John Leo is a columnist and editor of MindingTheCampus.com and a former contributing editor at U.S. News and World Report. Mr. Leo is a former associate editor fo Commonwealth magazine, a former book editor of the sociology magazine Society, and a former deputy commissioner of New York City's Environmental Protection Administration. He launched the "Press Clips" column in The Village Voice. His popular "Ralph & Wanda" dialogues -- imaginary conversations between a liberal feminist and her conservative masculinist husband -- began in Time magazine and later were featured in McCall's. Many of them are included in his book of humor How the Russians Invented Baseball and Other Essays of Enlightenment (1989). He lives with his wife and daughter in Manhattan http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo http://media.townhall.com/TownHall/icons/TH-feed-icon-128x128.gif http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo TownHall.com, Where your opinion counts. 128 Copyright (c) 2013 Townhall.com, A Salem Communications Web. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED jim.dearras@townhall.com (Jim De Arras) Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:12:58 GMT Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:12:58 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Troy Scheffler, a graduate student at Hamline University in Minnesota, thinks that the Virginia Tech massacre might have been avoided if students had been allowed to carry concealed weapons. After e-mailing this opinion... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2007/10/23/who_will_stand_up_for_campus_free_speech 8da25c2c-561e-4d98-8e73-48fa43053f40 Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:12:58 GMT In 1997, the National Association of Social Work (NASW) altered its ethics code, ruling that all social workers must promote social justice "from local to global level." This call for mandatory advocacy raised the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2007/09/11/indoctrination_101 5498be85-d9b2-4d86-a503-0c95e62fabec Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:09:28 GMT If anyone ever starts a museum of horrible explanations, the one-liner by Newsweek's Evan Thomas about his magazine's dubious reporting on the Duke non-rape case - "The narrative was right but the facts were wrong" -... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2007/08/10/brawley_case_of_the_south 87d73c67-00e6-40aa-a428-e58fae507b46 Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:47:25 GMT In 1967, Newark erupted in gunfire, looting, and arson, killing 23 people and injuring 700. But 40 years later, the New York Times still is not certain that this event should properly be called a "riot." In a news... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2007/07/19/swerving_around_riots a4c8c6a6-50ea-4218-92fa-f406372e6626 Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:42:24 GMT Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, is very nervous about releasing his new research, and understandably so. His five-year study shows that immigration and ethnic diversity have a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2007/06/26/bowling_with_our_own 575b45a3-c3a3-4d5d-ab83-6e62b9750026 Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:07:29 GMT This is a farewell column. After 18 years of punditry, it's time to work on other projects, including a book. Now that I'm leaving, I should acknowledge that writing a column has to be one of the best jobs in the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/08/13/thanks_for_letting_me_be_part_of_the_conversation 73bb3b5d-f0be-4079-a599-0cd9cf0efce6 Sun, 13 Aug 2006 04:00:50 GMT Remember when the city of Berkeley, Calif., declared itself a "nuclear-free zone"? Cynics snickered, but the plain fact is that no nuclear weapon has gone off in the city since that day. So the policy seems to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/08/07/zoning_challenges_now_extend_to_feelings_and_belief 99ee0ac4-9305-4239-8ee3-3516a618dd18 Mon, 07 Aug 2006 04:01:00 GMT Just when you think the debate over embryonic stem cells can't get any more degraded, an outfit called the Campaign to Defend the Constitution comes along and proves you wrong. The group took out two vitriolic full-page... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/07/31/slippery-slop_concerns_are_valid_over_stem-cell_research 5cbc73d1-780e-4a95-a0f9-e0cc454a8c92 Mon, 31 Jul 2006 04:01:00 GMT Brittany McComb's microphone went dead at her high school commencement because school officials thought she was talking too much about religion. This was during her valedictory speech last month at Foothill High School... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/07/17/free_speech_is_loser_where_religious_expression_is_concerned b9e2802e-36b0-48f8-8027-95505fbe6810 Mon, 17 Jul 2006 04:01:00 GMT Another baseball season has reached its midpoint, the All-Star break. This means it is surely time for all Americans to cast aside normal English and spend the week talking baseballese. Speakers of this arcane tongue go... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/07/09/brush_up_your_baseballese b67f1420-1def-4390-b44a-f19c7cadb493 Sun, 09 Jul 2006 15:56:31 GMT How do you get your opinions on Page One of The Washington Post? Do you phone the editor and say, "Here's what I think ..." No. You type up your thoughts and label them a "report" or... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/07/03/boys_problems_in_school_need_attention 7fa4861d-c894-46bf-87f1-f881b22217c5 Mon, 03 Jul 2006 04:00:00 GMT The South was once famous for "massive resistance." Now officeholders and civic leaders of the North and West are in the game too, this time to push "diversity" programs in defiance of the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/06/26/officeholders_favoring_diversity_ignore_laws_they_dont_like d2e5db61-cd3a-4aa1-8dcd-55a75007705e Mon, 26 Jun 2006 04:01:00 GMT The governor of Maryland fired one of his appointees to the Washington Metro transit authority board for stating a negative opinion of homosexuality on a cable TV talk show. The board member, Robert Smith, had said:... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/06/18/gays_have_emerged_as_the_new_protected_class_in_america e260b7c4-7941-43d4-8a69-8a953dc0dff4 Sun, 18 Jun 2006 16:05:00 GMT Writing in Rolling Stone, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assures us that the 2004 presidential election was stolen. This popular conspiracy theory has attracted many Democrats, from the clearly unbalanced to John Kerry himself.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/06/11/the_left_promotes_assertions_that_turn_out_to_be_false 521eb916-3a93-4191-97b5-60c6d732fb05 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 14:05:00 GMT Peter Beinart thinks the left needs more anti-totalitarian liberals like Harry Truman and Scoop Jackson, and fewer anti-imperialist liberals (think moveon.org, Michael Moore and George Soros) who can't seem to take... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/06/04/liberals_need_new_narrative_that_takes_terrorism_seriously 64c2242a-95c0-457c-bd2f-b3ea6aa4b0ff Sun, 04 Jun 2006 16:05:00 GMT Many people believe that the American Civil Liberties Union no longer cares much about free-speech cases. Now, the organization is thinking of curbing the speech of its own officers. It has drawn up standards, not yet... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/05/30/aclus_free-speech_defense_depends_on_whos_speaking 95f70dd0-cc58-4e21-aab9-63b46d758fc1 Tue, 30 May 2006 16:05:00 GMT Sen. John McCain had a rough week in New York City, facing protesters who resented his speeches at Columbia University's Class Day and the New School for Social Research commencement ceremony. The New York Daily News... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/05/21/conservative_speakers_unwelcome_on_commencement_day 1f9f001d-853f-4053-90fc-d070925ed60b Sun, 21 May 2006 16:05:00 GMT Tom Hanks thinks Christians shouldn't become irate about "The Da Vinci Code." He says it's just a story, "loaded with all sorts of hooey and fun kind of scavenger-hunt-type nonsense." He's right, but... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/05/14/civility,_not_censorship,_is_issue_in_da_vinci_code_debate e2d905ff-e286-4a2f-8283-0a175cd851f6 Sun, 14 May 2006 16:05:00 GMT One of the bloggers suggests that 2006 may be the year of the Lou Dobbs voter. The blogger, the Influence Peddler, is no fan. He considers Dobbs a demagogue, but he wonders whether voters are ready for a Dobbsian... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/05/08/sentiment_against_illegals_is_powerful_and_growing 043b62d4-e53a-4961-aaf3-3c6f02034055 Mon, 08 May 2006 04:05:00 GMT It's time for this column to announce its Sheldon Award, given annually to the university president who does the most to look the other way when free speech is under assault on campus. As all Sheldon fans know, the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/05/01/university_presidents_battle_for_honors_in_spinelessness 4615527d-1f81-4c50-9dd8-228f4f3c87aa Mon, 01 May 2006 04:05:00 GMT Last week was a tough one for Stephen Reinhardt, the most liberal judge on the most liberal federal circuit (9th). The Supreme Court agreed to hear the state of California's appeal in the "buttons" murder... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/04/23/court-endorsed_double_standards_are_bound_to_be_overturned 51a0c307-1a4d-4eb0-995d-0c5e8ad07154 Sun, 23 Apr 2006 19:05:00 GMT In a surprising editorial, The Washington Post deviated from the conventional anti-Bush media position on two counts. It said President Bush was right to declassify parts of a National Intelligence Estimate to make... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/04/17/it_turns_out_bush_was_right_about_iraqs_quest_for_uranium 183fd890-3c81-4c96-940c-820aceed4c8f Mon, 17 Apr 2006 04:05:00 GMT Mr. Answer Man, why is it that many people don't like the idea of Katie Couric becoming the new Dan Rather? Is it because, after all those father figures, it's jarring to get the national kid sister? If we're going to... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/04/10/gambling_with_americas_sweetheart 5abfc354-6c39-412c-9f92-359b3c6aa546 Mon, 10 Apr 2006 04:05:00 GMT In his 1995 book "The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy," the late Christopher Lasch argued that America's political and cultural elites had opened up a gap between themselves and ordinary... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/04/03/transnationalists_dont_take_immigration_reform_seriously 81b1e4ae-435e-4efd-a06c-bb91297136db Mon, 03 Apr 2006 04:05:00 GMT The controversy over gay adoptions in Massachusetts is an issue that can be framed two ways. In the conventional liberal narrative, this is a simple issue of bias: The Catholic Church must not be allowed to deny gay... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/03/26/issue_at_stake_in_gay-adoption_fracas_is_religious_freedom e23d15db-e062-43fd-ab8a-1d57e9805483 Sun, 26 Mar 2006 23:05:00 GMT Like many news junkies, I’ve noticed that stories putting Muslims in a bad light tend to be sketchy and underreported. A minor example is the comment - “the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/03/19/underreporting_muslim_violence b44c1b52-54cf-4847-a927-4e546c65d59d Sun, 19 Mar 2006 17:05:00 GMT Rachel Corrie, a young American woman accidentally flattened by an Israeli bulldozer during a protest in Gaza three years ago, is a hero to Palestinians and the anti-American left. When she died, a photo of her burning... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/03/13/moral_confusion 97a4f223-d9d2-4d89-8396-67e8849ce236 Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:05:00 GMT Law professor Eugene Volokh calls it “censorship envy.” Muslims in Europe want the same sort of censorship that many nations now offer to other aggrieved groups. By law, eleven European nations can punish... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/03/05/the_thought_police_keep_marching_west 2493d913-7103-4682-a47e-0573c1846930 Sun, 05 Mar 2006 23:05:00 GMT “Hull loss,” a term used by the airlines, means a plane crash in ordinary English. “A pluralistic plan” is a hiring quota and “semantic violence” usually means criticism or yelling... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/02/27/awash_in_euphemisms 72751529-14c1-4974-ac86-8b1930169f8c Mon, 27 Feb 2006 05:05:01 GMT Mickey Kaus at Kausfiles.com says that the gay-cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain has the same marketing strategy as Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Both, he says, have been hyped as blue-state movies that are reaching... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/02/20/attack_of_the_memes 3df534c2-91d2-4343-b587-94354125a5e3 Mon, 20 Feb 2006 05:05:00 GMT Is the biggest issue in the cartoon controversy free expression, sensitivity or fear? One vote here for none of the above. The key question may be this: Are Muslims in Europe going to live by the rules of the West, or... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/02/12/islamic_radicals_take_advantage_of_western_liberalism 48928150-e2c8-4694-ae03-a167d58faf58 Mon, 13 Feb 2006 03:05:00 GMT One of the first things I wrote after getting this job as a columnist was a defense of Muslim sensibilities in the Salman Rushdie case. That was in 1989. Rushdie, already a prominent novelist, had just published a... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/02/06/censorship_by_firing_squad c56c6ee4-91b1-43bb-a174-b7cb2ea49699 Mon, 06 Feb 2006 05:05:00 GMT Liberals wage many battles, but have you heard which one is the major struggle now? Brace yourselves; it’s the campaign “against the established media and it’s bizarre relationship with the right-wing... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/01/30/the_left_joins_the_right_in_attacking_the_msm c02e641e-2790-4f76-982c-91431d55f0e1 Mon, 30 Jan 2006 05:05:00 GMT Of course Oprah took the side of veracity-challenged author James Frey, author of “A Million Little Pieces. She is in the feelings business, and you don’t succeed in her line of work by favoring facts over... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/01/23/whats_the_truth_anymore 55ad3ff5-74eb-44a4-97ea-3e23189d139d Mon, 23 Jan 2006 05:05:00 GMT Consider the narrative line for Samuel Alito’s life. It’s perfect. He comes from a white ethnic community that valued family, tradition, patriotism and the Democratic party. By the time he arrived at... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/01/16/60s_cultural_divide_still_visible_in_alito_hearings 9efc5503-697e-417b-aa1a-19cbb83a8e91 Mon, 16 Jan 2006 14:05:00 GMT Did New Orleans blacks die at a higher rate than whites in the wake of Hurricane Katrina? On the evidence so far, the answer is no. Of the 1,100 bodies recovered in Louisiana after Katrina, 836 were found in New... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2006/01/09/most_media_got_katrina_wrong df6292a1-8f50-4b82-b487-5ddd8a781cf0 Mon, 09 Jan 2006 05:05:00 GMT People no longer bother much to create new aphorisms, adages and memorable sayings. But when they do, this column boldly moves to collect them. “An aphorism is a one-line novel,” said Ukrainian author and... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/12/26/aphorisms_2006 8f4f5a20-811a-4e55-a41d-b15a844a9227 Mon, 26 Dec 2005 05:05:00 GMT “Tookie” Williams, put to death by lethal injection last week in California, was a “legend” who underwent “a meaningful martyrdom that sent a lasting message to the world,” according... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/12/19/martyrdom 54d6f5ce-b342-4f5e-bf9d-11bc715a2166 Mon, 19 Dec 2005 05:05:00 GMT The “winter program” at Ridgeway Elementary School In Dodgeville, Wisconsin, changed the lyrics of the Christmas carol “Silent Night” to the more inclusive “Cold in the Night.” ... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/12/12/a_christmas_quiz cd821dee-294e-45e2-acce-9b41e6a75596 Mon, 12 Dec 2005 05:05:00 GMT The case of Michelle McCusker, the unmarried and pregnant teacher fired by a Catholic school, may turn out to be an important one, with heavy impact on our understanding of religious liberty. The New York Civil... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/12/05/the_case_of_michelle_mccusker 9843d94c-cf41-4c11-a9af-ec0ca7e93df4 Mon, 05 Dec 2005 05:05:00 GMT In a burst of anti-war triumphalism, Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post wrote last week that President Bush and the Bushies have run out of “elitists whom they can demonize.” Hmm. That is a problem.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/11/28/pushing_bad_news a092c0e8-27f2-4331-bac6-ea06393293ed Mon, 28 Nov 2005 05:05:00 GMT Folks, we’re talking here with Terry Carville-Begala, the famed political strategist. How goes the fight to trash Bush’s Supreme Court nominee, Sam Alito? Well, it’s just plain hard work, Geraldo.... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/11/21/remaking_the_judge aff376d4-d6b6-40c8-9fd0-28ed728e2017 Mon, 21 Nov 2005 05:05:00 GMT Critics have noticed that nobody is responsible for anything anymore, since almost everyone is a victim. Here are the top 10 victim stories of 2005Children of witches are victimized by Halloween. Coming to class dressed... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/11/14/were_all_victims a798fece-6e15-4260-8ed5-40cdc5348c7f Mon, 14 Nov 2005 05:05:00 GMT The feminist left is outraged that judge Samuel Alito voted in 1991 to uphold a Pennsylvania law that would have required married women to notify their husbands of a decision to abort. Alito stands accused of... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/11/07/lsquo;dangerously_radicalrsquo; 9a9aab8e-e171-4d46-8b71-698b0ccdacfc Mon, 07 Nov 2005 05:05:00 GMT The editor of “the new republic” suggested the other day that “the new liberal political culture emerging on the Internet” looks a lot like the McGovernite revolution that descended on the... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/10/31/the_new_mcgovernites 0d3634a1-0c69-4ad5-a4b2-1918a80650a2 Mon, 31 Oct 2005 04:05:00 GMT The “tiny cross” people at the American Civil Liberties Union are at it again. These are the folks with extra-keen eyes and powerful magnifying glasses, who examine the official seals of towns and counties,... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/10/24/deviled_eggs ea7b92fc-63d2-4028-871c-12db92ca0fe7 Mon, 24 Oct 2005 04:05:00 GMT The cultural left has a new tool for enforcing political conformity in schools of education. It is called dispositions theory, and it was set forth five years ago by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/10/17/classroom_warriors 35d4f276-d3aa-4ead-9f51-3e1ee38bb8ff Mon, 17 Oct 2005 04:05:00 GMT Thanks to a long report in the new Orleans Times-Picayune, we now know that most of the incredible tales of savagery in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina were simply made up by panicky residents and passed along by... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/10/10/just_the_facts,_maam 5c083b12-c09d-45c0-9350-89b8e819aa17 Mon, 10 Oct 2005 04:05:00 GMT David and Tonia Parker of Lexington, Mass., saw a red flag when their son came home from kindergarten last January with a “diversity book bag” that included Who’s in a Family, a book promoting... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/10/02/the_parent_trap aadda625-052f-4c4b-ae76-4c7f243addda Sun, 02 Oct 2005 20:33:09 GMT It took the media a while to acknowledge that most of Katrina's victims were black. Apparently, it will take longer to mention that most of the victims were women and children. I noticed three commentators who brought... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/JohnLeo/2005/09/26/all_in_the_family b0ce5563-ced6-4648-87eb-8560753a2ba4 Mon, 26 Sep 2005 04:00:00 GMT