As we continue this series on race, nationalism, and patriotism, I’d like to note that the discussion on Part I: Race has been more subdued and thoughtful than similar discussions, and I’d like to thank those ...
The British media are much like a magician who waves his free hand to distract the audience while he pockets card or coin, unseen, with the other. Presently, you would think Fleet Street stringers would be working late ...
The Week’s Most Embering, Dismembering, and Novembering Headlines OCTOBER SURPRISE? MORE LIKE OCTOBER COW-PIES Americans need a refresher on the concept of “October surprise.” For some bizarre reason, the phrase has ...
The Boston Globe praises Saudi Arabia and its rulers for its diplomatic finesse in brokering a cease-fire between Hamas and Fatah. This is the way it should be. When someone finally does something good, they should be ...
The other day, at my local branch of the United States Postal Service, a devoted USPS customer told me in high decibels to go back whence I came. Although I speak and write English at a level this yahoo could not aspire to, ...
The death of anyone well known - especially in New York - invokes more clichés than you know what draws flies in summer. Every obituary I read about Elaine included the words, "icon", "brassy", ...
The Week’s Most Rustic, Fustic, and Augustic Headlines ROMA WASN’T BILKED IN A DAY Gypsies, tramps, and thieves We’d hear it from the people of the town They’d call us gypsies, tramps, and thieves But every night ...
Last weekend, in an attempt to uncover the mysteries of the contemporary art market, I put on my great uncle's Lederhosen and posed as an eccentric Austrian collector at Art Basel Miami. The gallerists had largely ignored ...
In life, we are always dancing on the edge of a volcano. The dance may last longer than it did in times gone by, what with the great increase of life expectancy; nevertheless what John Donne wrote in 1624 remains true: We ...
What does it take to be a genius? Europeans of the Romantic Era tended to ascribe the accomplishments of the great to an inborn spark. In contrast, in this age in which voracious competitiveness must rationalize itself in ...
For the fourth day running, France has been crippled by strikes. Airlines are canceling flights. Travelers making their way to Paris from DeGaulle and Orly face long delays. Tourists are stranded. The Eiffel Tower was ...
Though Obama “may lose control of Congress,” says columnist David Broder, he “can still storm back to win a second term in 2012.” How does Broder suggest Obama go about it? “Look back at FDR ...
After nine people were shot to death by a public transit worker, who then killed himself in San Jose, the latest mass murder in America, California Governor Gavin Newsom spoke for many on the eve of this Memorial Day ...
I read with interest R. J. Stove's recent blog about new a book by Gerd Bayer, Heavy Metal Music in Britain, and I would like to add my own remarks to Mr. Devin Reid Saucier's apposite reply. As I pointed in my previous ...
The God we Christians adore climbed down from the pillar of fire, emerged from the burning bush, to walk among us. He didn"t, like Zeus, impersonate a swan or bull, or like Apollo a golden youth. Instead, He lay down as ...
Every schoolkid knows -- or used to know -- that the United States has three branches of government. At least that's what the textbooks say. But really, we have four branches of government. That's because Congress -- the ...
More years ago than I care to remember, Burt Blumert saved my life"with the sort of advice only a born wise man could proffer. During some crisis or other, perhaps personal, perhaps political or professional"I ...
The Week’s Iciest, Diciest, and Pumpkin Spiciest Headlines NO RHYME OR REASON How ironic that a dispute between black and white is taking place in Green. Green, Ohio (94 percent white, 1.4 percent black), where two ...
While the American media climb over each other to spew out the expected tropes on racism and the misanthropic obstinacy of white people, European countries declare their intent to bolster ramparts against new ...
Through the long Memorial Day weekend, anyone who read the newspapers or watched television could not miss or be unmoved by it: Story after story after story of the fallen, of those who had given the "last full measure of ...
It has been quite a month for philandering. One would be mistaken for thinking Senator John Ensign's abrupt resignation was the scandal of the moment. Instead, with news of one illegitimate child and reports of similar ...
Francis subjected himself and his followers to a poverty that appalled their fellow beggars, fasting frequently and sleeping on dirt (when perfectly good piles of filthy straw were available), taking all too literally ...
“We need to be honest with the president, with the Congress, with the American people” about the consequences of cutting the defense budget, said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in his valedictory policy ...
With his order to effect the execution of Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALs, 40 miles from Islamabad, without asking permission of the government, Barack Obama made a bold and courageous decision. Its success, and the ...
