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The US Is Failing Its Friends and Allies
On April 28, 2008 I found myself in the worst firefight of my life, surrounded by the Taliban, out-gunned, out-numbered, preparing to die. The explosion from a mortar round that landed 3 meters away...
View ArticleWhy Educational Reform Fails
Co-authored by Amy Rothman, psychotherapist and mediator in Los Angeles American education just received another beating. This one came in a December report from the Program for international Student...
View ArticleWould the NSA Have Stopped 9/11?
Peter Bergen wrote a fascinating op-ed for CNN about the NSA. We liked it, so we animated it, using some of our latest techniques. "Conceptual Animation" is an idea that we are developing at Kindea...
View ArticleShould We Even Be Fighting the War on Poverty?
Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty. The legacy of this war is hotly contested, and there are at least three competing views. Some argue the War on Poverty created a culture of...
View ArticleWhat Will Be Governor Christie's Fate?
The blizzard of troubling emails makes it clear that last September's lane closures at the George Washington Bridge weren't purely for a traffic study. They were more political vendetta --...
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I Was Denied Health Insurance Because of a Preexisting Condition -- Now I...
"You guys are such assholes," I said to the man who manages my health insurance payments. I wasn't necessarily meaning he's an asshole, but rather his industry, including health insurers in general....
View ArticleDon't Let Abortion Cloud Free-Speech Issue
Eleanor McCullen is a 76-year-old grandmother who believes women who have abortions are often not informed about the options available to them. The state of Massachusetts, however, made it illegal for...
View ArticleIs Decriminalization the Best Approach to Vermont's, and Nation's, Drug Abuse...
Last week, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin made history as the first governor to devote his entire State of the State address to drug abuse and addiction. This is a great milestone itself, but his...
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Snowden, The Pentagon Papers, And COINTELPRO
President Barack Obama is scheduled to give a speech later this week where he will outline changes to be made to the National Security Agency and their ability to collect information. This will be a...
View ArticlePuppy Mills: Yay or Nay?
Next year, 4 million dogs and cats will be killed in shelters. About 80% of those will have been healthy and adoptable. Some of us consider this a bad thing. Others, who consider it a good thing, will...
View ArticleU.S. Must Suspend Funding to Egypt's Military Regime
This week, the United States Congress is voting on legislation that would to restore funding to Egypt's military government in Fiscal Year 2014, in direct violation of long-standing and crucial...
View ArticleThe American Gun Culture: Standing Your Ground Against the Deadly Use of Popcorn
(In admiring, affectionate memory of The Political Carnival's Paddy Kraska. Safe home, PaddyK.) As gun violence increases and pro-gun forces achieve new legislation, the gun control movement in the...
View ArticleDoing Hard Duty In Washington
Duty, the new memoir of former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, should be required reading for everyone in Washington, not because of supposed gossipy items about the Obama administration, but for...
View ArticleIt's a Matter of Priorities
As a Korean War veteran I know firsthand and understand the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform. I authored the Universal National Service Act because I believe that everyone in America...
View ArticlePublic Water Systems Can Help the War on Poverty
No army can win a war without good quality water. Dysentery took more lives in the U.S. Civil War than battle wounds. Likewise, the War on Poverty won't be won without healthy and affordable water. The...
View ArticleChasing MorganChase
Corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned; they therefore do as they like. ~ Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow (Lord Chancellor of Great Britain 1778 et seq) As a...
View ArticleMisdirection Used to Sway Crowds
The popular inability to distinguish fantasy from reality is not a new phenomenon. Snake-oil salesmen have long relied upon their marks' eagerness to believe in magical elixirs. But even people's...
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Members of Congress, Farmers and Businesses Call on Obama to Fulfill Campaign...
A morning press conference offered a beacon of hope for farmers and activists on Capitol Hill today as members of Congress and 200 organizations demanded Obama fulfill his 2007 campaign promises to...
View ArticleHow to Open a Pot Dispensary
By Jen Bernstein So your bags are packed, the U-Haul is loaded, and you're ready to join the thousands who want to try their luck at starting a marijuana business in Colorado. It's a big business: CNBC...
View ArticleA Bipartisan Voting Rights Act Is Possible
Conventional wisdom among some liberals, conservatives, and moderates is that a "polarized Congress" will never update the Voting Rights Act. The Voting Rights Act bill introduced today in Congress...
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