Eric Shinseki is a stand-up individual: Willing to serve two combat tours in Vietnam. Later, as Army chief of staff, willing to publicly differ with his bosses when the Bush administration soft-pedaled the personnel needs of occupying Iraq. Having stepped up at the apex of his career to lead the embattled Department of…
To those on the left who say Barack Obama hasn’t done anything about climate change: Time to eat those words. To those who cup their ears and hum loudly when climate scientists say something has to be done: Time to keep cupping. Obama has done more than any person on the planet to…
“No new taxes.” Ah, the sound of spring preening when lawmakers recess. Despite these claims, it’s amazing how policymakers in “low-tax” states figure out ways to convince voters of their presumed fiscal sainthood. Often, they do so with revenue devices which don’t impact the many but really sock it to a…
The first thing that occurs to an observer is that this is a mismatch in weight classes. The big-gutted officers fit in the sumo category. The college students? They fit in the stringy category. Stringy but strong-willed, they stand tall — even as they get riot-batoned in their torsos, cuffed and dragged away.…
It’s always odd to see how some whose allegiance to Christ is most explicit seem allergic to much of what Christ said. About materialism. About militarism. About inclusiveness. About forgiveness. Then there’s Christ’s comment about public piety – about those who “pray that they be seen by men.” He called them hypocrites.…
CBS’s unsung “Trophy Wife” is one of few sitcoms true to its “com.” In part, this is because it allows the children in its cast to be childish. In one episode, gangly teen Warren, prodded to try out for a sport, announces he’s achieved “Jackie Robinson” status by joining the girls’ field hockey…
Across the nation, in congressional district after congressional district, state after state, the race has begun — the race between viewers’ thumbs and the Koch brothers’ pitch. In most cases, the thumbs win — find “mute” — before David and Charles Koch can tell them what a disaster the Affordable Care Act is…
Next November, the Republican Party is banking on the cranky. Don’t laugh. This appears to be a very good wager. Good enough to hold onto the U.S. House. Good enough, even, to take the Senate. Democrats don’t want to acknowledge that possibility, but it is way beyond real, and for two…
Everyone has experienced the oddness of meeting up with a long-lost acquaintance after many years, only to find impressions downright strange. So it is with me and marijuana. At least the smell of marijuana, that is. Though long an advocate of its legalization, I’ve never inhaled it, except in the ambient sense.…
As of mid-March, the nation’s rate of uninsured had declined to 15.9 percent from 17.1 percent in December. We can’t know exactly where the rate stands now, but it’s lower. And, well, the nation’s Republican leaders will not have that. They will do everything they can — and credit them for having done…