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Desperately seeking H1N1 vaccination
on 10/29/09 at 9:00 am | If nothing else, public health authorities have hit on the perfect formula to motivate Americans to get their flu shots: Declare a public health emergency, urge everyone to get vaccinated...and then fail to provide enough vaccine. Just as demand spikes, there are no vaccinations to be had. |
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Do or die time for health care
on 09/17/09 at 9:00 am | God bless Ed Garvey. His annual progressive rally, Fighting Bob Fest, drew great speakers and thousands of attendees to demand health care reform and denounce the power of industry lobbyists. Grassroots events like this huge open-air town hall meeting, held last weekend in Baraboo, are competing with what one speaker called the "cash roots," the industry-funded message that's been dominating the health care reform debate. |
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Let's declare a crime wave!
on 07/30/09 at 9:00 am | Imagine my surprise when, after picture day at school last year, I received a milk-carton-style mug shot of my second-grader. It came along with a code number and an offer to keep my child's information in a special database in case of abduction. Somehow, seeing my daughter's gap-tooth smile photo-shopped into a crime-victim layout did not warm my heart. I didn't take advantage of the special offer. |
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The end of an era
on 06/25/09 at 9:00 am | Driving out to East Towne Mall the other day, I took Thompson Drive, where what used to be farmland has sprouted fields of three-bedroom houses in varying shades of beige. All of a sudden it hit me: This is over. |
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The undoing of John Edwards
on 05/14/09 at 9:00 am | Okay, I admit to a certain awful fascination with John Edwards' affair. Ever since the mainstream media picked up the National Enquirer's lead and we learned of his dalliance and possible paternity problem with Reille Hunter, I've been waiting to hear what Elizabeth would say. |
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The problem with school lunches
on 03/19/09 at 9:00 am | Food is a cultural minefield. The image of a bunch of soy-latte-drinking, Whole Foods-shopping suburbanites looking down on the folks who eat at McDonald's is extremely off-putting to a large portion of Madison's public school community. |
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Why not make abortion easier?
on 02/12/09 at 9:00 am | After all the drama over the proposal to provide second-trimester abortions at the Madison Surgery Center, it was good to see the University of Wisconsin Hospital Board vote to move forward by a healthy 11-3 margin. With Dr. Dennis Christensen's retirement last December, second-trimester abortion would be unavailable in Madison if the Surgery Center didn't pick up the slack. |
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Who knew the U.S. Senate could be such a source of comic relief?
on 01/08/09 at 9:00 am | Just when the news of war, economic collapse, mass layoffs, another record-breaking winter and the post-holiday blahs were conspiring to bring us down, what should come to the rescue? Our much-derided neighbor to the south, the great state of Illinois! |
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Conniff: Good jobs shouldn't become an unaffordable frill
on 11/26/08 at 9:00 am | This is the first time I can remember the national economic news hitting so close to home. Neighbors and friends fret about their jobs, worry about their mortgages, talk about scaling back on their spending. It's more than a downturn; there's a major psychological shift you can feel everywhere. |
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The undoing of John McCain
on 10/16/08 at 9:00 am | The Republicans must be so proud. Not only can they brag about the major achievements of the last eight years — an economy in shambles, an ill-advised and wildly unsuccessful war in Iraq — they are running a presidential campaign that combines bigotry, know-nothingism and statewide efforts to suppress the vote. |
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McCain: More of the same
on 09/29/08 at 10:50 am | John McCain has run a campaign so dishonest that even Karl Rove criticized his ridiculous ads claiming Obama wants "comprehensive sex ed" for kindergarteners as going "too far." |
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Barack Obama appeals to the best parts of our national psyche
on 09/26/08 at 9:00 am | A neighbor came by to give us an Obama yard sign. As I explained that I don't put up yard signs for candidates I'm writing about, my 7-year-old seized the sign and began to march back and forth in front of the house, followed by her younger sister. Some neighbor kids who had been riding their bikes on the sidewalk joined in. Three white girls and three black girls, pursued by an enthusiastic toddler, they marched up and down our block chanting "Vote for Obama!" at the top of their lungs. |
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McCain's feminist connection
on 09/04/08 at 9:00 am | I was on my way back from the Democratic Convention when word broke about McCain's choice for V.P. How quickly the news cycle turns. Only hours before I was standing on the floor of the Invesco stadium with a group of Louisiana delegates who, despite having lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, were feeling optimistic about Obama. Listening to the "I Have a Dream" speech with African American delegates who were moved to tears, I got the feeling that something big was happening. |
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The totalitarian Olympics
on 07/31/08 at 9:00 am | I would be a lot more excited about the summer Olympics if the host country weren't fielding teams of athletes who are essentially forced laborers. Talk about taking the fun out of sports. |
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How Hillary became 'one of the boys'
on 06/12/08 at 9:00 am | Women, according to a lot of conventional analysis, are the voting bloc Hillary commands. But I have trouble connecting with the burst of feminist passion for Hillary. |
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Girls who play too much
on 05/15/08 at 9:00 am | Everyone knows an athlete who has been sidelined by injury. I can think of two off the top of my head: star football players I knew in high school and college, both of whom suffered career-ending knee injuries and struggled with almost existential crises as they adjusted to life as regular humans instead of campus gods. |
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Balancing family life and work
on 04/17/08 at 9:00 am | My 4-year-old daughter is a budding doctor. Undeterred by the unpleasant possibility of shots, she looks forward to going to the clinic, enjoys being examined and conducting her own exams whenever her sisters will let her. She has a million questions about the body. When our first-grader's school recently held a "science night," with a special session on how the heart works, we jumped at the chance to bring the kids. |
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From dreams to nightmares
on 03/06/08 at 10:00 am | "Yes She Will" beat "Yes We Can" on Tuesday, and the Democratic primary just got a whole lot longer. Perhaps a whole lot uglier. |
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Wisconsin sides with Obama
on 02/21/08 at 10:00 am | Barack Obama scored a decisive win over Hillary Clinton in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday (by a margin of more than two-to-one in Dane County). As the returns poured in, Obama gave another uplifting speech in Houston. It was much like the speech that rocked a packed Kohl Center last week — an appeal straight to the heart. |
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That's entertainment
on 01/17/08 at 10:03 am | Back when Bill Clinton was president and I was working for The Progressive magazine in Washington, D.C., I was summoned to a meeting with Roger Ailes at Fox News' headquarters in New York. Fox was brand new then, and its creators were willing to try anything, even putting actual left-wingers on television. |
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Wisconsin would do it better
on 11/29/07 at 10:00 am | Remember that brief, shining moment in 2004 after the Wisconsin primary was moved up and we were suddenly relevant to national political campaigns? Howard Dean's campaign had already collapsed, but you could still vote for John Edwards if you wanted to make things interesting, before the Kerry "inevitability" machine took over. |
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Republican death wish
on 10/11/07 at 10:00 am | You have
to hand it to the Republicans. They really know how to think outside the box.
After enduring a sharp rebuke at the polls in the last election, party leaders
came up with the perfect response to disaffected voters: Let's withhold
funding for needed services! |
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Worried GOPers seek savior
on 09/06/07 at 10:00 am | All Thompson has to do is pick up where Bush left off -- remember that line about restoring "honor and dignity" to the White House? Forget about Iraq, the housing market, collapsing infrastructure and Alberto Gonzales. The great thing for Republicans about Thompson's declaration is that it replaces the news about Larry Craig. |
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Target: John Edwards
on 07/12/07 at 11:35 am | Is America less ready for a black man, a woman or a trial lawyer as president? |
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The presidential pageant
on 06/07/07 at 10:02 am | The presidential debate format shows how weird our political culture is, as the Republican candidates try to sound like Ronald Reagan. They might as well put on white suits and take a shot at impersonating Elvis for all the good it does them. |
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Grownups gone wild
on 04/12/07 at 9:45 am | One of the hallmarks of any good teacher, parent or child-care provider is the ability to keep cool in the face of toddler rage. It's not easy, especially at the end of a hard day. |
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Have they got a deal for you!
on 01/25/07 at 10:01 am | 'Tis the season for all those holiday bills to come due. The
credit card companies love this time of year. So much the better if, like millions of Americans, you don't pay off your balance this January. |
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Washington's culture of scandal
on 10/12/06 at 1:49 pm | Remember the bumper stickers pleading to God for someone to step forward and give George Bush the Monica Lewinsky treatment? The Mark Foley scandal could be the answer
to that prayer. |
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Vote Republican or die
on 08/21/06 at 10:11 am | It was a new low, even for Dick Cheney, when he said that
Ned Lamont's win over Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut senatorial primary would encourage "al-Qaida types." Cheney's timing was especially galling given the massive terrorism scare the next day, when British intelligence purportedly foiled a plot to blow up U.S. aircraft and kill thousands. Cheney knew what was coming. His comments were calculated for maximum effect. |
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