In The Exorcist, the 1973 film that made Linda Blair a star and caused pea soup consumption to plummet, a man arrived at a house with a black bag and a Bible to drive out evil spirits. But what does one bring to undo an exorcism? Comparable tools, actually. Barack Obama swore on Abe Lincoln’s Bible. This…
DetailsIf Allen Stanford ever took the notion to seek elected office, you can bet your first-born child he’d have had TV ads identifying himself as a “small businessman.” You can bet that those in Washington who consumed — and returned in kind — his many good graces would say they responded to the needs of…
Details“Class warfare.” “Largest tax increase in history.” Get used to these words. If President Barack Obama’s tax policies come to fruition, his political foes will wring those phrases for every hint of potential. We know they will, because those are the same words used to assail what Bill Clinton did with taxes. And, we were…
DetailsImagine if a study found that jaw-dropping numbers of Texas math students had no clue about multiplication. SWAT teams of experts would be dispatched. Heads would roll. State-assigned campus masters would arrive by air, by sea, by pack mule. We can’t have our children ignorant of multiplication. That is, unless it’s human multiplication: ovum, sperm,…
DetailsIn golf, it’s a gimme. In hoops, it’s a slam dunk. In baseball, it’s a gopher pitch. Each is a can’t-miss opportunity. Don’t look now, but Texas has a $550 million gimme putt set up near the cup. And — is that a fairway wood Rick Perry has pulled out, with Republican cohorts saying, “Knock…
DetailsIt almost makes me want to buy a cupcake for the cause. Pursuant to the Democrats’ sweep of Congress and now the new face in the White House, the “abstinence-only” movement is on its own. When dominant in Washington, Republicans couldn’t find extra money to devote to cleaner water, security-exposed ports or levees that worked.…
DetailsTexas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s rhetorical styling is as silly and annoying as that guy in the park wearing whiteface, a turtleneck, and rappelling on an invisible rope. Abbott is miming for an audience, in this case for the court. Abbott can’t admit what lawmakers clearly wanted when they imposed a “moment of silence” on…
DetailsThursday, February 19, 2009 Two stories from the This Changes Everything Department: * Blackwater Security Worldwide Inc., which has run up a portfolio of atrocities under contract in Iraq, has changed its name to Xe. (Pronounced “Z.”) * Meanwhile the Republican Party, having unashamedly run up debt for eight years, has renamed itself the Prudence Party. Members…
DetailsIt shouldn’t take a Ph.D like David Berliner to tell us what’s wrong with the way we do accountability in schools. He sees parallels in baseball, too, and he’s no Joe Dimaggio. Sporting analogy: When you put too much emphasis on home runs, he points out, people strike out more. When you put too much…
DetailsIt has the look of a full-length action thriller, and in this case, “full-length” understates it by a bunch. The sweaty man, two arms around the bulging briefcase, steals away in the dark of night, his necktie swinging. Having evaded security, he hustles off, panting. Home free. But wait. The camera zooms in on a…
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