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May 11, 2008
Hillary and the golden handshake
What will it take to get Hillary Clinton to quit?May 09, 2008
Not everyone agrees with their minister
The reasoning goes like this: Barack Obama joined a church whose minister, for a while, was Jeremiah Wright. Therefore Barack Obama agrees with Wright’s political and theological points of view. Huh?May 08, 2008
Time to wake up and smell the recession
The story about rising food prices, entitled “Food Crisis,” on the May 2 front page of The News Virginian was ironic, considering the headline on Page A5 in the same edition. It read: “Bush urges $770M in food aid.”May 04, 2008
Cue the pander bear
A year ago last March, the Republican National Committee had fun sending someone in a “pander bear” suit to crash a Hillary Clinton fundraiser at a Washington hotel.May 02, 2008
Food for thought
Americans will eat absolutely anything. In the last two weeks, the truth of this statement has been demonstrated to me.April 30, 2008
America illustrates race still matters
Former president Clinton knows it. His wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., knows it. Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle, knows it. And most blacks know it. In America, race still matters.April 26, 2008
Gorak, meet Stephen
Stephen Hawking has always been among my favorite astrophysicists.April 25, 2008
Some questions have no answers
Sometimes my heart breaks even before my coffee maker has had time to drip down my first morning cup.April 20, 2008
Presidential candidates battle to cut taxes
It wouldn’t be a presidential campaign without charges that Democrats will raise your taxes.April 19, 2008
Just let me keep my pants on
I had a decision to make: Should I slip into the bright red boxer briefs, dig through the dirty clothes or go commando?April 18, 2008
Workers are the heart of America
When my grandfather came home from work, he would sit in his upholstered rocking chair, read the paper and listen to “Douglas Edwards and the News” on his Crosley radio.April 09, 2008
Different opinions don’t always end relationships
Every so often my opinions create a little controversy, so I'm used to different or opposing views.April 05, 2008
We hold these truths to be self-evident
My daughter refuses to pin her socks together before putting them in the laundry.March 28, 2008
We need better financial advice
The cover story in a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report is "How to Save Your Job: Surviving the Recession." I find articles like this very depressing.March 27, 2008
Change: When will America be ready-
Legendary R&B singer Sam Cooke in 1965 had a hit record called "A Change Is Gonna Come." The song was about people living in hard times and the suffering that they endured. The song was also about hope; hope that given time their suffering would, if not cease, at least lessen.March 21, 2008
It’s not easy being an outsider
This is a tale of two basketball coaches, one black and one white, one a woman and the other a man. Both are extraordinarily gifted. Both found themselves in settings culturally different from the worlds in which they were born and bred.March 15, 2008
Knowledge has a price
Education was bred in the bone on both sides of my family. ... No one ever questioned the value of an education, but I have come to realize that true education, as opposed to vocational training, can be an isolating experience.March 08, 2008
Adults can start with being honest
Few things create more anxiety in people than trying to come to terms with if and how sex, as well as religion and money, are to be dealt with in the public schools.March 01, 2008
Death: the great leveler
Two recent Saturdays of mine have been devoted to funerals. A lot of people profess to hate funerals, but I come from people who regarded one's presence at funerals as a command performance.February 23, 2008
Necessary evil-
My father (a doctor but not a surgeon) loves that old joke that there is no such thing as unnecessary surgery. Either the patient needs it or the doctor needs it. The joke has acquired more relevance in my life of late.February 20, 2008
Differentiating discriminatory behavior
Is there a double standard or just plain discrimination-February 15, 2008
‘Rehab’ drives one to meditation
February 12, 2008
Obama supporters ready to smile
If the results of New Hampshire's primary turned out the way I had anticipated, there would have been a smile on my face not seen since this time in 1989. If you don't recall or weren't around back then, it was about this time of the election season that Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder was inaugurated as America's first black elected governor.February 09, 2008
Confronting change
When my son was about four years old, he truly hated to hear any raised voices. He didn't much care why they were raised.February 07, 2008
City needs to tap into its potential
A thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment of newsmakers here and beyond:February 02, 2008
The costs of living
In a radio interview I heard recently, a man told of going out to buy an HDTV because his friends would not want to come to a Super Bowl party at his house unless they were able to see the game in high definition.January 26, 2008
Secret shovelers
When it snowed last week, I got out my little square point shovel and made a path no more than ten inches wide from my front steps to the city sidewalk.January 19, 2008
Going home again
Somewhere, I ran across the statistic that 40 percent of people over 60 are helping their children financially, and less than 20 percent are being helped by their children. I personally know of three people over 50 who have moved in with a parent.January 12, 2008
Losers sometimes win
One thing this presidential election is going to produce is more losers than we have ever had: Democratic losers, Republican losers, even a libertarian loser. This may be the only positive thing to come out of a two-year slog to choose a new president. It is just possible that the losers will do more for this country than the winner.January 05, 2008
