Linda Chavez from Creators Syndicate

Liberal Patriotism for 02/22/2008

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Michelle Obama struck a raw nerve earlier this week when she suggested she had never been proud of her country until now. "For the first time in my adult lifetime," the 44-year-old wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama told a Milwaukee crowd, "I'm really proud of my country."

Conservative pundits and bloggers were quick to criticize Mrs. Obama. A ...

Updated: Fri Feb 22, 2008

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William F. Buckley, RIP for 02/29/2008

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Conservatism lost one of its most influential voices this week. William F. Buckley Jr. — author, editor, television host, and one of America's most important public intellectuals — died in his home Wednesday at 82. Buckley shaped the modern conservative movement into a force in American politics, and he so did with equal measure of charm and intellectual rigor.

Like many cons ...

Updated: Fri Feb 29, 2008

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Crime and Punishment on the Streets of Baltimore for 03/07/2008

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Sunday night, I'll be in front of my television set saying goodbye to some improbable friends: a few drug dealers, some good cops and bad, a corrupt politician or two and a handful of boys who broke my heart. HBO's "The Wire" comes to an end this week after 60 episodes over five seasons.

Created by former Baltimore police reporter David Simon and co-written by former Baltimore ...

Updated: Fri Mar 07, 2008

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Iraq War Could Help GOP Win in November for 03/14/2008

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A funny thing happened on the way to the election: Many Americans had a change of heart about the war in Iraq. No, I'm not talking about the large numbers of Americans who now think that the United States should never have gone to war in the first place, or those who want the troops brought home immediately. To the contrary, two recent Pew Research Center polls show that Americans are more upbe ...

Updated: Fri Mar 14, 2008

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Obama Won't Confront Biggest Problem for Blacks for 03/21/2008

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I expected more from Barack Obama. Like many Americans, I had hoped that his candidacy might transcend the racial divide that has separated this country for too many generations. I disagree with Sen. Obama on virtually every important public policy issue, and yet I have watched every televised speech he's made and every debate with a sense of admiration. I want him to succeed in his party's nom ...

Updated: Fri Mar 21, 2008

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A Government Engineered Food Crisis for 03/28/2008

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

As if a housing crisis, rising energy costs and a soft labor market weren't enough to cause economic anxiety for the average American, now consumers are feeling the pinch of rapidly escalating food costs. The United States has long prided itself in being the breadbasket of the world, and Americans have traditionally paid a smaller share of their income on food than citizens of other developed c ...

Updated: Fri Mar 28, 2008

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A Better Solution for the Housing Mess for 04/04/2008

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

With the housing mess threatening to send the economy into a tailspin, politicians are scrambling to come up with a quick fix. Senate leaders this week announced they've come up with a housing bailout bill, including a $4 billion grant to local governments to buy foreclosed homes, authority for states to issue bonds for refinancing sub-prime mortgages, and a $7,000 tax credit for those buying n ...

Updated: Fri Apr 04, 2008

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Democrats Trade Hypocrisy for 04/11/2008

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Democrats' hypocrisy knows no bounds when it comes to free trade. The latest example of duplicity comes from the Clinton campaign, which was forced to announce on Sunday that chief strategist Mark Penn would be stepping down from his official post. It seems Penn had been doing a little moonlighting on behalf of the government of Colombia in its efforts to win a free-trade agreement with the U.S ...

Updated: Fri Apr 11, 2008

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All God's Children for 04/18/2008

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Catholic Church in America has always been an immigrant church. No wonder that Pope Benedict XVI has given special attention in his first visit to the United States to the issue of immigrants.

Immigrants are no less the heart of the Church today than they were in the 19th century when German Catholics fleeing Bismarck's Kulturkampf filled the pews alongside Irish, Czech and Slovakian ...

Updated: Fri Apr 18, 2008

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Obama's Hurdle for 04/25/2008

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Despite Hillary Clinton's impressive win in Pennsylvania Tuesday, there is virtually no scenario in which Clinton can win the Democratic nomination. Barack Obama is the almost-certain choice to become the Party's nominee — but he will face far more hurdles on his path to the presidency than he has overcome in Democratic primaries.

Obama's record of accomplishment is slim. He served ...

Updated: Fri Apr 25, 2008

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Obama: Too Little, Too Late for 05/02/2008

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

You could see the pain, anger and frustration in Sen. Barack Obama's face this week as, once again, he had to answer questions about his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. What you didn't see or hear from Obama was recognition that he could have prevented Wright from becoming an issue in the first place. But by the time Wright took to the podium at the National Press Club Monday to re-iss ...

Updated: Fri May 02, 2008

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The Real Meaning of Mother's Day for 05/09/2008

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Remember when Mother's Day was a simple affair? The kids woke Mom up with breakfast in bed — Froot Loops floating on a sea of slightly pink milk — and handmade cards. Everyone was especially nice to one another so Mom could enjoy some "peace and quiet," commodities in short supply in most mothers' lives. Maybe Dad cooked dinner or everyone went out to a restaurant, the kin ...

Updated: Fri May 09, 2008

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Immigrants Assimilating Faster for 05/16/2008

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A new study out this week by the Manhattan Institute should dispel a few myths on immigrant assimilation. The study looked at a range of factors — economic, cultural, and civic — to assess whether today's immigrants are becoming part of the American mainstream. But it also compared this generation of immigrants to the Great Wave who came to America's shores in the early part of the ...

Updated: Fri May 16, 2008

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Obama's Tired Old Formula for 05/23/2008

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Barack Obama must be too busy declaring victory to read a newspaper. How else can you explain the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's obliviousness to what is going on in Iraq at this very moment?

Both The New York Times and the Washington Post this week had front-page stories about successful operations by Iraqi forces to root out Shiite militias in Baghdad's Sadr City — ...

Updated: Fri May 23, 2008

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Picking Judges for 05/30/2008

Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If you ask Americans what issues matter most to them in choosing a president, the candidate's judicial philosophy is not likely to make it into the top 10. But a president's power to nominate judges is, in fact, one of his most powerful tools — and often leaves a legacy that lasts far longer than any policy initiative.

President Dwight Eisenhower was no liberal activist, but his ap ...

Updated: Fri May 30, 2008

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Tough Questions for 06/06/2008

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Sen. Barack Obama is, finally, the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party — no mean achievement in this most hotly contested primary race in recent history. He deserves a day or two to bask in this glory — and certainly the media have been helping this along with fawning coverage of his "historic" achievement as the first African-American to win a major p ...

Updated: Fri Jun 06, 2008

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Obama Flunks Another Test for 06/13/2008

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It wasn't exactly the news the Obama campaign hoped to make this week: "Obama Aide Quits Under Fire for His Business Ties." But that was the headline in The New York Times, with variations in other major papers. The aide in question was the head of Barack Obama's vice presidential search committee, Jim Johnson, described by the Washington Post as "a consummate Washington insider. ...

Updated: Fri Jun 13, 2008

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Oil Crisis Is Solvable for 06/20/2008

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

There is only one way to drive down the rising cost of gasoline for the long term: significantly increase the domestic supply of oil. We are the only nation in the world with access to known oil deposits on our own land or off our shores that essentially refuses to tap those resources. The main stumbling block is a lack of political consensus, which is in especially short supply in an election ...

Updated: Fri Jun 20, 2008

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Right To Bear Arms for 06/27/2008

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Washington, D.C., will become a safer place to live and work thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday against the city's absolute ban on handguns. The Court ruled that the Second Amendment's guarantee of the right to bear arms is an individual right, not just one that permits states to maintain militias, striking down one of the nation's toughest anti-gun laws. As someone who lived in t ...

Updated: Fri Jun 27, 2008

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Reagan's City on a Hill for 07/04/2008

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

There are few places in the world that beckon to those who share no common blood or history, but America has done so for centuries. It is one of the things that defines this great country. In celebrating the 232nd birthday of our nation this Fourth of July, it is worth recalling what Ronald Reagan said about the promise the United States holds out to so many.

In his farewell address, Pre ...

Updated: Fri Jul 04, 2008

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