Connie Schultz from Creators Syndicate

Hillary's Loss Is Not Women's Failure for 06/08/2008

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Last week, I gave my daughter a small plaque painted with the words of a Japanese proverb.

It was a mother's gift to celebrate her new apartment and to remind her that she is ready for whatever life throws at her. I couldn't help but think, though, that the six little words at its center were a potent reminder for me, too, in these days following the primary election defeat of Hillary Cl ...

Updated: Sun Jun 08, 2008

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Our Roots Are Made for Walking for 06/11/2008

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

One of the best ways to discover America is on foot, one sidewalk at a time.

Think about it. You walk out the door, and there are you are, crossing paths with God knows who, from neighbors you've known for years to total strangers you never would have lain eyes on if you hadn't put shoes to pavement.

And you never know what conversations will erupt from running into a fellow human ...

Updated: Wed Jun 11, 2008

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Democracy Needs the Wagging Tongue for 06/15/2008

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Whenever somebody tries to ban talk of politics at get-togethers, it's all I can do to suppress a groan.

What could be better fodder for lively discussion than our relationship with our country?

Granted, these are often difficult conversations, but why wouldn't they be? Most of us have conflicted affection for America. How better to hash out our theories than to put to words what ...

Updated: Sun Jun 15, 2008

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Working-Class Viewers Lost One of Their Own for 06/18/2008

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A lot of famous journalists and politicians have been weighing in on the death of Tim Russert, but lost in this media fest of mourning are the voices of those who made him famous.

That would be his millions of viewers — most of them regular Americans, many of them sharing Russert's working-class roots. To many of them, Russert was one of their own.

"I met Timmy many, ma ...

Updated: Wed Jun 18, 2008

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Staff Infections of the Campaign Kind for 06/22/2008

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

During a political race, a staff person's good intentions often not only will pave the road to campaign hell but also erect signs that all but scream, "Gotcha Up Ahead" and "YouTube Calamity, Next Right."

Take what happened last week to Barack Obama.

Two campaign volunteers, in separate incidents at a recent event in Detroit, ordered Muslim women wearing head s ...

Updated: Sun Jun 22, 2008

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Seeing a Human Face in a Human Right for 06/25/2008

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva had been in Iraq for all of three hours when he became one of the first Americans injured in the war.

Alva was in a convoy to Basra March 21, 2003, when he stepped on a landmine that broke his right arm and shattered his right leg so badly that it had to be amputated. His hospital bedside quickly became the go-to destination for photo ops with a hero. Presiden ...

Updated: Wed Jun 25, 2008

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Calling All Feminists for 06/29/2008

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Nearly two decades ago, a black professional woman who was a friend shared a heartbreaking secret:

"I wish I had the right to be average," she said. "Just once in a while."

We were sitting at my kitchen table, unwinding over a glass of wine after a long day. She was normally so feisty and full of fight and never one for self-pity. This had to be fatigue talking ...

Updated: Sun Jun 29, 2008

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Another Lesson at the Pump for 07/02/2008

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Gargantuan gas guzzlers on the road sure do bring out the worst in me.

There's just something about standing at the gas pump with my dumpy little car next to someone with a tank bigger than a swimming pool that makes me want to yell, "What on God's green earth could you be thinking?"

It's like watching a remake of "The Little Shop of Horrors." They stick in the ...

Updated: Wed Jul 02, 2008

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Even in Politics, Facts Are Facts for 07/06/2008

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Bill Adair remembers the exact moment he decided that too much of the political coverage was failing the American public.

It was Sept. 1, 2004, and Adair was covering the Republican National Convention as a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times. That evening, he watched as the keynote speaker, Democratic Sen. Zell Miller, stood before the packed convention and accused Sen. John Kerry of ...

Updated: Sun Jul 06, 2008

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Torres' Middle-Age Mojo for 07/09/2008

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

For a brief, but delightful moment, Olympic superstar Dara Torres offered a welcome reminder that, in at least one small way, she's just like the rest of us pickled in middle age.

The 41-year-old swimmer wowed Americans last weekend in winning the women's 50- and 100-meter freestyle events at the Olympic trials. She broke records, too. As soon as she touched the pool's wall, the crowd er ...

Updated: Wed Jul 09, 2008

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Wealthy Waffle on Wiffle Woes for 07/13/2008

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Never say rich people don't have problems.

They do. The challenge is in the diagnosis. So often, the problem they think they have isn't the real problem at all.

Perspective is everything when it comes to evaluating the woes of the wealthy. Kids are good at this. Especially teenagers.

This brings me to Greenwich, Conn., and the current crisis there among some of t ...

Updated: Sun Jul 13, 2008

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Oh, That Clever New Yorker for 07/16/2008

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Oh, if only.

If only I'd known The New Yorker would run a cover depicting Barack Obama as a winking, tunic-garbed Muslim and his wife, Michelle, as an Afro-wearing, AK-47-toting terrorist.

If only I'd known that Barry Blitt's cartoon would show the Obamas fist bumping in an Oval Office where a portrait of Osama bin Laden hangs over the mantel.

If only I'd known that Editor ...

Updated: Wed Jul 16, 2008

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Tipping Policies Are the Customer's Business for 07/20/2008

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Like it or not — and most of us lean toward not — the majority of American restaurants rely on their customers to subsidize servers' wages.

We call this subsidy a tip.

By federal law, restaurants are allowed to pay servers as little as $2.13 an hour. Our tips are supposed to bring them up to at least minimum wage.

Last year, Congress raised the hourly m ...

Updated: Sun Jul 20, 2008

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Customers Have a Bottom Line, Too for 07/23/2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

If the customer is always right, then a lot of restaurant owners are dead wrong when it comes to their tipping policies.

Sunday, I told you about Yours Truly, a restaurant chain in the Cleveland area that now deducts a percentage of the processing fee from tips left on charge cards.

Many restaurant owners argued that this practice is only fair, which means more of them are doing t ...

Updated: Wed Jul 23, 2008

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When the Racism We Hate Comes From People We Love for 07/27/2008

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

A special kind of anguish claws at us when someone we love is also someone who is racist.

It's one thing for a stranger to post a racial slur on a blog or forward a hateful e-mail. The vigilantes who used to hide under white hoods and sheets now cower behind the anonymity of the Internet. They are vile and they are vocal, but they are also easy to dismiss because all we really know about ...

Updated: Sun Jul 27, 2008

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After a Gunman's Rage, Grace for 07/30/2008

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

One of the liberals saved his mother and daughter from gunfire by pushing them under a pew.

Another liberal grabbed her baby to her chest and fell against the door so the shooter couldn't shove it open.

A liberal couple herded children out the back, and another liberal ushered other children to a church next door. Two more liberals jumped the gunman and restrained him until the po ...

Updated: Wed Jul 30, 2008

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Michelle Obama: I'm Still Me for 08/03/2008

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

When you're trying to schedule an interview with Michelle Obama, one of the first things you notice is the time zone she navigates.

Regardless of where you are calling from, you will heed Chicago's Central Daylight Time, which probably is best understood as Malia-and-Sasha Time. They are the young daughters of Barack and Michelle Obama. Every interview, every campaign event for their mot ...

Updated: Sun Aug 03, 2008

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New Generation, New Kind of Daddy for 08/06/2008

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

My son leaned over his plate at the dinner table and softly said, "Could you please move the bread?"

"I'm sorry?" I said.

Andy pointed to the basket of rolls perched on the far corner of the table. "Could you move that, please?"

I looked at him, still confused. He smiled, a bit self-consciously, it seemed.

"I can't see him," he ...

Updated: Wed Aug 06, 2008

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Life Begins (Again) at 90 for 08/10/2008

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Last fall, after Frank Hruby lost his wife of 62 years, his doctor sat him down to talk about his future.

"This could be the beginning of a whole new life, Frank," the doctor said. "You should think about what you want to do."

Hruby was 89. He appreciated the optimism and decided to follow the doctor's orders.

"It was like pulling up the window shad ...

Updated: Sun Aug 10, 2008

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'It Was the Human Thing To Do' for 08/20/2008

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

They were 30 strangers.

Thirty strangers, that's what most of the news reports called them, and every last one of them was minding his or her own business on the streets during another bustling midday in the Bronx, N.Y.

But then something happened, something really awful, and in an instant, 30 strangers decided it was their business to save a life. Just like that, they weren't str ...

Updated: Wed Aug 20, 2008

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