Cynicism run amok

The Democratic National Convention's sudden infatuation with all things military Wednesday night was beyond smarmy. As a veteran, I found it manipulative, insulting and cynical. For years, the Democrats held in contempt anything to do with the armed forces; now they pose as its greatest defenders.

Sure, honor the veterans, especially those who served in combat, but the accolades went so far overboard as to insult the millions of men and women who served selflessly and sought no special mention. The Barack Obama campaign is cynically using the veterans' service for the advancement of a political agenda.

And to top it off, PBS reporter Gwen Ifil's obsequious interview of three veterans who support Obama was an insult to the profession of journalism, my profession. She threw away any pretense of objectivity when she said it was an "honor" to have been able to view a Steven Spielberg short video on veterans, produced for partisan purposes.

They're all a bunch of poseurs.

Obama's lost law review article

Among the documents that the Obama campaign hasn't offered to disclose, is a Harvard Law Review article commenting on an Illinois Supreme Court case deciding that a son or daughter can't sue his or her mother for injuries sustained prior to birth. Interesting reading; to no one's surprise, he agrees with the court's decision that such lawsuits would infringe on the mother's privacy rights.

Cheering is heard from the press box

Just after Jay Mariotti squeezed a big contract renewal out of the Chicago Sun-Times, the worm turns and says he's leaving the paper because newspapers no longer are...where it's at. This will be good news for hard-working and talented Sun-Times staffers who are facing another round of newsroom cuts. Perhaps his departure will free up some of the big bucks that foolish and red-faced Sun-Times bosses showered on Mariotti