[ Posted Monday, March 18th, 2013 – 12:00 UTC ]
Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, lived in the fifth century A.D., and he came to Ireland as a proselytizer for Christianity. That is about the sum total of the known, verifiable facts about Patrick. The rest is myth. Since such mythologizing began only a few hundred years after his death (which happened on March 17, by the way), these myths of Patrick are much more widely known than the thin shreds of his real history (which are limited to two surviving letters written by Patrick in Latin). Besides, it's much more fun to sit around telling these tales over a pint of Guinness than to dig up actual facts. Even if the tales are pure blarney.
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[ Posted Monday, March 11th, 2013 – 17:25 UTC ]
President Obama changed political gears last week, and decided to take a new direction in his dealings with Republicans in Congress. This "charm offensive" will either later be seen as a meaningless photo-op gesture, or a brilliant strategic maneuver on the political chessboard. Time will tell. That golf game with John Boehner didn't really gain Obama much, to put it another way. But the political winds are a-changin' in Washington (as they tend to do), and if Obama is really serious about developing personal relationships with those in the opposition party who might possibly be open to deal-cutting, this time around a charm offensive might bear some political fruit. Obama is attempting a bold plan to exploit the existing disarray in the Republican Party, and largely bypass the entire Republican congressional leadership. If it works (and even, possibly, if it fails), this will only serve to widen the chasms within the GOP right in time for the next election. That's some pretty juicy political fruit indeed.
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[ Posted Friday, March 8th, 2013 – 18:12 UTC ]
Our column's subtitle this week is a silent homage to guitarist Alvin Lee of the band Ten Years After, who sadly died this past week. Anyone who has seen the movie Woodstock knows of Lee's incredible talent on the electric guitar, and we just wanted to begin by noting that Alvin Lee is "Goin' Home" for the last time. Requiescat In Pace.
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[ Posted Friday, March 1st, 2013 – 18:11 UTC ]
This is what happens when Hollywood causes metaphysical universes to collide. That's the way I see it, at any rate. The news that J. J. Abrams will now be directing movies in both the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises has, quite obviously, sent ripples across the multidimensional continuum which are only now beginning to be perceived.
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[ Posted Thursday, January 31st, 2013 – 18:04 UTC ]
Since I've written three full-length articles already this week, I'm going to slack off a bit and today just run with a few items which caught my eye. So, for once, a short column today. As always, these are presented in "three-dot" format, in homage to the late great Herb Caen...
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[ Posted Wednesday, January 30th, 2013 – 19:07 UTC ]
We stand at the beginning of a grand debate on immigration. America goes through these grand debates every generation or so, and what remains constant is that both sides in the fight can be counted upon to accuse the other side of "playing politics" with the immigration issue. This has, indeed already begun.
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[ Posted Monday, January 28th, 2013 – 16:58 UTC ]
Last Friday, Sarah Palin left Fox News. Her exit from the national stage is now complete. But her passing from view bears comment, for the unique nature of her influence on the country's politics for the past four or five years. Because one thing everyone can agree upon -- love her or hate her -- Sarah Palin was unique.
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[ Posted Friday, January 25th, 2013 – 18:20 UTC ]
President Barack Hussein Obama's second inauguration pretty much dominated the political news this week.
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[ Posted Thursday, January 17th, 2013 – 17:45 UTC ]
We're going to spend today waxing nostalgic, just to warn everyone up front. Because four years ago I traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the Inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama's first term in office. Next Monday will be his second swearing-in ceremony (he will actually be officially sworn in on Sunday, as the Constitution dictates, but since it falls on a Sunday the public event will be held on Monday -- which just happens to be Martin Luther King Jr.'s federal holiday as well). On top of this symbology, exactly 150 Januaries ago American witnessed President Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. So it's going to be a meaningful event, one assumes, in all sorts of ways.
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[ Posted Tuesday, January 8th, 2013 – 18:53 UTC ]
President Barack Obama has it within his power to chart a new course for his administration on the Justice Department's continuing refusal to take into account the will of the voters in over one-third of the United States on medical marijuana. He could do so quite easily, by issuing a presidential pardon for Aaron Sandusky, who just received a 10-year prison sentence for running medical marijuana dispensaries in the state of California -- where such activities were legalized by the state's voters.
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