Selections from the January 1-15, 2015 issue

COVER/Sen. Bernie Sanders
12 steps forward for America

EDITORIAL
Left needs Sanders; Torture shames us

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR p. 4

RURAL ROUTES/Margot McMillen
Trouble from Frankenfoods

DISPATCHES
Can Southern Dems make a comeback?
GOP puts sweetheart deals in spending bill;
State AG’s ally with Big Energy to kill enviro regs;
Tax cuts for oil companies put Alaska in big hole;
VW accepts union in Tennessee;
Colorado creates credit union to handle pot cash;
King Coal: 'Dead man walking';
O'care keeps insurance premiums in check;
Freedom isn't free in chemical spill ...

JIM VAN DER POL
Flatlining democracy

JOHN YOUNG
What we need, what we want

DON ROLLINS
Where will you be on Manson’s wedding day?

WENONAH HAUTER
Standing in the way of fracking infrastructure

JIM GOODMAN
Citizens shouldn’t have to force government

HEALTH CARE/Joan Retsinas
Sad chapter in I-Hate-Obamacare chronicles

SAM URETSKY
Let’s hope we don’t get government we deserve

WAYNE O’LEARY
It really was the economy, stupid

JOHN BUELL
Blowback and the IED

ROBERT BOROSAGE
Keep on steppin’, Mr. President

JASON STANFORD
Congress predictably on the side of dirty air

JOEL D. JOSEPH
Obama’s ‘historic agreement’ with China

HEATHER SEGGEL
Hand to mouth: No way to live

ROB PATTERSON
‘Entertainment’ steers clear of activism

POPULIST PICKS
‘Eighth dwarf’; ‘Get on up’; ‘Hypnotic eye’

WILL DURST
True holiday of guilt

and more ...