What does one do if one wants to read a local paper but the only option has a strong liberal slant on most news, a truly sophomoric editorial page, and a political cartoonist, albeit with talent, who routinely activates one’s gag reflex? My approach is to briefly scan most of the news, skip most of the op-eds, glance only briefly at the cartoon, read the sports, and hope that declining circulation leads to significant change before it’s too late. I then read The Wall Street Journal.
Author Archives: SEH
Dustin Johnson will rise again
Dustin Johnson and his caddie erred in judgment while under enormous pressure on the 18th hole of the final round of a major golf championship. One of them should have been aware that the landing spot of Johnson’s tee-shot could have been one of the thousands of bunkers on the course, thus prohibiting him from grounding his club. That being said, that the PGA permitted fans to trample in and stand in such ill-defined bunkers is by far the greater failure.  The bunkers outside of the ropes should have been declared “waste bunkers,” which would not prohibit a player from grounding his club.  Let’s hope that the organizations learns from this fiasco.
Mr. Johnson would appear to have the type of personality that will allow him to move ahead without undue damage. He certainly won’t make the same mistake again. He’s an exciting young player of the sort that the game really needs.
Bill O’Reilly loses it on health insurance
Millions of viewers got to hear Bill O’Reilly demonizing the health insurance industry in his “Talking Points” tonight. His diatribe was incoherent and full of errors and distortions. Apparently he became upset when his health insurance rates went up between 10 and 15 percent. Since his family probably didn’t have any major issues, he assumed that the only answer could be greedy health insurers jacking up his rates in response to Obamacare.
Mr. O’Reilly is usually arrogant and sometimes pompous. When he is uninformed, too, the outbursts are hard to take. His health care rant ranks right up there with his diatribes against oil companies. He doesn’t know much about either market.