Opinion

WASHINGTON, DC - A multi-lateral United Nations climate conference, sponsored by China in Tianjin, has yet to achieve a consensus on how the global community should organize to fight climate change and limit energy use. The talks are a prologue to the much larger United Nations climate summit planned for Cancun, Mexico, next month. Here's what happening at the China conference and what it means for the global fight against climate change. Full Story »

If you've been following the New York Senate polls closely for the last year, you've noticed that Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been hovering around 50 percent for most of the past two years. This is dangerous territory for any incumbent to be in - by my count, only three incumbents in the last three years who averaged less than 50 percent in August polling have gone on to win in November. Full Story »

High-level Taliban are reportedly holding peace talks with the Afghan government, but don’t throw the confetti for the war’s end yet. The road to reconciliation is as steep and rugged as the mountains where Taliban hide. Full Story »

The Nation -- Research support for this article was provided by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.   In Lou Dobbs's heyday at CNN, when he commanded more than 800,000 viewers and a reported $6 million a year for "his fearless reporting and commentary," in the words of former CNN president Jonathan Klein, the host became notorious for his angry rants against "illegal aliens." But Dobbs reserved a special venom for the employers who hire them, railing against "the employer who is so shamelessly exploiting the illegal alien and so shamelessly flouting US law" and even proposing, on one April 2006 show, that "illegal employers who hire illegal aliens" should face felony charges. Full Story »

Read Ron Howard's other articles on HuffingtonPost.com Full Story »

Lou Dobbs defended himself Thursday after a Nation magazine article claimed that the vocal critic of illegal immigration has relied on undocumented immigrant labor on his properties, including stables where the Dobbs Group owns horses. On his radio program, Dobbs slammed the Nation's one-year investigation as "a fairly typical hit piece" and a "smear piece" [...] Full Story »

Read Melinda Gates's other articles on HuffingtonPost.com Full Story »

Read Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s other articles on HuffingtonPost.com Full Story »

Lou Dobbs,  a persistent critic of illegal immigration, will have a chance to respond on television to allegations leveled Thursday that he employed illegal workers on his properties, including stables where his daughter trains horses. Dobbs will appear Thursday night on MSNBC's "The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell," an MSNBC spokeswoman confirmed to The Upshot. [...] Full Story »

WASHINGTON, DC - Last Sunday, Tom Friedman trotted out the old Rome analogy in his New York Times column. America, the implication goes, might be in a decline comparable to that of the ancient civilization. But is the U.S. really on such a downward slope? This analogy has a long history in America, and as always, skeptics of the comparison are protesting. Those well-versed in history tend to find the analogy tedious, not to mention misguided. But one foreign policy professor suggests there's some utility to this kind of anxious pessimism. Full Story »

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell issued an on-air apology to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele after receiving a call Wednesday from Steele criticizing comments the host made on the previous night's show. O'Donnell, a former Democratic aide, said that Steele  "is dancing as fast as he can, trying to charm independent voters and tea partiers [...] Full Story »

WASHINGTON, DC - A commission appointed by President Obama to look into the BP spill has released its preliminary report. The findings? The government didn't handle things well: in fact, in the words of The Guardian, "the White House blocked government scientists from warning the American public of the potential environmental disaster." There's much more, too, with conservatives finding evidence of a belated government "overreaction," and pundits questioning the administration's basic competence. Full Story »

WASHINGTON, DC - In another move aimed at improving New Yorkers' health by regulation, mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced a proposal to bar food stamp users from buying sodas with city funds. The proposed two-year ban, which is currently under consideration by the Department of Agriculture, is intended to combat obesity and diabetes. The mayor, who already banned trans-fats from restaurants and lobbied against excessive salt in foods, says the "initiative will give New York families more money to spend on foods and drinks that provide real nourishment." Though 57 percent of the city's adults are overweight or obese, the plan has met with skepticism from critics who it see as a paternalistic gesture.'Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures' writes food policy blogger Tom Laskawy at Grist, who appears in favor of the ban. "The federal government remains unable and unwilling to staunch the unremitting flow of marketing dollars aimed at boosting consumers' purchases of "liquid candy." Meanwhile, state governments are at the mercy of overwhelming industry lobbying against attempts to levy taxes on sweetened beverages. In this hostile environment, appealing to the USDA to let it restrict food stamp use is one of the last arrows in cities' public health quiver."No Food Stamps for Sodas In a New York Times op-ed contribution the city and state's health commissioners,Thomas Farley and Richard Daines, outline their reasoning for imposing the temporary ban: "Medical researchers have increasingly associated the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages with weight gain and the development of diabetes. Over the past 30 years, consumption of sugary beverages in the United States has more than doubled, in parallel with the rise in obesity, to the point where nearly one-sixth of an average teenager’s calories now come from these drinks." They remind their critics that they are not reducing funding for food stamps and these users still can purchase soda "just not with taxpayer dollars."It's About Time, 'Thank Goodness' weighs in CBS news pundit Harry Smith. "America is eating itself to death," he contends. We are "Eating foods with grotesquely high calorie counts and sloshing it down with high sugar and high fructose drinks. It's a formula that's turned us into a people too fat to fight off diabetes. The price tag is practically incalculable. Living on food stamps isn't easy. And maybe it feels like a treat to buy soda for the kids, but eliminating those soft drinks will be better for everybody, and it's a way to stretch the buying power of those food stamps a little farther."Could Have Further-Reaching Implications warns Jillian Melchior at Contentions. "This story could be seen as some microscopic foreshadowing of what’s to come for everybody, not just for the surprisingly high number of food-stamp recipients...Granted, in New York City, two-thirds of the population does not rely on government to fill the pantry. But once everyone’s health care is a public-spending issue, it is logical to assume that, at least to some extent, private behaviors will be up for public scrutiny; they have become a public cost issue."The 'Paternalistic' Nature of It "makes me uncomfortable" but "I actually think it makes some sense," hedges Ira Stoll at the blog Future of Capitalism. "I don't object to the idea of a government food stamp safety net to make sure that people don't starve, though I think that without one private charity would rise to the challenge. But it's one thing to provide people with enough food to make sure they are healthy and not starving; it's another thing to feed them enough soda to make them obese, at taxpayer expense."Is This Really the Best Way? Time's Meredith Melnick details the opposition to the ban: "Not everyone agrees that restriction is the best solution. Advocates for the urban poor suggest that such a move would patronize and alienate an already stigmatized population. In 2004, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) rejected a similar Minnesota proposal to bar people from buying candy and soda with food stamps, because it perpetuated the stereotype that food stamp-users make bad food choices." Full Story »

WASHINGTON, DC - On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal announced that Apple will introduce an iPhone for the Verizon Wireless network by early 2011, ending the iPhone's hitherto exclusive deal with AT&T. Rumors of a Verizon iPhone have existed for a long time, but many are taking the Journal report as the most credible yet. Verizon is the largest wireless network in the U.S., and onlookers are already speculating about how an iPhone for Verizon will affect the fortunes of Apple, AT&T, Verizon, and Google, whose Android smartphones have been a runaway success this year. Full Story »

WASHINGTON, DC - For years, Lou Dobbs was illegal immigration's fiercest basic cable critic. Now it seems the former CNN anchor may not have practiced what he (loudly) preached. That's the takeaway from a blistering new article in The Nation claiming Dobbs employed at least five undocumented workers on his 300-acre New Jersey horse farm. What kind of impact will the revelations have on the closed-borders crusader's brand? Around the web, opinions were mixed: Full Story »

Lou Dobbs has long railed against illegal immigration and the employers who hire undocumented workers. Dobbs generated controversy — and faced boycotts — for attacking "illegal aliens" as host of a nightly CNN show. And since leaving the network in December, Dobbs has kept talking about the issue in interviews,  in which he's also left [...] Full Story »

WASHINGTON, DC - A new set of subpoenas have been issued in the ongoing investigation of former Senator John Edwards. A North Carolina grand jury continues to look into the fashion in which Edwards's mistress, Rielle Hunter was sheltered and paid off by the Edwards campaign. It's been a while since this has been news, so politics watchers are intrigued by this new development. Full Story »

New York - In a British web survey, 88 percent of mothers admit that they are more critical of their girls than of their boys. How real is this problem? Full Story »