’s the way I roll. Like Willie Nelson…
Text of the president’s remarks on reforming intelligence gathering at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. – THE PRESIDENT: At the dawn of our Republic, a small, secret surveillance committee borne out of the “The Sons of Liberty” was established in Boston. And the group’s members included Paul Revere. At night, they would patrol…
By Steve Rosenthal – Not too long ago, everyone was declaring American politics a lost cause for progressives. The religious right supposedly had a stranglehold on elections. Then it was the tea party that had the political establishment — initially Democrats and Republicans — quaking. The media and the general public took hold of a…
Colombia has ordered U.S.-based coal producer Drummond to stop loading coal in Colombian ports until the company complies with new environmental rules. Under the regulations, coal exporters will no longer be allowed to use barges and cranes to load ships. The rules are aimed at preventing spillage and pollution of the seas. Three weeks ago,…
Coming Clean – By Michael Brune – I’ve written a lot about the consequences of relying on fossil fuels for energy, but the chemical spill into West Virginia’s Elk River still comes as a shock. Almost a week later, thousands are still without drinking water, and many of those who’ve been given the “all clear”…
A $7,200 reward is being offered to anyone with information that directly leads to an arrest or a criminal conviction of those responsible for the unlawful shooting of two endangered whooping cranes near Pond River on the Hopkins and Muhlenberg County line in Kentucky. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Kentucky Department of…
Letter to the Editor – By Margo Rebar – Chair, Alabama Chapter of the Sierra Club The people of Alabama need to know what the recommendations are for securing our water resources from the threats of outside neighboring states and inside competing uses. But it seems water in Alabama is something of a political football.…
By Glynn Wilson – Alabama is already a so-called Right-to-Work state, a phrase that must have been written by some Orwellian political operative like Karl Rove who twist words into things that are the exact opposite of what they mean to confuse citizens and appeal to certain kinds of voters at election time. But that…
