Happy New Year and welcome to 2008. It is hard for me to believe that it has been 40 years since those of my generation endured the misery of the year 1968 that helped define a whole cohort of politicians and journalists. The journalists that were young in 1968 are now nearing the ends of their careers. For the politicians hoping to either be elected president or play a pivotal role in electing a president,...
It’s a bit less than a year to the 2008 presidential election. Anything can happen. As proof of that statement, anybody you asked on January 1, 2007 would have said that the Iraq war will be the dominant issue in November 2008. Ask that question today. Maybe not so much. At least for now, the success of the change of strategy in Iraq leading to the so-called “surge”has taken Iraq off the front page. I...
Click here to listen to the “You Tell Me” segment broadcast on Newstalk 600 KTBB Friday, Nov. 2, 2007 I have the good fortune to live in an affluent neighborhood. I also have the misfortune to live in an affluent neighborhood. I say misfortune because of the impact that affluence can have on some kids. I’ve already had one daughter go through middle and high school. I have another that will be in middle school...
Click here to listen to the “You Tell Me” broadcast segment on Newstalk 600 KTBB, Friday Oct. 19, 2007 The school board in Portland, Maine has just made the decision to offer birth control pills to school girls in its district as young as 11 years old. And, guess what. Mom and dad don’t have to know. How toweringly arrogant. How is it possible that parents of young girls don’t have the right to...
The recent execution-style mass murder in Newark, NJ has sparked an avalanche of response from politicians, civic-leaders and community activists. None of that response comes close to touching on the fact that most kids in Newark grow up in fatherless homes. Nor will anybody say out loud that a disproportionate percentage of fatherless kids wind up in trouble. Steven Malanga writes on the subject in City Journal magazine. Do kids need fathers or will they...