Thomas Sowell is America's foremost public intellectual and for good reason. His work covers almost every subject imaginable- race, economics, Marxism, ethnic groups, immigration patterns, just to name a few. He is persuasive and provocative and always scintillating. I've read all his books and never been even faintly disappointed. Black Rednecks & White Liberals is no exception.

Religion's crucial role in the lives of many people... is rejected out of hand by the political community, especially the press.

Presidents with strong nerves are decisive. They don't balk at unpopular decisions. They are willing to make people angry. Bush had strong nerves. Clinton, who passed up a chance to eliminate Osama bin Laden, did not. Obama is a people pleaser, a trait not normally associated with nerves of steel.

The only person who was a strong public opponent of the war in Iraq is Barack Obama. The other people weren't. So I can understand why all the left is mad, because they're being shut out.

Ronald Reagan has a story for every occasion. Bill Clinton has an excuse for every occasion.

The coverage of Central America in recent months points up one of the ugly truths about the American press: the better the news, the less of it you get. As the war began to turn against the Communist guerillas in El Salvador, there was a palpable dip in the attention paid to it.

The American people are not as casualty-sensitive as the weenies in the American press are.