Roses and thorns: 3/9/14
A thorn to Travis Jones, federal programs director for the city of Columbus, for again failing to properly prepare a grant application that cost three
Leonard Pitts: Laughter and grief belong together
Eighty-three-year old Ron Kilmartin was in a hospice, dying of lung cancer. His daughter was at his bedside, cracking jokes about it. Here’s one:
“Last week, Dad coughed and said, ‘choking.’ I tried to give him water but he just wanted me to turn off the men’s Olympic hockey game.”
Kathleen Parker: The new SAT don’t care ’bout no fancy words
When the going gets tough, well, why not just make the going easier?
This seems to be the conclusion of the College Board, which administers the dreaded SAT college entrance exam. Recently announced “improvements” to the test are designed, say board officials, to better gauge what students study and learn in high school. Shouldn’t take too long.
Charles Krauthammer: The wages of weakness
Vladimir Putin is a lucky man. And he’s got three more years of luck to come.
He takes Crimea, and President Obama says it’s not in Russia’s interest, not even strategically clever. Indeed, it’s a sign of weakness.
Voice of the people: Cameron Triplett
Unions, labor laws and Democrats Unions have gotten a reputation as mafia-type organizations. Heavy-handed tactics and arm-twisting (literally) methods to force reluctant employees to vote
Our view: City’s policies are an insult to the people
A few months ago, we paused to reflect on the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which included the inspiring line: “…this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Lynn Spruill: Maggie’s journey
Her name is Maggie and she is my oldest. She got her name from the street of her first home in Atlanta; Margaret Mitchell Drive. She is as independent and cantankerous as can be and has been accused of being just like me which all in all is OK with me.
Our view: Less-intrusive when it suits them
If you were to poll our state legislators, you would find that the vast majority embrace the conservative tenets of small, less-intrusive government based on a strong belief in individual liberty.
Susan Estrich: So much for the new Russia
It didn’t take very long for the smiling sports fan cheering in the Olympic stands to revert to his true nature. I’m referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former KGB leader whose idea of diplomacy is sending in the troops.
Froma Harrop: Who belongs downtown?
Many American cities now enjoy an amazing reversal of fortune. Once hollowed-out shells mainly for those too poor to move — or those so rich they didn’t have to deal with the poor — cities are again filling up with educated and aspiring young people.
Thomas Sowell: Freedom is not free
There may be something to the claim that all people want to be free. But it is a demonstrable fact that freedom has been under attack, usually successfully, for thousands of years.
Slimantics: Skin in the game
February was a big month for me.
On Feb. 3, I became a grandfather. Lily Elaine Smith weighed just four-pounds, four-ounces. She came three weeks early. If she were a fish, we probably would have released her.
Our view: Say ‘No’ to non-quorum meetings
There was likely nothing sinister involved in the series of four non-quorum meetings the city council has held over the past month. The meetings, divided into two separate meetings with different council members attending each, allow the city to meet without advising the public and without either the public or media present.
Froma Harrop: Take me to the Mardi Gras
This year, two big dress-up events fall in the same week. But the Academy Awards and Mardi Gras couldn’t be more different. At the Hollywood party, the common people are supposed to venerate the stars. In Mardi Gras, the commoners are the stars.
Charlie Mitchell: Cochran camp taking lessons from Indiana ambush
Two years ago, citizens of the great state of Indiana had every reason to believe that Richard Lugar, their U.S. senator for 36 years, would be re-elected. But an ambush took place in the primary. The veteran Republican went down in flames.
What happened?
Ask Rufus: The magnolia flag
Last week a magnolia flag was posted on a Columbus Facebook page with a question about its history. Several people commented on what an attractive flag it was but knew nothing about it. What is the Magnolia Flag?
Possumhaw: Crushing cracker boxes
The first time we met I was mesmerized by the whiteness of his hair and the blueness of his eyes. The corners of his eyes drifted into tiny lines that caused his eyes to sparkle, though no more so than his smile.
Leonard Pitts: Welcome to the new normal
President Clinton?
Maybe, if Democratic voters have their way. While the Republican faithful are split between a number of contenders and not particularly enthusiastic about any of them, a new poll finds Democrats overwhelmingly united behind a Hillary Clinton candidacy for 2016. A commanding 82 percent of the party, according to the CBS News/New York Times poll, wants to see her run.
Hob Bryan: Pay increase for teachers should be priority
As the state budget works its way through the Legislature, the news is not good for Mississippi taxpayers.
As things stand, we risk losing our best teachers and state workers, all the while giving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to everyone from shopping centers to multi-state corporations.
Birney Imes: To wake a sleeping bear
Not everyday do you run up on someone who has crawled into a bear’s den, roused its hibernating inhabitant, jabbed him with a sharp stick … and lived to tell about it. Craig Jamison is one such person, and if you were among the 800 or so folks at the wild game dinner at Fairview Baptist Thursday night, you heard his story.