This article originally appeared on USA Today. Permission to reprint graciously granted by the author. -ed. Severe car accidents can be devastating. When such an event includes a passenger who owes private student loans, the financial trauma makes it downright ruinous. Just ask Deborah Schutz. In December of 2008, Schutz’s daughter ...

"...if the federal government taxes every pack but doesn't ban cigarettes, why has it been so adamant in refusing to decriminalize marijuana, which has significantly fewer health risks than what is in the average cigarette?" by Walter Brasch   The federal government has launched what may become one of the most effective propaganda ...

In an unlikely alliance, Lush Cosmetics joins the Indigenous Environmental Network in rallying against the Canadian tar sands. The Lush campaign targets the tar sands, yet the CEO of Lush North America fails to target his own family's dynasty built on the continued exploration of oil, gas and mining. A shop ...

Shared Media Cooperative and politicalcontext.org will presently launch Context 2012, a media project providing interviews with, debates among, and a constant stream of news about electoral political activity among independent and third party candidates in the United States, running from now until the general election in 2012. Strategies to confront the ...

We live in a culture that no longer cares about truth.  Consider the facts... -When a prominent US Representative is caught sending pictures of his sexual organs to a college student across the country, his reaction is to question the “certitude” of the pictures, and immediately blame a right-wing conspiracy.... -When a ...

Each year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detains more than 300,000 people in "administrative custody" under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Such detainees exist in a legal vacuum with virtually no rights. by Valerie Burch   Mohammed Uddin lived in New York City for 15 out of his 41 years. Back in ...

I'm declaring a pox on porn for the good of sex. Sound oxymoronic? Hear me out. I'm not anti-porn in the general sense. I mean, who doesn't like to watch fucking? We're all voyeurs. But porn in its current incarnation is ruining sex. Ruining. Sex. Did you know there is an actual ...

If I'm happy for Dirk, does that mean the sports media industrial complex has colonized my lifeworld? Is that false consciousness? I remember when Princess Diana was killed. A real Princess Diana was killed, mind you, but some of my friends cried when she died, and they wouldn't have cried if ...

Peter B. Bach of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and former special assistant to President Obama on health care and economic policy Robert Kocher, both MDs, have laid out a cogent, persuasive case for government-paid general practitioner training, with specialties coming at a ...

In February, I posted an article, Government Boycott of Corporate Felons, which outlined the need for the government to get tough on corporate criminals.  Those we elect and re-elect often run on platforms of strong leadership, often demonstrated by supporting tough-on-crime policies.  However, these tough on crime measures usually only ...