For the first 25 years of my life, I was as an able-bodied American. I played football and soccer and even ran a few marathons. All of that changed three years ago.

WASHINGTON — “My administration,” President Barack Obama wrote on his first day in office, “is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.”

From cradle (sales tax) to grave (tombstone sales tax) and beyond (estate tax), the old adage is true: The only sure things are death and taxes. Death comes first. Taxes continue.

People of faith have an important perspective on the “fiscal cliff” budget negotiations going on in Congress — and an important stake in the outcome.

The Nov. 25 fire that killed more than 100 workers at the clothing factory in Bangladesh was an act of industrial homicide, which must not be tolerated. This was the most recent of several such crimes, leading to the deaths of another 500 people, mostly young women.

WASHINGTON — Why are Republicans playing the Democrats’ game that the “fiscal cliff” is all about taxation?

On Election Day, the citizens of Puerto Rico made history. For the first time, they voted for statehood.

“What happened to Thanksgiving?” one of my students asked me just before Turkey Day arrived. “It’s like we are fast-forwarding straight to Christmas.”

WASHINGTON — It seems the Republicans have run out of squishy moderates to purge. Now they’re starting to run conservatives out of town for being insufficiently doctrinaire.

I don’t know whether Emily Post has any tips for breaking the ice over lunch with your just-vanquished foe. But I have just the thing if President Barack Obama was serious about asking Mitt Romney to “work together to move this country forward.”