With the conservative political activist Koch brothers in the news questions of political influence always come up: Do the rich call the shots? Has the United States become more of an oligarchy – a power structure that rests primarily with the elite few – than a democracy? The New York Times Room for Debate (Apr. 21), explored those questions. “A recent study...

Jeb Stewart Magruder, one of the last key individuals in the scandal known simply as ‘Watergate’ which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, died last week. Magruder eventually confessed his role in the botched break-in of National Democratic Headquarters at the Washington, D.C. hotel in the early 70’s. However, decades later, Magruder added another interesting twist to the...

In an interview for Spanish channel Univision (Sept. 20, 2012), President Obama stated: “I think it’s important for us to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration.” The Washington Post Fact Checker wasted no time in giving the president’s statement three out of four Pinocchios. “Clearly, ATF didn’t develop the practice of gun walking under the current...

Operation Fast and Furious was the name given by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) “…to a group of Arizona gun trafficking cases under Project Gunrunner that began in the fall of 2009,” according to a report by CBS News. President Obama took office in January of the same year. CBS News journalist Sharyl Attkisson offers one of the clearest narratives based...

My opportunity to give a little advice (some ethical, some not), short and sweet. Memo to: Adam Silver (NBA President) CC: All other sports franchises Kudos on your handling of the Donald Sterling crisis: from first reaction to investigation to decision… in three days! Now, don’t let him or the owners off the hook. Continue to press and use this event to broaden race...

Since the death of four Americans in the 2012 attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, so many stories have been spun, exaggerated, and misrepresented that the whole issue has left us with a great lack of clarity. Through all the partisan clutter, the central question appears to be this: did the White House deliberately mislead Americans through statements...

Over the ricky ticky tinkle of a honky-tonk piano banging out “Buffalo Gals,” Georgia Governor Nathan “what-a” Deal sits down at his desk to sign a new piece of legislation into law. Watching the proceedings, a tall man with a steely-eyed gaze, dressed in black with matching hat quietly watches. “Well, boys,” Deal says, handing out souvenir pens, “Here she is, the Safe...

At the time of his retirement in 2010, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court John Paul Stevens was the oldest Justice then serving and the second-oldest serving in the history of the Court. This excerpt, from his latest book, Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution first appearing in The Washington Post (Apr. 11), offers both clarity and context...

Last year, NBC News reported that America’s teenagers scoredbelow the international average in math, and only average in science based on a report from a 2012 Program for International Student Assessment. Fortunately, 1,700 science students from around the country did not have time to pay much attention to the study. Each year since 1998, Intel, the computer chip corporation sponsors the Intel Science...

Three stories appearing in last Friday’s (Mar. 7) New York Times grabbed my attention. “An Army judge on Thursday accepted guilty pleas from Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair to misconduct charges, including possession of pornography and inappropriate relationships with female soldiers. But the general, a former deputy commander of American forces in southern Afghanistan, still faces court-martial on charges that...