February 17, 2021

As Germans freeze, leading newspaper calls green energy strategy 'a dangerous miscalculation'

The very green Germans have major concerns regarding their dependence on renewables: 'Die Welt' Commentary: "Europe Can't Bail Out The German Power Supply"…Calls Strategy "A Dangerous Miscalculation" ...

July 28, 2020

Was Wuhan Covid-19 a Chinese plot?

On Sunday, John Hinderaker posted a commentary titled “Cui Bono,” [‘who benefits?”] voicing his opinion that it was unlikely the Covid-19 pandemic was an accident: Could the Chinese have deliberately arranged for the worl...

May 17, 2020

The 75-pages buried in Pelosi’s 1,815-page ‘Heroes Act’ that would keep Democrats in power forever

Well, here you have it, folks. Nancy's pipe dream legislation: This Act may be cited as the "Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act" or the "HEROES Act"  Has a nice ring to it. Y...

December 22, 2019

No, Virginia, not all conspiracy theories are phantasy

And, in time for Christmas, Tucker Carlson has revealed one most disturbing. During Tucker’s 8:00 pm Fox News broadcast Friday evening past, he related the stultifying story of how conservative Washington D.C. think tanks and the Koch Founda...

September 26, 2019

Climate change and 'neurodiversity'

The U.N. afforded Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist with Asperger syndrome, an opportunity to speak before the General Assembly regarding the rapidly approaching collapse of the Earth's fragile climate.  Wednesday...

March 20, 2019

Democrats are Changing to Rules on Voting to Ensure Permanent Majorities for Them

The November 2018 election brought sweeping changes to election law in Michigan. Proposal_2, establishing a non-partisan ‘independent’ redistricting commission, and Proposal_3, mandating several registration/voting policy changes, passed ...

December 30, 2016

The Giant Challenge Facing SecDef Mattis

There’s been a fair amount of Trump-supporter braggadocio regarding the President-elect’s nomination of Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis as the new Defense Secretary – an admirable choice, certainly. If Mad Dog can navigate t...

February 13, 2016

Is It Possible to Restrain the Federal Judiciary or Downsize the Federal Government?

When one man, Justice Anthony Kennedy, acting as the deciding swing vote on the Supreme Court, declared that “gay marriage” was now the law of land for a country of some 320 million persons, he may as well have been seated on a planet oth...

November 21, 2015

Uh-oh! ISIS seems to know its enemy (the US)

“The spark has been lit … and its heat will continue to intensify” That’s from the table of contents of the monthly Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) online magazine DABIQ, published for the purpose of recruiting jihadists from...

August 28, 2015

The ghost of Smoot-Hawley past, present and future?

Thursday’s National Review Online included an article by Messrs. Moore and Kudlow with the following 2nd and 3rd paragraphs: Does Trump aspire to be a 21st-century Hoover, with a modernized platform of the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff, which c...

September 25, 2014

Wealth: Personal vs. National

If you were stranded on an island in the middle of the Pacific with a couple of tons of gold bars, would you be wealthy? Would you feel wealthy? Having a shortwave (solar powered, of course) might make for a more affirmative answer to the question, b...

January 16, 2011

Smoot-Hawley and the Depression

"Protectionism" is an intentionally derogatory term used to describe the practice of one country taking measures to protect its domestic economy from encroachment by another country.  Over the past couple of years or so, as a result of...

July 17, 2010

Is America heading for Judge Dredd Justice?

Here are some thoughts on why the average American ought have more than a mere passing acquaintance with the law.  Our apparent collective ignorance is proving disastrous.Judge Joe Dredd is a comic character whose strip in the Bri...

May 25, 2010

DC Police escort SEIU thugs to banker's house (updated)

From Big Journalism and via Power Line: Big Journalism reports that the union demonstrators at the Bank of America lawyer's house outside Washington, D.C., had a police escort. The escort comprised DC police offers; the primary role of the ...

April 21, 2010

Camp OFA

Organizing for America, Barack Obama's political organization that's run by the Democratic National Committee, wants to recruit and train a cadre of activists, and is holding camps all over America. Find one near you here: http://my.barackobama.com/p...

November 3, 2009

Can Obama's changes be reversed?

Even if Obama is limited to one term, the changes he has instituted may not be reversible. As Jonathan Weisman  points out in today's Wall Street Journal, "Democrats' Quiet Changes Pile Up."Won't the Republicans then reinstate programs...

August 5, 2009

Obama solves other problems over beer

Once upon a time the late night comedians thought there was no humor to be had in Obama. But more and more, he is becoming a laughingstock. Pomposity does that.Found this video on Little Green Footballs, to which we offer a hearty hat tip.Remember th...

June 25, 2009

74% Trust Their Own Economic Judgment More Than Congress'

No-brainer o'-the-day.  Rasmussen reports: 74% Trust Their Own Economic Judgment More Than Congress' Three-out-of-four Americans (74%) trust their own judgment more than that of the average member of Congress when it comes to economic issues fac...

June 24, 2009

Really, really bad ideas department

Unfortunately, this Congressman is still on the loose. Is there a reward posted? From the Wall Street Journal's Review & Outlook:Telling Fannie Mae to take more credit risk. Now there's an idea Back when the housing mania was taking off, Massachu...

June 19, 2009

The quiet advance of heterophobia

George Neumayr discovers discrimination against the shacked-up-heterosexual class in a great article today on The American Spectator. "But don't worry, your scarce hard-earned tax dollars won't go to all domestic lovers. Just homosexual ones....

June 18, 2009

Walpin may be fired, but...

Let's see if Holder tries to quash this. The AP is reporting that the FBI is investigating whether an "executive" at the nonprofit organization founded by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson obstructed justice in a federal probe....

June 6, 2009

China since Tienanmen

On June 4, 1989, the Red Chinese Army surrounded and stormed the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, killing thousands, and thereby ending China's brief experiment in free speech.  Reporter Claudia Rosett was in the square that fate...

May 9, 2009

Bye-bye sanctity of contracts

As property rights are flushed, you can fuggedaboutwhat's in your contract.  After all, you wouldn't want to be a"hold-out" member of a "cabal" of "dissident lenders" now, would you?  A Saturday ...

April 13, 2009

Those pesky rightwing extremists

World Net Daily (WND) made a nice splash today with their posting of an article based upon a purported Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "Unclassified/For Official Use Only" document titled, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic a...

April 11, 2009

Killing the F-22

The F-22 is very expensive, but delivers air superiority in return. The Secretary of Defense has announced that the Air Force will stop buying them. Price quotes range from $140 million per copy to $360 million or more, depending on how much R&D ...

April 9, 2009

Universal health care may kill you

In Wednesday's Opinion Journal there's an article by two practicing medical doctors who are on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School.  Their concern is that efforts ostensibly geared toward improving the quality of medical care in the U.S. a...

April 3, 2009

Eric Cantor in the cross hairs

The Democrats know that if they can knock out rising GOP leaders by hook or by crook, their hold on power becomes more secure.  It's not surprising when Ms. Strassel of the Wall Street Journal asserts that:"Democrats know their current...

April 3, 2009

Geithner Plan Loopholes

As with most anything, especially government anythings, there are unintended consequences. As Theo Francis and Mara Der Hovanesian point out in their Business Week article:  With their balance sheets restored to health, goes the theory, the bank...

March 27, 2009

Stumping James Carville

As the Democrats' primo Pit Bull attack dog describes in his Wednesday Financial Times opinion article, Mr. Carville has a problem:As someone who has prided himself on being able to reduce complex problems to simple messages, I am tota...

March 26, 2009

Another one bites the dust

Yet another Obama senior appointee has withdrawn from consideration. Josh Gerstein reports for Politico:President Barack Obama's nominee to be the No. 2 official at the Environmental Protection Agency, Jon Cannon, withdrew Wednesday after it was disc...

March 19, 2009

Las Vegas finds a second home on Wall Street

The media brouhaha -- regarding AIG and the wayward bonuses paid to some of its employees because of an "oversight" on the part of Senator Dodd et al. -- has for the past few days been essentially nonstop. However improper and inf...

March 15, 2009

'Tales From Torture's Dark World'

The new "Neverending Story" from Mark Danner, the New York Times, and the New York Review of Books"A short time ago, this document came into my hands and I have set out the stories it tells in a longer article in The New York Review of...

March 11, 2009

Courting Surrender

In Tuesday’s National Review online Andrew McCarthy unequivocally asserts that the Federal courts have just surrendered in the war against radical Islam with a ruling by a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit three-judge panel in al Odah...

March 9, 2009

The cost of illegal alien health care

And just think, the government is looking to ration your health care.   But first, a look at what's currently going on:...

February 28, 2009

Amazing animation of Hudson River landing of US 1549

Capt. Chesley Sullenberger's feat is vividly illustrated in a very skillful video animation, well worth viewing.The former F 4 pilot shows his cool and skill here....

February 5, 2009

A Japan-style L-shaped near depression?

Readers may want to pay some attention to this fellow: He's one of the few who saw this financial/economic mess/crisis coming. Nouriel Roubini writes in Forbes of the danger the US is in of a decade or more of stagnation or worse. A sample:The sad ca...

January 29, 2009

Beijing rethinks its US investments

Doings in Davos, reported on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.  Learn what our friends the Chinese have to say about the U.S. economy and their investment losses. Is Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao correct in his assertions ?  Are ...

December 14, 2008

Whither America's defense policy?

If you've been laboring under the impression that President Bush is in favor of expanding and strengthening the American military, I've got some news for you.  The man he installed as the replacement for Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense, ...

November 24, 2008

America going bust?

If you're a reader who's put little stock in my continuing assertions that our "relationship" with China and gargantuan current account deficits are the larger part of America's current financial crisis, perhaps...

November 8, 2008

Where's my bailout

The government bailed out Wall Street executives, homeowners, and struggling auto companies. But what about the rest of America?...

October 11, 2008

Where's the money coming from?

Is the United States bankrupt yet? If not, where will we manage to get another trillion dollars?I report the numbers, you decide.I especially like the new "Hope Bonds" that have been issued.  Can "A wing and a prayer" se...

October 11, 2008

The Sevakis Bailout Plan

My fellow Americans,   My plan is to pay the bailout money - up to $200k per household - against the mortgage debt of those who are current on their mortgages.  That way we will reward good behavior and punish those who speculated, lied or ...

September 29, 2008

Who owns our debt?

Detailed information for both "Total Foreign Holdings of U.S. Securities" and "Total Foreign-Held U.S. Debt" is not included in the cited Treasury source table prior to the year 2000.  The analysis shown below would indicate ...

September 25, 2008

Whatever the plan, is Paulson the man?

If there's potential for a conflict of interest related to resolving the current financial "crisis," Treasury Secretary Paulson's relationship with and ties to China might seem to fit the bill.  Mind you, there's nothing to sugges...

September 20, 2008

Dementia sufferers may have a 'duty to die'

Latest dispatch from the ''You-First'' department that unsheathes the cutting edge of socialized medical care cost containment. What's in your plan? (In case you're wondering, this is NOT from the Onion - via Ed Morrissey at HotAir)Baroness...

August 31, 2008

Media almost unanimous on Palin

The media are almost unanimous: Palin was a stupid choice Considering the history of the MSM over the past decade and their fading influence upon the public, the media's take on the choice of Palin as McCain's running mate seems prima ...

July 31, 2008

Those Who Choose the Sword: Deciphering Modern Terrorism

Those Who Choose the Sword: Deciphering Modern Terrorismby Brett A. McCrea (Infinity, 184 pages, $15.95)First, I would like to congratulate Brett McCrea for having written a very interesting, informative and thought provoking book. As he st...

June 28, 2008

Stock market moving into bear territory?

So claims E.S. Browning in the Wall Street Journal today: "Bear markets can be sparked by any number of problems -- inflated stock values, mounting inflation, rising interest rates or a recession. This time, the problems are unusually broad...

June 7, 2008

Gates ousts Air Force leaders: why?

Did Secretary of Defense Gates kowtow to China? This is not an unreasonable question to ask if you look beyond the immediate rationalizations for the firings of Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Mos...

May 11, 2008

Comrade Chomsky reminisces

No longer must we conceal our allegiance to the collective. On this glorious anniversary, Comrade Chomsky reminds us of how far we've come these past forty years. As we strive to make the peoples' revolution inevitable, the light ...

March 10, 2008

How to commit national suicide

And I thought Berkeley was bad. The UK goes one step beyond.The Queen was deeply concerned to learn that RAF servicemen and women had been banned from wearing their uniforms in Cambridgeshire after months of verbal abuse in the streets, The Daily Tel...

January 20, 2008

Dennis Sevakis rejoinder to Steven Warshawsky

I will concede that Mr. Warshawsky is mostly correct in his criticism of my thesis if I were claiming that "trade deficits" should be viewed as cause rather than symptom. Though I may have created some confusion to that effect in a short pi...

January 19, 2008

Trade deficits: Should you worry?

The answer, of course, depends upon who you are, where you are and whether you're an individual or a sovereign government. Also relevant are answers to other questions that appear to be asked infrequently, if ever, by the financial press, mainstream ...

December 9, 2007

105 die in China mine explosion

If I were a coal-mining manager in China, I'd sure be looking for a new job -- if they'd let me, that is. The BBC reports:State media says the managers of the mine have been arrested for causing the accident by mining a coal seam that had not been au...

November 30, 2007

Fox News, YouTube, and our friends, the Saudis

Fox News reports:A prominent Egyptian human rights activist has been muzzled after YouTube and Yahoo! shut down accounts belonging to the award-winning blogger. (Emphasis in original)Cairo-based Wael Abbas regularly writes and posts video about polic...

November 21, 2007

Where have all the weapons gone? (Long time passing)

From the Associated Press:WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. and Russian officials announced agreement Monday on how to safely dispose of 34 metric tons of Russian weapons-grade plutonium, overcoming a major hurdle in a joint nuclear nonproliferation effort that...

October 21, 2007

More NYT editorial nonsense

The result of being at too great an altitude in one's ivory tower without reality support is editorial hypoxia. Though I should no longer be surprised by the silliness of the New York Times, they somehow retain the capacity to astound...

October 19, 2007

What if Turkey attacks the Kurds?

Sharon Behn of the Washington Times reports that the Kurds demand U.S. defense from the attacks that may come their way from Turkey, already enraged by the Democrats' resolution condemning the Armenian slaughter as a genocide.Kurdish leaders said yes...

June 30, 2007

Mr. Giuliani speaks

Mr. Giuliani speaks:Giuliani:  I would have thought, in the four or five months following September 11, that a bipartisan foreign policy would have emerged on terrorism, and the bipartisan foreign policy would be, "This is a long, long effo...

June 26, 2007

Msn.com's 'Top 10 Guy Getaways'

I guess they published this this because even going to war is not longer a "guys-only" activity. Well, at least if you're not a Marine.Better hope none of the Fighter Chicks see this. Then I'd really be in trouble.If "guys" really...

March 14, 2007

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Our friends at Powerline have done us all a great service by posting a video file of the Great Global Warming Swindle, produced by the UK's Channel Four. ...

March 3, 2007

Probably there will be an eclipse today

The Associated Press headlines, "Total lunar eclipse expected Saturday." Expected? What happens if it doesn't show?Glow-ball vorming has certainly been politicized. But now, eclipses? Climatic disaster is certain but not so an eclipse?...

February 19, 2007

Nosebleed triggers embassy alert - oh, brother!

From the BBC in Paris comes the following: "Nosebleed triggers embassy alert" at the Canadian consulate:The package contianed a piece of tissue soaked in an unknown fluid."We don't know what it was but it's not a toxic substance,"...

January 23, 2007

Downsizing the C-17?

The C-17 military transport  is a 4 engine workhouse, the newest generation long range small field harsh terrain aircraft. Its maker Boeing propudly proclaims:The C-17's ability to fly long distances and land in remote airfields in rough, land-l...

December 28, 2006

Nanny-state to the rescue.

John Stossel, writing at Real Clear Politics, has some witty observations, as the Eating Season nears its end.The motto at the popular Heart Attack Grill in Tempe, Ariz., is: "Taste ... worth dying for!" That's because it serves only artery...

December 8, 2006

Deficits: Should we worry?

When it comes to this country's trade and budget deficits, just how concerned are America's taxpayers?  The future impact of continuing trade and budget deficits requires attention..Over the last few years most of the public "discourse...

November 30, 2006

Patient's 265-day wait caps litany of NHS failure

Latest news from the the So-you-really-want-Hillarycare-do-you? Department (from The Scotsman) Hundreds of Scottish cancer patients are still being forced to wait months for treatment, and ministers admitted yesterday that they had no idea when the p...

October 20, 2006

China as Strategic Competitor

'Lenin once said: When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope. Even he didn't expect that the capitalists would provide their enemies with the funds for the rope as well.'.    — Clifford D. May (1), Ja...

September 10, 2006

Islam versus the West: Can the West win?

During a recent trip to a small neighborhood grocery and deli, I was afforded a rare opportunity to gain some insight into the state of political debate in America. A man, who appeared to be in his mid to late thirties, was shopping and chatting with...

September 8, 2006

Why did Comair 5191 Crash at Lexington?

Before dawn on Sunday, August 27th past, Comair Flight 5191 carrying fifty passengers and crew crashed during takeoff, while attempting to depart on a runway one—half the length of the one it was cleared to use. The accident killed all abo...

June 18, 2006

Bienvenidos America!

Twenty years have come and gone since the passage of IRCA  — The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. If legislation is to be judged by the successful implementation of its title, then IRCA should probably be considered an abject fa...

May 27, 2006

River Rats Remember

Ordinarily, being named 'Rat of the Year' would seem a dubious honor. However, members of the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association, also known as the Red River Valley Association or RRVA, call themselves 'River Rats.' To be named River Rat of ...

May 11, 2006

Goodbye, Ancient Past.. Hello, Muslim Future.

Sometimes, when America can be blamed, the media seem to care a great deal about the preservation of antiquities. On April 13, 2003, the New York Times seemed mortified when it reported ($) "Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum Of Its Treasure." The Wa...

May 3, 2006

Centrifugal Separation

On Tuesday the Wall Street Journal published a letter—to—the—editor by Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times. Mr. Keller had written to respond to the Journal editorial, "Our Rotten IntelligenCIA,"dated April 26th. Tha...

April 30, 2006

Goodbye, Saigon – Goodbye, Baghdad?

Thirty—one years ago this weekend the United States departed, some say fled, South Vietnam. A people we had promised to keep free and protect were soon swallowed by the Communist North of the once—divided country. Whether or not we s...

March 4, 2006

A Musing on Realization

Every now and then some little bit of information, a phrase or a sentence read, or a scene in a film will prompt a sudden realization. Not the kind of realization experienced by the theoretical physicist Richard Feynman at the moment he made the disc...

February 1, 2006

Iran – to bomb or not to bomb?

Pundits of all stripes, dispositions and encampments are currently engaged in anxious if not frantic analyses of what to do about the nuclear ambitions of Iran and her 'fanatic' (to some 'lunatic') President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. To bomb or not to bo...

January 6, 2006

Parsing Pelosi

On June 10, 1998, Rep. Porter Goss (R—FL), then Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and now CIA Director, held a public hearing on the issue of whistleblowers in the intelligence community (IC).  The concern of...

October 17, 2005

My Constitutional Law Crash Course

'A little knowledge is dangerous' is an aphorism long standing and of good repute. Recently — over the last few days —  I've learned that 'a little bit more knowledge' can be quite enlightening and very helpful in reducing the level ...

August 26, 2005

ID: What's it all about, Darwin?

My mother says she is a Darwinist. I'm not sure of all the things that could or should imply. I take it to mean the she does not believe that the Cosmos and all that it contains is the result of the will of a Supreme Being. Nature just exists and tha...

August 19, 2005

I tipped

Today, I tipped. Today I've reached my personal tipping point regarding America's efforts in Iraq. We must either dramatically increase the size and aggressiveness of our presence in Iraq, or. . . get the hell out. I say this not as one who has ...

July 14, 2005

Lines: Time to scribble new ones

Maps and globes can be fascinating. Interesting to study while engaging one's imagination to form images of persons and places. To visit where one has never been, to venture where one might not dare go, or to encounter those one will never meet ...

July 9, 2005

Playtime politics

What is the greatest evil foisted upon the world in the past forty years? Well, if not the world, then at least upon America? What creation of shadowy geniuses lurks, unsuspected but determined to undermine Western Civilization, weaken its foundation...

June 24, 2005

Supreme Court: A decision too far

Yesterday's five to four Kelo decision by the Supreme Court, upholding the taking by the state of  the private property of one for the private use of another, smacks of irony both dramatic and tragic. One of the definitions given by Merriam...

June 4, 2005

Tech note: desktop searching part deux

'MSN Search Toolbar' web & desktop searching Way back on 21 May, which must surely be the techie equivalent of the stone age given the rapid and inexorable progress of science and its application — after all, how many new models of cel...

May 31, 2005

He knows better

There are four women, three politicos and one 'journalist' (I know already I'm in trouble for this!) whom I find exceptionally ditzy when voicing their opinions. They are Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D—CA, House Minority Leader; Sen. Barbara Boxer, D...

May 28, 2005

Wee willie WaPo

In the '70's TV series Kung Fu, David Carradine's Kwai Chang Caine, affectionately known as 'Grasshopper', is told by one of his masters that when he is so graceful that he can adroitly walk upon the rice paper without leaving a trace, his learning w...

May 22, 2005

Go tell it on the Hill

Moses may have parted the Red Sea, Jesus graciously transmuted water into wine, but Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania's junior Senator, is gearing up to convert blue states into red ones. So would sports writer Michael Sokolove have you believe in his New ...

May 21, 2005

Tech Note: searching your own files

You get that for which you pay. Google now offers a desktop version of their billion—dollar search engine for free! That's right, free! Well, one must spend some time with installation, option selection and waiting for the indexing engine to sl...

May 6, 2005

OK, shall we switch to pagan morality?

America's left has persuaded itself that we stand at the brink of a theocratic abyss. Caricatures of voters who happen to be both politically active and unashamed of their Christian faith are bandied about not just the fever swamps of the left, ...

April 29, 2005

Texas hold 'em politics

Poker has become a very popular spectator sport. If one has cable or satellite service, one can usually find Texas hold 'em being played on some channel almost any time of the day. The game is a variation of seven—card stud wherein the players ...

April 11, 2005

Combat politics – not for the faint of heart

Politics is certainly a contact sport. 'Hard ball' not just in name or description only. It's the real thing. Knock 'em, sock 'em, get down and roll in the mud. Take no prisoners. No quarter given nor expected. Bare knuckled combat with with neither ...

April 7, 2005

How not to write an op-ed – whatever your credentials

On March 30th former Missouri Senator John Danforth wrote an op—ed piece   for the New York Times. I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to assume that the Times considered him eminently qualified to represent conservatives ...

March 26, 2005

In Terri's bed

In 'Teri Schiavo— one physician's perspective,' Dr. Steve Collins examines the physiological brain function aspect of Schiavo's condition and speculates on the possibility of her experiencing pain but being unable to communicate her suffering t...

September 15, 2004

Reports of MSM's death are greatly exaggerated

MSM — Main—Stream Media — in the guise of CBS has received some heavy body blows over the past few days. However, the incessant, gleeful handclapping by conservatives at the well—publicized faux pas of Mr. Rather & Co. is,...

August 22, 2004

Cruisin' and dreamin'

 It's Sunday morning, the sky a brightening crisp blue with nary a cloud nor hint of breeze. The world might seem at peace were it not for the troubling scenes just a mouse or remote click away. We're back at it with the fellows in Najaf that CN...

August 6, 2004

My daughter the devout radical

Not always does one have a precise place and date to associate with an epiphany of significant import for one's life. But this past Monday, August 2nd , was such a day for me. On that day I learned that my daughter, twenty—nine and a product of...

June 18, 2004

Deconstructing the Iraq - 9/11 non-connection

Readers of certain spy novels, such as those of John Le Carre, are familiar with the art of misdirection in the realm of cloak—and—dagger secret operations. Truth itself is often fiction. Little, if anything, is what it seems. No such sub...

May 27, 2004

Playing Bush league politics

"May I please have some more arsenic in my water, Mommy?", asks a darling little blonde girl in a blue shirt, who's holding a glass up to the camera as she awaits its filling with poison by the monstrous, killer—of—children Bush Administr...

May 24, 2004

Doomsday machine

'We are rapidly approaching a moment of truth for ourselves as human beings and for the life of our nation. Now, truth is not always a pleasant thing, but it is necessary now to make a choice. To choose between two admittedly regrettable, but neverth...

May 21, 2004

Image of a promise not kept

The mind will seize an image, often powerless to shed it. Music, poetry, a scent, a taste or a feeling will all linger. But  an image can be unsurpassed in its power to freeze and distill an experience, an event or even the struggles of an era. ...

May 16, 2004

Saving Lt. Sevakis

Unbelievable nonsense has been uttered about what took place at the Abu Ghraib prison. I say nonsense, because my sense of those activities is that they were more like fraternity hazing pranks than abuse, humiliation, torture, and, least likely,...