The Cortez Journal

more Cagle Cartoons

• Safe havens and evil

Once again it happens with sickening suddenness — a jolting shock that alters and cruelly mocks our assumption of “normalcy.”

On a weekend when the news cycle focused on North Korea’s rising threat, the struggle to enact gun control and a dumb written comment about the murdered-by-the-Nazis Anne Frank by...

• Sequestration shows failure of America's political class

An old vaudeville joke went like this: "Do I look like an idiot? Do I look like a jerk who doesn't know what's going on? Do you think I'm dumb? Don't answer that!"

• Fiscal cliff deal led to sequestration

I believe President Obama genuinely opposes the sequestration spending cuts now going into effect. I don't believe the cynics who think he secretly welcomes the spending cuts as long as he can blame them on Republicans.

• The 2013 Political Animal Awards

Hey! You! Yes, you. Sorry. Just trying to get your attention to impart an important warning here. For the next couple weeks, it's imperative all you good folks out there stay alert and keep your wits about you. Remove the earbuds, no texting while walking, and you'd be well-advised to brandish a stainless steel umbrella on the street because it's...

• The competition for the GOP's soul

Will the Republican Party's 2012 national rout have an impact? Will it become more a moderate (excuse the "dirty" word) conservative party that tries to inch back to George W. Bush's stated goal of a more "compassionate conservatism" that would appeal to growing, Democratic-inclined demographics? As Tony Soprano said: "Fuhgeddaboudit!"

• Paying down our debt

Scott Soucy believes you and I can pay down the $16 trillion national debt voluntarily. Twenty years in the Navy and Army have instilled in this nuclear engineer the acuity and perseverance to get the job done with unflinching enthusiasm in the face of snarling skeptics, including myself.

• The best, worst and most of 2012

Here's my annual list looking at 2012:

• Merry Christmas to all

This may be my favorite Christmas season yet. I've finally gotten to the point where I'm not trying to meet anyone's expectations, especially my own.
As a child I wanted to make sure I lived up to what was expected and worried about how to get a gift for each of my four siblings, my best friend Paula and my parents.

• Yes, Virginia, hyperpartisanship will pass

DEAR COLUMNIST: I am 13 years old and in the 8th grade.

• In the debates, showmanship wins

The consensus on the third Presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is that Obama won. And the three debates in a country that increasingly views politics as a kind of political professional wrestling could prove to be seen as milestones.