NATIONAL COLUMNS

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Kathleen Parker: The conscience of a pope

We have reached a new level of political absurdity when the right is mad at the pope and the left wants to anoint his head with oil. Everyone seems to have his own special version of Pope Francis. Liberals have declared him a crusader for social justice, especially regarding his comments about global inequality. Conservatives fear he just might be a commie.

Rheta Johnson: A world apart

Posted yesterday in National Columns

FISHTRAP HOLLOW -- Lightning or some other benevolent act of fate struck the magic modem that brings this technology-heavy century into our otherwise peaceful home.

Froma Harrop: Consumer finance needs better morals

Posted yesterday in National Columns

Drawing moral lines in our rough-and-tumble capitalist system can be hard. But it should not tax too many ethical muscles to set aside some protections for trusting, unsophisticated borrowers of modest means. That is, unless you're a politician working on behalf of predatory lenders.

Leonard Pitts: Pope vs. Rush

Posted 12/5/2013 in National Columns

I like capitalism. Specifically, I like the idea that if I write a better book, have a better idea, build a better mousetrap, I will be rewarded accordingly.

Kathleen Parker: The GOP's toxic messaging

Posted 12/4/2013 in National Columns

As the government health-care Web site chugs along, the Obama administration has begun a counter-initiative to combat Republican naysaying -- and its weapons are of superior grade.

Thomas Sowell: A challenge to our beliefs

Posted 12/3/2013 in National Columns

Depressing news about black students scoring far below white students on various mental tests has become so familiar that people in different parts of the ideological spectrum have long ago developed their different explanations for why this is so. But both may have to do some rethinking, in light of radically different news from England.

Froma Harrop: Our love-hate relationship with alcohol

Posted 12/2/2013 in National Columns

An unapologetic drinker, writer H.L. Mencken blamed Prohibition on American moralists' distaste for happiness. "A Puritan is not against bullfighting because of the pain it gives the bull," he wrote, "but because of the pleasure it gives the spectators."

Rheta Johnson: Thankful for a nervous Saban

Posted 11/30/2013 in National Columns

FISHTRAP HOLLOW -- I rarely watch those "news" videos the Internet pushes, the ones where you are force-fed a couple of advertisements before you reach the meat.

Leonard Pitts: Words of wisdom from a teen

Posted 11/30/2013 in National Columns

You may not dance. You may not listen to music or sing. You may not read. You may not leave the house except under certain strict conditions. You may not watch movies or television. You may not aspire. You may not learn.

Kathleen Parker: On food stamps, GOP takes a principle to extremes

Posted 11/30/2013 in National Columns

If you peruse the news on any given day, the farm bill/food stamp debate produces two general impressions: Republicans are heartless turkey thieves; Democrats are spendthrift welfare caterers. If only neither were a little bit right.

Charles Krauthammer: An outbreak of lawlessness

Posted 11/29/2013 in National Columns

For all the gnashing of teeth over the lack of comity and civility in Washington, the real problem is not etiquette but the breakdown of political norms, legislative and constitutional.

Froma Harrop: 'Wild Turkey on the rocks?'

Posted 11/27/2013 in National Columns

Much we believe about turkeys is not true. Myth No. 1: They were served at the "first Thanksgiving" feast in Plymouth, Mass. There's no evidence for that.

Froma Harrop: Obamacare: the bright side

Posted 11/26/2013 in National Columns

During the botched rollout of the Affordable Care Act, it's been hard to defend the law, much less to call it "great." But great it is -- for the American economy and for the American people, rich ones included.

Thomas Sowell: The war against achievement

Posted 11/26/2013 in National Columns

A friend recently sent me a link to an inspiring video about an upbeat young black man who was born without arms. It showed him going to work -- unlike the record number of people living on government payments for "disabilities" that are far less serious, if not fictitious.

Leonard Pitts: Trayvon Martin or George Zimmerman -- who's the real thug?

Posted 11/23/2013 in National Columns

With George Zimmerman out on bail last week after his latest run-in with police, it seems an opportune time to discuss the second killing of Trayvon Martin.

Rheta Johnson: Something pulled me back

Posted 11/23/2013 in National Columns

PASS CHRISTIAN -- Today she looks like a beautiful Indian princess, like Walt Disney's Pocahontas, her thick black braid rapunzeling down the back of her tunic of red, the color in which her mother dressed her "Mimi." Author Jesmyn Ward's ancestry is mixed with African, French, Spanish and Native American blood, allowing a rainbow of perspective, which makes her feel "lucky," she says, as a writer. But for facile identification, "I choose to embrace African American. It's a political choice."