After months of controversy, the French Senate recently adopted the law banning the burqa -- the enveloping outer garment worn by women to conceal their bodies from head to toe in some Islamic traditions -- in public spaces. Whether we like the burqa or not, we should recognize that French Parliament violated freedoms of expression, thought, conscience and religion -- a string of fundamental human rights that can no longer be taken for granted in France since the ban.

Both sets of principles are enshrined and protected by our modern constitutions and above all by the European Convention of Human Rights to which France and most European countries are signatory parties. In the United States, these freedoms are likewise recognized by the first amendment, which protects the free exercise of religion. These principles are among the pillars of our democratic societies in which anyone is free to practice (or not) the religion they choose or to express their ideas, irrespective of their absurdity or falsity, without prior approval of the authorities. In a law-abiding nation, the state must not judge the beliefs or opinions of its citizens based on reason, tradition or any other value. As with any other fundamental freedoms, if these civil liberties must be restricted then limitations should be both minimal -- in as much as the circumstances allow -- and strictly motivated by higher interests.

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With almost one in ten American workers currently unemployed, smart investment in infrastructure is an efficient way to create jobs right now. The job creation potential of infrastructure has been well-documented. Economists Mark Zandi and Alan Blinder, for example, explain in a report they coauthored that every dollar spent on infrastructure yields $1.57 in economic growth.

To generate the most jobs, every study has shown that it is important to prioritize investments in public transportation. Academic analysis concludes that public transit generates 31 percent more jobs per billion dollars invested than similar spending on highways. Models developed with the Federal Highway Administration likewise show transit investments generate 19 percent more jobs. Similarly, an analysis of U.S. Department of Transportation data shows that 2008 stimulus dollars spent on public transportation projects created up to twice as many jobs as highway spending for the same amount of money. The consistent finding is clear: to create jobs, invest in public transportation.

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For over a week I have been agonizing if I should publicly write about a movie premier I recently attended: Middle Men. You can imagine my trepidation writing about a movie which appears to be Studio 54 meets Boogie Nights and is about the creation of porn on the Internet. While the trailer certainly was designed to tantalize the masses by showing ample skin - to me this movie was as entertaining as it was thought provoking. Throughout the fast paced story of sex, drugs, money, and greed there were strong underlying themes of business savvy succeeding and positive messages that appeal to our inner-self help/hope mantras. The movie touched upon core issues that lurk behind closed doors of our lives: faithfulness, family dramas, personal struggle, and selling out.

I would have never thought that the main character, Jack, would have become a hero or even a guiding force as there is so much about him that one could find despicable (i.e. the man who made sellable sex on the Internet what it is today). However, Jack is not an adult film producer or even its advocate. He is a businessman, a leader, and a fixer. He was not in the adult film business, he was in the "fixing business." Jack's track record of fixes fledgling companies gives way to his mantra, "Let's focus on why we are here" -- a line that I have used daily since I have saw the movie.

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The ascension of Alvin Greene, a jobless man plucked out of obscurity and inexplicably hoisted as South Carolina's Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, continues to shock reporters and befuddle political pundits nationwide. Some people might balk at his dearth of credentials, lack of any political experience, his dishonorable discharge from the military, or simply his inability to string together a complete sentence. These people should shut up.

The opposition to Alvin Greene is endemic of an age-old discrimination rampant in America: jobism. Jobism is the unsubstantiated favor in a person's character based simply on the fact that he or she has a job. According to jobists, employed people somehow add value to society, and maintain a coherent, proper view of the world, arrogantly called a "work ethic." Some extremists even assert that people with jobs form the foundation of our civilization. Jobism--the belief that people who arrive at their office on time, and proceed to work steadily for fifty hours a week, are somehow more responsible than those who do not--is both myopic and repugnant. Unfortunately, these jobists fail to understand that we are still finishing our novel and need some space because are quitting smoking again. It is stereotypes like these that have pervaded American culture since its inception. It is stereotypes like these that have kept men like Alvin Greene out of the Senate...until now.

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