Kathleen Parker: First lady haters always find something
Washington The past couple of weeks have marked a turning point in American ugliness, as the mob has turned its full fury on first lady Michelle Obama.From criticism of her trip to China to a recent...
View ArticleCasey Seiler: Get it passed, and fast
For a week ending last Sunday I was on vacation in Oregon — getting beaten by my sister at Scrabble, drinking outstanding German beers at my brother-in-law's brewery, making pancakes with my niece and...
View ArticleNotable quotes of the week
"I feel like perhaps the FBI and the attorney general's office is on a witch hunt and, you know, I am one of those 'extreme conservatives'."—State Sen. Kathleen Marchione, R-Halfmoon, on an...
View ArticleEditorials: Long story short
Don't leave 'em holding the bagGood thing that state Civil Service Commissioner Jerry Boone visited Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland to get a sense of the damage wrought by an overflow crowd...
View ArticleThomas Friedman: 'Addicted to integrity' for survival
Aboard the USS New Mexico in the Arctic I never thought I'd ever get to see what the Arctic ice cap looks like from the bottom up.It's quite stunning — blocks of blue ice tumbling around in a frigid...
View ArticleState imposes a fiscal burden on communities
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's property tax freeze proposal assumes the cause of high local property taxes in New York is high local government spending — hence his proposal to freeze taxes, and force local...
View ArticleN.Y.'s education daze
With Gov. Andrew Cuomo emerging as a champion of charter schools, what does it mean for the 97 percent of students in New York who attend public schools?Outside major cities, most people have never...
View ArticleCommentary: Oppression masked as a freedom
Why should you be concerned about the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on a pair of cases brought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Inc.? The answer is, quite simply, that these cases jeopardize the...
View ArticleEditorial: Bait and switch at SUNY
THE ISSUE:The cost of public higher education in New York keeps rising while tuition increases and state support stagnates. THE STAKES:How much longer will we be able to call it public education? For...
View ArticleEditorial: Speed up discipline cases
THE ISSUE:The discipline of public employees can be a lengthy and costly process.THE STAKES:In fairness to all, steps to ensure a more speedy resolution must be implemented. When the evidence of...
View ArticleCharles Krauthammer: Obama just doesn't get Putin
"The United States does not view Europe as a battleground between East and West, nor do we see the situation in Ukraine as a zero-sum game. That's the kind of thinking that should have ended with the...
View ArticleThe recent gun madness in Georgia is full of absurdities
The following appeared in a Los Angeles Times editorial:Fifteen months ago, as the nation recoiled in horror from the massacre of 20 children and six adults by a mentally ill man armed with three...
View ArticleRichard Brodsky: Cuomo's season of discontent
For some, the recent explosion of discontent on the left came as a surprise. Gov. Andrew Cuomo had been an effective and strong liberal on identity and social issues like gay marriage, gun...
View ArticleCollege football — yes, it's a job first, followed by studies
The following appeared in a Los Angeles Times editorial:University officials and the NCAA have been reluctant to acknowledge that top-tier college football programs are run these days less as athletic...
View ArticleThe zombie notion of a skills gap
A few months ago, Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, and Marlene Seltzer, the chief executive of Jobs for the Future, published an article in Politico titled "Closing the Skills Gap."...
View ArticleEditorial: Cuomo's swing and miss
THE ISSUE:An on-time state budget for the fourth year in a row comes with a cost.THE STAKES:Before it was passed, proposed ethics and campaign finance reforms were weakened. On the opening day of...
View ArticleSave the African elephant by banning ivory trade in N.Y.
The majestic African elephant — the largest animal on land — once roamed the entire span of the continent and numbered in the millions. But, in the past 50 years, their numbers have plummeted. So much...
View ArticleDavid Brooks: Employer's Creed: Take a flying leap
Dear Employers,You may not realize it, but you have a powerful impact on the culture and the moral ecology of our era. If your human resources bosses decide they want to hire a certain sort of person,...
View ArticleYet another slice in the crowd
BostonIn the beginning, God created New Haven. He then saw what he had done and, in an effort to make amends, created Frank Pepe Pizzeria.It really is that good, aficionados say: a piece of divinity...
View ArticleUnfinished N.Y. business
THE ISSUE:The $138 billion state budget includes some positive components.THE STAKES:More work needs to be done to close the gaps and correct its deficiencies. Legislators posed Tuesday with Gov....
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