By Paul Harris – The Guardian – Documentary promising revelations about reclusive Catcher in the Rye author has been snapped up by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein – J.D. Salinger, the elusive author of The Catcher in the Rye, was one…
Guest Columns
Let’s Count the Ways President Obama is Not as Bad as Bush
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By Stephen D. Foster Jr. – President Obama and President Bush should never be compared to one another. Ever. These men couldn’t be more different when it comes to policy, personality, and decision-making. In fact, let us count 100 different…
Big Oil Uses the Republican Party to Subvert American Democracy
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By Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – In a surprise move, the eight Republican members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday blocked a floor vote on President Obama’s nominee, Gina McCarthy, as U.S. EPA Administrator. In doing so…
The Sun Is Rising in the West on Alternative Energy
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Coming Clean – By Michael Brune – When Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a few weeks ago that his city would be off coal power entirely by 2025, it was both exciting and, as Al Gore put it, “a…
Remembering Workers on Memorial Day
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Workers’ Memorial Day – By Al Henley – Alabama workers are encouraged to join the AFL-CIO in recognizing Workers’ Memorial Day on Sunday, On April 28. Each year on Workers Memorial Day, working people throughout the world remember those who…
A Path to the Future on Immigration Policy
Coming Clean – By Michael Brune – In 1849, an eleven-year-old boy moved with his family to the United States. More than four decades later, that boy co-founded the Sierra Club and served as its president for the next 22…
E.O. Wilson: Many Great Scientist Are Not Good at Math
Here’s a secret: Discoveries emerge from ideas, not number-crunching – By E.O. Wilson – For many young people who aspire to be scientists, the great bugbear is mathematics. Without advanced math, how can you do serious work in the sciences?…
Confessions of an Unread Book Reviewer
By Jim Reed – As a reviewer, it’s hard not to cheat. Some publisher or hopeful author sends me a package of material, including a book, and hopes that something within that package will inspire me to write a review.…
Ennui and Anomie in the Deep South
“San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. . . . So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and…
Senators Question Sally Jewell, Obama’s Choice for Secretary of the Interior
By Michael Brune – Sierra Club Executive Director – Watching the members of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources question Sally Jewell, President Obama’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior, brought to mind John McPhee’s classic Encounters with…
Climate of Uncertainty: Planning for the Hoax Apocalypse
By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – Deniers and doubters of global warming, frequent bedfellows with haters of the government, have the government to thank for opportunities to make money off global warming. The accursed feds concluded years ago that…
Is the FCC Moving Towards Allowing More Media Consolidation?
Q&A – By Bill Moyers – The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote to relax a longstanding ban that prevents one company from owning radio and television stations and newspapers in the same city — a move that activists…
Police State 101: University Of South Alabama Offers After-Hours Course In Deadly Force
A protester at the University of South Alabama – Social Commentary – By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. — The University of South Alabama has taught a bonus lesson not included in the tuition. The instructor was a university policeman,…
Amendment 4 Violates State’s Responsibility for Public Education
By Dr. Gerald W. Johnson, Auburn Professor Emeritus of Political Science/ Special to the News-Journal – MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The number one responsibility of the state and the number one priority of our citizenry is public education. Amend. 4 on…
Professor Wayne Flynt Says Vote ‘No’ on Amendment 4
By Wayne Flynt/ Special to the News-Journal – AUBURN, Ala. — Have you ever listened to a conversation between two friends about a complicated issue? Because you find some truth in both arguments, you change back and forth as each…
Obamacareless: Sickness Is the Health of the State
by David Underhill Guest Column The racket about getting medical care to those without it isn’t really about that. Keeping this in mind will make the shrillest weeks of the campaign season more bearable as elections approach. The coronation of…
Conservatives Attack Scientific Findings About Why They Hate Science
Which Helps Confirm the Science Guest Column by Chris Mooney AlterNet Two months have passed since my new book, The Republican Brain, was published, and so far it has gotten a lot of media attention. However, the coverage has followed…
DIE-ALYSIS: Alabama Governor Dr. Bentley and the Legislature’s Plan for Kidney Patients
Guest Column by David Underhill MOBILE, Ala. — I didn’t like counting out the coins from the fruit jar and adding up how far they would go toward a family’s unpaid bill at the medical group practice where I worked.…
Republican Charter School Plan Comes Up Short
Guest Column by Jason Robert Cornelius While legislation allowing for the operation of charter schools might sound like a good idea for a state in the perpetual grip of a public school funding crisis, the charter-school proposal in its current…
We Can Support Intellectual Property, Copyright Laws and Net Neutrality
Guest Column Al Franken As you may know, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided not to bring the PROTECT IP Act (the Senate’s version of SOPA) up for a vote next week. And since I’ve heard from many of…
White House Responds to Petition on Alleged Threat to Open Internet
Combating Online Piracy while Protecting an Open, Innovative Internet Guest Column by Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra, and Howard Schmidt Thanks for taking the time to sign this petition. Both your words and actions illustrate the importance of maintaining an open…