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written for the New York Times;

published in the Star Tribune December 9, 2008

The Weather Underground crossed lines of legality, of propriety and perhaps even of common sense. [...]

Peaceful protests had failed to stop the war. So we issued a screaming response. But it was not terrorism; we were not engaged in a campaign to kill and injure people indiscriminately, spreading fear and suffering for political ends.

I cannot imagine engaging in actions of that kind today.

The dishonesty of the narrative about Mr. Obama during the campaign went a step further with its assumption that if you can place two people in the same room at the same time, or if you can show that they held a conversation, shared a cup of coffee, took the bus downtown together or had any of a thousand other associations, then you have demonstrated that they share ideas, policies, outlook, influences and, especially, responsibility for each other’s behavior. There is a long and sad history of guilt by association in our political culture, and at crucial times we’ve been unable to rise above it.

[...]

Demonization, guilt by association, and the politics of fear did not triumph, not this time. Let’s hope they never will again. And let’s hope we might now assert that in our wildly diverse society, talking and listening to the widest range of people is not a sin, but a virtue.

Star Tribune Commentary page, May 20, 2003

This year’s legislative session came down to a tussle between the two dominant sets of interest groups at the Capitol: those for whom raising taxes one cent is anathema and those who believe that spending on government services automatically accomplishes fine results. No one in either the executive or the legislative branch of government took a public stance that both those silly positions are silly.

Hartford Courant

published in the Star Tribune April 10, 2009

Say she lives outside of whatever you consider the sexual norm, and you can immediately bump her from the public arena.

But from all indications, the Obama marriage is strong, so we move to the second-best way to dismiss a woman: Call her angry.

Despite the gains of the last few decades, we still mostly like our women soft, sweet and not angry. Like my mother used to say, you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. What on earth she wanted with all those flies, I have no idea.

Let a man exhibit anger, and he’s taking charge. Let a woman show anger, and she’s, well, scary. [...]

Why would a woman be angry, do you think? Just off the top of my head: The whole wage-disparity thing, the speaking up in meetings and being ignored thing, the lack of female clergy thing, the lack of female CEOs thing, the notion that you can and should have it all thing. You try bringing home the bacon and frying it up in a pan day in and day out, and suddenly that pan might start to look pretty good as a weapon [...]

Creators Syndicate;
published by the Star Tribune May 22, 2008

In the old story, a preacher gives an inspiring sermon, which he concludes by asking his congregants to stand up if they want to go to heaven. Everyone rises except one nervous-looking fellow. “Brother,” asks the incredulous pastor, “don’t you want to ascend to paradise when you die?” Says the holdout: “When I die? Sure! I thought you were getting up a group to go right now.”

That’s pretty much how I feel about the California Supreme Court’s decision granting the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Creators Syndicate;
published by the Star Tribune Jan. 18, 2006

It is peculiar, but it grew, like so many feminist fantasies, from one foundational error: the idea that men and women are in all important respects alike, and where they are different it is because society has trained them to be so. There are thousands of studies, examples and life experiences that put the lie to this notion, and O’Beirne quotes many. But one stands out particularly. In gauging the attitude of college students toward casual sex, a researcher recently asked college students to approach a member of the opposite sex and say, “I’ve been noticing you around campus. I find you very attractive. Would you go to bed with me tonight?”

Seventy-five percent of men said they’d happily carry out the assignment.

None of the 48 young women assented.

written for the Los Angeles Times;
published in the Star Tribune, December 10, 2008

Star Tribune column, December 17, 2004

Many people say Christians are under siege this Christmas from godless types who want to give us a black eye. I don’t buy it for one simple reason: No one knows how to give us Christians a bigger black eye than the people who call themselves Christians.

This week, a number of my fellow Christians took time from worship to criticize a column I wrote about the homeless. They didn’t write to tell me about their concern for the 8,000 homeless in Minnesota or the fact that half of them are women and kids or that 100 of them died this year.

No, they wrote to say that even though we will always have the poor with us, as Jesus said, that doesn’t mean those poor buggers shouldn’t get out of the way of our SUVs.

Star Tribune column, August 18, 2006

Hoping to land a national political convention is like hoping we get an outbreak of cholera. It’ll be inconvenient, but think of the publicity we’ll get!

Star Tribune column, August 2, 2009

Nothing says you’re having fun in Minnesota better than a wet sleeping bag, three-day-old underwear and a four-day growth on your face. Unless it’s listening to the family in the next tent fight over whose turn it is to play on the computer, using the campground Wi-Fi.

I moved our tent to a different camp site after that fun-believable experience, but wound up next to another family who jabbered on cell phones while sitting around their campfire, shouting to make up for the poor cell signal so that their friends back in Burnsville could hear what a great time they were having except for the constant pounding of the Lake Superior surf on the cobblestone shore nearby.

Really, someone should figure out how to make those waves shut up.