I’ve never been a farmer, but I’ve learned quite a bit about being one from the many I’ve known. Start... Read more...
Unbeknownst to the general public (and still largely undiscovered by national media), oil giants and other multinational corporations have quietly colluded with the legislators and governors they've purchased. Together, they've rammed through a series of autocratic state laws criminalizing our right to protest at sites they imperiously designated "critical infrastructure." Encompassed in the sweeping lockdown inherent in this often-specious designation are public demonstrations that the sneaky new laws defined as "criminal interference." Read more...
In these sultry, dog days of August, the Lowdown presents a summer picnic of political snacks, meaty developments, both sweet and sour sides, and--of course--some mixed nuts. Read more...
Donald Trump hates you. But don't take it personally, he hates me, too--and all of us who constitute The Public. The billionaire's antipathy is not directed at us hoi polloi as individuals, but as users (he means abusers) of publicly provided services such as schools, parks, health care, buses, libraries, and environmental protections. Read more...
Sand is a surprisingly finite resource that the planet is rapidly running out of. And once again, rural and lower-income people people pay the price--economic, environmental, health, and aesthetic--of extraction. Read more...
LEGEND HAS IT that Amazon is a classic story of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. In 1994, a bright,... Read more...
In 1972, I was part of a nationwide campaignthat came tantalizingly close to getting the US Senate to reject Earl... Read more...
You’ll be pleased to know that academics at such public-spirited institutions as Louisiana State University are dealing with the problem... Read more...
doing awfully well these days with their supposed “enemy” Barack Obama. The industry appeared to lose a round to opponents... Read more...
Whether you’re religious or not, seeing flames coming out of your kitchen faucet would be enough to make you fall to... Read more...
The Bible tells us that on the sixth day, God created man, allowing him to live in the lush Garden... Read more...
Here they come–America’s Drill Team! Out front are the two high-strutting leaders, John McCain and George W, thrusting their drum-major batons... Read more...
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT GEORGE W missed his true calling. I think he has long harbored a secret desire... Read more...
Many of you Lowdowners have told me that you often share the newsletter with your teenagers—and even younger children. Therefore,... Read more...
No president has really been serious about conservation and renewable energy, but Jimmy Carter at least made a symbolic statement... Read more...
When the first undeniable American case of Mad Cow Disease broke into the news last December, a host of Bush... Read more...
Twenty years ago, there was a lively, good-time beer joint in my town of Austin called the Raw Deal. It... Read more...
It’s an article of faith among the Democrats-for-Gore set that, whatever faults Al may have (his own mother describes him... Read more...
It was Willie Nelson who first suggested to me that hemp is “not just for breakfast anymore.” And Willie is... Read more...