Articles filed under Commentary

• Retirement plan different from savings plan May 22, 2013 12:00 AM
  Guest Columnist Louis W. Kosiba: The current effort in the Illinois General Assembly to “reform” the state-funded pension systems is not really about pensions. It’s really about the state budget, and where the state of Illinois wishes to spend your tax dollars.
  

   
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  Cruz finds redemptionMay 22, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Ruben Navarette: A couple of weeks ago, in a partisan jab, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (a Democrat) accused Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (a Republican) of being “anti-immigration.” This was an odd accusation to level at someone whose personal hero is his father, Rafael, who immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1957.
  

   

• Baseless fears of Common Core May 21, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Michael Gerson: In fighting the Common Core, some Tea Party activists have made common cause with elements of the progressive education blob that always resist rigor, measurement and accountability. This alliance increasingly constitutes the mediocrity caucus in American politics. Localism is an important conservative principle, but so is excellence. And the measure of a successful education policy is the demonstrated presence of actual education.
  

   

• How Mitzie got her gate May 20, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Richard Cohen: It was only when they put the cuffs on her and led her out of the Cincinnati Federal Office Building that she finally realized how much trouble she was in. Her husband, in one of his rare sober moments, had urged her to get a lawyer, and her neighbor, the know-it-all with the snowblower, urged her to leave the country. But she had a touching faith in America and she felt that sooner or later everyone would understand how a big federal office works — or, actually, doesn't. Instead, there she was doing the perp walk, cameras clicking, reporters shouting questions: "Mitzie, Mitzie," they implored. This is how Mitziegate was born.
  

   

• Carol Stream T-shirt guy’s work underscores our Business missionMay 19, 2013 12:00 AM
  Have you heard the one about the Carol Stream guy who invented the combo Bulls-Blackhawks playoffs T-shirt? You will soon, says Jim Davis, news director for the DuPage and Fox Valley editions.
  

   

• Government’s heavy hand May 19, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Michael Gerson: Republicans are fully capable of overreaching in strategy and philosophy — making every disagreement with President Obama into an article of impeachment and conveying a disdain for government itself. Perhaps this is what Obama hopes will happen if he baits the GOP. But this would not solve the nation's problem. We need a federal government that is limited, respected and effective within its proper bounds. And none can call this the Obama legacy.
  

   

• Not such strange bedfellows May 17, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: [No Paragraph Style]NewsBreaking news: Conservative organizations suddenly have found common cause with one of their favorite objects of contempt — the benighted Mainstream Media. Or as the Tea Party queen and former Alaska governor likes to put it, the "lamestream media." In a twist of irony, the two groups have coalesced around a common enemy: the U.S. government.
  

   

• Why you should care about secret subpoena of APMay 16, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Jim Slusher: The problem with things like the Justice Department's broad and secret subpoenas of press agencies isn't that they make reporters' jobs more difficult. The problem is that they make your job more difficult.
  

   

• Plan B pill an important option May 16, 2013 12:00 AM
  A Schaumburg letter to the editor: This is in response to Kathleen Parker's column of May 6, "Plan B ruling is an affront to parenting." Sorry, Parker, but the affront to parenting is not the ruling allowing Plan B on the pharmacy shelves accessible to teenagers. The affront comes with the kids having sex — and unprotected sex at that.
  

   

• The IRS needs an audit May 15, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Michael Gerson: The practices already admitted by the IRS were not political insensitivity; they were political corruption. They amounted to an intrusive, ideologically targeted federal investigation of an American political movement.
  

   

• Symptoms of Benghazi Syndrome May 15, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Richard Cohen: In the end, it all comes down to an irrational and absolutely rabid dislike of Obama that so clouds judgment that utterly preposterous statements are uttered, usually within the precincts of the Fox News studios. This, as you might have guessed, is classic Benghazi Syndrome. There is no known cure.
  

   

• People who help make America strong May 14, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Donna Brazile: American character. We need people of good character — regardless of politics or profession. I'm proud of Charles Ramsey. Even with his flaws and troubled past, he makes me proud to be an American. Amanda Berry, 6-year-old Jocelyn, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Charles Ramsey — these are the people America is made of.
  

   

• Benghazi redacted May 14, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: We are supposed to accept the conclusions about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, despite congressional testimony last week suggesting that significant efforts were made to camouflage those mistakes. As Democrats and Republicans alike know all too well: It's always the cover-up.
  

   
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  Nekritz: Time to do the right thing over the easy thing May 12, 2013 12:00 AM
  Guest Columnist Elaine Nekritz: We cannot stay on this path, and that is why SB 1 is so important. It will save us more than $1 billion in our immediate pension payment, cut about $30 billion off our massive unfunded debt of nearly $100 billion and, over the next 30 years, reduce more than $150 billion off what we pay for pensions.
  

   
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  Morrison: We must rethink old ideas about retirement May 12, 2013 12:00 AM
  Guest columnist Tom Morrison: With state Rep. Jeanne Ives, I've introduced House Bill 3303 that provides a clear path to modernize our pension systems by moving to a defined contribution plan. Private and public entities have embraced these plans because they are sustainable and better guarantee retirement security for all.
  

   
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  Klickna: Coalition plan is fair, effective, constitutional May 12, 2013 12:00 AM
  Guest columnist Cinda Klickna: Even SB 1's backers don't claim it will survive a court challenge. Their reaction is, "Let's find out." That irresponsible approach to public policy caused the mess that Illinois is dealing with now. We have to be smart and pass constitutional bills.
  

   
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  Maybe Americans agree about more than they know May 11, 2013 12:00 AM
  Democrat Barack Obama is on track to become the most polarizing president in nearly seven decades of Gallup records. His predecessor, Republican George W. Bush, held the distinction previously, signaling a trend.
  

   

• The fog on Benghazi May 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  
  

   

• The perils of self-publishing May 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnists Steve and Cokie Roberts: Every journalist in the world has made mistakes, including us. Many of them. It goes with the territory. But we still have an obligation to minimize those mistakes, to aim toward accuracy, to follow strict standards of professionalism.
  

   

• Are you (fill in the blank) enough? May 10, 2013 12:00 AM
  Columnist Kathleen Parker: Rather than insist that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz fall in line, shouldn't we be celebrating a clear victory for true diversity? That is, diversity of thought. Here we have two conservative Republicans of Hispanic origin who have different views on an important issue. Wasn't this always the point of our grand American experiment?