Year: 2012

There have been many frauds of historic proportions — for example, the financial pyramid scheme for which Charles Ponzi was sent to prison in the 1920s, and for which Franklin D. Roosevelt was praised in the 1930s, when he called it Social Security. In our own times, Bernie Madoff’s hoax has made headlines. But the […]

President Barack Obama’s energy plan involves radically increasing gas prices to the European rate of about $10 a gallon. And he’s well on his way, as gas prices have more than doubled since he took office in January 2009, when gasoline was only $1.79 per gallon. And he’s scheming to double prices again in his […]

After 25 years of lecturing on happiness, writing a book on the subject (“Happiness Is a Serious Problem”) and devoting an hour of my radio show every week for the last 13 years to happiness, here are some conclusions about who is happy. People who control themselves. Happiness is dependent on self-discipline. We are the […]

San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi agreed to a plea bargain on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge and two related charges that began with a New Year’s Day argument during which Mirkarimi allegedly bruised his wife’s arm. The district attorney dropped the three original charges; Mirkarimi pleaded guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment. His sentence includes three […]

You’ve got to hand it to Democrats and the Obama re-election campaign. Like a quarterback who looks left to draw the defense away from his intended target on the right, Democrats have managed to divert our attention. Instead of debating President Obama’s dreadful record on just about everything, Democrats have managed to get Republicans talking […]

How depressing.:  Conservatives remain divided this election cycle while the most liberal candidate for the GOP nomination in decades continues to pile up delegates. Meanwhile, the evidence continues to mount that Romney will govern to the left of George Bush — either one.:  Romney’s effort to portray himself as a conservative has had great success, […]

In the cold, gray numbers of election returns and exit poll percentages, a reader with some imagination can find clues to people’s deep feelings, their hopes and fears, their self-images and moral values. This is especially true in presidential primaries. In most general elections, 80 percent of voters vote for candidates of the party they […]