By GENE H. McINTYRE My eye teeth were cut on TV dramas in the early 1960s.  Most memorable to me—as a young whippersnapper back in those days—were 77 Sunset Strip, Route 66, and The Naked City.  They presented Hollywood versions of life among the in-crowd in Southern California, on-the-road along U.S 66 (all the way [...]

By DON VOWELL The four Vowell children scattered to the far reaches of the western states, including Alaska and Hawaii.  Our political stances may have the same degree of separation.  It has made me question if there is an underlying theory to my politics. Last week we attended Ralph Jull’s memorial service.  A deeply loved [...]

By DEBRA J. SAUNDERS Readers share their ideas. Since the massacre in December in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 children and six elementary-school staff members dead, readers have passed on a host of so-called remedies. Let’s make gun owners be licensed and pass a test, some have suggested. So the problem is, I ask them, [...]

By DEBRA J. SAUNDERS When you’re president, every day is a holiday. This April is National Financial Capability Month, as declared last week in a presidential proclamation. “I call upon all Americans to observe this month with programs and activities to improve their understanding of financial principles and practices,” quoth President Obama. If April is [...]

By DEBRA J. SAUNDERS In his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama proclaimed, “Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion.” It’s a claim that the president makes frequently—along with the notion that having done all that heavy lifting, Washington now needs [...]

By GENE H. McINTYRE Even a casual observation soon discloses that we humans find it challenging to appreciate the differences between us.  These are sometimes referred to as our biases or our prejudices and seem to abound wherever in this world we wander. The intolerance for differences, it’s argued, can be found in most religions, [...]

By LAWRENCE KUDLOW  You might not know it from the acrimonious political debate on cable and broadcast TV, or on talk radio, or on websites and blogs. But here’s a counterintuitive observation: Amidst all the negativism out there, I believe optimism is in the air. That’s right. Optimism. Sometimes you have to search for it, [...]

By GENE H. McINTYRE It would seem to require a very long stretch to accept at face value what The Oregonian expected its readers to find persuasive on the basis of objectivity when it printed in its March 13 editorial about a former “prominent” retired Oregon Supreme Court justice’s opinion, who now finds it constitutional [...]

By BRAD COY “Why can’t our elected leaders deliver on their promises to fix the problems facing our nation? If they can’t solve these problems, is there anything I can do that will make a difference?” As I have asked myself these questions, I have been inspired by the famous words spoken by President John [...]

By SUSAN ESTRICH I’m not your usual Rand Paul fan. But intellectual honesty is a pretty refreshing trait in Washington, and in this case, it had the added attraction of being a much-needed jolt to a sort of complacency about civil liberties under a nice Democratic administration that seems to have overtaken the left. Sen. [...]