Archive By Section - Columnists
Will George W. Bush and A.J. Clemente Get Mulligans?
When should you give someone a mulligan? Should you give a former President a mulligan for a good chunk of his 8 years in office? Should you give a young broadcaster a mulligan when he doesn't realize his mike is on and he says words more suitable for a Chris Rock routine?
Out of the Closet and into Identity Politics
I've never sought the spotlight. Though I'm coming out to the world, I intend to guard my privacy. I'm making this blanket statement in part to keep rumors and misunderstandings at bay. I'm not just a white, Catholic Republican. I'm not just a Reagan conservative. I'm a heterosexual. Like Jason Collins of the Washington Wizards, I just want everyone in America to know my sexual orientation. And like Collins -- the veteran NBA center who ...
Come on guys, keep those doors open
Sunshine Week, the national initiative by journalists to assure that sunshine illuminates every crevasse in the halls of officialdom, runs March 10-16. During that week, newspapers traditionally run editorials and columns extolling the importance of open government as it relates to our freedoms as Americans.
Business is Booming in Perry’s Potemkin Village
You can't change the facts of an explosion. A large fertilizer factory operated next to homes, a middle school and a nursing home. The factory blew, and 14 people died. We can't change those facts, but it's up to us to decide what they mean.
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Nation
As Mother's Day approaches, the political scene makes me think of an old spiritual: "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child."
It’s spring time for Kim Jung Un
HOLLYWOOD--God bless America, and how's everybody? Kim Jung Un announced he'll build a replica of London's Big Ben clock and the Eiffel Tower in a Pyongyang amusement park. It must be spring. He also asked Dennis Rodman to bring Jason Collins with him to North Korea next month and to wear something low-cut. NBA's Jason Collins came out as gay Monday and upset many traditional perceptions about NBA players. This will take some time for ...
This Is What Intolerance Smells Like
President Obama's new "religious tolerance" consultant to the Pentagon, Mikey Weinstein, wants Christian military service members who openly talk about their faith in uniform to be charged with treason, which is a crime punishable by death according to military law.
Reverse Psychology vs. the Nanny State
Get this: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to ban the sale of cigarettes - now legal to people at age 18 - to people younger than 21.
RIP George Jones
Even back in 1980 when George "The Possum" Jones received a Grammy Award, I regarded him as an old fogey who should step aside for the younger set, such as, well, um, Kenny Rogers.
Liberals Only Seem to Care When Kids Are Killed By Bullets
President Obama receives reports that 20 children and 6 adults have been murdered at the Sandy Hook Elementary School and decides the country needs national standards for gun accessories to protect our children. Limit ammunition capacities for rifle magazines. Outlaw triggers and stocks on rifles that look like pistols. Push for legislation requiring all law-abiding citizens to go through background checks and have the information stored for future reference.
Tail-Sucking Mobius Loop
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously uttered, "There are no second acts in American lives," but bless his heart, the besotted scribe seems blissfully unaware of the loophole large enough to taxi a C-130 through that exists for American politicians. These people are as indomitable as a mule falling off a bridge. More oblivious than a blind tortoise humping a rock. Limber like a deboned eel.
Lessons Learned in Boston
The beautiful Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Center for Public Affairs in Simi Valley, Calif., was the last place I expected to be reminded of the violence that paralyzed the city of Boston last week and turned it into a mini-Baghdad.
Will Rubio Becoming Yet Another Candidate for Whom I Cannot Vote?
There are times when the words "never" and "always" are the only ones that work. In my case, "never" is becoming the word I must use to describe how I feel about certain candidates for high office. For example, I voted four times for a Bush and once for a McCain - something I will never do again.
But, can he check out a book
HOLLYWOOD - God bless America, and how's everybody? The George W. Bush Presidential Library opened at Southern Methodist University in Dallas on Thursday. It's a fitting tribute to all he got done as president. The library promises to be a repository of the world's largest collection of books about brush-clearing. The Bible mini-series that aired on the History Channel will be re-edited into a three-hour movie and released. Theater owners are wary about booking it. ...
Boston Marathon Bombing: Was Twitter For the Birds or Revolutionary?
When James French became the last person to be executed in 1966 under Oklahoma's death penalty law, he uttered these famous last words (no joke) that quickly belong to the ages: "Hey fellas," he shouted to reporters there to witness his electrocution. "How about this for a headline for tomorrow's paper? 'French Fries!'"
Articles by Section - Columnists
Speech to the Best Graduating Class Ever
Students, faculty, family members and friends, it is my great honor to deliver your commencement speech today.
Gang of Eight: Never Have So Few Told So Many Lies
For three more weeks, the Senate Judiciary Committee will debate the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, S. 744. During the 45 years I've studied Washington politics, including 25 years of editorializing on the dreary subject, I can say without hesitation that no more anti-American legislation has ever been introduced.
The Second Term Curse Crashes Down on Barack Obama
You might say that May 10, 2013 was when the "second term curse" officially struck President Barack Obama -- and that May 13 was when it flattened him. Obama's administration has been hit with a triple whammy blast from a massive political stun gun.
It’s Harvest Time in Washington
Not even Barack Obama can defy the laws of physics.
The Batty Battalion
You do realize that Washington, D.C. is not the real world, don't you? It's a state of mind. An altered state of mind. Where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Slammed when you stand and rammed when you run. Berated if you lie and lambasted for the truth. Where even the slightest of breeze can carry the pollen of disaster. And the pack on top knows the best way to avoid ...
Keep Those Catalogs Comin’
What America needs is a good Productivity Boosting Nap Pod, a device that looks like a dentist chair with a roof. As luck would have it, this 310-pound unit, that "provides optimal ergonomics for napping," is available from Hammacher Schlemmer for $16,000. Dagwood Bumstead take note.
Even the bugs are getting audited
HOLLYWOOD-Happy Wednesday, everybody, and God bless America.
Obama Agenda Undermines Medical Innovation
Alzheimer's Disease costs the U.S. economy over $200 billion per year, about $140 billion of which is a direct federal budgetary cost to Medicare and Medicaid. On our present course, this cost will quintuple to $1 trillion by 2050. It is the major driver up the steeply rising health care cost curve. Given this context, the most important question for health policy is not the green eyeshade question of who-pays-how-much that has come to dominate ...
Welfare on Mars?
HOLLYWOOD-Happy Tuesday, everybody, and God bless America.
Learn from History
History is one of our greatest teachers.
Do We Still Need the Department of Education?
When executives of corporations are caught aiding and abetting criminal behavior of their employees, the executives are prosecuted and the businesses are destroyed.
American pravda, a nation of lawbreakers and Benghazigate
Louis Brandeis, who served on the United States Supreme Court from 1916 to 1939, once warned, "Our government teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy."
Limbaugh, Kurtz and the Bum’s Rush
Big news for those who think there aren't consequences in our media when professional talkers cross the line, or when famous reporters mess up and don't fix their mistakes without qualification, or do so begrudgingly. We now see proof of the law of consequences.
Did something happen in Benghazi?
HOLLYWOOD--God bless America, and how's everybody?
