During Vietnam, I was in college, enjoying my student deferment. The government wisely felt that, in my case, military service was less important than completing my studies to prepare me for my chosen career: comedian.

Progressives, in a way, are the new conservatives. We want to conserve what we fought to build.

Bill Clinton is the greatest president of the 20th century because I played touch football with him.

Putin has had many positive experiences working with Western political leaders whose business interests made them more disposed to deal with Russia.

Service dogs raise their masters' sense of well-being.

Armed with nothing more than a Facebook user's phone number and home address, anyone with an Internet connection and a few dollars can obtain personal information they should never have access to, including a user's date of birth, e-mail address, or estimated income.

The next thing I am doing is moving back home to Minnesota and getting involved in politics. I'm looking at a run for Senate in 2008, but in the meantime I am focused on knitting together the progressive network in the upper Midwest.