By BONNIE ERBE, Scripps Howard News Service
Immigration and the election
Sometimes news stories make me spiral off into outer space. The premise of the story noted below is that the presidential candidates should "talk to" or go out of their way to woo the support of illegal immigrants or, excuse me, undocumented workers.
California leads in movement to ban cruel factory farms
Leave it to California to once again lead the way on one of the most important social issues of our time. This time it's animal cruelty in factory farming. Next month, Californians will have the opportunity to ameliorate conditions for the millions of factory-farmed animals in that state.
McCain from maverick to meltdown
I've been doing internal 180's this whole election season, bouncing from poll to contradictory poll and changing my assessment of which candidate was going to win the White House.
Main Street need to support bail out
To all you "Main Streeters" who protested the federal bailout plan for its lack of accountability and socialization of losses, I have a message for you. I feel your pain, I share your pain, but things are only going to get worse if Americans don't come together and tell their members of Congress to vote for it.
Who benefits from Wall Street wreckage?
Various and sundry authors have taken various and sundry positions on whether the Wall Street wreckage of this week benefits the Obama or McCain campaign more. We don't know yet. We won't even have much of a serious clue until the three-day rolling presidential tracking polls have several days of history behind them.
Palin winning women
Any Democratic Party leader or liberal Democratic feigning surprise at the tidal wave of excitement Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has stoked from among white female voters should strip off the mask. These folks, quite frankly, are getting just what they deserve. They should have seen it coming as clearly as a tsunami.
Palin, pregnancy and the pulpit
Sen. Barack Obama took the high road in refusing to answer reporters' questions about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's pregnant 17-year-old daughter Bristol and the girl's decision to marry the father and have the baby.
No celebration for horses at this celebration
It's that time of the year again when Shelbyville, Tenn., hosts its annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. Let's hope 2008 marks the year when the horses are allowed to celebrate along with the humans by being treated and trained in a humane manner.
Bush environmental policy woeful right to the end
The Bush Administration is almost history. The environmentalists among us were on the verge of conjuring mental images of the Administration heading off into the environmental netherworld. As close as they are to losing power and authority, the President's anti-environment minions at the Interior Department felt compelled to pull yet one more harmful stunt.
Parties switch roles
Is it just me or have the political parties switched roles this election?The normally hapless Democrats have become an imperious, on-message political machine. The habitually martial GOP, which stays on message like drill sergeants stay on G.I.'s, lacks an overarching message this year, to the point where its conservative base is as energized as a turtle.
