When it comes to accountability, you’d probably hope that the US military would be rather exacting, right? Sorry. The answer to the seemingly simple
Author: Gloria Shur Bilchik
Gloria Shur Bilchik is a freelance writer and community volunteer in St. Louis, Missouri. She is the editor of Occasional Planet. She views the preservation of democratic values and progressive programs as vital to making the US a humane, livable place for her children and grandchildren.
$42 billion war-spending cut? It’s a start.
President Obama’s proposed budget for 2012 calls for a 26 percent decrease in military spending. According to Bloomberg News, the $117 billion in military
Rearranging the deck chairs in downtown St. Louis
Ballpark Village, we’re told, is on the rise…again. Well, maybe. But the latest incarnation calls for financial-services powerhouse Stifel-Nicolaus to be the primary tenant
Roots Action launches anti-war campaign
They had me at Daniel Ellsberg. Ten minutes ago, a call to action landed in my email inbox. It took me less than a
Presidential signing statements, revisited
Forced by the need to keep the Defense Department running, on Jan. 7, President Obama signed into law a spending bill with what the
Obama’s accomplishments: Lifting the media blackout at Dover
At the outset of the first Gulf War, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney imposed a ban on photographs and broadcast coverage of the arrival
My Boy Jack, my boy George & political parables
My Boy Jack is a PBS historical drama that I stumbled upon [three years late!] over the New Year’s weekend. Based on a play
10 most-read Occasional Planet posts of 2010
2010 has been the first calendar year for Occasional Planet’s eclectic, under-the-news-radar, occasionally-humorous-and-often-opinionated potpourri of mostly positive posts on progressive people, programs and ideas.
Interview: St. Louis activist Adam Shriver shares his philosophy
Adam Shriver is a next-generation leader among St. Louis-area progressive activists. His blog, St. Louis Activist Hub, plays a major role in alerting activists
A gift to the President from the north “poll”
[A CNN poll, released on Dec. 23, 2010, offers some encouraging news–and perhaps a word of caution– for President Obama.] Two nights before Christmas,