Daily News Finder

Austerity:  The paring back of government services and spending at a time of high public debt.  European governments have largely embraced it to one degree or another, and the U.S. has dipped its toes into the austerity pond with the institution of the “sequester” cuts. Providing the ammunition for austerity [...]

Renovations in the Tennessee state capitol building raised the eyebrows of some state lawmakers when they saw what some believed to be a foot bath to be used by Muslims to wash their feet before prayer.  The sink, which was installed in a men’s restroom outside the House chambers, immediately [...]

Last Friday the Maryland House of Delegates followed the state Senate in voting to repeal the death penalty in the state.  Governor Martin O’Malley has indicated that he will sign the bill into law, making Maryland the eighteenth state to ban capital punishment, and the sixth to do so in [...]

This post is a bit personal.  About a month ago I was diagnosed with melanoma.  As you might expect, I immediately began to look for information about the disease, its prognosis, treatment options, etc.  As I sorted through the various websites such as the American Cancer Society I found a lot of [...]

When the U.S. has a Republican president, GOP members of congress are among the world’s biggest Keynesians.  Witness the eight year spending spree under the Bush administration, where congress approved of two wars and a huge Medicare prescription drug benefit without providing a method to pay for any of them. [...]

Crime in the United States has been on the decline for more than twenty years.  According to the FBI’s crime statistics, violent crime in 2010 (the latest year for which statistics are available) was at its lowest level since 1972, and has been declining every year since 1991.  Property crime [...]

Gerrymander: 1. manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favor one party or class. 2. achieve (a result) by such manipulation: a total freedom to gerrymander the results ORIGIN:  Early 19th century.  From the name of Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts + salamander, from the supposed similarity between [...]

[UPDATE 1/7/13 7:25 EST:  I just spoke to a friend who works in Milford School District.  This friend has no connection to district administration, and spoke to me with a promise of total anonymity.  This is what my friend had to say: We were told, by [the superintendent], that the [...]

There are Christmas presents that won’t be opened tomorrow in Newtown, Connecticut.  In Aurora Colorado there will be empty places at holiday meals where in past years a smiling person sat.  Across the land there will be thousands of households that will celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa minus loved ones [...]

In the midst of the discussion following the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School there has been talk about how “this time it’s different,” and we have heard calls for changes from unlikely sources, such as West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.  However, at the same time many people began lining [...]