Nuclear testing and uranium mining during much of the cold war and its lunatic arms race left New Mexico, the Four Corners Region, and some say the whole country, more or less, contaminated by blast fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and airborne mining dust that has sickened and killed, and is still killing, […]
Columns
Hate, Sadism, Mob Psychology: Personal Demons to Genocide
It’s been said that all of us have our prejudices. Perhaps that’s true. But few of us gain pleasure or gratification from causing people physical pain, psychological torment, humiliation and fear for their lives just because they belong to a group we choose to persecute. That sense of gratification from causing pain in others is […]
What Matters Now? Clean Water and Higher Education
There’s a numb helplessness, a kind of gray anesthetic fog that’s settling over the political landscape these days. National politics is a nightmare of clowns and distracted groundskeepers sweeping up what the Elephants leave behind. But the piles are getting too big and no one really knows what to do with them. And so there’s […]
The Hatred of Women and the Endless Assault on Planned Parenthood
When President Trump signed a resolution last week that gives states the power to withhold federal Title X family planning funds from Planned Parenthood, he spotlighted once again the evil history of misogyny in American culture. Hatred of women is the primal prejudice. It is the context and source of all other bigotry. That the […]
New Mexico: The Sad Lab of Government Haters
New Mexico is a perfect example of what happens when a government is run by people who hate government; who want to run government “like a business;” who make a virtue of selfishness; who think those with low incomes are inferior to the wealthy; who give lip service to caring for the unfortunate, the old, […]
The Cruel Right’s Philosophical Torture Kit
It’s hard to understand the thinking of people who believe it’s quite alright to financially undermine programs like Meals on Wheels or strip federal dollars from programs for the poor and homeless, including food assistance and job training, and cut off funds from Habitat for Humanity, the Rural Business Cooperative, and the Corporation for Public […]
The Public Health Menace of Rising Heat and the War on Regulation
Changing climate in the Southwest has become an object of grim fascination for many citizens. Despite the political ostrichism on the part of conservative bureaucrats who’ve recently come to power, it’s clear to thoughtful people that increasing temperatures have become one of the greatest public health menaces our region has ever faced. Rising heat and […]