Two weeks ago, I wrote a column asking for those who were participating in the upcoming anti-RNC protests to write in and tell me why. I received several responses via e-mail. I am also told that another...

At the end of my last column, I wrote that a plea "to a common sense long past - the clear basis for McCain's campaign - still has an appeal under the right circumstances." Before I get to these circumstances,...

This presidential campaign has been a frustrating one for me and for a lot of other Democrats I know. Unlike the Republicans, we had (and have) a field of strong candidates, but one in which real policy...

Given that I consider myself a Democrat on the left end of the party, it is not often I find myself in agreement with Rush Limbaugh. However, on his Jan. 21 radio show, Limbaugh said something I find hard...

I am now entering my seventh year as a graduate student in history at the University of Minnesota. This will be my final year here, so I thought it would be a good time to look back at my first six years...

I am against lead paint - particularly when it is used on children's toys. I believe that children should not have access to toys made in China, which are finished with lead paint. I am also against pool...

Sometime soon Barry Bonds will surpass Hank Aaron's all-time home run record. This might happen on the road where Bonds will undoubtedly be both booed and cheered for his achievement. Unless you've been...

Several interesting reports came out this week regarding the nature of exactly who the United States is currently fighting in Iraq. We learned first that CIA director Michael Hayden classified the "main...

I have been writing columns for the Daily for 10 months now, and in that time there have been a few moments of regret. One of these occurred after my last column "Michael Moore's Politics" ran in the June...

Two weeks ago my mom left me a message informing me that I would absolutely need to watch Oprah that day because Michael Moore was on the show talking about his new film "Sicko" - a documentary on the...

During the Democratic presidential debate this past Sunday night, Sen. Chris Dodd's campaign kept what they called a "Talk Clock" to keep track of the amount of time each of the eight candidates (Dodd...

How do we begin to undo the catastrophes of the George W. Bush era? This is the question the vast majority of Americans are beginning to ask as we gear up for next year's presidential election. On few...

This past week, the Minnesota House of Representatives joined the Minnesota Senate in passing a higher education funding bill which included a Dream Act provision. As reported in The Minnesota Daily last...

This past week the Supreme Court upheld The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, thus officially making illegal a particular type of abortion method. As someone who supports abortion rights, I must...

So Don Imus has been fired from both his radio and television show a week after he called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" during a discussion of the team's play in the national championship...

I can't avoid Twins fans. You're everywhere - taunting me with your Most Valuable Player and your Cy Young Award winner. I can't drive through downtown Minneapolis without having to watch your happy faces...

This past January, The New York Times ran a story on marital trends which asserted that for the first time "more American women are living without a husband than with one." The same article reported, "In...

Former Vice President Al Gore appeared before committees in the House and the Senate this past week to testify on the topic of climate change. These appearances came on the heels of Gore's Academy Award-winning...

Just before spring break this paper reported on the University administration's "Driven to Discover" ad campaign, which I have written about in the past. The report was in the news section of the paper...

It is hard to describe the profound sense of emptiness that supporters of Sen. Paul Wellstone felt in the months after his death over four years ago. I say "emptiness," not only because we had lost our...

As a weekly columnist, there unfortunately are times when I write something in haste which I later regret. Usually, such regrets arise because I have not considered the full impact of something I wrote....

It's not every day that I get a direct response from the University administration to one of my columns. But this is exactly what happened with my last column, "My Thoughts on 'Driven to Discover,' " as...

Recently, like many of you, I received an e-mail from the University administration letting me know that they wanted my opinion of their ubiquitous "Driven to Discover" ad campaign. However, confusion...

With George W. Bush's approval ratings hovering in the same range as Nixon during the Watergate scandal, and with a Newsweek poll showing that 58 percent of respondents wish "the Bush presidency was simply...

This week I will have been vegan for 10 years. That's right, beginning in early February of 1997, I stopped eating all meat, dairy, and egg products. Additionally, I gave up clothing made with animal products,...

Normally, I'm not one for pop-psychoanalyzing major public figures and their motives. It's slightly juvenile and normally is used to deem someone's views "crazy" - thus seeking to marginalize ideas from...

>As a historian, I find the mindset that says "We're not looking back ... our entire focus is on what is the best way to move forward" to be pernicious and counterproductive, given that looking to the...

The past five years have been disastrous for America's standing in the world. An unnecessary war against those who did not attack us, torture of prisoners, and indefinite imprisonment for unknown charges...

When you're a political junkie, it's never too early to begin speculating about the next election. Since I clearly fit this category, I'm going to start speculating about 2008 even though the Congress...

Last week's elections were particularly hard for me. I'm not talking about the results, which I (almost) universally loved. No, the elections were hard because I was out of the country and felt disconnected...

Conservatives often like to invoke the "Founding Fathers" when making political arguments. In other words, people like Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, etc. are drawn upon to try and make a present day political...

Lately, some staunch Republican Iraq War supporters have been struggling to find new ways to talk about the "what to do in Iraq" now that the country is in total chaos. Some, like Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska,...

The 2008 presidential election promises to be one of the more interesting in modern memory, as it will be the first time in over half a century that both parties will have open fields which do not include...

Recently, U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, argued, "There is nothing in Internet gambling that adds to the (gross domestic product) or makes America more competitive in the world." Likewise, a spokesman for...

Who remembers Gary Condit? If you don't, I'll give you a refresher. Gary Condit was a U.S. Representative from California who served throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In summer 2001, an aide Rep. Condit...

In my last column, on the torture and detention legislation, which is now headed to the president's desk for his signature, I ended with a condemnation of the Democrats and the role they played (or, more...

Some time back, the news came out that the CIA was operating prisons across the world in which they were engaging in practices of torture. These included techniques such as Cold Cell (a prisoner stands...

As a person on the left side of the political spectrum, it is quite often when discussing politics with my friends of the same political persuasion that the subject turns to identity politics. These conversations...

I have been a graduate student at the University for five years. In this time, I have been a teaching assistant several times and an instructor of my own course once. I've enjoyed all of these experiences...

Did you know that there is a political primary fast approaching? There is a good chance you didn't. Most returning students have so much going on at the beginning of the semester that a political primary...