One of the biggest drug problems today is addiction to prescription pain medication like OxyContin, Vicodin, and Percocet. These are “opioids,” derived from natural or synthetic opium. They used to be prescribed for specific cases of acute pain, but back in the 1990s they began
The Fiscal Cliff bill did more than extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone except those who make $450,000. Here is a useful summary of what’s in the new law: — Tax rates will permanently rise to Clinton-era levels for families with income above $450,000
Congress stayed up late last night and at 10:35 p.m. voted 257 to 167 to approve the Fiscal Cliff compromise. And the good thing is that since taxes automatically went up for everyone when the day began, with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts,
Louis Michael Seidman, a Georgetown professor of Constitutional Law, no less, argues in the New York Times that we should do away with the Constitution. Our obsession with the Constitution has saddled us with a dysfunctional political system, kept us from debating the merits of
So will the NRA rally support for Obamacare? The words were tucked deep into the sprawling text of President Obama’s signature health-care overhaul. Under the headline “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights” was a brief provision restricting the ability of doctors to gather data about
As the country, like a nation of lemmings, parties its way off the fiscal cliff, let us all wish each other a lucky 2013! That doesn’t sound very hopeful. Let’s try that again. Have a blessed New Year! “My times are in your hand” (Psalm
One of my personal New Year’s Day rituals is to read humorist Dave Barry’s month-by-month recap of the year gone by. It’s printed in quite a few newspapers, but it’s often edited down to fit the space. I believe this is a complete version of
The problem with slang is that it goes out of fashion as quickly as it comes in. Few things sound sillier than slang that’s just a little out of date or that is uttered by someone who is not in the group the slang is
The good news is that the Republican and Democratic leadership seems to have come to an agreement about renewing the Bush tax cuts. The bad news is that it was impossible logistically to pass a bill before midnight on New Year’s Eve when the cuts
As is our custom on New Year’s Eve, we invite you to make your predictions for what will happen in the New Year. We will then review those predictions in exactly one year to see how you did. (See today’s accompanying post.) Whoever made the
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