Cable’s Home and Garden Television (HGTV) appears to have a new reality show about what happens when the government buys itself the right to tell you what to do. In theory, anyway. According to HGTV.com, the new show “My House, Your Money” […] reveals what really goes on behind closed doors as prospective homebuyers turn […]
It’s good news or bad news, depending on the headline. Last week, Census Bureau statistics on the percentage of working new mothers who receive paid maternity leave prompted two kinds of stories. There’s the “glass is half full” variety, such as this one from parents.com: “Census Report: Over half of working mothers get paid leave.” […]
Halloween came and went, but Marion Salmon Hedges wasn’t able to hand out the hundreds of dollars worth of candy she purchased for the underprivileged children who annually visit her Manhattan neighborhood. Instead, she has spent the past 10 days in a medically induced coma at New York’s Harlem Hospital Center. Mrs. Hedges was the […]
If my email is any indication, the great divide in our nation is not between the haves and the have-nots, but between the literate and the folks who never learned the difference between there, their and they’re. Trust me, they’re out there, spouting off their strongly held opinions and punctuating their diatribes with veiled threats […]
If there’s one thing virtually everyone can agree on, it’s that bullying is bad. In fact, a recent survey commissioned by Care.com, a caregiver referral company, revealed that bullying is the No. 1 concern of parents of school-aged children — even more so than the fear of kidnapping. We’re all more aware of, and alarmed […]
Call it an occupational hazard, but I can’t look at the Occupy Wall Street protesters without thinking, “Who parented these people?” As a culture columnist, I’ve commented on the social and political ramifications of the “movement” – now known as “OWS” – whose fairyland agenda can be summarized by one of their placards: “Everything for […]
I hate to say it, but watching the various YouTube videos of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests and reading accounts of protesters’ goals and “demands” prompts me to shake my head with a resigned “I told you so.” I’ve been warning this was coming. Recently, Regnery Publishing released my new book, Don’t Let the Kids […]
If you’ve been too busy holding down a job (or two), juggling the demands of a busy family, engaging in community service and occasionally taking the wife and children out for a pizza on a Saturday night, you may not have noticed that several thousand protesters have “occupied” Wall Street, the District and other locations […]
Barely enough time has passed for bologna sandwiches to begin rotting in school lockers, yet the 2011-2012 school year is shaping up to be one of the stinkiest ever, if we’re measuring in episodes of putrid political correctness and radicalism. Already: • A group in Brookline, Mass., is working to ban the Pledge of Allegiance […]
Here’s a pop quiz: What percentage of elementary school children in the District’s public schools is proficient in math? What about reading? What is the proficiency of D.C. high school students in these areas? The answer: less than half. Scores on the 2011 D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System exams showed only about 43 percent of elementary […]
Last week while thousands of children were outfitted in their “Sunday best” attire to attend memorial services for their parents, victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, some children in suburban Boston were learning a different lesson about America. A group in the bedroom community of Brookline was busy advancing its agenda to eradicate […]
Backpack? Check. Transformers lunchbox? Check. Leftist political Kool-Aid? Check. Looks like the school year can begin. This week, millions of American children return to their classrooms. Unfortunately, the material some of them will be forced to study is controversial, to say the least. In keeping with their habit of using our educational system to impose […]
Ok, fess up. Are you a good parent or a bad one? Last week, bad parents were all over the news, so if you weren’t plastered throughout the media for pouring hot sauce down your son’s throat, shaving your daughter’s head for lying, or otherwise terrorizing the little ones in your care, you’re not as […]
Here’s a fact that was not lost on my teenage daughter: The infamous debt-ceiling deal doesn’t actually reduce much of our debt until she finishes high school, graduates from college, and has potentially purchased a minivan and a pair of mom jeans. Did I mention she’s just about to start ninth grade? “Wait,” my daughter […]
Among last week’s troubling headlines: ” ‘Jersey Shore’ scores most-watched season premiere ever: Opener drew 8.8 million total viewers.” Apparently, last Thursday night, overcome with news of our economic woes, millions of us sank into the sofa to escape to Italy with Snooki, the Situation, D.J. Paulie D and the rest of the gang from […]
When my daughter was researching prospective colleges and universities a few years ago, she claimed for a time that her No. 1 choice was a world-famous Jesuit university in the East. A friend, revealing a touch of cradle Catholic cynicism, joked, “I thought you were looking at Catholic schools.” Ba dum ching. Or maybe you […]
I recently heard the first radio ad of the season for school supplies, so it won’t be long before the bell rings and America’s children file back into the classroom for another year. Perfect timing for a pop quiz. Everyone grab a No. 2 lead pencil and join in. Question 1: At the end of […]
Benjamin Franklin said, “Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden, it is forbidden because it is hurtful.” Someone ought to hang that quote in every doorway of every school and office of the Atlanta Public Schools system. Last week’s release by GeorgiaGov. Nathan Deal of an investigative report on widespread cheating within APS on […]
In May, a Toronto couple made international news when they revealed what they’re not revealing: the gender of their baby, Storm. Parents Kathy Witterick and David Stocker claim they want their baby to grow up free of the constraints gender identification implies. That way, despite the fact that the child is anatomically well-defined, Storm can […]
Earlier this month, NBC reminded us of the power of good television. In the opening segment launching its coverage of the final round of the U.S. Open Golf Championship, NBC aired a stunning montage of images meant to conjure a sense of pride and patriotism for America, a nod to the tournament’s location at Congressional […]
For years, I have arduously avoided the one topic that most certainly will incite a reader riot. However, I find I can stay silent no longer. The issue? Spanking. As hard as I am trying to fulfill a promise made to myself made years ago while sitting in front of a blank computer screen fighting […]
It must be said: Rep. Anthony D. Weiner is what’s wrong with America today. Once again, when confronted with behavior that clearly speaks to the character of a man’s heart, we’re being asked to accept that he’s not entirely responsible for his actions because of some unspecified “disorder.” (Maybe narcissism, maybe obsessive-compulsive disorder, maybe chronic […]
I have to confess my initial reaction to the headline was to roll my eyes in contempt for yet another government entity that I assumed was trying to legislate good parenting. After all, it’s a trend that has gained traction of late. Some states are mandating the content of school lunches. Others have laws about […]
You hardly could blame Prince Charles for the raspy voice with which he lectured the students of Georgetown University last week, what with his speech on sustainable food coming just five days after the multimillion-dollar wedding of his son, Prince William, to the charming commoner Kate Middleton. After all, when you’re partying all night with […]
