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Opinion » Columns » Robyn Blumner

Give the ax to the ‘Botox tax’

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Dec. 14, 2009

One of the ways Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to pay for health care reform is with a 5 percent excise tax on elective cosmetic surgery and procedures such as Botox, which is why it has been dubbed the “Botox tax.”

 

Rotten Tomatoes for Publix

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Dec. 7, 2009

Farmworkers who pick the tomatoes in Florida fields that Publix sells by the ton make an average of 45 cents for every 32-pound bucket, a wage that has stayed essentially flat for a generation. Publix won’t join a campaign to pay farmworkers just an extra penny per pound, even though its participation would put real pressure on Florida tomato growers to better farmworkers’ lives.

 

Hail Mary: College football and religion mix uncomfortably in Florida

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Nov. 23, 2009

Florida's college football coaches have mistaken the religion-like fervor that surrounds the game with faith itself. They notoriously serve up religious indoctrination with Xs and Os, as if you can’t play a decent game of football without Jesus as your receiver.

 

Stupak Amendment is an insult to women

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Nov. 16, 2009

Rep. Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Michigan and a purported member of the secretive fundamentalist Christian group known as The Family, threatened House Speaker Nancy Pelosi like a spoiled child possessing the playground’s only basketball. He promised to let health reform fail, with about 40 members in tow, unless the bill included his amendment that barred abortion coverage from any public option or private health insurance plan purchased with federal subsidies.

 

A Weighty Matter

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Nov. 9, 2009

Between Halloween and New Year’s Day is what I call the year’s danger zone. It’s not Season’s Greetings as much as Season’s Eatings. Yummy, fattening food is everywhere, hard to avoid, and who would want to anyway?

 

A tall order for Trumka

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Nov. 2, 2009

Working Americans don’t see their fortunes tied to the labor movement any longer. Which is really, really too bad. Because they are.

 

Uighurs deserve legal remedy

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

A case the U.S. Supreme Court took Tuesday asks whether a court has the power to free Guantanamo detainees after finding they were wrongly imprisoned, even if the only place to send them is the United States.

 

The Smiley-Face Facade

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Oct. 19, 2009

Behind the smiley-face facade, we are privately worried, and we have reason to be.

 

A cross we should not bear

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Oct. 12, 2009

It is telling that Congress has weighed in three times to try to keep a Latin cross war memorial atop a rocky slope at California's Mojave National Preserve. Such ridiculous lengths suggest what we all know: Without a constitutional brake, government will use its power to promote the majority’s religious beliefs.

 

A golden opportunity to declaw Patriot Act

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Oct. 5, 2009

It is time to revisit the USA Patriot Act, the congressional cowardice that vastly expanded the ability of the government to unjustly intrude on our private lives. Three provisions will expire by the end of the year, which means Congress will have to act.

 

The modern retirement plan: Cross your fingers

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Sept. 28, 2009

Looking back, the deal we were sold was a bum steer. We were told that building wealth in a 401(k) would bring financial peace of mind with the added benefit of job mobility.

 

Only a Cleanup Can Restore ACORN’s Legitimacy

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Sept. 21, 2009

ACORN’s leaders must have missed Liberal Advocacy 101, which teaches the Ralph Nader lesson: To point a finger at powerful interests, one needs clean hands.

 

Mistreated workers need our attention

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Sept. 14, 2009

What always shocks me the most about the willingness of corporations to disregard what is fair and right in order to engorge the bottom line is the way so many companies cheat their workers.

 

Even skeptics should heed these climate warnings

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009

Do you support our troops? If so, you might want to get behind the push for alternative energy and a reduced carbon “bootprint” because our military says it’s essential for American security.

 

‘The Moth’ reminds us that storytelling isn't dead

By ROBYN BLUMNER - Monday, Aug. 24, 2009

In 1997, trying to re-create those Georgia evenings, novelist George Dawes Green invited friends to his New York apartment for storytelling. The sessions caught on and soon had to move to larger venues. Today, the Moth is a true phenomenon with hundreds of storytellers regaling thousands of eager listeners.

 

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