Dolley Madison was the model for savvy
Opinion column
When Dolley Payne Madison became first lady in 1809, she instituted Wednesday evening gatherings at the White House where political rivals could meet and talk. They were called “squeezes” because so many people showed up and crowded the room. As Cokie wrote in her book “Ladies of Liberty”: “All were welcome as long as they were appropriately dressed. And all went — skipping a Wednesday night might mean missing a vital piece of political information or being left out of a crucial deal.” We thought of Dolley when President Obama started implementing his own version of the “squeeze” — dinner with 12
Who decides what’s fair in who we marry?
Opinion column
Given his track record on marital fidelity, former President Bill Clinton is not the person I would consult about “committed, loving relationships.” Clinton used those words in a Washington Post op-ed last week, urging the Supreme Court to overturn the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman, which he signed into law.
Administration has spending flexibility
Opinion column
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Polarized society has no winners
Opinion column
Among the many irrational ideas about racial and ethnic groups that have polarized societies over the centuries and around the world, few have been more irrational and counterproductive than the current dogmas of multiculturalism.
Essential government tasks need reliable funding
Opinion column
Here's hoping that Stewart Parnell goes to prison. The former president of the now-bankrupt Peanut Corp. of America, Parnell ran a filthy Georgia processing plant contaminated with salmonella that injured more than 600 people in a 2008-2009 outbreak, killing nine. Last month, federal prosecutors charged Parnell and three others with criminal offenses, claiming the executives intentionally shipped out contaminated peanut products.
President's hopes are on pain from sequestration
Opinion column
"The worst-case scenario for us," a leading anti-budget-cuts lobbyist told The Washington Post, "is the sequester hits and nothing bad really happens."
Voting Rights Act still necessary
Opinion column
If you want to stare into the ugly face of racial resentment, take a good look at Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. His frank, if stunningly injudicious, remarks about a key portion of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) laid bare the bitterness that so many hyper-conservatives still harbor toward black progress
Ryan’s hope is to buy time in order to win war
Opinion column
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is looking beyond today and the beginning of the sequestration. In an interview I conducted with him on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Ryan told me he believes a majority of Americans will come to understand how bad the debt is after the rhetoric gives way to reality.
Judge Yahoo CEO by job, not gender
Opinion column
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is abolishing the company’s work-at-home policy and ordering everyone to show up at the office. Her decision has sparked intense and often nasty debate, with Mayer usually landing on the losing end. Many women, in particular, sound betrayed after daring to expect more from such a high-profile female boss. How could she?
Fox News chief knows how to count
Opinion column
Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News Channel, is a very smart man. And he knows how to count, a skill that has apparently eluded many of his fellow conservatives.
Noble origins of 'black history' outdated
Eighty-seven years ago — when about half of households owned an automobile, women's suffrage was new and black Americans were still terrorized by lynching, especially in the South — black historian Carter G. Woodson had a simple but powerful idea: Designate a week to celebrate the contributions that black Americans had made to their country. Woodson chose the second week of February to commemorate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
State of the Union speech recycled
Opinion column
President Obama’s approach to so-called “climate change” appears to include recycling old ideas.
President Obama is still impaired ideologically
Opinion column
Our failure in chief gave us his annual blurred vision of America again Tuesday night.
Media has double standard on drone attacks against Americans
Opinion column
An unsigned and undated Justice Department white paper, obtained by NBC News, reports The New York Times, “... is the most detailed analysis yet to come into public view regarding the Obama legal team’s views about the lawfulness of killing, without a trial, an American citizen who executive branch officials decide is an operational leader of Al Qaeda or one of its allies.”
Letters to the Editor
- America needs to turn to new course
- Dog owners must be more responsible
- America has to be good to be great
- Writer offers history of slave trading 2 comments
- American children are too pampered
- Christianity no threat to the U.S. military 7 comments
- No free rides for cosmetologists
- Education coverage needs balance 1 comment
- Frantz family offers thanks
- Volunteers impact the community
Columnists
- Obama states there is no more room for excuses
- Weather exploited for political gain
- Healing is an ongoing process
- Traveling lighter no easy task
- Tyranny is no longer ‘lurking’ just around the corner
- Wimps take on the barbarians
- High school uniforms a lesson in control theory 4 comments
- Common man’s buying guide
- Fredericksburg makes you feel at home
- Someone’s asking for an IRS audit 4 comments
Editorials
- Phipps excellent choice for chief judge
- Thumbs Up - May 20, 2013
- Battle over Phoebe North stalling growth 5 comments
- Education makes difference in life 2 comments
- DCSS showing signs of progress 7 comments
- IRS profiled Tea Party, conservatives 12 comments
- Thumbs Up! - May 13, 2013
- The numbers are in for America’s moms
- Hot cars are no place for children
- Paula Deen museum cooks up exciting possibilities 16 comments
