In the game-changing 1973 Roe v. Wade case, abortion was framed as an issue of women’s rights. The women’s movement was in full swing, and it was easy to see why women would believe they should have the right to abort an unwanted fetus.  But the “rights” frame proved to be an easy target for those who say the termination of a developing human being must be supported...

Bin Laden “was used in the same way that 9/11 was used to mobilize the emotions and feelings of the American people in order to go to a war that had to be justified through a narrative that Bush junior created and Cheney created about the world of terrorism.” — Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik With the (at least second) death of Usama bin Laden now creating a tsunami of feelings...

Our economic and political mess became more clear once I realized that most of the important political deals take place in the Mos Eisely Cantina.  You know the scene from the first “Star Wars” movie in 1976: a dark, smoky bar located somewhere in a twilight zone: a liminal and lawless hideout where the ethically reprehensible is the norm. We know our elected...

I’m looking through you, where did you go? I thought I knew you, what did I know? You don’t look different, but you have changed; I’m looking through you, you’re not the same. (The Beatles: McCartney and Lennon) All in all, liberals were happier when he was opaque.  Since January 2009, we have been confused by the disconnect between Candidate...

The funniest thing about Wile E. Coyote is how far he has gone beyond the edge of the cliff before he gives that big-eyed “Uh-oh!” expression, realizing he’s got a long fall coming. It isn’t funny to the coyote but it is to us. It’s our schadenfreude: the joy we derive from the misfortune of people with whom we don’t identify. Many world leaders are now...

In this winter of worldwide discontent, a powerful moral and political spirit has arisen in the Middle East. There are already uprisings of ordinary people all over the world: nobodies dumping Somebodies off their thrones, as the world watches.  It’s happening so fast our heads are spinning.  But it’s clear that we will turn that moral spirit loose here at home:...

On February 8, our Vice President Joe Biden called Egypt’s new VP Omar Suleiman, saying Egypt should cancel the Emergency Law their government has used to suppress, imprison, torture and kill those who oppose the government’s tyranny.  Another provision of the Emergency Law gives the President the right to bypass the courts, and have people tried by a military tribunal...

Two days before Christmas, the Associated Press wrote of Halliburton’s generous gift of $250 million to Nigerian officials, to bribe their government into dropping the criminal bribery charges against former Halliburton CEO and former U.S.  Vice President Dick Cheney. Former President George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of State James Baker reportedly also made personal...

It’s hard for an American to admit that we have become a country whose President now claims the power to arrest and detain indefinitely – or even order the assassination of — any American citizen that the President – without official charges, trial and conviction – sees as some sort of threat. Future leaders are not likely to give up this power. We’re...