Donald Kaul wrote columns for 50 years, beginning with a long stint at the Des Moines Register that made him a household name (in a good way) throughout Iowa. OtherWords distributed his columns from 2001 through July 2012, when he had a heart attack and declared that he needed either a temporary or permanent break. Kaul, who was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary in 1987 and 1999, lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. You can read more about his career in this column.
With unemployment topping 9 percent, the European economy sliding toward an abyss, and Lindsey Lohan posing nude for Playboy, Congress took time out to “reaffirm” In God We Trust as our official national motto.
It’s not fair to ask sacrifices only from those least able to afford it simply because they have the least political power.
Romney adopts a stance of jovial condescension while Perry visibly seethes at his rival.
When you get a chance to have one less Gaddafi in the world, you should take it.
Serving the public trust instead of just chasing profits made the journalism business better in the old days, even without computers.
It’s scary, but I’m starting to agree with my pessimist friend.
College football pretends it’s about boola-boola, but it’s really all about ka-ching ka-ching.
The rich guys are winning–in a rout.
You don’t have to support Stephen Colbert’s Super-PAC to earn this proud distinction.
Likening Social Security to a Ponzi scheme was the least crazy thing Perry said during the recent debate among Republican presidential candidates.
Above all, he brought an elegant sense of aesthetics to an industry that was, up to then, innocent of it.
It’s a grim joke to speak of Labor Day as a celebration of labor.
The Ames Straw Poll is as empty of meaning as a politician’s promise.
With the economy foundering like a man overboard in heavy seas, we’ve attempted to rescue it by throwing it an anchor.
In Washington, adults are playing games that even slow-witted teenagers don’t play anymore.
Commentators who say that the two sides were almost “unable to come to an agreement” in the debt talks are laughable.
Using drugs to help you play a game better isn’t the equivalent of selling crack cocaine to a teenager.
You were right, Dad; they’re all in it together.
Every time Obama tries to make nice with the Republicans he gets hit in the face with a cream pie.
Gov. Rick Perry has expressed sympathy for the right of Texas to secede from the Union.