Opinions and Other Views from the Chicago Sun-Times

otherviews

Building better city schools

During my campaign for mayor, people would often ask me why I wanted the job. Given all the challenges facing our city, I understood their skepticism. After one year in office, I don’t hear that question any more. I hope people can tell that I …Read More
Romney is inconsistent on topic of gay marriage

Last Thursday, the day after President Barack Obama finally endorsed gay marriage, his campaign released a video that faults his presumptive Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, for not doing likewise. “President Obama is moving us forward,” the ad says. “Mitt Romney would take us back.” In …Read More
Violence Against Women Act needs strong reauthorization vote

Since 1994, the Violence Against Women Act has strengthened communities and provided critical, life-saving support to victims of violence. It has helped millions of victims move from crisis to stability and has saved taxpayers millions in averted societal costs. Unfortunately, for the first time in …Read More

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Small leaders vs. big problems

It is twilight in America. We stumble in the gloom. Our leaders do not lead. They scuttle. Some say the coming election will be about the economy, stupid. I wish. Pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV, click on a radio, check your Twitter …

Nurses push tax on trades to help sick

Of all the street actions leading up to the NATO summit, the one that might seem most perplexing is a nurses’ rally for a tax on securities trades. Financial markets are pretty remote from hospital bedsides, you might think. Why would nurses get mixed up …

Today’s GOP: You can’t reason with crazy

After the comprehensive failures of President George W. Bush, conservatives faced a hard choice: rethink or go crazy. For too many, the election of Barack Obama appears to have made it a no-brainer. Millions have chosen the comforts of delusion, envisioning the ordinary give-and-take of …

CPS teachers are schools’ backbone

I entered the classroom as a teacher for the first time almost 26 years ago, and I still feel the same rush of excitement every time I step into a school. Over the last year, I’ve visited dozens of schools throughout our district and have …

Closing 2 adult, juvenile prisons is the right move

Despite a drop in crime and the need to close a multibillion-dollar budget hole, politics again threaten to derail plans to cut spending on prisons. Bowing to pressure by those opposed to closing any state facilities to save money, a legislative commission rebuffed Gov. Pat …

Bias isn’t to blame for wage gap

Politics, it has been said, is the skilled use of blunt objects. Perhaps predictably, given the salience of women’s issues this election season, Rachel Maddow recently launched one of the most nuance-resistant blunt objects —the gender gap — into the election fray. She should have …

Ryan right to talk of morality of reforms

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, provoked angry pushback when he claimed that not only is his proposed revamp of the U.S. budget fiscally sound but morally sound. In a Christian Broadcasting Network interview, Ryan said he drew inspiration from his …

Mitt can’t beat Obama at optics

It’s good to be president. True, you get blamed for stuff. But if you are smart, you control events far more than events control you. Take campaign optics. The optics of a political event not only establish context and shape meaning, but people remember the …

CTU’s reckless strike talk is bad for Chicago’s kids

For much of the last year, while parents, community leaders and policymakers have been focused on bringing much-needed improvements to the Chicago Public Schools, the teachers union has been not-so-secretly planning to hold our city — and our schoolchildren — hostage by calling for a …

Abused wife stands her ground, gets 20 years

‘I got five baby mammas, and I put my hands on every last one of them except for one,” Rico Gray confessed during a November 2010 deposition. “The way I was with women . . . they had to walk on eggshells around me.” He …

Do forest preserves need a separate police force?

The Cook County Forest Preserve District is a mixed bag. On one hand, the “woods” are often associated with the seedy underbelly of the region, a place where bodies are dumped, pets are abandoned and anonymous encounters play out. On the other hand, there are …

Verdict: Johnny Edwards is despised

Johnny Reid Edwards — he changed his name to John only when he became a lawyer and did not wish to diminish the dignity of that profession — was born June 10, 1953, in Seneca, S.C. When he was in junior high school, the family …

Why Trayvon’s killer should be acquitted

Critics of Florida’s self-defense law object to its recognition of a right to “stand your ground” in public places, which eliminated the duty to retreat from an assailant. Yet many of these critics seem to believe they have a duty to stand their ground and …

Intersection of religion, politics isn’t always right

Here’s a newspaper headline that might induce a disbelieving double take: “Christians more likely to be left-wing and have liberal views on immigration and equality.” Hard to believe, right? Well, it’s true — only not here in America, but in the United Kingdom. That headline, …