Suzanne Fields from Creators Syndicate

Looking for Mr. Good Enough for 02/28/2008

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Politics and the street fight between Hillary and Barack Obama aren't the only games in town. A bachelor acquaintance of mine, a prosperous man in his 40s, was new in town and wanted to meet the love of his life, to marry, and become a father and citizen (and voter). So, I organized a small cocktail party and invited several attractive women in their late 30s who are still looking for Mr. Right ...

Updated: Thu Feb 28, 2008

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An Old Argument in New Clothes: 'Popular Prosperity' Still Rankles Certain Elites for 03/03/2008

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

One of the most influential books of our generation, a polemic against consumerism, "commercialism" and greed, turns 50 years old this year. And still the argument lives, continuing to tangle traffic at the crowded intersection of politics and culture, in what shapes up as a particularly pivotal year.

"The Affluent Society" was a best-selling rant by John Kenneth Galb ...

Updated: Mon Mar 03, 2008

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The Assassins Among Us: An Unspoken Fear Stalks the Presidential Hustings for 03/06/2008

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Assassination is something none of us like to talk about, but it's nevertheless an unhappy part of the history of the presidency. Nearly 10 percent of our 43 presidents have died at the hand of assassins, and attempts were made on a half-dozen others. The prospect of assassination is a legitimate concern for the presidential candidates, their families and the rest of us.

The Secret Servi ...

Updated: Thu Mar 06, 2008

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The Revenge of Older Women: Barack Obama as Merely the Latest New Thing for 03/10/2008

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Now is the time for every good man to come to the aid of his party. (Good women, too.) You can't count your chickens before they hatch. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And don't forget, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. (Something else William Congreve wrote, "Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd," probably has relevance here, too.)

All we have t ...

Updated: Mon Mar 10, 2008

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Disorder on Another Border: The Latin Migration Becomes Universal for 03/13/2008

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic — All politics are local, as every successful politician can tell you. Like life itself, all politics are universal, too. The farther you get from the local, the more universal everything seems.

The Latin immigration phenomenon, for example, is writ large in a small way here. Even as Haitians slip across the border to seek a better life in the Domin ...

Updated: Thu Mar 13, 2008

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Up Close and Politically Personal: Remorse is the True Measure of Private Redemption for 03/17/2008

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The histories of men and women, like the histories of nations, can be tragedy, comedy, or farce, and often all three. We must wait for the final act to pass judgment, as tempting as it may be to let fly at once. At the moment, Eliot Spitzer is merely another politician exposed with feet of clay, an enlarged ego, an overzealous libido, and the power and money to finance his self-destruction. Thi ...

Updated: Mon Mar 17, 2008

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Know Thy Founding Fathers: Flesh, Blood and Real History on the TV Screen for 03/20/2008

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

There are times when it's OK to surrender to the popular culture. Alas, such occasions are all too rare. But here's such a time. Everyone who decries the young Americans in school and university who "don't know much about history" should invite one or two (or more) of these deprived youngsters to gather in front a television set to watch the continuing seven-part HBO series "John ...

Updated: Thu Mar 20, 2008

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When the Past is Past: Some Bad Things are Dead and Buried for 03/24/2008

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When my father died several years ago, friends invited me to the Sabbath services at their synagogue. I looked forward to spiritual healing, and the rabbi kindly took note of my mourning. But his sermon was more political than religious. He talked of what was in the news, of Rev. Jesse Jackson declining the opportunity to repudiate the anti-Semitism of Louis Farrakhan, of civic responsibilities ...

Updated: Mon Mar 24, 2008

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Back to the Future: The Fondling Father Cues Our Politics for 03/27/2008

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Oh, dear. There sat Ben Franklin in the bathtub, playing chess with a heavily made-up French woman of a certain age. HBO's continuing series on "John Adams" and the founding of the republic leaves out little, not even an affair of the intellect (chess is a mind game, after all) by the man regarded by historians as a fondling father as indulgent in his time as certain politicians who w ...

Updated: Thu Mar 27, 2008

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Age as an Asset: John McCain's Appeal to the Boomers for 03/31/2008

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Echoes of the famous cry, "Don't trust anyone over 30," rebuke the boomers who took it as words to live by. Not only are many of them closing in on 60, they may soon be asked to put their trust in a president over 70.

When John McCain's tongue slipped the other day to say that Iranians are training al-Qaida insurgents when he meant they were training "extremists," few ...

Updated: Mon Mar 31, 2008

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Politics is Sexual: Body Language Tells the Candidates' Stories for 04/03/2008

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

There he was, a man making a serious run for the White House, taking questions from a panel of women who were used to talking about their hot flashes on national television. Barack Obama lopes onto the stage — tall and handsome, like a basketball star, but in a jacket and tie as if to keep the girls from fighting over his letter sweater.

This is the television show The New York Tim ...

Updated: Thu Apr 03, 2008

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Teaching Violent Intolerance: The Tiny Ticking Time bombs in the Middle East for 04/07/2008

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

'Tis education forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined. — Alexander Pope

Parents, teachers, preachers and politicians have always understood the wisdom Alexander Pope boiled down to aphorism in the 18th century. What and how you teach determines the child's character and curiosity as a man or woman. Like plants, children require nourish ...

Updated: Mon Apr 07, 2008

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The Ignorant Fool's Errand: How We're Encouraging the High School Dropouts for 04/10/2008

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

It's a lot later than we think. We're raising an illiterate and uneducated generation, and there's more to come. On April 1, America's Promise Alliance released a detailed study revealing that fewer than half of the teenagers in 17 of the largest U.S. cities drop out of high school before they graduate — more than 1.2 million of them. The cost of this is enormous: billions of dollars in l ...

Updated: Thu Apr 10, 2008

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A Hard Icon for a Soft Age: Pope Benedict Comes With an Ancient Rebuke for 04/14/2008

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Pope Benedict XVI is an odd man for our season. We hardly live in a religious age, or even in a time of minimal regard for concerns of the soul. But when the pope visits the United States this week, he will be a welcome visitor for more than hundreds of thousands of Catholics who live here. The devout will want to hear him say mass at the new baseball stadium, and the Protestants, Jews and thos ...

Updated: Mon Apr 14, 2008

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Closing the Gap on God for 04/17/2008

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

John McCain skipped the forum on faith at Messiah College. That gave more time for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to spar with each other over who was holier than thou — smart. The Democratic candidates continue to trivialize faith with superficiality, and Sen. McCain was fortunate he didn't have a god in this fight. When your opponents are destroying themselves, the smart pol gives the ...

Updated: Thu Apr 17, 2008

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The Living Legacy of Maggie Thatcher: How the Politics of Conviction Saved Britain for 04/21/2008

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If it's true, as Marc Antony observed over the bier of Julius Caesar that "the good that men do is oft interred with their bones," Margaret Thatcher is an exception proving the rule. Maggie, at 82, is still very much with us, and the bones of her legacy are still up and dancing around with the vigor and grace of a prima ballerina.

The other day, the London Daily Telegraph commi ...

Updated: Mon Apr 21, 2008

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Not Quite Road Kill: Hillary Wins 'What Was Lost Before' for 04/25/2008

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

Hillary Clinton has been left for dead by most of the pundits, many of whom more or less openly yearn for consummation of their passionate love affair with Barack Obama. These pundits look to each other for constant reassurance. They didn't get it Tuesday night in Pennsylvania.

Hillary may indeed be doomed, but her question, asked even before her remarkable Pennsylvania victory, haunts D ...

Updated: Fri Apr 25, 2008

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A Rising Tide of Ignorance for 05/02/2008

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

Americans have always loved to read. The first pilgrims brought their Bibles with them, and the Good Book was well-thumbed. The Founding Fathers were avid readers of philosophy and history, and their arguments for freedom were informed and sharpened by knowledge in the books by British and European thinkers.

The Declaration of Independence was grounded in the poetic cadences drawn from T ...

Updated: Fri May 02, 2008

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Playing Performance Politics for 05/09/2008

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

Are we having fun yet? The run-ups to the voting in Indiana and North Carolina kept Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama working on their performance art (and who knew that Ron Paul was still in the Republican race, but he won 7 percent of the vote in Indiana). Hillary joked slyly with George Stephanopoulos that Rush Limbaugh once had a crush on her. A girl sometimes takes what she gets.

Bil ...

Updated: Fri May 09, 2008

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Up Close and Public for 05/16/2008

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

Power, money, sex, politics. Hillary Clinton is the ex-wife at the table where her ex-husband sits with his new wife. They've come together for the sake of the children to iron out as amiably as they can the specifics of separation. Hillary's the lady in distress. As odd woman out, she must show strength without the help she has grown accustomed to. It's a new and uncomfortable role.

Pre ...

Updated: Fri May 16, 2008

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