Linda Chavez from Creators Syndicate

Referendum on the Incumbent for 02/10/2012

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Conventional wisdom suggests that the current refusal of the GOP base to accept Mitt Romney as the de facto presidential nominee will doom the party to failure in the fall. The thought is that too many debates, too much sniping among the candidates, and an overall enthusiasm deficit will leave the nominee — and the odds still favor Romney — mortally wounded.

But this election ...

Updated: Fri Feb 10, 2012

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Feminists Are Anti-Choice for 02/03/2012

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Horror of horrors! Lego has introduced a new line of gender-specific toys aimed at girls. I might not even have become aware of the controversy had it not been a topic of discussion on the all-female PBS talk show "To the Contrary," on which I frequently appear. That we are still debating the pros and cons of allowing boys and girls to prefer different play choices says a great deal a ...

Updated: Fri Feb 03, 2012

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For Gingrich, Amnesty no Impediment to Nomination for 01/27/2012

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

One thing was missed in Newt Gingrich's victory in the South Carolina primary: Conservatives embraced a pro-amnesty candidate without batting an eyelash. This should come as a wake-up call to those who've been pushing a hard-line anti-illegal immigrant position in the Republican Party.

Granted, Gingrich didn't spend a lot of time discussing his position, which favors amnesty for those il ...

Updated: Fri Jan 27, 2012

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The Higher-Education Bubble for 01/20/2012

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

When President Obama gives his state of the union address next week, you can count on his making a big pitch for education. No president in recent memory has failed to tout expanded educational opportunity as the panacea for all that ails us — and Obama has been the most passionate of pitchment on the issue. In last year's speech, he said, "Cutting the deficit by gutting our investme ...

Updated: Fri Jan 20, 2012

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Don't Abandon Capitalism for 01/13/2012

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

It's bad enough when Democrats start playing class warfare, but when Republican presidential contenders begin using phrases like "vulture capitalism," it's time to be really worried.

It's easy to dismiss as sour grapes Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry's attacks on Mitt Romney and Bain Capital, which Romney co-founded. It's no coincidence that the attacks are getting nastier in Sout ...

Updated: Fri Jan 13, 2012

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Goodbye, Momma for 01/06/2012

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

My mother died this week.

Death is never easy to accept, much less embrace, but it taught me that the end of life need not be frightening. She lived 90 years — the last three of them in my home — healthy, independent and happy, despite a life that others might have regarded as difficult, if not tragic.

She was born Velma Lou McKenna in Sheridan, Wyo., in 1921. Her moth ...

Updated: Fri Jan 06, 2012

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Coulter's Self-Fulfilling Prophecy for 12/30/2011

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has some advice for GOP presidential hopefuls: Hang tough on illegal immigration. Coulter sees illegal immigration as one of the two signature issues of the Republican presidential campaign (the other being repeal of Obamacare). Coulter predicts that if the candidates fail to be sufficiently hard-line, they'll invite future political suicide: "... Capitul ...

Updated: Fri Dec 30, 2011

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Home for Christmas for 12/23/2011

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

For more than a dozen years now, I've spent the days leading up to Christmas in search of a special gift. Not the kind you can buy at the mall or charge on your credit card but the gift of a traditional Midnight Mass. It goes back to my childhood, when I couldn't wait until I was old enough to attend Midnight Mass with my grandmother at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Den ...

Updated: Fri Dec 23, 2011

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Tebow Critics Put Their Own Bigotry on Display for 12/16/2011

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has been a controversial sports figure ever since he agreed to do an ad for the conservative organization Focus on the Family; the spot aired during the 2010 Super Bowl. Feminists and other groups, who feared the ad would be overtly pro-life and anti-abortion, tried to keep it from running. In the end, the message turned out to be pretty innocuous, and those ...

Updated: Fri Dec 16, 2011

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Obama Is No Teddy Roosevelt for 12/09/2011

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Barack Obama channeled Teddy Roosevelt this week in a speech in Osawatomie, Kan. Supporters are calling it the most significant economic speech of his administration.

But critics rightly point out that the Teddy Roosevelt whom Obama invoked was not the beloved 26th president and standard-bearer of the GOP. Instead, it was the radicalized third-party candidate seeking a third term and the ...

Updated: Fri Dec 09, 2011

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Egyptian Elections Pose Danger for US for 12/02/2011

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Americans notoriously care little about foreign affairs, but this week's elections in Egypt deserve our attention. The Egyptian version of the so-called Arab Spring began as a popular uprising against long-term strongman Hosni Mubarak and promised greater liberty and freedom for the most populous Arab nation. But early returns from parliamentary elections in about a third of Egypt's provinces, ...

Updated: Fri Dec 02, 2011

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New Deportation Rules a Cynical Move for 11/18/2011

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

The Obama administration this week announced new rules governing the deportation of illegal aliens. The administration's new policy, which has been in the development stage since the summer, aims to speed the deportation of convicted criminals and halt those of many illegal immigrants without criminal records.

The timing is purely political; attempting to again make illegal immigration a ...

Updated: Fri Nov 18, 2011

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Arizona Bids Adios to Illegal Immigrant Basher for 11/11/2011

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

For the last several years, State Senator Russell Pearce has been the face of the anti-illegal immigrant movement in Arizona. But his district voted this week to recall him, ending a 10-year state legislative career that has been marked by ugly episodes.

It's about time.

Pearce was the chief author of Arizona SB 1070, the controversial law still being challenged in the courts that ...

Updated: Fri Nov 11, 2011

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Sexual Harassment Is Serious Business for 11/04/2011

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Herman Cain has managed to say some silly and outrageous things as a GOP presidential candidate without losing any support. In fact, he's been gaining in the polls all the while.

But new allegations of sexual harassment by at least three women who worked for him when he was president of the National Restaurant Association now threaten to unravel his candidacy. He's handled the situation ...

Updated: Fri Nov 04, 2011

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GOP Should Quit Stirring the Anti-Immigrant Pot for 10/28/2011

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The GOP's Hispanic voter problem has the potential to cost it the presidential election next November — but the likelihood is that it won't. This has less to do with the party's standing with Hispanic voters, which continues to be low, than it does with President Obama's failures to revive the economy. Nonetheless, the party is concerned enough that some Republican leaders are suggesting ...

Updated: Fri Oct 28, 2011

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How Do We Care for the Elderly? for 10/21/2011

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Last week, the Obama administration dropped one of the signature provisions of its healthcare plan. The CLASS Act (Community Living Assistance Services) was intended to provide affordable insurance for long-term care to individuals who, because of infirmity or age, could no longer care for themselves. But the reality that not enough healthy Americans would sign up to make it self-supporting fin ...

Updated: Fri Oct 21, 2011

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A Colorblind America for 10/14/2011

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Could anyone have imagined even a few years ago that the 2012 U.S. presidential race might end up as a contest between two black candidates? I certainly couldn't have. Yet, with Republican candidate Herman Cain's recent surge in popularity, the possibility is there. This says a great deal about race in America — all of it good.

In many respects, Herman Cain's advance in the Republi ...

Updated: Fri Oct 14, 2011

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Steve Jobs -- a Relentless Visionary for 10/07/2011

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Like millions of Apple users around the world, I learned that Steve Jobs had died when I turned on my Mac on Wednesday evening. There his picture was, staring out from the Apple homepage when I went to my browser: his signature black turtleneck; his close-cropped grey hair and beard; his piercing, pale eyes.

I felt enormous sadness — the kind that makes your throat constrict to for ...

Updated: Fri Oct 07, 2011

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GOP Can Learn From Reagan on Immigration for 09/30/2011

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

You'd never know it by listening to the GOP presidential hopefuls, but the Republican Party is launching a major effort to woo Hispanic voters in next year's election. The reason is simple: demographics. Unless the GOP wins a larger percentage of Hispanic votes in key states next year than it did in 2008, the White House may be out of reach, despite President Obama's unpopularity.

The Wa ...

Updated: Fri Sep 30, 2011

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Standardized Testing Under Attack … Again for 09/23/2011

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

As predictably as fall marks the beginning of the new school year in campuses across the country, so, too, does it usher in new attacks on standardized testing. The 2011 version comes in the form of a new book, "SAT Wars," a collection of essays that purports to be an authoritative account of the controversy over one particular test used by most selective universities in their admissi ...

Updated: Fri Sep 23, 2011

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