OPINION

03/05/2010

Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow: Why own anything?
In many purchases, we don't want the thing per se – we want what it can do for us. You don't crave a lawn mower, you want shorter grass; the desire is not for a refrigerator but for cold, unspoiled milk. Wouldn't renting make more sense than owning?

Point Person: Our Q&A with Lauren Marchetti
As part of her "Let's Move" campaign against childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama wants more children to walk to school. Lauren Marchetti, director of the federal National Center for Safe Routes to School, talks about the realities.

George Will: Self-esteem, self-destruction
The theory that praise, self-esteem and accomplishment increase in tandem is false. Children incessantly praised for their intelligence (often by parents who are really praising themselves) often underrate the importance of effort.

Amity Shlaes: The dangerous growth in public-sector unions
The public is beginning to question the legitimacy of public unions' power because taxpayers know that commitments for worker health care and pensions are busting state budgets all over the country.

Frida Ghitis: Dubai's ties to Iran must be investigated
Attention is slowly moving in a direction the CSI: Dubai team may not like, questions about the role Dubai plays in some of the most sordid happenings in the region. If someone was going to kill Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, why did it happen in Dubai?

Reed Abelson: The cost of doing nothing on health care
If Congress and President Barack Obama fail to overhaul the nation's health care system, everything stays the same, right? Far from it. The unrelenting rise in medical costs is likely to wreak havoc, and pretty much everyone will be affected.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from a pragmatic Starbucks barista to a kid taken to work to a former Dallas mayor.

02/26/2010

Laura Vanderkam: Why recession won't mean lost generation
As economic doldrums drift into a fourth calendar year, pundits debate which groups have been hit hardest. Retirees? Homemakers? Blue-collar men? To this list, another group has been recently added: the young and expensively educated.

Point Person: Our Q&A with James Guthrie
Schools need leaders; that much we know. But are good teachers born or made? And what goes into being a good principal or superintendent? We ask James Guthrie of the George W. Bush Institute at Southern Methodist University.

Mark Davis: Split decision on five GOP ballot props
Texas Republicans, while guiding the fates of incumbents and challengers, also will weigh in on five ballot propositions. They are "non-binding," which could mean "virtually meaningless," but that doesn't mean they won't spark some interest.

Lindsay and Takeyh: How containment could mean war
As Iran relentlessly moves toward acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, calls will grow for the United States to think seriously about how to contain Tehran. But this view draws a false distinction between containment and force.

Maria Poggi Johnson: Late nights at the professor's house
I would be a great deal more productive as a scholar were it not for the constant stream of semi-resident youngsters. But it would be absurd for me to get high-minded about it. I really like them, and I really like having them around.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from a president, a failed presidential candidate and some Olympic figures.

02/19/2010

John McWhorter: It's time to stop saying 'African-American'
Almost one in 10 black people are foreign-born; about one in 30 are from Africa. Which means that they are – you see where I'm going – African-American in the true sense. Certainly a truer sense than Tracy Morgan, Donna Brazile, Jesse Jackson or Mo'Nique.

Cord Jefferson: How illegal immigration hurts black America
Today, with national unemployment hovering around 10 percent and black male unemployment at a staggering 17.6 percent, it seems even less likely that immigrants are filling only those jobs that Americans won't deign to do. Just ask Delonta Spriggs.

Point Person: Our Q&A with pollster Mickey Blum
Skeptical about polls? Wonder how they could be accurate since they didn't poll anyone you know? Convinced that survey questions are skewed? We asked Mickey Blum of New York, long The Dallas Morning News' pollster, for her take.

Clayton McCleskey: A bite-sized portion of immigration reform
Comprehensive immigration reform now seems highly unlikely this year, so divisive there just isn't political will to tackle it. But the contentious debate often overshadows an issue the U.S. can easily address: highly skilled immigration.

Lisa Belkin: Reading between the sheets
Over the years, as a parade of powerful male figures have been caught with women who were usually younger and always less powerful, the question has often been raised: Why don't women gamble their political and personal futures like this?

Anne Applebaum: Is Greek crisis a preview of America's?
I have seen America's future, and it is Greece. The ongoing Greek financial crisis is the same kind of crisis the United States might face a few years from now if we continue to make the same kinds of mistakes the Greeks have made over the last decade.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from a disturbed man with tax problems to a chastened golfer to a senator on his way out of town.

02/12/2010

Norman Ornstein: Actually, it's quite a productive Congress
There seems to be little to endear citizens to their Congress or to the president trying to influence it. Too bad, because even with the wrench thrown in Massachusetts, this Democratic Congress is on a path to become one of the most productive in decades.

Jacob Weisberg: Blame public, not politicians, for this crisis
Many factors could explain why our political paralysis seems to have gotten so much worse, but that list neglects what may be the biggest culprit in our current predicament: the childishness, ignorance and growing incoherence of the public at large.

Point Person: Our Q&A with David C. Wiley
David C. Wiley, a Texas State University professor of health education and chairman of the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, says federally funded, abstinence-only programs share part of the blame when kids don’t get the right message.

Jackie Calmes: No matter how you cut it, deficit is a survivor
There is no easy way to put a big dent in next year's projected deficit of $1.267 trillion, short of a dramatic rise in economic growth that would send new tax dollars cascading into the treasury.

Ruth Marcus: So is it don't ask, don't judge?
Does it matter if the judge hearing the lawsuit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage is gay? Would this interfere with his ability to render an impartial judgment in the case, or the public's confidence that he could decide the case fairly?

Marcus Winters: How to get states to improve school testing
What percentage of Texas' fourth-graders are good readers? The state will tell you that 83 percent met or exceeded its proficiency benchmark. Yet only 30 percent are considered proficient on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from a gubernatorial candidate's 9/11 "truther" views to another's view of Mexicans to a former governor's hand-written hand-prompter.

02/05/2010

Drake Bennett: A freelance work force
The Government Accountability Office estimates that so-called contingent workers – from temps to day laborers to the self-employed to independent contractors – make up nearly a third of the workforce. And forecasters believe that proportion will rise.

Clayton McCleskey: Reach out to Ukraine before Russia does
As Ukrainians go to the polls today to elect a new president, the Obama administration is showing signs it is waking up to the importance of Central and Eastern Europe. It's about time.

Point Person: Our Q&A with Kevin Moriarty
Today’s education debate revolves almost solely around testing, benchmarks and foreign competition. With the focus on results, is there still time in the school day for the arts? Kevin Moriarty of the Dallas Theater Center says there must be.

Louis Uchitelle: Uncle Sam wants you ... to have a job
President Barack Obama has a jobs problem. Fifteen million Americans want work. Few companies want to hire. The burden shifts to the government. What can it do?

Meghan Daum: Medicine, hope and managing death
My mother received excellent care. I'd be the last one to advise someone with even a sliver of a chance of surviving a fatal illness to do anything but pursue the best possible treatment available. That said, my mother didn't have a sliver of a chance.

David Lodge: Salinger, the pre-postmodernist
The life of J.D. Salinger was one of the strangest and saddest stories in recent literary history. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to let the disappointment of the second half of his career overshadow the achievements of the first half.

Jennifer Finney Boylan: Yearning for a world without readers
As a teacher of writing, I frequently hear young authors echo J.D. Salinger's words, that they're writing primarily to satisfy themselves. But to write without any thought of a reader seems creepy to me, the ultimate exercise in self-indulgence.

Talking Points
Some of the week's most interesting comments, from a Texas state senator to a four-star general to a U.S. senator from Alabama.

08/20/2009

Points Summer Book Club

RSS

SMS Alerts

Newsletters

FIND IT

MOST POPULAR