They are supposed to be dispassionate dispensers of Pure Justice, icy islands of emotionless calculation. In short, umpires should be acute Republicans.

Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.

Some parents say it is toy guns that make boys warlike. But give a boy a rubber duck and he will seize its neck like the butt of a pistol and shout 'Bang!'

Americans are overreaching; overreaching is the most admirable and most American of the many American excesses.

The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement.

Ronald Reagan has held the two most demeaning jobs in the country; President of the United States and radio broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs.

The unpleasant sound Bush is emitting as he traipses from one conservative gathering to another is a thin, tinny "arf" - the sound of a lap dog.

Sports is a moral undertaking because it requires of participants, and it schools spectators in the appreciation of, noble things - courage, grace under pressure, sportsmanship.

A politician's words reveal less about what he thinks about his subject than what he thinks about his audience.

A society that thinks the choice between ways of living is just a choice between equally eligible 'lifestyles' turns universities into academic cafeterias offering junk food for the mind.

Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics.

Taking Mum's hand, I whispered "Are we really safe, here?

Something doing every minute' may be a gesture of despair-or the height of a battle against boredom.

The media is Obama's scandal condom.

The Alps are a simple folk, living on a diet of old shoes. And the Lord Alps those who alp themselves.

I think literacy is everything.

Left Behind takes what to some people may be unbelievable predictions from the Bible and shows how they might play out. It makes the events of biblical prophecy understandable and thus believable.

The friend of silence comes close to God.

I like to give the actors the freedom, and they know they have the freedom, to change anything they want at any time.

I knew there was a reason I didnt turn you into a banana slug." Leonid'd eyes widened. "No banana slug! Please!" "It was a compliement, silly. Forbidden is good! Sadie likes forbidden!

Jesus asks for far more than you ever thought, but offers more than you ever dreamed.