http://www.picayuneitem.com en-us Copyright CNHI All Rights Reserved. 5 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 09:58:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_084095907.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_084095907.html The rough treatment Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is giving Sen. Barack Obama may be good, real-world training if he becomes the Democratic presidential nominee and gets elected, but in the meantime she’s helping Republican Sen. John McCain. Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:49:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_077165411.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_077165411.html What was he thinking of? That was the first question that came to mind when the story of New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with a prostitution ring was reported in the media. Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:26:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_058122657.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_058122657.html People on the left often use other countries as examples of things that we should do. If other countries have a government-run medical system, then we should have one too, they say. If other countries control prices, then we should control prices — or so the reasoning goes. Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:54:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_021115500.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_021115500.html It is becoming increasingly and painfully clear that voters in both parties are having a hard time settling on a front runner. Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:05:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_351120645.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_351120645.html “History,” Napoleon remarked, “is a lie agreed upon.” This bit of wisdom is superbly illustrated by the conventional wisdom concerning the Communist Party of the United States of America. Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:30:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_330093133.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_330093133.html It’s no exaggeration to say that the establishment media’s initial response to the “blogosphere” was panic. The idea of mere citizens talking back to the press was unsettling to Washington media celebrities. Pundits who’d exhibited no qualms about the sordid imaginings of, say, the American Spectator or the Wall Street Journal editorial page, recoiled in horror at online mockery. It was laugh-out-loud funny to see a Washington Post reporter infamous for treating Kenneth Starr’s backstairs leaks like holy writ make a show of pretending the now-defunct Web site mediawhoresonline.com had literally accused her of prostitution. How the system had always worked was this: They dished it out, everybody else had to take it. Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:17:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_303101854.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_303101854.html So why is Rudy Giuliani — a thrice-married, pro-choice, Italian Catholic from New York — the leading candidate in a party that has moved steadily to the South, the West and the Right? Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:01:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_278100228.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_278100228.html On page 28 of last Sunday’s New York Times, right opposite the page where the obituaries were, at the very bottom was a news item almost exactly the size of a 3-by-5 card. Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:35:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_269123627.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_269123627.html Memorial services were held Saturday, September 22, 2007 in the Resurrection Life Worship Center for Harry Ward Samson, Jr., 86, of Carriere, who passed away Saturday, September 22, 2007 in Picayune. Wed, 19 Sep 2007 12:33:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_262123415.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_262123415.html With former Sen. Fred Thompson’s official declaration of his candidacy, the race for the Republican presidential nomination has now assumed the shape that seems likely to characterize it right down to the finish line. Conceivably some new and unexpected contender could still enter the contest and win it, as Wendell Willkie did in 1940, but the odds against such a development are high. Some observers, noting that the national political conventions won’t be held until the late summer of 2008, argue that there is still time for a surprise. Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:23:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_256092315.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_256092315.html Congress returned to town this week with its poll ratings even lower than President Bush’s. That’s because nearly all the public ever sees is congressional leaders fighting and accomplishing nothing. Sat, 08 Sep 2007 12:37:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_251123818.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_251123818.html The bitter but unmistakable truth about Iraq is this: From the vaunted “Petraeus Report” onward, U.S. policy will have one overriding purpose, deflecting blame for the ongoing catastrophe everywhere but where it belongs — on President Bush and Vice President Cheney. Bush remains incapable of accepting responsibility, Cheney of admitting error. All the rest is misdirection. Anybody who imagines differently hasn’t been paying attention. Sun, 02 Sep 2007 19:46:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_245194455.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_245194455.html It is with great regret that we have decided to remove the Community Forum feature from our web site effective Monday, September 3. There are several reasons we have decided to do this. Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:27:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_242102501.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_242102501.html In theory, the integrity of American democracy is protected by the vigilant watchdogs of our national news media, seeking constantly to illuminate the truth without fear or favor. In practice, many citizens understand, our celebrity Washington press corps too often performs in ways having more to do with personal (and institutional) ambition and unspoken agendas than informing the public. Alas, the temptations of TV punditry — wealth, fame and social status — have eroded journalism’s professional standards to the point where they scarcely exist. Sat, 04 Aug 2007 18:21:00 +0000 http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_216182244.html http://www.picayuneitem.com/opinion/local_story_216182244.html e have some strife going on in the Sullivan household.The cats overheard Nola talking to me the other day and they have a few things to say in response.The long-suffering Buddy let senior cat Rosie, the grandkitty, and junior cat Tiger, the church cat, do most of the talking, especially Rosie. He commented at the outset that he couldn’t possibly get in a word edgewise once they got started anyway.Boy, did they have a lot to say. I’m sure everyone in the neighborhood heard all the caterwauling.