Category: OPINION

The race for the United States presidency is on. As of Jan. 4, the results of the Republican presidential primary are in. The Iowa Caucus has concluded and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney edged out Sen. Rick Santorum by eight votes. According to Iowa poll data, Romney got 30,015 (24.6 percent) votes and Santorum received […]

Each morning, when I watch the neighborhood children on their way to school, I am re-inspired to do everything within my power to keep our nation’s promise to them. “Develop your talents and work hard,” we counsel our young, “and you can create a better life than the one to which you were born.” This […]

Around this time every year, shortly before I leave to visit my mother in Augusta, Ga. for Christmas, I attend a party at the home of Pat and Ron Walters in Silver Spring, Md. I attended the annual party Saturday night with one noticeable difference – it was held without Ron, an enormously talented strategist […]

Most parents of college students look forward to December, when their students come home for the holidays. Some are so excited to see their offspring home that they actually come to their colleges to pick them up. Others prepare special treats and goodies as an antidote to the oft complained about cafeteria food. Robert and […]

While too many Republican-dominated state legislatures have been making it more difficult for minorities, young adults and the elderly to vote, Marylanders have taken important steps toward the democratic ideal of “every voter counts, every vote is counted.” Those who are imposing more onerous voter registration and voting requirements on groups that voted for President […]

God help us to end poverty in our time. The poverty of having a child with too little to eat and no place to sleep, no air, sunlight and space to breathe, bask, and grow. The poverty of watching your child suffer hunger or get sicker and sicker and not knowing what to do or […]

Republican front-runner Newt Gingrich appeals to working Americans by slandering the poor. Gingrich recently denounced child labor laws as “truly stupid,” suggesting that schools should fire janitors and hire students under the age of 16 to clean the place. When critics said he would send America back to the age depicted by Dickens, Gingrich defended […]

Would you recognize a poor child when you saw one? Nine-year-old Carolyn Latimore and her sister Aalijah, 8, are beautiful little girls with big smiles on their faces. But Carolyn, Aalijah, and their older brother, Robert, 17, of Middletown, Ohio, fell into poverty when their parents divorced. They’ve lived in four places in the past […]

With the next election 11 months away, President Obama has begun sharpening his populist message and drawing a sharp contrast between his vision for America and the Republican alternative. Obama’s speech last week in Osawatomie, Kansas, provided an example of how he plans to attack his Republican opposition. “There is a certain crowd in Washington […]

I hope you watched “Extreme Home Makeover” on Dec. 2 as I did.  For me it was an opportunity of pride, as Bennett student Dominique Walker was featured, with her family, for a trip to Los Angeles, and a home upgrade.  Why?  Because her family remained in pain because their 11-year-old brother killed himself after […]