NATIONAL COLUMNS

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Leonard Pitts: No labels, no excuses

Last week, at a meeting in New York, it was announced that a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers have agreed to get together once in a while and chat. This made news nationwide. Does that not tell you all you need to know about the sorry state of American politics?

Leonard Pitts: Does torture work?

Does torture work? It is a Bush-era debate that has found Obama-era relevance because of a new movie, "Zero Dark Thirty," in which torture seems to work quite well.

George Will: Some questions for Hagel

Senate hearings on the nomination of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary will be a distinctive Washington entertainment, a donnybrook without drama. He should be confirmed: Presidents are due substantial deference in selecting Cabinet members because they administer presidential policies and, unlike judicial appointments, they leave when their nominators do.

Leonard Pitts: Our freedom to be left alone

Exposed. That, in a word, is how you feel when someone broadcasts your home address without your knowledge, against your wishes. Your correspondent speaks from experience.

Rheta Johnson: Teri Tandoori and the Christmas visitors

TUPELO. -- I carry on a friendly argument with friends who live in big cities like New Orleans and Memphis, and rave about their so-called convenience. In little Iuka, I can drive the seven miles in from my house, go to the grocery, the post office and the bank, have at least one spontaneous conversation with a friend or an enemy and be home in less than 30 minutes. It doesn't get more convenient than that.

Leonard Pitts: How black is black enough?

I suddenly find myself concerned about my blackness. It had never occurred to me to worry about it before. Then came the incident last month on ESPN's "First Take" program that initially got commentator Rob Parker suspended and then, last week, fired outright. It seems Parker, who is African-American, analyzed what he saw as the insufficient blackness of Robert Griffin III, rookie quarterback for the Washington, D.C., football team that is named for a racial slur.

Kathleen Parker: Gun control proposals hardly draconian

Unlike many who recently have joined the debate about gun rights, I have a long history with guns, which I proffer only in the interest of preempting the "elitist, liberal, swine, prostitute, blahblahblah" charge.

Susan Estrich: Power and powerlessness

Years ago, when the candidate I was working for rejected my advice, I made the mistake of going back to the headquarters and telling my loyal staff (who together had formulated the rejected proposal) that our recommendation had been declined. I did my best, I told them, but I just couldn't make the sale.

Kathleen Parker: Can't we aim higher than 'Honey Boo Boo'?

No one forced me, but I finally decided it was time to discover what all the business was about Honey Boo Boo.

Froma Harrop: The Hagel defense

A decorated Vietnam vet, Chuck Hagel combines experience in war with skepticism over turning to military solutions where diplomacy might work. Add to those qualifications a tendency to speak his mind (after using it), and the former Republican senator from Nebraska seems uniquely placed to lead the Department of Defense in 2013.

Rheta Johnson: Mabel and Barney and Hannah and me

FISHTRAP HOLLOW-- My resolution for the new year is to make a little money. I don't need a whole lot, simply enough to pay for dog food and maybe a little extra for me to enjoy Mexican lunches with my friend Jean.

George Will: Luck of the Irish

Yet another reason to revere Calvin Coolidge is that he thought the Chicago Bears were a circus act. In the 1920s, professional football was small beer compared to the already big business of college football. Which today prospers partly by selling beer: Watch the commercials that pay for the television contracts that have recently disordered many college football conferences and nullified what were solemnly called "traditional rivalries." 

Leonard Pitts: Freedom to live in fear

"Everybody got a pistol. This must really please the NRA" -- from "Gun" by Gil Scott-Heron So maybe the NRA is about to get its wish.

Susan Estrich: The truth about bin Laden

At the very beginning of Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty," the audience is told that the movie they are about to see is "based on firsthand accounts of actual events." Then we hear tapes, terrifying if familiar, of those final calls being made by those trapped on 9/11. Then comes the torture.

George Will: Our decadent democracy

Connoisseurs of democratic decadence can savor a variety of contemporary dystopias. Because familiarity breeds banality, Greece has become a boring horror. Japan, however, in its second generation of stagnation is fascinating. Once, Japan bestrode the world, jauntily buying Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach. Now Japanese buy more adult diapers than those for infants.

Thomas Sowell: Happy New Year?

The beginning of a new year is often a time to look forward and look back. The way the future looks, I prefer to look back -- and depend on my advanced age to spare me from having to deal with too much of the future.

Kathleen Parker: Things better left unsaid

'Tis the season when columnists write mea culpas, make predictions and list their resolutions. Since my culpas are too vast for this tiny space, my predictions best in retrospect and my resolutions inevitably ignored, I thought I'd list a few resolutions for the rest of the world. These, too, are likely to be ignored, but I'll feel better getting a few things off my chest.

Kathleen Parker: Digital books leave a reader cold

It is comforting to think of death as a passing rather than an end. In that vein, I prefer to think of Steve Jobs's final words as editorial commentary: "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow."

Arianna Huffington: Grow the economy by growing the debate about it

Hey, have you heard about this thing called "the fiscal cliff"? Actually, the better question is: Have you heard about anything except the fiscal cliff? Nine months ago, the term had not even entered the media lexicon. And now it's suddenly everywhere.

Kathleen Parker: The Kennedys through a lens, lightly

In today's world of social media, where everyone's every little thing is on display, it is sometimes difficult to recall a time when exhibitionism wasn't ubiquitous and was, in fact, not admired. Such are the inevitable thoughts upon perusing Kitty Kelley's lovely new book -- yes, lovely -- about John F. Kennedy as seen through the eyes, or more accurately, the lens of her friend, photojournalist Stanley Tretick.

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