Clik here to view.
Why I Keep Working to Close Guantánamo
I have a long trip ahead of me this weekend. It begins with the Shore Line East commuter train in Old Saybrook, Conn. I will transfer to the Metro-North in New Haven. From Grand Central Station in New...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Do the Math: People Don't Choose to Be Poor or Unemployed
God, I wish I were poor. And unemployed. That's the good life. Poor and unemployed. I mean, just look at all the cool stuff you get. Medicaid and welfare. Food stamps and unemployment insurance. And...
View ArticleThe Wrong Way to Enforce Concealed Carry Laws
Back in 2010, SCOTUS decided that the only state which did not issue concealed weapons permits -- Illinois -- had to get in line with the 2008 Heller decision and let state residents carry guns. After...
View ArticleChristie's Weiner
I did not have sex with that bridge. That was Chris Christie's Hail Mary play at his press conference last week. He looked us in the eye, he told us he'd done nothing wrong and he prayed it would turn...
View ArticleCorporate Lobby Cheers Controversial Fast Track Bill
The corporate news releases applauding the introduction of legislation to revive the controversial Fast Track trade authority were flying fast and furious last week. The Nixon-era procedure, which...
View ArticleThe True Cost of Blind Patriotism: Despair and Veteran Suicide
Why does a veteran take his life every 65 minutes? Some veterans have always suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), though it has not always had that name. Today, PTSD is better understood and...
View ArticleChristie Could Emerge Stronger From Bridge Scandal
Last week was a tough one for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and the schadenfreude was immediately evident from some diverse quarters. You have of course Democrats gleeful that Christie's been...
View ArticleWhy the Media Must Look Beyond Petty Political Retribution as the Reason for...
Nature abhors a vacuum. Nowhere is this axiom more apropos than when it comes to the mainstream media chasing a blossoming political scandal with national implications. But for one cable news network,...
View ArticleChristie, Public Officials and Emailing
Although the story seems nuttier every day -- just imagine, the very idea of closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge to retaliate against a local politician -- just how much "legs" the Governor...
View ArticleBridgegate Collateral Damage: The People
For the past several days, Americans have become quite familiar with Chris Christie's George Washington Bridge troubles, also known as 'bridgegate'. While the investigation continues, subpoenas get...
View ArticleCharlie Crist Is Not the First Politician to Ideologically Reinvent Himself
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen (R-IL 1959-1969) observed "I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times." In American politics, it is not...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Am the New Working Poor and I'm Not Alone
On December 23, 2013 two days before my 60th birthday, I swallowed a stomach full of pride and walked into the Department of Social Services to ask for help. It is something I never imagined I would...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Conservative Response to the War on Poverty Discussion -- So Far
I'm finding some of the responses by conservative politicians, economists, et al to the War on Poverty discussion to be interesting and revealing. There's a lot of silliness, and worse, of course. I'd...
View ArticleA Conservative Argument for Harm Reduction
Last year the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition surprised the nation by working with conservative legislators to pass two new drug policy laws in their state. But although the harm reduction...
View ArticleRuthless Dictator Harry Reid Represses GOP Warmongers
You may have noticed that some Republican Party apparatchiks appear to have an unblemished record regarding the logical consistency of their claims about how fair democratic procedures should work in...
View ArticleGot Empathy? Pitting Veterans Against the Unemployed Shows No Class
Allen West, and maybe GOP too, fail to learn from Romney's 47 percent mistake Remember that rather stupid comment Mitt Romney made to a bunch of rich Boca Raton donors during his campaign that allowed...
View ArticleJustice for the Atomic Veterans
In 1955 the U.S. detonated a nuclear weapon. Men nearby huddled in fear, praying for their lives. Some died instantly. Others lost their sight or had the skin ripped off their bodies. However, these...
View ArticleChina Huffs and Puffs Some More, to Uncertain Effect
The latest aggressive Chinese move in the Western Pacific? Decreeing that all fishing vessels must have Chinese permission to operate in the South China Sea, virtually all of which it claims as its...
View ArticleCelebrating the 85th Birthday of Martin Luther King (Part I)
Wednesday, Jan 15th, 2014 is the anniversary of Dr. King's 85th birthday. Like others who are alive today and who worked with Dr. King, the most frequent questions asked of me are what would he say or...
View Article