Whether you agree with her or not, Gail Collins' fusion of political satire with journalism makes her entertaining to read. I enjoyed reading her back and forth commentary with fellow New York Times columnist David Brooks in the run up to the 2008 election. I feel like she has a good idea of what Americans are feeling in their guts and is the only journalist at the New York Times who is brave enough to tell it like it is, regardless of party lines or ideology.

Thomas Friedman first cut his teeth reporting in the Middle East. His first book, “From Beirut to Jerusalem,” a collection of of mostly newspaper pieces he wrote, helped establish him as one of the foremost commentators on the situation in the Middle East. He has also written extensively on Globalization, specifically in his two books “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” and “The World is Flat.” Recently, however, it seems that the only topic that Friedman focuses on is climate change and the need for a “green revolution.” I miss the Thomas Friedman that reported on international affairs. While it’s true that climate change is a world problem, I feel like Friedman has strayed from the area where he did his best writing.

The days of Paul Krugman doing serious economic research are long gone. However, he is probably the most effective communicator among economists today. While he would probably loathe the title "The Great Communicator" because of its connection with Reagan, that is really what he has become. He effectively communicates his ideas, but he speaks with authority on areas in economics on which he is not an authority. Regardless, they are entertaining and very well written and he is right...sometimes. Let's just say I'm glad that Obama didn't make him Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Yes, America's health insurance premiums are still rising, health care costs are increasing, utilization is high, and waste looms across the horizon. Expenditures in our health care system is roughly 2/3 of the federal budget and play a large role in nearly half of the bankruptcy filings in the U.S. I'll leave it to you to look up the Medicaid and Medicare statistics.

These are all problems resulting from our current health care system, and there is a mandate for it to be fixed - however, reforms on such a large scale, both in terms of the financial and infrastructure of the system, can't be formulated and rushed through Congress in a matter of a few weeks. The current pace that Pelosi and Obama are taking the health reform proposals through Congress is too fast and too careless.

The upcoming August recess will hopefully allow the Republicans and other Democrats to come up with alternative plans and give experts the time to analyze the current proposals for their Achilles heel. It's better we address those needs now than ten years down the line of another faltering health care system.

While the USDA has changed its mind about canceling the "pilot" Universal Feeding Program that has been active in Philadelphia for almost two decades, the issue served to bring up another important point - fact checking!

Most, if not all, media and politicians (i.e. Philadelphia Inquirer, Senator Arlen Specter) reported that Provision 2, the alternative that would had replace the Universal Feeding Program, would leave students hungry because paper applications would be too big of an obstacle to free/reduced lunches. However, reading the USDA's Provision 2 Guidelines reveals that in reality, students would still get their free meals. While there's not much information regarding the Universal Feeding Program available, it appears that a school must meet a certain socioeconomic criteria that proves roughly 72-75% of its student population would qualify for free/reduced lunches - if this is met, then all students would be provided free lunches. Under Provision 2, schools would have to distribute applications in the first year of the Program to get an idea of the percentages of qualifying free/reduced/paid lunches in the school (for reimbursement purposes). However, all students will still get a free lunch regardless of whether they file an application or whether they qualify for a free meal.

So if all students get their free lunches anyway, the only critical consideration is which program offers the lower error rate in terms of calculating the percentages of qualifying free/reduced/paid lunches used for school reimbursements from the federal government. Differences in these percentages would effectively shift the cost of the lunches between the local and federal governments.

This sticking point is something that has been grossly misrepresented - more so not represented at all - by the media. It's not who gets fed, it's who's forking out the cash that's the issue.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...

It seems like after the candles are blown and the fireworks are out, Hilary Clinton just still can't get enough attention. Since becoming Secretary of State, Hilary has been largely overshadowed by Obama, as he branches out of the traditional Executive's role and steps into the State Department's turf. Let's see how roughly many times Hilary has made headlines since January...

02/03/2009 Let's mimic Obama, Hilary sworn in - again
03/06/2009 Hilary overcharges Russia
06/17/2009 Hilary hails Twitter in Iran
06/18/2009 Clinton breaks her elbow
06/19/2009 Hilary wants to be President

After resounding victories in the Massachusetts, Conneticut, Iowa, Vermont, and Maine legislatures, proponents of same-sex marriage were given a slap in the face Tuesday morning by the California Supreme Court. Back to reality the Justices say.

“At every opportunity, the people of California have voted to protect marriage because they recognize the far-reaching consequences that redefining marriage will have for children, the family, religious liberties, businesses and every facet of American society,” the president of Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, said. Yes, absolutely Tony! That’s right, now that gays/lesbians can’t call their civil unions “marriage,” all will be great and the sun will shine. Afterall, if all of the sudden civil unions were renamed marriage, hell would break loose – children would run away from home, families would fall apart, businesses would fail, our economy would tank — oh wait, that sounds awfully familiar…