A friend complained to me on the phone the other day that at current prices (then $1.69 per pound in his store), he could not afford to buy apples. In fact, many American families cannot afford to buy fruits and vegetables. Somehow, though, they can afford Coke, Pepsi and Doritos. No doubt, they are partly to blame for their priorities, but the person in question is not someone who has a cell phone, broadband internet or cable television. He does not have a lot of electronics, never eats in restaurants and works hard. What about people like him? At least in part, one most point to American government farm subsidies that encourage people to eat unhealthy foods and do little or nothing to encourage healthy eating.
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Popularity: 12% [?]

One would think that, having spent the second half of the twentieth century fighting one protractrated struggle against an implacable ideological enemy, we might have learned something. The Bush administration’s actions would seem to indicate that we did not. What should we have learned? That in a war of ideals, ideals that are not practiced do not triumph.
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Popularity: 9% [?]

Quick quiz: what does the Bush administration stance on torture, and their stance on wiretaps have in common? Disregard for constitutions and treaties? Well, that’s obvious, but how so? Disregard for human and civil rights? Sure, but exactly how so? There is something fundamental that ties together much of the Bush administration’s policy from the Ashcroft inJustice Department to the Gitmo detentions without trials. Before reading on and having your mind corrupted by my screed, think for a couple seconds about your take and drop it in a comment.
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Popularity: 9% [?]

No, that’s not a quote from The Ranter’s close friends Dubya or Rummy. That’s from David Maraniss’ book They Marched Into Sunlight (Simon & Schuster, 2003). Maraniss follows two parallel stories, that of a battle in Vietnam and that of a student protest in Madison, Wisconsin. The two stories converge on October 19, 1967, when they appear side by side on the front page of the paper. For Maraniss, that was the beginning of the real slide in public opinion in favor of the war. Why bring this up now? Because the administration’s assessment of the situation in Vietnam in 1967 appears chillingly like the current administration’s assessment of Iraq today.
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Popularity: 15% [?]