Two households, both alike in dignity,  In fair [Washington], where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.  — William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, prologue They should’ve been happy. After the budget sequestration took effect, which lowers spending by about $1.1 trillion over 8 years,  » Read more about: The New...

“Chemistry is the study of matter,” Breaking Bad’s Walt White says. “But I prefer to see it as the study of change.” AMC cable series Breaking Bad, which ended its five-year run last night, tells the story of disaffected high school chemistry teacher Walter White who, after discovering he has inoperable lung cancer, decides to go into the drug business...

“We are probably going to have to bomb them,” the President said after looking at the U-2 photographs. He then turned to his special assistant, Ken O’Donnell. “You still think the fuss about Cuba is unimportant?” “Absolutely,” O’Donnell snapped. “The voters won’t give a damn about Cuba.” During my August break, I spent time reading Richard ReevesProfile of Power, a...

This is what inspiration looks like. Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani girl who survived an assassination attempt by Islamic extremists for campaigning for women’s education, delivered another moving speech at the opening of a library in Birmingham, England. In a voice both settled and soothing, the young woman spoke to a small crowd with simple, confident words. In light of...

Oprah Winfrey hit a racial hot-button recently when she compared the death of Trayvon Martin to Emmett Till. “Trayvon Martin parallel to Emmett Till, let me just tell you. In my mind, same thing.” Winfrey is referring to the 1955 Mississippi case where a 14-year-old black teen was brutally tortured and murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman. His...

Growing up, my brother and I were devoted Disneyphiles. From Walt Disney Presents to Disneyland, we loved all the fantasies as well as the marketing. When Disney’s Song of the South aired on TV, we soaked up the colorful collection of Uncle Remus stories completely unaware of the film’s racial overtones. One story has Br’er Fox entrap Br’er Rabbit with a Tar Baby – a...

On April 4, 1968, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy was campaigning for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. Scheduled to speak before a crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana, Kennedy had learned that civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot and killed, but, despite concerns about riots, Kennedy chose to address the crowd. After being informed that the...

I have never heard such calm, yet resolute wisdom in the words of a sixteen-year-old. “I raise up my voice – not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.” Nine months after a Taliban terrorist shot her in the head returning home from school, Malala Yousafzai addressed a gathering of students from...

“I’m through with ’em. I mean it, I’ve had it!” That’s what Yankee manager Joe Girardi told me in a recent conversation. With his team’s percentage a dismal .543, six-and-a-half games back of first going into Tuesday night’s All-Star game, the Yankee chief is justifiably upset. “Joe, I understand,” I said. “After adding Kevin Youkilis and Vernon Wells this year...

The fallout for former Food Network star Paula Deen continues to grow. After learning, through a recent court deposition, that she had used racial slurs and jokes that disparage blacks, the network announced that it would not renew Deen’s contract which expires at the end of this month. Now, Smithfield Foods announced that it was taking similar action. “Smithfield condemns the use...