Volume 265 | No. 18

Mon, May 24

2005—“See,” mansplains G.W.[MD] Bush, “in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” 2000—Linda Tripp beats a wiretap rap; if you’re a Right Winger, ignorance of the law is an excuse. 1989—Being killed by Texas state employees, Stephen McCoy has a violent drug reaction. A male witness faints, knocking over another witness. 1978—Pistol-packin’ Barbara Ann Oswald skyjacks Allen Barklage’s helicopter to spring airliner skyjacker Garrett B. Trapnell from the Marion, Ill. pen. Bold Barklage grabs Oswald’s gun, though, and shoots her dead. 1971—After a ski …

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Sun, May 23

2012—A mentally-unstable PNSY employee sets a fire that destroys the billion-dollar U.S.S. Miami. 1976—The Washington Post reports that Rep. Wayne L. Hays’ (D-Ohio) mistress, on his payroll at $14,000 a year, admits she “can’t type…can’t file, [and] can’t even answer the phone.” 1971—President Nixon meets with the milk cartel. For a $2 million campaign contribution, he OKs a $100 million increase in the cost of milk. 1969—Drunk, homesick U.S.A.F. Sgt. Paul Meyer steals a C-130 from Mildenhall, UK and heads for Langley, Va. He crashes into the English Channel—possibly shot down. 1950—The UAW and GM sign the Treaty of Detroit. Workers get better benefits but …

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The Storm’s Not Coming—It’s Here

New Englanders are familiar with the scene: video shows rain falling sideways and random objects flying through the air. Crashing waves beat furiously against the shore. Finally the land crumbles. A house falls, beaten to smithereens, and ceases to exist. Traditionally it’s been a hurricane or a bad nor’easter, and the process takes a few hours. Lately, it’s politics. The end hasn’t come for America’s democracy yet, but things don’t look particularly good. Nobody builds on the edge of a cliff, of course.* Things just creep up on you: the Atlantic Ocean, the Republican Party…. Say what you want about Republicans,† they have a plan, …

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We need a clean energy strategy!

Clean energy technologies can benefit us – but we need a strategy! by Roger Stephenson, Northeast Regional Advocacy Director, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Rep. Peter Somssich, District 27/ Portsmouth Jerry Seinfeld once said: “No one likes change except a wet baby.” Most of us would just as soon avoid change but, like it or not, the fossil fuels to which we’re accustomed are a dying breed. Science says we must cut emissions pollution in half by 2030. Fortunately, we are in the midst of dramatic technological innovations that allow us to use non-polluting renewable energy efficiently at affordable prices. The three main components of …

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Flotsam & Jetsam

“People used to think that learning to read evidenced human progress; they still celebrate the decline of illiteracy as a great victory; they condemn countries with a large proportion of illiterates; they think that reading is a road to freedom. All this is debatable, for the important thing is not to be able to read, but to understand what one reads, to reflect on and judge what one reads. Outside of that, reading has no meaning (and even destroys certain automatic qualities of memory and observation). But to talk about critical faculties and discernment is to talk about something far above primary education and to …

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