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Rosemary Roberts: College reunions reveal many changes

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:00:00 -0400

To go or not to go? That was the question.

I agonized over it for weeks after the letter arrived from Chapel Hill announcing that my college reunion would be held in May.

The letter also noted, without quite saying so, that this was A Big One. That made attendance sound more compelling.

Rosemary Roberts: Dan Pollitt spoke up for his principles

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:00:00 -0400

When Dan Pollitt died recently in Chapel Hill, the headline in one state newspaper read: "Chapel Hill radical dies at 88." Pollitt was a witty man who would have been amused by the "radical" label.

Rosemary Roberts: Obama's problem nicotine, not booze

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:00:00 -0500

If the truth about President Franklin Roosevelt's massive disabilities had ever been published, he would never have been elected president for one term, much less four.

Roosevelt -- a paraplegic bound to a wheelchair but never photographed in one for the public to see -- managed to live what one biographer movingly called "a splendid deception."

Rosemary Roberts: Mixed grades on Obama report card

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:00:00 -0500

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why President Barack Obama is accused of being 1) a radical, 2) a socialist, 3) a liberal. All three labels, of course, are toxic in American politics.

Rosemary Roberts: Time to repeal 'don't ask, don't tell'

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:00:00 -0500

With the stroke of a pen, President Harry Truman did a courageous thing back in July 1948. He signed Executive Order 9981, abolishing segregation in the armed forces.

Rosemary Roberts: What if the women ruled?

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 03:00:00 -0500

Dee Dee Myers is the author of "Why Women Should Rule the World," but if you expected a feminist rant this week when she spoke at Elon University, you'd be wrong.

"I like men," said Myers, who is married and the mother of two children. "(The book) is not an attack on men."

Rosemary Roberts: Even in a recession, there has to be hope

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:55:23 -0500

I often drive by a billboard in Greensboro that puzzles me. The words emblazoned across it read: “Bill Gates started a business during a recession. Recession 101.”

Rosemary Roberts: Film about Mandela raises spirits

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:00:00 -0500

There’s a saying in journalism that nobody reads newspapers on Christmas Day because they are incredibly busy. But just in case you have a moment to spare, I would like to recommend a movie that’s perfect fit for the Christmas season.

Rosemary Roberts: Gifts made in America? Not anymore

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:00:00 -0500

The Christmas "wish list" had arrived from New Delhi, India, and was a fervent request for "lots of toys." It came from my three grandchildren, ages 10, 7 and 5, who live in India where their father, my son, works. The children requested "American" toys not sold in India.

Rosemary Roberts: Troop buildup in Afghanistan? No

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:00:00 -0500

President Obama said Tuesday that he intends "to finish the job" in Afghanistan. Whatever that means. Our mission in Afghanistan has become muddled, our exit strategy is unknown and public support for the war is waning at a time when Obama is expected to announce a troop buildup.

Rosemary Roberts: An encounter before the wall fell down

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:00:00 -0500

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the eventual collapse of communism. I was not in Berlin that November night in 1989 when jubilant East and West Germans danced atop the wall. But months earlier I had been in East Berlin and had a chilling glimpse of life behind the Iron Curtain.

Rosemary Roberts: Not all seniors need a $250 bonus now

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0400

When Social Security was enacted in 1935, conservatives were outraged. They called it socialism and accused President Franklin D. Roosevelt of bankrupting the nation with his "financial hocus-pocus," as an editorial in The New York Times said.

Rosemary Roberts: Breast cancer survivor keeps the faith

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0400

When I made the appointment for my annual mammogram, it happened to coincide with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I didn't expect anything to be wrong, but life can change in an instant. The American Cancer Society says one out of eight women develop breast cancer. Not the best of odds.

Rosemary Roberts: Time for Polanski to face the music

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:00:00 -0400

Roman Polanski, the Academy Award-winning director who's been on the lam for 31 years for raping a child, was arrested in Switzerland last Saturday.

Should U.S. courts let bygones be bygones for the brilliant filmmaker, or should Polanski, now 76, be extradited to the United States to stand trial in California?

Rosemary Roberts: Obama needs to turn up the volume

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0400

The bad news about President Obama is that he got off his game this summer. He sat on the sidelines and let the screamers and fist shakers dominate the debate about health care and turn it into a firestorm.

The good news about Obama is that he admits he blew it.

In a recent interview with ABC News' "Good Morning America," he said his lack of clarity about which health care plan he favors probably backfired. He laid out principles but failed to spell out specifics.

Rosemary Roberts: Kennedy and the sanctity of redemption

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:00:00 -0400

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's funeral was as close as it gets to a state funeral without being one. The great cathedral, the statesmen, the honor guard. All of the trappings were on display.

Yet hovering in the shadows of the funeral Mass was the darker side of the man they'd come to honor. In his younger years, he'd lived a messy life of personal failures. Millions loved him in spite of them; others loathed him because of them.

Rosemary Roberts: An American admires Britain's NHS

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0400

I was glad when Tiger Woods lost the PGA tournament to the South Korean, when the hurricane season cranked up in the Caribbean, when the Obama family went out West to visit national parks.

Why? Because these stories momentarily diverted our attention from the ranting, sobbing and sheer craziness that has infected the debate about health care reform.

Rosemary Roberts: Nightmare at LaGuardia Airport

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 03:00:00 -0400

I write this on behalf of the thousands -- maybe tens of thousands -- of Americans who've had what I shall call "a bad airport experience" this summer. I had one last Friday at New York's LaGuardia Airport, one of the nation's busiest.

Rosemary Roberts: A reunion on Whidbey Island

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400

When my sons suggested we have our family reunion on the West Coast and much of it on Whidbey Island, I reached for a map.

Whidbey Island? I'd never heard of the place. I'm an East Coaster who's fairly familiar with barrier islands off the Atlantic coast, but I know little about islands off the Pacific coast.

So here's a brief geography lesson before we move on to the story's plot: namely, my family reunion and its cast of characters.

Rosemary Roberts: Saddam, Bush misjudged each other

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400

Saddam Hussein made news the other day despite the 24-hour media saturation focused on Michael Jackson's death, Sarah Palin's bizarre resignation and Gov. Mark Sanford's philandering in Argentina.

The Saddam story illustrates how a nation's leaders -- both America's and the enemy's -- make gross miscalculations that lead to horrifying consequences.

Shortly before Saddam was executed, FBI agents interrogated him off and on for four months (the CIA had already done so). Summaries of more than 20 FBI sessions were released a few days ago under the Freedom of Information Act.

Rosemary Roberts: Sex and smoking in high places

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:00:00 -0400

Like Bill Clinton before him, Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina has "a zipper problem."

You've heard the riveting details. On Father's Day weekend, Sanford, 49, mysteriously disappeared. It's one thing for a private citizen to go missing but front-page stuff when a prominent Republican governor -- who aspired to run for the White House -- suddenly vanishes.

His wife, Jenny, 46, the mother of his four sons, didn't know his whereabouts. Then his equally mystified staff said he'd mentioned hiking on the Appalachian Trail to escape the stress of governing.

Rosemary Roberts: Aycock teacher was a hit

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:00:00 -0400

Think back for a minute to your own school days. Do you remember that special teacher who exposed you to bold ideas and a bigger world? Somebody whose standards were exceedingly high and expected nothing less from your own?

Meet Johnson Harriss, a beloved teacher at Aycock Junior High School (now Aycock Middle School), who later taught at Page High School until he retired in 2002.

Rosemary Roberts on Elizabeth Edwards' dirty laundry

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:00:00 -0400

I was in Washington last weekend and happened to drive through Georgetown, that posh neighborhood of elegant houses inhabited by senators, cabinet members and the well-heeled.

Among Georgetown's former residents were John and Elizabeth Edwards of North Carolina, who lived there in happier times before his sex scandal scorched their marriage.

Rosemary Roberts: Cheney and pals drag GOP off course

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:00:00 -0400

The topic today is: How to kill the Republican Party. I'm not referring to the GOP's perennial foes, the Democrats. I'm talking about Republican leaders who are spouting off stuff that's a recipe for political disaster.

Let's start with Dick Cheney, our former super-secretive vice president. Cheney used to think that everything was off limits for the American people to know about. He even hid in "an undisclosed location" for large swaths of time.

Rosemary Roberts: Seattle, Gates and grandchildren

"Rosemary Roberts ()" — Fri, 01 May 2009 03:00:00 -0400

As readers of this column know, I occasionally visit Seattle, that city of stunning beauty in the Pacific Northwest. I don't travel across America for the scenery but to visit Clara, Louisa and Jack Dee.

Oops! I just heard you yawn. As a friend once said after I returned from Seattle: "Well, I guess we're in for another grandmother column!"

Well, yes and no. This column is also about billionaire Bill Gates and his family, but first let's talk about Clara, 10, Louisa, 8, and Jack Dee, 6, my three grandchildren who live with their parents in Seattle.