Author: Michael M. Bates

Last month the president of the Philippines visited Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. She gave him a copy of a law she signed recently, one that ends the death penalty in her country. “Well done,” His Holiness …

He’s just a normal, average, typical 12-year-old boy. If the normal, average, typical 12-year-old boy has the world’s longest-reigning dictator drop by every year for his birthday, that is.

At the Episcopal Church Convention earlier this month, Bishop Gene Robinson said something astounding. He declared, “The gay agenda is Jesus Christ.”

Illinois Senator Barack Obama has a brilliant future. The media, Democratic activists, fat cat donors and many John and Jane Q. Publics see something special in him. Described adoringly as a superstar, he does nothing to damper speculation …

Ann Coulter drives liberals nuts. The late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi didn’t qualify for rhetoric as harsh as that directed at the blond, but certainly never bland, pundit.

The oldest baby boomers are turning 60 this year. Anyone mouthing that twaddle about 50 being the new 30 hasn’t checked out my medicine cabinet. I could regale you with mesmerizing details of assorted aches, pains and maladies, …

MySpace.com is described as an Internet site devoted to social networking. Any rational adult who’s spent more than a few minutes on MySpace might well conclude that it, like much of cyberspace, appeals to the lowest common denominator.

Mrs. Clinton is playing it coy. For the time being, she says, she’s just running for re-election to the Senate. Plans for a presidential race aren’t yet stirring through her pretty little head.

Floyd Patterson, who died last week at 71, isn’t considered one of the greatest heavyweight champions. He might well be remembered, though, as one of the best men ever to hold the crown. My guess is that would …

Senator Joseph Biden is running for president. The man whose platform may include making the world safe for hair plugs won rave reviews for last week’s speech in South Carolina, a venue not commonly frequented by Delaware Democrats. …

Diann Burns, Chicago’s highest paid television news reader, and her husband recently built a $3 million mansion in the swank Lincoln Park area. Monday’s Chicago Sun-Times reported the couple is now suing the contractor for inferior work. Disputes …

The war on terror. Illegal immigration. Iraq. Government leaks. Dick Cheney’s shooting accident. All pale in comparison to the crisis du jour: the cost of gasoline.

You think Tom Cruise hopping up and down on Oprah’s couch was as silly as it can get? You must have missed the talk show queen’s recent program about people living on low wages. Claiming that 30 million …

“We are not criminals,” was constantly intoned at rallies around the country Monday. That’s nonsense. People who break the law to enter the United States are by definition criminals. Even if, as at the Washington rally televised …