One day a few years ago, back in Scotland, my brother and his friend Kenny were reminiscing about the knocks and scrapes of growing up. It was all fairly normal stuff until Kenny suddenly blurted out: ‘Yeah, it’s like the
There used to be a certain level of decorum incumbent upon the office of the President of the United States. After all, the office is more than the man that occupies it. It’s also more than his politics or platform.
When a candidate of the Democratic or Republican parties is successfully elected President of the United States, it is widely accepted that by virtue of being the highest elected office holder in the party, they are the “leader” of their
What exactly does “affordable” mean? A very good friend of mine has lately taken me to task for my opposition to a single payer, universal medical coverage. She argues that she is one of those the president speaks of when
As the Senate Finance Committee completed its work on a bill that would greatly expand the government’s role in health care – requiring nearly everyone to buy insurance, and designing that insurance through subsidies and mandates – President Obama is
On Friday, America woke to the shocking news that Barack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. While there was universal agreement on both sides of the aisle that our President did not earn this award for any actual accomplishments;
When President Obama first announced his desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons, I laughed out loud. After all, what’s not to chuckle at? Would he next offer future generations the gift of flight, like Britain’s Natural Law Party,
[youtube ymc6LDd1QPg nolink] — Wow. That is quite a moment in the “60 Minutes” interview when director Roman Polanski says of the 13 year-old girl he drugged, raped and sodomized: “She wasn’t unschooled in sexual matters. She was consenting and
Esther Ralston at the height of her fame, mid-twenties. To read Part I of this series, please click here. Blessed with a lovely, melodic voice, it’s something of a puzzle why Paramount dropped Esther Ralston’s option in 1929. Esther was
I wasn’t surprised that Rep. Joe Wilson felt compelled to apologize to President Obama for calling him a liar. I also wasn’t surprised to hear that within 24 hours, thousands of liberals had sent in over $200,000 in contributions to
There are two things fundamentally wrong with the Obama administration’s efforts to turn the arts into a vehicle for political advocacy. First, it is an egregious abuse of power both in terms of misappropriation of public resources and a chilling
**NEA conference call full audio and transcript here** Should the National Endowment for the Arts encourage artists to create art on issues being vehemently debated nationally? That is the question that I set out to discuss a little over three
We can all be grateful that the Rev. Jesse Jackson has taken time away from his primary job of extorting money from corporate America fearful of his histrionic accusations of racism to cut through the rhetorical clutter and get to
WTAE: While it wasn’t a rebellion, the crowd from inside the convention center spilled out onto Penn Avenue and marched to the Byham to see the film and to call for universal health care. The marchers didn’t have a permit
The message began to pop-up all over my Facebook page: “No one should die because they cannot afford health care or insurance and no one should go broke or bankrupt because they get sick.” Let us set aside the fact
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” – Michael Corleone, Godfather Part III True story: As a young man just out of law school, I was consumed with politics. I even went to work on
I caught a live tribute to Ted Kennedy on TV the other day. Family, friends, and colleagues were praising him as a champion for universal social justice. I started thinking about how much I’ve been hearing the word “universal” lately.
What does it mean when a government official evades the truth? On August 25th, I published an article discussing a conference call hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United
4:30 p.m. Alhambra Town Hall Health Care Meeting with Congressman Shiff: August 12, 2009 I’m sitting in the parking lot, a poster board and black Sharpie in hand, the radio on Frank Pastori, 99.5 FM. He’s passionately discussing the very
The current philosophy of governance – and this includes governance of the democrat and republican variety-is that there is tremendous capacity in government to better the lives of average folks; it is the power of administrative policy that can end
Iconic filmmaker John Hughes is dead of a heart attack at 59. Anyone who came of age in the 80s and early 90s can’t help but remember the John Hughes era thanks to the many, many hours of warm, hilarious
Why would a company interested in making money (so they say) make yet another film trashing the Iraq War? By my count (narratives and documentaries), 13 have already flopped miserably and yet Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass team up
Most liberals claim to be more “compassionate” than the rest of us. Currently, the “health-care crisis” has topped the left’s “Top 10 Moral Outrages” list. Suddenly, cries to free the latest victim class du jour (“the 47 million”) from their
Today the costumed conventioneers started showing up, but it’s not as big as the big event. The Saturday night costume contest that brings out a freak show of innovation and geekdom. I don’t know why but there are always a
Boy, did I ever kick a hornet’s nest with my tongue-in-cheek Archie Bunker-on-steroids BH post, “My Secret Life as a Conservative Republican.” Lefties called it Reaffirmation With Senator Smalley, which I expected. But Righties nearly wet their pants in fear,
