Because I focused a lot of my writing life on small-town issues and a communal pact to educate my two sons and their peers, long ago I arrived at my own formula to justify, or not, a big sum of money. I broke down that sum into how many elementary schools it would build. Back…
It was an amazing statement from a Republican, and just what Democrats wanted to hear. It came from ex-Colorado congressman, hard-right foghorn and recently candidate-for-everything Tom Tancredo: “I firmly believe this … The greatest threat to the country that our founding fathers put together is the man that’s sitting in the White…
Here’s the situation coming down the stretch: The Affordable Health Care Act is winning by a nose. That would be the one-vote majority by which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the most sweeping reform of health care since Medicare. A Reagan appointee, of all…
The long campaign continues. It's not quite a lifetime long, like Gandhi’s against violence. Nonetheless, many miles have passed beneath my sandals as I’ve advanced my theme. For more than a quarter century each year around Thanksgiving, I have carried out a lonely and thankless campaign about sweet potatoes. Message: Think before you eat.…
As they took pepper spray in their faces, I wonder if they thought about fire hoses in Birmingham, tear gas in Chicago’s Lincoln Park, National Guard bullets at Kent State. Probably not. They thought of pain, and disbelief, the kind many felt seeing it on YouTube and on the news. …
The most amazing story of Nov. 8 was how Arizonans in a heavily Republican district ousted the state’s most powerful Republican lawmaker. Russell Pearce, president of the Senate, was replaced by a comparably conservative Republican. The key distinction, however, may be that the man who beat him wasn’t quite as angry. …
Thousands of unemployed Americans got a form letter from Congress last week: “Dear Unemployed American: Your benefits have run their course. Sorry about that. We realize that this is the worst economy in decades and you might think we helped make it the way it is. But extending your benefits might give…
At first glance, nothing justified the remake of Footloose. Then again, if we examine the political landscape, whether the issue is dancing or this nation acting like an adult on the world scene, we all need to be warned of the price of provincialism. Know without a doubt that parochialism and regression are…
It may be historically inaccurate to say that the 112th U.S. Congress is on track to do less than any Congress in history. But, let’s face it. Less than zero is a bar under which not even a snake could slither. When John Boehner became U.S. House speaker last January, he…
Here’s what’s amazing about events in New York City, and Austin, and Denver, and Miami, and 62 other locations so far. We were thinking that young people were off soaking their brains in social media ooze — overly expressive chipmunks, angry birds, double rainbows. Instead, what do you know? They were paying attention to stuff…