It began with an e-mail exchange with Senior Analyst Jamie O’Boyle of the Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis. “I assume you saw the Gallup report (Sept. 18) on Democrats driving economic confidence since the Democratic Convention,” O’Boyle’s message began. It was 6:30 a.m. yesterday when I received both the Gallupreport and Jamie’s e-mail. Gallup said that “Democrats and,  » Read more about: Is Perception Reality?...

I like Peggy Noonan, have for some time. As a former speechwriter to President Reagan, she’s not only smart but takes the necessary time to inform herself before writing her column that appears weekly in the Wall Street Journal . However, in her latest piece (The Age of Would-Be Princips, Sept. 15) about the killing of four Americans in Libya...

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts, and evidence.” – John Adams I wonder how Adams would have responded to a local politician I recently spoke with who told me bluntly, “people don’t care about facts.” This same political leader went on...

After having spoken with newly installed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, radical Islamists have announced, in the Egyptian magazine Rose el-Youssef, that the government will soon begin the process of demolishing the Great Pyramids. “The magazine quoted a prominent Bahraini sheik, Abdellatif al-Mahmoud,” The New York Times writes, “as demanding in a Twitter posting on June 24 that Mr. Morsi ‘accomplish what...

You can say good-bye to another time-worn expression. Apparently, dead men DO tell tales. And in the case of Val Patterson confession is good for his soul. Before dying of throat cancer last week, the 59-year-old Patterson left behind his own obituary in which he gives clarification (and perhaps seeks a little redemption) for a few sins from his past. “I have confessions and...

While former Penn State assistant football Coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted last month of sexual assault against 10 young boys over approximately ten years, we have now learned that Penn State’s President Graham Spanier, Vice-President Gary Schultz, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Head Coach Joe Paterno all knew of Sandusky’s behavior and did nothing to stop it. In a scathing,...

On Monday I received the following e-mail from a friend requesting that I pass it along to at least three others: “In 1952 President Truman established one day a year as aNational Day of Prayer. In 1988, President Reagan designated the first Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer. “In June 2007, (then) Presidential candidate Barack...

Ten years from now, historians may look back and label this period as the “reality show” era of politics. I’ve already talked about the reality show “quality” surrounding banker Jamie Dimon’s testimony before a Senate banking committee. Well, Dimon was on Capitol Hill again, this time testifying before House officials. Unlike the Senate, House lawmakers’ questions carried a much harder edge....

On Sunday morning’s Meet the Press, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon declared, “We were dead wrong,” with respect to a $2 billion (possibly $1 billion more) loss by the largest U.S. banking firm. Last month, with the loss in the rumor mill, Dimon called it a “complete tempest in a teapot.” Does anyone remember Enron, WorldCom, BP, Goldman Sachs, G.E., Merck,...

In less than two weeks in April, we learned of two high-profile scandals involving two government agencies. Both carry potential for serious repercussions based largely on how their respective leaders handled the crisis. The General Services Administration’s job is to support and manage the basic infrastructure of federal agencies by providing supplies, communications, offices, and transportation through “government-wide, cost-minimizing policies.” Apparently,...