Fixing Our Dysfunctional Government (Part II): A President Too Strong and Not...
This is the second in a series of articles on our dysfunctional government. In case you didn't notice, Congress has returned from vacation. Having done virtually nothing for the bulk of the 113th...
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China's Dependency-Ratio Turning Point
Around this year*, China will reach or have reached an important turning point in their demographics. The total dependency ratio will begin increasing after 50 years of decreasing. China's dependency...
View ArticleWhat's in a Name?
I was 4 when I received my first nickname. My classmates called me "brownie." As I grew in years, my names evolved--from "Rafiki" to "Warlord" to "Bomberman." To this day, people still call me "Faruk"...
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Friday Talking Points -- Slouching Off to War
This is a special edition of this column, for a number of reasons. The first is that we're back after a one-week vacation hiatus, but the most special reason (to us, at least) is that this is the...
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Promising Research Can't Stall for Lack of Funding
Credit: Steve Barrett February 23, 1954, was a milestone in the history of American medical research. That day, children at Arsenal Elementary School in Pittsburgh lined up to receive injections of a...
View ArticleHRC Reboots Its Mission Toward Greater Trans Inclusion
When I first came out after transitioning, I joined the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), because they had a women's holiday party coming up and it seemed a good place to start. I had been dating men, but...
View ArticlePresident Obama's Golf Rejection Much More Than Poor Timing
President Obama was rejected by not one, not two, but three golf courses in the New York City area during the recent Labor Day holiday weekend. Could anyone in their wildest imagination envision a...
View ArticleA Perversion of Everything We Know
As I write, our elected government, spurred by President Obama, has declared an interest in training opposing militants to fight ISIS. Not only does this idea downright ignore context, but it neglects...
View ArticleTed Cruz: The Dangers of Not Listening
My mother was fond of saying "if you want someone to hear you, you must first listen to them" -- know them, understand the questions they are asking, and be sensitive to their concerns. If you do this,...
View ArticleHow George W. Bush Benefited From Affirmative Action
The current public debate and wave of articles about how colleges can do a better job of providing access to students from low-income families -- including my own article, "Making Top Colleges Less...
View ArticleSchool for Crime
Recent events are proving that a criminal record, or least the promise of a criminal proceeding, has become an essential requirement for holding or pursuing political office. Sexual scandal, of course,...
View ArticleWhy Congress Matters: Lessons from Ray Rice and the VAWA Anniversary
The Ray Rice incident and the shameful NFL reaction that followed have elevated the issue of domestic violence for all of us. Today's 20th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act highlights how...
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The Fighting Tigers of Iraq
The late comedian Alan King had a joke that went something like this: A guest, on leaving his host's home, notices a sign over the door, saying, "May this house be safe from tigers." Bewildered, he...
View ArticleISIS Militants Are Final Memory of School for Many Iraqi Children
Over the years, civil war, political turmoil, and military strikes have led millions of Syrian and Palestinian children to leave their homes and find refuge in Lebanon. Today, the Christian Iraqi...
View ArticleIs It Racist to Seek White Votes?
#142020895 / gettyimages.com "Democrats need to attract more white voters, and their best hope may come once they no longer have a black man in the White House." This is Nate Cohn, in an article...
View ArticleWhere Have You Gone, John McCain?
Where have you gone, John McCain? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Just like the lyrics of Mrs. Robinson, a lot of us wonder what has happened to our country. Where is the pride, the honor, the...
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Is It Time for Government to Recognize the Rights of Pastafarians?
What a difference a year makes. Last September, when I attended Apostacon, an Omaha-based freethought conference celebrating the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the mood was all ribaldry,...
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There's Nothing Domestic About Domestic Assault
Having read only the tiniest fraction of the endless pontification about professional football thug Ray Rice's brutalization of his wife and the National Football League's handling of it, I am going to...
View ArticleAre Political Debates Dying?
In Ohio, it's a real question. Late Friday afternoon, representatives for three incumbent campaigns in statewide offices in Ohio sent emails declining invitations to public debates at one of the...
View ArticleOn the 'Good Guys' in Syria, John McCain Ain't Got a Clue
On May 27, 2013, Senator John McCain secretly drove into Syria from Turkey and spent a few hours meeting with leaders of the so-called "moderate" Free Syrian Army (FSA), including Gen. Salem Idris, who...
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