ArcaMax

What exploded in our nation's Capitol on Jan. 6 is an outrage, a desecration of America's democratic ideals!

But I don't merely mean the ransacking and terrorizing of Congress by violent Trumpeteers who were deluded by the lying, megalomaniacal president into thinking they could throw out the votes of 81 million citizens. Rather, let's also ...Read more

You animal, you! Well, yes, we homo sapiens are animals, as dour scolds of human behavior ceaselessly point out. They reduce our existence to the nasty and brutish law of the jungle, insisting that selfishness and survival of the strongest is the natural order. The noted philosopher of animalism, Professor Donald Trump, expressed this soulless ...Read more

Many of us read William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" in high school -- and it's still being taught. The 1954 novel depicts the gradual descent into barbaric darkness by a group of English schoolboys shipwrecked on a small, deserted island. Its portrayal of innate human depravity was hailed at the time for its unblinking "realism." Only ... it ...Read more

Ho-ho-ho, wait till you hear about the gifts I gave to some of America's power elites for Christmas.

To each of our Congress critters, I sent my fondest wish that from now on, they receive the exact same income, health care and pension that we average citizens get. If they receive only the American average, it might make them a bit more humble ...Read more

In a spoof of country music's sad songs of heartache and woe, the old "Hee Haw" TV show periodically featured a couple of its regulars dejectedly wailing a song of total anguish:

"Gloom, despair, and agony on me

"Deep, dark depression, excessive misery

"If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all

"Gloom, despair, and agony on me"

...Read more

During the hectic holiday shopping season, Jeff Bezos' Amazon may seem like a great option, especially for us procrastinators. Anything you want can be shipped directly to your doorstep. All it takes is a few clicks on the Amazon website -- and, of course, some of your hard-earned money.

The media sings the praises of Bezos' concept and ...Read more

Years ago, Robert Kennedy noted that making economic, political and social progress is hard because such advances require rejecting the same old business-as-usual policies that sustain the establishment's profits and power. "'Progress' is the nice word," he said. "But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies."

His recognition that ...Read more

Thanksgiving -- let's eat!

America's most food-focused holiday traces its roots back to the abundant feast that Pilgrims and Indians enjoyed together in the fall of 1621. Not even half of the 100 or so Mayflower Pilgrims and crew who had arrived at Plymouth Rock the previous December survived their grim first year in the New World ("new," of ...Read more

In December 1972, I was part of a nationwide campaign that came tantalizingly close to getting the U.S. Senate to reject Earl Butz, then-President Richard Nixon's choice for secretary of agriculture.

A coalition of grassroots farmers, consumers and scrappy public interest organizations (such as the Agribusiness Accountability Project that Susan...Read more

In building glittery enclaves like Trump Tower, luxury resorts and casinos, our shady dealmaker of a president has routinely used lies, bankruptcies, union busting and plain-old wage theft to stiff the working people who built and staffed them. So, it's no surprise that, while bombastically asserting at rallies that he's the workers' champion, ...Read more

Many years ago, literary critic Dorothy Parker skewered an unfortunate author with her sharp wit: "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force!"

That's how a lot of us feel about this presidential election year, which has been distinguished by an incumbent who is so self-centered, incompetent and both ...Read more

There's a mournful Peggy Lee song that asks the existential question: "Is that all there is?" Some progressives are asking that when looking at whether to vote this year -- Biden or Trump ... is that all there is?

First, for me, that's an easy choice if we want to have even a small chance of making any little-d democratic progress in the next ...Read more

Let's say you're a millionaire. That's a lot of money, right? Now let's say you're a billionaire. That's a lot more money! But how much more?

Think of all those dollars as seconds on a clock. A million seconds would total 11.5 days -- a nice stash to have in the bank of time. But how much time does a billion seconds buy you? Nearly 32 years...Read more