Dining with Mahmoud

Dining with Mahmoud

Sometimes a person you’ve been trained to hate comes across as reasonable. That happened to me when I met Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Every year, during the United Nations General Assembly, Iran’s mission to the United Nations offers a Persian dinner (no alcohol)...
Paul Wellstone, We Miss You

Paul Wellstone, We Miss You

Ten years ago today, the two of us were an hour into the first big coalition meeting to oppose the impending U.S. war against Iraq, surrounded by dozens of leaders of a wide array of movements: peace, civil rights, women’s rights, environmentalists, labor,...
A Tribute to George McGovern

A Tribute to George McGovern

I am saddened to hear that progressive champion Sen. George McGovern is reported to be at the end of his days. He has lived a life nearly as large as his heart. George McGovern will be remembered as a stalwart of American liberalism. For my generation, he was beloved...
More Lucky than Brilliant

More Lucky than Brilliant

If you were born before 1950, you probably remember what happened in October 1962. If you were born after that fateful month, you’re lucky. Exactly half a century ago, the United States and the Soviet Union reached the brink of a deadly nuclear showdown during...
One Nation, Under Surveillance

One Nation, Under Surveillance

If on cell phones, You rely; Say hello, To the FBI. Does it matter that the federal government can track your cell phone at any moment of the day? That protesting at an event where the Secret Service is present is now a felony? That any American can be jailed...