In his classic novel “1984,” George Orwell warned about the evils of a totalitarian state dominated by a single ruling party with total power over its inhabitants. Oceania, his fictional superstate, is under complete surveillance by the authorities. The character known as “Big Brother” reminds everyone he is constantly monitoring the citizens of Oceania, mainly […]
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Cal Thomas: Will U.S. embrace the ‘culture of death’?
During the Christmas season when many celebrate a unique and miraculous birth, what the late Pope John Paul II called “a culture of death” continues its march. Last week, the upper house of the Belgian Senate voted to extend a 2002 law legalizing euthanasia for adults so that it includes incurably ill children. The amended […]
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Rich Lowry: Reality poses a problem for liberals
The “reality-based community” isn’t what it used to be. Progressives spent much of the George W. Bush years deriding the right for disdaining reality itself and waging an associated “war on science,” such was its purported hostility to evidence. The meme arose from a highhanded blind quote from a Bush senior adviser to journalist Ron […]
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Leonard Pitts: Fulfillment is not found in the things we own
I like capitalism. Specifically, I like the idea that if I write a better book, have a better idea, build a better mousetrap, I will be rewarded accordingly. A system where everyone gets the same reward regardless of quality or quantity of work is inconsistent with excellence and innovation, as the mediocrity and inefficiency that […]
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David Sirota: Exposing the tax migration myth
It is not news that New York’s political and media elites worship the extremely rich. You can see this when in a tough economy the New York Times publishes a “Wealth” section fronted by a how-to piece on buying Irish castles. You can see it when you hear the city’s billionaire mayor insisting that critics […]
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Froma Harrop: GOP ruled by tea party extremists
Fans of representative democracy know that there are ways to advocate one’s beliefs short of threatening and delivering harm to the larger society. It used to be that one could blame the parade of manufactured crises not on the whole Republican Party but on its unruly tea party faction. That’s becoming less and less so […]
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Froma Harrop: Panhandling is not an answer to poverty
Indianapolis offers the full urban deal: great architecture, hot restaurants, famous museums and a walkable downtown. But it also has had one of the worst panhandler problems I’ve seen. At almost every street corner, it seemed, someone was squeezing you for money. This month, Indianapolis joined San Antonio, Portland, Ore., and numerous other cities in […]
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Leonard Pitts: Fictionalized story depicts ‘the truth’
This isn’t your average summer movie crowd. It’s not just that they are largely African-American, skin in all the shades of buttermilk, caramel and creamless coffee that we call “black.” It’s not just that they are largely old, with raincloud hair and been-there eyes, some leaning on canes for support. No, the thing you really […]
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Connie Schultz: Another guilt trip for working moms
How many times a year do I do this? I’ve lost count. Bright and early, I march to the second-floor closet and vow that this is the day I will cull the boxes of family memories piled to the ceiling. I yank the door open and sigh with disgust: What a mess. I pull out […]