Reg Henry

Most of us go through life with certain expectations, and it is a fair bet that being threatened by sequestration is not one of them. Annihilation in romance, possibly; demoralization at work, perhaps; infiltration of baldness, maybe; but victimization by sequestration? Unlikely.

The late William F. Buckley, the intelligent and witty voice of conservatism before talk-show primitives took over the microphone and the movement with it, famously described a conservative as "someone who stands athwart history, yelling 'Stop ... . ' "

There's only one slight problem with that: History does not stop. While it is impeded and diverted sometimes, mostly it just goes marching forward, trampling any "stop!" shouters standing in the way.

Today I stop to consider why conservatives behave as they do. Last week I looked at liberals, who are apt to be silly and unsure of what they stand for -- beyond a general desire to have the government do something nice.

As Janis Joplin famously sang, "Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose." Who knew that poor Janis was singing the same song unwittingly sung today by conservative politicians attacking universal health care? Critics of the dreaded health-care reform think Americans will be robbed of their freedom if the legislation isn't overturned, either by themselves or the U.S. Supreme Court.

Well, totalitarian nations are not oppressive because they take care of the sick. If memory serves, they just throw people into a jail cell and let them get sick.

It is always a big problem finding just the right Christmas gift for some people, especially for the very rich 1 percent of the population, as I am sure you know.

While readers occupied with class jealousy will scorn me today for suggesting gift ideas for the super wealthy, I believe everybody should share in the goodwill of the season.

Just in time for the Thanksgiving travel crunch, new security measures at airports have caused officials to raise the color-coded passenger irritability threat advisory. You need to be alert to this if you are planning to fly.

Today we shall put aside all political battles to discuss a more insidious conflict: The one constantly waged between mankind and machines.

It must first be understood that some people have technological aptitude. Others -- and that includes me -- have technological ineptitude. We who are not at peace with technology pay dearly for this.

For starters, let me just say one thing: "Gooooalll!" There, that should wake up the sporting locust from his four-year hibernation and set his wings beating in fierce agitation.

Yes, somewhere in America, a tradition-minded sports writer -- or perhaps a blogger for some website -- is now rousing himself to belated action. He has heard that men in shorts from 32 nations are going to play soccer in South Africa starting Friday.