To my readers
To run or not to run. That is the question. As you may have heard, I am considering a challenge to Anne Northup for the 3rd District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is not a tough decision, not the least ramification of which would be leaving this space. Suffice to say that…
Following the King
Martin Luther King Jr. would have been 77 on Sunday, and as the nation takes the opportunity to celebrate one of history’s greatest activists, a few are asking about where the next King may be. Jesse Jackson is as ubiquitous nationally as Louis Coleman is here in Louisville; indeed, their overexposure vividly begs the issue…
Rhinestone cowboys
Epiphanies come in all shapes and sizes. Over the weekend I happened upon an old photograph of television cowboy Hopalong Cassidy. There he was, impeccably dressed in black, a stylish scarf held together by a silver broach, a hat that looks pretty goofy today but could have made GQ in 1953, and to top it…
The mandatory review column
Now that Christmas once again has been saved from the secularists, we turn to New Year’s, another holiday that has evolved over time. That’s right, Jan. 1 has not always been the first day of the New Year, not to speak of a day worthy of hangovers. According to Information Please, the Mesopotamians celebrated a…
Breaking ranks
At the Kentucky Author Forum Monday night, Sen. John McCain was asked a most interesting question by a self-described Democrat. “Why are you a Republican?†she asked, in a tone that suggested she wished he weren’t. McCain responded first by evoking the spirit of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, then by enumerating the principles…
Humbug
So presumably we liberals have declared war on Christmas. Funny, I missed the memo. I’ve gone back and checked every e-mail from moveon.org and the Center for American Progress for the past six months. Not one about Christmas. Or should I say, “The Holidays� How can you wage a war if you don’t inform your…
Homecoming
The ultimate disconnect: Last Wednesday at 10:20 a.m., EST, President Bush was addressing the nation about his Iraq policy via a speech at the Naval Academy. At that moment, he said, “Victory in Iraq will demand the continued determination and resolve of the American people.†Simultaneously, on the “crawl†at the bottom of the screen…
Dirty big secret
Sometimes it is critical that we stop to connect the dots, and now is one of those times. All at once, it seems, a series of events, considered together, has illuminated one of this country’s big dirty secrets: the growing dependence of the American economy on a low-cost labor pool. This week President Bush focused…
Crystal balling
Hillary is coming to town. Kentucky Republicans, believing Sen. Clinton is the kiss of death for Democrats in the state, think her arrival here is an early visit from Santa. They profess to be salivating over the prospect of using photos of Democratic candidates with the wife of the former president. Methinks they protest too…
Don’t know much biology
While political pundits across the country were yammering on about the ramifications of last week’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey and California, the most important referendum of all went virtually unnoticed. And why not? It happened in the small, south-central Pennsylvania town of Dover. By any measure, Dover is a pretty conservative place. Seventy percent…
He of little faith
Once again this week, religion is near the top of the public agenda in Louisville. The 10th annual “Festival of Faiths,†sponsored by the Cathedral Heritage Foundation, is in full swing in fulfillment of its mission: “To celebrate the diversity of our faiths, be grateful for our unity and strengthen the role of religion in…
Teenage angst: Big Daddy weighs in on the past, present and future of LEO
Wow, my baby is a teenager, and like the typical teenager, LEO is no longer under my control, literally or figuratively. That is not all bad. Raising a child or a newspaper is an exhausting job. Inevitably, you realize you’ve not only run out of energy, but new ideas as well. As many longtime readers…
Rush to judgment
It didn’t take long, after the door hit Harriet Miers in the butt, for President Bush to offer another nominee to the Supreme Court. Only four days to be exact, but when you have unshakable confidence in the infallibility of your own judgment, despite all evidence to the contrary, there is little need for reflection.…
Much ado about everything
If special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald decides this week not to indict Bush administration officials involved in the leak of a CIA officer’s name, Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson won’t even warrant footnotes in the next generation’s history books. On the other hand, should Karl Rove, Scooter Libby or others in the administration be indicted, we…
Burden of Proof
Talk about mixed signals. President Bush has promised that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers will not change her views for 20 years. Then this past Sunday on “FOX News Sunday,†Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said of Miers, “She’s got a very probing mind and a probing intellect.†Can a person have a probing intellect…
Good news is bad news
These are halcyon days for the Schadenfreudists, formerly known as Democrats. From San Fran to Boston, Miami to Seattle, and more locally from Paducah to Ashland, the out-of-powers are sitting back and drinking the nectar of Republican self-destruction. Last year’s winter of discontent has become this year’s “fall†of the GOP. Everywhere we look, the…
Reader response
Former TV star Art Linkletter liked to say that kids say the darndest things. He should have added that adults often say the most childish things. Certainly that’s not breaking news, but it occurred to me that much of contemporary political dialogue — from everywhere on the spectrum — is childish. I raise the point…
Don’t touch that public dial
Among all the perverse things going on in America, one of the worst may be that the destruction wrought by Katrina is being used by the neo-con-controlled Congress as an excuse to again try to slash funding for public broadcasting. As the Grover Norquist crew — those who want to starve government until it’s “so…
Money to burn
While all attention is on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and as another huge tempest heads toward the Gulf, a less damaging, but equally venal, kind of hurricane season is upon us. After all, there are only about 90 shopping days left until Christmas, and the world’s retailers have begun their annual rite of temptation.…
Pleasant surprise?
Oops! Did W. screw up? It took only 20 minutes of questioning from Sen. Arlen Specter to elicit from John Roberts the surprising revelation that the nominee believes that the right to privacy is firmly based in the U.S. Constitution. Both explicit and implied, the notion that a right of privacy is essential to “secure…
Bridge too far
What an opportunity! Yes, now you can act just like the Waltons. On Sunday, former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush held a press conference to announce, among other things, that Wal-Mart and the Walton family had donated $23 million to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Of that total, $8 million came from the…
Labor of love
For some time now, life has not been a picnic for organized labor. Demonized by the political right, weakened by the legal system, frustrated by ultra-powerful corporations and beset with internal dissension, unions have seen their clout diminished, and their members have seen their standard of living stagnate. Still, several thousand union members will enjoy…
Back to school
This week my son Aaron returned to college for his senior year. It truly seems that only minutes have passed since his mother and I tearfully left him at his freshman dorm room and essentially began, as he was beginning, a new life. Many parents are now bawling their way through this ritual, wondering whether…
The Boob Tube
Call me crazy, but I think I would rather try to explain Janet Jackson’s bare boob to a child than a four-hour erection. In case you missed it, the maker of Cialis ran a special Super Bowl edition of its commercial for the erectile dysfunction drug, adding a disclaimer warning of the possibility of a…
