Energy policy is critical to America's future. Energy is the key to our policies for national security, the economy and our environment. But right now we are a long way from getting it right.

Three recent events--the passage of a watered down energy bill, the Environmental Protection Agency's ruling against...

I spoke with Brad Pitt on Friday. The actor-turned-activist has been spearheading an effort to build affordable, sustainable homes for the residents of New Orleans displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Pitt feels that the aftermath of Katrina "should be one of the major issues" of the '08 race. We talked...

On Monday, just three weeks away from Guantánamo's sixth anniversary, military judge Captain Keith Allred dealt what appeared to be a severe blow to the legitimacy of the Military Commissions - the unprecedented trial system established to try Guantánamo detainees for war crimes - by ruling that he would undertake...

I am a Democratic Congressional Candidate for Arizona Congressional District 1. The seat is being vacated by the Republican incumbent Rick Renzi, who has run into some legal difficulties. A couple of months ago I had the honor of blogging on FiredogLake. At the time I promised to provide...

America's Mayor has had a rough couple of weeks as we head into the Iowa caucuses. Rudy Giuliani has been caught by the media making up facts in TV debates. Mr. Fiscal Responsibility has been found turning city vehicles into his private Hampton Jitney for trysts with his girl friend...

So Sen. James "global warming is a hoax" Inhofe (R-OK) issues a report in which he claims:

Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called "consensus" on man-made global warming.

For those of you who have been reading this column long enough, you may remember a fun set of columns (Part 1 and Part 2) I wrote last year, giving my picks for the annual tongue-in-cheek awards handed out by the McLaughlin Group television show.

Because I...

This week, the federal government passed an energy bill that left many environmental activists somewhat disappointed. In the face of mounting evidence of a looming climate catastrophe, they were hoping for much bolder action from the nation's lawmakers.

So was I. But tucked into the new law, there were at...

Zainab Salbi grew up in the shadow of a tyrant.

As the young daughter of Saddam Hussein's private pilot, she was constantly at the whim of a man who regularly ordered the murder and rape of his own citizens. Salbi was expected to attend his palace parties, dine...

Timing is everything. This is perhaps never more true than in politics. Oprah's three day palooza earlier this month for the Obama campaign was as well-timed as the long-awaited wedding or baby is on a hit TV show during sweeps week. And there's no doubt that in the...

Albert Einstein once said, "only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity". We got a good dose of what many would call "human stupidity" last week in New Jersey when 5 un-elected members of the Public Health Council (PHC) voted to mandate four new vaccines for children. The...

Actually torture is seriously wrong, seriously illegal AND IT SERIOUSLY DOESN'T WORK. Talking heads on TV or radio wouldn't even be able to still debate these propositions if we could simply go to the videotape. Attorney General Mukasey and Deputy Attorney General nominee Mark F. Filip wouldn't be able to...

See more of Paul Szep's cartoons on the Huffington Post here.

I have a distinction you won't envy. I saw or heard every presidential debate but one and read all the transcripts. What did I learn? This: For passionate idealism and timely analysis of issues, I'd have been better off watching reruns of Boston Legal.

If you're more into 'character'...

Yesterday in Waterloo Iowa, I sat down and discussed two things that I hope people will pay a lot of attention to over the next two weeks: Iraq, and its devastating effect on our veterans and their families.

Based upon my experience in the region as United...

I just got back from Texas and I couldn't get over how many "Don't mess with Texas" bumper stickers there were. I was like, "Excuse me, Texas - I had no intention of messing with you." And they're like, "But you were gonna." And I was like, "Nuh uh." And...

How bad do you want to win back the White House? As the primaries finally approach, a growing share of Democratic voters say choosing the most electable candidate is more important than the issues, according to a brand new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. (Voters who prioritize electability are now

The United States, it is said, invaded Iraq to create democracy. The truth of that proposition aside, the unseemly, hurried-up renewal of the United Nations mandate that supports the U.S. occupation of Iraq this week trampled on the very idea of democracy.

Last summer, Iraq's parliament - yes, the very...

President Bush just received another blank check from Congress to continue the war in Iraq. It is now almost a certainty that he will have all the funding necessary to continue the war for the duration of his presidency.

And while we are bogged down in...

Wednesday night, the U.S. Congress approved by "unanimous consent" a bill that CBS News called "the first major new gun control bill in more than a decade," and the Washington Post called "the most significant gun-control legislation since the early 1990s."

Passage of H.R. 2640, the...

Something important is happening in New Orleans this week. Under the leadership of John Barry (full disclosure: I know this man), the new consolidated levee board has invited Dr. Bob Bea to the city, and, according to today's Times-Picayune, Bea presented his critiques of the Army Corps' post-disaster work...

Readers of The Shock Doctrine know that one of the most shameless examples of disaster capitalism has been the attempt to exploit the disastrous flooding of New Orleans to close down that city's public housing projects, some of the only affordable units in the city. Most of the buildings sustained...

Oh, those crazy liberals with their conspiracy theories! Now they've wondering whether the fire in Cheney's office was deliberately set in order to burn incriminating records. They obviously don't understand either digital technology or the nature of evil. For one thing, Cheney's staff has been shredding paper documents for months....

Yesterday the London Times reported central questions about Senator Obama's shocking dearth of international experience: "Fresh doubts over Barack Obama's foreign policy credentials were expressed on both sides of the Atlantic last night, after it emerged that he had made only one brief official visit to London - and...

As human rights lawyers sought to block U.S. Government efforts to stop a lawsuit against a Boeing subsidiary accused of flying detainees to 'black sites' where they were tortured, a legal advocacy group published the first testimony of a victim of the Central Intelligence Agency's 'enhanced interrogation' program.

In the...

I just spent a few days at Yale University with about 25 scholars, talking about slavery, freedom, emancipation, and modern problems of human trafficking. Not surprisingly, at dinner someone asserted that George W. Bush was the "worst" president in American history. That led me to think about the criteria for...

In my new nationally syndicated column out today, I explore the root cause of America's anger at our federal government and the growing embrace of conspiracy theories - trends displayed in recent Scripps Howard/Ohio University studies. It is not just a reaction to fear in the age of...

After teaching for 20 years at Columbia University, I chose to leave my tenured position there and move to The George Washington University. Since then, I have been asked (at least once too often): Why? Why did you move from such a prestigious university to a less distinguished institution? (Academics...

I am a man of faith. The faith of my fathers. And I accept every tenet of that faith. I will not, for the sake of political convenience, distance myself from any teaching of my faith.

That is why I believe the prophet of the Holy Word was not Jesus,...

The Times of London has picked up on the issue that Senator Obama has not convened a policy-related hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on Europe and added to this something I reported yesterday --...

A few years ago, in my last album, right after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, I talked about how furious Senators and congressmen were, looking at such photos as a prisoner forced to wear women's panties on his head and a naked prisoner with a dog collar attached to a...

Why not? It could be done.

. . . Some kisses from the New Orleans City Council."

In the song Let's Duet from this weekend's Walk Hard, Dewey Cox sings about blowing kisses. You could add the words "From New Orleans" today.

At a hearing over demolishing public housing, Councilwoman Stacy Head blew kisses to...