The FDA announced last Thursday that it is effectively banning trans fats – that delicious but dangerous artery clogging by-product of partially hydrogenated oils – from foods in the U.S. As a result, the taste, texture and longevity of such beloved items as microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, doughnuts...

If you have money in the stock market, you must be a very happy camper right now.  I can tell you that compared to what my 401K looked like in October of 2008, my retirement savings have roughly quadrupled since then thanks to the stock market climbing to 15,000 for the first time in history. And while...

This week there was an amazing video clip making its way around the Internet.  The clip shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questioning some federal bank regulators about their investigations into unscrupulous banks illegally foreclosing upon innocent homeowners. In the clip, which can be found on...

We had a lot of positive economic news last week: The stock market closed on Friday to 14,397, setting a new record, 236,000 new jobs were created and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest level since the recession hit in 2008. I can’t help but believe that if Mitt Romney had been elected...

The Supreme Court of the United States took up a challenge last week to the Voting Rights Act, which passed during the height of the Civil Rights movement to address the Southern states’ long, disgusting history of disenfranchising black voters. Predictably, the five conservative justices had problems...

If nothing happens by this Friday, the long-dreaded “sequestration” will be triggered, and all sorts of economic chaos will be unleashed on America as the U.S. government brutally slashes $85 billion a year from its budget, hitting defense and non–defense spending in equal punitive measure. Based...

I have too many friends from across the political spectrum to believe that anyone or any party has a monopoly on wisdom or intelligence, and yet I’m frequently surprised by some of the things that my friends believe. The other day, a very nice and bright young lady where I work let slip the fact that...

I really thought I’d written my last gun column for a while.  I’d penned quite a few since Sandy Hook, with the same outcome: If you agreed with me that there is still some progress to be made in terms of new gun legislation, then I was just preaching to the choir. If you disagreed with me, then...

Abortion is back in the news again this week.  It warms my heart to see that the GOP has learned exactly nothing about the dangers of harping on this issue despite it being political kryptonite in the last election and driving women away from the party in droves. Addressing anti-abortion protestors...

It has become increasingly clear to me that the NRA no longer stands for “National Rifle Association,” but rather for “Not Rational Americans.” If you’re even paying the slightest attention to the NRA’s behavior and the attitude of right-wing gun owners in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre,...