10 Good Things About the Year 2013
It would be easy to make a list of 10 bad things -- wars, government shut-down, drone attacks, lack of progress on immigrant rights, lousy health-care reform. But it's also been a year of extraordinary...
View ArticleA Year of Delightful Egalitarian Imagination
Nurses, philosophers, and trade unions have over the past 12 months all shared some fascinating ideas on how we can make our societies more equal -- and much better -- places to live. Economic...
View ArticleToo Much Data, Too Little Analysis
For many years, I have been sounding the alarm about a national security apparatus running amok, raking in more data than can make use of. At times, I have felt like a lonely voice crying in the...
View ArticleIndiana GOP: While Banning Gay Relationships, Why Not Enact White Supremacy,...
Indiana already has a law banning marriage, complete with criminal penalties for pastors who perform same-sex rites, but that's not good enough for state Republicans. Prodded by right-wing religious...
View ArticleKentucky Rivals United in Call for Commitment to Research
A kidney transplant patient free from worrying about anti-rejection medications. A man working again after successful treatments for Parkinson's disease. An effort to combat trauma among our returning...
View ArticlePuzzling Polls Signal Disconnect
If the recent polls, including the CNN/ORC one released the week of December 23, are any indication, then America has lost its collective mind: whether it's the 49 percent to 44 percent lead the...
View ArticleGood News: Obamacare Clearly Isn't Stifling the Economy
The latest GDP numbers are bad news for Obamacare critics. You'd think that everyone would be happy when the Commerce Department announced that our economy grew by a whopping 4.1 percent in the third...
View ArticlePresident Obama Cut Short His Vacation?
President Barack Obama and his family return early from Hawaii to Washington for fiscal-cliff talks; however, the constant wording that they were on "vacation" bewildered me. I mean, when families...
View ArticleExtending a Critical Lifeline for the Long-Term Unemployed
This weekend, Unemployment Insurance benefits are set to expire for more than 1.3 million Americans. These are people who have been struggling in this tough economy after losing their jobs through no...
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A Defense of Onesies
Conservatives are really mad this week. Not just about the fact that racist, homophobic comments can get you suspended from a TV show (although they had no problem boycotting the Dixie Chicks). Nope,...
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Plays of the Year: From the Savvy Leaker to the Wacko Birds
For more on this post listen to Alan Kelly on SiriusXM POTUS 12.26.13 2013 was a year for playmakers and politics, no doubt. But among these 17 awards -- some serious, some tongue-in-cheek -- it's...
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The Talking Cure for Republicans
Republicans are hoping their resolutions for a 2014 new year will set up a happier 2016. To accomplish this they are making big "old boy" changes. The GOP has accepted they have a woman problem. They...
View ArticleWhy You Shouldn't Succumb to Defeatism About the Affordable Care Act
Whatever happened to American can-do optimism? Even before the Affordable Care Act covers its first beneficiary, the nattering nabobs of negativism are out in full force. "Tens of millions more...
View ArticleExtend Emergency Unemployment Insurance Benefits Now!
In the last few days of this year, most Americans are wrapping up their holiday celebrations and pondering the promise of 2014. But millions of Americans who have been struggling the longest to find...
View ArticleNo, Edward Snowden, the NSA Isn't 'Watching Everything We Do'
As you've probably heard already, Ed Snowden delivered a videotaped holiday message via Laura Poitras to Channel 4 in the U.K. What jumped out at me right away was this line: "Recently we learned that...
View ArticleHere's Everything We Learned From the Duck Dynasty Controversy Summed Up in...
You can say whatever you want, including that gay people are sinful and full of "murder, envy, strife, hatred" and are in the same league as those who enjoy being penetrated by barnyard animals and...
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My 2013 'McLaughlin Awards' [Part 2]
Welcome back to our annual year-end awards column! Part 1 of this column ran last week, just in case you missed it. We've got a lot to cover, so let's jump right in with no further introduction....
View ArticleTom Tancredo and the Lord
The Lord is my shepherd. -- Psalm 23 He'll probably be calling on the Lord again. When he needs to change his mind he lets the Lord do it for him. It all came to mind when the Denver Post reported that...
View Article'Ban the Box' Goes Too Far... and Not Far Enough
All over the country, towns, cities and even states have begun a move towards policies that "ban the box" and forbid employers from asking individuals about previous criminal convictions. It's a decent...
View ArticleYaba, the Madness Drug
By Joseph Allchin When it comes to yaba, Tarique started young. Though he's only 24, it's been a long road, visible in his pallid complexion and scrawny frame. It all began at his brother's wedding:...
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