| Nov 12, 2014 | Economy / BusinessThe demigods of Silicon Valley like to present themselves as miracle workers, able to create electronic wonders (and wondrous profits) from nothing but their vaunted imaginations and entrepreneurial prowess. Well, yes. But there’s another part to that program: their...
| | Environment / HealthWhile the Republicans were busy wiping the floor with Democrats on Election Day, the citizens of Berkeley, California were making history. An overwhelming majority of Berkeley’s voters — 75 percent — passed the nation’s first soda tax. The penny-per-ounce tax on...
| Nov 11, 2014 | Rights / DemocracyA big surprise from this year’s elections is that American politics has become dominated by the least likely of participants: shy people. That’s strange, since running for office is an ego game, attracting those comfortable with self-promotion. But the hot...
| Dec 24, 2008 | Economy / BusinessI’m always conflicted when I watch some fat-cat miscreant being worked over at a Congressional hearing. On the one hand, the person on the spit usually deserves it. He or she has almost certainly violated the public trust in a way so obvious that it caught even the...
