Articles by By Stan Latreille

Mr. Obama, that sound you hear is Fox News licking its chops

What’s wrong with the White House?

How did it fall into the trap of enhancing the ratings of Fox News by attacking the network and ordering its top officials to boycott it?

It’s almost as if a Fox operative had infiltrated the White House and triggered a plan to send Fox’s Nielsen ratings not merely through the roof (they’re already there) but into the stratosphere. One can almost hear Fox licking its chops.

Criminals: Doing justice in an unfair world

John Kennedy once famously said that life is unfair. He was speaking of the call up of reservists during the Berlin crisis of 1961 when the Soviets tested the young president by threatening West Berlin.

Kennedy was correct of course, but he knew only the half of it. A day spent in the criminal courts of our nation is an education in just how unfair life really is.

Marriage, Britney & Finding Your Bliss

Britney Spears, Malcolm Muggeridge, Pastor Timothy Keller.

Lumping those three together might sound almost as outrageous as mentioning the names of Chairman Mao and Mother Teresa in the same breath, which is exactly what one politician did the other day.

I came up with my three names in connection with one of our sink-or-swim institutions—marriage. These days it looks as if marriage is sinking more than swimming. That's a shame because marriage is one of life's great adventures.

Should We Americans Become More European?

For all our wonderful diversity today, there is something ineradicably European about Americans.

I made a point of watching Sarah Palin make her debut on the Oprah show the other day. In her appearance on the stage with the Queen Bee, she was bright, vivacious and articulate. Of course, nothing of substance was discussed, so we learned little of her grasp of the issues, which was the burning question after the 2008 election.

Time will tell, but I have one nagging question: Why do some people breathe fire at the mere mention of her name?

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row

Obama faces his moment of truth in time of war

Every President sooner or later faces a moment of truth. It is a true test of political courage.

To do what is best for the country, he must at some point make a decision that offends his base, the very people who worked so hard and spent so much money to get him elected. They saw him as their messiah, and now they will view him as Judas.

Barack Obama faced that moment. He passed the test of courage.

To think that just a few days ago I stood at the window, almost foaming at the mouth, ready to hurl my computer through the glass onto the pavement below.

Today I sit slumped in my leather easy chair, exhausted but exuberant. I can hardly believe it. I have met the enemy and he is mine. I dealt with the federal government, and I actually came out ahead.

How does $1,750 sound?

It is amazing how the prospect of the gallows will focus the mind.

Dr. Samuel Johnson wasn’t thinking of Barack Obama when he expressed that idea, but its timeless truth may very well explain Obama’s Nobel speech earlier this month.

Is it possible that President Obama took a good look at the real world as he agonized over sending more troops to Afghanistan? Did he see the evil people out there scheming to commit mass murder on American shores? Did he realize that our good will alone will not soften the hearts of Al Qaeda or Iran or North Korea?

Jesus, the man who just won't go away

Hark! Could those be the herald angels singing?

If so, there must be something unconstitutional about it. After all, I am standing in a shopping mall, and this year there is something decidedly different about the music that floods the senses with the subliminal message to buy, buy, buy.

Amazingly, after years of serenading us with songs about Rudolph, Santa Baby (Eartha Kitt), or White Christmas, we are now treated to sacred music like “Silent Night,” “Once Upon a Midnight Clear,” and “O Come All Ye Faithful.” I even heard “Ave Maria” in one store.