From the past eight years of mismanagement, we have inherited a series of crises. We are fighting two wars. The economy is weak and vulnerable. Unemployment numbers are in double digits. Our debt and deficit is climbing. Social security and Medicare are bankrupting our government. The financial markets remain shaky....

Ahmadinejad admonishing Obama to stop "interfering" in Iran is like New Gingrich lecturing us on the sanctity of marriage. That ridiculous demand detached from reality lends weight to the hands-off approach that Obama has taken in this crisis.

Prominent Republicans like Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham clamor for...

When extremists on the left or right express views on the environment, the noise is easy to filter as chatter in the nut-wing echo chamber. But a disturbing trend has developed in which mainstream right-of-center pundits are regressing on issues of environmental protection, and that is more difficult to dismiss.

Nothing reveals more clearly the true nature of abortion opponents than the murder of a doctor who performs the procedure.

Dr. George Tiller was killed on Sunday, May 31 in his local church, where was serving as an usher. Yes, the national anti-abortion groups condemn the murder and trot...

War is a logical consequence of religion. Since religion is based, by definition, on faith rather than facts, no mechanism exists to arbitrate between competing ideas. As soon as logic is removed from the debate, competing positions cannot be evaluated based on relative merit, but are supported as inherently right,...

This week the Republicans have finalized their descent to irrelevance. Two prominent spokesmen for the right have diminished the national debate, and themselves, with irresponsible statements meant to rewrite history. George Will opining in Newsweek and Dick Cheney speaking at the American Enterprise Institute together provide the two bookends for...

A few days ago, Seattle Times headlined an article by Electra Draper entitled, "Dogs Have Souls, but You Already Knew That." Much of the piece is devoted to University of Colorado Professor Marc Bekoff, who has concluded that humans are not alone in having a nuanced moral system.

I strongly...

Democratic leaders are initiating a media campaign targeting Christian radio stations to create support among Evangelicals for upcoming climate change legislation. While outreach is usually admirable, Democrats are barking up the wrong apple tree in this particular case.

We will not effectively address the issue of global warming if we...

In a country founded on the principles of separating church and state, a national day of prayer raises certain obvious questions. But instead of focusing on that issue on this dubious day of celebration, let's go deeper and examine prayer itself as our special way of celebrating.

Here is the...

With apologies to the Bard, I question his premise that nothing is changed by a name. A rose might smell as sweet regardless, but a liberal flower has a different aroma than one unlabelled.

Pigeonholing someone into a simple category creates a comfortable means of evaluating, and dismissing, the...

Many headlines this week have covered the Swine Flu, a bug that has killed 80 people in Mexico alone. With little respect for borders, the flu has quickly spread to the United States, Canada, Europe and New Zealand.

What should you make of this alarming news?

Health officials are...

Defense of the Bush Administration's decision to sanction "enhanced interrogation techniques" all boils down to a single argument: torture works. The ends justify the means. Former Vice President Cheney has made this exact argument in several recent interviews.

Cheney's line of reasoning is deeply flawed for three critical reasons:...

Dick Cheney has discovered transparency. His pious call for declassifying certain memos regarding torture is like Pat Robertson advocating for atheism. The former Vice President has built his career on secrecy and utter disdain for government disclosures. He refused to provide transcripts from meetings on energy policy. To avoid compliance...

North Korea becomes a nuclear nation, and we do nothing. Iran continues to develop nuclear weapons, and we do nothing. Government spending is out of control, creating the largest debts and deficits in our nation's history, and we do nothing except cut taxes and start a $1 trillion war.

The country is not better off because the Republican Party is firing on one cylinder now. A two party system is healthier in the end with responsible opposition to the majority. The Tea Party madness (and silliness) and the hysterical Republican response to a recent government report on extremism have...

A spate of magazine articles, cable TV shouting matches and debates among pundits this week have raised to prominence the question of whether the United States is a Christian nation. President Obama claims we are not, as we should not be. The majority of the public, ignorant of our history,...

The cover of Newsweek (April 13, 2009) announced, in text hammered into the shape of a cross, "The decline and fall of Christian America." That is like announcing that we have cured world hunger. Both assertions are ridiculous and easily proven wrong.

The election of Barack Obama has wounded the...

Monday, March 9, 2009, marked the day that science was freed from the medieval shackles of religious extremism in the United States. President Obama rescinded the federal ban on stem cell research imposed by President Bush.

Nothing could demonstrate more clearly the inappropriate intrusion of religion into secular politics than...

A sad fact of modern life is that our ability to plan for long-term energy independence is stymied by fluctuating oil prices. At $150 per barrel and $4.00 per gallon, gas-guzzling SUVs were being dropped faster than quarters at a slot convention in Las Vegas. Panic selling of large cars...

Bequeathing to the American people the worst economic crisis in generations upon leaving office, President Bush continued to blame his predecessor for his failures as he was walking out the door. He blithely ignored the inconvenient fact that he was president for the past eight years. Bush said: "I think...