NATIONAL COLUMNS

Kathleen Parker: The GOP's flash of brilliance

Posted 2/19/2014 in National Columns

Republicans have excelled at concealing their brilliance in recent years, and Democrats have exulted in their good fortune.

Thomas Sowell: Cruz control?

Posted 2/18/2014 in National Columns

Freshman Senator Ted Cruz says many things that need to be said and says them well. Moreover, some of these things are what many, if not most, Americans believe wholeheartedly.

Froma Harrop: Losing our third places

Posted 2/17/2014 in National Columns

A story that captivated New York City: A group of elderly Korean-Americans had been gathering at a McDonald's in Queens for conversation and fellowship. They'd sit there all day long, sometimes sharing a $1.39 package of fries. The hangout was so popular that friends from other neighborhoods would travel to join them.

Rheta Johnson: Gestalt gardener with guts

Posted 2/15/2014 in National Columns

WAVELAND -- I got to walk right past the shiny, new, Christmas-ornament-red hook and ladder truck at the fire department here to see one of my heroes, radio personality Felder Rushing. One recent Saturday morning he was speaking upstairs at the firehouse. I couldn't help but think about how many of the boys of my generation wanted to be firemen when they grew up. Never knew a single one who wanted to become "a gestalt gardener," which is how Felder describes himself.

Leonard Pitts: A few more thoughts on 'thug'

Posted 2/15/2014 in National Columns

"I hate that thug music." This, according to Rhonda Rouer's testimony last week, is what her fiancee, Michael Dunn, said when they pulled into a Jacksonville, Fla., gas station next to an SUV full of black kids who had the stereo up high, pumping some obnoxious, bass-heavy rap.

Kathleen Parker: The poetry of bad news around Obamacare

Posted 2/15/2014 in National Columns

It is easy these days to imagine that one is living in a fairy tale, albeit a dreary one. In fairy tales, as in Washington, things are true that can't possibly be -- and what is not true can be defended by tilting the facts a certain way and catching the light just so.

Kathleen Parker: The shock of Hillary Clinton as 'ruthless'

Posted 2/13/2014 in National Columns

Groundhog Day isn't just a movie. Here it is early 2014 -- still almost three years away from a new presidency -- but it's high time to mention that Hillary Clinton was a "ruthless" first lady.

Rather than piecemeal accountability, require annual audits of all state agencies

Posted 2/10/2014 in National Columns

Legislation is moving through the state Senate that will "cut wasteful spending while ensuring taxpayers can see what their government is doing," according to Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves.

Hoffman and heroin

Posted 2/9/2014 in National Columns

When my kids were little, an older and more experienced mother told me that one key to raising kids safely is to limit the number of "nos" to what really matters and insist firmly on those. Motorcycles and heroin, she said, which seems like a pretty good list.

For sale, the MLK legacy

Posted 2/8/2014 in National Columns

Maybe we should take up an offering. Obviously, the heirs of Martin Luther King Jr. are hard up for money. That must be why they keep selling off pieces of his legacy.

Cellophane hearts and soft centers

Posted 2/8/2014 in National Columns

I was using the free White Pages website to try to find the ZIP code for a friend's address. An advertisement popped up, something called Instant Checkmate, which is not free.

Kathleen Parker: In Christie saga, keep calm and gossip on

Posted 2/6/2014 in National Columns

We have officially reached the take-a-step-back moment in the unfolding -- or unraveling -- of the Chris Christie alleged bridge/political retribution/Sandy funds political scandal.

Froma Harrop: Obamacare bad-news report not so bad

Posted 2/6/2014 in National Columns

Rarely has a bad-news story offered so little real bad news. We refer to the Congressional Budget Office report that the Affordable Care Act may reduce the number of hours worked by the equivalent of 2.5 million full-time jobs.

Leonard Pitts: Change across the universe

Posted 2/5/2014 in National Columns

It's an odd thing. Sometimes, when I speak before high school or college students, someone in the audience, knowing I began my professional life as a pop music critic, will ask what I think of music today.

Froma Harrop: The class war on drug users

Posted 2/4/2014 in National Columns

Philip Seymour Hoffman's death at the end of a heroin needle again spotlights the dangers of a poisonous drug. And so did the Vermont governor's plea last month to confront the "full-blown heroin crisis" plaguing his rural state.

Froma Harrop: Security versus privacy

Posted 2/3/2014 in National Columns

A guard insisted on looking into my handbag as I entered Radio City Music Hall to attended a concert recently. He had absolutely no reason to suspect me or the hundreds of other patrons whose bags he similarly inspected of carrying guns or explosives. But none of us objected to the incursion.