America was burning. The riots unleashed by the April 4, 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were terrorizing cities across the nation. Chicago was no exception. Warner Saunders got a desperate call from WLS-TV, the local ABC
During one of the mind-numbing arguments between the candidates, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was fighting off the claim that his universal healthcare proposal might not cover up to 15 million Americans. As an academic issue, it was an important exchange.
Paul Krugman, president of the Hillary Clinton fan club, writes in his New York Times column that if Barack Obama gets the nomination, there is no chance "that we will get universal healthcare in the next administration." He has criticized
In New York City, the Department of Homeland Security is training New York City firefighters to assist in gathering intelligence information during routine inspections and emergencies. In November, the Associated Press reported that in New York, Homeland Security was testing
Across Indian country, two things are never in short supply: rich natural resources and endemic poverty. That paradox is driving a longstanding battle between indigenous people and the government trust that holds money generated from their lands. The class-action lawsuit,
To the consternation of news bureaus, political consulting firms and has-been politicians, the Wall Street Journal's poll last month shows that America is hostile to an independent presidential candidacy by Michael Bloomberg. The New York mayor is viewed more unfavorably
The Sundance Film Festival is now the most important U.S. market for independent film. Because of the writers' strike, perhaps 15,000 additional folks from television and film programming and distribution showed up this year for the annual January festival, shopping
When on Jan. 22 a federal court judge sentenced Jose Padilla to 17 years in prison for conspiracy to commit terrorism, it was a one-day story. But, in fact, the Padilla case goes on. Padilla, a U.S. citizen and former
How can racism still be a problem if so many white Americans are willing to support a black man like Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president? This rhetorical question worries some analysts, who warn that Obama's prominence, ironically, could set
Always a major force in Democratic politics, the labor movement is playing a peculiar role in this year's presidential primary. Although the candidates have been more openly pro-union than at any time in the past several decades, labor unions only
The Op-Ed pages of the New York Times, still the most influential and prestigious newspaper in the country, do not feature a regular column by a feminist, a Latino, an African-American woman, an Asian American, a young person, a Muslim,
A few years ago, a young union organizer asked me, "Which are the good churches and which are the bad ones?" He wanted a quick (and intellectually easy) way to understand which faith bodies would be the most supportive of
We hate to fulfill the stereotype of dismal scientists, but the news is bad: The economy is slowing sharply and may be in recession. The nation's broadest measure of growth, real gross domestic product (GDP), grew a scant annual rate
Dr. Nancy Nielsen's résumé is exhaustive. Currently a clinical professor of medicine and senior associate dean for medical education at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Nielsen has worked for the New York State Department of
For all the hype about generational and gender wars in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, we have a class war on our hands. And incredibly, corporate America's preferred candidate is winning the poorer "us" versus the wealthier "them"--a potentially decisive
Oklahoman Tina Thomas has been caught up in the American war on drugs. In many respects, she fits the common profile of a woman doing time for a drug-related offense. Her crimes have ranged from possession to check forgery and
In less than a year, America will have a new president. Barring unforeseeable events, on Jan. 20, 2009, the inaugural oath will be administered to either John McCain or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Should the Republicans retain the presidency,
For less than $4 an hour, several Jewish teenagers removed furniture, clothes, kitchenware and toys from homes and loaded the items onto trucks. As they worked diligently alongside the many policemen who had come to secure the destruction of 30
Quick: Who is the strategic victor, to date, of the war in Iraq? Nearly everyone outside the Bush administration (and perhaps some within it) would answer: the Islamic Republic of Iran. The catastrophe of the U.S. occupation of Iraq has
Foxwoods Resort Casino rises from the hills of rural southeastern Connecticut like a gambler's Oz. It is one of the country's biggest Indian casinos and it is the largest employer in the state, with 10,000 workers. Of those employees, about
