Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was mad. Not the kind of mad you get when your favorite team blows a big lead and loses its eighth straight game, but Red-Faced-Exploding-Blood-Pressure Mad. “This is what you get from the political Left in America,” McConnell bellowed to the media. “That is what ...

Why public entities should not put money into private banks Inspired by the anti-apartheid divestment movement of the 1980s, climate change activist groups spearheaded by 350.org are agitating for colleges, universities, and municipalities to refrain from investing in fossil fuel companies and develop new pension and other portfolios that keep public ...

Before Congress creates yet another useless special investigation committee and subpoenas me, I wish to come clean and confess. I took steroids. Strong steroids. The kind that bulk you up and make you look like Stone Mountain. In my case, they just fattened me up, gave me rosy-red cheeks, and destroyed ...

I was pushing the deadline, desperately flipping through newspapers and magazines, trying to find a news hook upon which to hang this week’s column. Dejectedly, I surfed the Internet. Maybe a new game addiction would help me forget my writer’s block. Maybe I could learn which Hollywood celebrities are taking orders ...

Two weeks from today, I'll be able to vote for my preferred candidate for president of the United States, for my regional congressional representative, for my local state house and senate representatives, and for various judges and city officials. All of those votes are relevant to my life--but the most ...

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, the Christmas season began the day after Thanksgiving. That was sufficient time to get into the spirit, view the lights, buy a nice tree and decorate it, watch for the 200th time “It’s a Good Life” or that movie about a kid who wants ...

About three weeks ago Conor Friedersdorf, a libertarianish blogger for The Atlantic, put up a post about how even those who support most of President Obama's policies, even those who see him as a much better choice for president than Mitt Romney, should refuse to vote for him. His ...

When state Senator Jean Schodorf read the article in Sunday’s Wichita Eagle about her announcement that she’s leaving the Kansas Republican Party, and saw herself quoted as saying “There’s no room for people who actually think in moderation,” she probably shrugged her shoulders, figuring that informed readers will understand ...

Tumblr sent convention correspondents to cover the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Here’s Tumblr correspondent Meg Lanker-Simons on attending the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Monday: Arriving in Wonderland After cramming every passenger possible on board United Flight 741, departing Denver International Airport, the bored-looking flight crew began playing the instructional safety video. ...

We'll keep this quick and to the point: If you like weekends, safe working conditions, and a host of other protections, thank labor unions. If you like labor unions, thank the IWW, the SP, Eugene Debs, Joe Hill, the Matewan strikers, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and the communist ...