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Merchants of death

Wall Street's latest bad idea. Plus, where the health debate will likely go.
Wall Street has found a new way to make a buck: buy up the life-insurance policies of the sick and the aged at a fraction of their cost, bundle them into bonds that will be sold to investors, and profit from them when the policy holders die sooner rather than later.

By EDITORIAL | September 09, 2009

Ted Kennedy's passing

Also, will Afghanistan be Obama’s Vietnam?
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who served Massachusetts for 46 years — sometimes surrounded by controversy, but always with distinction — was the only one of Joseph P. Kennedy’s four sons to die surrounded by family at home in his bed.

By EDITORIAL | August 26, 2009

Robert McNamara, RIP

Memories of Vietnam should speed Obama's exit plans for Iraq and Afghanistan
As secretary of defense under President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara prosecuted the Vietnam War on a day-to-day basis, just as Donald Rumsfeld orchestrated the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for George W. Bush.

By EDITORIAL | July 08, 2009

Benign neglect?

It's time Obama moved vigorously to advance gay and lesbian rights
If you are gay or lesbian, or if you care about realizing social justice, you must be wondering when Obama is going to turn his attention to the fact that one in 10 of the nation's more than 230 million adults are second-class citizens.

By EDITORIAL | June 24, 2009

Right-wing terror

The murder of Dr. George Tiller
Conservatives scoffed in April when the Department of Homeland Security warned that the United States could face another wave of homegrown attacks.

By EDITORIAL | June 03, 2009

On Sotomayor

A noble pick that highlights a political flash point. Plus, California's shame.
There is a pleasing symmetry to President Obama's nomination of federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.

By EDITORIAL | May 27, 2009

Death by handgun

A public-health crisis; plus, gay marriage advances
A couple of weeks ago, David S. Bernstein wrote about the growing "state sovereignty" movement backed by anti-government conspiracy theorists and gun-rights extremists, and touted on the syndicated radio show and Web site of deranged agitator Alex Jones.

By EDITORIAL | April 08, 2009

Star crossed

Limbaugh's a celebrity, not a political player
Rush Limbaugh, pink cheeked and increasingly porcine, has emerged as the de-facto head of the Republican Party.

By EDITORIAL | March 06, 2009

Obama explained

He defined, he led, he inspired
If Obama's inaugural address set a new tone, his speech to Congress drew a new map.

By EDITORIAL | February 25, 2009

President Obama

The trek ahead
In retrospect, it all seems of a piece: suitably fitting, almost ordained.

By EDITORIAL | January 21, 2009

California’s shame

Equal marriage rights suffers a setback, but there is hope. Plus, young voters.
The politics of division as practiced by lame-duck president George W. Bush at the connivance of his onetime Svengali Karl Rove are not dead.

By EDITORIAL | November 24, 2008

Hope restored

Barack Obama's election has sparked international wonder. His task, however, is great.
Barack Obama's election has sparked international wonder. His task, however, is great.

By EDITORIAL | November 06, 2008

Dictator McCain?

Don’t laugh: if the Arizona ‘maverick’ is elected, he’ll complete the job Bush started
The only thing standing in the way of Republican John McCain assuming the powers and prerogatives of a dictator should he be elected president is the vote of a single Supreme Court justice.

By EDITORIAL | October 27, 2008