Lessons to be learned from the tale of John Swallow.
—by John deJong

Outdoor industry supports Greater Canyonlands, opponents throw tantrum; State land grab a money loser; Lake Powell pipeline too costly.
—by Amy Brunvand

Dancing through a difficult election season.
—by Amy Brunvand

To date, more than 2,052 nuclear test have been conducted worldwide with nearly half of these done at the Nevada Test Site. The U.S. has yet to ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty—what does it take to end nuke tests forever?

Tesoro Refinery; Republican Spampaign Tricks.

How the right to express our views evolved into the right of corporate persons to shout us down.

Corporate personhood and the new super citizens; The Lake Powell pipeline: Where the rubber hits the road.

Exploring the option of a full-cabinet candidacy.

Is it just me, or is the 2012 presidential race downright depressing? Will it really matter to us “non-corporations” which GOP front-runner captures the White house or if the current occupant hangs around for another four years? Republicans offer little more than tax breaks for those who don’t need them, and most of the “hope and change” that Obama promised in ’08 has been dashed against the rocks of his unanticipated realpolitik.

Then there’s the unrestricted flow of money into the political process, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citi­zens United decision that fully morphed corporations into “persons.” The ability to determine elections with cash has brought America to a level of corruption usually associated with countries where the unfettered rich dominate everything.

Salt Lake’s former mayor, Rocky Anderson, quit the Democrats and in a lively manifesto is calling for the formation of an alternative, third party. And yes, he’d consider running for office.

If you followed Rocky Anderson’s two terms as Salt Lake City’s mayor, you always knew that he inhabited the left wing of the Democratic Party. But when a new Democratic president proved to lean further right than Nixon and Eisenhower (Fox News “Obama’s a socialist” accusations notwithstanding), it was the final straw for Rocky—who recently resigned as a Democrat.

Not surprisingly, he’s not going quietly into the night.  

“Neither the Dems nor Republi­cans have done anything to solve the most pressing crisis facing our planet,” he said, alluding to the climate change, and lamented their “caving to the fossil fuel industry.” Rocky has a list of grievances against his own former party’s current political philosophy and “any one should be enough for a principled Democrat to say adios.”