Media, Politics & Corporate Ethics

• America by the Numbers
  The numbers the Pentagon doesn't want you to do: $900 million a day for defense, which is four times the Peace Corps budget for an entire year.
  753 words · 3 min read
• Anarchism and the Limits of Political Power
  Prince Peter Kropotkin drew crowds of 2,000 in Boston a century ago — anarchism, properly understood, is not chaos but the most ambitious form of self-governance.
  2,661 words · 10 min read
• Are Professors Really Too Liberal?
  McCarthy wonders which student is the spy — the one taping him, or the one taking notes — as the right wing hunts for liberal professors to expose.
  757 words · 3 min read
• Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conversion to Public Service
  Arnold’s leap from trashy film violence to the governor’s mansion, examined with the skepticism his egomaniacal ambitions deserve.
  557 words · 2 min read
• Burger King and the Price of a Penny
  The champion for corporate greed: Burger King refusing to pay Florida tomato pickers an extra penny per pound while clearing billions in profit.
  731 words · 2 min read
• Cutting Peace -- A Jesuit University’s Contradiction
  A Jesuit university drops its peace and justice course — the contradiction between what the order preaches and what the institution practices.
  456 words · 1 min read
• Despite Everything, Life Goes On
  Despite the Army disinviting Joan Baez, despite Gonzales dragging the Constitution through the mud — despite everything, life goes on.
  691 words · 2 min read
• Here Comes Everybody - Benedict and American Catholics
  James Joyce defined Catholicism as 'here comes everybody' — but what Benedict sees when he looks at American Catholics is another matter.
  800 words · 3 min read
• Hurricane Katrina and America’s Blame Culture
  When Katrina turned the Big Easy into the Big Queasy, politicians couldn’t find enough fingers to point — but the blame was decades older than the storm.
  565 words · 2 min read
• In Defense of Hugo Chávez’s Outburst
  Bless Hugo Chávez for calling Bush a devil at the United Nations — McCarthy mounts an unlikely defense of an outburst everyone else condemned.
  566 words · 2 min read
• In Defense of Malpractice Lawyers
  George W. Bush turned malpractice lawyers into dirty words — McCarthy argues the real malpractice is the medical system that makes them necessary.
  694 words · 2 min read
• John Paul II and the Politics of Obedience
  The secretly elected leader of a male-run, hierarchic, dogmatically unyielding organization — and the politics of obedience that kept it intact.
  855 words · 3 min read
• Judith Miller and the Media’s War Cheerleading
  On top of declining circulation and fabrication scandals, now the New York Times has Judith Miller — and the war she helped sell.
  556 words · 2 min read
• Manning, Snowden, and the Courage to Expose Power
  Shaming the United States government is not yet a federal crime — but Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden are being punished as though it were.
  751 words · 3 min read
• Notre Dame and the Politics of Alcohol
  Students return from spring break in El Salvador to find their classmates protesting not poverty but the school's new alcohol policy.
  719 words · 2 min read
• Outrage Overload
  Thanks to Mark Foley and the congressional page scandal, another outrage to be steamed about — in a country already suffering outrage overload.
  563 words · 2 min read
• Politics as Theater -- The Republican Debate Circus
  Twenty televised debates, hundreds of interviews, saturation advertising — and the country needs bed rest and antidepressants.
  647 words · 2 min read
• Ralph Nader and the Politics of Conscience
  Norman Thomas ran for president six times on the Socialist ticket; Ralph Nader inherited the tradition of running on conscience rather than cash.
  2,410 words · 9 min read
• Robert Novak and the CIA Leak
  Before the din of the CIA leak case fades, it's worth remembering that it was Robert Novak who started it — and walked away clean.
  547 words · 2 min read
• Roger Clemens and the Politics of Steroids
  The congressional showdown over Roger Clemens and steroids — more theater than oversight, more show than substance.
  738 words · 2 min read
• Ron Paul and the Politics of Dissent
  Eight million dollars pours into Ron Paul's campaign in a single day — the question isn't why, but why the rest of the field has nothing to say about war.
  787 words · 3 min read
• Scooter Libby and the CIA Leak Scandal
  Scooter Libby strides into court on five felony counts, and the rest of Washington carries on — the scandal of indifference to the scandal.
  619 words · 2 min read
• The Church and the Wealth Problem
  Religious orders write asking for donations to do the Lord's work — but which Lord, exactly, requires million-dollar monasteries and private jets?
  612 words · 2 min read
• The Conscience of a Non-Voter
  Citizens who believe conflicts should be solved with military violence should vote — those who believe otherwise may find that not voting is the more honest act.
  1,036 words · 4 min read
• The Nobel Peace Prize and the Problem of Respectability
  Only occasionally does the Nobel Committee award its peace prize to genuine risk-taking rebels — and this year was not an occasion.
  549 words · 2 min read
• The Politics of Obesity
  America's 78 million tubbies and chubbies are under siege — but banning trans fats won't solve what a food industry built on salt, sugar, and corn syrup created.
  718 words · 2 min read
• The Pope’s Missed Opportunity
  Pope Benedict’s pastoral visit to Washington brimmed with pageantry — on substance, opportunities for daring were repeatedly missed.
  602 words · 2 min read
• The Real Problem With Health Care Reform
  The real problem with health care reform isn't insurance — it's salt, sugar, fat, and corn syrup entering the mouths of Americans by the truckload.
  654 words · 2 min read
• The Scandal of College Presidents’ Pay
  Want a cushy job that will make you rich? Become a college president — even at second-tier schools, presidential enrichment programs thrive.
  789 words · 3 min read
• The Tea Party and the Politics of Amnesia
  Nothing personal, the Tea Partier told his congressman — you're an incumbent and it's time for the whole bunch to go, as if history started this morning.
  676 words · 2 min read
• The Trouble With God’s Politics
  Jim Wallis has a solid record of progressive deeds — and is in intellectual lockstep with George W. Bush on the one point that matters most.
  620 words · 2 min read
• The Trouble With the Nobel Peace Prize
  The Nobel Peace Prize's recurring problem: honoring respectability when the real peacemakers are in prison or in the streets.
  584 words · 2 min read
• Two Cows - A Political Fable
  A political fable told through two cows — every ideology from democracy to fascism explained in terms even an economist could understand.
  599 words · 2 min read
• When Billionaires Try to Save the World
  America's boardrooms embrace an old Ralph Nader idea — sharing wealth — and McCarthy examines what happens when billionaires try philanthropy.
  743 words · 2 min read
• When Bush Quoted Dorothy Day
  George W. Bush quoting pacifist-anarchist-jailbird Dorothy Day at Notre Dame — the irony writes itself, but McCarthy writes it better.
  688 words · 2 min read
• When Winning Becomes the Only Virtue -- Notre Dame and Football Culture
  Notre Dame's head football coach describes himself as a jerk — McCarthy examines what it means when winning is the only virtue a university celebrates.
  545 words · 2 min read
• Why I Don’t Sing the National Anthem
  Nationalists insist the anthem must be sung in English — McCarthy doesn’t sing it at all, and here is why.
  631 words · 2 min read
• Why I Left the Catholic Church
  If you've been scouting reasons to leave the Roman Catholic Church, the current pickings are good — and McCarthy has collected them all.
  582 words · 2 min read
• Why I’m Leaving the Catholic Church
  A church 200 years out of date, in need of radical transformation, with big empty buildings — McCarthy joins the exodus and explains the reasons.
  784 words · 3 min read
• Why I’m Not Angry at the Bishops
  Everyone’s mad at the bishops — McCarthy takes the contrarian position, not out of loyalty but out of a deeper critique of institutional power.
  667 words · 2 min read
• Why the Washington Post Op-Ed Page Is So Dull
  Op-ed pages are read by people who believe other people are reading them — and in Washington, what they find is predictability dressed as expertise.
  2,315 words · 9 min read
• William F. Buckley and the Limits of Conservatism
  William F. Buckley was a one-man show who relished one-upping the Left for six decades — McCarthy measures what the performance actually cost.
  646 words · 2 min read