We all know that passing any form of meaningful healthcare reform will require compromise.  Major compromise is needed to reconcile the differences between the two Senate versions and then striking an accord with the House version of the healthcare bill.
By traditional ideals, Republicans and Democrats will find some common ground and hammer out their major [...]

President Obama has just signed a new hate crimes bill into law. In the past, I have been ambivalent about such legislation. At first, I supported it completely. I mean, hate is bad, right?[...]

Last night, Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics and now the ostensibly freakier Super Freakonomics, appeared on The Daily Show. Jon Stewart expressed his enthusiasm for Levitt’s position that we should be combating global warming in many ways, not only by reducing emissions but also by implementing strategies to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.[...]

You may have seen these commercials for FreeEnterpriseAmerica.com. This is the latest effort in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s campaign to let businesses do whatever the hell they want. The face of the campaign is respectable enough: Harness American innovation to create 20 million new jobs. Wonderful! Let’s do that. But of course, the only way to do that, according to the Chamber, is to never hold any business accountable for anything.[...]

In the re-election of 1996, Bill Clinton realized that it was “the economy, stupid” that held the secret to his success. For Barack Obama in 2012, that will still be the reelection mantra. But there are several other key reasons that will also be important in Democratic reelection success. 
Obama won in 2008 because he offered [...]

Apparently, Thursday’s version of the public option has a provision for states to opt out if they think it will lead to super communism. This is one of those compromises that can only have come about as a solution to a political problem because it sure isn’t a solution to the healthcare problem.[...]