William A. Collins, an OtherWords columnist, is a former Connecticut State lawmaker and the former mayor of Norwalk. He founded Minuteman Media, which later became OtherWords, in 1998. 9collins[AT]sbcglobal.net
William A. Collins
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Let’s Treat the Planet Better
Our magical flood of electronic devices, from television sets to cell phones, harbors long-lasting poisons.
Gotta Get Me a Gun
Experience shows that homeowner weaponry has proved more useful in shooting wives, husbands, and estranged sweethearts than in defending one’s castle.
Tax Policy: Maybe It’s Time to Start Over
The rich actually pay a lower percentage of their total income in taxes than do the poor.
Getting Sick Can Be Darned Risky
State medical authorities keep track of “physician errors” or “adverse incidents,” but they rarely share that information with us.
Obama’s Inauguration Didn’t End American Racism
Having an African-American president hasn’t exactly ushered in a period of racial harmony.
Hope Dims for Electricity Reform
Basically, change is slow, slow, slow.
Maybe Tobacco Execs Should Go to Prison
Addiction doesn’t respect social values, and neither do tobacco companies.
The Right’s Obsession with Abortion and Sex
We’ll get you born, kid, but after that you’re on your own.
Health Care Is a Study in Greed
Only in the United States is health coverage still left to privateers.
How about High-Speed Buses?
Government doesn’t support intercity buses today, but why not?
Down and Out…in America
We have a long-term growth in income disparity between rich and middle-class, which has since been mostly obscured by the recent meltdown.
Torture.gov
Those who have much to fear from justice are rarely eager to see its purifying waters roll down.
Spying on our Own Folks
You never know what kind of list you might have been put on.
As Death Nears, Be Prepared to Suffer
For those whose life has simply grown unlivable, help is in order.
Let’s Pretend to Do Something about Climate Change
What we need now is a serious incentive to pollute less.
Keep Humans Out of Space
If such a spasm of thriftiness deprives America of the power to destroy any target on Earth, the whole world will rest easier.
Haiti: Earthquakes and Neo-Colonialism
The exact shape of Haiti’s dismal future remains uncertain.
How About We Call It Quits On Empire?
In the end, some empires are defeated militarily, while others just sort of whimper away in decay.
What If We Were Judged by Our Jails?
The American prison population quadrupled in just the last 25 years.