PARKER: Taking a trip at the wrong time
Observing the Michelle Obama vacation controversy unfold, one is of multiple minds.
PARKER: The meaning of Olive Street
We’ve heard much these past few years about “small town values,” most recently iterated and personified by Sarah Palin.
PARKER: Crisis after crisis can't stop the people of New Orleans
When people think of New Orleans, most think of jazz, hurricane cocktails, Katrina — and now the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Journalists should be able to vent to each other in private
The current Journolist controversy that has the blogosphere heaving sparks, and Washington even more self-absorbed than usual, is weak tea — a tempest in Barbie’s teacup.
PARKER: It's getting easier to be Alvin Greene
It is often said that there are no new stories, just different ways of telling the same ones. Familiar plots persist through literature: man versus nature, “rags to riches,” the hero quest, and so on.
PARKER: To kill a 'Mockingbird' is to mock a hero
Fifty years ago today, a novel hit America’s bookshelves that changed the way millions thought about race and the inexplicable South.
PARKER: Hard truths, comfy chairs
Sometimes it takes a scientific study to reveal the obvious. The latest discovery — that touch influences how we perceive things — is something like the warning on a steaming cup of coffee.
PARKER: The feminine side of Obama
If Bill Clinton was our first black president, as Toni Morrison once proclaimed, then Barack Obama may be our first woman president.
PARKER: Well, let's give this TV gig a try
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?”
PARKER: The sisterhood of the pro-life political women
Proving one’s feminist bona fides has become the latest challenge for women aspiring to public office.
PARKER: Education is the key to free Afghanistan
Amid all the dark news from Afghanistan, every now and then a sliver of light slips through the cracks.
PARKER: The little engine that might
The Pentagon doesn’t want it. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it’s unnecessary. Former President George W. Bush was against it, as is Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto a defense authorization bill that includes it.
PARKER: Real Marines don't tell lies
I have a thing for Marines, always have. It began a long time ago when I watched my older brother amble away in the night toward his barracks at Camp Pendleton near San Diego.
PARKER: Geography should be part of a diverse court
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."
PARKER: Tea party purge poised to expel congressional allies
No one doubts the sincerity or power of the tea party movement anymore. We get it: free market principles, limited government and individual liberty.
PARKER: No defense for animal cruelty
Some things are too horrific to consider, and yet consider them we must.
PARKER: A sprig of verbena that will never be forgotten
One of President Barack Obama's consistent education themes has been the wish that every child cross paths with that one teacher who hits the light switch and changes one's life.
PARKER: Race card can't save Steele from mistakes
When you're Michael Steele, there's no waking up and thinking: Ahhhh, at least the worst is over.
PARKER: The Steele lock not securing RNC funds
What a difference $2,000 in a lesbian bondage strip club makes.
PARKER: What's with the hurry to pass health care reform?
As Democrats consider shoving health care reform through the House with a process known as "deem and pass," it is helpful to return to square one and ask: What, again, is the rush?
PARKER: Health care reform reveals a sweet tooth
Skipping through the Candy Land of the health care bill, one is tempted to hum a few bars of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."
PARKER: Theater of the electorate
For all our bemoaning the tortures of health care reform, the debate has been healthy for the nation.
PARKER: Sen. Brown the latest prize in big game political hunt
WASHINGTON — The RINO hunt is back on and the coveted trophy is Scott Brown.
PARKER: Rubio the GOP's next rising star
Mar-co, Mar-co, Mar-co.
PARKER: Uganda's moral fiber being ripped to shreds
In a time of constant calamity and crisis fatigue, proposed legislation in Uganda to execute gays passes through the American consciousness with the impact of a weather report.
PARKER: Men want shovels, and only the biggest will do
WASHINGTON — Much time and many volumes have been devoted to Freud's famous question — What do women want? — with little commensurate attention to the male counterpart.
PARKER: Some look for seclusion, others a bright spotlight
My favorite thing about J.D. Salinger wasn't his seminal work or his most famous character, Holden Caulfield, but how little I knew of him, thanks to his relentless pursuit of privacy.
PARKER: Politics is bloody enough without posturing the hunt
Sure, he's got the jutting jaw and centerfold looks. He's got the truck. But does Scott Brown kill his own meat?
PARKER: Scott Brown won Mass. by appealing to everyone
WASHINGTON -- There will be much harrumphing and punditry in the next few days about the meaning of Scott Brown's victory and his phenomenal campaign for Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat.
PARKER: Too soon for a pioneer to hang up her column
I confess to feeling only slightly more rational than "Misery's" Kathy Bates.
PARKER: Political bases both seeing Obama as foe
Perhaps it is the spirit of the season, but my empathy receptors are in overdrive for poor Barack Obama. All he wanted for Christmas was a health care reform bill, and all he got was a lousy insurance industry bailout that few can love.
PARKER: China's cold reality of forced abortions
One of the few incontrovertible assertions one can reasonably make is that no one supports forced abortion.
PARKER: The story of how the news will survive
Each time another report surfaces about the decline of newspapers, I feel like a death row inmate counting the warden's footsteps.
Life and basketball not always about equality
As if President Barack Obama didn't have enough on his plate with health care and Afghanistan, he's now faced with the problem that can't be solved: Women.
PARKER: Life and basketball not always about equality
As if President Barack Obama didn't have enough on his plate with health care and Afghanistan, he's now faced with the problem that can't be solved: Women.
Obama takes the path of reefer sanity
In an act of merciful sanity, the Obama administration has made good on its promise to stop interfering with states that allow the medical use of marijuana. Clink-clink, hear-hear, salud, cheers, et cetera, et cetera.
PARKER: Obama takes the path of reefer sanity
In an act of merciful sanity, the Obama administration has made good on its promise to stop interfering with states that allow the medical use of marijuana. Clink-clink, hear-hear, salud, cheers, et cetera, et cetera.
Republican women, hear them roar
As the Republican Party continues its pilgrimage through the desert, its leaders may be missing the oasis for the vale of tears.
Miscarriage of propriety
For those whose lives revolve primarily around real people in real time and real space, hurry, go hide.
The world is a fire hydrant
In keeping with his campaign promise to talk to America's enemies without precondition, Barack Obama plans to turn his charms on Burma's military junta.
An apostate interview
WASHINGTON - No one was more delighted by the recent ACORN pimp 'n' prostitute, hidden-camera sting than Marcel Reid, the former ACORN board member who was booted in summer 2008 when she tried to examine the organization's books.
Racially tainted actions tough to call on all sides
Charges of racism these past several days, from op-ed pages to Jimmy Carter's interpretation of Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst, are proving ... complicated.
Perchance to duel?
WASHINGTON - Not so long ago, Rep. Joe Wilson's verbal assault on the president - "You lie!" - might have produced a much different outcome.
Jolted by Joe's uncouth shout
South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson seems to have set a precedent Wednesday night when he called the president a liar during a joint session of Congress.
For a black Republican, silence is loud
COLUMBIA, S.C. - When people think of South Carolina, they think of ... I know, Comedy Central. Really, shouldn't Jon Stewart send South Carolinians a cut of his pay?
Defusing the Google bomb
WASHINGTON
Time to bury the Hitler nonsense
Midway through the month's town hall meetings on health care, it seems the shark has jumped the shark - and even Hitler must be sick of himself.
An organic approach to health care reform
Now is the time for all good capitalists to shop at Whole Foods.
Some slopes really are slippery
WASHINGTON
