BY KRIS LADUSAU In the Buddhist teachings, there is a set of practices called the “Eight Fold Path.” The name of each one begins with...

BY FROMA HARROP To many rational economists, holiday gift-giving is “an orgy of wealth-destruction,” writes Dan Ariely in The Wall Street Journal. A behavioral economist at Duke University, Ariely makes pro-gifting arguments while acknowledging the bah-humbug view, which goes as follows: Givers often spend money on things others don’t necessarily want, and the recipients frequently […]

BY SHARON MARTIN I’m afraid I threw a tantrum last week, throwing out some choice words about elementary curriculum that introduces material before it is...

BY ALEXANDER COCKBURN Newt Gingrich, who recently admitted that his own childhood was comfortable, seems to have a problem with youth – poor youth, that is. Back in 1994, the Gingrich master plan to shrink the welfare rolls was to ship the children of the poor off to orphanages. He told a Harvard audience not […]

BY JOE CONASON If these are the last weeks of Rick Perry’s ridiculous presidential campaign, his desperation is turning him into a nasty clown indeed. By publicly attacking the gays and lesbians who have chosen to serve their country in uniform, the Texas governor seems to have gained ground in Iowa. But at what cost […]