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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 sentences about several.

-- Enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, should be practiced on the next reporter or commentator to use the term, "uncertain economy." The economy is never certain. It wasn't yesterday, it isn't today, and it won't be tomorrow. No one can tell us definitively what the economy will be like in three months, a year, or two years.

-- The radical left does not practice the tolerance and inclusion it preaches. Former congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo was recently denied the opportunity to speak at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was besieged by a throng of banner-waving anarchists. Miss California, Carrie Prejean, has been relentlessly attacked since she publicly defended traditional marriage. Never mind that the views expressed by Tancredo and Prejean are shared by the majority.

-- Those who oppose an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting gay marriage argue that North Carolina already has a law on the books that defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman. But Iowa's virtually identical law was thrown out last month, when the state's Supreme Court declared it "a violation of the constitutional rights of equal protection." State law is no defense against black-robed radicals, who impose their enlightened visions without regard to constitutions or laws.

-- The N.C. General Assembly passed a prohibition on smoking in some public places, an issue that can be narrowed to one question: At what point, if any, must property rights and individual rights yield to public health concerns? Professor Bruce Caldwell of Duke University, a nonsmoker, penned a highly persuasive op-ed against the ban two weeks ago ("N.C. smoking ban based on hazy premise," May 6).

-- Doug Clark's column, published on the same day, addressed the state's long-running debate over capital punishment. "If the legislature wants to resolve this messy dispute for good," he writes, "it should just say no to the death penalty." That would be one way of resolving the matter. Another would be for the legislature to say "yes" to the death penalty. And, upon his conviction, Demario J. Atwater, who is charged with the brutal murder of Chapel Hill's Eve Carson, should be ushered to the front of the line.

-- President Obama chose an elite private school, Sidwell Friends, for his daughters, while allowing Democrats in Congress to shut down a school-choice program for poor parents in Washington, D.C. Even the Washington Post, hardly a bastion of right-wing thought, criticized Democrats for abolishing the program, editorializing that the debate "isn't about facts. It's about politics and the stranglehold the teachers unions have on the Democratic Party." School choice, the Democrats believe, is a privilege reserved for the wealthy.

-- I have read a daily newspaper, mostly this one, for about 25 years -- a habit I do not intend to abandon. The Internet is no substitute for newsprint, which I like to clip, highlight and make notes on. (You should see my office.) Although the decline of newspapers is unsettling, a federal bailout is not the answer.

-- Bookworms are a dying breed, but for those who remain, here are a few recommendations:

Charles Murray's "Real Education" is an informative critique of the misguided philosophy that steers government education. You would expect Murray to offer innovative, controversial solutions, and he does not disappoint. Most notably, Murray suggests that, in many fields, we replace the BA requirement with certification programs, similar to the CPA.

More overtly political is Mark Levin's best-seller, "Liberty & Tyranny," which is a playbook for modern conservatives. Levin is a keen observer of history, and many of his arguments are buttressed by the likes of Madison, Jefferson and concepts established in the Constitution and the Declaration.

Finally, I am in the middle of "Warlord," a riveting biography of Winston Churchill written by military historian Carlo D'Este.

-- Back in January, I wrote about a mysterious ailment that led to an overnight stay in the hospital -- a column that infuriated many nurses. I stand by what I wrote then, but a follow-up is in order: At the conclusion of multiple examinations, the elusive ailment was diagnosed in March: "Barrett's Esophagus." For their hard work and diligence, I would like to commend Drs. Scott Nadel and Carl Gessner. The doctors and their staffs, without exception, were competent, courteous and efficient.

Charles Davenport Jr. (daisha99@msn.com) is a freelance columnist who appears on alternate Sundays in the News & Record.