Tales from the Telly: Palin, Portman, H.W., Cheney and "Midwife"
Seeking relief from bracketitis during the weekend I picked up some other stuff on the telly: Bad taste! An emaciated Sarah Palin, wearing a black jumpsuity thing appropriate for dancing disco with John Travolta, circa 1979, appeared at the Conservative Public Action Conference with a mean-spirited jab at New York ...
Blue on Blue ... from Devilish Deb
Nobody asked me but.... When was the last time Duke beat UNC in football and twice in basketball during the same school year? I watched last night's game calm, resigned to Duke's losing. We won at home, they deserved the same. Plus, UNC finally found their grove. They sizzled, not ...
Just White Rain...
It's just white rain, I keep telling the panicked backyard birds who are gobbling sunflower seeds like they're expecting Santa Claus. What a perfect afternoon...interesting weather, three of the best NC basketball teams all playing, but not each other, so all can win with no hard feelings. I knew when ...
A Tree-Hugger's Lament
Southern Pines and Pinehurst are beautiful places -- oases, really, in a landscape lacking the natural beauty of the mountains or coastline. I recall my first two visits, once approaching on NC 211 from 220, the other south on US 1 from Chapel Hill. Surely I must be on the ...
Want a Feel-Good Story?
I've noticed how "positive" stories draw positive reader comments, both online and letters to the editor. Sure, everybody loves reading about the rescued dog and the anonymous Santa. Longtime reporters often develop a hard shell that keeps them objective while preventing emotional involvement with their subjects. As a (mostly) features ...
Gun Control: Learning the Hard Way, Today
For anybody who is still adamant about the "right to bear arms"...glue yourselves to CNN today. Death toll in the horrendous Connecticut school shooting not confirmed...looks like more than 20, half of them children. The "people kill, not guns" argument rings hollow. Try it on parents of these dead kids. ...
Return to Sender
Today I received the fourth envelope of holiday return address labels from a worthy (I guess) charity begging a donation. Other organizations send out calendars, key chains -- even coins -- knowing guilt is a great motivator. That might work if I needed the labels. But one batch is more ...
The Power Be With Us
Every time I watch a satellite cell phone connect to Europe; every time I watch an iPad take pictures; every time I see MRI results or hear of robotic surgery I wonder why in the world all electric, phone and cable wires aren't underground. The technique seems to be perfected ...
A Darker Shade of Blue
Now that Duke beat Carolina in football I'll have to brush up on my arrogance a bit early. Basketball has been my thing since high school cheerleading followed by four scintillating years in Durham. I adore college basketball because it's fast, exciting, high-scoring, dramatic. I follow all ACC teams, rarely ...
A Double-Ouch Car Day
Seems like half the vehicles on the road are a form of truck, SUV or van. Some sit high off the road, so high that the driver can't see what's behind. I was walking through the Food Lion parking lot this morning when one of those big-mother vans backed our ...
Debatable
Last night's first presidential debate ratified several predictions I made in an op-ed piece published Oct. 3: Both men would wear dark suits and white shirts. Romney capitulated to the red power tie. And Pres. Obama was so fatigued from his day job that he practically phoned in his answers. ...
Ahhhh....
Cool. Blankets. Fresh air. Open windows. Soup. Sweaters. Oatmeal. Sunshine. Dry. We deserve this.
All that glitters is definitely Michelle
First Lady Michelle Obama knows how to work a crowd. After a video preamble worthy of the Academy Awards she jived onto the stage in a shimmering cocktail frock, her beautiful skin glowing, her teeth and hair gleaming, her body toned by push ups and organic broccoli (kale?) to deliver ...
Ann Romney: Pretty in Pink, Radiant in Red but....
Ann Romney, dressed in Nancy Reagan red, was simply magnificent earlier this week when she spoke to the RNC and the world. Her task: Humanize Mitt, show the softer, gentler side because Americans want their presidents to feel their pain. I don't care if the president feels my pain. I ...
Biblical Message?
I just found out that the name Isaac means "He laughs." It is also the only Biblical name assigned a tropical storm this year. I'm no soothsayer...but is somebody up there sending Tampa a heads-up? Allow me this non-partisan satorial observation: VP candidate Ryan is taking the chinos-and-golf-shirt image a ...
Davidson Won't "Eat More Chikin'"
Davidson College will no longer serve Chick-fil-A meals at late-night events until the student union holds a public hearing on the founder's stance on same-sex marriage. Davidson regularly rates way up there on lists of forward-thinking liberal arts colleges. Good for them. I abhor mixing politics/religion with consumerism, especially on ...
By a Hair...
Some months ago I wrote an op-ed piece about how a successful presidential candidate must have good hair...Just look at recent presidents with the exceptions of Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford (who weren't elected) . Everybody else sported lucky locks. None as good as Paul Ryan -- not only thick ...
Olympic Wonderings
Before the Olympics wind down I have a few (probably dumb) questions: What was that opening ceremony all about? Critics called it "very British" because they didn't want to express negative reactions, I presume. Some of it reminded me of outdoor historical dramas"The Lost Colony" and "Unto These Hills." Why ...
Justice Creeps in Colorado
Today's healine from the Colorado theater massacre suggests that a trial may be months, perhaps years away. The DA estimated a year. With the greatest respect for the American justice system, I don't understand how a case with dozens of eye-witnesses, a murder weapon and a suspect caught and identified ...
Banning Banfield
Without a word of warning, on Jan. 2 CNN installed two new anchors on their Early Start news morning: Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin. Ashleigh (who's blundered her way around cable news for a while) made my knee jerk so hard I got a black eye. Her demeanor exceeded inappropriate; ...
