John Funiciello

When the tractors rolled into Madison, Wisconsin, to support workers in fending off the attack by Governor Scott Walker and his Republican allies, it was a good sign that there is a sense of solidarity among those who do the work. Walker, his Tea Party supporters, the billionaire Koch brothers, and others like them are…

In attempting to destroy union rights, Republicans, Tea Partiers, and others, not surprisingly, are taking a dangerous course that subverts democratic rights in America. In turn, such actions by the nation’s Rightists will make democracy itself something that we will study as a historical oddity, rather than enjoying it as a reality in 2011. What…

There are some rights that Republicans and their Tea Party supporters just won’t tolerate among American workers. Collective bargaining rights seem to be one of them. And that’s about the only thing that the fight in Madison, Wisconsin, is all about. By now, it’s settled and documented that Governor Scott Walker is out to break…

Now that it is clear to millions of Americans that their jobs and in fact their country’s industrial base has been shipped out, never to return, they should begin to question the role of Corporate America in the plunge in their standard of living. Some 30 years ago, at the outset of the reign of…

Running scared before the onslaught of teabag-wielding irrationals on the right, most politicians are willing to speak of cutting “entitlements” from the federal or any other budget they can get their hands on. And what do they mean by “entitlements?” The programs they want cut as entitlements invariably are those, which help or support people,…

The fear mongering in the highest circles of American government continues apace, as was demonstrated in all of the hoopla surrounding the State of the Union speech delivered by President Obama last week and criticized by Republicans of every stripe. Obama’s code word for spending is “investment,” according to the GOP leadership and the Tea…

Anniversaries are times for taking stock, to determine whether we’ve lived up to our ideals and principles, and to see how we need to change or if we have to change to get back on the right track. That’s why this month is a good time to take a long look at President Dwight D.…

Young African-American men find it very difficult to enter working life after incarceration. High unemployment makes it that much worse. How about an unemployment rate of more than 29 percent? It doesn’t seem possible, even in this era of economic turmoil. It doesn’t seem possible when government officials tell us that the unemployment rate is…