KATHLEEN PARKER
Opinion: Thanks to Internet, Dodson newest phenom
NEW YORK — August finally redeemed itself from shark-jumping hysteria with an original, spontaneous, transcendent event — the accidental intersection of one Antoine Dodson, his sister, her would-be rapist, and some musical magicians who tapped into that uniquely American reservoir of salvation — irreverence.Voila, we have a new American idol, a fresh icon to distract us from the drudgery of madness and remind us that humor is the best weapon against anger or angst.
By Kathleen Parker , September 01, 2010
Opinion: Missing point about mosque at Ground Zero 
NEW YORK — It is hard to imagine that anything has gone unsaid about the so-called Ground Zero mosque, but we seem to be missing an important point. The mosque should be built precisely because we don’t like the idea very much. We don’t need constitutional protections to be agreeable, after all.
By Kathleen Parker , August 19, 2010
Opinion: Small town values can exist anywhere 
WASHINGTON — We’ve heard much these past few years about “small town values,” most recently iterated and personified by Sarah Palin.When politicians speak of small town values, we know what they mean. Generally, they are invoking family, faith and flag — coincidentally the subtitle of Palin’s next book, “America By Heart.” In the politician’s world, small towns are where “real Americans” live, as opposed to all those other people — the vast majority of Americans — who live in urban areas.
By Kathleen Parker , August 12, 2010
Opinion: Gulf restoration a worthy target for administration 
WASHINGTON — When people think of New Orleans, most think of jazz, hurricane cocktails, Katrina — and now the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.But there’s another stormy concoction barreling toward the nation’s capital — in the nicest possible way. They call themselves “Women of the Storm,” and they want new money to go with old promises to restore the Gulf Coast.
By Kathleen Parker , August 04, 2010
Opinion: A place few want to live 
WASHINGTON — The current Journolist controversy that has the blogosphere heaving sparks, and Washington even more selfabsorbed than usual, is weak tea — a tempest in Barbie’s teacup. At least as concerns the so-called conspiracy itself.As a larger lesson about the way we search and destroy each other in the media world, there may be something darker brewing.
By Kathleen Parker , July 28, 2010
Opinion: Jihadists call for death of cartoonist 
WASHINGTON — Yes, those pesky, humorchallenged jihadists are at it again. A group of radical Muslims, whose promises to sacrifice their souls can’t be kept soon enough, apparently won’t be satisfied until happy people everywhere are dead.In yet another sequel in the series, another cartoonist fatwa has been issued.
By Kathleen Parker , July 21, 2010
To kill a great book is a sin 
Fifty years ago Sunday, a novel hit America’s bookshelves that changed the way millions thought about race and the inexplicable South.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by some estimates the most-read book in American schools, has grown old enough to have become slightly dotty in the minds of fresher readers, many of whom have only a textbook understanding of the way things were.
By Kathleen Parker , July 14, 2010
Opinion: Pulling for Obama to do a better job 
WASHINGTON — In the days since I suggested that President Obama’s rhetorical style mimics feminine tropes, I’ve been informed of the following:One, a black man cannot show anger in public lest he be considered an Angry Black Man.
Two, to suggest that a black man has any feminine characteristics, even when framed as an “evolutionary achievement,” is to emasculate and reduce him to a figure from Jim Crow days.
By Kathleen Parker , July 07, 2010
Opinion: TV a chance to speak even more for those who can’t 
NEW YORK — In the catalog of life-altering surprises, few compare to the query that came my way a few weeks ago from CNN/US President Jon Klein: “How would you like to co-anchor a prime-time show on CNN?”Surely neither drumroll nor punch line is necessary at this point. My co-anchor would be Eliot Spitzer, variously known as the sheriff of Wall Street and the “disgraced” politician who resigned as governor of New York after it was revealed that he had consorted with prostitutes.
By Kathleen Parker , June 30, 2010
Opinion: Feminism in different forms 
WASHINGTON — Proving one’s feminist bona fides has become the latest challenge for women aspiring to public office.Is she a “real” feminist who walks in lockstep with traditional feminist orthodoxy? Or is she a faux feminist, i.e., a woman who has benefited from traditional feminism, become all that she could be, but, alas, thinks independently on certain tenets of the sisterhood?
By Kathleen Parker , June 23, 2010
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.
By Kathleen Parker , June 18, 2010
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.
By Kathleen Parker , June 09, 2010
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.
By Kathleen Parker , May 20, 2010
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.
By Kathleen Parker , May 13, 2010
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.
By Kathleen Parker , May 11, 2010
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