http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris RSS Feed for Inq Col Kevin Ferris en-us Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:01:00 GMT http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20091115_Back_Channels__Her_mission__Serve_the_troops_who_serve_U_S_.html Last year, when I first spoke to Lisa Kirstein of Voorhees about her son, who was stationed in Iraq, she mentioned the negative reaction some people had when they heard her news. Not everyone, of course, but enough to sting. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20091108_Back_Channels__Obama_should_heed_his_own_lofty_words.html 'I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together. ..." http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20091101_Back_Channels__Getting_well__helping_others.html "Send the best surgeon there is, someone who knows more than the mechanics of the body, someone who knows how to treat that drifting of the mind into the fizzling lights, how the mind seems to vanish into the skull's stratosphere of bone, untethered, rising to where the world ends, that edge, bring a doctor who can bring them back from there, and quick - " http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20091025_Back_Channels__The_case_for_Christie.html Republican Chris Christie has at least one thing going for him in the ever-tightening race for New Jersey governor: A solid majority of voters do not want to reelect Democrat Jon Corzine. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20091011_Back_Channels__The_case_for_a_minority_watchdog.html Give Al Schmidt, the Republican candidate for Philadelphia controller, points for originality. He's the underdog in a city where Democrats have a 7-1 voter-registration edge; where Republicans haven't won a top office since Ron Castille's reelection as district attorney 20 years ago; and where the last GOP mayoral candidate took a whopping 13 percent of the vote. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20091004_Back_Channels__People_who_should_know_better_play_the_race_card.html In the 1966 movie A Man for All Seasons, Sir Thomas More and his future son-in-law argue over who deserves protection under the law. Will Roper is aghast when he hears how far More will go. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20090927_Back_Channels__Helping_the_fighters_thrive.html Four years and almost 40 surgeries ago, Marine Staff Sgt. John Jones was blown 25 feet in the air when his Humvee hit a double-stack antitank mine while on convoy near the Syrian border with Iraq. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20090920_Back_Channels__Now__ACORN_must_prove_it_s_worthy.html If journalism is about impact, it's been a good two weeks for twentysomething filmmakers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles. The now famous pair - depending on your choice of media outlet - posed as a pimp and a prostitute and, with hidden camera at the ready, sought help setting up a brothel from ACORN, the taxpayer-supported community-organizing group. ACORN traditionally bac http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20090906_Back_Channels__Many_U_S__soldiers_now_suffering_.html A thick coating of orange powder was everywhere. You sat on it and slept on it. You walked through it and brushed it off your clothes. It was on the food and it was part of the air you breathed, especially when the wind kicked up. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20090830_Back_Channels_.html In February, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. noted that it was hard to talk about race, but cowardly not to try. In that spirit, he should answer questions being raised about the dismissal of a voter-intimidation case involving a hate group in Philadelphia.