While the election has been trumpeted as a triumph over prejudice, those declarations are premature. In numerous states, prejudice and discrimination against lesbian and gay people was further institutionalized. Arizona, California and Florida passed bans on gay marriage, while Arkansas banned gay couples from adopting children.

Taken as a whole,...

I thought all those stories about the bang up business at gun stores after Obama's win sounded hokey.

And they are, according to Jack Schafer at Slate , who he has numbers to back him up. First, gun sales in the past sales period were no higher than usual....

Some of my fellow progressives are understandably gnashing their teeth over the sparing of Judas Joe Lieberman. They may find it ironic that Hillary Clinton -- who wrote most of the script for the McCain attacks on Barack Obama -- might end up as Secretary Of State if she decides...

Free fall. The US has lost private sector jobs for 10 straight months. One quarter of all businesses in the US plan to cut payroll over the next year. Retail sales fell in October by the largest monthly drop on record. Auto sales have collapsed, driving the auto companies towards...

This week, donor nations will convene in Kabul for the Return and Reintegration conference. The objective is to enhance efforts to reintegrate Afghan refugees in their homeland. The conference is a good reminder that the Afghan refugee situation, among the longest running and most complex in the world, is far...

Despite Kashmiri separatists' calls for a boycott of the Indian run state elections in Jammu and Kashmir this month, preliminary data from the first stage of the seven stage election process shows Kashmiris in many districts have come out to vote in high numbers. The Election Commission said 64 %...

The elections two weeks ago reflected significant advances for the cause of gun violence prevention. Meanwhile, with stories of fear-driven gun sales emerging since the election, the shallowness of the gun lobby's divisive approach to America's problems has never been more apparent.

The Brady Campaign produced a well-documented report...

At the beginning of October a combination of unemployment and political anxiety drove me to pack my bags and head for Michigan. If I wasn't working elsewhere, I had no excuse for spending the remainder of the election on the sidelines. I have always been a man of strong political...

Although the United States made history on Nov. 4 by electing its first African-American president, supporters of California's No on Proposition 8 (a ban on gay marriage) suggest that American prejudice and discrimination still run deep.

After the ban on gay marriage was passed,...

"The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth." - Albert Camus

It's human nature to be in denial. How else could we bear the multitude of horrors we're exposed to every day? But outright delusion? Not so healthy.

Years ago, I...

How are regular people supposed to get their Brangelooney fix in all those celebrity-obsessed magazines when everything - from OK! to Us to People -- has become Baramoids. The covers of almost all publications are bathed in the telegenic and charismatic First Family-in-waiting....

Wild fires in California? Sure, you can call in the smoke jumpers. Superman might be able to blow them out with his super powers. Barack Obama will attack them from the Internet, in a preview of how 2.0 web-based Democracy is going to work.

Everyone has been wondering...

Yesterday, I spoke at the National Press Club in Washington. The following are excerpts from my speech. The full transcript can be found at www.aft.org.

Neither the economy nor public education can be strong when the other is weak. Growing the economy and creating a shared prosperity requires a...

Americans seem mesmerized by the emerging list of potential cabinet members being interviewed for jobs. Brilliant! Assertive! "The Genius Cabinet" gushes Slate writer Jacob Weisberg. Larry Summers? Wow! Joel Klein? Whew!

Calm down, folks. What's wanted in anyone's cabinet is not brilliance but judgment. Not genius but...

President-elect Barack Obama today named Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. as the next U.S. Attorney General. He has accepted the position, pending a Senate approval.

Mr. Holder will be the first African-American U.S. Attorney General in American history.

He was former Deputy Attorney General of the United States from 1997 to...

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that the true test of a first rate intellect is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still function.

For example: "Hillary Clinton would make an excellent secretary of state," and "Hillary Clinton would make a terrible addition...

While Barack Obama has said he thinks the ban on open gays in the military should end, military leaders themselves have mixed views on the matter. This is important because it was the opposition of Colin Powell and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993 that derailed Bill Clinton's effort...