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Dedicated Chicago School Board doesn’t deserve teachers union’s bullying
First a caveat: my kids attend a wonderful Chicago public school. The school, called Oscar Mayer, is first-rate and its teachers are equal parts talented, motivated, hard-working and caring. That said, their union — and more so its leadership — is a classic bully. Case …Read More
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30,000 sexual emails? I’m exhausted
It may turn out that David Petraeus was one of the more honorable participants in what I now think of as Petraeus-Broadwell-Kelley-Allen-Shirtless FBI Guy-gate. Compared with Marine Gen. John Allen, who currently commands U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Petraeus may be a paragon of …Read More
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Let states make marijuana laws
Shortly before the House of Representatives approved a federal ban on marijuana in 1937, the Republican minority leader, Bertrand Snell of New York, confessed, “I do not know anything about the bill.” The Democratic majority leader, Sam Rayburn of Texas, educated him. “It has something …Read More
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VOTING ‘NO’ — FOR A GOOD CAUSE
Vote “No.” That’s the simple solution when confronted by a list of judicial candidates you know nothing about. It’s the only way to reform a system that corrupts the voting process. For years, against my better judgment, I followed the recommendations of the bar associations …
Veterans’ tales touch Class of ’63 reunion
Did the students who ranked highest academically in my eighth-grade class in 1963 end up earning the highest salaries? Did the troublemakers end up in prison? Last month, I attended the St. Bernadette’s Class of 1963 eighth-grade reunion and, disappointingly, the above questions remain unanswered. …
Why this ‘1 percenter’ doesn’t mind paying higher taxes
If you know me, you know I rarely talk about money. But it’s important to put a face on people like me who are technically in “the 1 percent” and yet still support the Obama administration’s economic policies. I have a hard time finding people …
Ruling smells on drug-sniffing dogs
Our dog, a Maltese/Yorkshire terrier mix named Lana, knows one trick: She sits on command. Sometimes this will get her a peanut, but it does not really do anything for me. When Aldo and Franky sit, by contrast, they accomplish something important for their police …
Demographics will doom Republican Party
The Republican Party’s last hurrah is fast approaching. Its coming demise may not be obvious from the outcome of this election, but I think it’s all but certain. I’m not talking about the Republican Party that was created in the 1850s by opponents of slavery. …
Good health care shouldn’t start in emergency room
A good health-care system means getting the care we need, when we need it, where we need it. And the care we provide every American citizen should not begin with desperate measures to remain alive in an emergency room after having a heart attack, as …
What voters need to know about redistricting
On Tuesday, you may face a slate of unfamiliar congressional and state legislative candidates. Even if you are politically savvy, the names on the ballot may be new to you. For instance, if you live at 21st Place and Oak Park Avenue in Berwyn, your …
Right-wing ‘Swift-boat’ smear fizzles
Obama should have been destroyed by now. That was the plan. He was going to be “Swift-boated” in this election, just like John Kerry was in 2004. It would be about Benghazi, where on Sept. 11 of this year, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three …
Fuzzy new words for drone killings
‘Political language,” George Orwell wrote in 1946, “is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable.” When government action can be defended only by arguments “too brutal for most people to face,” governments brutalize the language, resorting to “euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.” …
New NU labs at Prentice site will find cures
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago is a leader in the field of medical research for countless conditions, from autoimmune diseases and life-threatening degenerative diseases to complicated mental health issues. Medical researchers from Feinberg and scientists from Northwestern’s main Evanston campus have collaborated …
How Romney vs. Obama health plans could affect you
The outcome of the 2012 presidential election will have major implications for the future of health care. This year’s candidates have laid out extraordinarily different policy visions. How can you know which party best represents your views? While the health-care policy options are complicated, the …
Don’t play politics: Close underused youth prisons
Voters are rightly disinclined to blame state workers for Illinois’ fiscal woes. Still, it’s hard to imagine the economic moment when taxpayers would be sympathetic to a union that opposes moving about 75 workers out of a southern Illinois prison that has guards but no …
On Trump, Romney’s a profile in Jell-O
Donald Trump will give $5 million to charity for Barack Obama’s college and passport records. Big deal. I bet I can find 1 million Americans to give five bucks each to get copies of Mitt Romney’s tax returns. And I bet I could get another …
Obama schools Romney in foreign policy
At the very beginning of his third and final debate with Barack Obama Monday night, Mitt Romney turned toward the president and said, “Mr. President, it’s good to be with you again.” Fact check! Ten Pinocchios! Five pairs of pants on fire! And I would …
Debate displays Obama and Romney’s arrogant policies
A year before Mitt Romney picked him as a running mate, Paul Ryan gave a speech in which he discussed the promise and peril of the Arab Spring. “It’s too soon to tell whether these revolutions will result in governments that respect the rights of …
Cuban Missile Crisis: Lessons for today’s world
October is the scary month, and not just because of Halloween. Half a century ago, the Cuban missile crisis dominated global news as Washington and Moscow sparred right on the edge of thermonuclear war. Despite the passage of time, this distinctively terrifying crisis holds important …
Why Romney gets a lower tax rate
To some, financiers are heroes who take enormous risks to create jobs and improve society. To others, they represent exploitation and the excesses of wealth. That philosophical clash is especially intense this year because the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, had a successful career advising …
