Zarqawi’s death
I woke up today to the news of Zarqawi’s death. This is the best day of its kind since the announcement of Saddam’s capture. And it does not seem this time as though reports of Zarqawi’s death have been greatly … Continue reading →
neo
The tie that bonds, the bond that ties
I found them deep in the bottom of the safe deposit box, put there so long ago they’d been virtually forgotten. Three US Savings Bonds, gifts to me on the occasion of my birth. The denominations didn’t seem huge: 100, … Continue reading →
Oh, Canada!–the arrests
Varifrank has a good roundup and summary of news about the Canadian explosives arrests. The situation was potentially explosive in more ways than one. As Varifrank points out, not only was the alleged network international in scope, not only did … Continue reading →
Losing your turns
What’s a pirouette? Here’s the Wikipedia defintion—and, as a former dancer, I can attest to its correctness: One of the most famous ballet movements; this is where the dancer spins around on demi-pointe or pointe on one leg. The other … Continue reading →
Writing about Haditha, thinking about Haditha
I haven’t written about Haditha yet. I know that we don’t yet know what happened there, or why. So all we can do is speculate, and to me the speculation seems rather obvious: if innocent civilians were murdered by the … Continue reading →
Arrival
Well, I’m in Seattle! My clever ploy to take an umbrella evidently worked, because it was quite lovely all day yesterday, and it’s only cloudy today–not so bad–with a downpour only during the night. I even left some Seattle weather … Continue reading →
The amazing umbrella cover museum of Nancy 3
Recently an acquaintance told me about a museum he’d visited that is dedicated to the umbrella cover. Yes, you heard me right: the umbrella cover. Those little thingees that cover umbrellas. The ones people like me lose almost the first … Continue reading →
More on politics and friends
I want to spotlight this question that appeared in the comments section of my earlier thread on politics and friendship [some spelling corrections made here]: …if this is the state of your personal relationships, is the blog a chance to … Continue reading →
Be careful what you wish for: the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention riots and their aftermath
In a recent post, I mentioned the antiwar demonstrations and resultant police brutality at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. I now want to expand on some thoughts connected with those events. In Chicago, Mayor Daley’s police did in fact … Continue reading →
Petite woman of the world,unite! You have nothing to lose but your dowdy, ill-fitting dresses
Listen up—you are about to receive some intimate personal information about neo-neocon: I’m five feet, four inches tall. And, what’s more, I tend to do better in petite sizes, despite the fact that 5’4″ is ordinarily the cut-off for petites. … Continue reading →
The whole world isn’t watching: rioting in Iran
At the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, antiwar-protesters who massed outside were beaten with bully clubs by Chicago police. The entire episode was covered heavily by the media. This fact was not lost on the students, who chanted loudly, “The … Continue reading →
For Memorial Day: on nationalism and patriotism
The story “The Man Without a Country” used to be standard reading matter for seventh graders. In fact, it was the first “real” book–as opposed to those tedious Dick and Jane readers–that I ever was assigned to read in school. … Continue reading →