America needs to declare its independence from foreign oil.

I like Days. I don’t mean to say that I don’t like days, ordinary days, because I like most of them too.

Every once in a while, something happens that makes me feel really old. Most of the time it happens when I deal with the younger generation. 

George Carlin is gone, but the kinds of free-speech conflicts he skewered in his comedic routines live on. So does the national debate over where First Amendment protections end and government regulation begins on broadcast speech and speech in public.

Back by popular demand — and, yes, I consider one demand to be wildly popular — it’s the Write Scott’s Column While He Is On Vacation or Performing His Court-Ordered Community Service Contest.

Patriotism. The free online dictionary defines “Patriotic” as “Feeling, expressing, or inspired by love for one’s country.” It’s a word we use a lot, especially this time of year. 

I was casually taking my semi-annual stock of the nation the other day in which I closely examine various societal components and gauge their progress, or a lack, thereof, when compared to past activity — specifically home values, unemployment, gas prices, stocks, and business and personal bankruptcies — and I have come up with a rather unsettling conclusion.

Many things have changed in my life over the years, but one thing has remained constant: my love affair with automobiles.

How bad is it for John McCain? Some of his supporters keep suggesting he would have a better shot at the White House if he promised to serve only one term.

The harder times get the more most of us have to come to one conclusion: there is a difference between needs and wants. Could someone please tell the state Senate that as well?

America…
Founded by 18 century English colonial aristocrats who used 17 century British philosophers and classical figures and forms of government as their guide.

Kermit Love, a costume designer who helped create Sesame Street’s iconic Big Bird character, has died at the age of 91. We never met (I’m speaking of Kermit. Big Bird and I both appeared in an off-Broadway production of “Road House: The Musical” back in the ‘80s. Ah, good times…wait, that wasn’t me.)

I am my mother’s American dream. I was born in Fairfax Inova Hospital.

Yesterday was my 25th wedding anniversary. Now, 25 years seems like a long time. I’ve been married over half of my life now — longer than I was single. Long enough to know whether I’ll get in trouble for this column.

The last time I paid to see George Carlin as a stand-up comic, he was not particularly funny. Nor, I suspect, did he really mean to be.

Yesterday was my 25th wedding anniversary. Now, 25 years seems like a long time. I’ve been married over half of my life now — longer than I was single. Long enough to know whether I’ll get in trouble for this column.

According to the Violence Policy Center, The Aloha state has fewer deaths by gunfire per 100,000 residents than any other state. The VPC attributes this to a no-nonsense attitude by state officials concerning the purchase, registration, licensing, transportation and use of all types of firearms.

As gigs go in this troubled economy, it’s not so bad being a profoundly unpopular lame-duck president.

A little more than a week ago America lost a giant in journalism, politics and life. Tim Russert was to politics what a nice warm blanket is in the middle of winter —  total comfort. 

OK, kids, I know that the Carpenters are so old school that they’re off the radar. Much of what I like seems to be old school.

School’s out. No matter what the calendar might say, for all intents and purposes, it is summer.  And it’s time to travel, right?

In 1971, British rockers T. Rex, lead by singer Marc Bolan, encouraged listeners in their second U.K. No. 1 song to “get it on, bang a gong, get it on.”

I oppose abortion, because taking the innocent life of an unborn child is wrong, and inconsistent with the respect for life embodied in the foundations of our country. One look at an ultrasound reveals the human qualities of the unborn. I was reminded of this when I saw the fetuses with their tiny hands and feet presented at the recent “Bodies” exhibit crossing the country.

If the rain and humidity in Prince William got you down earlier this week, some of you may take comfort in knowing that I am becoming human toast under the cloudless skies of Arizona.

How many six-packs can you get with $46.4 billion?

How would you like a job that will pay you, after a relatively short training period, up to $130,000 a year? Looks too good to be true? Not so. If you are able-bodied and can drive a large (actually, very large) truck, Alberta, Canada may have a job waiting for you.

“Who are you? And how can you write such crap?”
So began an e-mail fired off to me at 7:37 a.m. Thursday. A Hillary Clinton fan outside Detroit had read my column saying a so-called Obama-Clinton “dream ticket” was anything but.

I had the opportunity to visit a local company this week and watched scientists passionate about their topic. But these scientists, while they enjoy their jobs, were there for another passion — encouraging young people to study science, math, or engineering in college. 

Chances are, I will be shot in the head with a nail gun.

“Stupid” is such a stupid little word, and certainly politically incorrect, but it does sort of get to the heart of the matter, yes? I’m not talking about the fairly mild, almost humorous term that was used more than 15 years (and increasingly again today) in the oft-quoted “it’s the economy, stupid.” Today’s definition of “stupid” seems to cut a bit closer to the bone.