Thursday, August 29th,  2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OVERKILL ON VOTING RIGHTS ACT? These guys at the Justice Department, led by top cop Eric Holder, just don’t know when to quit.  The U.S. Supreme Court knocks them down and they get right back up, snubbing their noses at a final court decision, and starting...Read More

August 23nd, 2013 New York, New York  HOW BAD CAN LOUISIANA INSURANCE CLIMATE GET? In the movie Guys and Dolls, gambler Nathan Detroit (played by Frank Sinatra) says:  “How can it get any worse.  What more can you do to me?”Â  That’s what thousands of Louisiana property owners are saying about the state’s insurance climate...Read More

Thursday, August 15th, l29013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  WHAT TO DO ABOUT RISING FLOOD INSURANCE RATES? Property owners along the Gulf and East coasts are in a panic over projections of outrageous property flood insurance rates that, in some cases, could lead to increases of greater than 1000 per cent. Louisiana newspapers have reported proposed massive...Read More

Thursday, August 8th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  DO WE NEED TO SPY ON DEMOCRACY? A few weeks ago, I began to think we had given up.  There were new revelations, almost daily, about how some government agency is scooping up and harvesting all available tidbits of our personal lives.  We’ve all heard about the usual...Read More

Thursday, August 1st, 2013 New Orleans, Louisiana  WILL BIG OIL FINALLY PAY THE PIPER IN LOUISIANA? A lawsuit against Big Oil for environmental damage by the Bayou State?  Are you kidding me?  Who could possibly have thunk it?  Why it’s almost blasphemous to challenge the oil industry in a state where oil revenue has been...Read More

Thursday, July 25th, 2013 Perdido Key, Florida  TELEVISE CRIMINAL TRIALS?  OF COURSE! Following the Zimmerman verdict, a number of legal and media voices, hollered, “enough is enough.”Â  Angered by the verdict, no more criminal trials on television, they said.  But the Constitution guarantees that trials are public and open to everyone.  And what could be...Read More

Thursday, 18th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  PROSECUTORS NEED TO GET OVER ZIMMERMAN VERDICT! George Zimmerman was found not guilty this past weekend in his trial for shooting Travon Martin. But his problems are far from over.  You have to wonder whether there isn’t a perverted, almost paranoid sense of trying to “get” Zimmerman at any...Read More

Thursday, July 11th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  TO OUR YANKEE FRIENDS, WE SAY  — GET A LIFE! Our friends up north need to let it go.  According to a cross section of northern commentators, the Second Reconstruction may be over, but they think a third one may be necessary.  The first came with the demise...Read More

Thursday, July 3rd, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana A NEW PRESIDENT’S CHALLENGE: DEALING WITH THE RISE AND FALL OF LSU Louisiana State University, located in my hometown of Baton Rouge, takes on a new president this week. And to say that he has a big job ahead of him is an understatement. Educationally, the state’s largest...Read More

Thursday, June 27th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana LOUISIANA A SECOND RATE STATE UNDER VOTING RIGHTS ACT! On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court effectively struck down the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965.  This 48-year-old law required nine states, including my home state of Louisiana, to submit to complete federal oversight for all election procedures. ...Read More

Thursday, June 20th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana CONGRESS — THE REAL CULPRIT IN SECURITY LEAK PROBE! In the 2014 congressional elections, one major issue should be front and center: Incumbents are failing to do their job. We send them to Washington to oversee this massive federal bureaucracy, and to ensure that it is being run...Read More

Friday, June 14th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  IN OBAMA’S WORLD, WHO ARE THE BAD GUYS?  My regular morning coffee group gets to the nuts and bolts of what’s wrong with America each morning as we hash it all out over strong chicory and beignets.  Quite frankly, the nation would be better served if members of...Read More

Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 Las Vegas, Nevada  WHY YOUNG VOTERS ARE DISENGAGED FROM POLITICS! Do young voters really care about who runs their local, state and federal government?  Whatever buzz inspired younger voters to support Barack Obama in 2008 has been severely diminished by the gridlock in Washington.  Voters under thirty (and the rest of...Read More

Thursday, May 30th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  TORNADO ALLEY-ADVICE FROM WIZARD OF OZ! In spite of all the turmoil and tragedy visited on the little town of Moore, Oklahoma last week, one fact stands out:  Every family with a storm cellar survived.  No one who went to underground protection was killed or even injured. For...Read More

Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  WILL JINDAL AND LANDRIEU FACE-OFF IN SENATE RACE? Two seasoned political pros, who have lost a bit of their luster, may make the same big grab for political limelight in Washington. And what would be a surprise to many, they just might be racing against each other.  Incumbent...Read More

Thursday, May 16th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  LATEST EROSION OF FREEDOMS NOTHING NEW! In the past week, the Washington establishment is in crisis mode over a series of revelations of government intrusions that would seem to go way over the line of what is constitutionally legal.  First, the Internal Revenue Service admitted it had targeted...Read More

Thursday, May 8th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE CHALLENGES AND CHARMS OF GETTING OLDER! I woke up earlier this week, followed my normal routine of walking the dogs, picking up the morning papers, pouring my large glass of orange juice half filled with water to dilute the sugar, checked my emails, walked out on the...Read More

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana BIG BANKS WANT TO STAY TOO BIG TO FAIL! In the movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas’s character Gordon Gecko summed up the attitude of major U.S. banks quite well: “Greed is good.” And this certainly appears to be true, at least for the banks, because after all, the...Read More

Thursday, April 25th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE BOMBER, MIRANDA AND THE CONSTITUTION! Constitutional rights for the Boston bomber?  Are you kidding?  For days we watched the video footage of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev walking the streets of Boston with a backpack loaded with a homemade bomb.  A growing list of circumstantial evidence points to his guilt. ...Read More

Friday, April 19th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  WILL MORE TERRORISM CHANGE THE WAY WE LIVE? At the end of the Marathon on Monday, it was not just Boston that came under attack.  It was an attack on all of us.  American the vulnerable.  That, unfortunately, is part of the price we pay to live in an open,...Read More

Thursday, April 12th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  NEW ORLEANS THE WORST CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN AMERICA! Is there something special about New Orleans?  Of course there is. The city that care forgot is unique in so many ways.  I could make a list that would go on for pages about the sui generis way of...Read More

Thursday, April 4th, 2013 Pensacola, Florida SHOULD YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIE? We pride ourselves as Americans in our lifestyle choices. The right to freedom of choice, protecting our individual assertion of free will, and deciding just how we want to live our lives. And yes, we have the right to excess. You can...Read More

Friday, March 29th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  MARY LANDRIEU WON’T  LET ME EAT HORSEMEAT! Chaos reigns in the Middle East, North Korea and Iran continue their nuclear threats to global stability, millions of Americans still don’t have affordable healthcare, gun control and immigration divide the nation in legislative fights, and a federal budget which needs...Read More

March 22ed, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  LOUISIANA INSURANCE RATES A MAJOR SCANDAL!  Can you put lipstick on a pig? Well, business leaders are certainly giving it their best shot in an effort to counteract the fact that Louisiana’s outrageously expensive insurance rates make the Bayou State an environment hostile to the attraction of new businesses. ...Read More

Friday, March 15th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  A WACKO NUT JOB OVER FREEDOMS? Although I lean towards libertarian thinking, I’ve never been particularly enamored of  Kentucky U. S. Senator Rand Paul, who, like his father, is a staunch libertarian.  Maybe it’s his messy curly hair.  But I certainly don’t consider Paul to be a “wacko...Read More

Thursday, March 7th, 2013 New Orleans, Louisiana  ARGUING WITH GOD IN NEW ORLEANS! Like millions of Americans this past Sunday, I sat down to watch the much-hyped, The Bible miniseries on the History Channel. But you can only cover so much in ten hours,  so viewers ended up watching the Bible’s greatest hits, a series...Read More

March 1st, 2013 St. John, The Virgin Islands  ALL YOU REALLY NEED IS A SHOTGUN, TWO SHELLS, AND INSURANCE, HUH?  The ongoing gun debate had two new elements added to the mix this past week.  Vice President Joe Biden suggested that a shotgun was all any individual needed for self-protection. And several states proposed legislation...Read More

Thursday, February 21st, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  BIG BANKS AND THEIR CRIMINAL LEADERS GO SCOTT FREE!  After years of financial chicanery, federal prosecutors have decided that Wall Street manipulators are both too big to fail, and too big to jail.  The most recent culprit, in what seems to be a conspiracy to “go soft” on...Read More

Friday, February 14th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  AN OUTSIDER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH  For most non-Catholics, the retirement and resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is of passing interest. I’m not Catholic, but the Catholic Church has played a significant role in my life for many years.  So the next pope, and his response to those...Read More

Thursday, February 7th, 2013 New York, New York  IMMIGRATION REFORM — PRINCIPAL OR POLITICS? Immigration reform is back on the front burner as a major issue in Washington, and the Republicans are taking the lead.  When Senator John McCain was asked why Republicans were actively joining Democrats in a bipartisan effort to legalize millions of...Read More

Friday, February 1st, 2013 New York, New York  FORGET THE CONSTITUTION- IT’S DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!  In the current Second Amendment gun debate, both gun control advocates and those citizens who demand the right to bear arms point to the U.S. Constitution as the source of the justification and support for their opposing beliefs.  An interesting...Read More

Friday, January 18th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  WAKE UP CALL FOR REPUBLICANS?  Where does the Republican Party go from here? Are major changes in both direction and philosophy necessary?  Not a problem say some party operatives.  Don’t overreact to the latest defeat.  The Democrats will screw things up and swing voters will be rushing back...Read More

Thursday, January 10th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WE STILL WENT OVER THE FISCAL CLIFF! After all that talk about falling off the fiscal cliff, you just knew that members of congress would do the right thing, and work out a compromise on the federal budget that would curtail any additional new spending, close generous tax...Read More

Thursday, January 3rd, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  LITTLE CONCERN FOR JUSTICE IN NEW ORLEANS!  Remember the scene in the movie, The Fugitive, where Harrison Ford is about to jump off a cliff into a raging river?  He turns to his pursuer, a federal agent played by Tommy Lee Jones, and says: “I’m innocent!”Â  Jones shakes...Read More

December 27th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE HOLIDAYS OFFER US A SECOND CHANCE!  Most of us have been swept up in the momentum of the holiday season.  We have passed the Christmas milestone and are approaching New Year’s Day, the third in the trilogy of holidays that we celebrate during this time each year —...Read More

Thursday, December 20th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  A SANE DEBATE ON GUN LAWS?  The tragedy in the small village of Newtown, Connecticut has sparked yet another nationwide debate on the pros and cons of gun laws.  And without giving the families even a few days to mourn, a political frenzy has broken out with both...Read More

Thursday, December 13th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana SO WHO’S AFRAID OF THE FISCAL CLIFF? What’s most memorable about January 1, 2000? That was the day, experts of all types warned, that the economies and businesses of world were going to disintegrate into chaos. Why? Because of something called Y2K. But something funny happened on the...Read More

Friday, November 30th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  GOP MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACKS! According to a number of Republican presidential wannabes, the outcome of the presidential election was a fiasco, a major disaster for the GOP.  And the excuses keep pouring in.  Romney had no vision.  The campaign ignored segments of the population.  There was no Hispanic...Read More

Thursday, November 15th, 2012 Washington, D.C. THE FBI, A SOAP OPERA, AND GENERAL PETRAEUS! It’s soap opera at its best.  Far better than any soap on TV.  The storyline: A romantic fling involving one of America’s most decorated and popular generals.  And it has all the elements of the most titillating TV dramas. A shirtless...Read More

Friday, November 8th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  ROMNEY–IF ONLY HE HAD LISTENED TO HIS INSTINCTS!  Mitt Romney took the stage Tuesday night to concede that he had lost his race for president.  He came on stage alone, with no family in teary-eyed support.  He stood with manliness and grace, and said all the right things. ...Read More

Thursday, November 1st, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  STANDING IN LINE TO VOTE!  People are early voting in record numbers all over America.  Here in my home state of Louisiana, election participation is up 25% over the presidential election just four years ago.  This means long lines on Election Day, and in most states, a long...Read More

Friday, October 26th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS-LESSONS LEARNED TODAY? Fifty years ago this week, America faced a perilous moment and was on the brink of a nuclear war. Cuba was allowing Russian missile sites to be built, allowing the potential for an all out nuclear attack on the United States.  Most...Read More

October 18th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana FOR GOODNESS SAKE!  DON’T LET YOUR KID PICK APPLES! There is an apple-picking crisis in America.  That’s right. Washington, the largest apple producing state, raises more than half of all apples grown in the U.S.  The state is enjoying one of the biggest apple crops in its history, but...Read More

  Thursday, October 11th, 2012 Ephesus, Turkey WATCHING THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE FROM HALF-WAY AROUND THE WORLD!  You know you have a die-hard interest in politics when you must see the national presidential debate regardless of the major effort required to find a place to watch it. That was the situation last week, when I was...Read More

Thursday, September 20th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana DELUSION OR COMMON SENSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST? One of the joys of my early life was to study English Literature at Cambridge in England back in the early 1960s. Nobel prize author and poet Rudyard Kipling was an early favorite. He did not bog the reader down...Read More

Friday, September 14th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE MAGICIAN IN CHIEF — BILL CLINTON!  Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward has a new book out this week, (The Price of Politics) where he focuses on the first term missteps of the current president. He concludes that to be successful, presidents need to “work their will —...Read More

Tuesday, September 11th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  OUR LIVES WERE CHANGED BY 9/11  “I have watched through a window the world that has fallen.” W. H. Auden This Tuesday’s date, 9/11, turned into the frantic dialing of 911 eleven years ago. . A surreal feeling of shock and helplessness enveloped all Americans as we watched...Read More

Thursday, September 6th, 2012 Boon Rouge, Louisiana  MITT ROMNEY AND JOB CREATION!  The focus for Mitt Romney last week at the Republican National Convention was supposed be his plan to create jobs and strengthen the economy. It was supposed to be all about the candidate, with the party faithful rallying around both him and his...Read More

Thursday, August 30th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  FORTY EIGHT YEARS OF POLITICAL CONVENTIONS  Some 4000 Republican delegates and party officials are converging in Tampa this week, with Democrats heading for Charlotte next week. Network television stations are allowing only three hours of national coverage for each convention. So voters apparently are just not tuning in,...Read More

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana “IT’S THE ECONOMY,” HOLLERS MITT! ” DON’T YOU HEAR ME?” For months during the Republican presidential primary campaign, Mitt Romney has tried to focus the debate on economic issues.  He has continually argued that the campaign should be about the economy and job creation.  “Bill Clinton beat George...Read More

Thursday, August 16th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana JINDAL NEVER REALLY IN THE RUNNING FOR VICE PRESIDENT! A year ago he was an intriguing possible choice. Key Romney operatives were putting Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal on their “watch list.”Â The young Bayou State’s chief executive had conservative stalwarts like Rush Limbaugh and Bill Krystol praising his strong credentials...Read More

Thursday, August 9, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana SHOULD LOUISIANA SECEDE FROM THE UNION? Sarah Palin seems to be back in vogue, and she’s barnstorming the country supporting, with a good measure of success, a number of Tea Party candidates. Her latest success is Texan Ted Cruse, who last week won the Republican U.S. Senate nomination...Read More

Thursday, August 3rd, 2012 Linville, North Carolina  WHAT WOULD YOU ASK THE NEXT PRESIDENT?  If you could sit down with each of the two presidential candidates, what would you ask them?  What insights would you be looking for?  What knowledge would you expect them to have?  And just how much difference do you think they...Read More

  Friday, July 25th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  IN LOUISIANA THEY’RE ASKING — WHO’S IN CHARGE?  In an effort to end up on the Romney ticket as the vice presidential nominee, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has been out of the state almost 30% of the time in recent months, crisscrossing the nation speaking and raising...Read More

Thursday, July 19th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana NEW TAX GIMMICK ““ FROM DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS! You would think that in an election year, with anti-tax fervor at an all time high, our politicians at state and national levels would be adverse to mining every nook and cranny for more taxes.  Democrats, generally, are more willing...Read More

    Thursday, July 12th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE LAND OF THE FREE, MR. PRESIDENT?  In the current presidential campaign, both parties harp on number of national problems that cry out for solutions.  The economy, tax reform, healthcare, and immigration all command front-page status in the continuing political debate.  But one issue is rarely...Read More

  Thursday, July 5th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  HOW DOES ROMNEY DEAL WITH “OBOMNEY” CARE?  Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal summed up Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s problem pretty well.  Jindal told the Wall Street Journal last week that “there is only one candidate, Governor. Romney, who has committed that he will repeal the Obomney, uh,...Read More

Thursday, June 28th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana JUSTICE ROBERTS BUILDING A LEGACY ON HEALTHCARE! Who would have thought it? Chief Justice John Roberts, who leads the Republican bastion of conservative jurisprudence on the U.S. Supreme Court joined four Democratic justices in upholding the Obamacare health initiatives. There was uncertainty by both supporters and opponents as...Read More

  Thursday, June 21st, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  HEALTHCARE DECISION WON’T SOLVE PROBLEM!  In a matter of days, the U.S. Supreme Court will hand down the highly anticipated decision on whether the Obama healthcare plan is constitutional. Predicting the court’s majority mindset is a crapshoot. Court observers say the decision could go either way.  But...Read More

Thursday, June 14th, 2012 Perdido Key, Florida RESPECT FOR SUPREME COURT PLUMMETS! Those poor  blokes on the U. S. Supreme Court are having a tough go of it in recent months.  Several recent polls show that are large majority of Americans do not approve of the job they are doing, while three-quarters of those polled...Read More

     Thursday, June 7th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana POLITICS BEING CRIMINALIZED BY PROSECUTORS? Don Siegelman was in his second term as Alabama Governor, and by most accounts was doing a commendable job.  But he was a Democrat in a predominantly Republican state.  And that apparently rankled the likes of then Bush political adviser Karl...Read More

  Thursday, May 31, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana EQUALITY? ALL KIDS HAVE A RIGHT TO INTERNET ACCESS!  Newspapers are in trouble all across America.  The latest ax to fall is in New Orleans where The Times-Picayune will cut back to publishing three days a week. The reason is simple economics.  Since Katrina in 2005, The...Read More

  Thursday, May 24th, 2012 New Orleans, Louisiana NEW ORLEANS CRIMINAL JUSTICE- THE EVIL EMPIRE? In the movie about New Orleans called Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Nicolas Cage plays a corrupt New Orleans cop, and tells a fellow cop to “Shoot him again.”Â  “What for?” says his companion. Cage casually observes:  “His...Read More

Thursday, May 17, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WE’RE TOO BIG TO FAIL- SO LET THE TAXPAYERS COVER OUR LOSING BETS! I drive each day by my local bank.  It’s a Chase branch of J.P. Morgan.  I don’t have much to save, but I count on my bank to invest my money.  Not bet my hard...Read More

  Thursday, May 5th, 2012 New Orleans, Louisiana  IS IT SAFE TO WEAR MY HOODIE?  With summer approaching, I re-arranged my closet last week and put away winter clothes.  In the mix was my hoodie.  This garment has recently become one on of the most controversial pieces of outerwear in the nation.  I wear mine when...Read More

  Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana SO THIS TERRORIST WALKS INTO A  BAR! I was in the New Orleans airport this week waiting as a family member made her way through airport security with two small babies.   Boy, were these guys with the Transportation Security Agency on the job and up to the...Read More

  Thursday, April 26th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE COMPLICATIONS OF RELIGION AND POLITICS! I have a request of all of our pontificating politicians.  Leave God and me alone to work out our relationship.  I consider myself a religious person, but I don’t wear my faith on my sleeve or preach to my neighbors.  I...Read More

  Thursday, April 11th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana LOUISIANA’S “GIVE THE CRIMINALS PLENTY OF NOTICE” LAW! There’s a great new edict that’s about to become law in my home state of Louisiana.  It’s called   the GTCPTG statute.  Short for, “Give the Criminals plenty of time to get away.”Â  Louisiana legislators and the state’s insurance department...Read More

Thursday, April 5, 2012 Redneck Country, Louisiana DON’T TELL ME TO SPEAK ENGLISH OR LEAVE! I was at a book fair recently, hawking some of my Lisburn Press publications, and I was asked to comment on the nation’s immigration problem. One fellow apparently didn’t like my response. “Oh, I know all about you writers out...Read More

  March 29th, 2012 New Orleans, Louisiana  THE DEBATE IS OVER A LOT MORE THAN HEALTHCARE! For three days this week, the national news focus was on the U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing concerning the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.  To most Republicans, the new law is a massive stretch of...Read More

  Thursday, March 22nd, 2012 New Orleans, Louisiana STOP THE PROSECUTORIAL  MISCONDUCT! It seems to be spreading like a communicable disease. And apparently there is no cure. Week after week, there are new reports of prosecutors, on both the federal and state level, engaging in premeditated acts of prosecutorial misconduct. Coaching witnesses to lie. Hiding...Read More

  Thursday, March 15th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  LOUISIANA — WHERE BEING NUMBER ONE IS BAD NEWS! My home state of Louisiana again has the distinction of having the most expensive auto insurance rates in the nation.  Forbes magazine just released national figures indicating that not only do Louisiana’s drivers pay more than drivers in...Read More

          Thursday, March 8th, 2012 Tampa, Florida IS IT BASEBALL OR POLITICS?  Just what is America’s favorite pastime?  Is it baseball or politics? The past few years have offered interesting comparisons. On one hand, the country is enmeshed in a full-blown presidential campaign with deep divisions over how to stimulate the...Read More

  Thursday, March 1st, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana CONGRESS SHOULD CLEAN UP THE MESS IT CREATED! Two time presidential contender Adlai Stevenson had a quote concerning two-faced public officials. “A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.”Â  Well said,...Read More

  Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 New Orleans, Louisiana A MAJOR SHAKE UP NEEDED IN CONGRESS! The approval rate for members of Congress seems to be in free call.  Few constitutients approve of the  dysfunction taking place in the nation’s capitol.  Just 10 years ago, Congress had an approval rating of 65%.  But no more.  The...Read More

  Thursday, February 16th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM! I’m confused about the controversy surrounding the debate over the President’s new birth control rule.  Some religious leaders, especially U.S. Catholic Bishops, as well as a litany of republican politicians, have criticized the White House proposal that all health insurance plans...Read More

Thursday, February 9th, 2012 Tucson, Arizona SO WHO’S GOING TO BUY THE NEW FACEBOOK STOCK? NOT ME! The announcement has captivated business news publications all over the world. Facebook is going public. It could be America’s greatest business success story — especially for a start up. Facebook has turned into a huge cash cow.  Why...Read More

   Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana WHICH REPUBLICANS ARE NOT ENDORSING  IN THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE? Endorsements are coming right and left from major party officials in the Republican primary presidential race.  Even so, The Wall Street Journal ran an opinion page column last week that concluded endorsements don’t make all that much difference...Read More

   Thursday, January 26th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana SOME OCCASIONAL COMMON SENSE FROM THE SUPREME COURT Is privacy dead in America?  Many of us thought it was after a disastrous year of almost total usurpation of both freedom and privacy by the federal government. Since the founding of our country more than 200 hundred years...Read More

Thursday, January 19th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana FEDS AND STATE REGULATION CAUSE HIGH INSURANCE RATES! A headline in several regional newspapers caught my eye. “Homeowners Insurance Rate Increases Have Slowed,” said one front page banner. I guess that’s supposed to be good news. But in my home state of Louisiana, rates have skyrocketed since 2005...Read More

  Thursday, January 12th, 2012 Baton Rouge, Louisiana NICK SABAN AND MITT ROMNEY- FOOTBALL AND POLITICS!  After his team soundly trounced arch rival LSU in the BCS Championship game this week, Alabama Coach Nick Saban took the podium to comment on his team’s huge victory.  The press was no doubt looking for nuggets of quotes...Read More

(Visiting with republican  presidential front runner Mitt Romney in New York recently.) Governor Mitt Romney’s Iowa caucus victory this week drew nothing more than a few yawns down in Louisiana.  Not much interest over a former east coast governor who, as best they know, has not stepped foot in the state.  Romney seems to be...Read More

        Thursday, January 5th, 2012 New Orleans, Louisiana LOUISIANA AND PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS Governor Mitt Romney’s Iowa caucus victory this week drew nothing more than a few yawns down in Louisiana.  For several reasons.  First, presidential politics is not a front burner issue right now. For many Louisianans, there are more important priorities. ...Read More

  December 29, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana NEW YEAR THOUGHTS FROM THE BAYOU STATE Did you make a New Year’s resolution yet? I always do. Hope and foreboding are at the top of my list and have been these past few years. The New Year always brings a promise of uncertainty. More so for most...Read More

  Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  LOUISIANA PROPERTY OWNERS FACE ANOTHER STATE CREATED FINANCIAL DISASTER!  Merry Christmas Louisiana.  Here’s your present from the public officials you sent to the state capitol.  A big boost in your property insurance premiums!  All from the same folks who have been sticking you with higher rates for...Read More

Thursday, December 8th, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  IN LOUISIANA, NO MORE HORSEMEAT IN MY GUMBO?  Louisiana has been called the culinary Mecca of America.  Folks in this part of the country can take just about anything edible and make it, not just good, but quite exceptional.  And when we say anything, we mean anything.  There...Read More

Thursday, December 1st, 2o Baton Rouge, Louisiana REPUBLICANS FLIP, DEMOCRATS FLOP ON HEALTHCARE! Here’s our plot line. You’ve been in a coma for the past four years and just regained consciousness. You are concerned about your medical expenses, so you check to see what the President and congress have done to make healthcare more affordable....Read More

            Thursday, November 24th, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana PROSECUTORS GONE WILD! Over the past few months, there has been a rash of reports and charges of widespread and intentional withholding of evidence on the part of federal prosecutors in a number of high profile criminal cases.  Intentional is the key...Read More

  Thursday, November 17th, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana YOU ARE GOING TO VOTE — OR ELSE! Why don’t more people show up to vote on Election Day?  In elections all over America, fewer voters are turning out at the polls than ever before. The New York Times ran an op-ed piece last week decrying this...Read More

Friday, November 11th, 2011 (11/11/11) New Orleans, Louisiana VETERANS HONORED AROUND THE WORLD! Many soothsayers are excited about what may happen on 11/11/11.  They consider the number 11 to be a Master Number. According to those believers, on this special day, you can use mind power to actualize what you want in your life. For...Read More

     Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 New Orleans, Louisiana MAJOR POLITICAL SHAKEUP  ON THE LOUISIANA HORIZON? In my home state of Louisiana, voters are about to witness a high stakes political game of musical chairs on both the state and national level.  This could lead to new faces in the top three Louisiana political offices. ...Read More

             Thursday, October 20th, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE COST OF BEING UNHEALTHY! Americans continue to become less healthy and less productive, mainly because of lifestyle.  That’s the conclusion of a new Gallup study released this week.  More than 30% of American workers are overweight and have one or more...Read More

     Thursday, October 13th, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana CAN THE GOVERNMENT LEGALLY KILL YOU WITHOUT A TRIAL? By any measure, Anwar Awlaki was a bad apple.  In speeches, and over the internet, he preached hate and violence against his country, the United States.  He was a well know terrorist who, for years, has been...Read More

           Thursday, September 29th, 20011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THERE ARE BIG BUCKS IN COLLEGE SPORTS! BUT WHO’S GETTING THEM? With TV income at an all time high, and with attendance breaking records nationwide, the college football season is off to the most successful start in its history. Football in my home...Read More

       Friday, September 16th, 2011 Perdido Key, Florida ARE WE BETTER OFF 10 YEARS LATER POST 9/11? The world around us has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. When the 9/11 attacks blindsided America, two billion people — one third of the world’s population —  were glued to television and computer screens, watching the...Read More

        Friday, September 9th, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  OUR LIVES WERE CHANGED BY 9/11  I have watched through a window a world that has fallen.                                                                                                 W. H. Auden This Sunday’s date, 9/11, turned into the frantic dialing of 911 ten years ago. . A surreal feeling of shock and helplessness enveloped all...Read More

            Thursday, September 1st, 2011 Dallas, Texas  WHAT HAPPENED TO LONG VACATIONS?  Does anyone take a real vacation anymore? In the good old days, school didn’t start again until the Monday after Labor Day. The last two weeks in August used to be a popular time for families to get away to...Read More

  Tuesday, August 23nd, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  RUNNING FOR THE WHITE HOUSE- IS IT “GOVERNOR IN CHIEF?”  How much more bleak can the mood of the country get?  Several new polls out this week show that only 15% of likely voters in next year’s presidential election say the U.S. is heading in the right...Read More

Sunday, August 14th, 2011 Baton Rouge, Louisiana THE BERLIN WALL STOPPED ME COLD FIFTY YEARS AGO! Fifty years ago his weekend, the Berlin Wall was erected by the puppet soviet state of East Germany.  Unless you are over sixty five or are a history buff, you may not understand the tensions that existed then that...Read More