Sweeping of the House
Some of us do it every spring, but now all of us who are registered voters have the opportunity to do it on Tuesday, Nov. 4. It’s time to clean the house — the House of Representatives — as all 435 are up for reelection. During this extended election year, we’ve been continually serenaded with the tune of “change.” Change can be a catalyst for opportunity. and such an opportunity is now upon us to turn such political rhetoric into reality by doing our part in voting out the incumbents. We the people can transform our government by simply not reelecting politicians who fail to act as stewards for our interest.

Why aren’t more women supporting Sarah Palin?
American presidential lore is littered with stories of log cabins and reading by candlelight. But that mythical era of Americana is long gone, or is it? Enter Sarah Louise Palin. She may not have been weaned on the prairie or educated in a one-room schoolhouse, but she does hunt for moose and hails from our continent’s last frontier, Alaska.

Mother of all bailouts
It is tragic when you need a scorecard to keep track of all the financial institutions that have gone belly up on Wall Street.

What’s in a middle name?
Perhaps the most un-American phrase anyone can say is: You can’t say that.

Olympic free agency
The Olympic Games in China are over, but in reality the games never end. The quest for medals is a pastime within itself — a contest where now the participants can change countries as fast as they can change uniforms.

Of one-liners, pay grades and Winnie the Pooh
Just when you thought it was safe to read the op/ed page again, a politician who aspires one day to be president of the United States says something foolish. Surprised?

The evolving character of politics
This is certainly a historic time not only for political ideology, but American history. This Thursday, Aug. 28, some 45 years from the day of Martin Luther King Jr’s, “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Barack Obama will be nominated as the Democratic Party’s candidate for president of the United States.

Sign of the times
School budgets and their ensuing property taxes can drive you crazy. In Chicago, they have taken it where no school director around these parts will ever be driven to. In June, the city’s public-school system awarded a 2008 Dodge Caliber to a 12-year-old girl. The car was her gift for perfect school attendance.