Mend the Gap: 10 Steps Toward a More Equal California

Judith Lewis Mernit Capital and Main
As CAPITAL & MAIN's “State of Equality” series has documented, economic inequality poses a grave threat to California’s future. Conditions would be far worse if not for progress made by activists, community leaders and lawmakers. In the last several years, California has generated some of the nation’s most innovative and effective strategies to reverse inequality. Here Judith Lewis Mernit lists 10 landmark achievements worth celebrating,emulating and strengthening.

Five Years In - How's the Affordable Care Act Doing? A Diagnosis

Carl Finamore MSNBC
Five years in the ACA still primarily serves as a huge government marketing campaign for private insurance companies, funneling millions of new customers with few if any restrictions on ever-escalating prices. The ACA built upon the flaws of our market-based system and, quite predictably, is failing to contain costs and provide broad access to affordable, quality health care. Corporate interests still trump the common good in U.S.

Amid National Public Education Battle, Massive Turnout for LA Teachers Rally

Deirdre Fulton Common Dreams
An estimated 15,000 teachers and their supporters rallied in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, threatening to strike should union and school district representatives fail to reach an agreement to reduce class sizes, raise teacher pay, and eliminate the existing system for evaluating educators.

More Bucks for the Bang

Robert Alvarez Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
What good is it to protect ourselves with nuclear weapons if we poison our people in the process? Unfortunately, this sentiment seems to be missing from the Obama administration and Congress, and one of professor Parkinson’s most important lessons—that “delay is the deadliest form of denial”—remains lost on US decision makers.

Wrong-Way Obama?

William Greider The Nation
He may be leading us toward economic catastrophe.

Déjà Vu in Jerusalem?

Neve Gordon The Nation
The latest round of violence in Jerusalem is reminiscent of the Second Intifada, sparked by then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the Haram al-Sharif compound (Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount) in 2000. Last week's events come in the wake of other "structural forms of violence" directed at Jerusalem's Palestinian residents, and are evidence of the "alarming transformations taking place in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

President Obama: Fixing Immigration

In an address to the nation, President Obama lays out the executive action he's taking to fix our nation's broken immigration system

The Browning of America

Olmeca teams up with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and PUENTE Movement to bring you a music video depicting the growth of Latinos in the U.S. The video centers around beautiful “video portraits” of individuals and families within the Latino community. These portraits include past deportation detainees and their families, as well as, immigrant rights activists.