Author Archives: admin

Republican Senate Filibusters. Inability to act. Stalemate. Hostage Taking. Pick whatever words you want to describe the dysfunction in our government these days. The issues today are no more complex or divisive than at other times in our history. What’s changed is how we address the issues. It may serve us all well to take a quick look back at one segment in the life of the great Hubert Humphrey to gain a bit of insight into what compromise, statesmanship, and government effectiveness resembled. Our June Progressive Profile provides that avenue. Continue reading →

Much has been written since President Barak Obama released his “long form” birth certificate at the end of April. Pick your topic on what riled you most: the blatant racism that was the undertone of this story from the beginning; the ignorance of the people who bought into the innuendo and rumor. For me, it was the demise of the role of journalism. Once considered “the Fourth Estate” for its vital role in providing checks and balances on all of government, today’s so-called well-educated members of the major print and electronic media have fallen far from what their role should be. How was it that “journalists” kept this story alive and failed to do the hard-hitting reporting that is the foundation of their profession? This non-story should never have been elevated to the status it had. Continue reading →

For those of us privileged to have been a part of the first Earth Day in April 1970, it is particularly troubling to see the state of our planet as Earth Day 2011 approaches. Radiation spewing from Japanese nuclear reactors. The BP Deep Water Horizon blowout from last year and the damage done to the Gulf of Mexico. Attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency. States introducing legislation to close state parks to camping and to use state parks for logging and oil drilling. And the list goes on. Continue reading →

The recent protests and demonstrations that began in Wisconsin in mid February prompted us to profile Dorothy Day in March. Dorothy Day, co-founder (with Peter Maurin) of The Catholic Worker newspaper and the Catholic Worker movement, integrated her faith with social action. She is widely regarded for her work as a social justice and peace advocate. Continue reading →

The notion of the common good underlies most of the 20thcentury social programs we have known. The common good is also the basis of the rule of law that has served to govern man for centuries. Perhaps no one was able to combine the wisdom and intellect of the law with the understanding of the importance of the common good better than Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. Continue reading →