Broadway Empire was the #1 trending topic on Twitter last week during the broadcast. While the economics of prohibition is fascinating, I think more people are just into the boobs.

Oh sure, in this NYT op-ed, Greg Mankiw shamelessly fiddles with numbers to try to show that raising taxes on rich people like him will be bad for the economy. But you don’t even have to point out the obvious flaws in his math to read this op-ed as an unrestrained argument in favor of raising taxes on the rich.

Alaska artist and political wonk, Tom Begich, was on Moore Up North today. Tom is U.S. Sen. Mark Begich’s brother. Along with brother Dr. Nick Begich, Jr, Tom is far more progressive than Mark. Tom borrowed my classroom blackboard from the University of Alaska Anchorage to illustrate two important things – why Sen. Lisa Murkowski cannot win on November 2nd as a write-in, and how close Scott McAdams may really be.

An extended metaphor: Mortgages as meat, and banks & mortgage lenders as sausage makers.

Trust me — it makes sense!

In Herding Donkeys Ari Berman tells a compelling story about how the Dean campaign sparked a grassroots resurgence and laid the foundation for the Democrats’ improbable success over the next 4 years. He captures some of the untold stories from the 2004 campaign and Howard Dean’s years at the helm of the DNC where, despite the ire of Rahm Emanual and other establishment Democrats, his 50-state strategy helped lead the Democrats out of the desert and back into the majority.

Wait, wait, wait. Back up there, Newt. What was that? You support passage of the DREAM Act, and claim there are Republicans in the Senate who would’ve voted for it if Harry Reid hadn’t “rigged the game” by bundling it in the Defense Authorization Bill with a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?

If that’s the case, do tell, Newt…

The DNC and the HRC are attacking gay Democrats for their lack of enthusiasm in this election.

What a dreary, socialist nightmare B. Hussein Obamastalin has turned America into.

Modernity is an endless trial for all of us. The absence of meaning it implies destroyed older certainties but didn’t replace them with new certainties, leaving us rootless. How shall we live?

The rhythms, melodies and lyrics of popular music can lift us out of the present, feed our desire for collective joy, and give us a private and comfortable escape. They can also enlighten hearts and minds. Song can celebrate our common humanity and bring us together for common purpose, as when civil rights marchers sang “We Shall Overcome.”