commentary

Ah, the income tax preparation season is upon us. You’re probably wondering why you have to spend a couple of weekends barricaded in a room, sorting through receipts in the...

When Dolley Payne Madison became first lady in 1809, she instituted Wednesday evening gatherings at the White House where political rivals could meet and talk. They were called “squeezes” because...

“May God forgive you.” That’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s translation of a joke that Pope Francis told the College of Cardinals a day after being elected the 267th pontiff. Having watched...

Sometimes the best journalism explains what’s right under our noses. In Steven Brill’s exhaustive Time magazine cover article, “Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us,” it’s the staggeringly expensive,...

In America today, The New York Times reports, we’re living in “a golden age” — for corporate profits. These earnings have been soaring at a 20 percent annual clip. In...

In 2009, an interim Texas school superintendent declared that sex-education classes were unnecessary in his rural district. Most of the area’s school kids live on farms, he explained, therefore: “They...

There’s no quick path to a new personal freedom. Whether it’s civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, reproductive rights, or the right to die with dignity, winning is not easy...

Strange things are happening in Washington. In the Senate, Rand Paul, the son of presidential candidate Ron Paul, recently proved himself a chip off the old blockhead by conducting a...

He was getting older, he worried about losing his balance fishing on the end rocks, and his hearing was failing him. So was his short-term memory. He could recall, surprisingly...

Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder sang the Beltway blues when he essentially said that some banks are too big and too powerful to risk prosecuting. He was talking about...

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth...” Isaiah 65:17 Relax. Sometimes the best thing we can do is close our eyes, inhale the elevated CO2 levels in...

Some fancy-dancy public-policy think-tank just released a brand-new study that speculates the legion of aging baby boomers will permanently redefine retirement. Mainly because so few of us will be able...

The nation’s elementary schools are overrun by small-minded and unreasonable people, prone to hysterics, who can’t distinguish between make-believe and reality. They are called school administrators. In the wake of...

Last week, Best Buy joined Yahoo to ban employees from telecommuting — a subject on which I am becoming an expert. As a self-employed writer, I telecommute every day. Thanks...

Our friend Kevin had to cancel a lunch date with Steve the other day. He was taking one of his twin sons to the doctor. That’s an unremarkable event except...