When it comes to such complex topics as theology and mixology, misconceptions breed like mayflies. Few laymen could explain how a Church founded by an itinerant carpenter ended up allied with aristocrats, so they assume it’s faintly scandalous. If we don’t understand the history and social teachings of our Church, we know even less about the drinks we’re mixing. We’re confused … [Read More]

When a lame-duck draft dodger pardoned a major crook and fugitive— along with his very own drug dealing half brother— American public opinion was righteously outraged. It was par for the course for Bill Clinton, but at least he didn’t saddle the country with anything worse than having to put up with a ghastly person like Mark Rich walking freely around … [Read More]

I recently completed a visit to Massachusetts with two definable goals: to escort an aged friend to his 65th reunion from Harvard, and to deliver the commencement address at a high school graduation. Although I was born in New York (and consider myself a native New Yorker, of sorts), and have lived in the Los Angeles area since I was six, … [Read More]

It is crunch time in the bunker at the White House. Can Dick Cheney and his sidekick, G.W. Bush, allow their most loyal teammate, “Scooter” Libby, to head off to a federal penitentiary simply because he was acting at their direction to discredit Ambassador Joe Wilson, no matter what—even if it meant outing a CIA agent who was tasked with combating … [Read More]

In most of the country, even in liberal Oregon, a majority of voters believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. They have said so by amending state constitutions, by legislation and by referenda. In this respect Massachusetts is not part of the nation. To place a definition of marriage proposition on the ballot in Massachusetts so voters can … [Read More]

A little more than eight months ago, on September 12, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI delivered his now-infamous Regensburg Address.  The reaction in the Muslim world was swift and severe, including protests, violence, and the murder of a nun—all over the Holy Father’s citation of a late-14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus.  In a dialogue on Christianity and Islam, the emperor had … [Read More]

Well, what can one say except they don’t throw parties like this one any more. The dress code was devilishly or angelically black tie. (Think horns and wings and other heavenly things). I, of course, went as an angel, but my wings snapped off just as I entered the beautiful mansion of Prince Pavlos of Greece. His wife, Princess Marie Chantal, … [Read More]

Hillary Clinton has finally joined forces with Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia! Hillary wants to do it over…take another vote about invading Iraq. Can you believe it? Yes, indeed.  After almost 5 years and after all the gross, unnecessary damage has been done to America and to Iraq. Thank you Hillary, and all those Democratic Senators who enabled Wolfowitz’s War. … [Read More]

The mass amnesty proposed by the Bush administration—the most discredited government to preside over this country since the late days of Richard Nixon—flies in the face of what most Americans want. The Center for Immigration Studies has shown that most Americans, regardless of race, creed, or political party, want to reduce the number of immigrants into the U.S., raise the skill … [Read More]

When Alberto Gonzales—Barney Rubble of the sitting administration and an unseemly bagman—crashed the sickbed of John Ashcroft to present Bush’s wiretap plan as a fait accompli, Attorney General Ashcroft, as now we know, declined to dance. The New York Times produced its most useful and intelligible piece of journalism this year by creating a one-page digest of the testimony of … [Read More]