Index of BestThinking.com

Come election time, my husband and I often find ourselves on opposite sides of the voting booth. It's not that our political beliefs differ much -- we're both liberals. The difference is that he believes in voting for the candidate who most closely matches his personal beliefs, which often...

Last year wildfires engulfed almost 4 million acres across Texas alone, destroying thousands of homes and killing 10 people. Climatologists predict that the extreme drought that created highly flammable conditions will continue in 2012. Texas is not alone. Across the United States, more...

Al Jazeera is something of an anomaly in journalism -- a well-funded news operation with reporters on the ground in locations around the world where cash-strapped broadcasters like CNN and the BBC can only parachute into when news breaks. Funded by the emir of the Middle Eastern...

My son adores the Green Bay Packers. He's not even 3 years old, but he already knows how to tuck his little spongy football close to his chest when he runs. He watches the games in a pint-sized recliner emblazoned with Packer Gs. When he throws the ball, his football-loving grampy will often...

A recent study found that children exposed to violence—kids who had likely been abused or bullied, or simply witnessed physical abuse between caregivers before the age of 10—had damaged DNA, marked by a change associated with aging. At first glance, the results of the Duke University...

Previews, interviews, and reviews concerning the 2012 Bonnaroo Festival, a large multi-day music and arts event held in Manchester, TN, USA. Since its inception in 2002, Bonnaroo has become the nation's ultimate music destination, garnering an exponentially larger amount of media coverage...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy could be the one person who determines the outcome of this year’s hotly contested presidential election. Kennedy doesn’t have much traction in mainstream media as other hot button justices, but the vote he has cast in several landslide cases has...

Rebecca Kleefisch, the conservative lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, and Ed Schultz, the liberal host of MSNBC's "The Ed Show," don't agree on much, but both have been trumpeting the national repercussions that they say will follow that state's upcoming recall election. In that, either one...

What's an armed service to do when it's feeling misunderstood and underappreciated? Top officials of the U.S. Navy—alarmed at polling data showing that Americans view it as less important to national defense than the Army, Air Force, or Marines—are reaching back to the glory days of wind...

Twitter poetry is a form still in its infancy -- some may laugh at me for calling it something so grand as a form. But it's out there, happening, with both new and established poets composing 140-character verses and marking them with a variety of hashtags for public consumption. This...