GUEST COLUMN BY CAROLINE MCGRAW On December 10, 2012 the Nobel Committee will present the Nobel Peace Prize at Oslo City Hall in Oslo, Norway. Amongst this year's nominees is Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche (French for 'The Ark'), an international network of faith-based communities that create homes where people with and without intellectual disabilities

I've heard from your people that you liked my June 20, 2012 memo, and that you'd like me to send my advice and views throughout the campaign. Will do. Bain Capital and Outsourcing This topic, along with whether or not you should release more of your income tax returns, has dominated the news for the

Mitt Romney described President Obama's action to grant temporary relief from deportation to over 800,000 undocumented immigrants who met certain criteria as "political". Whoa! Mitt, you really know how to hurt a guy.  MEMO TO MITT Mitt, we need to talk.  President Obama occupies a political office. When he takes an action pursuant to a policy

Bill O'Reilly is an angry, cowardly, pathetic boor. Many have known that for some time.  If you watch O'Reilly on an ordinary evening at 8pm, what you will see is a program that was taped at 5pm. O'Reilly's producers can clean up and retape the rough patches so his angry, over-the-top, childish spasms don't make it

There's an old saying in the investment business that goes like this:  "The reason stockbrokers aren't rich is they don't believe their own BS."  Barack Obama can be a very compelling speaker … at times. He saved his campaign in 2008 with a world-class speech on race. He played the role of "Consoler in Chief"

A friend of mine who worked for a Senator from Arkansas liked to tell the story about the preacher applying for a job at a church in a small rural community in that state. The church elders, who were charged with making the hiring decision, met with this preacher to ask him his views on

Peggy Noonan used to write speeches for Reagan and Poppy Bush. Now she writes a weekend piece for Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (WSJ). She's also on the Sunday morning talk shows from time to time. Noonan likes to convey the impression that she understands style and grace, especially as windows into the larger virtues

TO AMARILLO SLIM who died last week at age 83. Slim won the main event at the World Series of Poker in 1972. He parlayed his win into guest appearances on Johnny Carson and other TV shows where he publicized poker and, not incidentally, himself. He was a natural showman with an outsized personality. He played

SIMON KUPER writes regularly for the Financial Times on culture, politics, and sport. He's lived in Paris for 10 years. I've read him off and on and find him unremarkable.  His column in the FT on May 5 has his picture in the upper right corner, and opens with "Anyone who spends time in Paris comes

Since undertaking this blogging adventure back in February, I have written everything that has appeared herein. Today, I'm departing from that tradition by posting, with permission, an op-ed piece written by a friend of mine that appeared in the Stamford Advocate on April 17, 2012.  Marie, who had the good sense to be born in