There is a reason that presidents have been fighting for a better health care system for 100 years. In 2010, over 50 million Americans went about their daily lives with no health insurance. If they got sick, odds are they went bankrupt and you had to foot the bill. Insurance companies could look at an application of a newborn infant, born with a defect, and deny the child coverage. A man who had diligently paid for his own health insurance for his entire life, could get cancer, and the insurance company could drop him. Insurance companies would set annual or lifetime dollar limits on needed care, leaving patients who thought they had coverage with massive medical bills and no hope.

Tens of thousands of volunteers across the U.S. and Europe passed out free books to celebrate World Book Night. For a struggling industry World Book Night may have seemed like an ingenious marketing ploy.  But to the volunteers and the readers, these books were a lovely gift. For one special day, volunteers gave out books [...]

On October 3, 2011, the Obama administration said it was moving forward with oil-drilling leases off the coast of Alaska issued by the Bush administration in 2008. The leases had been challenged by environmental groups, opposition that gained momentum after the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Yet the Interior Department said it would uphold nearly [...]

We can thank the British for many things: the colonization of much of the world, not passing on their dentistry or cooking skills, our accents, the postage stamp, Mr. Bean, the pay toilet and gravity, just to name a few. But one thing we have never given them credit for is creating the wedding industry. [...]

Each generation has their heated issue when it comes to marriage. Once upon a time, it was imperative to maintain the virtue and innocence of a young woman (i.e.: the presence of her hymen) on her wedding night. In present times, the average age of sexually active women is 17. Therefore, contrary to the repressive [...]

This is the fourth installment of a critical history of the Democratic Party and its role in American politics.  Part I looked at the alleged Jeffersonian roots of the party; Part II looked at its rise in the pre-Civil War era; Part III its role in the events leading to the Civil War. Now Part [...]

Just last week, what seemed like a minor response to the democratic protests in Tunisia, quickly ballooned into the most serious threat to Egypt’s political system since the assassination of President Anwar Sadat thirty years ago. The last week of massive demonstrations in Egypt have completely dominated the news, quickly switched the public focus from [...]

It was through a series of important maneuvers, all connected with the American political process, which gave rise to over-sized private organizations whose reach would ultimately circle the globe. The costs have been numerous, including a stripping away of our citizen-based democracy and a species threatening ecological crisis. The result appears to be an international corporatocracy existing without an equally powerful political body to properly supervise its agendas.

Some are questioning as to whether the motives of Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity is a fun comedic event to unite folks or a step toward political activism.

Lincoln contended that the founding fathers had opposed slavery because they had adopted a Declaration of Independence that pronounced that all men were created equal. A good deal of this repudiation of the Democrats also had to do with a brief rise in nativist politics engendered by immigration levels in the early 1850s that were five times higher than those of the previous decade. Most of the new arrivals were poor Catholic peasants or laborers from Ireland and Germany

With such a high percentage of foods containing GMOs in some way, shape or form, you may be asking yourself how you can possibly avoid what I’ll call the GMO Bad Nasties. And with over 70% of the food in grocery stores today containing some sort of GMO, admittedly this is a tough one. Luckily, there is a way. One of the best ways to avoid GMOs is to go organic.

By nearly every definition of war and occupation, obviously excluding that of the U.S. government, leaving 50,000 or more of your soldiers anywhere would constitute a clear sign of ongoing conflict. Nonetheless, last month President Obama declared combat operations over in Iraq, and Vice President Biden is already lowering expectations for what an ‘end’ to [...]

Sarah Palin’s “mama grizzlies” video fans the flames of fear that already fuel the over-parenting trend in this country. In an apparent effort to reach out to middle of-the-road women, Palin’s PAC video launches a vague attack on the “fundamental transformation of this country,” embedded with a challenge for moms to take action toward preserving [...]

August 26th was Women’s Equality Day, in commemoration of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which formally recognized women’s right to vote in the United States. This year is particularly special, as it marks 90 years of women casting their ballots. But did you know that women in many of the Western states were voting [...]

Celebrities, here’s a tip worthy of the Playboy Advisor: If you consent to a documentary biography, make sure you hire a pal to direct. After making Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, the only remaining to-do items for director Brigitte Berman is to nominate her subject for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of [...]

This is the second part in a series discussing the origins and ancestry of the modern Democratic Party.  In the first part, I explored the manifestation and development of the two party system following the American Revolution.  Now, I will look at the evolution of those parties from the War of 1812 till the mid-1800s, right before [...]

Want to see something really scary? Forget Independence Day, 2012 or any other Hollywood horror story. This summer, Countdown to Zero should land on your Top Ten list. The cast includes such international stars as Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev and Tony Blair. The doomsday plot? Unless the world acts quickly, time will run out on [...]

The following article is the first in a series that will look at the historical roots of the Democratic Party, its development as an institution over 218 years of claimed existence and whether or not the party’s reputation and mythology square with historical reality. The Democratic Party’s website claims that “Thomas Jefferson founded the party [...]