Melanie Scarborough

60 days ago - The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and American disability law is a major supplier of asphalt.

68 days ago - I ’ve never understood why it is considered complimentary to say that someone has no enemies when the only way to achieve that is to go through life never standing up for anything or anybody.

75 days ago - The National Capital Planning Commission recently unveiled an ambitious plan for transforming the four quadrants of downtown Washington, D.C., and linking them to the National Mall, making it easier, for instance, to get from the Kennedy Center to the Lincoln Memorial and connecting the Mall to the Southwest Waterfront.

82 days ago - H ouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently pronounced George W. Bush a “total failure,” which is like Jesse Jackson criticizing someone for not controlling his tongue. While it is true that the majority of the American people have lost confidence in Bush (his approval rating has fallen to 29 percent), their opinion of Pelosi and her ilk is even worse. Congress now has the lowest approval rating ever recorded: nine percent.

89 days ago - N o matter how much Barack Obama blathers about change and John McCain boasts of straight talk, neither could be elected if he espoused traditional values such as self-reliance and personal responsibility. Imagine either candidate saying to the voters:

96 days ago - Celebrating the nation’s birthday in the nation’s capital used to be a happy occasion. Now, it is a sad demonstration of George Washington’s warning that a government untethered from its role as servant will become a fearsome master.

103 days ago - T wenty years ago this month, Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis had a 15-point lead in the polls over Republican George H.W. Bush — an advantage that evaporated after Bush pointed out that Dukakis described himself as “a card-carrying member of the ACLU.” To many Americans, that immediately identified Dukakis as a member of the fringe element: One of those silly people who sue to have creches removed from courthouse lawns at Christmas.

110 days ago - E ven Americans who barely follow politics have gleaned the evils of influence-peddling. People who can’t find the Middle East on a map recognize “Halliburton” as leftist shorthand for cronyism and corruption. Both Barack Obama and John McCain spit out the word “lobbyist” as if it were spelled with four letters.

117 days ago - W hy don’t we just be honest enough to repeal the Fourth Amendment — “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches” — if we are willing to live in a society where unreasonable searches are routine? The right to be secure in your person is going right out the window as we enter the age of virtual strip searches.

124 days ago - We will know more about Barack Obama after we learn his choice of a running mate. But the people he chose to help him make the selection also reveal something about him: namely, that — at least in this instance — his judgment is questionable.

131 days ago - Walking around this once-beautiful city is now profoundly depressing. Instead of exemplifying a free society, Washington is now a monument to fear. Closed streets, concrete barriers, guards at every building, police officers capriciously ordering citizens to show their papers and submit to searches.

138 days ago - Memorial Day has come to mean many things for most Americans: The official start of summer, the first weekend by the pool, half-price sales at the mall.