Michael M. Bates column
Michael M. Bates has written a weekly column of opinion — or nonsense, depending on your viewpoint — since 1985 for the (southwest suburban Chicago) Reporter Newspapers. Additionally, his articles have appeared in the Congressional Record, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Mensa Journal. He has been a guest on Milt Rosenberg's program on WGN Radio Chicago, the Bruce Elliott show on Baltimore's WBAL, the Jim Sumpter show on the USA Radio Network and the New Media Journal's Blog Radio. As a lad, Mike distributed Goldwater campaign literature and since then has steadily moved further to the Right. He is the author of "Right Angles and Other Obstinate Truths." In 2007, he won an Illinois Press Association award for Original Column.
Subscribe to Michael's columnMichael M. Bates
August 1, 2011
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is an intelligent, insightful man. An example of that came recently when he was asked why he won't hire clerks who have . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 15, 2011
Talk about grim tidings on the debt ceiling. According to the Washington Post:
"Yesterday a worried Treasury Secretary . . . sent a letter to (the) House . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 26, 2010
On September 26, 1960, Senator John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon appeared in the first of what came to be called the Great Debates. How great they . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 20, 2010
It wasn't so long ago that the Grand Old Party was rapidly headed toward becoming the Grand Dead Party. Democratic victories in the House, the Senate, state . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 13, 2010
Glancing at a newspaper in the Age of Obama can be hazardous to your mental — if not physical — health.
Unemployment is rising. For 18 straight months (not . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 4, 2009
CNN's Sanchez Retracts His Claim of a 400 Percent Increase in Presidential Death Threats
On August 28, CNN Newsroom anchor Rick Sanchez shared disturbing . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 22, 2009
When outrage erupted this week over a government panel's recommendation that women have fewer mammograms, health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 20, 2009
"It's like déjà vu all over again," noted philosopher Yogi Berra is credited with saying. And so it is.
A liberal Democratic president has his heart set on . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 19, 2009
Just as the media — with the exception of Larry King — were finally getting over the passing of Michael Jackson came the news that former CBS newsman Walter . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 14, 2009
Cook County board president Todd Stroger has an almost $12,000 lien on his house for unpaid federal taxes. Illinois treasurer Alexi Giannoulias bought a $26,00 . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 12, 2009
If, as Oliver Wendell Holmes claimed, taxes are what we pay for a civilized society, we have become very civilized indeed.
A difficulty is that our tax laws . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 7, 2009
Watching Barack Obama this past week was painful. The new president went out of his way to display his fresh style of leadership. It won rave reviews from . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 1, 2009
CNN's Roland Martin is hosting Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull for the next eight weeks. On Monday's program, Martin clearly demonstrated he's going to have . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 2, 2009
The Reporter, a suburban Chicago newspaper, included on its commentary page last week this editorial announcement:
"The Reporter newspaper regrets to inform . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 21, 2009
It's numbing. The adulation, the elation, the mirth, the idolatry, the reveling in every possible facet of Obamaness. And that's just the response of the . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 14, 2009
Plans are moving forward to complete the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. Known also as the Mob Museum, it will be an interactive . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 7, 2009
Senate majority leader Harry Reid can be such a tease. On Sunday, the Nevada Democrat suggested that Illinois Gov. Blagojevich's appointment of Roland Burris . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 30, 2008
2008 will be known as the year the United States set aside any pretense of free enterprise. A nation that had flourished with the concept of limited government . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 17, 2008
Our president-elect said in 2002: ". . . right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as governor. . ." Obama's White House chief of . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 10, 2008
The head of NBC told an investor conference Monday that his network may have to cut back on its programming. "Can we continue to program 22 hours of prime-time . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 3, 2008
Raul Castro is, at 77, Fidel's kid brother. When Fidel's health forced him to take a break from full-time dictator duties, he installed baby brother as . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 19, 2008
Mrs. Clinton assumed full taunting mode in a January Democratic presidential candidate debate. She aggressively battled "bad" Republican ideas, she told Obama, . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 12, 2008
Author J. M. Barrie gave literature Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up. Government, by encouraging people to not assume the responsibilities of . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 5, 2008
Castro this week described Obama as "more intelligent, cultured and levelheaded than his Republican adversary." The American people agreed. So let the finger . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 29, 2008
It's lamentable that Obama and Biden only tell the truth when people give them money. It was at a San Francisco fundraiser that Obama voiced his belief that . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 22, 2008
An ABC News/Washington Post poll shows more than half the respondents don't think Barack Obama's association with unrepentant 60s terrorist William Ayers is a . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 15, 2008
It looks as though John McCain is respectfully campaigning himself into the footnotes of history. Polls with Barack Obama winning by double digits are an . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 9, 2008
This begins with an apology. Last June a column from your humble servant focused on Barack Obama's refusal, after initially approving the idea, to hold . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 1, 2008
So how did they come up with that $700 billion bailout figure? A Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com last week: "It's not based on any particular data point. . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 24, 2008
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden was interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America last week. With hair plugs set perfectly and dental caps . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 17, 2008
John McCain ran an ad criticizing Barack Obama for supporting sex education for kindergartners. The reaction of Obama and his media sycophants was so . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 10, 2008
Barack Obama maintains he's the candidate of new ideas. When clinching his party's nomination, he boasted that it's "our time to bring new energy and new ideas . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 3, 2008
For readers who might not yet have memorized last week's column, it consisted of observations from the Democratic Convention's first day. My intent was to . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 27, 2008
The first day of the Democratic convention produced fewer attacks than anticipated on the Bush-McCain administration, as it's now called. Maybe Daddy Yankee's . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 20, 2008
Barack Obama wants to be president. Given his authoritarian tendencies, will that be enough for him?
My suspicions were roused last winter when his wife . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 7, 2008
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who passed away this week, meticulously documented Communist oppression in his books. The subject was one with which he was all too . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 30, 2008
When Obamatons aren't renting their shirts or tearing out their hair in sheer ecstasy over his total wonderfulness, they must occasionally speculate about what . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 24, 2008
Last week's poll sponsored by Time magazine and the Rockefeller Foundation found 85 percent of the respondents believe the country is on the wrong track. Time . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 16, 2008
Hillary Clinton can be accused of many things. Stupidity isn't one of them. Waiting in the wings, she's ready to rescue her party if Mr. Wonderful continues . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 10, 2008
Tracking Barack Obama's position on many issues is akin to watching the weather. Stick around a little while and it'll change. He can make a U-turn faster . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 2, 2008
Happy Birthday, America. It's been 232 years since the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. Take a quick quiz to see how much you know about this . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 26, 2008
Chicago's Father Michael Pfleger made a triumphant appearance Sunday at St. Sabina's Catholic Church. Returning from a two-week suspension, the priest . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 18, 2008
Democrat Senator Joe Biden described Barack Obama last year: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 11, 2008
Paying more at the pump has its benefits. For the first time in a long time, Americans are beginning to pay attention. And, by Jove, I think we've got it! Or . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 28, 2008
It's been 40 years since his passing, but Robert Kennedy is again in the news. One reason is Hillary Clinton's imprudent mention of his assassination. Barack . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 16, 2008
Barack Obama presents himself as the voice of hope and change. A transformational figure, he'll set aside the old politics and run a dignified, elevated . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 8, 2008
In fact, I don't really love Fox News. I do, however, love saying that I just love Fox News. Simply expressing that view is enough to drive many liberals to . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 30, 2008
Heaven knows Jimmy Carter is wrong much of the time. Yet even the former president has his better days. One of them occurred during his service as co-chair of . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 24, 2008
California Senator Barbara Boxer is your standard-issue shrill, humorless, doctrinaire liberal who knows what's best for everyone else and will force it on them . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 17, 2008
St. Francis Hospital serves a number of low-income people in suburban Chicago. Losing millions of dollars by caring for uninsured patients, four years ago St. . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 10, 2008
Senator Barack Obama will reform government. If you don't believe it, just ask him.
Demonstrating his devotion to transparency in government, he recently . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 3, 2008
Unless you're more fortunate than I, you remember erstwhile Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Monsieur Kerry was famous for bringing up he'd been . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 26, 2008
It's the latest. It's the greatest. Green collar jobs are going to help turn around the economy if Democrats have their way.
Senator Barack Obama last . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 28, 2008
Forty years ago, third-party presidential candidate George Wallace cackled that there wasn't "a dime's worth of difference" between Republican Richard Nixon and . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 21, 2008
Former first lady Nancy Reagan took a fall last weekend. She reportedly is doing well and I hope her recovery is swift and complete.
Nancy Reagan's central . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 13, 2008
Ann Coulter says conservatives should vote for Hillary Clinton if John McCain is the GOP's nominee. Ann Coulter is wrong.
For one thing, right now it looks . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 6, 2008
Call me a nervous Nellie — if anyone still uses that expression — but I find middle-of-the-night phone calls disquieting. So when my telephone rang at 4:19 . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 24, 2008
The president of the United States clenched his jaw, narrowed his eyes and wagged his finger. Glaring at the cameras, Bill Clinton ordered: "I want you to . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 17, 2008
The Democrats are really going after one another now. It's bare knuckles, brass knuckles, brawling, malicious, vicious, brutal, vitriolic. The contest may . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 10, 2008
Look at our presidential candidates, brag Democrats. Such diversity, such pluralism, such variety. We have a woman, a black, and a Hispanic running. Heck, . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 3, 2008
Do celebrity endorsements make much of a difference in elections? Barack Obama's assistance from the unelected queen of the world, Oprah Winfrey, suggests . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 26, 2007
In little more than 200 years, we've gone from George Washington, who could not tell a lie, to modern political figures who will never be mistaken for the . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 20, 2007
The Beatles were right when they sang money can't buy me love. I guess if they'd wanted to be more precise, they'd have crooned that money can't buy authentic . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 12, 2007
The first President Bush crafted a 1989 taxpayer-funded plan to bail out the troubled savings and loan industry. As usual, Jesse Jackson jumped on the case, . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 6, 2007
I find it annoying to call a telephone number and have to press 1 to proceed in English. It seems to me that our national language should routinely be used and . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 29, 2007
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) is really, really concerned these days about toy safety. So, as the Dickster is wont to do when he's really, really concerned, he . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 21, 2007
The notion of a common good has traditionally been popular in this democratic Republic. In recent years and among certain public figures, however, the . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 14, 2007
Much of the reaction to Clarence Thomas' new memoir, My Grandfather's Son, has centered on the justice's anger. You have to credit the mainstream media with . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 7, 2007
Barack Obama has a special appeal to youth, as evidenced by the $4,600 campaign contribution he received from one 8-year-old boy. Sibling rivalry may have . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 31, 2007
Oprah Winfrey's heart was in the right place. She used a significant portion of her abundant wealth to start the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 24, 2007
Some things never change. The Los Angeles Times last week reported that in New York City Hillary Clinton brings fresh meaning to Chinese take out. Her . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 17, 2007
Historian Will Durant wrote that first century Romans had access to dentistry, including "gold teeth, wired teeth, false teeth, bridgework, and plates." Many 2 . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 10, 2007
When the angry left's lap dogs are told to heel, they readily obey. So as liberal bloggers got their undies in a twist over broadcaster Rush Limbaugh using the . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 3, 2007
Next year's presidential race may be characterized as the campaign of the cackle. You know what I'm talking about: that staged, shrill, joyless hoot emitted by . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 28, 2007
Jesse Jackson is getting some richly deserved criticism for charging Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) is "acting like he's white" when it comes to the racially . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 19, 2007
"Son, just so you understand, I don't care what The New York Times says about me. And nobody I care about cares what The New York Times says about me."
That . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 13, 2007
Oprah Winfrey can shill for Barack Obama. She can host glitzy events and collect cash for him. She can campaign with him, maybe even do some commercials for . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 5, 2007
Miss Teen South Carolina could have resorted to the typical beauty pageant ploy. You know, the one where the contestant simply restates whatever question she . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 30, 2007
Let's say you own a retail establishment in Illinois. Some of your employees want you to close on Sundays so they can enjoy the day off. It's not a bad idea, . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 15, 2007
Somewhere, Walter Jenkins is smiling.
Mr. Jenkins was at the center of a 1964 White House scandal. A close personal advisor to President Lyndon Johnson for . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 8, 2007
Barack Obama says he wants to clean government up. At first blush, you might not think a Chicago machine politician and chum of indicted Democratic fundraiser . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 1, 2007
When Charles Schumer speaks, people laugh. Sadly, some folks also listen, possibly because he's the third ranking member of the Democratic Senate leadership. . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 25, 2007
We in the Land of Lincoln have many matters about which to fret. Will the budget impasse between the Democratic governor and the Democratic General Assembly . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 18, 2007
Viewing Larry Flynt merely as a pornographer who's made a lot of money exploiting people's vices doesn't do him justice. He's also the conscience of the . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 11, 2007
Jack Valenti's autobiography, "This Time, This Place," was published last May. In terms of promoting the book, it was bad timing. He died in April.
Still, . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 27, 2007
Many times I think of just how fortunate I am to have been born in the United States. What a blessing!
There are so many places on this earth where mere . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 20, 2007
Forget about your soccer moms, security moms and NASCAR dads. If Hillary Clinton has her way, 2008 will be the year of women with needs. According to a . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 13, 2007
Hallelujah, brothers and sisters. Paris Hilton has already seen the light.
In a collect call to Barbara Walters, herself most recently known for playing . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 6, 2007
There are more than 200,000 minutes until next year's presidential election. And I'm starting to think I might hate every one of them.
This political junkie . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 30, 2007
A relative has been in the hospital, and then rehab at a nursing home, for a couple of months. The other day I took the 90-year-old over to his house. We . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 23, 2007
It would be remiss of me not to note that this month marks 50 years since the death of Senator Joe McCarthy. What would Commies, pinkos, socialists, leftists, . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 16, 2007
If you don't know who Tommy Thompson is, don't feel uninformed. He doesn't rate the media coverage of really important people like Paris Hilton.
Like many . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 9, 2007
Pomp and pageantry were the order of the day at the White House Monday. In honor of Queen Elizabeth's journey to the Colonies, President and Mrs. Bush hosted . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 2, 2007
If only Virginia Tech's mass murderer had read the school's policy handbook. He would have learned the college was a gun-free zone. So then he wouldn't have . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 25, 2007
Kissing up to the Most Reverend Al Sharpton and his associates last week, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton reverted to the singsong Southern drawl she employs . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 11, 2007
In terms of media saturation, Don Imus is this month's Anna Nicole Smith. The radio host has had a good thing going. His program is broadcast on more than 70 . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 4, 2007
Democratic bagman Terry McAuliffe is one awesome guy. If you don't believe that, just ask him.
McAuliffe's new book, "What a Party! My Life Among Democrats, . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 28, 2007
Conservatives, long the backbone of the Republican Party, are dissatisfied. For many, the current crop of GOP presidential candidates is about as exciting as a . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 21, 2007
Democrats are having a blast since taking control of Congress. A day without something new to investigate is like a day without sunshine for them.
Dismissed . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 14, 2007
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin is one left-leaning gent, even by Democratic standards. The non-partisan National Journal earlier this month ranked him the most . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 7, 2007
Struggling with Senator Barack Obama for black votes, Hillary Clinton acquitted herself well in Selma the other day. That Southern drawl she's suddenly . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 28, 2007
Being in the same tax bracket as Ralph Kramden, I generally don't need financial advice. Consequently, my awareness of celebrated money maven Suze Orman is . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 20, 2007
We'll start out with a pop quiz. Don't fret. The results won't go on your permanent record. Probably.
Here goes. Last Monday the United States celebrated . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 14, 2007
Serving as a recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan may not strike you as a good career move. Yet it worked out fine for Senator Robert Byrd.
In the early 1940s, . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 8, 2007
Commercials are a major reason to watch the Super Bowl for many viewers. Advertisers pay up to $2.6 million for 30 precious seconds and seek the biggest bang . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 31, 2007
Barack, you got some 'splainin' to do. Or so it seems as Senator Obama, a leading Democratic candidate, recently devoted time he could have spent on important . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 24, 2007
Not only is the new and improved Democratic majority delivering the change, change, change we've all been pining for, it apparently will also provide us with . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 17, 2007
There they go again. White House aspirants, themselves extremely rich, attack the wealthy using the customary us versus them framework.
Former Senator John . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 10, 2007
The intensity of Nancy Pelosi's coronation last week was almost too much for the heart to bear.
There was Madam Speaker-to-be surrounded by her grandchildren . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 3, 2007
Taking a much needed break from primping, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards launched his 2008 presidential bid the other day. A campaign cornerstone . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 27, 2006
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had better hurry up. We're down to the last few hours of 2006 and she hasn't resigned yet.
How do I know Justice . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 19, 2006
Christmastime is inevitably accompanied by allusions to Ebenezer Scrooge. As portrayed in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Ebenezer is a thoroughly disagreeable, . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 12, 2006
In the waning days of the 109th Congress, there was little joy on the GOP side of the aisle. The Republicans, tossed out of the majority last month, must give . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 5, 2006
Prancer could tell there was trouble. Santa had been downing hot cocoas all afternoon. Straight.
The reindeer asked the jolly elf if there were a problem. . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 28, 2006
It was what we've come to expect. A fatal police shooting in New York and the Reverend Al Sharpton is on the case faster than you can say the television crews . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 21, 2006
It didn't take long, did it? The Democratic Congressional majority is unflinchingly leading us into that promised new direction, bowling us over with . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 14, 2006
This week marks the deaths of 913 people, including 276 children, in the Guyanan jungle. Most of them died by their own hand, voluntarily drinking a cyanide . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 7, 2006
One election is over and another one begins. Things were going swimmingly for Senator Barack Obama's presidential aspirations.
One poll showed that the . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 31, 2006
If the polls are right, next week U.S. voters will place Democrats in control of the House of Representatives.
The switch requires the turnover of only 15 . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 24, 2006
Mrs. Clinton is not a sympathetic figure. Although there may still be a residue of public empathy because of her husband's bad behavior, many people view her . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 17, 2006
Media analysts and other deep thinkers are touting polls that point to a Democratic sweep next month. Democrats have progressed from thinking in terms of what . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 10, 2006
The ability to forgive and forget has never been a strong suit of mine. It's been said with some justification that I suffer from Irish Alzheimer's: Forgetting . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 3, 2006
Excerpts from the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct report are enough to turn your stomach.
"The page testified that . . . (the Congressman) . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 27, 2006
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) gets over $300 million a year from you and me, purportedly to provide legal assistance to the poor. This is done through . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 24, 2006
The word of the month is squander. As in, we have squandered all the good will the United States enjoyed after the 9/11 attacks.
The Associated Press picked . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 12, 2006
Richard Durbin should be relieved. Last year the Senate's No. 2 Democrat compared U.S. treatment of an accused al Qaeda terrorist to that accorded to prisoners . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 5, 2006
As the anniversary of 9/11 approaches, there's a collective sigh of relief that, at least so far, we've avoided a repeat of that tragic day. Some will . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 30, 2006
Especially around Labor Day, union leaders like to act as though they speak for all workers. The truth is they don't even speak for all members of their unions . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 22, 2006
Billy Carter, registered foreign agent of the Libyan government and brother of President Jimmy, urinated in public at the Atlanta airport. Sam Houston Johnson, . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 15, 2006
Presidential campaigns keep getting longer. They now begin while arguments about who in fact won the last election are still raging.
At least a dozen . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 8, 2006
Joe Lieberman is a Democrat through and through. Three terms in the Senate have yielded a voting record that in some respects is as liberal as that of Teddy . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 1, 2006
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who wants to be president, made a big mistake the other day. No, I'm not referring to his use of the term "tar baby" in . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 25, 2006
Mrs. Clinton recently coughed up $3,000 in campaign funds for a hairstylist and a comparable amount for a makeup artist, according to the New York Post. One . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 18, 2006
Arizonans will have a chance in November to approve a proposal that would award a cool million dollars to one voter, chosen by lottery, after each general . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 12, 2006
Last month the president of the Philippines visited Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. She gave him a copy of a law she signed recently, one that ends the death . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 5, 2006
He's just a normal, average, typical 12-year-old boy. If the normal, average, typical 12-year-old boy has the world's longest-reigning dictator drop by every . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 27, 2006
At the Episcopal Church Convention earlier this month, Bishop Gene Robinson said something astounding. He declared, "The gay agenda is Jesus Christ."
I'm . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 20, 2006
Illinois Senator Barack Obama has a brilliant future. The media, Democratic activists, fat cat donors and many John and Jane Q. Publics see something special . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 13, 2006
Ann Coulter drives liberals nuts. The late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi didn't qualify for rhetoric as harsh as that directed at the blond, but certainly never bland, . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 6, 2006
The oldest baby boomers are turning 60 this year. Anyone mouthing that twaddle about 50 being the new 30 hasn't checked out my medicine cabinet.
I could . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 31, 2006
MySpace.com is described as an Internet site devoted to social networking. Any rational adult who's spent more than a few minutes on MySpace might well . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 23, 2006
Mrs. Clinton is playing it coy. For the time being, she says, she's just running for re-election to the Senate. Plans for a presidential race aren't yet . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 16, 2006
Floyd Patterson, who died last week at 71, isn't considered one of the greatest heavyweight champions. He might well be remembered, though, as one of the best . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 10, 2006
Senator Joseph Biden is running for president. The man whose platform may include making the world safe for hair plugs won rave reviews for last week's speech . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 2, 2006
Diann Burns, Chicago's highest paid television news reader, and her husband recently built a $3 million mansion in the swank Lincoln Park area. Monday's . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 25, 2006
The war on terror. Illegal immigration. Iraq. Government leaks. Dick Cheney's shooting accident. All pale in comparison to the crisis du jour: the cost of . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 18, 2006
You think Tom Cruise hopping up and down on Oprah's couch was as silly as it can get? You must have missed the talk show queen's recent program about people . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 12, 2006
"We are not criminals," was constantly intoned at rallies around the country Monday. That's nonsense.
People who break the law to enter the United States are . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 4, 2006
Last week Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney found a new way to multitask with her cellphone. It's alleged the Georgia Democrat poked a U.S. Capitol Police officer . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 28, 2006
Today's reading is from the Book of Clinton, Chapter Two for the Price of One, Verse 2008.
"Thus saith the angel Hillary regarding the immigration bill passed . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 21, 2006
Blogosphere liberals were chuckling to themselves this week. I don't begrudge them that. It's a refreshing change of pace from talking to themselves.
The . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 7, 2006
Feeling drowsy recently, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg took a 15-minute nap. That would have been unremarkable except it occurred while the court . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 28, 2006
Maybe there's a special place in the afterlife for Don Knotts. His comic genius gave us Barney Fife, undoubtedly one of the most memorable characters in . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 21, 2006
In last week's column, I wrote that if Illinois' governor succeeds with his preschool scheme, the kiddies would be sent "off for a fun filled day of government . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 14, 2006
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich wants to be president. The most recent indication is the $7,500 he paid last December to an Iowa political consultant who . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 7, 2006
Are things not going well for you? Are you experiencing problems of any kind in your life?
Don't be disheartened. You are probably not responsible for these . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 31, 2006
From his boyish bangs to his dressed-for-success wingtips, Illinois Governor Blagojevich is a liar, a man whose word is meaningless.
That's not remarkable for . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 24, 2006
The debate over wiretapping U.S. citizens has joined critics from both the Left and the Right. There are not yet many details known about the surveillance and . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 17, 2006
In his first run for the Senate, Edward Moore Kennedy's Democratic primary opponent looked him in the eye and said, "I ask, if his name was Edward Moore, with . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 10, 2006
Put me down as one of those disappointed with Tom DeLay's decision to give up his House leader job. No, not just because the guy takes a terrific mug shot, . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 3, 2006
On this date in 1914, Henry Ford made history once again. The auto manufacturer established an unheard of $5.00 a day minimum wage in his factories.
Former . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 27, 2005
National Public Radio is sometimes unintentionally funny. Propped up with tax dollars from average Americans who have more sense than to waste their time . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 20, 2005
Last week on WGN Radio's Extension 720 with Milt Rosenberg program the topic turned one evening to the increasing secularization of Christmas. The panel . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 13, 2005
It looks like it's official. The war on Christmas we've heard about is nothing more than a figment conjured up by a few extremists.
The evidence accumulates. . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 7, 2005
It's not surprising that former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark is defending the monstrous Saddam Hussein. If Clark's ever met an enemy of the United States . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 29, 2005
It's that time of the year again. No, I'm not referring to trampling other store customers to get to the doorbusters. I mean that time of the year when anything . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 22, 2005
It has already started. With the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death approaching, the adoration of the rocker has begun anew.
I was a Beatles fan like just . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 15, 2005
Last week's Reporter Newspapers carried a column titled "Where is Edward R. Murrow when you need him?" Written by Donald Kaul, the piece extolled "Good Night, . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 8, 2005
It was 87 years ago tomorrow that the guns were silenced. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, peace finally came. World War I was . . .
Michael M. Bates
November 1, 2005
Most of us have fond memories of the Halloweens we enjoyed as children. The costumes, the haunted houses, the parties and the knocking on doors in pursuit of . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 25, 2005
The Walgreen Company has given $100,000 to help sponsor the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago. Or, more officially, the Gay Games VII Sports and Cultural Festival, . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 18, 2005
Even for a man who made the cover of Newsweek before he was sworn in, it's an impressive achievement. Senator Barack Obama, according to last week's Tribune/WGN . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 11, 2005
On Monday, the Washington Post ran a story about Medicare's new prescription drug program. The government will spend $300 million over the next three years to . . .
Michael M. Bates
October 4, 2005
Don't get me wrong. I like George W. Bush. I think his heart is in the right place. I believe, deep down, he genuinely is a conservative. That he is a decent . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 27, 2005
We humans sometimes lull ourselves into believing we run the world. We explore outer space, delve deeply into the mysteries of life, and build bigger and better . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 20, 2005
In the past I've written that never have I heard someone leaving a theater say to the person he's with, "You know, honey, I liked that movie, but I just wish it . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 13, 2005
It was 1962 and everything wasn't magical in Camelot.
John F. Kennedy had presided over the failed Cuban Bay of Pigs invasion a year earlier. Deciding the new . . .
Michael M. Bates
September 6, 2005
In addition to destroying yet uncounted lives and homes, Hurricane Katrina ripped off part of the thin veneer covering the enormous chasm between blacks and . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 23, 2005
Maybe the hairspray is seeping into his brain. Or perhaps he's taking pills to boost his testicular virility.
Regardless of the reason, a few weeks ago . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 16, 2005
So what do you do if your major claim to fame is as a singer and your last big hit was almost 50 years ago? If you're Calypso has-been Harry Belafonte, you . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 9, 2005
Last week marked 60 years since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Protests were held around the world with some of them condemning America . . .
Michael M. Bates
August 2, 2005
Ryne Sandberg's speech on his induction into the Hall of Fame was terrific. The former Chicago Cub talked about respect. The words came straight from the heart. . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 26, 2005
Union riveter Chester A. Riley would know what to say: What a revoltin' development this is. Two major unions broke away from the AFL-CIO this week with others . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 19, 2005
It was Sunday evening at a casual Orland Park restaurant. A couple, in their late 20s or early 30s, held hands, deeply kissed and couldn't take their hands off . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 12, 2005
Congress is once again debating the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which partially funds the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National . . .
Michael M. Bates
July 5, 2005
The word of the week is consultation. As in, it's essential for President Bush to engage in consultation with Democrats before nominating anyone to the Supreme . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 28, 2005
This week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on government displays of the Ten Commandments. Apparently some of the justices have enrolled in the John Kerry School of . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 21, 2005
Illinois' very own Senator Dick Durbin is a career politician who's been in Washington for more than 20 years. He's maintained a lower profile than Paris Hilton . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 14, 2005
Legend has it that in the 11th Century Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry to persuade her husband to reduce the taxes he'd imposed on the . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 7, 2005
A press release from the Family Research Institute this week announces a study that purportedly "provides additional evidence that the practice of homosexuality . . .
Michael M. Bates
June 1, 2005
It began in New York. An official there found that almost 200 of his state's most dangerous sexual predators got Viagra at no expense. Like Blanche DuBois, the . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 24, 2005
What does Memorial Day stand for? A day off? The start of summer? Parades and picnics? The opening of public swimming pools? You can — finally! — start wearing . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 17, 2005
Things aren't going well for the Republicans. They control the White House and Congress, yet still appear adrift much of the time. Their longtime reputation as . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 10, 2005
On a reviewing stand next to Lenin's tomb, President Bush watched as goose-stepping Russian soldiers paraded by with their hammer and sickle flags. It was a . . .
Michael M. Bates
May 3, 2005
I don't purport to be an authority. But it seems to me having as many bridal showers as Elizabeth Taylor Hilton Wilding Todd Fisher Burton Burton Warner . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 26, 2005
Teddy Kennedy's brother-in-law pleaded guilty to fraud charges in federal court last week. Moreover, it appears as though the man is also a confidential . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 19, 2005
It was a singular scene last week: A genuinely unscripted moment on television. I have to ask you a philosophical question, Hardball host Chris Matthews told . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 12, 2005
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is in hot water with the Senate ethics committee. A physician, his outrageous impropriety is providing medical care to pregnant ladies . . .
Michael M. Bates
April 5, 2005
With the Pope's passing last week, there's been enormous media coverage of his papacy and its impact. Pope John Paul II was widely admired as a principled . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 29, 2005
American philosopher Yogi Berra once sagely noted, "What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so." Or . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 22, 2005
Terri Schiavo's situation has people lined up in opposing factions. They're separated by contradictory medical opinions, disputed facts, divergent opinions on . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 15, 2005
Faith and begorrah, it's that time again. Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Quick. What are Irish Americans most noted for? No, not that. Or that either.
The correct . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 8, 2005
It seems like only yesterday that many Americans were introduced to Hillary Rodham Clinton. That was before we learned she's the world's smartest woman.
It was . . .
Michael M. Bates
March 1, 2005
Writer Hunter S. Thompson was on the phone with his wife last month when he decided to terminate more than the call. He ate the .45 caliber pistol he'd been . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 22, 2005
Members of the Supreme Court traditionally toil in relative obscurity. Chief Justice William Rehnquist is no exception.
In the early 70s President Richard . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 15, 2005
Jack Paar told the joke about asking an old lady why she never voted. "It only encourages them," she explained.
During the tax season, it's a good time to . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 8, 2005
On Monday President Bush unveiled his proposed budget for next year. Amid the howling, shrieking, whining, wailing and gnashing of teeth from the usual suspects . . .
Michael M. Bates
February 1, 2005
Ray Peterson died last week. Over 40 years ago, Mr. Peterson gave us a memorable description of teenage tragedy in the song "Tell Laura I Love Her."
With a . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 25, 2005
On Friday, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich took time out from his breathtakingly courageous crusade against certain video games to sign what's described as a "gay . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 18, 2005
Inauguration Day is a suitable time to think about what President Bush may accomplish in his second term. He didn't ask me, but this is what I'd like to see.
I . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 11, 2005
Another January, another Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. The observance has to a great extent deteriorated, as have many other holidays, into just a paid day . . .
Michael M. Bates
January 4, 2005
With the New Year came a new law in Illinois. It will put people out of work, place the state at a competitive disadvantage, increase prices paid by consumers . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 28, 2004
The new year is a fresh beginning in many ways. We set aside past disappointments and start with a clean slate.
Some folks have more disappointments to set . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 21, 2004
It's been said that two keys to happiness are a good sense of humor and a short memory. I've always had trouble with that short memory part. Indeed, it seems . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 14, 2004
President Bush is getting a few well-deserved pokes for nominating Bernard Kerik to be homeland security secretary.
Mr. Kerik withdrew his name from . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 7, 2004
Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA) has an idea. Usually when politicians begin doing what they consider thinking, it's a good time for the rest of us to start . . .
Michael M. Bates
December 3, 2004
On polls, questions are often at least as important as the respondents' answers. The person asking the questions can, by providing inadequate or misleading . . .
