Ditch your mail-in ballot and show up at the polls on November 3. Put on a mask, a shield, even rubber gloves. If it’s cold, wear your winter gear in case you have to stand in line outside. If you exercise appropriate social-distancing precautions, voting at the polls is probably less risky than going to the grocery store. Continue Reading →
“You’ll be remembered as just another career politician who buried his conscience deep in the back forty while succumbing to the flagrant partisanship of ambitious, self-serving men like Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell — men who never had an ounce of integrity to start with. You, Senator, have become a hypocrite.” Continue Reading →
Perhaps the strongest voice for civic engagement is … Erik Hagerman himself. In that Times story, Hagerman says, “I had been paying attention to the news for decades and I never did anything with it.” Well, that’s your first problem, Erik. You should’ve done something.
Because as my friend Miriam Kashia likes to say, “Action is the antidote to despair.” Continue Reading →
“With crisis after crisis that has hit our nation and our state,” writes Charlie Wishman in his Labor Day message, “it is always workers who are making sure our communities continue to run. With the devastating storms that just blew through Iowa, it is working class workers, public and private sector, that are cleaning up damage, restoring power as quickly as possible, and ensuring that our streets and neighborhoods are safe.” Continue Reading →
Think about each plastic item you use, and do away with as many as possible. Think about what might work instead of that hunk of reconstituted petroleum. What you put in the recycling bin may well end up in Kenya or some other poor country. … Or it may end up in the ocean, in those two massive circles of floating plastic trash called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. That abomination covers over 617,000 square miles and weighs more than 43,000 cars. I do not use the word abomination lightly. … Our governments can do better. Each of us can do better. It starts by saying “no” to both paper and plastic — but especially to plastic. Continue Reading →
