Category: Column

First, the mayor of Houston flagrantly violated clergy’s First Amendment rights, when she subpoenaed sermons, and she still refuses to rescind her mandate. And now California government officials are forcing churches and other faith-based organizations to fund abortions. What’s next? Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), the California Department of Managed Health Care […]

Do you all realize what a major deal it is that liberal comics are now openly ridiculing President Obama — and not just for his mannerisms and the like but based on his abject policy failures? In his first few years and beyond, liberal funnymen sometimes complained that Obama was so flawless that he didn’t […]

“We don’t agonize. We organize,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi chimed after an editorial board meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday. 2014 is probably not her favorite year. In 2010, the Democrats lost the House, and she lost the speakership. Polling suggests Democrats will lose more seats in November. Pelosi has become the […]

Democrats want everyone to vote: old, young, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, citizen, non-citizen. Wait, what was that last one again? We’ll get to that. Voter ID laws, passed by 30 states so far, are efforts by legislatures to ensure the integrity of votes. Being asked to show a photo ID can diminish several kinds of […]

In almost every area of American life, the better things are, the worse it is for the Democratic Party. And vice versa. Marriage. Even today, after decades of feminism, most Americans agree that it is better for women (and for men) — and better for society — when women (and men) marry. Yet, when women […]

On Oct. 27, 1964, 50 years ago Monday, a movie actor and television host delivered a 30-minute speech on primetime national television in support of the presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater. There were no visual diversions, and the production values by today’s standards were primitive. Few if any viewers realized it, but they were watching […]

In 1968 the government of Canada decided to openly admit Americans seeking to avoid being drafted into the US war on Vietnam. Before, would-be immigrants were technically required to prove that they had been discharged from US military service. This move made it easier for Americans to escape President Johnson’s war machine by heading north. […]

When it comes to life’s guarantees, there’s death, taxes, death taxes, the tides, the Chicago Cubs not winning a World Series, and the race card being played by Democrats as an election approaches. With less than two weeks to go before this year’s mid-term elections, that last guarantee is in full effect. Polls show Democrats […]

Prospects that three term Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu will return to the US Senate to represent Louisiana for a fourth term are looking increasingly bleak. Senator Landrieu has good reason to be concerned. One reason is disenchantment among Louisiana’s black population, which amounts to 32 percent of the population of the state – the nation’s […]

Not until it got dark! That was the trick-or-treating rule my mother set down every year. She didn’t want me to embarrass her by interrupting families still having dinner. I hated the rule. Tommy Gillen and I had big plans to hit as many houses as possible before we had to come home. It was […]

If more Americans were self-employed independent contractors, the country would soar. Maybe I better explain. In addition to writing this weekly column, I provide professional copywriting services to a variety of organizations. If they like my work, they give me more and I prosper. If they don’t like my work, I go broke. Thus, the […]

Why would Republicans John McCain and Jack Kingston be so stupid as to call for Obama to recruit a “Czar” to coordinate government medical and communication efforts in the Ebola imbroglio? Minimizing Obama’s true breach of his oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” is not to be taken lightly. Conservatives […]

San Francisco is a cauldron of rights, unless you own a home. Buy a property here and you might as well paint a target on your back. That’s what Dan and Maria Levin discovered after they bought a two-unit North Beach home in 2008. They moved in to the upstairs one-bedroom apartment and told the […]

We all know what an act of Islamic terrorism is – except for our lame duck-in-chief, that is. Now the Canadians know it, too. On Wednesday one of their fellow citizens who had just converted to Islam and wanted to go overseas and join ISIS donned a dark jacket and an “Arabic scarf” and attacked […]

You probably haven’t read much commentary about this year’s elections to the House of Representatives. There’s a good reason for that: The majority in the Senate is up for grabs, but it’s clear to everyone who follows these things that Republicans will continue to control the House. But there are lessons to be learned from […]

Everything you need to know about Bruce Braley was made clear by the candidate himself in a thirty-seven second video of him speaking to his real constituents – his fellow trial lawyers – at a fundraiser in Texas. Most of the attention relating to the video has been about his arrogant denigration of Iowa farmers […]

President Obama says he’s “shaken” by this week’s violent attacks on three soldiers in Ottawa by an Islamic jihadist. He immediately phoned Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to offer support and “solidarity.” He vowed to “remain vigilant.” Too bad Obama didn’t show the same resolve after multiple attacks and plots against our troops by Muslim terrorists […]

Politically speaking, President Barack Obama is almost as toxic as the ominous viruses he continues to mismanage. Every Democratic candidate fears the contagion and seeks to quarantine himself from his presence and policies. It’s hardly unfair to say that Obama has earned his current condition, having squandered more unearned goodwill than any president in recent […]

To understand the lack of enthusiasm most Americans feel about the midterm elections, it’s important to recognize a vital distinction between government and community. Community evokes positive feelings for most of us, whereas politics and government are nastier and generate a desire to stay away. We choose to be involved in community while we have […]

Back in August, when news first broke of a shooting in Ferguson, Mo., the media world, perpetually tingling with eagerness for white-on-black violence stories, plunged into delirium. An unarmed, black 18-year-old “gentle giant” had been shot in the back while running away from a white police officer! He was just preparing to enter college in […]

In October of 1962, America worried whether an untried young president, John F. Kennedy, could keep us safe from nuclear-tipped missiles from nearby communist Cuba. Today’s October worries are more insidious: the Ebola virus, the macabre Islamic State, a tottering stock market, a bellicose Russia, and a crisis of confidence in our government. Much of […]

“Rabbi, is there a proper blessing for the czar?” He thinks for a moment and responds: “May God bless and keep the czar … far away from us!” — “Fiddler on the Roof” Today, “czar” is a term encouraged by the media to describe one who oversees a specific government policy. According to The Atlantic.com, […]

Most years, California offers up supersize election stories — an embarrassment of riches for the opinion columnist. This year, other states are getting all the drama while California looks as staid as a bored accountant. In 2010, the big story was Meg Whitman’s millions vs. Jerry Brown’s cheapskate comeback campaign. Whitman spent $140 million of […]

Everything you need to know about Beltway nepotism, corporate cronyism and corruption can be found in the biography of Robert Hunter Biden. Where are the Occupy Wall Street rabble-rousers and enemies of elitist privilege when you need them? Straining their neck muscles to look the other way. The youngest son of Vice President Joe Biden […]

A group of Washington overlords — federal prosecutors — sometimes break rules and wreck people’s lives. President Obama may soon appoint one of them to be America’s next Attorney General. The prosecutorial bullying is detailed in a new book by Sidney Powell, “Licensed to Lie.” She reports that the Department of Justice’s narcissistic and dishonest […]