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Compromise? Forget it | Religious zealots as good ol’ boys COMMENTARY Pity the reporters who’ll be called on to cover the Iowa Republican caucuses, caught between their editors needing stories on the one side and the hard Christian right pushing their views on the other. How to describe these would-be President-makers? Call them evangelicals, don’t dig beyond that – and get out of the state? That's a common approach, but Herb Strentz has a problem with it. 
Basic principles | Let the tax policy debate begin! COMMENTARY David Cay Johnston writes that, stripped of its flim-flam, the Republican tax plan steals from the poor and gives to the rich -- and makes a good starting point for a serious public conversation about how we distribute the burden of civilization.
Endgame | The case for a slow pullout from Afghanistan COMMENTARY Despite lopsided, growing public opposition to the war, former ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann holds that it would be dangerous for American troops to leave soon. "The thing to watch is the next year," Neumann says.
Honored | Patricia Wald's poignant Constitutional questions COMMENTARY The noted jurist, honored for her service, asks these questions among others: Does the Constitution stop at water's edge? Are there groups of people whose fates we control who have no rights at all? Can our bloated prisons be allowed to expand indefinitely?
Nip it in the bud | Killing a false narrative before it takes hold COMMENTARY Busting an embargo, ClimateProgress.com's Joe Romm blisteringly dismantles an upcoming academic report on climate change advocacy in hopes no reporters will be taken in.
Not your average household | Tax Foundation figures may mislead policymakers, journalists, and the public COMMENTARY Each year, the Tax Foundation releases a report projecting 'Tax Freedom Day,' but its estimates don't reflect the tax burdens faced by typical middle-income workers.
Regressivity is the rule | At one end in corporate taxes is GE. At the other, the NY Times COMMENTARY General Electric, as the Times reported, paid zero in income taxes last year, and, as David Cay Johnston finds, a lot lower rate over a ten-year period than smaller corporations, such as the Times. Then again, the Times doesn't lobby Washington about taxes.
Ex-spokesman speaks | P.J. Crowley tells BBC he has no regrets COMMENTARY 'I believe what I said,' the former State Department spokesman told BBC Hardtalk interviewer Stephen Sackur. 'I thought the treatment of Bradley Manning was undermining what I considered to be a very legitimate prosecution of an individual who has profoundly affected US national security.'
The GOP platform, even worse in verse | In Iowa, gimme that old-time religion COMMENTARY Herb Strentz puts the Iowa GOP platform to verse, which doesn't improve it any. And he comes up with a neat find: Hollywood anticipated the upcoming Iowa GOP caucuses 70 years ago in the movie Sergeant York, which has one of the all-time great rock-church scenes. If only Gingrich, Pawlenty, Romney et al could play the strong, silent type.
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