BY FROMA HARROP The most notable downsizing of the American home has been in its price. The luxury end usually escapes the worst of housing downturns, but not this time. For those seeking a reprieve from teardown mania, this is not a bad development. I refer to the trend whereby bungalows, Cape Cods and other […]

BY JOE CONASON Choosing Sonia Sotomayor as his first nominee to the United States Supreme Court will allow Barack Obama to prove three important things. As a politician, he is not afraid of a fight. As a constitutional lawyer, he is willing and able to defend his conception of that living document. And as president, […]

BY FROMA HARROP Identity politics are not good for the country or for the groups they purport to advance. This is not to undercut Sonia Sotomayor, who, as the news reports all start out, is the first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court and, if confirmed, would be the third female justice. From what we […]

BY SUSAN ESTRICH If somebody had told me just a few years ago that a decision saying that gay couples in California are entitled to every right and protection of marriage other than the name would be considered a major loss, I probably would’ve laughed. It wasn’t so long ago that even moderate Democrats were […]

BY JIM HIGHTOWER Out in Arizona, an old tombstone bears an epitaph for a young gunslinger: “I was expecting this/But not so soon.” Gunslinging, of course, is a high-risk business. But today, some of us can expect to have the following marker on our graves: “Here lies a guy/Killed by a pot pie.” America’s pot-pie […]