Friday, May 30th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  A NEW SUPERDOME TO GET A SUPER BOWL? COME ON MAN! There is a great deal of whining going on down in the Crescent City over the loss of the 2018 Super Bowl.  Many New Orleanians who were part of the bid process felt they were far and...Read More

Thursday, May 22nd, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  JINDAL AND OBAMA — TWO PEAS IN A POD!  A week doesn’t go by without Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal taking a potshot at President Obama. The Prez has kept a tight lip and publicly ignores Jindal, but it’s obvious from press reports that there is no love lost...Read More

Thursday, May 15th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana DARK MONEY DRIVING U.S. SENATE RACE! Millions of campaign dollars from all over America are pouring into Louisiana in a calculated effort to influence the outcome of the state’s up and coming U.S. Senate race. Incumbent democratic Senator Mary Landrieu is in the fight of her political life and...Read More

Thursday, May 8th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana EDUCATIONAL REFORM  LIKE PULLING TEETH! Achievement in U.S. elementary schools lags behind many industrialized countries. The U.S. comes in16th in science and 23rd in math. Our major economic competitors — China, Japan, Canada, Germany and Korea — are far ahead. So why is it so hard for us...Read More

Friday, May 2st, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana     FLOOD CONTROL HINDERED BY LEVEE BOARDS? Legislation is working its way through the Louisiana legislature that would strip levee districts of their autonomy.  Board members of several large levee boards are crying foul, and charge that flood protection will suffer and emergency responses will slow down. ...Read More

Thursday, April 24th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  TO BOBBY JINDAL —-JUST DO IT! Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal made a splash of headlines a few weeks ago by proposing his alternative to Obamacare.  Many of his ideas are the part of the same list he’s been shopping around for years, some of it pieced together from...Read More

Thursday, April 17th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE KISSING CONGRESSMAN AND FIFTH DISTRICT VOTERS! Down on the Bayou in my home state of Louisiana, there’s a feeding frenzy going on.  Now, if you live in the state but have been on vacation, say in the Ukraine, you may not be aware that the Fifth District...Read More

Thursday, April 10th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  WHY ARE LOUISIANA DRIVERS THE WORST IN THE UNITED STATES? For the fourth year in a row, Louisiana is number one.  That’s right!  Once again, the Bayou State has been named as the home of the worst drivers in America. One of the major causes of such ranking...Read More

Thursday, April 3rd, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana MARCH MADNESS ARE COLLEGE ATHLETES BEING SHORTCHANGED? Millions of rabid college basketball fans have been glued to their TVs over the past month as March Madness reaches its crescendo. And the big bucks have been rolling in.  With coaches getting bigger salaries, and colleges splitting huge TV and...Read More

Thursday, March 27th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  POLITICIANS GIVE FALSE HOPE ON FLOOD INSURANCE RATES! Louisiana’s congressional members of both parties were throwing cheers and high fives. They had done it.  They had put an end to the proposed outrageous flood insurance rates. “I’m very proud,” beamed democratic Senator Mary Landrieu.  Her challenger in the coming...Read More

Thursday, March 20th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE CAJUN PRINCE — HE’S BACK! It shouldn’t have surprised anyone paying attention to Louisiana politics.  Former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards made it official this week. He will be a candidate for the U.S. Congress in the coming fall election.  The political prognosticators say the congressional district has...Read More

Thursday, March 13th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE PUZZLING RISE AND FALL OF BOBBY JINDAL Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal threw a hissy fit in front of the White House earlier this month. He joined other governors in having a non-partisan luncheon with the president, then walked out on the lawn and began blasting away at...Read More

Thursday, March 6th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  GOVERNOR JIMMIE DAVIS BROUGHT US SUNSHINE! It could be the most recognized American song worldwide. Go to a small Asian community were little or no English is spoken.  Start humming, You Are My Sunshine.  More likely than not, the locals will join in singing the song in English. ...Read More

Thursday, February 27th, 2014 Tampa, Florida ARE BASEBALL AND POLITICS INTERTWINED? Just what is America’s favorite pastime? Is it politics or baseball? Politics has always been a major spectator sport, particularly here in my home state of Louisiana. But don’t sell baseball short. Not only has baseball been around longer than any of America’s professional...Read More

Thursday, February 20th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  WHO’S AT FAULT FOR HIGH AUTO INSURANCE RATES? When political courage wanes and politicians, often in desperation, search for a quick fix to age old problems, particularly as election times draws near, these men (and a few women) of supposed courage often seek out a scapegoat to blame....Read More

Thursday, February 13th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  APPOINTING FEDERAL JUDGES BAD IDEA! Last week’s column discussed the election of judges and the undue influence of campaign funds.  A number of responses suggested doing away with judicial elections, and following the federal path of presidential appointment.  But is the appointive process really better than electing judges? ...Read More

Thursday, February 6th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  IS LOUISIANA A JUDICIAL HELLHOLE? According to several watchdog organizations, Louisiana has one of the worst judicial climates in the country.  The state has been given the dubious title of the nation’s judicial hellhole by several neutral watchdog groups.  Campaign funds given to a judicial candidate are often...Read More

Thursday, January 30th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana JINDAL AND INDIA A MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR LOUISIANA! Louisiana’s two-term governor and aspiring presidential candidate, Bobby Jindal, just returned from a 10-day junket to the Far East. Stops were made in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan for the expressed purpose of seeking out foreign investment in the Bayou...Read More

Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana SHOULD THE FEDS MAKE LOUISIANA A PROTECTORATE? HECK YES! Roseanne Roseannadanna summed it up pretty well in trying to make sense out of the trials and tribulations of Louisiana.  “Well, it just goes to show you, it’s always something,” she said. We are hearing cries that Louisiana is...Read More

Thursday, January 16th, 2014 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  Should State Government Subsidize Pro Sports? Throughout the current NFL season, I have remained a die-hard New Orleans Saints fan.  But I have also admired the Green Bay Packers.The Packers are one of the best examples of how a sports franchise should operate. They don’t go to the...Read More

Thursday, December 2nd, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  DUCK DYNASTY CONTROVERSY- DID WE All GET SUCKERED IN? Did the Duck Dynasty and the A&E folks see us coming or what? For weeks, America has been consumed with the saga of head Duck Phil Robertson and the pros and cons of his right to rants and raves...Read More

December 27th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana NEW YEAR THOUGHTS FROM THE BAYOU STATE Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I always do.  A New Year always brings with it promise and uncertainty, but the coming year brings with it a greater foreboding than we have experienced in the past.  I would rather be absorbed with...Read More

Thursday, December 19th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  LOUISIANA TAXPAYERS- HAVE WE GOT A DEAL FOR YOU! You’re not really going to pay your Louisiana state taxes on time are you?  Why on earth would you do that?  Why not do what so many other Louisianans do.  Hang on to your money or invest it or...Read More

Thursday, December 12th, 2013 New Orleans, Louisiana WHY AREN’T WE THE GREATEST GENERATION? Ten years ago, NBC newscaster Tom Brokaw wrote a book about what he called “The Greatest Generation.” In contrast, there’s a new best seller out now calling America “the dumbest generation.” And since Louisiana is at the bottom of the barrel on...Read More

Thursday, December 5th, 2013 Baton rouge, Louisiana SO I GET THIS CALL FROM BOBBY JINDAL! The Governor of Louisiana called me last night. I was just about to doze off when the phone rang. And can you believe it? He wanted my advice on how to deal with his plummeting poll numbers and his growing...Read More

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana IS THE GOVERNMENT TRYING TO SAVE US FROM OURSELVES? George Orwell’s novel 1984 paints a disturbing scenario where one can be accused of a crime, arrested and prosecuted for his or her thoughts. “The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed”¦ the essential crime...Read More

Thursday, November 21st, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana JFK AND HIS SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH LOUISIANA The 34th President of the United States was assassinated 50 years ago this week under controversial circumstances that leave a number of questions unanswered to this day.  Republicans look to Ronald Reagan as their ideal. But John Kennedy captured the hearts...Read More

Thursday, November 14th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana COMPARING CHRIS CHRISTIE AND BOBBY JINDAL! During the past month, a number of publications have profiled potential Republican candidates who could be major contenders for the 2016 presidential nomination.  After his lopsided re-election victory last week, New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie is leading all the major polls. ...Read More

Thursday, November 7dth, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  INSURANCE ISSUES CAUSE HAVOC IN LOUISIANA! Has the final shoe dropped on Louisiana insurance policyholders who are seeing their insurance costs skyrocket, and who continue to pay the highest insurance costs in America?  Can it get any worse?  Well, I hate to tell ya, but yes it can,...Read More

Thursday, October 31, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  DYSFUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP IN WASHINGTON! When I was a kid growing up, I was a dreamer. I would share with my father some off-the-wall idea that I was absolutely sure would become life changing.  Dad would offer advice, something he said he had picked up from Nolan Bushnell, the...Read More

Thursday, October 24th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF BILLY CANNON THE TOAST OF LSU There are certain things you don’t forget.  Where you were on 9/11, or when President John Kennedy was shot.  Down here in the Bayou State, add to those special dates Halloween night 54 years ago when Billy...Read More

Thursday, October17th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  THE KU KLUX KLAN IN LOUISIANA! Fifty years ago, the FBI opened widespread murder investigations into what was left of the Ku Klux Klan in Louisiana.  The Klan had once held a significant presence statewide throughout the first half of the 20th century. But following the enactment of 1964...Read More

Thursday, October 10th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  IN LOUISIANA, JUST TELL EM’ I LIED! The rancor and animosity of both political parties in Washington seem to be at an all-time high.  Both sides are calling their opponents “liars,” and there are reports of tension building to the point where fistfights have nearly broken out within...Read More

Thursday, October 3rd, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  IS ANYONE PAYING ATTENTION IN WASHINGTON? I picked up my daily newspaper on the first day of October, and three stories dominated the news.  “The Government Shuts Down,” blared one headline.  We have been hearing about this possibility for months as Republicans and Democrats, alike, have dug in...Read More

Friday, September 27th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana DUMB LAWS, CAESAR SALAD AND LA. LEGISLATURE! Football season gives pause in Louisiana for the rough and tumble politics ahead. 2014 brings another totally unpredictable Louisiana legislative session, and congressional elections highlighted by a highly contested U.S. Senator race.  Then the state jumps into what most political prognosticators...Read More

Thursday, September 19th, 2013 Baton Rouge, Louisiana  TWO CHEERS FOR THE FRENCH- ESPECIALLY IN LOUISIANA!  As President Obama is bluntly finding out, it can be lonely out on a limb when the rest of the world fails to respond to a call for help.  Despite the yeoman efforts of his administration, only a few other...Read More

Thursday, September 5th, 2013 New Orleans, Louisiana  ARE WE ALL FEDERAL CRIMINALS LIVING IN LOUISIANA? Congress is going “new law” crazy. In the nation’s capitol, hundreds of proposed new laws are being introduced every month, creating numerous new regulations and crimes.  And Louisiana congressional members are joining right in this push for more federal intrusion into...Read More

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