Several months ago columnist Richard Reeves reflected thoughtfully on a few aspects of history we don’t like to think about – slavery in the American South, for example, and genocide in the Congo.He concluded: “What our ancestors remember and say about us will depend more on what kind of people they are rather than what […]

AUSTIN, Texas – The administration is now in The Full Ostrich on the environment. I am fascinated by its rank chutzpah. The latest brass-balls moxie episode was President Bush’s Monday visit to the Detroit Edison power plant in Monroe, Mich., which he actually touted as a “living example” of why his dandy Clear Skies (gag […]

Supermarket chains have begun offering irradiated hamburg as a premium product. WASHINGTON – The forces of reason finally have won a rare victory over those who have been waging a junk science campaign to prevent irradiation aimed at eliminating potentially lethal bacteria in the foods we eat.U.S. school kids will start getting irradiated hamburgers in […]

The 5,280-pound monument of the Ten Commandments installed by the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore may have been removed from the rotunda of the Montgomery, Ala., judicial building by federal court order, but the issue he raised of the proper place of religion in American public life will not go away.Unless an unbreachable […]

Here’s my fair, unbiased analysis of the current crop of loser candidates. People often ask me: “Dave, as a leading candidate for president yourself, can you be unbiased when you write about the other candidates?”Yes. When I believe that my opponents are wrong, I will point that out. But, by the same token, when I […]

The United States is rapidly on its way to becoming three separate nations.First, there are a small number of incredibly wealthy people who own and control more and more of our country. Second, there is a shrinking middle class in which ordinary people are, in most instances, working longer hours for lower wages and benefits. […]

At breakfast on Aug. 26 I was reading a heartwarming story about Pete Sampras’ farewell to tennis. Reporter Rachel Nichols covered the event for The Washington Post.“A minute into the standing ovation,” she wrote, “Sampras started to quietly weep.”“To quietly weep”? Egad! Ms. Nichols had split an infinitive. Good for her.For the record, an infinitive […]

WASHINGTON – Here’s how Maine’s members of Congress were recorded on major roll call votes in the week ending Sept. 12. HOUSE Consumer credit files Voting 392 for and 30 against, the House on Sept. 10 renewed a 1996 law that sets uniform national rules for the handling of consumer credit information. The bill (HR […]

Q Why do we call a zero score in tennis “love”? – J. G., Lebanon, N.H. A: There are two different theories on how “love” came to mean a score of zero in tennis. The first is probably fanciful, but it makes an attractive story.It suggests that the tennis sense of “love” is derived from […]