In lieu of those checks and balances central to our legal system, non-citizens face an executive that is now investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and jailer or executioner. In an Orwellian twist, Bush's order calls this Soviet-style abomination 'a full and fair trial.'

The perfect Christmas gift for a sportscaster, as all fans of sports clichés know, is a scoreless tie.

Some handsome and ambitious men believe they are above all morality, and a woman's virtue becomes a mere challenge to them.

Never look for the story in the 'lede.' Reporters are required to put what's happened up top, but the practiced pundit places a nugget of news, even a startling insight, halfway down the column, directed at the politiscenti. When pressed for time, the savvy reader starts there.

Carter is the best President the Soviet Union ever had.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home, when he was British Foreign Secretary, said he received the following telegram from an irate citizen: "To hell with you. Offensive letter follows."

Cast aside any column about two subjects. It means the pundit chickened out on the hard decision about what to write about that day.