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The African-American Swing State

The African-American Swing State

The list of 2012 swing states includes Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada, Iowa, Virginia, North Carolina, and Colorado. Whichever candidate carries these “battlegrounds,” where neither presidential candidate currently has a clear lead, will probably win the election.

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Lifesaving Law

Lifesaving Law

Steve Gepner almost died four times. His health care saga began mundanely enough, as many do. After all, how many of us expect we could be hours or days away from life-threatening illness?

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My Broken Heart

My Broken Heart

I celebrated the Fourth of July this year by having a heart attack. All things considered, watching fireworks would have been more fun.

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Tomato Tampering

Tomato Tampering

Food geneticists, for example. These technicians have the smarts to tinker with the inner workings of Momma Nature’s own good foods — but not the smarts to leave well enough alone.

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Healing Mother Nature’s Wounds

Healing Mother Nature’s Wounds

America’s rare environmental victories often earn headlines. They might involve the successful blocking of a dangerous pipeline, a new mercury standard for coal, or perhaps the signing of a hard-fought pact to limit overfishing.

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Romney Passes the Buck

Because Bain Capital did things between 1999 and 2002 that Mitt Romney doesn’t want to defend — such as exporting American jobs — Romney claims that its outsourcing program wasn’t his doing. He says he played no “active role” in deciding on Bain’s investments after 1999. But even if we take Romney at his word, does that mean he bears no responsibility for what his company did? 

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Economic Rapture Might Be around the Corner

Economic Rapture Might Be around the Corner

The 2011 fiscal year ended with a $1.3-trillion deficit. How did America go from a state of “burgeoning federal surpluses” (in Greenspan’s words in 2001) to “extraordinary financial crisis” (the way he put it in 2010) in just one decade? Two words suffice: tax cuts.

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