Look at a photograph of the cloud-covered sphere of earth, taken from space. It’s a supremely beautiful sight, despite its familiarity–a predominantly blue planet liberally swirled with wispy white, and then some muted green/brown accents that constitute the land on … Continue reading →
One somewhat-less-than-a-household-word blogger I like to read sometimes is The Anchoress. One of the things I like about The Anchoress is that she’s anonymous, and unapologetic about it. In this post she explains why. I, too, am anonymous, not to … Continue reading →
The term “blogswarm” (as in blog-swarm, not blog’s warm) is being applied to the Eason Jordan affair. An interesting phrase, with its insect connotations. Bees swarming around a hive, worker ants on automatic. The idea is that the blogosphere’s fierce … Continue reading →
I’ve been following a fascinating discussion on Jay Rosen’s blog of the Jordan affair, in which Davos eyewitness Sambrook of the BBC participated for a while. Unfortunately, Sambrook didn’t seem used to the somewhat heated give-and-take of a blog “comments”section … Continue reading →
Way way back in college in the 60s, when I was a psych/soc major, I was required to take many courses–many more than I actually cared to–on group behavior. One of the more tedious among them featured research, and the … Continue reading →
You may be familiar with the newest flap around some remarks made by Eason Jordan of CNN. Basically, he is reported to have accused US troops of “targeting journalists” in Iraq–as in “purposely killing” them. Now Jordan has issued an … Continue reading →
I felt deep joy watching the Iraqi people dancing in the streets on election day. Part of the intensity of my joy was because the path to that moment had seemed so long. The First Gulf War. The long buildup … Continue reading →
Is is possible that the world of extremist Islamic/Baathist terrorism could have gone any lower? Apparently, yes, if the news in this article is true, and they are now drafting handicapped children for the privilege of becoming suicide bombers in … Continue reading →
On CNN, NPR, and in the MSM in general, you hear it nearly every time there is violence in Iraq–in other words, every day–“the death toll increases as…”; “in escalating violence,…”; and so forth. So I have a simple, modest … Continue reading →
It happens nearly every time. I’ll be reading a short story, let’s say, enjoying myself, lost in the experience—when suddenly, there it is: the gratuitous and mean-spirited and out-of-context slap at Bush, or at those who support him. It’s not … Continue reading →
We hardly hear about the tsunami anymore, although for a while it dominated the news. The tsunami was videotaped in a staggering variety of manifestations: from the tall towering waves of Japanese art, to rolling swells that almost resembled a … Continue reading →
This review of the book Miracle Cure, appearing in Commentary, reminded me of something I’ve long thought: that the Canadian health care system isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I used to be active on a forum that dealt … Continue reading →