The Affordable Care Act Gets Us a Step Closer to Equitable Health Care
As a person who has been living with what's commonly known as "a preexisting health condition," and one that can require expensive surgery and even result in emergency-room visits if it gets out of...
View ArticleThe Best Monetary Policy Is Strict Financial Regulation
On Wednesday, in her first speech on monetary policy, Janet Yellen, the new chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, pointed out a discouraging paradox: In recent years, private-sector forecasters have been...
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Friday Talking Points - Our 4/20 Acronym Contest Challenge
Three hundred of these columns? To coin a phrase... far out, man. We'll get to patting ourselves on the back in a bit, but first we'd like to propose a party game for this weekend's big 4/20...
View ArticleTom Cotton Wants to Make Medicare Doubly Dead... Attacks from Two Fronts
It is not on his website; it is not in his campaign platform. But, do not let this stealth candidate fool anyone: Republican Senate candidate Tom Cotton (R-AR) really wants to kill Medicare. So much...
View ArticleBombing Anniversary a Reminder of the Radical Right's Rage
Nineteen years ago today, evil came to Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh, fueled by hatred of the government he saw as an oppressive tyrant, set off a massive truck bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal...
View ArticleWhat Democrats Must Do to Win in November
In this November's mid-term elections, the Democratic Party will be focused on winning back the governorships and legislatures in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. They lost decisively in...
View ArticleHow Would Southerners Describe the South to Outsiders?
• If American Southerners had to describe the South to someone not from the South, would they offer positive or negative descriptions of the region? • Among their descriptions, which aspects of the...
View ArticleLife on Hold: Asylum Delayed
As I set down my papers on the living room table for our interview, Yeni Gomez apologized while she cleared the space. "We rarely sit down to eat since he has been detained," she explained. Marco...
View ArticleDon't Forget the Other IRS Scandal
Washington, DC and the right wing outrage machine are all abuzz that the IRS allegedly targeted groups based on their presumed political affiliation. Obviously, that was wrong to do, but let's not...
View ArticleThe Facts on Obamacare
There is a quote attributed to multiple sources: "You are entitled to your own opinions, you are not entitled to your own facts." Here are some facts on the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). The...
View ArticleIs Data Hoarding Necessary for Lawful Surveillance?
The NSA's mass surveillance activities, including the collection of billions of U.S. cell phone records every day, have sparked vigorous debate about whether such surveillance is legal, consistent with...
View ArticleThe US Prison System Needs a Total Overhaul
"We have embraced the idea that being mentally sick is a crime." It is way past time to overhaul the U.S. prison system. I'm not talking about a little tweak here and there. I'm talking about throwing...
View ArticleSunday Roundup
This week began the way so many do: with more tragic gun violence, as three people were killed in two shootings at Jewish centers in the Kansas City area, part of the 86 killed by guns in the U.S....
View ArticlePolitics, the Constitution and the Roberts Court
When I was a law student at the University of Chicago in the late 1960s, I had the great privilege as having Philip Kurland as one of my constitutional law professors. Kurland was one of the most...
View ArticleWriting Off Putin
The White House may be signaling a new approach to its standoff with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The headline in Sunday's New York Times reads, "In Cold War Echo, Obama Strategy Writes Off...
View ArticleA Moment to Change the 2014 Dynamics: Elizabeth Warren's New Book
Conventional wisdom is congealing. Too many Democrats are becoming locked in a defensive crouch, fearing that a 2010-style monsoon season is upon us because Obamacare is unpopular, Republicans will be...
View ArticleReverse Robin Hood Funding Threatens San Diego
San Diego's sunny beaches and beautiful college campuses can be deceptive. The city's soaring housing costs force university students and low-income families to sleep on couches and to depend on free...
View ArticleThe First Noble Truth of Politics Is Frustration
If now and then you find yourself a bit frustrated by politics, you are not alone. Politics is inherently, profoundly, maddeningly frustrating for all of us. Anyone who makes the choice to care at all...
View ArticleCliven Bundy and the American Police State
Those tempted to write off the standoff at the Bundy Ranch as little more than a show of force by militia-minded citizens would do well to reconsider their easy dismissal of this brewing rebellion....
View ArticleWhy Do People Vote Against Their Own Best Interests?
This question has stymied political strategists and pundits for a long time. As an expert in the women's market, I too am baffled by the way people, especially women, vote against those who share their...
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