It’s a “just do the math” wonkfest special this week for the holiday weekend.  My suggested headline was “When The Candidate’s A Special Interest”  but the editor disagreed, and after all my weeks of you reading me kvetch about the headlines – people, he was right.  There, I said it.  This is a wonkier version of the […]

Over the last few years, Rwanda has emerged as the most exciting place on Earth for people whose dream is to end global poverty. Development specialists are flooding in, drawn by the dazzlingly original, entrepreneur-driven program that President Paul Kagame is promoting. Rwanda appears to be “the only country on […]

So the Bush Justice Department was a rigged game?  Who could have possibly known?  Newspaper versions available here and here.
 
Difference between Justice, justice more than just a letter
East Valley Tribune, Jun. 29, 2008
 
            Stories about the Bush administration making everything political and trashing whatever they touch have a “dog bites man” quality by now, but […]

Dogs and cats living together, Le and Sam agreeing – talk about disasters of biblical proportions.  My suggested headline was above but the editor tweaked it.

BUDGET?  NO, WAIT, LOOK OVER HERE . . .
East Valley Tribune, Jun. 22, 2008
 
            It’s June 22nd.  Do you know where your state budget is?
 
            With few days remaining, really […]

It was particularly fitting on Father’s Day to listen to the tributes to legendary family man, NBC Washington Bureau Chief and Meet the Press Moderator, Tim Russert. As with millions throughout the country, Sunday mornings meant spending one hour at “Tim’s house”- being informed in a positive and non obtrusive manner. […]

That was my suggested headline, but the editor decided to go in a more straightforwardly partisan direction. But this week, you have a choice. You can read the column, or you can watch McCain himself make my point in this video.  It takes about the same amount of time to read as to watch, it […]

This week’s column–with a “This Is Spinal Tap” joke!  Which my editor got, and loved!  And even wanted to put it, “Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it?” but it was too big a stretch!  Good headline, too; I’d forgotten about the GEICO cavemen, proof that if 30 seconds is good, 30 minutes isn’t guaranteed to […]

I need to file my Sunday column on Thursdays, so imagine my chagrin when Ted Prezelski put up a post on this same initiative (and making most of the same arguments) on Friday.  I’ve got the sent email to prove I wrote before he posted, but being a dead-tree columnist means I’m older (of course) […]

We are huge Howard Stern fans and our Sirius Satellite radio Howard Stern “Day in the Studio” auction lots offered to our community of bidders remains one of our favorites. When Jayni and Chevy Chase went on The Howard Stern Show last September to discuss the experience with Howard and to catch up, […]

That was my suggested headline, but the editor chose differently.

I got two emails today, one from a Republican who appreciated the column, but said that of course Democrats were more corrupt and Republicans better at policing their own; I asked him who the Democratic equivalents, here in Arizona, would be to Fife Symington and Rick (I’m […]