opinion – News Stories About opinion - Page 26

meghan daum

Mar 24, 2011 3:23 PM CDT

Rebecca Black Proves New Rules of Fame

Meghan Daum: To be really popular, you have to be really unpopular

(Newser) - With Friday, 13-year-old Rebecca Black has a top 20 song on iTunes and a video that’s reached 35 million views—but what she’s most noted for is widespread derision. “We don't hate you because you're famous. You're famous because we hate you,” reads one of the...

Remember
Taylor as
She Was:
In Bed

OPINION

Mar 24, 2011 1:56 PM CDT

Remember Taylor as She Was: In Bed

Screen legend managed to be prostrate in nearly every movie

(Newser) - We remember John Wayne in the saddle, Brigitte Bardot on the sand—and as for Elizabeth Taylor, we’ll remember her on a bed, writes Tim Robey in the Telegraph . Somehow, she managed to sprawl over soft furniture in “most of her key roles,” he notes. “One...

'Earth Hour' Is a Joke

Bjorn Lomborg

Mar 24, 2011 11:08 AM CDT

'Earth Hour' Is a Joke

We need real green solutions, not just 'feel-good' movements: Bjorn Lomborg

(Newser) - This Saturday night, environmental activists are calling on the world to dim the lights for “Earth Hour”—a nice idea, but one that may actually be counterproductive. Look at it this way: "If everyone in the world participated in this year's Earth Hour, the result would be...

6 Morsels of
Good Foodie News

mark bittman

Mar 23, 2011 12:22 PM CDT

6 Morsels of Good Foodie News

School lunches are improving; Walmart's into sustainability: Mark Bittman

(Newser) - Sometimes it’s important for a critic to drop the criticism and offer some praise. In the New York Times , Mark Bittman presents a taste of good news in the food world:

Backers of better food policy are gaining real traction: The reauthorized Child Nutrition Act will improve school lunches,

...

How Not to Write a Diary

Michael Palin

Mar 22, 2011 1:38 PM CDT

How Not to Write a Diary

Michael Palin: If you're not interesting, don't pretend to be

(Newser) - Keeping a diary is well worth your while—but there are some “do’s and don’ts” to keep in mind, writes Monty Python’s Michael Palin in Vanity Fair . The big one is, “don’t try and make your life interesting when it isn’t,” notes...

Dave Eggers: Save Public School Teachers: End Massive Yearly Layoffs

Dave Eggers:
Enough With the
Teacher Layoffs

opinion

Mar 22, 2011 12:54 PM CDT

Dave Eggers: Enough With the Teacher Layoffs

System leaves already-struggling public educators in lurch

(Newser) - Public school teachers grapple with 80-hour work weeks on tight salaries, with little creative freedom, while the media attacks their unions—and on top of all that, they face mass layoffs on a regular basis. In San Francisco, for example, 2,800 teachers were warned last week that their jobs...

Washington Has
Abandoned the
Unemployed

paul krugman

Mar 18, 2011 12:15 PM CDT

Washington Has Abandoned the Unemployed

Krugman: Why are we obsessed with the deficit when millions need jobs?

(Newser) - One-sixth of American workers can’t find full-time jobs, and things aren’t getting any better for them: There are nearly five times more jobless people than there are job openings, and the "average unemployed worker has been jobless for 37 weeks." Yet all we hear about from...

Hey, NPR:
Stand Up
for Yourself

OPINION

Mar 17, 2011 12:20 PM CDT

Hey, NPR: Stand Up for Yourself

Station keeps mum in the face of widespread criticism: Meghan Daum

(Newser) - Accusations of a liberal slant are raining down on NPR, and its leaders are putting up with it. It’s time for the station to “show some self-respect and fight back,” writes Meghan Daum in the Los Angeles Times . Tell us: “Are you liberal? Are you neutral?...

We Need a Real Populist
in Next Election

OPINION

Mar 15, 2011 1:15 PM CDT

We Need a Real Populist in Next Election

America's wealth gap has spiraled out of control: David Francis

(Newser) - With the gap between rich and poor Americans exploding—and hardly anyone talking about it—what Washington needs is a “genuine populist,” writes David R. Francis in the Christian Science Monitor . Some quick facts: The wealthiest 1% “took 23.5% of the nation’s income in 2007,...

Juan Williams: Here's the True Problem With NPR

opinion

Mar 15, 2011 10:44 AM CDT

Juan Williams: Here's the True Problem With NPR

Arrogant, elitist leaders ruining a 'once-great brand'

(Newser) - The departure of NPR CEO Vivian Schiller shines a light on the network’s key problem: its "ingrown and arrogant" leaders, who have "lost sight of journalism as the essential product of NPR," writes Juan Williams in the New York Post . Those at the top think they're...

Budget 'Crisis'
Is Made-Up

EJ DIONNE

Mar 14, 2011 1:52 PM CDT

Budget 'Crisis' Is Made-Up

It's an 'arresting metaphor' to push ideological agenda

(Newser) - We keep hearing that “we’re broke”—a good way for politicians to make a deceptive case for cutting taxes on the rich and cutting social programs. But the fact is, “we’re not broke,” writes EJ Dionne in the Washington Post . “Yes, nearly all...

We Want to
Cut Foreign Aid—
and Expand It

OPINION

Mar 7, 2011 1:59 PM CST

We Want to Cut Foreign Aid— and Expand It

Americans think it's 25% of the budget. In fact, it's 1%, and it works: Ken Hackett

(Newser) - Americans think foreign aid should be the first casualty of budget-trimming, a poll shows—but we also want it to be 10 times what it is now. That’s because most Americans think foreign aid makes up a quarter of the federal budget, and want to cut it to 10%....

GOP Cuts Would
Destroy Recovery

paul krugman

Mar 4, 2011 12:48 PM CST

GOP Cuts Would Destroy Recovery

House Republicans relying on 'Confidence Fairy' with job-killing measures

(Newser) - We’re finally clawing our way up from the bottom of the very deep hole that is the recession: Unemployment has dipped amid a "virtuous circle of rising incomes and improving finances." Yet House Republicans are pushing spending cuts that would send us right back down again, writes...

'Runt Month'
February Gets
No Respect

OPINION

Feb 28, 2011 12:43 PM CST

'Runt Month' February Gets No Respect

Philip Hill offers a way to fix the problem: change the calendar

(Newser) - February has consistently gotten the short shrift among calendar months: It was among the last months to be invented, in 700 BC, its mere 28 days sandwiched between months named for powerful gods—while it "commemorates a pagan fertility and purification festival celebrated by flogging women with animal skins,...

Bloomberg:
Cut Labor Costs,
Not Union Rights

Opinion

Feb 28, 2011 11:55 AM CST

Bloomberg: Cut Labor Costs, Not Union Rights

Governments can benefit from collective bargaining, he writes

(Newser) - As states like Wisconsin face crippling budget deficits, it’s fair for them to scale back on labor costs—but not labor rights, Michael Bloomberg writes today in the New York Times . What needs updating is “government’s relationship with unions,” not the unions themselves. “Organizing around...

Oops:
Huckabee
Defends
Gay Marriage

OPINION

Feb 25, 2011 12:11 PM CST

Oops: Huckabee Defends Gay Marriage

By complaining about troubles of out-of-wedlock kids: Ruth Marcus

(Newser) - In attacking gay marriage, Mike Huckabee inadvertently offered an excellent defense of it, writes Ruth Marcus. He went from criticizing President Obama’s decision not to defend the gay-marriage ban to pointing out the difficult “economic reality of out-of-wedlock children.” The fact is, “gays and lesbians are...

Why Mitch
Daniels Should
Run in 2012

david brooks

Feb 25, 2011 11:45 AM CST

Why Mitch Daniels Should Run in 2012

He's got a handle on debt and a record of substance: David Brooks

(Newser) - Here’s a name that should be among the GOP frontrunners for 2012: Mitch Daniels. The Indiana governor says there’s an “excellent chance” he won’t run—but he “would be the party’s strongest candidate,” writes David Brooks in the New York Times . He “...

Wisconsin Battle
About Power,
Not Budget

paul krugman

Feb 21, 2011 12:27 PM CST

Wisconsin Battle About Power, Not Budget

Gov. pushing oligarchy as unions seek democracy: Paul Krugman

(Newser) - Wisconsin’s battle over union rights shares a key element with the protests in Egypt: In the end, it’s all about power, writes Paul Krugman for the New York Times . Gov. Scott Walker’s team is trying to make his state, and eventually the entire country, "less of...

Nir Rosen Should Be Ashamed—but Not Ruined

OPINION

Feb 18, 2011 1:34 PM CST

Nir Rosen Should Be Ashamed—but Not Ruined

Lara Logan tweets were disgusting, but media must learn to forgive

(Newser) - Nir Rosen’s thoughtless tweets about Lara Logan were “grotesque”—but they shouldn’t “eclipse an often-heroic career” of “intrepid” war reporting, writes Michelle Goldberg in the Daily Beast . Indeed, today’s media “has an awful way of reducing us all to the worst thing...

GOP's Health Reform
'Analysis' Is Assault on Logic

paul krugman

Jan 17, 2011 4:16 PM CST

GOP's Health Reform 'Analysis' Is Assault on Logic

They don't really believe it will kill jobs, writes Paul Krugman

(Newser) - In their effort to repeal health care reform, the GOP has produced “some numbers and charts to wave at the press”—but they’re not part of any “rational discussion,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Their figures are, in fact, part of the...