Try, if you can, to screen out the memories. Forget the cover stories, the “Angriest Man in America” profiles, the revolutionary rhetoric, the million-dollar book contracts. Whether you loved him or hated him, forget how he infuriated you. Continue reading “Small Government Is So 1990s”
The Washington Post Column
Student Loan Swindle
To most of us, the phrase “student loans” does not conjure an image of wealth or riches. Most of us think a student loan is something that enables someone to live on canned soup and crackers for four years while holding down a hamburger-flipping job and pulling all-nighters in the library. A student loan is for students, and most students aren’t rich. Continue reading “Student Loan Swindle”
Rather Irrelevant
Try as I may, I am unable to conjure up a single shred of nostalgia for the once-fabled network evening news programs. Walter Cronkite is a name to me, not a symbol of reassurance or stability. Edward R. Murrow is a historical figure. Continue reading “Rather Irrelevant”
‘Ownership Society’ or Snake Oil?
Trying to be a good citizen, I start from the beginning, and do what the government ads tell me to do: I open my computer, and type in www.medicare.gov. A screen comes up, asking me what I want: A personal health plan? A prescription drug card? A nursing home? Continue reading “‘Ownership Society’ or Snake Oil?”
The Irrationality of Terror
Funerals for 334 people, half of them children. Hundreds more — we may never know how many — in hospitals or “missing,” presumed dead. A town ravaged, a school destroyed, photographs of bloody children, wailing mothers. This is what the Chechen terrorists who attacked and destroyed a school in Beslan, southern Russia, achieved with their guns and bombs last week. Continue reading “The Irrationality of Terror”
Why Snub the Tories?
Some will judge the success of the Republican convention this week by the president’s speech. Others will try to gauge whether Sen. John McCain won over any moderate voters. Continue reading “Why Snub the Tories?”
Doing Nothing? Nothing Doing.
Last Sunday I had nothing to do. I’d run all my errands on Saturday. My children were away, staying with their grandparents. There was nothing happening in the outside world, or at least nothing I’m responsible for writing about. Energetically, I set about tackling what had seemed an insurmountable backlog of weeding. But when I’d finished, it was only 11 a.m. Continue reading “Doing Nothing? Nothing Doing.”
Stem Cell Stumping
“We also — we also need to lift the ban on stem cell research — (cheers, applause) and find cures that will help millions of Americans. (applause continues).”
Applause continues. That’s a direct quote from the transcript of the speech that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton gave at the Democratic convention last week. Continue reading “Stem Cell Stumping”
The Politicized And the Apolitical
Boston — “So, I bet it will be a lot colder when you get back there to Washington, D.C.”
We were driving through dense fog along the Pacific Coast, and the thermometer had hit 60, maybe 65 degrees. Actually, I said, July is usually a lot hotter in Washington. Continue reading “The Politicized And the Apolitical”
The ‘Target List’
“Richard Lugar, R-Indiana. Voted Yes. Our leading internationalist wants to send even more manufacturing jobs in Indiana overseas so that important diplomats at UN receptions will be nice to him.”
“Peter Fitzgerald, R-Illinois. Voted No last time. Fitzgerald leans Green and is retiring, which always encourages irresponsibility. So he needs shoring up.” Continue reading “The ‘Target List’”