Tag: Michael Winship

Pete Seeger and the Causes of Mankind

The death of Pete Seeger on Monday brought back waves of memories for millions of people around the world who recalled his friendly tenor voice appealing to the best instincts of mankind, urging an end to war and want, as…

Capitol Hill’s Millionaire Club

Back from the holidays, Congress is hearing calls to raise the minimum wage, renew long-term unemployment insurance and spare food stamps from sharp budget cuts. But with most members now in the millionaire club, these issues are more and more…

Big-Money Politics Gains Ground

The Right’s “war on government” or perhaps put more accurately, its “war for unbridled corporate power” continues to rack up victories, routing reformers who have tried to block big-money dominance of democracy, writes Michael Winship.

Playing Deadly Games with ‘Gun Rights’

Pro-gun extremists routinely edit out of the Second Amendment its stated purpose of having “a well-regulated militia” maintain state “security.” The tampering lets them pretend the Founders would be okay with slaughters like the Newtown massacre, as Bill Moyers and Michael Winship…

November Days of Drums

For most Americans who lived through John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the memories are indelible where you were, what you felt, how you processed the news a cascade of recollections continuing even a half century later, Michael Winship notes.

America’s Real-Life ‘Hunger Games’

Congressional Republicans are eager to ladle more subsidies onto agribusinesses while slashing, if not eliminating, food stamps for the poor, a twisted version of America’s own “Hunger Games,” writes Michael Winship.

The Lies Killing America

While many reformers have focused on money in politics, a parallel danger comes from the billions of dollars that right-wing ideologues have poured into media. The likes of Rupert Murdoch have made an art form out of peddling “populism” that…

Playing Chicken with Food Safety

The U.S. Constitution empowers the federal government to “provide for the general Welfare,” but free-market ideologues have distorted the Founding document’s plain language to fit their desires, including their new demands that food-safety rules be gutted, as Michael Winship explains.

What the IRS ‘Scandal’ Wrought

The anger of Tea Partiers, as they precipitate a federal government shutdown, still burns from the IRS “scandal” of earlier this year, even though the supposed singling out of conservative groups proved to be a myth. But the furor disrupted IRS policing…

NFL, ESPN and Big-Dollar Secrecy

Pro football is big business and America’s fascination with often violent sports has made Disney’s ESPN a lucrative franchise. So there is much money on the line over the issue of concussion-related disabilities, explaining the NFL’s desire to keep the…