Let’s say you were on the board of a huge, major corporation which had been slipping badly for the past four years. Let’s say you’ve been given a chance to hire a new CEO — a slightly stiff, not totally…
Fooled us once! Shame on him — and them …
Obama documentary a scary look at, “What if …”
Who is Barack Obama — really? What does he have in mind for this country — if he wins a second term and doesn’t ever have to face the voters again? If you watch the first-rate documentary “2016: Obama’s America,”…
“When Jenny Lind Came to Town”
Jenny Lind was a “rock star” long before the term was even coined. “The Swedish Nightingale” is judged to have been the greatest soprano singer of the 19th Century. Her nickname was as well known in her day as “The…
Jesse and Adolf: The rest of the story
“Jesse Owens, the son of sharecroppers, grandson of a slave, won four gold medals in track and field at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, exploding Adolf Hitler’s myth of ‘Aryan supremacy.’ Hitler, the most evil man in history,…
The Madison Elks building: “Git ‘er done!”
Maybe we need to invite Larry the Cable Guy to Madison to see what he could do about the Elks building impasse, which is nearing its sixth anniversary with no solution in sight. After all, Larry is always telling people…
Obamacare: Did Roberts “blink”? Or, “wink”?
You’ve got to hand it to that John Roberts. The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court managed to craft a majority opinion on the burning question of whether Obamacare is constitutional, which delighted the liberals who had detested him…
Madison: A tale of two cities
(Photos by Nice Shots!) My hometown is Madison, Indiana. You could say that my city has a kind of split personality, as Midwest towns go. Make that split personality, squared. No, I’m not dumping on Madison when I say that;…
Let’s keep our buses rolling!
“Why care about Hammond’s buses?” asked the headline on an opinion piece which appeared in The Madison Courier this week. The piece was written by Morton Marcus, an independent economist, writer and speaker, and it pretty much summed up the…
‘The People’ to Lugar, Armand: You’re fired!
Sometimes people “go to the well” once too often. They “wear their welcome out.” They refuse to “quit while they’re ahead.” Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., found that out last night, when he was denied a seventh term by the voters…
“The Welfare State” and the Singing Cowboy
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made an interesting statement the other day. He said that if America goes further down the “entitlement route” than we’ve already gone, we’ll no longer be a nation which honors people’s striving for success. We’ll…
George Zimmerman being symbolically lynched
BULLETIN A “female relative” (anonymous, of course) has “come forward” in a manner of speaking to accuse George Zimmerman of having “molested her” from the time she was 6 and he was 8. It’s another one of those “I was…
Obama: “The Brother”? Or, “The Other”?
Black Americans tend to speak of one of their own as “the brother”. Thus, President Barack Hussein Obama presumably is referred to in that affectionate way by many of those blacks who support his re-election — say, oh, about 95…
“The General” ranks high among all movies
It must be the time for old, classic silent movies. “The Artist” and “Hugo” won a bushel of Oscars between them at the Academy Awards; and after many years of waiting and wanting, I finally got to view Buster Keaton’s…
“It Can’t Happen Here”? Don’t bet on it
Rioters burned and trashed downtown Athens, Greece, this past week, protesting the severe austerity measures that the country’s Parliament is being forced to take to obtain a European Union loan and avoid national bankruptcy. Protesters raised seven kinds of hell…
Old Corporal’s words of wit and wisdom
What’s an “epigram”? Well, it’s a short, pithy saying with a surprise at the end, some wit, and a kernel of truth. Like Oscar Wilde’s, “I can resist anything but temptation.” Or Will Rogers’, “I belong to no organized political…
Purity or ability? Republicans have to choose
Has Newt Gingrich stolen the Republican presidential nomination right out of Mitt Romney’s hand, just as the former Massachusetts governor seemed about to grasp the gold ring? It would seem that way at this writing, shortly after the closing of…
Will the Republicans blow presidential race?
The U.S. unemployment rate is still far higher than any president wants it to be in the year he’s seeking re-election. Public unhappiness with the direction the country is heading is astronomically high. Americans are worried — REALLY worried —…
Reflections on Benji’s Christmas moon
A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine was telling me of photos he had shot, late at night here in Madison. And he made one remark that led me to say, “I think you just gave me an…
Tommy and Conchita’s magical journey
(I wrote this short story, about a young boy and girl in modern times whose fascination with the “Singing Cowboy” Gene Autry leads them down roads they never imagined, several years ago. Hope you enjoy it.) —— “Who’s Gene Autry?”…
Tribune’s favorite sport: Hating on the Mormons
American newspapers from larger cities tend to reflect their regional peculiarities, likes and dislikes, and so on. That’s true of even the New York Times and Washington Post, which are considered national news media outlets as well as ones reporting…
Another movie slurs Shakespeare, the Immortal Bard
They’ve made another movie about Shakespeare! That’s the good news. Now the bad news: Once again, as in “Shakespeare In Love,” The Bard himself plays second fiddle to someone else. In “Shakespeare In Love,” it was a 16th Century feminist…
‘Dew-ey’ need a library cat? Yes!
The Jefferson County Public Library finally has a new director, announced today. He’s Brent Stokesberry, currently at the La Porte County Library in La Porte. And he grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. Now, that last fact may seem like…