The difference between disagreement and force. I live within earshot of a Civil War battlefield, where volunteers give frequent artillery demonstrations during tourist season. Throughout this past summer, the familiar blasts rattling the kitchen windows became an odd source of comfort. “I suppose we could be more divided than we are ... MORE
Some lies are defensible, others not-so-much. He was furious, a radio listener calling in rage because I’d said that lying was sometimes permissible in government. I may even have said a president who refuses ever to lie should be impeached. That’s not my favorite argument, but I don’t shirk from it. Imagine a president confronted with a ... MORE
by Barry Farber. 5 STARS! One of Hollywood’s most horrible scenes has just come true on Page 1. In “The Counterfeit Traitor,” Lilli Palmer played a German woman who recognized Hitler was a monster and fed information to Allied intelligence on which oil refineries should be bombed next; she worked with the title character, played by ... MORE
Two under-appreciated virtues. Dishonesty, lying and cheating are not treated with the right amount of opprobrium in today's society. To gain an appreciation for the significance of honesty and trust, consider what our day-to-day lives would be like if we couldn't trust anyone. When we purchase a bottle of 100 pills from our pharmacist, how many ... MORE
Jennifer Harper on Pew Research findings. One gauge of a president’s favorability is the assorted descriptors the public volunteers to a pollster about the leader of the Free World. The Pew Research Center has tracked the assorted description of President Obama over the years, and has this to say: “The survey finds that the one-word ... MORE
Another day, another scandal. As a candidate, Barack Obama vowed to bring a different, better kind of leadership to the dysfunctional capital. He'd make government more efficient, accountable and transparent. He'd rise above the "small-ball" nature of doing business. And he'd work with Republicans to break Washington paralysis. You can trust me, ... MORE
A debt paid and a lesson learned. It may have been the best magazine cartoon – ever! Penguins are the only animals in tuxedos. Imagine an Antarctic ice cap with hundreds of tuxedoed penguins, and one penguin wearing a natty beret, a gold chain, sunglasses and a checkered vest while sporting a rhinestone-studded cigarette holder. A curious gaggle ... MORE
The IRS invents a whole new kind of tax refund. My attitude to the second Obama administration is captured in the old joke about Bertha who gets on the New York-to-Chicago Greyhound bus and asks the driver to let her know when they get to Cleveland. She keeps loudly reminding him every half-hour or so until he is ready to pull his hair out. But he ... MORE