Ross Mackenzie applies the lens of historical significance to today's headlines in his weekly nationally syndicated column. The veteran newspaper writer and editorial page editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch offers insightful commentary about current events, exploring topical subjects in areas ranging from foreign affairs and class-action lawsuits to culture and family. Mackenzie joined The Richmond News Leader in 1965, and four years later was named editor of the paper's editorial page -- a position previously held by both James J. Kilpatrick and Douglas Southall Freeman. After the 1992 merger of the News Leader and the Richmond Times-Dispatch he became the editorial page editor at the latter, overseeing the editorial and op-ed pages and the paper's Sunday commentary section. He is the only person to have directed the editorial pages of both Richmond dailies. Mackenzie was runner-up for the 1982 Pulitzer Prize in commentary, and in a long page-one story around that time, The Washington Post termed him "the most feared journalist in Virginia" possessing "one of the most ferocious styles in American journalism." He is also the recipient of Sigma Delta Chi's first Eugene Pulliam fellowship for editorial writers. Mackenzie received a bachelor's degree in history from Yale and a master of arts in political philosophy from the University of Chicago. He has written several books, including Brief Points: An Almanac for Parents and Friends of U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen (1993 and 1996) and Eyewitness: Writings from the Ordeal of Communism (1992), which he co-wrote with Todd Culbertson. He also produced a syndicated history feature with editorial cartoonist Jeff MacNelly. Mackenzie lives with his wife and Labrador retriever in the woods west of Richmond, Virginia. They have two grown sons, both Naval officers. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2009 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:18:00 GMT Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:18:00 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Quotations on Afghanistan and nationalizing the practice of medicine... Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan: "I believe that the loss of stability in Afghanistan brings... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/11/05/quotables_get_tough_and_then_get_out c0de160c-feac-47ff-be4f-34cda762fc1a Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:18:00 GMT An imaginary conversation.... Obama: You're back. Yes indeed. Happy holidays, Mr. President. Aren't you pushing the season a little? Not any more than small retailers -- in the darkening... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/10/29/a_conversation_on_manipulation_and_consensus 71ae498a-c113-494c-984f-494879e5baa4 Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:01:00 GMT On the landscape of happenings suggesting the direction of things these days, maybe you missed... That Democrats supposedly are "vexed" (in the words of at least one headline) -- vexed -- that the wacky group Acorn... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/10/22/just_in_case_items_suggesting_the_direction_of_things 9b898c40-3fc7-4862-98ec-da9a3a6d2d0b Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:50:16 GMT Wandering among issues currently in the news... -- The unemployment rate hit 9.8 percent in September -- the 21st consecutive month of job losses. Since the beginning of the recession in December 2007, the United... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/10/08/on_stimulus_money,_ceo_pay,_theses,_coffee_snobs,_etc c54192db-81e4-4c9d-80c9-123a463d492f Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:01:00 GMT S'funny in this hour of Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, and Iraq that perhaps nothing tells us quite so much about the incumbent D.C. administration as its behavior regarding Honduras. The situation is... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/10/01/in_honduras,_etc_pas_dennemis_a_gauche 29a99922-88b3-481f-87ba-cf32571cb661 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:48:07 GMT Barack Obama has rescued the nation -- verily, the world -- from economic collapse. He stands on the cusp of achieving higher quality health care at lower cost -- for every American. Now he's moving to extend his magic... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/09/24/for_the_community_organizer,_peanut_farmer_simpatico 1f1a0859-9234-4601-9cdb-f9028c61c7ed Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:01:00 GMT In his "Big Two-Hearted River," Hemingway wrote of his autobiographical Nick Adams: He was there, in the good place. We went wheels-up for our "good place" when, in this dubious summer of our discontent, the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/09/17/time_to_go_wheels-up_for_the_good_place d94e9a4d-4d97-4bfc-acef-d2d47634b171 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:01:00 GMT Comments on a summer-garden variety of issues in the news.... In a Washington Post op/ed, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin opposed a cap-and-trade energy tax on energy, economic, environmental, and national... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/09/10/random_walk_on_yucca,_nice,_locavores,_sarah_and_john,_etc c5d505b9-6af2-4ecb-a936-06291d6f6106 Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:01:00 GMT Queries on curiosities in the news.... -- In enthusiastically supporting the kooky health-care measure approved by Madame Pelosi's House Democrats, how can the gargantuan AARP - so often cited blandly as an advocate... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/09/03/random_walk_on_apologies,_chavistas,_ethics,_michelles_staff,_etc a7559966-5c87-45fe-8182-6165a0d95e8b Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:01:00 GMT Ever wish you could chat with the president? Here's how a conversation might go.... Glad to see you again. How about a beer from the first post-racialist president? Mr. President, today could we talk not about... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/08/27/an_imaginary_conversation_on_taxes 39e77156-539b-4274-b356-95dfe50980b8 Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:01:00 GMT Domestically, it's a heart beating hotly for throttling American industry in the name of a cleaner environment. For "energy independence" without expanded nuclear power. For a "stimulus package" (etc.) causing (in... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/08/20/whats_obamamania 390994fd-27b6-45be-8658-2c0899849e39 Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:01:00 GMT Ever wish you could sit down and talk to President Obama? Such a conversation might go this way.... Sir - if I may - you're at risk of losing the narrative on health care, and your reform program with... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/08/13/awakening_the_sleeping_giant 9a592863-449d-43ba-a7e7-afa3b8a97ad5 Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:01:00 GMT Space and health, seemingly disconnected, join to provide important lessons about the nation. (In violation of a longtime columnar stricture against the first-person singular - in this age of the rat-trap of me,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/08/06/innovation_as_with_moon_landings,_so_with_medicine 4a159d5c-94ef-45fd-a650-26f6cdfe4be6 Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:59:20 GMT Ever wish you could rap with the president? Here's your chance - an imaginary conversation in an occasional series. Quotation marks indicate actual words Barack Obama has used. Mr. President, thanks for the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/07/30/a_talk_with_obama_you_cant_make_this_stuff_up 1e2d6566-6593-4ff4-8358-1e8d26ea3e48 Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:01:00 GMT Comments by knowledgeable individuals on topics near and far....Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, on Democratic plans for socialized medicine: "We should start over. We're headed down the wrong... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RossMackenzie/2009/07/23/quotables_on_sex,_health,_obama,_iraq,_russia,_the_economy,_etc e76f1434-aa38-4204-8ae8-3f5ad59a9675 Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:01:00 GMT