For complicated reasons, Cincinnati is sensitive about sin. The city is graced with militant antipornography brigades, somewhat reminiscent of the Smut-Snatchers in Greater Tuna. It turns out that this is one of the more peculiar legacies of Charles Keating, who later went on to become famous in the savings-and-loan debacle…

I notice we’re having one of those spates of national concern about how dumb we are. “Nation of Nitwits,” “Pervasive Ignorance,” fret the pundits. The latest survey of how dumb we are shows that 60 percent of Americans can’t name the president who ordered the first atomic bomb to be…

Wheeee! In the mad, mad, mad, mad world of Nootsville, we’re coming right up on a hairpin turn at 90 mph. No joke–a total 180 in the middle of the road at high speed, such high speed that no one seems to have taken the time to consider just what…

Sometimes I think I made Warren Chisum up for my own amusement. Brother Chisum, the Bible-thumper from Pampa and chairman of the Legislature’s conservative caucus, is opposing a bill to require that caucuses report who gives them money and how the money is spent, even though last session, he headed…

I’ve been trying to recall if, in the distant days of my journalistic training, I ever received any guidance on what to do when the speaker of the U.S. House calls the first lady “a bitch.” I know it wasn’t covered in Reporting 101, and I don’t think we addressed…

Ave atque vale, Miz Ann. Hail and farewell, Governor Richards. Adios, Annie. Keep your wagon between the ditches. May your days be full of laughter. Good on ya. Ann Richards’ electoral loss to George Dubya Bush will keep political scientists studying for years. By all the conventional measures, she should…

Por Dios! A revolution in New Mexico politics! Now follow this closely. For many, many years, off and on, the governor of New Mexico has been Bruce King, a fellow we love because he is fluent in Gibberish, the native language of former Texas House Speaker Gib Lewis. King, who…

Sometimes, our political debates are just so silly. The vogue du jour is for topping your tax-cut proposal with my tax-cut proposal. Does it take Ross Perot to remind us that we are still not paying for the government we already have? The Clinton administration has cut the deficit from…

Not that I want to add to the cynicism in this country, but have you noticed that eco-pornography is becoming more brazen than ever? You dedicated watchers of public-affairs programming may have noticed a recent spate of commercials from the Indonesian Forestry Association, and perhaps you are somewhat puzzled as…

During a political question-and-answer session, a middle-aged, middle-class white woman hesitantly held up her hand and said: “You know, Time magazine said one reason Tom Daschle might have trouble getting elected minority leader is because South Dakota is just so…well…blah. What can we do about that?” The heartbreak of being…

Sorry to begin with an apologia, but one of the things I try not to do as a commentator is put in my two cents’ worth when I don’t have enough knowledge to back it up. When I venture into international affairs or international economic issues–not my native turf, to…

I listen to Republican rhetoric about how power should be returned to “the states” with some degree of alarm. It sounds so good in the abstract–by George, gummint should be closer to the people, those beanbrains in Washington don’t know anything about our problems here. But then one realizes what…

Sheesh. Sest lah vye, Mabel. I’ll say one thing for the results of Tuesday’s plebiscite: it is sure as hell going to be interesting for the next couple of years. What an utterly fabulous cast of characters. Strom Thurmond, 92, chairman of Armed Services. Jesse Helms, chair of Foreign Relations…

BOSTON–Oh boy, now this is starting to be fun. Senator Ted Kennedy and his opponent, Mitt Romney, duked it out here Tuesday night while the Senate candidates in New Jersey were getting blood all over the floor down there. In New York, they’re still reeling from Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s…