"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
In the news
Could there possibly be a scrap of flesh left on Imus’ bones? Apparently so, because the media’s still munching on ’em. If the British press, with its fixation on the Royals, weren’t even worse than ours, I’d be embarrassed to be an American. Shame on every newsperson and news outlet that gave the story more […]
Toward the end of my military career, US Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrill McPeak instituted a host of changes. He was one of those egomaniacs who, put into a position of great power, are compelled to change everything. He killed Strategic Air Command. He made us rewrite every USAF regulation because he didn’t like the word “regulation.” He […]
During the last few days stories about armed groups shooting and killing illegal immigrants have begun to appear on TV and in local newspapers. Stories like this. Here’s another. The media seem determined to sooth us by describing these armed groups as “bandits,” perhaps rival gangs of immigrant smugglers fighting each other. As in this quote from an ABC […]
I thought I was reasonably on top of the Scooter Libby trial story. But Nicholas Lemann of The New Yorker threw me with this, in his most recent Talk of the Town commentary: What’s ultimately behind Libby’s trial is the Administration’s obsession with finding hard evidence for what it already believes. President Bush is often […]
It snows in Tucson about once every two years, usually in late January or early February. So yesterday’s snow was right on schedule. Little did I know, when I took this photo from our front door, that less than an inch of snow would shut Tucson down. My God, you’d have thought it was End […]
. . . or does anyone else see this coming? Even I, a peacenik from way back, have to admit: we can’t leave Iraq. Ever. No matter how bad it gets. So the Iraqis turn out to be unredeemably venal and corrupt, a nation of murderers bent on ethnically cleansing themselves out of existence. So […]
Ever since Ethiopian forces went into Somalia, and more so since this week’s US AC-130 gunship attack on what is said to have been a Somalian Al Qaeda encampment, news commentators and reporters have been talking about Black Hawk Down. As in: “US forces strike Somalia again, more than 13 years after Black Hawk Down.” When […]
I subscribe to a Honda Goldwing owners’ message board. Too frequently for comfort, members post messages that make you suspect that after they park their bikes for the night, they hang up their leathers and put on white robes. Like this guy, who wrote today: President signs E.O. for illegals to get FULL S.S. If a […]