It's funny how you often find insights where you least expect them.

A few weeks ago, my dog Kiva got bitten on the nose by a rattlesnake and I ended up with a better understanding of our health care system. This week, I came to understand why our Social Security...

A few weeks ago, our dog Kiva was bitten on the nose by a baby rattlesnake. Kristen was walking him on a bike path near our home in Tucson and Kiva pounced on a bush, hoping to feast on a lizard but got much more than he bargained for.

As many of you know, I have been obsessing lately about the way in which truth and facts have seemingly become irrelevant and missing from the public conversation of politicians and our news media. It's not about whether one agrees or disagrees with the point of view of another. It's...

Last week I had an epiphany.

I have been operating under the mistaken belief that those who continually forward emails full of vicious lies and distortions smearing President Obama, his family, and others with whom they politically disagree were simply mistaken. I was sure that if I could send...

During the last few years Americans have seen facts and truth play a smaller and smaller role in political discourse. At the same time, lies, distortions, nastiness and demonization have replaced civility and respect in our public conversation. Racism and bigotry, always present in subtle ways in the past, have...

Anyone who thinks Aspen is only an upscale liberal enclave clearly hasn't been here lately.

On the same day last week those who were looking for a right wing perspective on a broad range of issues had some tough choices to make.

They could either attend the

Conventional wisdom did not have a good week -- at least not in my neighborhood.

This disconnect between what people like (or need) to believe and the facts is not just annoying. It has actually become pathological since so many seem to feel so angry and out of control...

I was among the hundreds of millions of sports fans around the world who looked on with outrage last week as an incompetent referee from Mali stole the game-winning goal from the U.S. soccer team in its World Cup match against Slovenia.

The ref clearly blew it--as he...

I have been a Jewish Leader for the last 26 years. This is indisputably true because I have the plaques to prove it. I remember when I first met Thomas Friedman in Israel back then he told me that he never met a Jew in Israel who wasn't a "leader."...

This week has provided yet another perfect example of why so many people hate the stock market.

For the first four months of the year, business conditions have been improving pretty steadily. Bailed out corporations like General Motors and many banks have retooled and stabilized and paid...

Back before law and order came here to Arizona, they used to just take guilty people out and hang them. But, as locals love to point out, eventually justice became more process-oriented. Since then, they have made a commitment to give the criminals a fair trial before they hang them.

For years now we have suffered through the gradual disappearance of fact-based reporting and journalistic standards. As frustrating as it has been, there were always at least a few places we could turn where facts and accuracy still counted for something.

But for all this slippage over the last few...

I confess.

I voted for Barack Obama and I'm glad I did. Like most of my fellow Jews, I think he's doing a pretty good job as President of the United States. I also feel a special connection to the State of Israel and strongly support its right to exist...

In a recent article, I wondered out loud why most of people say they want to be happy and yet spend an ever-increasing amount of time and energy reading, watching, and listening to people who promise to make us angry and afraid. Our need for anger and fear has become...

If you ask most people what they want the most for themselves--and certainly for their children--the vast majority would say "happiness." We want to be happy and we want our friends and family to go through life with every reason to wear a big smile. If you Google "how...

America and democracy just had a very bad week.

The biggest headlines were garnered by the truly shocking victory of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts. Brown won the Senate seat that had been held for decades by Teddy Kennedy and will represent the only state to vote for George McGovern.

Any house that we would want to inhabit should have a good number of both windows and mirrors. The windows are needed so we can look through them and see what is going on outside the house. The mirrors are needed inside so we can look back at ourselves critically...

These are the most important 10 days of the Jewish calendar -- the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur when we negotiate with God -- making the case that we are worthy to be inscribed in the Book of Life for yet another year.

The biggest part of that...

Have you ever noticed that most things people say they are worried might happen in the future are things that have already happened? Once the dreaded event has taken place, they start speaking in the future tense about it as though it hadn't happened yet -- but they're worried that...

The Right Wing purveyors of hatred, fear, and anger have adopted a new strategy. Unfortunately, it seems to be working as well as their old one.

Until now, they have focused on spreading lies and distortions about President Obama. He is a socialist and a Nazi (an interesting combination) wants...