When I need to work up my nerve to write a tough column, I try to think of myself as Emma Peel in a black leather catsuit.

For two centuries, the South has feared a takeover by blacks or the feds. In Obama, they have both.

It is men's worst fear, personally and professionally, that women will pin the sin on them.

If you're famous enough, the rules don't apply.

Military guys are rarely as smart as they think they are, and they've never gotten over the fact that civilians run the military.

Everybody is continuously connected to everybody else on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Reddit, e-mailing, texting, faster and faster, with the flood of information jeopardizing meaning. Everybody's talking at once in a hypnotic, hyper din: the cocktail party from hell.

Just because digital technology makes connecting possible doesn't mean you're actually reaching people.