Every now and then there’s a certain kind of message that’s left on my telephone answering machine. I bet you get them, too: those cozy chatty little communications that try to get you to believe the person leaving it is … Continue reading →
The Able Danger controversy has been brewing for some time now, with swirling speculation about Jamie Gorelick, the 9/11 Commission, and the role of Sandy Berger in a possible coverup. Then it kind of simmered down. Right now it’s in … Continue reading →
[For Part I, go here.] It doesn’t take a therapist to note that many people, when struck by the tragic loss of a loved one, are angry as well as sad. That anger can be unleashed in a variety of … Continue reading →
The Kathe Kollwitz thread seems to have engendered a heated discussion, sparked by another “anonymous,” once again (or perhaps the same “anonymous” once again), who said that those who are for the Iraq war and consider it so “noble” would … Continue reading →
Who is this woman? The serene young artist, glowing with life: The worn-out older woman, lines of age etched deeper by profound grief: She’s Kathe Kollwitz, one of the greatest graphic artists of all time, in two of her extraordinary … Continue reading →
I’ve mentioned quite a few times that I’m a long-time reader of the New Yorker. That’s “long-time” as in long-time—my estimate is close to forty years or so. I still get the magazine delivered to my home, and I still … Continue reading →
In his new Tech Central Station article, Michael Totten points out some facts about the internal strife in the Islamic world, and how the west tends to ignore it and only notice the war the terrorists are waging against us. … Continue reading →
Who are journalists, and what do they do? The old-fashioned idea that a journalist is a mere reporter (or recorder) of the news has been replaced in recent years by the idea of a journalist as a writer first and … Continue reading →
Michael Totten has drawn our attention in this post to an article by James Wolcott. Totten writes that Wolcott is beating up on liberal hawks (he singles out Roger L. Simon in particular) for making common cause with conservatives by … Continue reading →
Before I became a blogger, I had no idea how sitemeter or statcounter or any of the other traffic-counting devices worked. When I first installed my sitemeter, I was enthralled to see all the little things it could tell me … Continue reading →
A lot of people think George Orwell is special. I’m one of them. I first read Orwell’s books Animal Farm and 1984 when I was about twelve years old. The latter was good for many nightmares–I don’t recommend giving the … Continue reading →
Yesterday and today, PETA comes to New England with its Lobster Lib campaign. By campaigning in Portland and Bar Harbor Maine, PETA has come to the belly of the beast, as it were. Apparently, according to today’s NY Times, the … Continue reading →