Moviegoers love the intricacies of a crime all the more when it's for a good cause.

Real politics is messy and morally ambiguous and doesn't make for a compelling thriller.

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features and book-length manuals, and cars with dashboard systems worthy of the space shuttle.

Nike used to be known as Blue Ribbon Sports. What's now Sara Lee used to be Consolidated Foods. And Exxon was once Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. These were name changes that worked. But for all the ones that do, there are 10 or 20 that don't.

Congressional Republicans themselves have vehemently defended the idea that preexisting conditions should not be used to deny people insurance.

In order to work well, markets need a basic level of trust.

Of course, politicians always say they're just describing their opponents' positions, even if they are in fact offering absurd caricatures, if not outright lies.