Wednesday, June 22 2011
So You Think You Can Govern? The Much-Needed Political Equivalent of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’
What reality television has done for prime time programming it can also do for presidential politics.
Monday, April 18 2011
Martyrdom and the Marketing of the Afterlife
Considering the Afterlife as an eternal baseball game illuminates why 72 virgins might not be the ideal final reward.
Monday, February 7 2011
One Nation, OMG
Agreeing to disagree doesn’t make your argument less 'right' -- but it does make it more reasonable.
Monday, November 1 2010
Sweeping Clean the US Elections May Require a New Broom: Why Not Elect a Witch?
There are reasons to dismiss Christine O'Donnell's candidacy, but witchcraft shouldn't be one of them.
Friday, July 23 2010
Sarah Palin’s Creative Vocabulization
Armchair pundits lit up the blogosphere when Sarah Palin tweeted a non-word. Don't we have more important things to worry about?
Monday, July 12 2010
Birth of a Nation (Cesarean Delivery)
How long must the Gulf Coast suffer before we reconsider the humanitarian upside of southern secession?
Monday, May 17 2010
Is Social Networking the Future of Voting?
Imagine new legislation on every voter's Facebook homepage: voters could click on the post to learn more about it, add a comment to the discussion (140 character limit), and then click "Like" or "Dislike". Click. Click. Done!
Wednesday, March 3 2010
Result Not Typical: Improving Political Marketing
The US government is cracking down on misleading advertising; shouldn't political propaganda be included in the discussion?
Monday, November 9 2009
Table Space: The Final Frontier
The impressive part of 2001: A Space Odyssey isn’t what they have in the future, it’s what they don’t have: clutter.
Monday, September 14 2009
Deconstructing the Clap
Rock music is the only art form that invites amateurs to perform along with the professionals – like an oversize version of Kumbaya -- and with predictable results.
Monday, March 9 2009
Bailing Out the Bailout
To help pay back the debt, we may need President Obama to wear an actual UPS uniform for the “delivery” of his next State of the Union speech.
Sunday, February 8 2009
Shirt Happens
Are CNN journalists writing news headlines these days, or t-shirt slogans?
Wednesday, November 19 2008
One Last Legacy for Bush
With George W. Bush eager for a way to salvage his legacy, perhaps we can throw him a bone in the name of Homeland Security.
Friday, October 10 2008
The Manitobian Candidate
Have shadowy forces spent years preparing a puppet candidate who will support their causes? Yes -- and you’ll be surprised who’s pulling the strings.
Friday, September 12 2008
I’ll Swap You Two Wydens for a Biden
Getting America’s youth to pay attention to politics doesn’t require a change in message, but a change in messenger -- baseball card style.
Tuesday, August 26 2008
Hope, Fear and Marketing
It’s more than mere semantics that one US presidential candidate has taken “hope” as his own concept. Is “fear” showing signs of fatigue as effective voter motivation?
Tuesday, July 22 2008
Let’s Spice-up the 2008 Election, Iron Chef-Style
Chefs quickly manage a range of dishes, their staff swiftly execute, and the result must be excellent. Let's put McCain and Obama in aprons to see how they might really work.
Thursday, June 12 2008
Fixing What’s Wrong with the Bill of Rights
So that no future US president skips over the fine, excessively wordy print, I recommend we update the Bill of Rights so it sounds a bit more, shall we say, awesome.
Thursday, May 8 2008
Vote for the Prettiest
US presidential elections are suspiciously like high school popularity contests, er, elections -- it's not who you know, it's who knows you.
Tuesday, April 8 2008
Kill the One with the Ball, or How I learned to Love Capitalism
For many of us, preparation for real life happened not in the classroom, but on the playground at recess. There's a lot to be learned about Capitalism from the bottom of a schoolyard pig-pile.
Monday, March 10 2008
Get on the Bus: A Tutorial for the US Presidential Candidates
While it may be noisy, cramped, and crowded with voices that sound nothing like the candidates', every bus is a microcosm America -- and a perfect place to really meet "the people".
Monday, February 11 2008
Say It Ain’t So, Senator
Concerned that steroids will ruin baseball? Perhaps there's a greater threat to the game: Congress.
Monday, January 14 2008
The Mean Streets of Public Television
Oscar the Grouch and Miss Piggy roll up their sleeves for this latest battle in the culture wars: the controversial lyrics of "Elmo's Song".
Wednesday, December 12 2007
Hypocrisy: It’s What’s for Dinner
Why does the pardoning of a turkey warrant extensive media coverage in the US, while Presidential pardons of humans are a page seven story, at best?
Monday, November 12 2007
Splitting Hairs with the US Government
How many citizens must be victimized by a $400 haircut before a Presidential candidate offers up a Universal Hair Care program?
Thursday, October 18 2007
Stick It to ‘Em: The Art of Political Cartoons
As the adage goes, no matter who you vote for, the government wins; each party offers ample fodder for both poignant exception to policies and amusing examination of principles.
Monday, September 17 2007
Mass-Debating: A Better Method
A Presidential Spelling Bee is the perfect forum for a pre-primary debate. Which candidate can overcome a grueling series of 11-letter words and be crowned the champion, and which will insist there are two 'u's in nuclear?
Monday, August 20 2007
Barbeque: The New Environmental Battleground
Bart Simpson urges, “Don’t have a cow!” As the climate warms, I beg to differ.
Tuesday, July 17 2007
Make Love, Not War? Why Not Have It Both Ways?
Dropping a "gay bomb" on enemy soldiers might prove to distract them, yes, but these incapacitants, though no less harsh, will make the enemy forget what they were ever fighting for.
Monday, June 11 2007
Smokey and the Bandit
To borrow a buzz phrase from earlier this decade, if the President stops dancing the malaria dance, the terrorists will win.
Monday, May 14 2007
Navigating America with the Help of Don Imus
OpStar: part talk radio / part OnStar vehicle guidance system for those who are easily confused by the squiggly red and blue lines on paper maps.
Monday, April 23 2007
Seeking: President. Must love balanced budgets, cats.
It's time the US graduated from the Electoral College and took advantage of the latest election technology: eHarmony's patented Compatibility Matching System.
Monday, March 19 2007
The Proof is in the Progeny
Each child named with a presidential surname is in fact a living memorial to that president. So if we count these living memorials, we'll know who the best US presidents really were.
Monday, February 19 2007
But I Wanted the Catfish!
No industry in America so readily -- even eagerly -- treats conjecture with the same value as fact as political commentary.
