KEVIN O'BRIEN

Cleveland Plain Dealer Columnist

Americans are overdoing college, and overpaying

by Kevin O'Brien

Thursday January 08, 2009, 4:16 AM

Chills undoubtedly went up a lot of spines when Plain Dealer readers got to Wednesday's Metro section, to be greeted by a big headline that read, "Education trims of $25M may be just the beginning."

The story included assurances that state college and university officials weren't howling about mauled budgets and draconian cuts to educational programs. Thank goodness, eh?

The consensus appears to be that on this go-around, the cuts will be of the sort that few people will really feel. Cleveland State University, for example, is looking at an operating budget reduction of just 0.18 percent.

Besides, with the federal government already embarked on one $700 billion binge and just itching to go on another, it's pretty hard to get excited about pocket change like $25 million.

But as the headline noted, in a state facing a current budget deficit of $640 million and expecting a shortfall of $7.3 billion over the next two years if revenues and expenditures remain unchanged, the paring knife they're taking to the higher-ed budget today is likely to become a meat ax tomorrow.

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Hamas is wrong, dead wrong

by Kevin O'Brien

Thursday January 01, 2009, 5:00 AM

Happy New Year, America. And as for you, Israel, same old, sad problems.

And the same to you, Palestinian refugees. What are you guys on now? Your fourth generation of homelessness enforced by the intransigence of your own leaders and the various strains of peace-hating jihadist murderers? Your fifth generation? Your sixth?

Not that the number really matters. In the land where every defeat is cherished and every injustice -- real or perceived -- is magnified, all generations are made up of identical victims. Weapons and tactics become more sophisticated, but in the hearts of the people, 2008 wasn't all that different from 1948.

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Hey, thanks for getting back to me

by Kevin O'Brien

Wednesday December 24, 2008, 2:59 PM

Ihave a little something for you.

Don't get your hopes up, now. You'll get better gifts this year, for sure.

We've all been going through a bit of darkness on our way to this season of light -- shooting wars abroad, political wars at home, an economic tumble that has raised a lot of anxiety, lowered a lot of 401(k)s and cost some people their jobs. And newspapers had it rough even before the economy hit the skids.

That's why people who read The Plain Dealer faithfully are so deeply appreciated. Especially the people who read the Opinion page -- that solid, faithful core of never-miss-it readers who know what we're talking about and who relish talking back.

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The U.S. media has a sole brother in Iraq: Kevin O'Brien's opinion

by Kevin O'Brien

Thursday December 18, 2008, 11:00 AM

And there you have it, folks: Iraq is free.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi is living proof.

Just one regime ago, he'd be on his way to the morgue right about now -- and that's if he were lucky.

Embarrassing Iraq's former government would have been a fatal mistake. And on the way to the coup de grace, a fellow losing consciousness for the fourth or fifth time might easily have lapsed into a little reverie about how nice Abu Ghraib would be if the Americans ran it.

Or how refreshing a waterboarding session might be, compared to providing a day's entertainment for Uday and Qusay.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi is the journalist who threw his shoes -- well, we assume they were his -- at President Bush this week during a joint appearance with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Zaidi is safe in Iraqi custody, a phrase that would have been the most ridiculous of oxymorons before U.S. troops rolled in.

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Draw a hard line on bailouts, starting with the Big Three

by Kevin O'Brien

Thursday December 11, 2008, 4:09 AM

Not long ago, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson testified that the financial world would end if Congress didn't authorize him to spend $700 billion to save it.

Americans were told that if the credit markets -- frozen under an avalanche of bad mortgage debt and "creative" financial instruments so ill-conceived that they made a Ponzi scheme look like shrewd long-term planning -- weren't thawed immediately, consequences indescribably dire would result.

The plan was to infuse a ton of money directly into lending institutions for the express purpose of having it lent.

That plan survived the $700 billion authorization by what? An hour and a half?

Now, we're on something like Plan E or F, as the Treasury Department and various kibitzers hatch new priorities for bailout money, new methods for saving the financial world and even new worlds to conquer via rescue.

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Come shop Bailout Mania Days down at Handy Hank Paulson's

by Kevin O'Brien

Thursday December 04, 2008, 4:15 AM

Hey, America! It's the Bailout Mania Days Event here at Handy Hank Paulson's Treasury! We've got a financial crisis on our hands that only government can solve!

Forget the free market! The free market? Are you kidding me? The free market can't handle this one!

We've got to make room for a bigger national debt, so every dollar on the lot absolutely, positively must go!

Make us an offer. Make us some promises. We CAN'T . . . SAY . . . NO!

Come in today and drive away with huge deals!

Poor credit? No problem!

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Yes, we're blessed Thank God for the resilience of the American spirit

by Kevin O'Brien

Monday December 01, 2008, 11:15 AM

The economy is a mess.

We've just endured our third scorched-earth presidential election campaign in a row. Half the country hopes the new administration will do great things, while the other half hopes the country will be recognizable four years from now.

China owns us. Russia is once again entertaining thoughts of burying us. Our allies are erratic and our enemies persistent.

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We're still in racial (but not racist) America

by Kevin O'Brien

Thursday November 13, 2008, 9:45 AM

Enjoy post-racial America. (This offer expires at midnight, Jan. 20, 2009. Void where prohibited by deeply rooted tradition.)

During the recently ended "post-racial presidential campaign," people who criticized anything about "post-racial candidate" Barack Obama within earshot of certain of his supporters found themselves vilified according to a formula that included an adjective, ranging from the vile to the unprintable, followed by "racist."

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