Patrick O'Bryan

For the first time since 1913, when Woodrow Wilson began giving the State of the Union address to both houses of Congress, congressmen and senators crossed the aisle to sit with members of the other party. While this led to tabloid-esque speculation about whom certain members of Congress would ask to be their date to the State of the Union, it did cut back on the traditional spectacle of one side of the chamber giving a standing ovation while the other sits and jeers at the President. READ MORE

As expected, the Republicans will be the majority in the House of Representatives and have the power of filibuster in the Senate for at least the next two years. READ MORE

The Justice For All anti-abortion exhibit is returning later this week to the annoyance of most of the student body, not in the least because the Women’s and Gender Studies Student Association (WGSSA) might once again also be back with their kazoos and signs saying “our campus not theirs” — a charming and pithy expression of the WGSSA’s take on free speech on campus. READ MORE

With the midterm elections just one week away, it might be wise to consider why we care so much about voting. Several years ago, “Freakonomics” authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt claimed that voting is irrational, since the chance that any individual’s vote changes the outcome of an election is infinitesimal — out of more than 16,000 Congressional races between 1905 and 2005, only one was decided by a single vote. READ MORE

Two years ago, the Democratic Party won one of the most decisive victories in modern electoral history. President Barack Obama carried 365 out of 538 electoral votes and 53 percent of the popular vote while Democratic candidates won solid majorities in both houses of Congress. Obama had campaigned during a recession and the final months of the unpopular Bush administration, promising to “fundamentally transform” the U.S. and enact a wide-ranging progressive agenda — a platform seemingly ratified by the American people. READ MORE

With the meteoric rise of the tea party and Glenn Beck’s fame and influence within it, liberal commentators have begun to worry about the possibility that Beck’s rhetoric will incite his listeners to commit acts of violence against their political opponents. READ MORE

The first thing most of us learned when we first got a credit card was to never pay just the minimum balance.  READ MORE

In a highly publicized decision, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled California’s Proposition 8 restricting marriage to “one man and one women” unconstitutional under the Due Process and Equal Rights clauses in the U.S. Constitution. Greeted by applause from opponents of Proposition 8 for his pointed arguments and criticism from its supporters for judicial activism and perceived bias (Walker himself is gay), the ruling will likely be appealed to the 9th Circuit and then to the Supreme Court.  READ MORE