Whether couched in terms of envy, admiration, or derision, celebrity fascination begins as an exercise in imagining what it would be like to lead a more carefree and pleasurable life.

Seeing the rich and famous screw up makes us feel superior, or at least not quite so inferior.

We're quick to describe politicians whose views we find extreme or whose behavior seems odd as 'crazy,' and perhaps anyone who runs for president in some sense is. But I've long wondered whether Newt Gingrich merits that designation in a more clinical sense.

Without medical records that he hasn't released, we can't know whether Gingrich may have inherited his mother's manic depression. Nevertheless, one observes in the former House Speaker certain symptoms - bouts of grandiosity, megalomania, irritability, racing thoughts, spending sprees - that go beyond the ordinary politician's normal narcissism.

Though there are some debatable exceptions, sanctions rarely play a significant role in dislodging or constraining the behavior of despicable regimes.

People who live in hermit states like North Korea, Burma, and Cuba already suffer from global isolation. Fed on a diet of propaganda, they don't know what's happening inside their borders or outside of them. By increasing their seclusion, sanctions make it easier for dictators to blame external enemies for a country's suffering.

To describe Peter Thiel as simply a libertarian wildly understates the case. His belief system is based on unapologetic selfishness and economic Darwinism.

Most people prefer living in a healthier town.

Paternalism is the method of government activism most amenable to an impoverished public sector.

Both Left and Right take pleasure in mildly persecuting those who fail to meet their civic ideals.

Political analysts tend to overinterpret the results of isolated elections.

Vietnam was a terrible mistake for the United States. But like Iraq, Vietnam was a badly chosen battlefield in a larger conflict with totalitarianism that America had no choice but to pursue.

Joe Lieberman can be cloying and sanctimonious.

Middle-class Americans really don't want to hear about sacrifices or trade-offs - except as flattering descriptions about how ready we, as a people, are, or used to be, to accept them.

To describe the world Michael Jackson has created around himself as a childhood fantasy isn't quite accurate. Thanks to wealth and celebrity, he has been able to live as a superannuated child. With the help of plastic surgery and dramatic affectation, he has made himself look and sound pre-pubescent.

Republicans with any moral sense are desperate for a supportable alternative to Donald Trump.

Like academic Marxists, who are their sisters under the skin, libertarians are far more interested in an ideal world than in the one where ordinary humans live.

Professional politicians often claim they are not professional politicians. Trump genuinely isn't one.

If Obama succeeds in turning health insurance and funding for college into universal entitlements, he will have expanded Washington's obligations on the scale of an LBJ or an FDR.

The cradle-to-grave welfare state diminishes individual initiative and can breed a pervasive sclerosis.

Americans are defined by a history of immigration in pursuit of freedom and opportunity. We are more individualistic, enterprising, and protective of liberties that most Europeans do not expect, such as owning guns, working 70-hour weeks, or appreciating nature as it goes by at 60 mph on a snowmobile.

Founded in rebellion against colonial tyranny, our country is naturally suspicious of government intrusion, interference, and snooping. European systems, by comparison, grow out of a tradition of the state providing social benefits for workers that stretches back to Bismarck and Germany in the 1880s.

Abandoning traditions of responsibility and civility won the GOP control of both houses of Congress in 1994. Rejecting any compromise brought Republicans the perks and power of majority control for the first time in 40 years. Thus did the politics of total resistance become their path of least resistance.

Online, you can't be scooped. If you are scooped, it's no one's fault but your own.

The most important newspapers in this country need to exist. Our democracy needs them. Life as we know it would be unthinkable without them.

If there's one epithet the Right never tires of, it's 'elitism.'

The tone of good web writing grows out of email. It's more direct, personal, colloquial, urgent, witty, efficient. It doesn't waste your time. It reflects that engagement, responsiveness, and haste of web surfers, as opposed to the more general passivity of print readers.

In practice, conservatives are no less inclined than liberals to adopt superior stances or to tell people how to live their lives.

It's a great feeling when your work is appreciated.

I can't stand fake people. I can feel it when someone feigns it.

I am overwhelmed with the love I have been receiving.

I am single and enjoying it. My work is keeping me busy.

I never hide anything.

English is my first language, but when I started shooting for 'Definition of Fear,' I actually had trouble with my lines! It was so weird, because I never have trouble with my lines in Hindi!

I'd love to venture out into some international work. I would like to do some work in Sri Lanka as well.

I believe in clean skin and using a good cleanser, toner, and moisturiser.

When I first came to India from Sri Lanka, people were surprised to see my toned arms. I had come right after the Miss Universe pageant.

Post 'Kick,' I was flooded with offers. The film has given me a solid fan base even in Dubai and Bahrain.

I have a very active team who works with me when it comes to my styling and putting together a look.

I have two brothers and a sister. I am the youngest in the family and was a bit of a tom boy.

A dancing movie with Remo is something I would love to take up.

In 'Brothers,' I am going into a zone that is something that I have not done. It's a very simple and desi character. It's also a character that I think a lot of people would not have expected me to do.

I wouldn't say it's effortless for me to be glamorous.

Being single, I thought would be fun, but it is terribly boring. And I am a romantic, but only when I am in love. I can't force it otherwise.

I feel there's always time for relationship.

When it's the same team that's created magic at the box office in the past, you know you are in safe hands.

I don't like being over-friendly, as people could take me for granted.

Beautiful feet are coveted by all women, everywhere of all ages, especially when they want to look their best and show off those strappy heels.

It took me so much time to build my confidence and say that I can take on more.

The first time I joined the gym was during the Miss Sri Lanka pageant in 2006. Then, I went for the Miss Universe contest where I was exposed to girls who were very fit for their age. They could have joined the Olympics. They were doing crazy exercises.