| Jan 14, 2015 | Rights / DemocracyUntil recent years, marijuana prohibitionists have been able to intimidate most reform-minded politicians by simply threatening to brand them as “soft on drugs.” But finally, thanks to determined activists and broad support from the general public,...
| Dec 30, 2014 | Rights / DemocracyCongress, which had been so tied up in a partisan knot by right-wing extremists that it became unable to move, suddenly sprang loose at the end of the year. Before heading home for the holidays, it put on a phenomenal show of acrobatic lawmaking. In one big,...
| Dec 22, 2014 | Rights / DemocracyDo you — or does anyone — really need a book of rules and a three-hour briefing to do your job ethically? If you’re a Congress critter, apparently so. For that’s what newly elected lawmakers have just received. Nearly all those newcomers rode to victory...
| Nov 12, 2014 | Rights / DemocracyDick Tuck, the legendary political prankster and wit, once ran for local office in San Francisco and lost. His concession speech, in its entirety: “The people have spoken — the bastards.” Now, you know me — I wouldn’t say anything like that about the...
| | Rights / DemocracyWhen she heard that the GOP had nailed a Senate majority, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska grabbed a chair, lifted it over her head and shouted “I’m the chair, maaaaaaan!” The presumptive next chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources...