Patrick O'Hannigan
“The Genius” sang a song about greenbacks, but he doesn’t belong on one. Those who want a portrait of Ray Charles where Alexander Hamilton is now (almost 4,000 people have signed a digital petition to that effect) haven’t thought enough…
SAN DIEGO — My wife and I were catching up the other night with a friend whom we had not seen in months. Call her Audrey. But for the fact that she attends church every week and avoids coffee, this…
Because her idiosyncratic take on George W. Bush’s Second Inaugural Address did not go unnoticed, Peggy Noonan decided she had some splainin’ to do. Okay by me. But then she went and threw a press conference. For herself. Asking and…
Looking for great Christmas music? Ignore interchangeable pop tarts, choirs whose near-perfection intimidates all but the bravest carolers, and artists compelled by fine print in their contracts to record mediocre versions of old chestnuts. Listen instead to Kermit the Frog….
The U.S. military has much to teach those of us who seek to improve our marketable skills without recourse to Benjamin Franklin, Peter Drucker, and other people who’ve been self-help pets and talismans for so long that their once-luxurious advice…
There is nothing like listening to progressive radio in the aftermath of a significant defeat for its pet causes to get a cheap education in civics. I write this while marveling at how the mid-day host on “Air America” assured…
Conventional wisdom says that if the Kerry/Edwards ticket triumphs over the Bush/Cheney ticket on November 2nd, it will be because Americans want “fresh credibility” and a new start rather than more of the same. Pundits riding that horse tend to…
SAN DIEGO — In 1998, retired Special Forces operators forced CNN to apologize for a story alleging that American troops had used nerve gas in Laos during a secret 1970 mission called Operation Tailwind. Although Special Forces alumni responding to…
SAN DIEGO — Ever wonder why the mainstream media so consistently apply the adjective “holy” to places like Najaf and Karbala? The Associated Press Style Guide says nothing about holy cities, preferring to let reporters decide for themselves whether they’re…
SAN DIEGO — By any objective measure, The Da Vinci Code is a beach read for conspiracy theorists. But because Dan Brown claims that all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in his novel are accurate, many readers…
