Articles

Opinion: More to mine in Afghanistan than minerals

WASHINGTON — Amid all the dark news from Afghanistan, every now and then a sliver of light slips through the cracks.
Afghanistan, it turns out, is rich in minerals. Trillions rich. It’s going to become the Saudi Arabia of lithium, they say. Thanks to vast stores of that resource, plus iron, copper, cobalt and gold, this impoverished, war-torn nation could become a wealthy nation.

Opinion: Beware - that watchdog may in reality be a fox

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon doesn’t want it. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it’s unnecessary. Former President George W. Bush was against it, as is Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto a defense authorization bill that includes it.
So why have so many House leaders voted for a $485 million “earmark” for General Electric and Rolls-Royce for continued development of an alternate engine for a military jet, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter?

Opinion: Maybe it’s time for the stronger gender to lead

WASHINGTON — When a long-ago South Carolina legislator described his state as “too small to be a republic and too large to be an insane asylum,” he might have added, “but just perfect for a bordello!”
What’s with all these kissy-boys spilling the beans on their paramours? Whither chivalry? Whither, alas, manliness?
The women in these romantic imbroglios are steel magnolias to the weeping willows of their undoubtedly regrettable (and perhaps forgettable) dalliances.

Opinion: Geography is Kagan’s wound

WASHINGTON — The magnificent author and son of the Great Santini, Pat Conroy, began “The Prince of Tides” with these words: “My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call.”
Those 13 words imprinted on my brain when I first read them years ago and have stuck with me. Somewhat oddly, they came to mind a few days ago upon the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Opinion: Abortion’s route to becoming rare

WASHINGTON — When Bill Clinton said in 1992 that he wanted to make abortion safe, legal and rare, many Americans applauded. Even if one dismisses this as rhetoric, it is a sentiment shared by the large middle and provides nearly everyone a thread of hope.
But how does one get to “rare” in a sexualized world where choice is a sacrament? The only plausible answer is through education, but of what should that education consist? Most everybody older than 10 knows how to apply a condom these days. And moral education — the kind that might suggest remorse over the ending of a life — is frowned upon.

Opinion: Mapquesting God

WASHINGTON — As thousands prayed across the nation Thursday in celebration of National Day of Prayer, the Rev. Franklin Graham held his own vigil in the Pentagon parking lot.
Oh well, it doesn’t matter where one prays, right? All prayers lead to heaven. Or do they?
Not if you’re Graham, who lost his place at the Pentagon altar after he mocked other religions, specifically Muslims and Hindus. A plea to President Obama to reinstate him apparently fell on pitiless ears.

Opinion: Go ahead and draw; it’s still a free country

WASHINGTON — Once you’ve gone viral, there’s no turning back.
That’s the hard lesson for a Seattle cartoonist who sketched some doodles and unwittingly launched a movement.
Molly Norris, a reluctant phenomenon, wants to return to her quiet artist’s life, the one she lived largely unnoticed until she drew the Prophet Muhammad — as a spool of thread, a box of pasta, a cup of coffee, a domino, a cherry and a doggie purse.

Opinion: Could toxic political climate yield more terrorists?

WASHINGTON — The upcoming 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people in the nation’s worst act of terrorism before 9/11, has prompted renewed concerns about growing anti-government sentiment.
Is the political environment becoming so toxic that we could see another Timothy McVeigh emerge?

Opinion: Armed with a sprig of verbena

WASHINGTON — One of President Obama’s consistent education themes has been the wish that every child cross paths with that one teacher who hits the light switch and changes one’s life.
Each time he expresses some iteration of that thought, I suspect thousands or millions think briefly of the person who held that distinction in their life. The light master. Or, in my case, the one who extended an imaginary sprig of verbena and, holding it to his nose, inhaled deeply in a gesture of solidarity with William Faulkner.

Opinion: Karzai likely could use a good shrink

WASHINGTON — Paging Dr. Khalilzad.
That is, Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan and now a wandering consultant on all things Afghan and Middle Eastern. Might we impose on him one more time?
Khalilzad is not a real physician, but to the extent that he has apparent healing powers, he is a doctor of diplomacy. He came to mind unavoidably in recent days, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai seemed to be sporting a lighted fuse from the top of his jaunty Persian lamb cap.

Columns

OPINION: U.S. colleges hear a new call to arms; hopefully, they listen

WASHINGTON — Jobs, jobs, jobs, we keep hearing. But for whom, whom, whom? Certainly not for the many young Americans being graduated from colleges that have prepared them inadequately for the competitive marketplace in which they find themselves.

• Kathleen Parker

OPINION: America, heal thyself, please

WASHINGTON — The legacy of 9/11 can’t be fully measured even now, but perhaps the most damaging aspect can be found in our national discourse. Taking the long view, it is possible to see the roots of today’s political dysfunction — the hate, fear, anger and resentment — firmly planted in the soil at Ground Zero.

• Kathleen Parker

OPINION: Just who is the godliest of us all?

WASHINGTON — Rick Perry’s rapid lead over previous Republican front-runner Mitt Romney was predictable. But it is not a good sign for Republicans hoping to reclaim the White House and further highlights the crucial battle within GOP circles: Who is the godliest of us all?

• Kathleen Parker

OPINION: Profanity is tiny act of violence against kindness

An “MF” here or an “FU” there might not constitute the unraveling of society, but each one uttered in another’s involuntary presence is a tiny act of violence against kindness, of which we surely could use more.

• Kathleen Parker

OPINION: Obama's black bus is like armada of doom

Here the country is reeling from depression, recession and oppression, and the president decides to take a heartland tour in the visual equivalent of an armored hearse?

OPINION: Herman Cain learned hard, but good, political lesson

WASHINGTON — Politics Rule No. 1: Never say what you really think, especially before you think.

OPINION: Americans flush drinking water down the toilet

NEW YORK — In a slender essay titled “Here Is New York,” E.B. White wrote about the implausibility of the great city, mentioning among other things the millions of gallons of water needed each day just so people could brush their teeth.

OPINION: Romney makes pre-emptive strike on health care

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Sitting under the lush palms and blue skies of the richest Americans’ favorite resort — during the off-season when the rich wouldn’t be caught dead here, I hastily add — I naturally couldn’t wait to watch Mitt Romney’s PowerPoint presentation on health care.

Opinion: In politics, being ridiculous apparently helps

NEW YORK — As the number of Republicans declaring themselves potential presidential candidates has begun to look like a conga line without music, hope lingered that somewhere unnoticed was a brilliant dark horse biding his sweet time.

Opinion: Not obsessing about ’12 field

NEW YORK — This is doubtless heretical, but I’ll say it: I can wait to find out who the Republican presidential candidates will be.
To be clear, I said “can,” not “can’t.”
Let’s go further: I don’t care who they’ll be. At least not yet.