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Occupy Wall Street Demanding Justice

It's been a while since empathy — the uniquely human capacity to recognize and share the feelings experienced by others, that science even suggests is hardwired in us — when President Obama included it in the qualities he sought in a Supreme Court appointee, and...

Welcome 53 Percenters to the 99 Percent

It was inevitable, I suppose, that the success of Occupy Wall Street and "We Are the 99 Percent" would spawn reactions and imitators on the right. But the newly launched "We Are the 53 Percent" is a miracle of the kind of contradiction and contortionism that has...

The White Republican Mind of Herman Cain

He will not be the GOP nominee, but Herman Cain is on a roll. In Cain, the GOP appears to have finally found it's "Great Black-or-Brown Hope." Bobby Jindal looked like a promising candidate for a hot minute or two, before his abysmal State of the Union response. Then...

Explaining Ten Years of War to a Child

This week, my eight-year-old son asked me a couple of questions about the war in Afghanistan. They were simple questions. Yet, both times I struggled to answer. The first question came out of the blue. "Dad," he asked me, "Why did we go to war in Afghanistan?" I had...

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