Activists in the gay rights movement have often been accused of trying to ride the tail of the black civil rights movement. There is no doubt that there are some similarities and crossovers. Both attempt to right injustices and advance...

It's encouraging to see the number of people out today either voting or engaged in the civic discourse.
When I was at my polling place this morning, one guy in front of me was enthusiastically talking with a poll worker about how it was his...

Throughout this election cycle, one group that was perhaps the most complicit in electing George W. Bush has been remarkably silent.
The Religious Right was instrumental in electing Bush in 2000, and re-electing him in 2004. In fact, we know...

First morning-after thoughts:
I spent the last hour at the office yesterday - too wired and nervous to get anything else done - surfing the web, reading Election Day comments posted by voters around the country. They were overwhelmingly from...

The Democrats' new State Senate majority is a fragile one.
Though some races haven't been called yet, Democrats will have, at minimum, a 32-30 majority in the Senate come January. They picked up a couple of downstate seats, and held onto some...

I get what people are saying: Obama's election is proof that anyone can be president in America. We've always said that, of course, but it's tough to believe it when every president from General Washington on down has looked a certain...

Eavesdropping is sometimes unavoidable. Recently, a conversation between three men at a local café presented one of those situations. The four of us were the only ones there.
One of the guys lost his long-time partner sometime in the...

There's one figure that author and environmentalist Bill McKibben really wants you to know: 350 parts per million.
That's the number that NASA climate guru James Hansen has established as the tipping point of global climate disaster. It's how...

If you were growing up in the 1960's, you were a Beatles fan, a Rolling Stones fan, or a Motown fan.
Vanity Fair has a tribute to Detroit's Motown Sound, in honor of its 50th year. Almost everyone has heard the story: Berry Gordy, founder of...

Democratic US Senator Chuck Schumer says that the new president and expanded Congressional Democratic majority will be good for the Rochester and Finger Lakes region.
Among the promises he made during a Rochester visit today: increased...

Here's some unsolicited advice for Governor David Paterson: if you wind up having to pick a new senator for New York, choose someone from upstate.
It's all over the news that Senator Hillary Clinton is under consideration to serve as...

Some of East High's teachers gathered at a special meeting on November 5 to air their concerns with city schools Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard's new suspension policy. The teachers told school board members Melisza Campos and Tom Brennan...

Richard Rosenbaum says that he owes his political career to his baldness. In his case, it is a condition caused by alopecia.
Sometimes referred to as the "Iron Chancellor of New York Politics," Rosenbaum began his career at the bottom, as he...

The Clintons continue to be a complex couple in national politics. Now there's the question of whether Hillary Clinton is the right choice for Secretary of State in the Obama administration.
Best analysis I've read so far: Tom Friedman's...

So the media's having a blast speculating on who will replace Senator Hillary Clinton if President-elect Obama appoints Clinton secretary of state.
It's looking increasingly likely. Bill Clinton is reportedly making promises to curtail his...

Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard is in a face-off with the Rochester Teachers Association.
Brizard was hired to punch up the city's dismal graduation rate and he's already making some progress. But Brizard knows that unless he can keep...