It was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the ‘Red Death.’” — Edgar Allan Poe No one can do macabre […]
Read the rest of this entry »Frack the Middle East
A liberal, the poet Robert Frost once said, is a man too broad-minded to take his own side in a quarrel. That seems to be what Mitt Romney was going for this week when he criticized the Obama State Department for trying to placate protesters in Cairo. Where it might have demanded from the wide […]
Read the rest of this entry »86 Saturday Mail for Crissake
The human instinct to preserve life — to protect the next generation from harm — is one of mankind’s most redeeming qualities. We have seen instances of it throughout history, where one generation sacrifices so that another can flourish, sometimes in the starkest terms. In the mid 1990s, during a famine that became known as […]
Read the rest of this entry »My Take on Higgs Boson
I tried to get excited about the Higgs boson. I really did. I’m sure it’s a very big deal, and I know a lot of work went into finding the thing. But even with all its hype, I’m ashamed to admit, I just can’t get jazzed up about it. I hope that doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. […]
Read the rest of this entry »The Monkey on My Back
A few months ago, I pulled off the Cross County Parkway in Yonkers at dinner time and walked into a Friday’s. I wasn’t there to eat, but to rob the place. The waiting room was packed with families. I worked my way through them — ‘scuse me, pardon me, ‘scuse me — and found what I was […]
Read the rest of this entry »The Economy Freak Out
Note to Westchester homeowners: Don’t get a reappraisal — unless you absolutely have to. This is one case where ignorance is better than knowledge. Trust me. My wife and I got our house reappraised last month. It was like a 2-by-4 upside the head. We knew it would sting, but we had no idea how […]
Read the rest of this entry »Time to Learn About Life, Grads
There’s a stack of resumes on my desk almost an inch thick. I no longer know what to do with them. They are from young people — recent college graduates mostly — willing to work for next to nothing. Many have offered to work for free. And I can’t help them. For a time, I […]
Read the rest of this entry »2012’s Most Important Election
The most pivotal election in America this year won’t take place in November. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney will appear on its ballot. The most important election of 2012 — certainly the most interesting one — is Tuesday’s gubernatorial recall vote in Wisconsin. The eyes of the nation should be riveted. There, in the Badger State, the armies […]
Read the rest of this entry »Newsday Column: Year of the Woman Voter, Uggh
I was hoping that 2012 would turn out to be the year of the female voter. But I’m afraid it will be the year of the woman voter — again. It has been every election year since I can remember. “Women voters” will play a major role in who wins the House of Representatives, the Senate, and […]
Read the rest of this entry »Newsday Column: Whither the Obama Stickers
One of the benefits of working in the political business is that you get to see lots of polling. It doesn’t always teach you new things — it usually just confirms nagging suspicions. But once in a while a statistic leaps off the page and demands to be noticed. One that keeps doing that to […]
Read the rest of this entry »