Category: Column

There are many liberals who lead thoroughly decent lives. And there are conservatives who do not. But that is not the whole issue. There is something about liberalism that is not nearly as true about conservatism. The further left one goes, the more one finds that the ideology provides moral cover for a life that […]

A former Obama White House press aide is calling for an end to the White House’s daily press briefings. “The daily briefing has become a worthless chore for reporters, an embarrassing nuisance to administration staff, and a source of added friction between the two camps,” Reid Cherlin wrote in New Republic. “It’s time to do […]

When it comes to Vietnam, I’m all for moving on, putting the past behind us, looking forward, letting bygones be bygones, but doing so requires honesty about the past, lest history be forgotten and the memory and honor tarnished of the 60,000 Americans who died in that war. On his visit to Washington last week, […]

Since last November’s election there has been a lot of punditry about the fissures and schisms in the Republican Party. The divisions are real, and some of the commentary has been revealing. There has been less of a look at fissures and schisms in the Democratic Party. They’re real, as well. Most House Democrats voted […]

First-wave baby boomers will begin turning 67 this year – and they’re STILL imposing their ways on younger people, such as tail-end boomers like me. Though maybe I’m still upset about the David Cassidy haircut my sisters made me get in 1973. Like every teen girl then, my sisters were smitten with Cassidy. They exploited […]

Senator Boxer recently held a hearing entitled, “Climate Change: It’s Happening Now.” To honor historic truth, the title “It’s Happening Again” would have suited better. Heidi Cullen, formerly the alarmist voice at the Weather Channel, was one of Boxer’s key witnesses. In her testimony, Dr. Cullen said that “heavy downpours” have increased by 73 percent […]

The late-night comedians have not had this much material since Bill Clinton wagged his boney finger at the television cameras and declared, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky,” and then sent Hillary out to declare that the whole thing was the work of a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” With Anthony Weiner […]

Life for kids is harder today than ever before, and I offer up proof: According to a variety of news reports, many elementary schools are eliminating recess. Why would schools do such a heartless thing? Well, these days, teachers are expected to teach kids everything from manners to self-esteem. Teachers need to use recess time […]

The family George Zimmerman rescued from their burning SUV is refusing interviews for fear of their lives. A woman whose phone number is one digit different from that of the line Zimmerman used to call police is getting death threats. That phone number appeared repeatedly throughout the trial. George’s family is in hiding from death […]

When I first saw the KTVU video in which anchorwoman Tori Campbell gave the fictional names of the Asiana Airlines pilots — Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk and Bang Ding Ow — I laughed. I laughed out loud, and then I watched it again. After days of watching the painful […]

Washington, DC based American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) is delighted to see the state of Ohio move forward with plans to construct a Holocaust memorial that includes a Star of David in its design – despite complaints from angry atheists – specifically, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).The FFRF sent a letter to […]

According to the Washington Post, this is “Obama’s last campaign”; he’s brought back his polling director from the campaign, David Simas, to run the largest sales effort of its kind: an effort to sell expensive health insurance policies to an estimated 2.7 million young and healthy people who don’t use much health care. If that […]

Welcome to another installment of No Obama Bundler Left Behind. This chapter stars an elite Hollywood fundraiser who scored a plum diplomatic appointment, slacked off on the job and left her public office in disgrace, and then rebounded from failure as a new Obamacare promoter. Nice crony “work” if you can get it. This failed […]

Sometimes I marvel at President Obama’s apparent lack of an embarrassment sensor. How can he stand before the American people and deliver speech after speech making the same tired points and pretending he is delivering the speech of the century? Is he truly impervious to feelings of self-consciousness, or is he trying to play us […]

“My rival in this race,” President Obama announced early in 2007, “is not other candidates. It’s cynicism.” Sadly, it’s now evident cynicism won. In a much-hyped speech at Knox College on Wednesday, Obama sought to pivot back to the economy — as the journalistic cliché goes — and shape the issue environment for the 2014 […]

We have a president who loves to give campaign speeches to adoring crowds, but who doesn’t seem to have much interest in governing. That was apparent Wednesday, when Barack Obama delivered the first of several promised “pivot to the economy” speeches at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., where he spoke eight years ago as a […]

It must be hard for young black males to always be viewed as criminals by people who notice crime statistics. We’ve jawboned that sad story for 40 years. Last week, President Obama ran it around the block again in another speech about himself in reaction to the George Zimmerman verdict. Let’s give that beloved chestnut […]

We may be in the era of Facebook and fracking. But 2013 is still beginning to look a lot like the cataclysmic century we just left behind. More people probably died from the wars of the 20th century than from the battles of the prior 2,500 years combined. The bloodiest century saw the rise of […]

“I think you should check out the APEX program,” my high school counselor, Mrs. Workman, suggested. APEX stood for Area Program Enrichment Exchange, and involved several L.A. area high schools, including Fairfax High. Intended for “advanced” students, the program allowed them to take courses not offered at their home school. In my case, I had […]

Huma Abedin has graduated from sympathetic victim to pathetic enabler. I felt bad for Abedin in 2011 when, as a newly married and pregnant wife, her congressman husband, Anthony Weiner, embroiled her in his sexting scandal. With a baby on the way, she chose to stick with the marriage — a decision others must respect. […]

Now for some good news, and it has nothing to do with the birth of the royal baby. According to a USA Today/Bipartisan Policy Center poll, “Americans by more than 2-1 say the best way to make positive changes in society is through volunteer organizations and charities, not by being active in government.” Even better […]

It takes a fair bit of gall to accuse the media of lying about a sex scandal. It takes even more gall to then admit to the sex scandal, resign, claim you’ve redeemed yourself and decide to run again. And it takes the most gall to do all of those things, even as you’re engaged […]

The Ambassador for Israel to the United Nations, Ron Prosor spoke at the annual Christians United For Israel conference (CUFI) in Washington, DC and thanked them for their vital support.: : As he said “the new offensive against Israel — a campaign of delegitimization — was “Chinese torture” that would slowly have a real and adverse effect.” […]

MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry — the same TV commentator who said Americans need to stop raising kids as if they belong to individual families — had an extraordinary explanation for why the city of Detroit sought to declare bankruptcy last week: not enough government. “This is what it looks like when government is small enough […]

Police Capt. Louis Renault, played by Claude Rains in the 1942 movie “Casablanca,” in the wake of the shooting of a Nazi officer, ordered his men to “round up the usual suspects.” Was Renault engaging in some sort of profiling? He may have been, but what is profiling? Let’s look at it. We can think […]

How can Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke justify his decision to approve another round of quantitative easing by citing the lack of an assured recovery in the U.S. economy? How can he pretend that his decisions to continue or discontinue the wholesale printing of money and to maintain or end zero-interest rates have anything to […]