There was only one last-ditch demand Republicans in Congress rallied around in the end-of-year budget negotiations that concluded today -- a black line in the tar sands drawn by the conservative legislative machine. In order to approve a payroll tax-cut extension -- a measure that the GOP's tax-hating ranks already support in theory and that's widely understood to be an effective stimulus to our sagging economy -- Republicans held out on a single, make-or-break issue. Democrats could have a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut -- but only if they let Republicans pursue a gambit to get the Keystone …

Photo: Gilad LotanThe summons to "Occupy Wall Street" first issued from a little magazine called Adbusters that specializes in "culture jamming" and Situationist prankery. So you could say the movement started as a media phenomenon.  But you'd be wrong. The people who have taken the phrase from Adbusters and run with it, such that there are now Occupy offspring across the U.S. and around the world, aren't playing media games. They're expressing profound dissent from a global financial system that has failed humanity, and they're trying to kindle hope in the possibility of peaceful change.  No, Occupy Wall Street didn't …

A scene from "It's Free (Swipe Yo' EBT)."They seemed to come out of nowhere, like so many web memes: two apparently satirical music videos celebrating feasting at the public trough courtesy of EBT -- the Electronic Benefit Transfer cards state governments use to distribute food aid and other benefits. But on the internet, nowhere almost always has an email address. And a close look at these emanations of the pop-cultural id turns up some suspicious fingerprints. The first exhibit is "My EBT," in which Brooklyn rapper Stanley Lafleur ("Mr. EBT") runs down the many perks of using his government-supplied plastic. …

When I first hung out my shingle as a freelance writer, I tacked a postcard over my desk. It showed a picture of the earth from space against a black background. The words were a quotation from the pioneering naturalist John Muir: "When we try to pick out something by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." It looked a little cheesy, yet felt pretentious, too, which was a neat trick. Inspirational messages generally make me gag, and I wasn't looking to bolster my sense of cosmic significance. But I liked the substance. The quote reminded …