Thanks to the President

It’s clear to me that no amount of bloodshed or carnage would ever move Congress toward restricting guns in this country. Dead citizens are the price of having access to guns, in the minds of the people who make and sell guns. And the politicians who feed at the trough of their largess aren’t going

O Beautiful

I witnessed a moment of history today, watching President Obama’s speech at the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama. In a nation still marked by racial strife–witness the Ferguson report and the killing of Tony Robinson in Madison, Wisconsin–the president did what presidents are supposed to do: lead and inspire the people. The entire speech

What America is

On the occasion of the first Presidential inauguration to occur during the BlueBattingHelmet era–and for all I know, maybe the last one too–I want to say a few words to all Americans, and all people around the world, too. This blog goes out to a lot of other countries, after all. America is a democracy.

I’m on the President’s side

My one and only uncle-by-marriage was an avid hunter, and I could count the number of times I actually saw him in my life, if not on one hand, then certainly on two. The only time I can remember being his house was  horrifying to me, because a large trophy was mounted on the wall

Time for moving ahead

The flip side of democracy–the yin to somebody else’s yang–is that you sometimes have to accept defeat. I’m not in that situation today, since President Obama was re-elected by a comfortable margin last night, but I know full well what it feel like. And all I can say at this moment is that I like

Be well, East Coast

With Hurricane Sandy threatening the East Coast in the next day or two, it seems foolish to write about anything else at the moment. And so I won’t, out of respect for nature and those in its path. If nothing else, we’ll get to see if President Obama is up to the task of coordinating

Forget about the goat

Before reading any further, I want you to think of an unlucky number. I’m willing to say that the default answer is the number 13. Absent some searing personal tragedy–like someone who lost their job on January 6 and now considers 16 to be unlucky–most people just accept that there’s something unfortunate attached to the

Bill Clinton at the ballpark

I live in Chicago, and by now I’m used to the Secret Service helicopters flying over my house whenever the President or his family are in town. The military helicopters are usually the ones I hear, and they’re always gone in a flash. I’m sure that’s a good thing for keeping the President safe. So

Ted Nugent and the American Way

I really don’t want to spend time on Ted Nugent. What he said to the NRA convention in St. Louis, as disturbing as it sounds, is still within his right as an American. But his contempt for the system of government that we have in this country is another matter, altogether. To put it plainly,

Party like it’s 1986

The 1985 Bears are having a pretty good season. The 2011 Bears? Not so much. After the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1986, they were going to the White House to meet with President Ronald Reagan when the space shuttle Challenger exploded after liftoff in Florida. I still remember finding out about it in