The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Ramona's picture

    Panera Bread Artisans Knead a Union

    By Ramona on Fri, 02/22/2013 - 3:21pm | Politics, Social Justice
     

    In March, 2012, just six months after their franchise had been bought up by Bread of Life, a company owned by Manna Development, a former McDonald's franchisee, 18 bakers at six Panera Bakery and Cafes along the I-94 corridor in Southwestern Michigan decided to join a union.

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    Michael Maiello's picture

    The Best Argument Against The Keystone Pipeline Comes From: The Manhattan Institute?

    By Michael Maiello on Thu, 02/21/2013 - 3:07pm | Politics

    The Manhattan Institute is a conservative, somewhat libertarian think tank here in New York, probably best known for pushing the "broken windows policing," that has defined law enforcement in the city since the Giuliani era.  They are generally free marketers and pro-law enforcement conservatives.  They very often, like the contributors to Reason magazine or CATO classic, come up with some novel ideas and are worth checking in with every now and then, even by lefties.

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    Michael Maiello's picture

    President Obama Has Been Ducking Me On Serious Issues

    By Michael Maiello on Tue, 02/19/2013 - 3:54pm | Personal

    As a citizen of the United States of America and employer of Barack Obama, I must protest that I have not yet once been invited to the White House, not even for a beer in the Rose Garden even though I a) like beer and b) am not allergic to roses.

    Clearly, President Obama is afraid that I might ask a tough or unpredictable question or simply level him with some sort of criticism that will leave him wondering, "do I really even want to finish this second term?"

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    Personal
    William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Soccer player Robbie Rogers comes out – Like a fart in the ocean

    By William K. Wolfrum on Mon, 02/18/2013 - 7:55am | Sports, Social Justice

    My brother-in-law Marcelo struggled mightily coming out of the closet. While I and a handful of his closest friends and relatives knew he was Gay, he kept his true self hidden until he was 31. The combination of Brazilian culture and a male-dominated family made coming out seem impossible to Marcelo.

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    Ramona's picture

    One Billion Rising: Ending Violence toward Women and Girls

    By Ramona on Wed, 02/13/2013 - 7:17am | Social Justice

    This Valentine's Day blog post is dedicated to ending the abuse of women and girls.  You'll need to go to my blog to get the full effect.  It's the least I could do:

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    Social Justice
    Michael Maiello's picture

    The Selfish American?

    By Michael Maiello on Tue, 02/12/2013 - 8:32am | Politics

    This morning, David Brooks gives us what's been a truism about American life since I was born -- that we are a bunch of selfish short-termers, unwilling to make sacrifices for future generations in the manner of the nobler Americans who came before us.  This criticism has been lobbed at every generation since the Baby Boomers came of age.

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    Politics
    Ramona's picture

    Remember Transvaginal Ultrasounds? They're baaack.

    By Ramona on Fri, 02/08/2013 - 9:53am | Politics, Health
     

    You have to hand it to those Republican legislators in Michigan, my beautiful, besieged state.  I swear, they must stay awake nights trying to think up ways to protect our wicked womanly bodies from the fools who happen to own them.  (That would be us, ladies.)  In late December, Gov.

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    Politics
    Health
    Michael Wolraich's picture

    A Real Death Tax: Let the Killers Choose, Let the Profiteers Pay

    By Michael Wolraich on Wed, 02/06/2013 - 6:22pm | Politics

    Premise 1: Killer Knows Best

    What makes one gun more lethal than another? Ever since Sandy Hook, the media has bombarded us with gun jargon. We've learned about flash suppressors and high-capacity magazines, threaded barrels and pistol grips. We've heard that these features are bad features, dangerous to children and other living things. The expired federal assault weapons law used to ban any gun with two or more of them. The new New York law bans them all.

    But we've also heard that gunmakers find ways to skirt these constraints. For instance, some manufacturers evaded California's quick-reload restriction with a "bullet button" that allows shooters to release a magazine with a bullet tip instead of a fingertip. It's hard for plodding legislatures to keep up with eager manufacturers, who have every incentive to invent the most lethal legal weapon possible.

    So if not the legislators, who should determine which guns are too deadly? Who in America most appreciates a gun's killing potential?

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