November 15, 2009
If we imagine politics as a tug-of-war contest, Tuesday, Nov. 3, represented a dramatic shift of momentum. Only a day earlier, liberals stood on dry ground, as conservatives wallowed in the waist-deep muck into which they were (deservedly) pulled a...
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November 1, 2009
October 18, 2009
It is amusing to observe the antics of those who disregard ancient wisdom. Several years ago, despite our ancestors' advice on discretion and valor, the editors of The Baltimore Sun penned a critical response to an op-ed written by Bill Buckley. Al...
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September 20, 2009
Henry Bemis, who loved all things literary, would be delighted to hear that the Books page has returned to the News & Record. Conversely, Mrs. Bemis (she would not permit us to address her as "Helen") is probably turning over in her gr...
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September 6, 2009
The platform of the National Socialist Movement is a moron's manifesto, a self-contradicting tract penned to accommodate the sophisticated tastes cultivated in our nation's finest trailer parks. Outside of the ignoramus community, it does not merit seriou...
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August 23, 2009
When a young man was shot to death three weeks ago at Hickory Trails in Greensboro, this newspaper's editorial board declared the broad-daylight killing "unacceptable." Rightly so. "Also inexcusable," the editors continued, "...
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August 9, 2009
Imagine an experiment in which "Victoria," a recent college graduate with a degree in English, takes over a 10th-grade class, the racial composition of which is 80 percent minority. A few miles down the street, in another 10th-grade classr...
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July 26, 2009
There are limits to the severity of justice dispensed by mere mortals. This is unfortunate, because many of the deeds perpetrated by our fellow man are so incomprehensibly vile that even the ultimate sanction, the death penalty, seems inadequate. Yet ther...
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July 12, 2009
Late last month there appeared in these pages a series of immigration-related news articles, all of which broadcast the perspective of those who favor amnesty and the extension of full benefits to illegal immigrants. The frequency of such reports, and the...
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June 28, 2009
Several months ago, Aaron Stevens, a black police officer in Hopeville, Ill., quit his second job in order to prepare for a written exam. Passing the examination, which was taken by several dozen other candidates, was prerequisite to promotion within the...
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June 14, 2009
How quickly we abandon our collective conscience for the promise of economic development. It is distressing to witness the state's shameless groveling for a few dozen jobs, and the hastiness with which so many of our representatives disregard as archaic i...
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May 31, 2009
Conventional wisdom maintains that teachers are overworked, underpaid and belong to a profession insufficiently appreciated by the public. Not surprisingly, then, Gov. Bev Perdue's recent executive order, which cut teacher pay by 0.5 percent, incensed not...
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May 17, 2009
Observations on this, that and the other: Two or three times a year, it seems, many topics draw my attention simultaneously, rendering difficult the winnowing process. So, rather than choosing one subject to address this week, I have written a few sentenc...
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May 3, 2009
Only one-fifth of the Winston-Salem Police Department's latest class of recruits are "members of underrepresented groups." To most of us, this statistic is a matter of indifference; we read it with a shrug of the shoulders as if to say, "So...
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April 19, 2009
Tea party, anyone?
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April 5, 2009
"Hate," "racism" and "bigotry" are the tactical nuclear weapons of the English language. They should be used with precision and deployed only when absolutely necessary. The modern liberal, however, uses these and other emotio...
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March 22, 2009
Many people pride themselves on perceiving "nuance" where none exists. They boast of being perplexed and confounded by every issue that waltzes into the public square. The perpetually baffled sneer at the "simplistic" solutions of thos...
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March 8, 2009
Rising above the fog of grade inflation, self-esteem and entitlement that shrouds public education is a challenging task, one that requires a lofty soapbox and no small measure of courage. Branford Marsalis, jazz legend and artist-in-residence at N.C. C...
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February 22, 2009
Black History Month is a well-intended idea that has outlived its usefulness. It is not only redundant, but also divisive. For several decades, professional educators, who boast of their commitment to diversity and multiculturalism, have featured prominen...
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February 8, 2009
Imagine a quiet, residential neighborhood in which two dogs are roaming unleashed. One is a 90-pound pit bull that has mauled to death several children and multiple family pets; the other is a 10-pound poodle that, other than violating the leash law, has...
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January 25, 2009
Innumerable studies have demonstrated that our universities are dominated by liberals. One of the most thorough surveys, undertaken by Neil Gross of Harvard and Solon Simmons of George Mason University, was published in September 2007. (The study is avail...
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January 4, 2009
Solitude, silence and slumber will cure many ills and alleviate the symptoms of most others. It seems ironic, then, that the sick and the injured are sentenced to serve time in hospitals, where they are actively deprived of rest. Last month I spent 29 hou...
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December 21, 2008
"A fire is a delightful thing, a companion and an inspiration. If my room were kept warm by some wretched modern contrivance of water pipes or heated air, would it be the same to me as that beautiful core of glowing fuel, which, if I sit and gaze into it......
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November 30, 2008
Works of fiction do not often make their way into my daily diet. Although I read, on average, about two hours per day, the literary menu is almost exclusively nonfiction -- newspapers, political journals and books on various socio-political controversies.
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November 16, 2008
Any public policy initiative criticized as "mean-spirited" by The New York Times is probably a good idea. Ask voters in California, who, on Election Day approved a ban on same-sex marriage. Proposition 8, approved by 52 percent of voters, was frowned upon...
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