Jun 16, 2014 | Autobiographical, Elections, Elections - Other, mic, Pennsylvania
Published: The Morning Call (June 16, 2014) After more than two years as a political columnist for PolicyMic and other publications, I made the decision last month to undertake a career hiatus and work as the Northampton County field organizer for Tom Wolf's gubernatorial campaign. Although I knew this would probably be a temporary position, I embraced it not only to help the Democrats nominate...
Mar 31, 2014 | Centrism, Health Care Reform, Liberalism, mic, Pennsylvania, Political Ideologies
Published: mic (March 31, 2014) The Obamacare deadline is Monday, and a flurry of reports, headlines and talking heads are weighing in its success or failure. But sometimes politics cannot be understood without a human touch. One of the most devastating aspects of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) implementation, flying under the radar, is the unwillingness of Republican-led states to accept the...
Sep 30, 2013 | Democrats, Elections, Elections - Other, mic, Pennsylvania, Political Parties
Published: mic (September 30, 2013) While it’s easy enough to talk about politics in terms of any given immediate cycle, Democrats should always try to keep the big picture in mind by asking themselves the most important question: How can we win the next election, the election after that, and other elections into the future? The answer, I believe, can be found in the Lehigh Valley. In my 16...
Apr 15, 2013 | Animals and Animal Rights, Conservativism, mic, Pennsylvania, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Republicans
Published: mic (April 15, 2013) Here are eight words that I doubt have ever come from the pen of a liberal columnist: "Where is Rick Santorum when we need him?" This thought comes to mind as soon as one looks at PA HB683, a new bill introduced in Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania that would outlaw whistleblowing on factory farm cruelty. Sponsored by Representative Gary Haluska (D-Cambria) as...
Mar 23, 2013 | Extremism, mic, Pennsylvania, Political Ideologies, Race and Racism, Religion and Religious Issues, Terrorism
Published: mic (March 23, 2013), The Express Times (March 23, 2013) From neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan to the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers, there is nothing more inherently pathetic than a bigot in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This isn't to say that bigots aren't a pitiful sight as a general rule. As the philosopher Eric Hoffer noted in his classic monograph on mass movements and...
Apr 1, 2012 | Arts and Entertainment, mic, Pennsylvania, Political Parties, Republicans, Satirical Essays
Published: PolicyMic (April 1, 2012) When I first heard that Arlen Specter was going to hit the stand-up comedy circuit, I was pretty excited. If nothing else, such a decision from an ex-Senator shows cojones, a commodity that is in distressingly short supply among most of those associated with public life. Beyond that, Specter is in a valuable position to offer sharp commentary about how our...
Feb 28, 2012 | Abortion, Civil Liberties, Conservativism, Gender and Sexism, mic, Other Media, Pennsylvania, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Religion and Religious Issues, Republicans
Published: PolicyMic (February 28, 2012), As Quoted in an Obama Presidential Campaign Commercial (April 27, 2012 at the 1:07 mark) A new bill proposed by Pennsylvania Representative Kathy Rapp would require any woman seeking an abortion to first undergo an ultrasound. During this procedure, the doctor would be forced to put the view screen in her field of vision so she could see the fetus and...
Oct 3, 2011 | Education, History, Pennsylvania, Race and Racism
Published: The Express Times (October 3, 2011) Can you identify the source of this quote? “We conclude that in the field of public education separate but equal has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” If you can’t, don’t worry. Not even today’s high school students are expected to know that it came from the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in Brown v. Board of...
Oct 2, 2011 | Civil Liberties, Conservativism, Gay Rights and Other LGBTQIA Issues, Media Issues, mic, Pennsylvania, Political Ideologies, Political Parties, Religion and Religious Issues, Republicans
Published: The Morning Call (October 2, 2011) In a recent interview with Politico, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum issued a scathing denunciation of Google. "If you're a responsible business," he remarked, "you don't let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country." One might expect such strong words to be reserved for the greatest rascals of...