It is so easy to be wrong-and to persist in being wrong-when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.

When Congress gets through investigating Attorney General Janet Reno, will her agency become known as the Obstruction of Justice Department? The civil rights movement was one of the great moral crusades in the first half of the twentieth century. Unfortunately, in more recent times it has become all too much like those it opposed, demanding racial double standards and even condoning verbal and violent attacks against members of other races.

Many people, including some conservatives, have been very impressed with how brainy the president and his advisers are. But that is not quite as reassuring as it might seem.

The reason so many people misunderstand so many issues is not that these issues are so complex, but that people do not want a factual or analytical explanation that leaves them emotionally unsatisfied. They want villains to hate and heroes to cheer - and they don't want explanations that do not give them that.

Although the big word on the left is 'compassion,' the big agenda on the left is dependency.

Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back.

A passionate commitment to social justice is no substitute for knowing what the hell you're talking about.