By BONNIE ERBE, Scripps Howard News Service

You must hand it to executives of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, who deserve Olympic gold for turning 180 degrees in record time.

As I sit through and observe the God-smathered GOP presidential primary, I look longingly at Europe, where people can have intellectual, stimulating discussions about religion, atheism and politics. Europe is a place, unlike the U.S., where they don't expect a bolt of lightning to strike down any person who mentions he or she is an atheist.

Will the political genius who invented privatization please step forward so those of us who know what a flop it is can haul out our rotten tomatoes and dispose of them accordingly? Thank you!

Several new books point to the fact that planet wide, wars are becoming scarcer and we as people are becoming less violent as a result.

There is this game that is played every time control of the White House shifts from one party to the other. It probably happens in all federal agencies, but I have followed it most closely at the Department of the Interior. When a Democratic administration is in power, it issues regulations to save more land from development. When a Republican administration is in power.

The economy: friend of or foe to President Barack Obama as he begins his re-election campaign in earnest?

It's a legitimate question because with unemployment as high as it is, Obama will hit another historic milestone if he wins with so many Americans out of work and many of them among the long-term unemployed.

Taking stock of the news events during 2011, as the year fades to a close, I am struck by the number of major stories involving or about women. Some of them shall stand as emblems of progress, others not, but they are all worth a second look.

Taking stock of the news events during 2011, as the year fades to a close, I am struck by the number of major stories involving or about women. Some of them shall stand as emblems of progress, others not, but they are all worth a second look.

Whatever else you may want to say about Michele Bachmann's "serious" candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination, this much is true: she adds a much-needed note of levity to an otherwise "zany" but not very entertaining field.

You must hand it to her. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the first in her position to place women's rights front and center. Even though two women preceded her in that job, one Democrat and one Republican, neither of those women placed much emphasis on women's rights.