Bill Moyers's Blog, page 18

Bill Moyers & Michael Winship: Some Choice Words For "The Select Few"

If you want to know what really matters in Washington, don't go to Capitol Hill for one of those hearings, or pay attention to those staged White House "town meetings." They're just for show. What really happens – the serious business of Washington – happens in the shadows, out of sight, off the record. Only occasionally – and usually only because someone high up stumbles -- do we get a glimpse of just how pervasive the corruption has become.

Case in point: Katharine Weymouth, the publisher of TH

Faith, Justice, and Society

(Photos by Robin Holland)

This week on the JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with academics Gary Dorrien, Serene Jones, and Cornel West about what faith traditions can tell us about building a more just society. The trio recently taught a class together, "Christianity and the U.S. Crisis," at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Gary Dorrien explained his view that democracy is intrinsic to a just society:

"I think that economic democracy is es

Michael Winship: My State Legislature's Crazier than Yours. Oh Yeah?

(Photo by Robin Holland)

Below is an article by JOURNAL senior writer Michael Winship. We welcome your comments below.

''My State Legislature's Crazier than Yours. Oh Yeah?''

By Michael Winship

California should just be done with it and rename the entire state "Neverland Ranch."

This serves several useful purposes. It would be the ultimate tribute to Michael Jackson, pleasing his most ardent and bereft fans. Further validate the state's Cloud Cuckoo, fairy tale reputation, thus probably promoting a

The Arts, Politics, and Political Art

(Photo by Robin Holland)

This week on the JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with poet W.S. Merwin, who recently won the Pulitzer Prize.

During the taping of the interview, Merwin argued that political poetry rarely makes for good art. He explained:

“Because you start by knowing too much. You have your mind made up, and you know that you’re right. And I think that always the moment you’re right, you’re wrong. Political poetry starts with the assumpti

Michael Winship: I Can See Tehran from My House!

(Photo by Robin Holland)

Below is an article by JOURNAL senior writer Michael Winship. We welcome your comments below.

''I Can See Tehran from My House!'

By Michael Winship

Being a total history geek, I confess that there’s almost nothing as entertaining to me as a good historic house tour. It’s a great way to get a feel for how someone from the past lived his or her life. I realize that this nerdish interest would seem to indicate that conversely, I have no life of my own, but bear with me.

An hou

Creating Change from the Grassroots

(Photos by Robin Holland)

This week, the JOURNAL examined the inspiring story of Leymah Gbowee and the extraordinary Liberian women’s movement chronicled in the documentary PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL.

The film documents how Gbowee courageously and organized the women of Liberia to demand a peaceful resolution to the bloody civil war that for years had torn the country asunder. Risking rape and outright slaughter to protest non-violently, the women became a key force that helped to achieve a tent

Why Have The Rich Been Getting Richer?

(Photo by Robin Holland)

This week on the JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich about the power of Washington lobbyists and his vision for reforms to make America more prosperous and equitable.

Reich lamented that the middle class has not shared the benefits of our nation’s economic expansion over the past few decades:

“The fact of the matter is that, as late as 1980, the top 1 percent by income in the United Stat

The Spirit of Thomas Paine, Today

(Photos by Robin Holland)

In this week’s JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with historians Harvey J. Kaye and Richard Brookhiser about the complex legacy of Thomas Paine, perhaps the most controversial of America’s founding revolutionaries. (For more about Paine, author of COMMON SENSE, please visit our resources page here.)

Kaye argued that Paine imbued America with a fundamentally progressive “democratic impulse” that continues in today’s liberal politics:

Bill Moyers & Michael Winship: Why Have We Stopped Talking About Guns?

You know by now that in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, an elderly white supremacist and anti-Semite named James W. von Brunn allegedly walked into the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with a .22-caliber rifle and killed security guard Stephen T. Johns before being brought down himself. He’s 88 years old, with a long record of hatred and paranoid fantasies about the Illuminati and a Global Zionist state. How bitter the bile that has curdled for so many decades.

You will know, too, of the rec

Desanitizing Modern Warfare

(Photo by Robin Holland)

In this week’s JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill about the role played by hi-tech weaponry and private military contractors in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Scahill argued that most American citizens have become so removed from the harsh realities of war that further conflicts are becoming increasingly likely:

“I think that this is sick, where you turn war essentially into a videogam